the shared bride

Ranveer's pov

As I sat in the the room my mom brought us me and my younger brother yugveer to see a girl for marriage she already fixed without our consent . I leaned back on the stif sofa , only half listening as our mothers exchanged forced laughter and talked about horoscopes and family values

My father was not here as he have more work to do than to get bored here like us , i don't want this marriage but still I am here sitting like a statue.

These arranged meetups always felt like negotiations - not relationships

I didn't bother asking her name

Until she entered

The clinking of her bangles came before I saw her , then she entered in the room

And everything stilled

She wasn't dresss to impress - just a simple red saree, her hair was tied back not a single strand out of place. Head lowered.moment cautious. Like she was trying to make herself invisible

But she couldn't not to me

She looked up - just for a second . Our eyes met

Something shifted

A quiet jolt ran through me . There was nothing bold in her gaze , no challenge , no flirtation. Only silence . Soft . Unspoken. But it said so much

She looked .... Trapped

And yet dignified

That one look shouldn't have mattered but it did

I watched her as she bent to offer tea, her hands trembling just enough to notice . She didn't speak. No polite greetings, no shy giggles like her sister
Her sister was doing flirt with my brother and i can clearly see he was uninterested in his fiance. But I was clearly intrested in mine

Then i listened to my mom's voice
"Why don't you go to talk for a few minutes"i nearly rolled my eyes. What was the point she has already arranged my marriage against my will.

But ira stood up slowly, her eyes still not meeting mine , and quietly led me to balcony

And somehow .....i followed

She stood there with her back straight , her hands clasped in front of her, staring somewhere over the ceiling

I cleared my throat, searching for something - anything - to say"so .... Ira right..."

She nooded. No words.

"What are you thinking doll" i said but i don't know why I said i knew her name but then why I said her doll i am doomed I am going crazy I think

"My name is Ira.... Not doll" she said frowning , this made me inter nally chuckle

I don't know what is happening to me I was earlier cold , ruthless and never cared about others but now why I am like this.

"What do you do"- I asked

"I did my 12th and then i couldn't study further" she said her face clearly showing signs of nervousness

But then i listened to a voice "it's ok baby" it was yugveer he said this to Ira while caressing her cheek . Why he is doing this to my fiance while his fiance is right in front of him

Earlier i noticed also that he was only seeing Ira and he doesn't even glanced to see pari a single time

While pari was standing sad

Yugveer's pov

I wasn't supposed to be looking at her.

She wasn't mine. She was Veer's fiancée. The girl our parents had chosen for the eldest son of the Rathore family.

But from the moment Ira Malhotra walked into that room, everything else faded.

My own fiancée sat beside me, whispering sweetly to impress our mother. She looked perfect-on paper. Pretty, polished, predictable. But I felt nothing. No pull. No curiosity. No spark.

But Ira?

She was a storm trapped in silence. There was something raw about her, something delicate and haunted. Her eyes darted nervously, never settling, but when they briefly met mine-it felt like someone had knocked the breath out of my lungs.

I looked away first. I had to.

This wasn't right.

I kept my gaze on the table, pretending to listen, pretending not to notice how Veer barely looked at her. He was too focused on his posture, on the elders, on the reputation of the Rathores. Typical.

But I noticed everything about her.

The way her fingers fidgeted with her dupatta. The way her eyes screamed for help no one else seemed to hear.

I shouldn't care.

But I did.

And as I sat there, beside a girl I couldn't imagine a future with, I found myself wishing-just once-that fate had picked differently.

That she was sitting next to me.

Not her

Not like this.

I couldn't sleep.

I lay on my bed, staring at the ceiling, but all I could see were her eyes. Quiet. Dull. Almost... broken.

I shouldn't care.

Ira Malhotra was just another girl chosen to become part of our family. She belonged to Veer now. That was the rule, the plan, the arrangement. And yet-why did I feel like something had gone terribly wrong?

Pari had tried to talk to me, tried to hold my attention, smile like we already shared something. But every word she said grated on my nerves. Too loud. Too cheerful. Too fake.

She wasn't the one I was curious about.

It was Ira. The way she kept her distance. The way her fingers clutched the edge of her dupatta like it was her only shield. The way she never once met my brother's gaze.

Was she scared of him? Of all of us?

Or was she simply... not allowed to speak?

God, what was I doing? Thinking about her like this? I was engaged now. Pari was going to be my wife.

Then why did it feel like I was the one who had lost something?

A part of me wanted to believe I was imagining it-that maybe Ira was just shy. But another part, a louder, darker part, kept whispering: She didn't belong there. Not beside Veer. Not in this house. Not like that.

And somewhere deep inside... I wished-
I wished she had been promised to me instead.

Pls tell me if you like this story or not and pls tell me that what you don't like and what should be changed

Pls tell me me if you want both brothers to come close to Ira a little fast or a little slow

Don't forget to vote and comment it gives me confidence to write more chapters like this for you all