“Bhaiya! Aapki dulhan ek dum pari lag rhi hai. Kahi behosh mat ho jaana usse dekh kr. Ambulance taiyar rakhwalu kya?”

He teased and Ved looked at him with a whiplash.

“How do you know how she’s looking?”

“Dekh ke aaya na mai usse. Meri best friend hai wo bhaiya. Bhul gye kya?”

Vedant teased more and wiggled his eyebrows enjoying his brother’s plight.

“Mummy! Maine abhi tak nhi dekha usse. Ye kaise dekh kr aa gaya?”

He whined and Vedant burst out laughing.

“Ved! Kya kr rha hai? Sagai hai aaj teri. Don’t be a kid.”

His mother reprimanded softly and he lowered his head still grumbling at Vedant who chuckled, enjoying it too much.

The tilak ritual was done and Ved was asked to sit in the front couch while they brought the bride. His hands got clammy. He would finally see her. His Isha. 

He looked at the entry passageway impatiently and the moment she came into view, he forgot how to breathe. She looked like a dream. Everything else seemed to blur. He could only see her. 

Vanisha was too nervous. All the eyes were on her. She searched for her father and saw him standing near the stage with a soft smile on his face and she gave him a genuine smile. She was doing it all for him now. 

She reached the stage and was made to sit in the middle on a raised stool for the Godh ritual. Her eyes briefly met Ved’s. Saw him wearing the clothes she thought she had selected for Vedant. She sucked in a deep breath when he smiled at her. His smile was the last thing she saw before the ladies of his family surrounded her for the ritual.

All the while she could only think of how unfair she was being to him. Ved didn’t deserve it. She recalled Vedant’s words about Ved being in love with her and she felt even more of a culprit. 

After her Godh ritual, meanwhile the staff cleared the stage, Vanisha was made to sit beside Ved on the front couch.

“Hi!”

She heard him whisper and she gave him a meek greeting back.

“You look so pretty. Like an angel.”

She didn’t know how to behave normally around him. She felt like she was cheating him. Liking his younger brother but getting married to him. Sounded too scandalous.

“Thank you. Aap…aap bhi achhe lag rhe hai.”

Ved grinned. She had complimented him. Her first compliment. Definitely not the last.

“I hope you really liked the lehanga. I remember you once telling Vedant that you wanted to wear something lavender on your engagement.”

Her eyes snapped to his. He remembered? She thought that Vedant had told him or something. She didn't know how to respond, so she simply nodded. Ved frowned but dismissed it thinking that she might be nervous. Even he was a little bit nervous.

The engagement was done. Vanisha was in her room looking at the ring in her finger. The ring she had thought Vedant was going to make her wear. She shook her head and took a deep breath.

“Stop it Vani! Stop thinking about it now. You’re getting married to Ved. Not Vedant. Stop thinking about him.”

She reprimanded herself and looked at the ring again. The moment when Ved slipped the ring in her finger played in her mind. The soft kiss he placed on her knuckles after that, the look in his eyes and her evident shock at his move.

The crowd had gone crazy at his move and her heart had forgotten how to beat for a second. How could he do it so casually in front of so many people? Did he not feel awkward with her at all? 

Then she realised that she was the stupid one to think she was getting married to someone else and not him. Moreover, he loved her, according to Vedant’s words.

Two days later, they were moving to the venue where the rest of the pre-wedding functions and the wedding would happen. Everyone wanted the sangeet night to be held together. And since mehandi and sangeet were on the same day and haldi a day after, they decided to keep the venue the same for all the functions.

The wedding was tomorrow. Time passed so quickly that Vanisha didn’t realise when her last day at her parent’s home came. But she wasn’t nervous right now because of that. She was nervous because of the message that came to her phone 2 minutes back.

Can you meet me in the lawn? 

Just for 10 minutes.

Kuch important baat krni hai.

Ved’s message. What did he want to talk about at 12 in the midnight? That too a night before their wedding. She bit her lip and contemplated. She wouldn’t be able to sleep if she didn’t know thinking about it the whole night about what he wanted to talk.

Her hands had handkerchiefs wrapped around them to cover her chooda. She couldn’t open them until the next day’s rituals. Taking a deep breath, she walked out of her room and towards the lawn mentally praying she doesn’t meet anyone on the way.

Luckily she didn’t. When she reached the law, Ved was already there. Sitting on a swing. He looked at her approaching form and got up with a jerk.

“Hi…umm…sorry..tumhe yaha itni late bulaya.”

“Its ok. Pr baat kya hai? Thoda jaldi boliye kyunki kisi ne dekh lia toh bhut problem ho jaayegi.”

He nodded and asked her to sit. She did and he followed suit. They sat in silence for a few seconds with him rocking the swing softly.

“Kal hamari shaadi hai aur usse pehle mai kuch baat krna chahta tha.”

She nodded for him to continue and he took a deep breath.

“Shaadi ek bhut badi responsibility hai. It’s a life changing event. Shayad meri life utni na badle jitni tumhari. You are leaving your whole life behind. Naya ghar, naye log, naya rehen sehen, naya khaan peen, naya mahol. Ye sab mai nhi rok skta. This is a part of our social cycle and I am sorry that it’s always women who have to sacrifice everything in life.”

She listened to him calmly. Honestly, this was what scared her. She was leaving her whole life behind. To start a new one with him. And even if she didn’t love him, she’d need him with her in this new journey.