"Sana!?" Sheena was looking for her friend.
Shehnaaz who panicked as if her life was at stake, slapped Sidharth, removed his jacket and immediately ran towards the pool area.
"Ha? Kya bol rahi thi tu?" She asked Sheena as soon as she saw her while panting a little.
"Kya hua tujhe? Aise kyu bhaag rahi hai." Sheena asked, confused.
"Mai kaha-? Tune awaz di na.. toh mai- mai teri pass aa rahi thi." Shehnaaz fumbled with words while answering.
"Ajeeb pagal hai tu. Tere ko chad gayi hai." Sheena concluded as she shook her head.
"Tu kyu bula rahi thi?" Shehnaaz asked her.
"Wo Guru aur uske cousins ja rahe hai. Jane se pehle tujhse milna chahte the." Sheena replied.
"Acha. Chal." Shehnaaz nodded, accompanying her friend.
Sidharth who was watching them from a good distance, sat dumbfounded. He had expected anything but a slap in return for what just happened. Whatever happened was consensual, even though they were drunk, they weren't wasted as if they wouldn't realize they were kissing each other. Anyway, he decided to follow the girls towards the pool.
"Kal milte hai." Gurjot told Shehnaaz, hugging her shortly and taking his leave.
"Ha. Aram se jana." She replied with a smile.
"Tune aise kyu muh banaya hai?" He asked her.
"Kaisa?" She gulped, asking.
"Constipated sa. Bathroom jana hai toh ja sakti hai tu." He replied and she hit his hand in return. Pushing him to leave as their group laughed.
Sheena walked out with her fiance as the two continued to talk privately, others just stood back and decided to call it a night.
Shehnaaz saw Sidharth present in the group and made up her mind to silently escape so as to avoid facing him. She sneaked out of the pool area and made her way into the house through the door at the back. She sighed, took a deep breath and used the washroom to change her clothes into her comfortable ones. All the while she was cleaning her makeup and making the bed, she couldn't stop herself from thinking about Sidharth and the kiss she shared with him.
The kiss was a small, short and simple one, their wet lips had just met and began to move against each other before she heard Sheena. Her heartbeats would pick up even at the mere mention of the kiss, the way Sidharth's warm breath had caressed her face before he had leaned in. His hands were holding the collar of his jacket when he helped it around her, yet she could feel it over her chest through the layers of clothing.
A knock disturbed her thoughts, she got up and opened the door expecting Sheena but it was Sidharth. He got in without wasting a single second.
"What are you doing?" She asked him.
"You tell me! What are you doing? Why did you slap me?" He asked her. The slap wasn't hard but a slap was a slap.
"I- wo- it's - you kissed me." She thought a lot before coming up with a reason but then stuttered. Soon she decided to blame it on him.
"Ha toh?" He shrugged, taking a step ahead.
"Kya matlab ha toh?! Mujhe aise koi bhi aa ke kiss karega toh mai thappad hi marungi!" She tried to retort.
"Acha." He nodded, slipping an arm around her waist and pulling her up close. He saw her trying to avoid him and sneaking out of his eyes.
"Sidharth -" she wriggled.
"Shut up. Just shut up, natak band kar." He replied, getting a little mad. She was acting unnecessarily unpretentious and it was of no use now. She was just worse at it, pretending as if she didn't know what was happening.
"Ye- yeh sab galat hai Sidharth. Hath chhodo. We can't be doing this." She gave up and admitted what she felt about it.
"Should have thought of all that before coming on to me." He told her, releasing her slowly.
"Haawww! I came on to you? I did that?!" She questioned him, he sounded as if he was accusing her.
"Toh, aisa nahi hai toh kya hai? Tune yeh sab start kiya hai. Ha ke na?" He asked her.
"Tune bhi toh response diya na? Ke mai akeli hi tere peeche padi thi?" She retorted angrily.
"Toh aise kyu kar rahi hai jaise mai tere peeche pada hu?" He replied with another question.
"Yeh galat hai Sidharth. Sheena teri behen jaisi hai toh.. mai aur tu? Yeh nahi hona chahiye." She told him. Since he knew everything from the beginning so there was no running away from the obvious fact that scared her.
"Hmm." He nodded. Even though not a single cell inside him wanted to agree with her but he couldn't let it slide that she shouldn't do anything that she doesn't want to.
"Aur sorry. Mujhe aisa thappad nahi marna chahiye tha. Mai panic karne lagi. Sorry." She apologized further.
"It's okay. Maine socha nahi tha tu aise maaregi." He chuckled, recalling how shocked he was when she did that.
"Aage se nahi hoga." She mumbled. She sheepishly smiled, looking down to hide her face. She felt so embarrassed.
"Kya nahi hoga? Thappad ya.." He teased, asking her. Either the kiss or the slap.
"Dono! Yaar Sidharth, ja yaha se. It's already so difficult and you're not helping." She replied, gesturing him to leave.
"I'm sorry what?" He was surprised by what she just said.
That was when Shehnaaz realized that she was talking too much. She blurted out something she shouldn't have. It was the truth anyway, she was so attracted to him and staying away from him was really not an easy task because so was he.
"What do you mean difficult?" He stepped forward, asking her further about it.
"This! This is difficult!" She sounded frustrated as she responded by pushing him against the door such that the door was closed. With her hands on his chest, she stepped closer to him, tipped on her toes and inched higher to kiss him.
It didn't take him more than another second to slip his arm around her to pull her even closer into the kiss. He bent down a little and captured her lips properly, caressing her full and plump upper lip with his when his face angled hers to let them ease into each other.
She cupped his face and moved her lips in sync to finally be able to do the thing she had been meaning to and waiting for. He tasted like the scotch they had been enjoying a while ago. She was feeling so hot and anxious at the same time, the way he deepened the kiss but he wasn't hurrying into it, nor was he kissing her lightly. Their kiss just had this intensity, this passion and this force that was driving them further towards each other. It was like he would eat her off, he sucked her lips in such a consumable manner that she felt like she was drowning.
"Fuck!" The two muttered simultaneously as they parted. They did the absolute opposite of what was just decided.
"Ja yaar Sidharth." She looked away as she said that. Leaning against the almirah and closing her eyes in dread. She was breathing heavily and feeling burdened as she saw him leave without another word spoken.
The next day, the entire house was running around to finish the last few customs left before the muhurat. Shehnaaz didn't see Sidharth much during the day and it made her feel all the more anxious. She felt guilty as if she had taken advantage of the situation. She was the one who began to showcase her interest in him, kissed him twice but again it was her who was pushing him away like some playboy.
Sheena was getting ready along with her best friend, Shehnaaz was trying to pin the dupatta as per the decided look while the bride was standing still. The red colour wedding lehenga set was inspired by the Sabyasachi Collection. The lehenga set was in raw silk fabric with zardozi, marodi and arri hand embroidery. This lehenga set came with two dupattas with heavy embroidery again.
The stylists arrived soon and began to work on the bride's hair and makeup while Shehnaaz utilized the time to change as well. She wore a pink simple and sleek lehenga, it had zari work and intricate gold designs that she bought in Mumbai. She quickly did her hair, a simple half updo along with a middle partition so as to settle an ornament there. She paired a complete set of small stoned jhumkas with a choker that had a mangtika as well.
"Photoshoot karwalo jaldi. Baraat aane se pehle." Rajiv suggested.
Sheena got her pictures clicked, she already had her room set with a white backdrop for the photoshoot. Rajiv and Anju joined her and so did Shehnaaz. All of them were getting emotional but they were too occupied with stuff to let the heart think.
"Beta suno." Shehnaaz was walking towards the pooja room to get the Shagun ki thaal ready that Anju would welcome Gurjot with when Sheena's aunt called her.
"Hanji bua?" She replied.
"Isse milo. Yeh Mera beta Dev hai." The aunt introduced her to a tall and handsome guy. He politely smiled and Shehnaaz returned the favour.
"Hanji." Shehnaaz nodded, she kept thinking about how she had to prepare the thaal and make sure she used ghee while preparing the diya.
"Aap busy lag rahi hain. You carry on." Dev said and she looked at him gratefully.
"Sorry, mujhe kuch kaam diya hai aunty ne." She replied, making her way towards the pooja room.
Sidharth was getting ready with Ajay, his day went by as he had gone to pick up his sisters' family from the airport. They went to a hotel they booked for themselves. Both Neetu and Preeti arrived with their families simultaneously to attend Sheena's wedding.
Rita Ma was still in the house while Sidharth had packed his stuff so that he could bring his sisters and everybody to the venue all at once. He got ready in the hotel itself in a bottle-green pure georgette embroidered Lucknowi work longline bundi and kurta set. He wore this once when his best friend Vardhan got married a couple of years ago. The set was so good that he didn't really get any other chance to wear it.
"Can't believe Mickey itni badi ho gayi hai!?" Neetu said, walking into the house full of guests.
"Maa!" She got excited when she saw her mother around in a pretty elegant kanjivaram.
"Aa gaye tumlog! Mai kabse wait kar rahi thi." Rita Ma hugged her daughters. It had been a few months since she had visited them.
"Jao, Mickey se mil lo. Upar kamre me hai." She told them and Sidharth guided them towards the room. His mind would drift back to the moment he kissed Shehnaaz last night as soon as he knocked on the door.
"Ek second!" Shehnaaz replied, opening the door to a bunch of people.
"Aiye." She hesitantly smiled, looking at everybody but Sidharth. She stood at the corner, watching Sheena almost jump at her place with excitement and hug the ladies.
"Oh my God Neetu di!!!! I missed you so much!" She squealed hugging the lady and then pulled Preeti in as well.
"Kaisi lag rahi hu? Batao batao." She asked, twirling around slowly and giving them a quick show.
"Itni pyari lag rahi hai na tu! Prettiest bride I've ever seen! Look at those designs, wonderful!" They complimented her and she simply felt overjoyed.
"Hii didi." Advait greeted Shehnaaz.
"Kais hai Adi?" She replied in the similar manner.
"Yeh kon hai? Teri cousin?" Neetu asked.
"Arey nahi. Meri best friend hai, Shehnaaz!" Sheena replied, calling her friend and introducing them to everyone.
"Yeh aayi thi Mumbai, in sab ke sath shopping ke liye." Preeti added, smiling at the girl.
"Hello di! Bohot suna hai aap ke bare me." Shehnaaz replied as she kept smiling.
"Baraat aa gayi!" Chintu told all of them as he rushed into the room and carried on so as to tell everybody.
"Chalo, phir hum neeche ja rahe." Preeti replied, slowly walking everybody out.
"Montu, tu ruk." Sheena called out for Sidharth.
"Ha?" He asked.
"Sana, de na wo chunri." She asked her friend.
"Sare bhai mil ke mujhe bahar leke jayenge na, toh tu ruk. Baki cousins bhi aate honge." She informed him.
He nodded and looked at the net-heavily designed chunri Shehnaaz gave him. He took it, opened it and studied it while the other boys arrived so that he didn't have to look at her. But then he couldn't help but take a sneak peak. She was doing Sheena's last minute touch up. She turned back to grab the compact and found him looking at her, they stared at each other for a few seconds before they looked away.
"Mickey?" Dev and a few cousins arrived.
"Ha bhaiya, aao. Aap sab mujhe neeche leke chaloge." Sheena told them.
"Tu mere bhi sath rehna." She told her friend, making her nod.
"Chalein phir?" Sidharth asked and all of them assembled around the bride.
Sheena made them stand according to their height and tagged Shehnaaz along. They slowly climbed down the stairs and stopped, letting the photographer click and shoot them walking the bride to the mandap.
"Mickey, tu apni entry pe dance-vance toh nahi karegi na? Please, I don't want to be a part of that." Sidharth asked her to enlighten their mood when he noticed everybody was quiet. People around them laughed when he said that.
"Aaj bhi maar khayega Montu?!" Sheena snapped at him with angry eyes.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hello all! How's the chapter?
Did you see another kiss coming? Well everybody saw the awkwardness coming, it was so obvious!?
Did anybody see Dev coming? How about a twist in the story?
So what do you people think will happen now? Shehnaaz should get to know Dev at least? Or does Sidharth? Lol 😆