Marry Me

Chapter 34 - Groom Surprise.

Chura ke dil mera goriya chali.

I stand freezed on the bottom steps of the staircase as Prisha, Ayan, Kritika and Rohit form a formation and start dancing.

The guests move back making a space for them on their own.

I laugh as Ayan and Rohit circle Kritika and Prisha, and Prisha and Kritika circle me. And they yell, "Chura ke dil mera goriya chali."

And then the song changes to Dilli Valli Girlfriend. And Prisha is the most jumpy one when the line comes, Tere liye hi to signal tod taad ke, aaya Dilli vaali girlfriend chod chaad ke.

I stare incredulously at them as the guests start recording their dance in cameras.

And then the door to the main entrance opens, and the guests scream, and Kiyansh enters in the living room hall. And the song changes to Mujhse shaadi karogi.

I put my hands on my mouth as he joins them, and then he points at me, Mujhse shaadi karogi.

"Kiyansh is dancing!!!!" My cousin screams from somewhere to my right. And I laugh as my living room turns into a stage, and they all point at me, and do the Akshay Kumar and Salman Khan steps.

And then the song, Rock and roll soniye plays, and Prisha grabs me, and rolls me in a twirl, and then suddenly I am in my Papa's arms, and I laugh and do the same steps he does, and then my mom comes in the group, and for the first time in my life I see my mom waltzing carefree into some amazing dancing steps that I didn't ever remember her doing. And then they both grab someone's hand from the crowd around us, and Kiyansh's grinning face comes into my view.

"You danced." I scream through the music.

He takes my hand and we both jump up into the music, and he yells, "I would do anything for you."

For a second I close my eyes and imagine we are in our childhood back to our bedroom, but then I open my eyes, look into his glittering face as he smiles at me, and look around at us. In a corner Ayan is doing a 90's number with Nani, Ashraf Kaka and Tanya Tai as the song changes to Saat Samundar Paar. Beside them Prisha, Kritika, my cousin and Rohit are doing some kind of hand holding sidestep, which involves Rohit and my cousin being half on the floor.

I look around at the guests participating in the dance, at my parents holding each other and laughing and dancing, and back to Kiyansh's face tilted towards me, always tilted towards me. And I don't have to imagine my childhood. Because this moment, right here, is the best than any other moment of my childhood. It's the best because we all are dancing and laughing, but it's the bestest because we all are here for each other.

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"You monkey." My Nani is saying to Kiyansh after the dance floor is converted back to the living room floor. "You monkey, you always have a knack for breaking traditions don't you?"

Kiyansh grins at Nani, in that way, and says, "Oh how much I missed you my old monkey."

Her face turns thunderous. "Is this how you talk to your elders?" She turns to my mother. "Aisha, my granddaughter is marrying this monkey?"

"Ma! Calm down." My mother says looking apologetically towards other guests.

"You are telling me to calm down!" She says to my mother, and then turns to me, "You are marrying him! I knew there was something going on between you too, I always knew!" She pointed her finger at me.

"Nani." I laugh. "I love you."

"Tell him to go away." She says.

"No." Kiyansh says from beside me.