Yamini took a deep breath. “Bharat Jogra was the man I ran away from before the wedding.”
Silence fell between them.
Pooja blinked once. Twice. She seemed too stunned to speak.
Yamini didn’t look away. “Five years ago. I told you that my parents disowned me for running away from my wedding. It was with Bharat Jogra.”
Pooja stared as though Yamini had just confessed she’d once robbed a bank.
“Oh my God.”
Yamini understood her friend’s shock.
“You told me you ditched an arranged marriage,” Pooja said slowly. “I assumed… I don’t know.” She waved a hand. “Some short man with a grey moustache and a potbelly who constantly burps.”
“That sounds like my uncle,” Yamini muttered.
Pooja’s eyes widened further. “But Maharaja Bharat Singh Jogra?” She said it like she was saying the name of a myth. “That man is handsome in a way that should be illegal. And powerful. And—” She frowned, processing. “You were engaged tohim, and you ran away?”
“Yes.”
“On purpose?”
“Yes.”
Pooja still appeared shocked and confused. “But how did you get engaged to him? Rani Suchitra Devi’s family is allowed to marry only royals.”
Yamini hesitated for a moment. “I’m a royal too,” she muttered. “Princess Yamini Gaur.”
Pooja leaned back, stunned. “Okay, I need something stronger than coffee.”
Yamini exhaled. The confession had been sitting in her chest like a stone. Saying it out loud didn’t make it lighter, but it made it real.
Except for her ex-husband and her immediate family, no one knew Yamini Dhar was Princess Yamini Gaur from the Gaur royal family.
She had used a different professional name because of her father.
During her childhood, her father called photography a frivolous pursuit and made his disapproval clearly known. So, she had used a different last name to submit her photographs for various competitions in which she won several awards.
And even after she had eloped and built a new life in another country, she continued to use the same name for her professional career.
Pooja stared at her. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because my family disowned me after I married Rahul.” Yamini’s chest tightened. “I’m not exactly a princess anymore.”
Pooja’s expression softened. “That doesn’t stop you from being their daughter.”
Yamini looked away.
“Tell me what happened,” Pooja said, her voice gentling.
Yamini stared at her hands. “The alliance was arranged because our mothers were friends.”
Pooja let out a faint gasp. “As in Rani Suchitra Devi?”
Yamini nodded.
“Okay,” Pooja muttered. “I’m definitely fainting in this café.”
