Chapter 17

Walls Within Blood

The next morning at the Raisinghania mansion carried a different tension.

Veeresh was in the sitting hall, reviewing documents, when his father’s voice called out from the staircase.

“Veeresh.”

He looked up.

His father descended slowly, dignity intact, authority visible.

“I heard you got married.”

“Yes,” Veeresh replied calmly. “I did.”

“Without informing the family?” his father asked, displeasure evident. “Without discussion? Without rituals?”

Veeresh’s face remained expressionless. “I don’t think it was necessary.”

His father’s eyes hardened. “Marriage is not a business deal.”

Veeresh stood up.

“She is my wife. Poornima,” he said firmly, gesturing toward where she stood quietly near the hallway. “That is enough.”

There was no introduction filled with pride.

No emotional acknowledgment.

Just a statement.

Before the conversation could stretch further, Veeresh picked up his coat. “I have work.”

And he walked away.

No argument.

No explanation.

Just distance.

—

Poornima stood there, absorbing everything silently.

No one tried to stop him.

No one tried to question him further.

It wasn’t anger in that house.

It was detachment.

As if everyone had learned long ago not to expect closeness from him.

She noticed it then — he wasn’t bonded to anyone.

Not his father.

Not fully to his stepmother.

Not even to the memory of his past.

There was a wall around him.

Thick.

Intentional.

And she found herself wondering why.

Why am I thinking about this? she asked herself.

He had clearly told her — this marriage was protection.

Nothing else.

No expectations.

No emotional claims.

Yet…

Why did his loneliness disturb her?

Why did she feel the urge to understand him?

Why did she want to break those walls he so carefully maintained?

She looked at the mangalsutra resting against her neck.

This bond may have begun as protection.

But her heart was quietly stepping into something more dangerous.

Something forbidden.

And she knew—

If she wasn’t careful, she would be the only one who fell.

One line:
He built walls around his family — and she was unknowingly walking toward them.