Mésalliance (Completed)

Chapter 3

Everything felt miserable to her ears after learning about the will. She denied the marriage to her father's face and didn't regret that. She wouldn't let frivolous paper sabotage her freedom. Her mother pleaded with her to think before deciding. Once she had decided, she will act upon that.
"Your father is a heart patient. Don't forget that," her mother warned her. Madhu had seen the movie clips of emotional blackmail which became a reality. She had started to lose her courage to oppose the will.
Along with the name of the traitor, she would be called her father's murderer. Other people would judge her situation without experiencing her turmoil. She would be an orphaned, Freebird.
The business already faced some monetary issues with loans and losses. She wanted to settle in a low-key farm instead. Her father opposed her idea.
She didn't know what to decide. She just had thirty days to decide, engage and marry that guy. She hoped for him to deny the wedding but realised that every person needs money. He might too.
She had to sell herself in the name of marriage to satisfy everyone. The idea made her hysterical.
Madhu capsized her room in anger. The entire cupboards were vandalised and the items were broken or torn. The floor reminded a junkyard, reflecting her mindset.
She cried for the pain caused by the wounded heart.
"What the hell?" Her brother, Madhav gasped at the sight of her room. She sat near the door with smeared makeup and red eyes.
"Where were you, bastard? Why didn't you support me?" She shouted at him. Madhav pitied her, "I am at a loss for words now." He would have volunteered for the marriage if possible. He never had the heart to see his sister cry but his grandfather made her a puppet.
Everything changed within a night.
"Just get lost!" She told him off. someone outside the family only could relate to her situation and won't consider the inheritance over her feelings.
*******

"Oh! Darling..." Her best friend, Ankitha ran towards her at three a.m. She was followed by Madhav inside the room. It pained him that Madhu was confined to someone else instead of him.
"I am sorry to hear the issue," Ankitha hugged Madhu tightly. She could understand the predicament Madhu faced for her family.
"I am confused," Madhu whispered in tears. "They ordered me to marry easily as if I was nothing to them."
"It's not like that," Madhav defended their parents but Ankitha silenced him with a glare. Madhu felt that her family should have supported her. Madhav couldn't keep his mouth shut, "The business is the eldest child of our father."
"That child gives us a headache!" Madhu retorted at him. The next minute, Ankitha dropped a death stare and he was ejected out of the bedroom.
"You don't have to quit on freedom," Ankitha consoled Madhu. "You can deny it since you have the option."
Madhu agreed with her. She graduated two months ago and wanted to pursue higher education. Her father proposed she join the family business which she hated.
Every week her brother would bring up the topic of loans pending and she felt the business was a loss-loss situation.
Ankitha added her views, "We are just twenty-one. It's not the age to sacrifice life for the family. You don't need to marry for a reputation."
Madhu knew it was more than a reputation. It was saving what her parents built for many years. She closed her eyes to introspect the marriage.
Suddenly Madhav rushed inside her room in a panic, "Father had a heart attack!"
"Huh?!" Madhu stared at him like a statue unable to perceive his words.
Their fear of five years returned to them.
Before he could resume his words, Madhu lost consciousness.
********

"Huh!" Madhu woke up on an impulse and found herself within four plain walls. The room was dimly lit but she could identify the hospital ward with the nauseous smell of tincture. Her left hand was in pain with the IV line. She also heard the beeps of monitors beside her bed.
A snore reverberated inside the room which by the shadow of the person, she identified as Ankitha. Madhu felt thirsty and searched for water near her bed.
She pushed something onto the floor, waking up Ankitha. "Oh, Goodness!" Her friend exclaimed dramatically, rushing near her. "How are you?"
Madhu pointed for water by fisting her hand and Ankitha helped her to drink water. Madhu sat against the headboard slowly, hating the hospital. She witnessed her father becoming weak with the medicines and treatment.
"How is my father, Ankitha?" She couldn't think of ranting about her illness while her father was ailing. Ankitha said with a pout, "Operated and stable for now."
Madhu widened her eyes, "Operation? For what?"
She thought new medicines would be added to his prescription, not surgery.
"His heart stopped pumping blood. What else should be done?" Ankitha put forth a logical question. Surgery meant a big deal to Madhu even though she was aware of the everyday world.
She shared in a meek voice, "My father battled a lot to get to this position in life. I can't strip off his hard work for my freedom." She regretted her behaviour with him the previous night, "If I had to choose between my happiness and my father, it would be him. He is my happiness."
Ankitha nodded her head, "The doctors informed me that he is vulnerable for at least one year."
"Oh," Madhu drew in the stats. "How long was I-"
"Six hours," Ankitha interrupted her words. "You panicked and fell on the floor. I was terrified but Madhav told me that you had panic attacks before."
Madhu bent her head in embarrassment, "That was before our college days. So I didn't want to tell you."
Ankitha patted her shoulder, "It's your past and I don't care a bit."
Madhu smiled faintly. Inside her mind, there were fears of panic attacks. How could she manage it after her marriage?
"Do you still think I must not abide by the will?" Madhu questioned her friend and sighed. Ankitha nodded her head swiftly, "Don't you dare. If something happens to your father, the weight of guilt will be the heaviest." 
Madhu seemed hopeless and meek, "Yes. I would have to marry him."
Ankitha sighed, "Your father was shifted to his ward. Meet him and reveal your decision. Let's hope you have a good destiny."
Madhu tore her heart and soul to save her family. She took a deep breath, climbed down the bed and made her way towards her father's ward. When she opened the door, she found her father awake on his bed.
He was surprised to see her. She ran and hugged him tightly, spilling tears, "Father?" 
He patted her back, "I am alright. How are you feeling?"
She hiccupped between her sobs, "Please forgive me, Father. I didn't anticipate you to end up in hospital."
He lifted her face from his shoulder and wiped her tears, "You are innocent in this situation. I don't blame you for anything."
Her mother entered the room with a coffee tray. She wasn't pleased with the presence of Madhu, "Are you here to check if my husband is alive?"
Madhu walked to her, "Your lawyer brought me the trivia of inheritance. Don't mistake me."
Her father sighed, "You don't have to marry him. We can manage without the business." He hid the pain of losing what he valued more than his life.
"I am sorry to decide this late but I will meet them," Madhu interrupted him. "I am ready for the marriage."
"Don't decide hastily," he warned her, "I don't want to pressurise you into anything."
She declared, "I agree with the marriage."
********

"You aren't angry with me, right?" Her mother questioned Madhu. While her father slept because of his medication, they both waited outside. "You are too young to go through this."
Madhu couldn't understand her mother. She warned Madhu to consider her father's health the previous night and pitied her situation that morning. She disagreed, "It's not a bad idea to meet them."
"I always doubted your grandfather," her mother commented and sighed. "His intentions and mind as a lawyer irked me a lot."
Madhu listened keenly. It was the first time her mother discussed her in-laws.
"He crossed our life with this will. That man was witchy!" Her mother exclaimed. "This will don't give an option, it forces you. I don't know what that heir might have decided about this."
"Does it change anything?" Madhu asked her mother in a defeated voice. Her mother nodded, "If he says no, we can save our part of the share. Only his inheritance will go to the bidding."
Madhu calculated whether to laugh or cry. No human would decline the offer when their whole life was at stake. "He would have accepted this already, Mother," she sighed. He might have bought his wedding attire. He might be interested in getting the whole share and would be planning to kick her out of the wedding.
Her mother whimpered, "What sin did I commit to seeing you suffer?" Her tears pained Madhu, who controlled herself, "Mother, you always tell me that everything happens for a reason. Maybe this too has something good."
She also speculated about the groom to be a kind man. He knew the hardships of their arranged wedding and might be considerate.
"Whatever happens, I don't want you and your father to be guilty of this situation," Madhu smiled at her mother and pursed her hand.
Her mother patted her head, "You are a brave girl."
Little did she know the trembling of Madhu who wanted to be dead instead of that forced life.