I was finally in a proper state of mind to get married, to settle down with a guy my parents chose for me. Having faced many hardships since my childhood, I had turned into an introvert. I've got a lovely family just like any other, that fights, teases, laughs and yet sticks together.

My parents gave me the best of everything! They made sure we get the best education. That's how I am now a holder of two Master Degrees. I'm a fervent believer of God who believes that everything is being directed by him and that's got a purpose. I was a brilliant student right from my childhood. So the other things of life mattered to me, just little. Having spent all of my life in hostels,

I became a loner, a person who's very afraid of the world, afraid to get into a gang of friends fearing that they may get me into bad habits. I was so afraid of God too, I believed that he's constantly watching what I'm up to and would punish me for my bad habits and wrong ways.

I am this nice girl, who never smoked, drank, never got intimate. I firmly believed that the best gift that a girl could give to her husband was her virginity. So I promised myself that no matter who comes along or what happens, I'm not going to give up my virginity before marriage.

I believed that being a nice girl, educated, good mannered will bring the right people into my life. I was completely wrong.

Studying too much deprived me of all the fun a girl of my age could have. It isolated me from all the fun of life. Initially I was a really talkative person, smart, fun to be with. But the struggles of life changed me into a simple, reserved person. After my first Master's degree, I got into a serious relationship with my senior from school for two years. It didn't work out for some reason and so we broke up. For three years I was away from all this — love, relationships, fun.

I had already given a nod to my parents to select a potential groom for me. A few alliances impressed me but I was just not ready for marriage yet.

After three years, I got a friend request from an unknown guy on Facebook. Usually I never accept random requests, but here we had mutual friends. So I went ahead and accepted the request. Later I found out that he was my friend's relative.

It all started with that one friend request from Girish. He started to text more often. We were surprised to know that we lived just next to each other. And we had so much in common. We started off with being friends. After a few days he said he wanted to speak with me and I hesitated to give him my number. He lived abroad so he requested me to at least speak over Skype. Then, just for him I created a Skype account and we started speaking for hours together.

It was like love at first sight, that teenage kind of love with butterflies in your stomach. The nervousness while speaking, the way you go weak in your knees the moment you think of him. There's so much that I can add to this. It all felt so fresh, so new. Everything around me suddenly looked beautiful. We felt like long lost soulmates who found their way back to each other.

We seemed to perfectly fit into each other's puzzles. We believe that we were made for each other. He's got this amazing sense of humour, the charm that nobody can let go of. I didn't care about looks, but he's good looking too. Soon, he became my world, my breath of fresh air and my life. On the very first call itself, he proposed to me for marriage.

I'm not so trusting but as days passed by, I felt it was all genuine, pure love. We used to talk over Skype almost every waking minute. As we both had our respective jobs, every free minute or second we'd spend in texting or calling each other. We shared every detail about our lives with each other.

With each passing day, I fell for him more and trusted him a lot more. We had dreams and plans for our future. We dreamt of our life after marriage. I know all this might sound stupid. But you do not know until it happens to you. However, it's also true that love is blind.

Eventually he started asking me what I would give him as dowry for marriage. I was petrified! I asked him why he was suddenly talking about dowry. He said that it was a matter of prestige for his family. I was dumbfounded. I foolishly agreed to convince my parents to give him what he wants, only because I seriously loved him and saw him as 'the one' for me. After this talk, he flew down to India to meet me. I was so happy that I was going to finally meet the love of my life.

It all started here, when my dreams were shattered, hopes crushed and heart broken.

READ THE SECOND PART HERE: He Didn't Only Shamelessly Ask For Dowry, He Also Made Me Want To Kill Myself

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