*** I'm going to post my Pinterest link in my announcement and my bio. Go quickly and look at the outfits as I can't fit them all in this.
*** Another update will come soon (ish?) or on Saturday. I wanna make up for the lost weeks.
I nudge Nathan, who's sitting on the bed with a curious expression on his face. I know the reason behind the curiosity. He just saw his brother in the last place he expected to see him.
"What you thinking about?" I ask.
"What the fuck is Maverick doing here?" he answers my question with a question of his own.
I shrug, "He's Madhura's date. I asked Apoorva."
"But, what are the freaking chances?"
I sigh and get up, kneeling in front of him, my hands resting on his knees in a folded position. He stops staring into the mirror in front of the bed and looks straight at me, nervousness clear in his eyes. His eyes dart around my face, lingering a longer on my lips before finally meeting my eyes.
"What are you actually thinking about?" I ask again.
His face slowly changes expression, lips stretching into a nervous smile. The sight sends a warm chill down my spine and I take a deep breath to control my heartbeat. He moves his hands to place them on top of mine and I almost kiss him then and there. We're so close, the slow music we played as soon as we got into the room reaching our ears, matching our irregular breaths.
"I was already nervous about meeting your entire family. Now my brother is also here. How am I supposed to compete with him?"
I chuckle lightly and rub my thumb on the back of his hand, "Who said we have to compete?"
He gives me a blank dead stare and states, "You literally did. Ten minutes ago."
"I did, didn't I?" I pretend to tease him. He doesn't let his poker face fall which renders me unable to control my laughter.
"Okay fine. I did say that. But trust me," I start, leaning forward, "I prefer the younger Wright. And I'm sure the rest of the family will love both of you. But you a little better."
He raises his eyebrow, already looking a little more relaxed than before, "How are you so sure about that?"
"Well, it's because I'll be with you," I tease. I make the movement of pulling my hands away from his, but before I can do that, he pulls me closer, making me gasp. He smirks and leans even closer, so much so that we're a hair's distance away from each other. One small move and our lips will meet. I hold my breath out of pure instinct of being so close to someone, but he surprises me by moving in a different direction and placing a kiss on my forehead. I close my eyes, feeling his lips lingering a little longer than required before moving away.
I move back and look at him through my lashes to find a blinding smile on his lips, "Not like this, Palmer. When we do kiss, it'll be special."
I regain my composure and pull a smirk on my face, "Who says we will?"
"Your pulse spiking says it," he winks before getting up and walking into the washroom.
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"Woah what is this?" he exclaims as he walks out of the washroom. I had laid his kurta on the bed when he was in the washroom so that he doesn't waste any time getting ready. After having breakfast, we can both get ready simultaneously.
"It's your first outfit," I say. He looks at the kurta in a foreign admiration. It's a deep dark blue kurta with triangular golden buttons along the middle. A dark red patterned handkerchief sits on top of the breast pocket, meant to be folded and worn in it. His pyjama is a light golden shimmery colour and his shoes are the traditional sandals to be worn with it.
"Where's yours?" he questions.
I smirk at him and shake my head, "That you won't see just yet."
His smirks back and say, "Wanna surprise me Grasshopper?"
"Maybe," I answer truthfully. I wanna see his face, his expressions when he sees me in Indian Traditional for the first time.
"Fine, let's have our breakfast and we can start getting ready soon."
After we finish our breakfast, he grabs the kurta and pyjama and walks into the washroom and I start on my makeup. I keep the face subtle and make my eyes bold, letting them do the talking. Heavy eyeliner and a smokey eyes later, Nathan walks out of the bathroom, looking like a lost little boy. I look at him through the mirror, struggling to figure out how to fold the handkerchief, with his top buttons open, letting his defined chest peak through. I take a little longer to get up and help him, taking advantage of the fact that he hasn't spotted me checking him out yet. The dark blue stands out against his creamy complexion, making him look royally handsome.
And hot, but I'm trying to ignore that at the moment.
He looks up and spots me staring at him through the mirror. His neutral confused expression turns into that of awe, staring at my makeup. He shakes his head and it finally registers in his head that I was checking him out.
"Like what you see, Grasshopper?" he smirks.
"Yes," I start, "I do like to see you struggling."
He chuckles and I quickly get up and walk to him. I grab the handkerchief in my hand, folding it nicely and placing it carefully into his breast pocket. Then I move to his buttons, my fingers lightly grazing his bare chest as I move them. I don't dare to look up at him, keeping my focus directed on the evil buttons, who take longer than they should to buckle.
Finally finishing all of them, I move my hand and look up at him, only to find him staring at me with an unreadable expression. His eyes are darker than his usual green, and staring into them I'm reminded of a calm forest. But his eyes are anything but calm, a storm raging through them. I take a step back and turn around and close my eyes to catch my breath. Slowly, I grab my hanger bag which holds my lehenga and walks inside the room from which Nathan just walked out.
Opening the zipper, I open the bag to reveal a beautiful lehenga piece staring back at me. It's a beautiful ivory and mauve lehenga set, the lehenga having a beautiful floral lilac pattern. The blouse is glittery wrap-around deep v, the back a beautiful bow-tie design and the dupatta an ivory net, tying the whole set together. I stare at it dumbfounded, amazed by the beauty of it. Quickly putting it on, I leave my hair from my bun and run my fingers through it, letting it fall down my lower back in its natural waves. Looking into the mirror, I stare back at my reflection. I look content. Nervous. But not in a bad way. When my mind drifts to the person sitting outside, waiting for me, my cheeks gain a small tint of red. Letting out a long breath, I brace myself and open the door, walking outside.
Hearing my door unlock, Nathan looks up from his phone and his eyes land on my dressed-up self. I see his thumb on his phone freeze, his face a mixture of astonishment and something else which I cannot place. Slowly, his eyes leave my face run over my whole body, unabashedly checking me out. Once he's done, his eyes return back to my face and he smiles.
And I almost melt at the sight.
He smiles as if I'm the most exquisite wonder he has ever seen. He gets up as if he's enchanted by my sight. And he stops right in front of me like I'm the most beautiful person on the planet.
"Holy hell, Aliana," he breathes out. The sound of my full name sounds like the most beautiful melody.
Holy hell, indeed. What is even happening to me?
"Like what you see?" I smirk, repeating the same words he said to me just a few moments ago. He nods excitedly. Placing both his hands around my waist, he pulls me to him. His eyes flicker down to my lips and back up and I see the question in his eyes before he says it out loud.
"Grasshopper, can I-" just before he's about to finish his question, a knock on our door interrupts him.
"Ali! Aliana!!"
I sigh and look at him dejectedly. He smiles and leans towards me regardless, kissing both my cheeks slowly before moving away.
"Soon, grasshopper. Soon," he winks and moves towards the door, leaving me frozen to the spot.
He opens it and there I see Meera, the bride to be and my favourite cousin. She's wearing her deep maroon gold bridal lehenga by Sabyasachi, adorned with countless jewellery. She looks like a goddess and seeing her as a bride drives me to tears.
"Meera," I cry out and run towards her, engulfing her in a tight hug.
"Hey dumbo," she replies, her voice thick with emotions.
I move away from her to look at her face and find tears forming in her eyes as well.
"Meera, don't you dare cry. Have you seen your makeup? It's done to perfection. And your stupid tears will not ruin it."
She swats my shoulder and looks at me accusingly, "Says the girl who technically cried out in joy and tackled me to the ground."
I laugh and move away from her, "That's allowed. I'm your favourite cousin. And you're getting married. I have a free pass today."
She rolls her eyes before landing on Nathan's smiling form standing behind me.
"Well, are you gonna introduce us or no?" she asks me.
It's my turn to roll my eyes and I push her into the room, locking the door behind her.
"Nathan, meet Meera Mehta, the bride to be and my favourite cousin. Meera, meet Nathan Wright, my close friend."
Meera raises her eyebrows at the word friend but I ignore her completely. Nathan extends his hand towards Meera but she all but pulls him into a hug.
"A close friend of Aliana is a close friend of mine," she says.
He laughs and nods, "Nice to meet you Meera."
"The pleasure is all mine," she says, winking at me. Nathan catches it and turns to me, mimicking her wink.
"So, do you know your brother is here?" Meera asks him. I look at her confused before turning my gaze to Nathan.
"I do. I spotted him earlier. How did you know?"
She shrugs before replying, "I put two and two together. Same surnames. Apoorva is freaking out. Madhura is pissed. Maverick is, well, speechless."
Nathan's eyes widen, "Maverick knows I'm here?"
"Yes he does," a masculine voice calls out from outside the door. We both turn our faces towards it and Nathan sighs, walking to the door and opening it.
"What are you doing here?" Nathan greets his elder brother. Maverick is standing outside, his signature smirk on his face.
"Hello little rat," he greets back. Meera and I turn to each other to share our looks of amusement as we see the Wright siblings interact.
"Let me ask again. Why are you here?"
"I'm Madhura's date," he shrugs. I can tell that he's hiding something but I don't dare say anything.
"How do you know her?"
"Law school."
Nathan narrows his eyes at him and nods slowly, not truly believing him. Another knock on our doors echoes through the room and Maverick walks towards it, opening it to reveal Madhura standing outside our door. She's wearing a beautiful yellow lehenga, looking like an ethereal princess.
"Hey, Aliana. Long time no see," she says, walking into the room.
"Hey. You look so pretty. The colour really suits you," I compliment her honestly. She pauses, taken aback by the compliment before she finally regains her composure and nods.
"You too."
I raise my eyebrow ever so slightly and turn to look at Nathan, who's already staring at me with amusement written on his face.
"Wait where is everyone-" I hear Ma shout as she walks into our room. Finding us all in one room, she pauses in her sentence. She's wearing a dark green saree and her hair is tied back in a bun.
"Well, everyone is here it seems," she smiles.
Nathan moves towards her and says, "You look gorgeous, Aunty."
She laughs and flicks her hand, "I know."
"And I have to introduce you to someone. This is my elder brother Maverick. Maverick, this is Aliana's mom, Dipti Palmer."
I watch as Ma wears her strict mother mask yet again as Mav walks towards her. She shakes his hand and we watch as he leans in to whisper something to her. As soon as he finishes saying what he has to, her face relaxes and she smiles at him.
What the fuck did he say to her?
"I believe they probably need the bride now," Meera says, strutting out of the room without a single glance back. We stare at her retreating form and look back at each other, waiting for someone to say something.
Ma is the one to break the awkward silence. She looks at me, Nathan, Mav and Madhura and smiles evilly at us, "Let's go. We have a wedding to attend."
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Hellooooo! How is everyone? It's been WAY too long omg. I'm backkkkkk! There will be another update up in the coming few days AND on Saturday (I think?). If I can't do the next few days then directly Saturday. Anywho, HI. HOW ARE YOU?
Question of the week!!
Q. Dream Vacation spot?
I'll leave you to the chapter now. Give me your thoughts. I might edit it soon as it's the first draft but still. Let's get the story going and I'll come back and edit. Sounds good? Ciao!
Love,
Anya <3