Memories: Ishqbaaz oneshot series

38.1 Shaadi Shenanigans

01. Apna Bana Le - The Proposal

This was where he had fucked up, the place where had lost the most beautiful thing he had ever known. He had let his wife go right here, accusing her of unspeakable, disgusting acts when in truth she had been working so incredibly hard to surprise him, to confess the depth of her feelings. He remembered the hurt in her eyes building up, remembered with painstaking clarity the last straw when she had finally had enough. Chosen her self-respect over him.

But today was going to different. It had to. It was only fitting that they start over where they had broken off. He hoped so at least. The place looked so different, last time it had been overcast with darkness, perhaps an indication of what was going to go wrong but today, ever corner of it shone. The lights dangled from the trees and cast a golden glow all around the gazebo which itself twinkled with fairy lights, the draped curtains dancing with reflections. Om fixed a string of lights once more, something felt missing. Despite all the light, there was certain dampen to the atmosphere.

He heard the screeching of tires and horn which meant Rudra had arrived. Gauri was here. Om rushed forward before taking a step back and nearly bumping into the pillar. Rudra held the door open and his wife stepped carefully out of the car. This was it, Om realised. This was what had been missing, Gauri's mere presence made everything seem brighter, the lights glowed stronger, even the wind swayed but nothing compared to her.

She was a vision in the blue dress, he had lain out on their bed two hours ago. Om couldn't believe his luck as he watched her swirl around, giggling as the fabric spread around her. Her smiles were precious and her laugh made his heart soar. Gauri thanked Rudra who winked at her before heading back into the car where he was meant to wait. Then, she caught sight of where they were and the smile faded as she caught his eye.

Om's heart clenched at the sight and he rubbed his sweaty hands together before approaching her.

"Hi." he had tentatively.

Gauri blinked as though just realizing he was so close and then looked him up and down, her eyes widening when she realised his suit (borrowed from Shivaay) and her dress matched in colour.

"Why are we here?"

Her face was set, determined not to let her fears show but her eyes sought answers and her hands fisted the material of the dress tightly.

"Can we talk?"

"Yes, I assumed so when you asked me to meet you outside the house this morning. But why here of all places?"

Om rubbed his neck, mentally cursing himself for picking this spot. If he had been hurt in the aftermath of their last meeting here, Gauri had absolutely shattered. Being back here, especially with him could not have been easy for her.

"Just hear me out Gauri please."

She nodded, hesitating when he held out his hand but taking it nonetheless. He led her into the gazebo, where the table had been set. Her favourite meal, waiting in two plates and a bottle of champagne in a bucket.

"What's going on?" Gauri asked when she saw all the decor, the set up looked stunning but something was eating at her.

"Whatever happened last night shouldn't have. It was stupid of me to take you away like that when you had clearly refused. The choice wasn't mine to make but I panicked. I couldn't lose you like that, watch you marry that jerk when I could see in your eyes that you desperately wanted to leave."