The surroundings were completely dark, Subham walked ahead in the tunnel toward the source of light. Subham walked for a long time before he reached the end of the tunnel.
After coming out of the tunnel there were no roads ahead but what came into view was a castle shrouded by black mist.
The scene before him changed rapidly and he reached a room where he saw a man saying something to him. However, he couldn't hear him at all, even the air around him felt suffocating.
He was being pulled by an unknown force, but he didn't know, where he was being thrown.
"Ugh..." A man's groaning voice came from the side of the mattress, which woke up Subham.
the first thing Subham notices after opening his eyes is the scene of Devdutta being stepped on his back by two little boys, not to mention that another little girl was pulling Raghav's hair as if commanding a horse. The other two men were sleeping on the bed each of them almost made the bed a frame for capturing 'sleeping men with strange posture' art.
A small girl was lying on his chest looking at him quietly, this was Uncle Anthony's child. He picked up the girls got up from the ground and pulled out the two boys who were still jumping on Devdutta.
"Julia, how did you come here?" Subham asked the girl lying on his chest.
Julia took her time; Subham did not urge her he knew she was a little slow in everything. Julia replied slowly, "Nani told us to wake you up."
"Who the hell gets up at 5 a.m.?" Kartik Roared.
"Watch your language there are children here," Anand said from the side while rubbing his messed-up hair.
"That's it. Now get up. Don't complain like a spoiled brat, aren't you ashamed? These little kids got up earlier than you." Raghav also woke up from the ground and started his usual parenting.
"You just wait and watch. These little kids would be asleep like a piece of log in the afternoon, I know these little devils well. just like my youngest brother, they don't let you sleep peacefully." Kartik replied resentfully.
"I still don't get your point, what were you guys doing outside the house like thieves? Be thankful that you weren't beaten last night." Subham asked while putting Julia on the sofa.
"Brother, don't even talk about it. We thought it was a community area, so we quarreled with this old uncle. We were upset that he wasn't letting us in. Who knew that this whole area is your house." Devdutta wailed as he watched everyone getting up and going outside to wash up.
"Raghav, why don't you throw your phone outside?" Subham asked Raghav.
"Why should I?" Raghav retorted.
"You could have called me last night when you reached here." Subham went out as he spoke.
"Ho! Tell me Anand didn't we call him last night? Brother you need to check your phone how many missed calls there are." Raghav followed behind while taking the two little girls out of the room.
Subham also thought about it, because it was a keypad phone which was small and there was no internet service in it. So, he didn't think much about not having his cell phone with him.
"Nani take care of these children, we need to wash up now." Raghav handed over the child to an old woman while going to the backyard.
Five of them were in the backyard brushing their teeth, when Devdutta asked "Why are you getting married so hastily? I had to run with my luggage as soon as I got your call."
"Is it an arranged marriage or a love marriage?" Kartik teased him while brushing his teeth.
"Stop being disgusting, spit out the foams before you speak," Anand said disgustedly.
"It's complicated." Subham thought of a suitable word and then said, "You can say it's a fated marriage."
All of them were silent, they didn't know whether he meant it in a good way or something else, so they didn't continue the topic.
Kartik was looking here and there when he noticed a large house behind the trees and asked Subham curiously, "Subham, what's that behind the trees?"
Looking over Subham noticed he was talking about the garage, so he answered him, "That's the garage."
"That whole damn area is a garage? are you kidding me? How many cars do you have that you need such a huge area."
"Not kidding. You can have a look; I have not counted the number of cars we have." Subham said while wiping his face with a towel.
He didn't know how many cars there were, and when he first saw the scene, he was amazed. The collection of cars is no joke. His Grandfather and mom both of them liked cars so they bought whatever they liked.
"You are filthy rich, aren't you? Your backyard has so many bathrooms and a small pond too, you can easily open a hotel here. There's no need to worry about the future. This garage is no joke, you hid it deep from us didn't you." Raghav was surprised.
"I didn't hide it and you didn't ask so how you would know?"
"That's true, we didn't notice it before."
Subham went on to complete the wedding rituals before the marriage, with his family and friends.
Worshiping the gods, then the Haldi ceremony, and at last he went on to put on the wedding suit.
Amidst the commotion outside, the boys inside the room were a little awkward with the filming crew filming them while changing clothes.
"Subham is this photographer planning to make your wedding album with us featuring in it as a naked male model. He's just not going away!" Kartik whispered to Subham as he wore his shirt, covering up the bare upper body.
"Don't worry they will edit it accordingly. It's a professional filmmaker team, take advantage of this situation and shoot some good photos of you."
"Oh. That's it." Kartik nodded and put on his suit.
When all of them came outside their jaw dropped in surprise, rows of cars were waiting before their carriage they hadn't seen such a big battle anywhere in their whole lifetimes.
Subham was wearing a cream-colored sherwani suit, embroidered with gold thread and a red Pagadi with a golden tail, white feather, and a red gemstone adorned in it. The shawl was placed on his shoulder while the other end of the shawl was wrapped around his left hand.
Subham was led outside of the puja house by his mother.
"There's no sword otherwise he does not look worse than a King, does not he?" Raghav whistled as he watched Subham walking towards the car.
"Absolutely." All of them said in unison.
After knowing that there were all of his relatives and his mom's friend Subham's friend felt that it was alright since it was not an exhibition of a private collection of his cars.
But what surprised them was the Barat, all kinds of instruments and dancers were there. This is not a wedding procession anymore, it's a major festival.
"What kind of marriage is this even?" Kartik stretched his neck to see where the line started from.
"Child marriage," Anand said completely unconcerned with the grandeur.
"Fuck! Shut your mouth. We don't need your sense of dark humor here." Kartik covered his mouth with his hands quickly.
"He is not wrong though." Subham continued while thinking "Don't you feel that I'm also a child, I need to be protected too. I wish we could call the police." Subham was talking about this body which was only 18 years old.
At this time Subham was able to speak his true thoughts before he felt as if he was being restricted from speaking anything about denying this marriage. He didn't even have the thought of denying it before.
"You too, be careful don't say this here. This is not a joke. It's not like he's a bad kid, you'll get along well if you put in some effort." Devdutta warned them.
"Tell me which one of us was not arranged by our parents to marry a stranger we are fine now, aren't we?" Raghav looked at all of them as he spoke.
"That's true. It's not like they have a choice either." Anand added.
"Stop! Stop! Don't make it so depressing. Just enjoy this moment, you won't regret it later. It's legal don't make it a criminalized law." Kartik was annoyed as to why the conversation turned out like this.
"Maybe Devdutta will be able to change the law, ask your grandfather to do something." Anand looked at Devdutta with a smile.
"First, go and file a petition. Will you?" Devdutta stared back at him as if saying Do I look that capable to you? A boy who can't ask for extra pocket money.
They kept talking while the procession headed towards the wedding venue.
AN:
You can ask in the comments if you don't understand anything or can search on Google also.
Haldi ceremony- a ceremony where bride and groom are bathed after putting turmeric paste all over their body and face.
Puja house/room- a place where you worship God, most people have a dedicated room for this. (depends on the available space sometimes)
Barat- wedding procession