Maya Sinha was a common girl from a middle-class family in Pune. She had a mother, father, older brother, and one younger sister. Her family was extremely conservative and orthodox when it came to their daughter's marriage. They would often parade her in front of the potential groom's families, dressing her up like a showpiece, but Maya always managed to sabotage the meetings one way or another.

She was twenty-three years old, a little chubby, cute, and childish—with a doll-like face that made her look younger than she actually was. Her mother would often scold her, saying no one would marry her if she kept acting like a child. But deep down, Maya wasn't being childish. She was terrified of marriage. Not because she was against love or commitment, but because she'd watched her mother slowly die inside their arranged marriage—smiling, cooking, serving, and obeying a husband who showed her no love whatsoever.

Maya didn't want that life. She'd rather die alone than live like her mother.

One Saturday evening, her family received an invitation to attend a relative's wedding. Maya's mother practically dragged her into a pink salwar kameez and rushed her into the car. At the wedding venue, the decorations were grand—fairy lights, marigold garlands, drumbeats echoing through the hall.

Maya stood near the food tables, picking at a plate of samosas, looking miserable. Her mother was already pushing her toward a group of women her age.

The reception hall was decked out in gold and maroon decorations, fairy lights strung across the high ceiling, and a live band playing Bollywood songs in the corner. Maybe two hundred guests filled the space — laughing, drinking, dancing. Families sat at long tables draped in silk, eating biryani and gulab jamun.

Rudra's mother, Priya Singhania, a sharp woman in her late fifties with perfectly styled hair and a red silk saree, was making her way through the crowd. She'd spotted Maya Sinha — a girl she'd been eyeing for some time, the daughter of a respectable family from Delhi.

Priya's eyes lit up. She changed course immediately, weaving between guests with the determination of a woman on a mission.