Say You're Mine (Lovestruck In Bangalore #1)

Chapter 10

I VIKRAM I

I would've kissed her. And despite what she said, I know she would've let me. I don't even know why I didn't just kiss her. Maybe because she was so vulnerable, she would've let me, but it wouldn't feel right. If I kissed her, I wouldn't want ot be in a moment of defencelessness.

I walked ahead without looking back to let her have a minute to freshen up and when I reached the beach, it was almost empty. Karthi and everyone was no where to be seen, just as I thought. A few adults remained. And one among them was Karthi's mother, lakshmi aunty.

She was sitting with her sister-in-law and a few of Shraddha's aunties. I move towards her and when she sees me, she immediately rushes to my side and we meet in the middle. I pull her into a bear hug and she pats my back like she always does.

"I missed you, Lakshmi aunty", I say as I pull back to look down at her.

"Oh, I missed you too, sweet boy", she says as she strokes my shoulder.

"I tried to find you all morning ", I tell her.

"Yeah, don't remind me. I was too busy all day. I heard you got here late yesterday", she says, giving me a questioning look.

"I had to visit dad before coming here", I tell her, not telling her the other reason. She can't keep a secret.

"Is your dad fine?", she asks worriedly.

"You know he is more than fine ", I tell her. "Mom just fusses too much."

"It's too bad that your parents can't be here for Karthi's wedding ", she says and I take her hand in mine.

"You couldn't do anything about it. The date was already fixed. And don't worry, I'll face time her during the wedding. And you know you can add her to the wedding pictures with photoshop. It'll be like she was there", I console her.

"Mm. Where were you all this time? Karthi was looking for you and when Shraddha's cousin said that you were with Shraddha's sister, they left for the beach house ten minutes ago. Is she with you?", She says looking anxious.
"Don't worry she's with me", I assure her. "Did they take all the cars?", I ask looking towards the parking lot. Other than a few bikes, it's empty.

"Yeah , I think they took all the cars. So... What were you doing with Shraddha's sister? What's her name? Meena?", She asks with an innocent expression, but I know what's going on behind that head.

Lakshmi aunty has been my unofficial matchmaker for the last three years because according to her I'm a little too wild, and growing older day by day. As if I didn't know that.

She tried to set me up with a few of Karthi's cousins during his sister's wedding. And it took karthi getting all hulk on me and telling me that he'll punch me if I flirted with them, to get her to stop. So I know if she meets Meera, she'll start reciting my bio data and life history to her, embarassing the fuck out of me.

"Her name is Meera", I say correcting her as if she didn't really know. I know she won't forget her daughter-in-law's sister's name that easily, "She just wanted some help with the surprise she was planning for the couple for the party tonight and we were talking about it", I tell her, making her face fall.

The haldi ceremony was supposed to be held in the evening but they decided to prepone it to the morning so that they can throw a party at the beach house today evening. It was Karthi's idea obviously but Shraddha agreed easily because he helped her manage the flower arrangements for today.

"Mmm", she says smiling and when I look look back towards the hall, I see Meera coming out from the back. I hastily throw out an 'I'll see you later' to Lakshmi aunty before rushing off towards Meera.