"if he does not want to marry you ...then i will"
His voice echoed through the wedding hall.
Everyone froze.
My hands turned cold… my mind went completely blank.
"Who… who are you?" I managed to ask.
He stepped forward slowly, his eyes locked only on me.
"Your past…" he said quietly.
Murmurs spread across the hall. The groom shouted in anger,
"What is this nonsense? Throw him out!"
But before anyone could react… the stranger grabbed my hand.
His touch… felt strangely familiar.
"Leave me!" I pulled my hand away.
He smiled slightly.
"Forgot me already?"
My heartbeat skipped.
"What do you mean?"
He took out a small pendant from his pocket…
the same pendant… I had never shown to anyone.
"This belongs to you… or should I say, it used to?" he said, staring into my eyes.
My breath hitched.
"How do you have this?"
He leaned closer and whispered—
"Because you gave it to me… that night… when we got married."
Boom.
It felt like everything inside me shattered.
"That's a lie!" I shouted, but my voice was trembling.
Just then, the priest interrupted—
"The auspicious time is passing… make a decision."
My family looked at me with pressure in their eyes…
the groom had already stepped back.
I looked at the stranger again.
"If this is true… prove it."
He smiled faintly.
"There's only one way to prove it…"
"What?"
Without saying another word…
he filled my hairline with sindoor.
The entire hall went silent.
Tears rolled down my cheeks .
Was this a wedding…
or the beginning of something far more dangerous?