• Amari POV•
Parking my scooty outside the house i was going to enter the house when I saw there were two cars already parked there. I didn't expect any visitors-not after my mother's health started to decline and my father passed away from too much drinking and leaving us with a major loan on our heads.
Brushing all this thought I entered the house where I saw a middle aged man already sitting in the living room on the couch. He looked straight toward me while smiling cunning.
" Ooh look you are here. We were waiting for you"
He said but before I can make sense of it I heard my mother's pleading voice
" Please leave her. We will repay all your loan soon but don't do this to us"
Listening to her I got confused and walked toward her
"Maa kya hua?? Kon hai ye?"
" Let me introduce myself to you dear"
I heard that man said while standing and turning towards us
" I'm Rajveer Mehrotra. Your father's boss from whom he took a loan of 10 crore and promised to return it within 1 year"
My brain stopped working after listening to this. Ten crore? This amount may sound normal or small to him but for people like us it's a huge amount. It's the amount that I may never earn throughout my life with a job that pays you only some thousand a month.
" So I came here to collect it after listening to the news of his death"
He said ever so casually as if he didn't just explode a bomb on us. Luckily my little brother, Aman was not here yet from his school or he would have slipped even more into depression than he already is.
Mother's hospital bill, Aman's fees, other gambling loans and household expenses I'm barely able to fulfill all of this with my penny like income now this too? How will I manage to get this big amount...leave manage from where will I even get it? My chain of thoughts were broken by him
" But I know it will be hard for you to repay it. So I got a solution for you"
I listened to him carefully and immediately a hope raised within me making me ask him in daze
" W-what solution? "
" Marry my son and I'll call it even for you"
I froze. My fingers froze in their place as if a huge bucket of cold water has been poured on me. Marriage? Is this a joke to him? But he continued
" Infact I'll also pay all of your other pending loan plus look after your mother's health and brothers education. What do you say?"
It took me a second to absorb all of this. Mom's health is deteriorating by each passing day and if soon we don't get her checked from a good doctor I fear something far worse can happen. Aman's fees is also pending from last few months as loans EMI is too much for me to manage paying all regularly.
Before I can think of anything I heard my mother's voice once again
" No! My daughter will not fulfill any of your this stupid condition. We will repay your loan in time but she won't marry him "
He turned towards me and started walking and stood right in front of me
" I know you're smart enough to understand what's best for you "
Saying this he took out a card and offered it towards me
" So here's my card it has my number, message me about your decision in two days or keep the cash ready"
I turned to look at my mother beside me one last time before walking off from there
The door clicked shut behind Rajveer Mehrotra with a finality that felt like a verdict. The sound echoed in Amari's bones long after he was gone, like a thud of gavel.
She stood motionless in the center of the room, her lungs working too fast for her to catch a full breath. Her fingers were still curled tightly around her keys-she hadn't even realized she'd been holding them like a weapon.
He had spoken with such calm authority. Not a threat, not a plea-just facts, layered with the cold weight of power. Her mother's medical bills, the overdue rent, her brother's school fees... He knew everything. And he didn't flinch when he named his price.
Marriage.
To his son.
To Laksh Malhotra-the same man who once graced headlines with brilliance and arrogance, now only mentioned in hushed tones since the accident.
Amari strode toward her room leaving her mother confused and shaken from all this event happened a few second ego
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
~IN AMARI'S ROOM~
Amari closed the door shut behind her and sat down on the floor.
Her vision blurred-not with tears, but with the sheer weight of it all. The decision had never been hers. Her silence had been twisted into compliance, her dignity bartered away in a transaction that made her feel small. Trapped. Bought.
She stared at the keys in her hand.
They were just keys. Cold. Ordinary. But in that moment, they were the only things keeping her from unraveling completely.
And still, her fingers began to tremble.
She had always been a fighter. For her mother. For her brother. For herself.
But who would fight for her now?
She sank to the edge of the couch, but it felt like sinking into nothingness-like gravity itself had betrayed her. Her knees refused to hold her up any longer. Her shoulders curled inward as though trying to protect something inside her that had already shattered.
The room was dim, the only light coming from the street lamp outside-cold and impersonal, slicing through the blinds in pale, unforgiving lines. The shadows stretched like claws across the floor, and suddenly even the walls felt too close, too sharp.
Her breath hitched.
She had thought herself strong. Resilient. She had weathered hospital corridors that smelled like despair, sat through lectures while her mind screamed about unpaid bills, skipped meals so her brother wouldn't have to. She had fought every day like it was war.
But this... this wasn't something she could fight.
This was surrender dressed as salvation.
And what terrified her most wasn't the proposition itself-it was the part of her that considered it. That numb, exhausted voice in the back of her head whispering: Maybe this is the only way. Maybe this is what sacrifice looks like.
Her hands shook harder now.
Laksh Malhotra.
Would he hate her for being forced into his life? Would he resent her presence the way she resented the lack of choices that brought her here?
What kind of life could they build on ruins?
She let the keys slip from her hand. They clattered to the ground with a sound that felt too loud in the silence, like the breaking of a spell. Or a promise. Or a dream.
Amari pressed her palms to her face, and for the first time in weeks-no, months-she let herself cry. Not the quiet, composed kind she was used to hiding. But real tears. Shaking sobs that left her breathless, aching, and raw.
Because she wasn't just grieving a choice she never got to make.
She was mourning the version of herself that had believed she would always have one.
2 days went by like a storm and nights went by and morning came like a whisper instead of roar
No birdsong. No warm sunlight. Just a pale gray light filtering through the curtains and the unsettling stillness that follows storms. The kind of morning where nothing had changed-and yet everything had.
I sat at the kitchen table, staring into a cup of tea gone cold. I haven't slept. The night had folded in on itself in silence and sobs, then finally faded into numbness.
There were no more tears left. Just the ache of surrender lodged in my chest like a stone.
I didn't need to look at my phone to know that Rajveer Malhotra would call.
He didn't seem like the kind of man who waited for answers-just confirmation. And I... I had no fight left for either.
The phone buzzed against the table.
Once.
Twice.
I picked it up before the third.
"Amari," came the calm, steel-edged voice. "I trust you've had time to think."
My lips parted, but the words didn't come easily. They clung to my throat, bitter and jagged. For a brief second, I thought I might hang up. Let the silence answer for me again.
But I cried my heart out last night, torn through every argument, every desperate plea inside my head. And all that was left now was resolve. Hollow, but real.
"Yes," I said, voice barely above a whisper. "I'll do it."
A beat of silence followed. I can imagine Rajveer Malhotra nodding on the other end, like a man who had just finalized a business deal-not a father arranging a marriage like a chess move.
"For Laksh's sake and yours," he said smoothly, "this will be the right decision."
Right.
I stared at my reflection in the kitchen window, barely recognizing the girl who looked back-tired eyes, lips pressed into a line too thin to be called a smile.
I didn't feel brave. Or noble. Or selfless.
I know mom will be angry when she learns about my decision but this is best I can do to save us all.
I felt like a lamb walking into the slaughter, whispering to herself that it was for love-for family, for duty, for survival.
And maybe that was enough.
I hung up before he could say anything else.
For a long moment, I sat there, letting the quiet seep into my bones again.
Because she wasn't just stepping into a marriag
e.
She was leaving a life behind.
----------------------------------------------------------
Please leave vote and share me about your thoughts on this one!!
It will really mean a lot to me.
Write a comment ...