As Long As You Love Me

The wedding

Excuse the mistakes
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Everything happens for a reason. A reason that is not known till long time, or a reason that will always stay a mystery.

May be there is a strong reason.

May be, something will happen now, and the marriage will stop.

May be he hasn't done all those disgusting things when he was in US., may be that was just to make her jealous.

May be Rohith too likes another girl, and will call off marriage in the last moment.

May be, Rohith is a bad guy, and dad will cancel the marriage.

May be she will get another chance to lead her life with Kiran.

Or......

May be, Rohith is destined to her, and not Kiran.

With all these thoughts, Anu started to wonder if this is just a night mare. She usually gets a 'story' dreams. May be this is one of them?

She pinched herself to confirm it.

Yes! This is actually happening.

Before she could think further, 3 lads entered her room. 2 had cameras in their hands.

"I told them you are ready for the shoot. They were waiting from some time actually." Priya answered her unasked questions. She nodded at her and stood up for the shoot.

As expected, She was looking like an angel. A perfect south Indian bride, feast to the eyes, and fragrance of happiness to the heart. Even the camera seems to be falling for her. Her appearance had such attractions, just like a magnet, dragging all the eyes towards her, along with thier hearts.

Soon she started posing for the camera in different angles. But the smile was missing.

"Ma'am, we know that pearls will fall from your face if you smile, but please have some mercy on us. Otherwise your dad will have his red angry eyes on us for making you look sad in all the photos." One of them commented adding a little chuckle at the end.

Anu gave out a mild chuckle, which was soon captured by the camera which was longing for that moment since long.

As soon as she remembered her dad, she gave a bright smile to the camera. Her dad was her weakness. He made her feel so special, like a princess.

Since few days, Anu was not eating well. That is obvious thing. Adding to that she hadn't had anything since yesterday evening. She started to feel restless and tired. She wanted to finish off the photo session as soon as possible. She continued to pose, without uttering a word.

Soon her photo session was over. But that was not the time to sigh in relief.

"Ma'am we need to take photos of bride and groom together." One of them told her when she was moving away from the camera.

A unknown fear occupied her heart when she saw Rohith coming towards her, along with the cute Deeksha , his sister.

Adding to her restlessness, Deeksha started to tease her.
"Bhabi, now I understand why my brother accepted you without a second glance. You look like an angel bhabi. Good choice bro!" She was grinning whole heartedly at her soon-to-be sister-in-law and winking at her brother.

Soon the photo session started. Anu was more tensed and restless now, and was feeling giddy.

She felt that she is about to fall. But she didn't wanted to hold Rohith for support. She tried to stand still against her body's protest. She fell back in no time, but was not hit by the floor. All thanks to her fiance.

For her liking, Rohith held her by her waist and saved her from the fall. He had sensed her restlessness, the pale face and acted quick. He made her sit on the nearby chair, and asked for water. Soon Anu was drinking water from Rohith's hands, and that reminded her of something. Soon she pushed that memory away, and concentrated on getting her strength back.

Soon she was feeling better.

"Are you alright?"

That one question broke all her boundaries and dragged her back to past.

"Are you alright?"
Kiran asked Anu when she picked her phone.

"I'm fine Kiran. Nothing serious."

"WHAT AN IDIOT ARE YOU? Who asked you to take that shortcut? DAMMIT! I even warned you not to go by that road. Accidents happen very frequently there. What if something had happened to you?"

"Kiran, please stop this. You are hurting me. This is not the way to speak with your girlfriend. Or any person"

"Don't teach me what's and how's. Just get lost." All she heard after that was beep beep.

This used to happen very frequently. He made her cry all the time.
Kiran cared for her to an extent that he hurt her all the time.

Coming out of her memories, she nodded at Rohith who had a worried look on his face. After few minutes, the photo session was resumed. Not before making Anu drink glucose water and juices though.

Soon the photographer started to ask them to give 'couple' poses. He also started to instruct them about it. Both of them were feeling uneasy.

They were in the last pose. Rohith had his hand around her waist, his hands were shaky, they were touching her bare waist. Just a little.

Rohith stared at Anu's face, and he was getting lost in her eyes.

Mmmmmmm...!! You smell like Jasmine.

Anu looked at him questioningly. She was lost in her own thoughts.

Did I said that out loud?

Anu continued to look at him. Soon her face relaxed. His eyes were.....kind. Like a peaceful ocean. He had that power in his eyes. To make her come out of her chaos and have some peace.

Soon Rohith's eyes landed on her lips.

That was it!
He forgot everything around him.
He was drawn into her, like some unknown force is pulling him to her.

He leaned in... just a tiny, tiny-tiny bit.

"Okay, that was a very good one." Came

Both of them jumped a little from the voice. Soon they both stood at 1 feet distance.

Rohith felt like a stupid and quickly turned towards the door, to hide himself from embarrassment. Automatically, a smile was on his face and, involuntarily his hand went to his head.

On the other hand, as soon as she turned her attention away from Rohith, she saw a familiar face in the door. It showed so much hurt, and betrayal.
She felt like a knife is stabbed into her chest.
Soon she turned away.

By the time she turned around to confirm if it was real or her hallucination, there was no one there.

Both of them had left.
Rohith and Kiran.
One was on cloud nine,
while the other was on the verge of crying.

I'm sure I saw him there. Anu kept on thinking.

Seeing Anu's worried face, Priya rushed her out of her room and into the mantap, to distract her.

Rest of the day was filled with all the rituals. It went in a blur.

Occasionally, Rohith would stare at Anu.
While Anu would glance at her dad.

He was very happy.
That gave her strength to proceed further.

After all the rituals, it was time for her makeover.
Getting ready for the reception!

The sad thing was, the bride and groom hadn't talked to each other in the whole marriage.

The groom was too shy and the bride was too confused.