𝐖𝐡𝐢𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐂𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬

✦ . ⁺ Mrs. Singhania ⁺ . ✦

The following dawn roused Kashvi from her slumber with a gentle knock on the room door.

Glancing toward the side, she observed him still immersed in sleep.

Approaching the door, she opened it to find Aarna standing there, a bag cradled in her hands.

"Good Morning," Aarna chimed cheerfully.

"Sorry for waking you up, but Mummy Ji has called you both down for the post wedding rituals," she continued.

Ah, yes. The rituals, a consequence of her recent marriage.

Internally sighing at the unfolding course of her life, Kashvi responded affirmatively to Aarna.

"Here is your saree. If you need anything else, feel free to ask me," Aarna offered before leaving.

Leaving Kashvi to reflect on her life choices. Once again.

The next 40 minutes were spent with Kashvi washing her hair and then donning a beautiful light greyish-blue saree that accentuated her waist while hugging her curves.

Meanwhile, Rishiv stirred awake to the sounds of items being moving.

In his still-drowsy state, he saw an ethereal vision. Not sure what was happening, he rubbed his eyes in hopes to clear the remnants of his sleep.

There he saw, Kashvi towel drying her hair in a saree, like that from an old Bollywood film.

A perfect cliche to start a film, the same scene, a start to his married life.

A life with a woman undeniably beautiful.

Though he acknowledged her beauty, it did not sway his sentiments.

She remained the replaced bride, an indisputable fact he harboured no intention of disregarding.

"Stop staring like a creep," she stated, her gaze not moving from the mirror.

"I'm not staring," he countered, rising from the bed.

Kashvi, rolling her eyes, finished drying her hair and started with her makeup.

Fifteen minutes later, they were both ready to start with the rituals.

"Kashvi, your pehli rasoi needs to be done first, then followed by the rest of the rituals. Sara, Aarna, kindly show her around the kitchen."

Saying that her, mother-in-law left to tend to the rest of the rituals.

The kitchen was large. It was the size of her entire apartment if she looked closely.

"What do you want to make?" Aarna asked, breaking her chain of thoughts.

She seemed to do that a lot lately. Well in the past 2 days. Getting lost in her mind that was.

"Gajar ka halwa," she responded, since that was one of the only few dishes she could cook.

"If you tell us what ingredients are needed we'll show you where they are," Sara offered.

Nodding her head, Kashvi gave a list of everything she needed to prepare gajar ka halwa, and in 5 minutes everything was on the counter infront of her.

She started preparing by grating the carrots first.

30 minutes later, she was done. Dadi had ordered her to put the halwa aside to cool down, while they did the rest of the rituls.

"So this next ritual is like a game. We're going to put a ring in a vessel with milk, you both are going to have to find it," Sara explained to them both.