What Maddy Deserved!

It was the day of Reena’s wedding. Her family was very excited, but none of them noticed the sorrow on Reena’s face. Shruti was by her side all day long, dressing her up, and helping her with the make-up and jewelry. “Forget about him, please smile. It’s your day today”, Shruti consoled Reena. But Reena was as silent as an upcoming thunderstorm.

Rajiv was outside with his friends and family, hoping to soon marry the beautiful, self-made Chartered Accountant, Reena Malhotra, who lived alone in Mumbai for the last three years. As independent as Reena was, she was an obedient daughter, who never disrespected her parents. She had always trusted them and this is what had made her believe in their choice of groom for her – ‘Rajiv Samra’ from Seattle, U.S.

But today, something was not right. Reena had clearly told Maddy (Madhav Shastri) a week ago, that no matter what, she would marry ‘the real Rajiv from America’ and not the imposter who had duped her into falling in love with him. Maddy cried and cried and finally was about to take off for San Francisco for his upcoming contract worth millions of dollars, leaving behind the rogue life he enjoyed in Mumbai, his friends, and his dad, DD (Mr. Deendayal).

Reena got up from her seat, leaving her makeup behind, and walked straight out, where the wedding mandap was set up. Everyone was surprised to see the bride like this. They all knew something was wrong. Rajiv stepped ahead and asked Reena, “Reena, are you okay?”.

Reena replied in a sad but strong voice, “No Rajiv. It is my wedding today, and I am still thinking about Maddy. I cannot let him out of my mind even for a minute. I am sorry Rajiv, but with Maddy’s thoughts hovering all over my mind, I will not be able to marry you”.

Rajiv was shocked. He had realized this before as well but had just not accepted it. Rajiv’s and Reena’s parents stared at both of them, not sure what to make of the situation. Shruti just stepped up to pull the parents aside, so that the bride and the groom could talk without further making a scene. She tried to explain the situation to the parents in the meanwhile.

Rajiv said, “So that’s it, I guess. I will not force you, Reena. If you want to marry him, you are free to go. I will call off the wedding. I will set you free, Go Reena, Go to him”.

Reena looked at Rajiv with astonishment, “What! You want me to go and marry Madhav Shastri? That’s what you thought when I said I cannot get Maddy out of my mind! Rajiv, an arrogant bully, a conman tricked me into believing that he was you. I fell for his lies; that was really stupid of me. But if I let him get away with this, every other roadside creep will get the notion that this is how gullible girls are. If you want a girl to marry you, just fool her and she will be yours. She will chase you down the airport and hug you in front of everyone, professing her true love, which developed over 5 days, that too because of lies. NO Rajiv! That’s NOT me. Madhav Shastri will not get away with this. He has committed a crime and he should not go out of India and live a peaceful life, cherishing the fact that he got away so easily. Please call the police, Rajiv. I need to report everything that happened to me; right now, right here. That is my priority for now”.

Rajiv’s friends called the police and Reena and Shruti told them the entire story. How Reena’s telephone line had been cut; how Reena was stalked by Madhav and his friends; how he impersonated ‘Rajiv from America’; how he beat up her cousin ‘Ashok’ who tried to protect Reena; how he threatened Rajiv Samra and broke the furniture in his uncle’s house; how he entered Reena’s office and threatened her in the elevator; how he even said to Reena, “had I wished, I could have done ‘anything’ to you while we were all alone”, displaying his true intentions – every detail was reported.

Reena’s parents were shocked to know what their daughter had been through. But Reena, supported by Rajiv, named all of Maddy’s friends and his father Mr. Deendayal too, as an accomplice to his elaborate plans to con Reena.

Finally, Rajiv and Reena married each other later that day. At night, as Maddy was about to board his flight to San Francisco with tears of parting from Reena in his eyes, there she was! She had come with Rajiv by her side, with sindoor in her hair and mangalsutra around her neck, and a group of policemen around her, charging towards Maddy with the arrest warrant.

Maddy was shocked that Reena would do this to him. He still claimed that Reena loved him and tried to persuade her to forgive him. But, his destiny had been sealed the very day, his own father gave him this stupid idea of being an imposter and tricking an innocent girl this way.

Madhav Shastri was arrested and locked up, awaiting further proceedings in his case. He faced a trial that went long. His San Francisco project was taken away from him. His career in Mumbai was ruined. His father went from riches to rags to pay for his lawyers and other expenses. His friends were by his side throughout the ordeal, but couldn’t do much, as the charge sheet had their names too.

Finally, Reena and Rajiv moved on with their lives. Reena was happy to be with the gentleman she deserved and she did fall in love with him some time later. Rajiv helped her heal with her shattered heart and loved her much more than anyone else. Initially, Rajiv went to Seattle for a while after their marriage and Reena continued her job in Mumbai. But later, as Rajiv came to know how much Reena loved Mumbai, he gave up his job in the US to relocate to Mumbai to live with his beautiful and talented wife Reena forever.