My Final Decision

Chapter 8

Pic - A still from the song selected by Roohi for the love birds :)

Video - For those who wanna have a closer look at the chemistry between Aryan and Sneha ;) 

Venue – Sneha's room – 2 days before Roohi's marriage

I was sitting on my bed and browsing good dance videos when my cell phone rang. It was Max. 'Hello Maxieeee. Good morning, you can't stay away from me, can you?' I said in a teasing tone. I heard him chuckling on the other side.

'Good morning Red, get ready quickly. We are leaving in half an hour.' He said sounding serious. 'What? Where are we going?' I asked.

'You are such a dumbo, red riding hood!! We are going to The Temple of my ancestors. Be quick now, I don't want to hear any excuses. Will do rest of the talking on the way.' He hang up without hearing my response. I then remember him telling me about this tradition where the bride and groom's families need to gather and perform the rituals two days before marriage for the successful and happy married life of the couple.

Damn, What about my practice with Aryan? I knew that Max would never take 'no' for an answer. So, I called Roohi instead. She created this plan, let her solve the problems too.

She picked on second ring, 'Hie Di, Whats up?' 

'Hey Red, I was just getting ready. This stupid saree is tough to wear. Are you ready?' She sounded frustrated. 'Umm yeah, I will get ready. But Aryan?' I left the sentence incomplete. 'Oh fish, the special performance? We will be back by evening from the temple. There is no way you can complete the act if you join us. Right?' she asked sounding worried.

'Yes, genius. Max just called. Should I call Aryan and tell him about the change in plans?' I asked in a sad tone.

'No, no. I have a plan, I am the bride after all, who will look after my never ending shopping list?' I heard her evil laugh. 'You are going to pick up our costumes for the ceremony, with Aryan of course.' She added, 'I will talk to dad, that way Max won't be able to force you into coming with us. I desperately wanted you to come with us, you are family after all but this performance is for your Jiju. I can't compromise with that too. I will call you in a while. The plan is still on, chubby cheeks.' She hang up and a smile found its way to my face.

10 minutes later

My cell phone rang and I picked it up with my fingers crossed. 'You two owe me big time for this', I heard Roohi's laughter on the other side.

'Hey did it work?' I asked nervously.

'Of course, sweetheart. My evil sister is a gold medalist in acting and convincing people.' I heard Aryan's sexy voice. 'I will be there on time and I talked to Max already. Your dad is going with them, so all is well, captain.' He added before hanging up. I heaved a sigh of relief and did a happy dance in front of full-length mirror in my room.

I headed downstairs to tell my mom about Aryan's arrival, but Roohi's call beat me to it. Mum served me Aloo Parathas as breakfast. I started reading a magazine while waiting for Aryan to show up. Our doorbell rang at 9:55 and I ran towards the door. I heard mom's laughter in the kitchen at my actions.

'Hey, welcome to my Disneyland.' I said while inviting him in.

He responded by saying, 'I think I will be perfect for the role of your Prince Charming' and making me blush in process. I closed the door and saw him touching the feet of my mother. Karan was having tea and he shook hands with Aryan. Mom served tea to Aryan and they all started chatting about random things. After having tea, Aryan politely asked for permission to practice with me and my mom happily agreed. I found his this action quite cute.

I showed him my room upstairs. My room covers one-third portion of the entire first floor. It is painted in light pink and purple color. My bed is in the far left corner and there is a big window facing the door. A bathroom is on the right side along with the cupboard and a full length mirror. There is one study table and a rack with various books and other items by the door. There is lot of empty space with three chairs in the middle of room because I love to dance and this space is just for serving this purpose.

Aryan gave me the pen drive. I picked up my laptop and found the video of song 'Pyaar Ki Yeh Kahaani Suno'. My expression changed after checking the video and Aryan looked at me with amusement in his eyes. I asked him to confirm my doubt, 'Are we actually performing salsa on this song?'

He smiled and nodded his said while explaining, 'Roohi Di and Sanam Jiju first met in the salsa dance academy. They performed on this song together on an event and jiju proposed Roohi afterwards. So, Roohi Di wants us to portrait the couple, this is the only reason our performance is kept a secret. I am excited to see Jiju's expression tomorrow.' Oh, so this is why Roohi was so excited.

'Well, if this performance is for my favorite couple, I am in.' I said with a smile.

Aryan added 'and yes, as per Roohi's special instructions, we can't change the choreography. We have to perform the exact steps as in the video. She even ordered exactly same clothes for us as they have worn while performing. Remind me to collect these by 1 today. Should we start now?' I nodded and we started practicing.

The steps in the song seemed too intimate for my comfort. Well, Aryan and I both were professionally trained in dance and hence we decided to practice basic salsa steps first. Every time his hands touched me, I shivered. I literally felt the butterflies jumping in my stomach at his touch.

Somehow, we managed to complete the main steps of song by 12:30. We both were breathing heavily by then, so we decided to take a break. Just then, mom knocked the door and entered with coffee. Aryan and I were sitting on the chairs facing the window. 'You are pretty good at dance and expressions as well. I was not sure when Roohi said none can perform this better than you, but now I think she was right.' Aryan said and I smiled while saying, 'You are not bad yourself, Mr. Duplicate Sanam' and we both started laughing.

It was 12:50 and phone started ringing. It was the reminder I had set earlier to pick up our costumes. Karan decided to accompany Aryan and they came back in 20 minutes with two bags. I was impressed to see my dress. I decided to try it on. It was light blue in color, came up to mid-thigh and had pretty sweetheart neckline. It fitted me perfectly. Aryan also changed into white shirt and blue faded pants.

We decided to perform with these clothes on. Mom and Karan were more than happy to be audience, but I shut the door after shooing them away. We practiced twice and we were positive to give an outstanding performance tomorrow. I came to know about Aryan's likes and dislikes because I was talking the whole time to distract my mind from various sensations in my body. I felt a tingling sensation every time his hand came in contact with my body, so this whole chit-chat saved me. We had lunch together and he left at 4.

Max and his family came back at 6 in the evening. I got ready and went to his home. Roohi was the happiest to see me, so I told her about our practice. Max seemed a bit unhappy because of my absence, so I spent most of the evening with him. Aryan and Max even teased me about the color of my henna, because mine was the darkest among other girls except Roohi.

I exchanged phone numbers with Aryan and came back to home for getting some rest, as I was tired after dancing whole day.....

A/N – Hey guys, I hope you love this story. I have a bad news. I have my finals exams in a few days, so I need some time to study. I won't be able to update regularly till first week of May. I hope you all understand. I will be free after exams and I will update daily. I might update in between, so please be patient till then.  

Love and Hugs,

Rmn :)