Ishita was kneading the flour of wheat, as she stood against her kitchen counter, on top of which the flour was being kneaded on a big plate, seemingly for a large number of chapattis to be made. She looked over to her right, as her gaze fell on her mother, who was chopping the onion.

She swallowed a lump down her throat, as she pondered on whether or not to say what she was planning to.

"ishita...." called a voice from outside the kitchen, as she heard footsteps approaching closer to her. 

"ji bhaiya.." responded ishita immediately, as a guy, seemingly two or three years elder to her, handed a mobile phone to her. 

"tera phone baj raha hai yaar kab se! pata nahi iss kavita ko kya chahiye! kar baat!" exclaimed in annoyance her brother, handing her mobile phone, as ishita immediately grabbed it.

"arre pehle haath toh dhole!" exclaimed her brother, her hands still had traces of the flour. 

"chodo na!" replied ishita, running away from the kitchen in hurry. 

"arre atta kaun ghundega! kitni kamchor hai yeh! bas bhaagne ki lagi rehti hai!" grumbled her mother, as her brother just shook his head. 

"aap hi dekho ab, main toh chala yahan se! sab pagal ho rakhe ho, mujhe bhi karoge!" he exclaimed, before walking away from the kitchen too. 

                                                              ***

Ishita made sure to shut down the door to her bedroom, before dialing again for the contact name kavita, that had multiple missed calls, her call log seemingly only showing that contact for recent calls. 

"hello kavin..." ishita spoke up immediately as the ringing stopped when the call was received. 

"ishita, humein abhi milna hoga..." spoke up kavin in a panicked voice.

"kavin kya baat hai? pareshaan kyun ho itne?" asked ishita, concerned. 

"yaar...bahaut bada kaand ho gaya hai yahan...humein bas, jitna jaldi ho sake, milna hoga..." stated kavin, face palming himself, making ishita more worried. 

"tum bataoge hua kya hai!" exclaimed ishita loudly, only to bit her tongue, and cover her mouth, hoping no one heard her. 

"yaar, meri maa na, bina bataye meri shaadi tay kardi hai, aur woh, upar se hai bhi bas kuch hi ghanton mein!" exclaimed kavin, as ishita was astonished. 

"aur tum yeh mujhe ab bata rahe ho!" exclaimed ishita angrily. 

"arre mujhe khudh aadhe ghante pehle pata chala...apparently mere ghar aane ka intezaar tha taaki hum apni car mein saath jaaye ladki aur uski maa ke, phir mandir mein shaadi honi thi...meri maa ne apni shaadi ka suit nikal liya usse dene ko! shukar karo papa ki sherwani nahi mili, par apparently neeche rehne waale suno bhaiya ki padi hai, joh woh mujhe dene ko bhi taiyaar hai! yaar meri zindagi puri palat di inn logon ne aadhe ghante mein.." expressed kavin his frustration. 

"toh jab decide ho chuka hai, toh mujhse milke kya karoge?" asked ishita, disappointed, her anger fading away to sorrow. 

"main yeh shaadi nahi karne waala yaar! isliye humein pehle shaadi karni padegi...dekho, humare paas kuch ghante hai, purvi ko taiyaar hone aur meri sherwani aane mein...main kuch bahana banakar ghar se niklunga, tum bhi niklo aur haan, apne saath kuch paise ya gehne le aana ghar se..phir tumhare ghar ke paas waala mandir haina, wahan aao. baaki ka main tumhe batata hoon, aur chinta mat karo, maine humare kuch din kahi aur rehne ka intezaam kardiya hai...baaki hum phir aake manalenge ghar waalon ko..ab shaadi ho hi gayi toh phir kya kar sakte hai woh." explained kavin, as ishita was just frozen at where she stood, unable to respond. 

"hello? ishita? yaar dekho please meri baat samjho...abhi iske alaawa koi option nahi hai!" stated kavin, as ishita was starting to come back to her senses.

"main pahaunchti hoon 15 min mein, jaldi aana huh?" responded ishita, as kavin felt the need for assurance in her voice. 

"main aaunga, don't worry." stated kavin calmly, as ishita nodded. 

"i love you..." stated ishita.

"i love you too..." replied kavin.  

                                                                   ***

Ishita sneaked into her parent's room, as she made sure only her mother was in the house along with her, and was busy preparing the dinner for that night. Ishita was quiet to open their almirah, as she took out the key to a locked drawer from under a pile of clothes, only to open to a drawer of gold bangles and earrings. Ishita packed all of it in the backpack she used for college, hiding it in between textbooks. She then quietly closed the almirah after locking the drawer, and went ahead to quietly lift up the mattress of the bed, underneath which was kept the secret stash of cash, she knew her mother kept, which she hid inside pages of textbooks. At a simple glance, it would like a student's bag with just a few textbooks, notebook and maybe some hundreds of rupees at maximum.

She made sure to zip up the bag and then got outside of the room, rushing straight to the kitchen. 

"maa..." called out ishita softly.

"bol..." replied her mother without even looking up.

"woh main, anu ke ghar jaa rahi thi, usse notes dene the zara kuch, beemar haina woh kuch dino se..." stated ishita, as her mother was unbothered.

"theek hai jaldi aana...aur khabardaar raste ke beech kahi market ghoomne chali gayi toh..." stated her mother sternly, as ishita nodded. 

"theek hai maa!" responded ishita, as she turned away to start leaving, but her steps to the outside was nothing but short and slow, full of dread, consumed by the thought of not knowing if she'll ever be able to come back to what she had called home, her whole life. 

                                                            ***

Ishita stood in front of the mandir, with the bag hung around her shoulders, holding onto the straps dearly. She was dressed simply, not to raise suspicions when she left the house. A plain red satin suit, with a chiffon matching dupatta, with the make up she had worn to college applied on her face and not even a single piece of jewellery on her, she was dressed like anything but how anyone would want to on their wedding, but sadly, this was all she could. 

She looked around, waiting to find one glimpse of kavin, who seemed to be found nowhere, she was about to dial for him when suddenly, she felt her head was spinning around, she felt herself loose her balance as she was standing, just when she was about to grab hold of her head, her eyes were shut and collapsed to the ground.