Chapter 3

Kabir's POV

It had been 96 hours...4 days... and nothing. Proximity had meant nothing, since he couldn't reach out to her or her to him. He could only guess as to what was happening next door, but here he was unable to do anything, all due to the promise Daadi had exacted from him.  A promise that had achieved nothing other than to reinforce the fact that Rachna was facing only God knew what without him beside her; where he should have been during this time. Cursing the position he found himself in, he jerked open his laptop thinking that scanning through the emails that had to have amassed over the last few days would pass the time until he could ..."What the Hell?"

" ...therefore, as the final step of Miss Rachna Garg's application to enter our student exchange program for the upcoming semester, we respectfully request the completion the attached recommendation form on or before..."

Kabir grabbed his mobile, all thought of his promise gone, Rachna, if nothing else owed him an explanation for this madness.

Rachna's POV

Had it only been 4 days?  Oh God, she had known that it would be bad, but how could her life have changed so drastically in just 96 hours? Other than the ability to reverse time, leaving would be the only way she could bring pause to the disaster that loomed ahead.

After Leaving KT's home, and under the pretext of being unwell, Rachna had been ushered to her bedroom and on closing the door her Mother had unleashed her fury and more so her disappointment in her.  She had borne it all, every accusation, Liar, Untrustworthy, Shameless; had felt that she had no defense against any of them. Only when the charge of taking advantage of her was levelled against KT, had she responded, never would she allow anyone to doubt his character, not even her mother. But no explanation would do, not that he loved her and she, him nor that she had been the one who had insisted keeping their relationship a secret had mattered, nothing would allay her Mother's distress that evening.

She could have easily accepted not seeing him, the fact that she would need to leave her job, but not what would come next. That the next day only worsened the situation made Rachna feel as if destiny itself had turned against her.

"She watched me praying and decided that I was the perfect match for her son? Who does that, and for heaven's sake what would make Aunt Seema encourage her, a practical stranger? No...no this is not happening, not now...please God not now, please show me a way out of this"

So the arrival of the email had seemed a message from heaven itself: Student Exchange Program with UK University, subject areas as follows ... Could this be the reprieve she desperately sought?

The third day had proved no better, as if all of a sudden everyone had been ready to give her away, this unexpected marriage offer was seriously being considered. Trying to reach out to her mother had proved futile, the pain of  betraying of her trust  was still evident in her eyes, yet  still Rachna had felt relief that Papa hadn't been told what had happened. Perhaps her mother had not forgiven her, but Rachna knew then that neither had she been forsaken.

Decisions had been taken by day 4 and it seemed that Rachna's only hope was to delay...but by now, she had felt that she was in this battle alone, even Gunjan had been against her plan. Their exchange had been heated, and in Rachna's opinion a waste of time, as there had just been no other option.

"Rachna, you are being too hasty, at least..."

"At least what, can't you see there's no time to wait, if I wait..."

"But you should at least discuss it with Kabir"

"No! I'm the cause of this, and I need to resolve this. Besides do you see him, have you heard from him, because I certainly haven't! "

"Rachna, that's not fair..."

"Well right now my life isn't fair, but Gunjan please, please understand, I need to fix this. If not for my decisions, my lies, none of this would have happened, If I hadn't been such a coward... oh what now... Hello, Hello... Oh God even this stupid phone isn't working!"

"Rachna, please you have to reconsider, you can't just leave."

"Nay Gunjan, none of this should have happened, so I can't stay. Do you really expect me to stay for a marriage I don't want?  How can you of all people ask this of me?"