The Unexpected Love

34. The Wedding Guest

"Hearts aren't handcuffs and people aren't prisons. When you feel it's time for you to leave, you leave. You neither need to wait to be released, nor ask for permission."

"Uncle Ben!" I shouted as I ran towards the middle-aged man in a dark coloured fitted suit.

He looked the same-light wrinkles on his face, his roaring laughing, that mischievous glint in his eyes, and most of all, his ever perky and cheerful attitude. He was my first friend and a second father to me.

He grimaced pulling me into an embrace, "How many times have I told you not to call me that? It makes me feel old."

I chuckled, "You're the most active 60 year old kid I know."

He rumbled another loud laugh, "Good Lord, where are your manners?!"

"Didn't you know, your dear Diana is highly incapable of emotions and manners?" An unenthusiastic voiced chipped in rather scathingly from behind, but I knew better than to pay any heed.

Shrugging him off, Avi's father voiced again, "Where have you been kiddo? I get no calls and no messages. Nada, I know nothing. You could be living on the street with one pair of clothes and no fruit loops in breakfast for all I know."

I giggled, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I've been meaning to call you but I keeping forgetting. T-"

"Ahh! Because you've got that boyfriend, huh? Is that why you don't remember my number anymore?" He said making a fake dejected face.

I opened my mouth to reason but I was silenced, "You might want to take this bonding session inside. Everyone's waiting." His words dripped with annoyance and disgust towards me, "And by the way, your stuff's inside the car, fetch it yourself."

He strutted away from us stuffing his hands inside the pockets of his jeans as I watched his figure disappear into the palace.

"I'm sensing hostility.." Uncle Ben probed.

"He needs to learn to keep his nose out of others' business!" I stated, stepping away from the old man.

He reciprocated with a weak smile, as if already relinquishing the forthcoming argument those words could possibly lead to. "Your Aunt's eagerly waiting for you. Let's go." He said tipping his head towards the entrance of the palace, "I'll ask someone to get your bags later."

I smiled politely and followed him through the beautifully crafted entry arches and towards the huge waiting area. The palace was a large country house for the royal family that ruled the Rajasthan state about a thousand years before India was colonized by the British. The queen had taken a liking to it since it was more homely than her castle. It had been extended over the centuries, having four sides around a central quadrangle and over five hundred rooms.

I had only began admiring the intricate designs on the archways and the walls when long and thin arms were wrapped around me.