A flame in the Storm

Chapter 25

"She lives on the third floor," Rashmi said removing her face veil as I pulled into an apartment. "We studied engineering here. She was my best friend. She is the only one I am in contact with."

"Hey Rashmi, you made It" her friend exclaimed as she opened the door.

"Hey Niki" Rashmi hugged her. Turning to me Rashmi said, "this is Maria, because of her I am here."

"Thank you so much, Maria. You did the greatest favor on us. We will be forever grateful to you." Her friend was a chubby person with pearl white skin and black curly hair.

I nodded with a short smile. I hadn't been in contact with any person other than my family for three years and sudden exposure to strangers made me timid.

"This is Nikita," Rashmi said throwing an arm around her friend.

"Hi" I muttered.

"Come on in," Nikita said making way. It was a small apartment with an open kitchen in the living room and two bedrooms. I removed my face veil and took a deep breath.

"Why don't you freshen up till I arrange food?" Nikita suggested.

"Great idea" Rashmi chimed.

Nikita showed me the washroom. I removed my burqa and pulled my hair into a ponytail. They now reached my shoulders. I always wore a full hands t-shirt to cover my marks on hands and jeans.

"Oh my god. You are beautiful." Nikita said as I entered the living room. "Why do you keep yourself so covered?"

It was after a long time someone had called me that, and I hated it.

"Indeed she is" Rashmi added coming from the other room. She was wearing traditional kurta pajama a size bigger than hers. All those remarks made me conscious of myself and I pulled my sleeves without answering anything. Only if they knew what was beneath it.

"I have prepared Vegetable Biryani," Nikita said putting the dish on the table.

"Yumm," Rashmi said rubbing her palms. I joined them on the table. We savored food as we were feeling famished after the long drive.

"What happened?" I asked Rashmi at the table referring to the blue bruise on her arm.

"Long story," she said with contempt on her face.

"What are you studying?" Nikita asked interrupting us.

"B.com first year" I lied. That should have been the reality but it was not and I didn't want to explain to them why?

"You are a brave girl," she said "helping someone who you barely knew."

There was nothing worse that could have happened to me and that gave me the courage.

"I felt she was in dire need of help" I replied.

"She was," Nikita said squeezing Rashmi's hand and she gave her a sad smile.

"What's your story?" I asked. "I want to know why you ran from your husband."

She exhaled deeply keeping down the spoon said: "this marriage was done against my wish and it destroyed my life."

"Why?"

"While I was in engineering I fell in love with my classmate. He was the best man I ever knew in my life. No one knew about us except Nikita. Everyone thought us three to be a group of best friends and we kept it that way. But as the days of our college were coming to an end, the thought of being away from him started bothering me. So we decided that we would tell our parents about us and get married and face the future together. Gathering courage I told my parents about us after our final exams. They didn't give me any reaction, neither anger nor disappointment. I thought they would accept us. What a dream world I was in. but I had no idea what they had in mind. They said we will consult our elders and took me to our village; most of my family resided there. She broke down into tears at the memory. Nikita hugged her sideways. "It's okay; you are out from that hell." Calming herself Rashmi continued "after reaching there, they married me to a guy who hadn't even passed schooling and was 15 years older to me."