𝐖𝐇𝐈𝐑𝐋𝐖𝐈𝐍𝐃 ⇾ 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐎𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐄 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐋𝐀𝐌𝐄𝐓 ✓

51 - real life

The duo joined their friends, who were also wearing hues of white and yellow. Amara walked forward to be closer to her sister, rejoicing with her cousins. Timothée and the gang watched as she beamed happily while waiting for the ritual to begin.

"Amara," one of her elder aunts called, "Us kapade ko pakad lo, betee." She points her in the direction of a beautiful extravagant silk cloth, seating beside Laila. Amara ushers Talia to help her hold it above the bride and groom. Instead of doing what she was told, Talia pushed Timothée forward. Timothée looks back at Talia who gave him a sly smirk and a playful wink.

Timothée looked towards Laila and Dev, asking for permission. He knew that the rituals were personal to them and he wasn't part of the family, he didn't want anyone to think he might be imposing.

Little did he know, the bride and groom had already considered him to be family. They grinned from ear to ear, as they nodded their heads, telling him that it was okay if he wanted to be part of the ritual. He respectfully bowed his head in gratitude, an action that Amara did not miss.

She smiles in appreciation at his mannerism towards the event and how he was slowly winning the hearts of everyone present, including hers. He grabbed onto one end of the cloth while Amara held the other, slowly pulling it up above the soon-to-wed couple.

One by one, her relatives stepped up to apply the haldi. Aunts and uncles tried their best not to cry as they hugged Laila and Dev, wishing the two nothing but happiness and everlasting love.

In the corner, a band was playing, inducing exhilaration and enthusiasm. While waiting for their turns, the other guests danced happily around the couple. Some were stumbling all over the place and falling off their feet, erupting laughter from the children who were watching.

Soon, her cousins started rolling in to participate. While the elders were emotional, her younger relatives were more blasting. They shouted for joy as they applied the turmeric on to the glowing couple. Some of them even nicked some on Amara's face, causing her to wince and giggle. Timothée laughed as she bonded with her cousins, failing to notice that one of her cousins was sneaking up behind him, hands filled with the yellow paste.

"Timmy, watch out!" Amara tried to warn but she was a second too late. Her cousin had already covered Timothée's face with turmeric. He groaned in exasperation but was still smiling nonetheless.

Amara was bellowing in laughter as he tried to shake off the excess turmeric hanging off his face.

"This is funny to you?" he asked, her contagious laughter causing him to crack a bigger smile than before. She couldn't form the words to speak because she busy controlling her laughter, so she merely nodded her head.

After several more guests applied the haldi, Amara's friends went next. Talia applied some onto Laila while Luca applied the paste on Dev. Amara noticed how Talia and Luca were wearing matching yellow suits and wiggled her eyebrows teasingly at Talia.

Laila took some paste out of the little bowl and applied a small amount of haldi onto Talia and Luca's hands.

"Don't think I don't know what's going on with you two," she whispered, loud enough for only the two of them to hear. She winked at them who were now crimson red in embarrassment.

Timothée saw the bride apply turmeric on to his friends and wondered why she did that. He thought that the haldi was only to be applied to the couple who were getting married and made a mental note to ask Laila later, why she did that.

Saoirse and Grace went after, and as if she had read his mind, Saoirse asked Dev the question he was going to ask.

"Why did Laila apply turmeric onto Talia and Luca?"