4222 words guys! My longest chapter yet! Be sure to give this chapter a vote and a comment to give me motivation to keep going! It also makes my day, so I really appreciate if you would vote and leave a comment.
Shraddha's POV:
I twirled in front of my mirror. I don't know why I was so obsessed with doing that, but I loved doing it. Especially since I was in this gorgeous blue sparkly lehenga. And the top was long-sleeve and midriff which showed my figure perfectly to the world. I twirled again. Did I mention that I was obsessed with twirling?
Shraddha's OOTD:
"Shraddhaaa! Open up!" yelled a voice from outside the door.
I mentally rolled my eyes and quickly opened the door to find Kavya standing in front of me. She immediately jumped on top of me and hugged, or should I say choked me.
"Kavyaaaa!" I shrieked.
It was getting difficult to breathe by the second.
"Kavya, you need to get off me!" I yelled again.
This time the grip on my neck loosened and she finally pulled away. But once she did, 2 other fingers jumped on me. I almost toppled backward, but my impressive balancing skills caught them on time.
"Shivi! Nidhi!" I screeched.
If I kept yelling like this then I probably wouldn't have my voice for my own engagement.
These two weren't like Kavya though and quickly released me.
"Radha, it's been so long!" Nidhi exclaimed.
Radha was my other nickname that my friend group called me. I don't even know how the heck they got Radha from Shraddha since Radha usually fits in with Radhika, but they somehow just started calling me Radha. They were my friends for over 10 years, so they called me different names and knew me pretty well.
"I still can't believe you're getting married," Nidhi started. "Our little Radha baby has grown up so much." She wiped her tears that were nonexistent.
Such a drama queen.
Shivi just stood there wiping her eyes which were actually watery.
"What happened Shivi?" I asked her, holding her shoulders. "Why are you crying?"
"I-It's just that, one of our friends is actually going to get married," she sobbed.
Shivi was the emotional one out of our friend group. If you couldn't tell.
"Oh come on na Shivi," Kavya interrupted. "You should be happy instead of crying. Our bestie is getting married. We get to participate in all the functions and my gosh, I am so excited for the mehndi function since you guys know how much I love mehndi and mehndi is j-"
"Kavya, shhh!" Nidhi scolded, putting her index finger on her lips.
Thank God she did that or else Kavya is the type of person who would go rambling on forever.
I comforted Shivi as she was still wiping her eyes. I hoped her mascara wouldn't smear all over her face after all the wiping.
"By the way Shraddha, you're looking drop dead gorgeous," Nidhi complimented.
"Yeah, yeah, of course," Kavya added. "Who is the one who suggested the lehenga?"
Of course she would drag herself into this.
"Ms. Kavya made me buy this lehenga and I must say that it is very flattering," I answered.
Kavya patted herself on the back.
"And our Mr. Vijay Awasthi Jijaji is probably not going to stop staring at you," Kavya chirped.
"Oh shut up," I rolled my eyes. This time it was physical though.
"Girls, come on, we have to be there by 7, so get yourselves down here," Maa yelled.
All of climbed down the stairs⎯more like I stumbled down the stairs with my long heels. I hated long heels. I could barely walk in them, but I had to wear them with this lehenga or else the bottom of the lehenga would be dragging along the floor when I walked. The four of us got into one car because my "besties" insisted that they needed to hear all of the details about my future husband. Meanwhile, Shivi couldn't stop saying sentimental things about our favourite games when we were young and my stuffed animals that we all named together. She was getting way too emotional.
"Oh. My. God. Does Vijay have any handsome friends?" Kavya asked.
Even though I was sitting in the front seat beside the driver, I could picture her eyes turning to big saucers. I face-palmed. This girl is never going to get any better. The simp in her is going to stay there forever.
"Answer me na Radha," she pleaded.
"I don't know Kavya, I literally met him this morning for the first time in ages," I added.
This was going to be worthless.
"What if I search him up?"
This girl is going to get crazier by the second.
"Kavya, you will do nothing like that," Nidhi scolded.
Thank Bhagvanji for Nidhi, she was the "mom" in our group. I looked at Shivi through the rectangular mirror in the front. She was blabbering things nonstop while Kavya kept insisting on searching Vijay up on Google. I smiled. Even though our friend group was beyond chaotic, they were just like my family and had gone through all the ups and downs in my life. I couldn't be more thankful to Bhagvan for giving me friends like these.
♡
"Vijay, don't move, I'm coming right back with your wrist watch," bhabhi ordered and then ran down the stairs to exit my bedroom.
"Bhabhi, don't worry and careful," I added.
I didn't want anyone falling and breaking their ankle before my engagement. Not that I cared about my engagement a lot. I wasn't too fond of marrying Shraddha Basu, but at least I would get a pretty wife.
Breaking my thoughts, my phone rang somewhere in the bedroom. I quickly jumped down the stairs and tried searching for my phone. It was ringing loudly somewhere downstairs. I walked nearer to hear where the sound was coming from and then eventually found out that my phone was in the bathroom.
"Go figure," I mumbled, picking up my phone and looking at the caller ID.
"Hi Ya-" I started.
"The heck Vijay!!" Yash roared.
I had to move the phone away from my ear.
"Wh-" I tried again.
"It's your engagement and you didn't even invite me," he complained.
"Ya-"
"This is not done Vijay. I thought that I was your friend, y-your family," he sniffled dramatically.
I rolled my eyes. This man was the Drama King.
"Vijay, I did not expect this from yo-"
"Yash, just shut up yaar," I overpowered his voice. Then I lowered my voice in a calmer tone. "There is nothing like that. I did send you the invitation through your gmail and your messages, but it looks like Mr. Yash Chaudhari has no time for his best friend."
"Wow, the bestie⎯my bestie doesn't have even have enough time to call his best friend," Yash emphasised the word "call."
I rolled my eyes at his statement even though he was right this time.
"Okay, sorry about that, but it all happened so quickly that I didn't even have time to breathe," I explained, hoping that he would rant out again.
I heard a scoff on the other side. He would eventually calm down and attend his engagement.
"Fine, I'll forgive you this time," he gave in.
"Of course," I murmured.
"Anyway, now that you've seen bhabhi, is she pretty?" he asked.
I leaned out of the phone and stared at it. Was he for real right now?
"Yash," I was in disbelief. " Just come to the engagement and see for yourself."
"Why is she really not pretty?"
"No, it's nothing like th-" I started.
"Oooo, is she really pretty?"
"Ya-"
"Like supermodel quali-"
Before he could continue, I hung up the call. I sighed. This Yash dude was really too much. How was I even friends with him in the first place?
"Vijayyyy!" a voice yelled from above me.
In all this chaos, I hadn't even realized that I was talking to Yash in the bathroom the whole time when bhabhi had told me not to go anywhere.
"Bhabhi, coming!" I yelled and sprinted up the stairs, to find her pacing around in the walk-in-closet with a hand held to her forehead.
Then when she saw me, she quickly held me by the shoulders and made me sit down by the vanity.
Afterwards, she made me wear this golden neckpiece while she kept rambling.
"Viju, they will be here in like God knows what time and we still haven't placed the mithai and guests have started arriving and the chandelier has lost one of its light bulbs and I haven't even tasted the food yet made by the chefs and-" she ranted.
"Bhabhi, bhabhi, listen to me," I turned around and held her hands. "Take a deep breath in." She did as I told. "And then out." She followed as I smiled. "Bhabhi, don't worry, everything will be fine and if it's not then it's okay. I don't mind it at all. In fact, if we even did the engagement ceremony with no decor or guests then it would be fine by me too. And Shraddha probably wouldn't mind at all."
Knowing bhabhi, I assumed Shraddha had at least ¼ of bhabhi in her, so hopefully she wouldn't be one of those girls who screams over every little thing going wrong.
"Thank you Vijay," bhabhi cupped my cheek.
She then took a deep breath once more.
"Okay, you come downstairs quickly because we have to welcome the guests," she started. And then she tapped her chin as if she was trying to remember her other tasks. "I have to taste the food, the drinks should be good, the mithai should be done, the light bulb needs to be fixed, I think the platform nee-"
"Bhabhi, bhabhi, you go done and don't stress, just take things easy and tell everyone else that too," I assured her.
She smiled at me lovingly and kissed my forehead. I could see her eyes beginning to form tears, but before they fell, they blinked them away.
"Acha, come down fast," she reminded me and then left my bedroom.
After she left, I fell down in a more relaxed position in the vanity chair.
"This will be one interesting engagement," I murmured to myself.
Vijay's OOTD:
♡
I entered the Awasthi Villa to find a huge platform with beautiful decorations around it and inside it.
There were tables along the sides of the walls with vases and inside were beautiful flowers in the colours of pink, blue, and yellow. Up on the ceiling there was a giant chandelier that was decorated with the same colours of flowers and it sparkled as the light from the windows illuminated the house. In the centre of the area, the sofas, carpets, and everything else was cleared and there you could see a beige coloured platform. There were pillars located on the edges of the platform and they were shaped like elephants and on the top there was a huge circular edge where you could see the chandelier from. On the edges of the ring there were various colours of flowers. Finally, in the middle of the platform, there were 2 chairs facing each other with 2 other chairs behind them who were facing the front. The whole setup felt unreal.
"Beautiful," I whispered to myself, admiring the decorations.
Just then bhabhi nudged me to keep walking forward and to get blessings from everyone who were just standing by the front door. Unknowingly, my eyes searched for him. But to my despair, he was nowhere to be found. Then, I plastered a smile on my face and then touched every elder's feet while receiving compliments about how pretty I looked. Was this lehenga really that pretty?
When I reached Di, before I could even bend down, she pulled me into a hug.
"Kimi, you look stunning," she softly complimented.
Kimi was a nickname that only my close friends and family called me.
"Thank you Di," I smiled at her.
Jijaji just cupped my cheek and smiled at me. I smiled at him back.
"You look beautiful," he complimented.
I smiled, "thank you Jijaji."
Just then I heard the clickity clack of footsteps from the staircases. I looked towards where the sound was coming from. And then I saw him. I scanned him up and down. Why was he so handsome? I then looked up at his face. Those green eyes. Oh. My Gosh. I will never get over those beautiful green eyes. Vijay started approaching us with a smirk on his face. A smirk. Can you believe it? Why was he smirking? Just then he eyed me, his smirk increasing. Can a smirk increase? And why the heck was he smirking at me?
"Are you done checking me out?" he whispered near my ear, making me shiver on the inside.
Just then it hit me. I was checking him out. And plus, he had noticed. Embarrassed, I quickly moved my gaze away. I looked in front of us, to find Di and Jijaji busy in their own conversation. Thank Bhagvanji that they hadn't noticed. I looked beside me again, to find Vijay terribly close to me. Our shoulders were touching! I quickly moved away, increasing our distance. Then my eyes roamed everywhere else except on him. The chandelier was so pretty wasn't it? The flower arrangement was spectacular. The elephant pillars were splen-
"Vijay, you're here," Jijaji patted him on the back.
"You guys talk, I have to go and check over the arrangements," Di stated and then left.
Great, I was left with 2 other guys. I looked around and found my friends sitting at a table, gossiping about God knows what. Mentally rolling my eyes, I was about to go and sit with them because I had no choice, but then I heard a loud shriek coming from the front door.
"Bhaiyaaa!" the loud voice yelled.
We all turned around to find a girl, a little younger than me standing in a beautiful and modern pink lehenga with her suitcases beside her. I didn't recognize who she was, but everyone else seemed to because as soon as she screamed, Vijay was the first one to run to her and then Jijaji, and lastly another boy named Kiaan. Out of nowhere, Di, my future mother-in-law and father-in-law along with Vijay's chacha and chachi all surrounded the front door and hugged her.
I turned to the people beside me. Bhabhi was holding Divya in her arms, while Krishiv bhaiya and Rudransh were on the other side of me. I slowly scooted near bhabhi to ask her something.
"Bhabhi, do you know who she is?" I asked her, my eyes observing the family reunion that was happening in front of me.
"Yeah she i-" Bhabhi started, but before that another voice yelled.
"Bhabhiiii!" the voice shrieked and then the girl jumped onto me.
She hugged me tightly around my neck as I almost fell backwards, but due to my very excellent balance skills, I balanced us both. She was still hugging me as I flinched a little before slightly hugging her back.
"Aanya, let go of your bhabhi or else she will start to choke," Vijay's chachi reminded her.
I didn't really mind that this girl, or Aanya was hugging me because she seemed like a happy and kind girl.. Plus, everyone was so happy after seeing her, so she seemed like the ray of sunshine in the Awasthi family.
After a moment or so, Aanya finally let go of me and smiled at me. I smiled at her back.
"Bhabhi, you might not know me, so I'll introduce myself to you," she explained. "I'm Aanya. Viraj bhaiya, Vijay bhaiya, and Kiaan bhaiya's younger sister."
Ohhh, so she was their younger sister. That explains why all of her brother's were so happy after seeing her.
"Okay Aanya," Vijay's chachi came to her. "You go and freshen up." Aanya nodded and then quickly ran to her room. "Sorry Shraddha, she's a bit of a handful." Vijay's chachi, or I guess my chachi too now whispered, so that I was the only one who could hear.
"Nahi chachiji, Aanya is more like a ray of sunshine," I smiled.
Chachiji smiled back and hugged me. When I hugged her back, I looked up and made eye contact with Vijay who was still standing by the front door. His green eyes locked with my brown ones as he had an amused expression on his face. I didn't know what the heck was so interesting or funny that he had this look on his face, but before I could do anything about it Chachiji pulled away and my eye contact with Vijay broke.
"Okay, I think the shubh muhurat is here, so Shraddha and Vijay should exchange the rings now," my soon-to-be mother-in-law announced.
I stood still. Was this actually going to happen right now? Was I actually going to get engaged? Was I going to be the fiance of the Vijay Awasthi?
Breaking my thoughts, Bhabhi came up behind me and guided me to the middle of the area, on top of the platform where she made me sit. Di guided Vijay to the platform and made him sit in front of me. I didn't dare to look at him because I still remembered how he had caught me "checking him out." I glanced around me to find my 3 friends, surrounding the platform. They all smiled at me while Nidhi gave me a thumbs up. I looked at Shivi who was wiping her tears. I mentally rolled my eyes, but this time with a smile on my face. Kavya was just staring at me. I was surprised that she wasn't rambling on like she always does.
"Shraddha, Vijay, stand up," Maa told us.
We did as we were told and stood up in front of each other. I could feel Vijay's gaze on me, but I decided to ignore it because I didn't have the power to meet his dreamy green eyes. What? Shraddha? No, he does not have dreamy green eyes. And why the heck are you scared to look in his eyes? He is not a monster. He is your future husband. You can do it. You can meet his eyes. You are capable.
After giving myself a mini pep talk, I finally mustered up the courage and lifted my eyes up to meet his eyes. Before we could go any further, my mom handed me the ring that I was supposed to put on Vijay.
"Okay Shraddha, put the ring on Vijay first," Maa ordered me.
Why did I have to do it first? Couldn't he do it? I took a deep breath. Ladies first I guess.
I looked up to see Vijay smirking at me. Why the heck was he smirking? At this time? And at me? I shook off my thoughts as I saw his right hand extended towards me. I slowly held his hand and then slid on the pretty copper diamond ring. It had a very unique and intricate design to it which I adored a lot.
Vijay's Ring:
I heard cheers everywhere as I glanced around seeing everyone I loved, smiling. Then I spotted Aanya who was recording this on her phone. Catching my gaze, she smiled at me and then blew me a flying kiss. A flying kiss. Like what? No one had really ever done that except for my close friends. Somehow, I also blew a little flying kiss towards her as well before turning my attention over to Vijay. This time, instead of meeting his drea⎯his green eyes, I met his side angle who was looking towards the crowd. Gosh, even when I looked at his side angle, he looked too handsome. Way too handsome. It should be illegal to look this handsome.... Okay, now that was cliche, but that was a fact.
"Vijay, now it's your turn," my future MIL announced.
I observed Vijay's actions as he took the ring from his mother. He then glanced at me and then back at my hand. I was too lost in admiring him to notice anything. He did the same actions again, but I didn't do anything except admire him. It was not until Bhabhi nudged me from behind that I noticed that I had to give my hand to him. I could feel my cheeks getting hot, but I tried my best to prevent them from turning any colour. I extended my hand towards Vijay as he just slid the diamond ring onto my ring finger.
Shraddha's Ring:
I retracted my hand and admired the ring for a moment as everyone cheered. The ring was really breathtaking. It also had this unique design that I had never seen before.
"Okay, now you two enjoy the party," Maa said and then left us alone on the platform as everyone busied themselves into their chitter chatter.
I smiled at everyone enjoying our engagement.
"Shraddha, can you come with me for a second?" I heard a whisper in my ear.
I turned to my side to find Mr. Vijay Awasthi looking at the crowd. Did he just talk to me? I glanced around behind me. There was no one there.
"Shraddha, I'm talking to you, hence why I said, Shraddha, can you come with me for a second?" Vijay clarified without looking at me.
I felt dumb. Duh, that's why he said my name.
"Yeah, of course," I replied.
He turned towards me and softly smiled. He actually smiled at me! Gosh, I need to control myself. It was just a smile.
He then began to walk down the platform as I followed him. After walking through this maze of a mansion, we ended up in an office that was away from the rest of the party. I didn't feel that nervous with him because well, he was going to be my future husband. And he was already my fiance. Plus, he didn't really have a negative sort of aura in him, so it wasn't really that big of a deal.
After we entered the office area, he switched the lights on and closed the door behind him.
♡
This was going to be hard. Like harder than it looks. But I need to do it. For my sake. For her sake. I need to do it.
I closed the door and took a deep breath before walking towards her and making eye contact. Meanwhile, Shraddha was admiring the office space. This office wasn't really spectacular since it was just a spare office if anyone needed to work from home. Otherwise, we had our own little offices in the house. This was just an extra.
Also, I must say that this blue lehenga that Shraddha had on was really beautiful. Now, don't get me wrong, but the lehenga wasn't the only thing that was pretty. Shraddha in herself was just stunning. She was the one who brought out the beauty of the lehenga. Plus, I just wanted to touch her curly brown hair that looked so soft.
"You wanted to say something?" she asked with her eyebrows raised.
Okay, now was the moment to say it.
Taking a deep breath in and giving myself a mini pep talk⎯yes Mr. Vijay Awasthi the CEO of Awasthi Corporations, had to give himself a mini pep talk.
"Vo Shraddha," I started hesitantly. She gave me a look to urge me to keep going. "Shraddha, I know you don't know me that much yet." There, that was a start. "I barely even know you well too, but I had to just clarify some things." She looked at me with a confused expression. I took another deep breath and continued. "For me, my priorities are straight. My family always comes first and then my work, and then everything else. After this marriage, I don't know if I will be able to give you the love that a husband usually gives to their wife. Heck, I don't even know if I'll be able to take the responsibility of what a husband does for their wife, let alone the love part. So I just wanted to tell you, please do not expect anything from me. We can stay as friends if you want, but I don't know about the love part."
Okay, that sounded much worse said out loud than it was in my head. I looked up and immediately regretted what I had just said. I stared into her brown eyes, but they showed no emotion. She looked hurt, but was quick to hide it. Wow, she would make a really good actress. In a split second, she looked as if nothing had happened. But in reality, a lot had happened.
She quickly smiled and replied, "of course, I understand where you're coming from. And yes, we can stay as friends if that's what you'd like."
I smiled at her genuinely. She was understanding.
"Thank you," I added.
She nodded slightly, this time I could make out the hurt in her eyes. I felt guilty. I shouldn't have said that. At least I shouldn't have said it so openly. Gosh Vijay, you are such a bad person for hurting someone.
"Should we go now?" she asked, not meeting my eyes.
"Y-yeah," was all I could say.
She gave me a small smile and then we exited the office. I sighed at myself and mentally face-palmed myself too. Wow Vijay, what a way to ruin someone's engagement.
♡
Helloooo! How are you guys doing? I'm sorry for the very late update. I was so busy with Raksha Bandhan and then I didn't know what the heck to write to end the chapter and give this book a little bit of a twist to keep it interesting. I hope you guys liked it! 4222 words (not including this part), my longest chapter yet! Please leave your thoughts and feedback in the comments, leave a vote, and keep reading to find out what happens next!
P.S. Since this is my longest chapter, it took a really long time to write, so I would really appreciate it if you could leave 1 vote or even 1 comment. It would really make my day!
Question of the Day: Whose ring do you like better?
P.P.S. Should I give you a hint about the next chapter? Hmmm.... Well, I'll tell you that it's about the 7 Pheras. Are you excited?
♡
sincerely, anushka (your author)