Wedding Vibes

Chapter 8

I'm standing beside the pool, wearing my yellow kurta, hair cascading down my back in waves. I look up to see Siddharth a few feet away, my breath literally catches when I see him in his faded orange kurta and jeans, looking cuter than ever. He walks up to me slowly, smiling, and lowers his sunglasses, the wind ruffling his hair and sending tendrils of it awry. I almost have to physically restrain myself from rising on my tiptoes and running my hand through it. He leans in; his mouth is beside my ear when he whispers, "Kalki... GET UP!"

Wait, what?

My eyes pop open to Sheetal di's face hanging upside down over mine; her ghost-like appearance, complete with the dark messy hair and white clothes, makes me jerk up. We end up butting heads with a loud thud. She yelps and pushes me, making me roll in a very weird way; and suddenly the world rights itself. I'm now in the direct path of her murderous scowl and horrible bedhead as she sends a death glare my way.

It's then that I register a loud, familiar beeping tone playing.

"Get up, your alarm's ringing," she all but snarls, flopping back down on her bed. I get to hear a few choice words about me and my daily routine; and before she can put her bony fists to physical use, I bounce off the bed and switch it off. I don't want to test my luck by switching on the light; therefore, I end up stumbling in semi-darkness as I tug on the sports bra and leggings I'd set out on the desk the day before. Grabbing my phone, headphones and a jacket, I quickly scribble a note on the hotel stationary -'gone for a run, tell Amma and Papa' - and shove the piece of paper under her phone, which is charging on the nightstand. I doubt that she needs it anymore, though- this routine has happened more than a few times in the past.

As I step onto the main road and launch into a warm up jog, I contemplate my options. I can run in the main garden, because it has a really good jogging track; but aunties and uncles have a habit of waking up at this time to pretend to walk on the track and be super chatty. On the other hand, I could run in that tiny cluster of gardens I saw yesterday; but the track there is less of a track and more of a mud path.

Sigh. Main garden it is.

On the upside, my play queue seems to be on fire today; I find myself picking up my speed as I near the jogging track, even humming under my breath a little as I let the pounding rhythm of my feet take over. This is why I love running; it's the one thing that stays constant in my life, even if everything else is a mess. There's hardly any space in my brain to think about anything else; this unknown terrain makes it even easier to go on autopilot and just focus on the cement track in front of me, until I'm lost in my own little bubble, oblivious to the rest of the world. Amma often used to chide me about this - 'It's dangerous, Kalki! A bomb would explode and you'd still keep running!" - but she's pretty much given up now.

I experience Amma's concern for me firsthand when an arm snakes around my waist.

Pushing off my headphones, I open my mouth to scream, but a hand clamps over it. Oh God, why did I have to leave my pepper spray in my room today? And where on earth are those nosy aunties and uncles this morning?! I'm wriggling as hard as I can, but the grip my attacker has on me is too strong. They're saying something, but I'm too panicked to understand it. By this point, my kidnapper is basically holding me off the ground, and I spare a moment to curse my short height for the umpteenth time. I send a quick prayer up to the heavens, and gather all my strength; and relying on my karate training and the strength of my muscles, I jerk backwards, sending a well-aimed heel into my attacker.

"THE-" My assailant yelps, and the arm around my middle disappears. Wait. I know that voice.

I spin around to find a very familiar head of dark, messy hair bent over.