Published On :- 26/03/2023

This is just a pre-author's note. Nothing to add to the words count.
The actual one shot starts after the 'Ruthvika' banner. TEEN_FIX, here is my submission for your 'Women's Day Short Story Writing Contest.'

Just some help for my non Hindi readers. Although all of the dialogues are in English, I know many of you may have problems in pronouncing the names of the characters, so here it is. I am also giving their meanings.

1. Ruthvika ↬ रूथ्वीका (Ruth-vee-ka)
↓
Speech, Goddess Saraswati

2. Kahani ↬ कहानी (Ka-haa-ni or kuh-haa-nee)
↓
Story, Tale, Fable, Recital, Narrative

3. Kratav ↬ कृतव or क्रतव (Kra-tav)
↓
God Trimurti

4. Kavya ↬ काव्य (Kaa-v-ya)
↓
Poetry in Motion

“नन्ही सी कायल ह वो,
उसमें निहार जाती हूँ मैं।
जब भी वो हँसती है,
उसे देखकर खुश हो जाता हूँ मैं।”

~ Kahani 

“Maano Toh Tum Khushi Ki Kirno Jaisi 
Na Maano Toh Andheron Ko Bhi Roshani Si

Ab Tak Toh Thi Tum Chandani Jaisi 
Ab Banogi Tum Tez Katar Si. ”

~ Kavya 

The first thing I register while still half asleep is the sound of birds and gentle drizzle of rain from outside. It still seems too early. The sweet smell of wet earth filled my nostrils as I opened my eyes. Stretching my limbs a bit, I snuggle more into Kavya. For some minutes we just lay there like some threads tangled up. He's awake, I know that, as his lips kick up at the corners when I plant a little kiss on his forehead. His arms tighten around me, as I try to come out of his hands. 

“Kavya!” I call out whining, feeling him pulling me more to himself. “Let go.” I whisper the words. 

“What did he eat?? ROCKS!!!” 

Pulling the blanket with me, I walked to the windows and gazed at the early morning dew drops. The view was breathtaking. As I opened the windows, the cool breeze brushed against my face, and I closed my eyes. Enjoying. 

Opening my eyes, I look at the serene, calm forest. The sky’s a canvas of crystal hues, painted with violets and yellows, where colours were flowing like rivulets of free water stream, blending into a masterpiece that nature’s creating. 

The bright nature and the rain however today seems to remind me of the past that I have moved on from. 

Today I am the author of one of the world famous fantasy series and a poetess that went by the pen name ❛Kahani❜. My husband, Kratav, loves when I call him ❛Kavya❜ as I had once told him that the MMC in my fantasy series was inspired by him. Never imagined that I could even reach this height of respect and success as I think about everything that led to this day. 

As I reminisce those nightmares and go down memory lane , a shiver goes down my spine and mist covers my eyes, my fingers clutch tightly onto the glass railing that was on our balcony. 

Life for women in the 1970s/1980s is worse than one can imagine. And the most toxic part that I’ve noticed is the older generation of women themselves serving and feeding patriarchy to their daughters and all the other women around them. 

I too, for that matter, was nothing more than a pawn, a perfect little doll caged in a dollhouse house in my rich and posh biological family's game of fame. I was born in Kolkata and brought up in a staunch and rigidly religious, rich family that lived in 'The Spiritual Capital Of India' aka Varanasi. Though I wish somebody had told me that being born with a silver spoon could be this lethal. 

Having to stand up against my family's toxic patriarchal beliefs was harder that I envisioned. My parents wanted me to become a trophy wife and a literal sex slave to my husband, just like the rest of the Desai women. But I was different. I dreamt of becoming a writer and writing books that would inspire people. Today, I am an author and my novels are my way of living. 

Though it all came at a huge price.

I am glad that I refused to marry someone who would suppress my voice and limit my potential. For the first time in my eighteen years of life I had refused my parents. 

Being raised my whole life to be an obedient daughter who would go on to become a perfect little wife for her husband was starting to kill me. I was suffocating with all the questions asked by unimportant people in my life whose sole purpose seemed to be to see me get married and pop out babies like popcorn. All the nonsensical advice that I would get on how to be a perfect wife. 

# 1 : Never question your husband and never look in his eyes, out of respect. 

# 2 : Eat and sleep only after everyone in the family has eaten and slept,  but wake up before anyone in the family does. 

# 3 : Give birth to a son, if it's a daughter then be ready to pop out kids until it's a boy. 

And so went on the unasked, deadly and torturous recommendations by some ungodly people who I didn't even know. Their opinion once again was making me question their sanity and even mine for listening to them. 

When my mother and other ladies would tell me these things, I would question myself, “Wasn't I supposed to be the most beloved and perfect daughter of Desai family, that's exactly what everyone always told me growing up and yet none of these advices made me feel so, I mean who would feel like a human after implementing these torture techniques in their married life's? Hell! Only listening to them made me feel more of a walking zombie, than a 'perfect wife'. 

I never dared to raise these questions in front of those women, for only Kanha Ji would know what they would do to me after that, as a 'proper lady' never questions her family's upbringing.

My parents had forcefully tried to marry me off to a misogynistic man with rigid beliefs named Debashish Sengupta, a Bengali businessman already married to three women, each younger than the previous one, and had two mistresses, he kept housed on opposite sides of Varanasi. At least 20 years older than me with a terrible temper and loved hitting his wives.  

Deashish was a manwhore who was brought up with an attitude where he firmly believed that he had money so he could get any woman and a female's only place was under his shoes. Always found with a new woman in his bed every night. Inshort, my family had sold me to this narcissistic man.

When my then on-off mafia boyfriend, Kratav Chaudhary came to know about this, he furiously marched into my marriage along with a livid Advika and Adrika, my cousin sisters and best underworld assassins. They went all beast mode on him and his rapist father who was no less than his son. Their death was brutal would be an understatement and it sent out a message to the so called high-class society not to mess with my husband.

I came out of my daydream as Kavya’s huge arms came around me tightly from behind, his face hiding in the crook of my neck as he placed kisses on my neck. Blood rushes to my cheeks, as I feel his hot breath on my skin. He turned me around to face him and kissed my forehead, wishing me a little good morning before leaving to bathe. As he walks away, I look at his retreating figure and admire his hot, chiselled body. 

Last night was quite wild, and with my hair messed up, and my saree untucked, I surely must look like a witch. I shook my head, trying to get rid of the unholy thoughts, and went to another bathroom to get ready.

After wearing a saree, getting my shringar on and completing my morning prayers, I go down but stop on the stairs for a moment with my mouth open as I find, Adrika-Raja, Farmaan-Suryaani, Advika-Mrityunjay and Kashvi-Nirbhay sitting in my living room. Like always, Farmaan and Suryaani were fighting while the rest seemed busy romancing. I groaned, catching their attention, and they looked at me with besharam smiles, accompanied by evil and mischievous looks. 

In the meanwhile, my sons Prithvi and Rithvik came running towards me in a sleepy state and cuddled me, making my dearest husband scowl at them from the kitchen. He is always jealous, sulks seeing me showering my love and kisses on those little devils as he likes to call them. 

With narrowed eyes, I asked my daredevil sisters and the rest of the monkeys what they were doing at my house at such an early morning. None of them were early risers except Adrika and Advika.

If you want to wake these Kumbhkarans then you definitely will have to be screaming at the top of your lungs, only then would they move, that too if they wanted to. 

Adrika replied, “Di, I wanted to make a 3D nature painting, so I came here and the rest of your darling monkeys decided that it was a great idea to join me  since Holi was also today. They want to play Holi here, and then tomorrow, I can complete my painting outside in the forest.” Her voice turned to whining from complaining. 

Makes sense, since she and I have an allergy to artificial colours and would be terribly sick if either of us inhaled or touched even slightest of those coloured powders. 

I was horrified and asked the rest of them to leave immediately in a stern voice. As stern as I could manage. Keeping my hands on my waist I glared at the seven hullabaloos who looked at me with puppy eyes and pleaded to stay here.

“Absolutely not.” I replied without an inch of mercy. Knowing these crack nuts, they will surely try to colour me and Rika with those crushed powders. 
But then again, being the eldest sibling means you are quite partial when the younger ones ask you for something and even when I don’t like playing with colours I allowed them after a lot of pleading. The kids, Adrika and Kavya seemed to be enjoying themselves. 

Well, 7 well grown adults almost on their knees with puppy dog eyes, pleading to a 5 feet nothing woman, that too only for playing Holi definitely must be a hilarious sight. 

I allowed them only on 1 condition that they will not use any of those artificial coloured powders and instead can make their own colours, to which not so surprisingly they all agreed. 

I watch as my husband expertly handles the chaos in the kitchen, cooking up a storm for everyone. His love for me, our children and our family is evident in the way he takes care of us, even in the smallest of ways. I know I can always count on him to be there for me, to support me in all my endeavours. 

I feel warmth and happiness fill me up as I look around at my family, all of them laughing and teasing each other. It's been a while since we've all been together like this. 

After breakfast, we all head outside to enjoy the beautiful weather. The rain has stopped and the sun is peeking out from behind the clouds. Those monkeys are busy setting up for their Holi celebration, while Kratav and I take our children to explore the forest around us.

As we walk hand in hand, I can't help but think about how far I've come. I had always been told that as a woman, my only purpose in life was to get married and have children. But I knew that I wanted more than that. And I had refused to give up on my dreams, even when my own family had disowned me. It had been a difficult journey, but I had found my way home, to a life I love. 

As we make our way back to the cottage, I see that my sisters have started their Holi celebration. I watch as they throw coloured flowers at each other, laughing and dancing to the music. 

And then, before I know it, Kavya has taken my hand and we're dancing together, surrounded by our family. The flowers are flying everywhere, but I don't care. All I care about is this moment, this moment of pure joy and happiness.

As the day draws to a close, I find all of my siblings and children lying on the couch and floor in our house spread like starfish and breathing heavily after a day full of running and playing around. 

As I think of my parents, I can feel a dull ache in my chest, because no matter what, at the end of the day they were my parents and I loved them dearly even if I had been disowned by the Desai family. But I know that I have my new family by my side, that we will face whatever comes our way together. And for now, that's enough.

At night as we lay in bed with Kavya by my side, listening to the sound of the rain outside, I know that I am exactly where I am meant to be. With my family, my true family, my home. And I am grateful for every moment that I get to spend with them.

Word Count :- 2092 words (Exact words accounted from after 'Ruthvika' banner till end, “And I am grateful for every moment that I get to spend with them.”

Author's Note :-

So, how was it? 

I know many of you will recognise some of the other characters from HCP, and some of these shall be introduced later on.

This was just a one shot on their Happily Ever After. You will meet all of these characters again in my other books, “His Clawed Petal” and “Roohdariyaan”.

This one shot still doesn't have all the conversations between the characters and all of the extra masala. But it will all be there in their own book.

Yes, these two shall have their own story, you will get to see them fight in their own novel. Though, do not ask me when. I still need to complete HCP first.

TBH, this one feels as if I have used the first element prompt with a sprinkle of elements from all the other prompts. I just realised this after writing it all and when I went back to check and the prompt in the copyrights chapter. *facepalming*

Until then, Adios!!

Love, 
Hades's Kore (Your Author Sahiba)