The Great Indian Wedding Romance

20. Expectations

Siddharth had to make his escape to Chetna's bathroom yet again when her mother started knocking on her door early in the morning. 

He walked into the small space groggily, rubbing his eyes. He glanced in the mirror and cringed at his appearance. He sneakily opened the tap and smoothed his hair down as the sounds of conversation died down outside. 

Chetna knocked on the bathroom door twice before opening and sticking her head in. 

"Like clockwork, she wakes me up at seven every day," she said, running her hands through her equally dishevelled hair. 

Siddharth smiled at her and for a second they just stood there grinning at each other. 

"I would kiss you right now but I can't put you through the trauma of my morning breath," Siddharth said. 

"Will my morning breath cancel out yours?" she joked. 

They walked back into her room and Siddharth grabbed his jacket to leave. 

"I am gonna catch a few more hours of sleep. You should too. We're gonna be up all night today too." she said. 

"At least it will be over then," he said as some sort of consolation. 

They still hadn't had the big conversation about what the future held for them. Every time Siddharth thought about the possibility of her saying no he was filled with apprehension. He knew the longer he put it off, the worse it will be. 

They only really had today. 

"Don't forget the reception. I will meet you at your turf," she said with a twinkle in her eye referring to the final event that was to be held in Delhi.

Siddharth stood at the door and engulfed her in a tight hug before turning to leave. She smelled so good that he could've stayed inhaling her forever. 

But he pulled away and gave her a light smile. 

"I will see you later," he said. 

"Yeah." 

Chetna checked the hallway for any of her relatives and then signalled for him to leave. 

As Siddharth walked towards the lifts he realized how illicit this would look to anyone watching from the outside. It almost looked like a walk of shame. 

Yet he knew they had barely even kissed in that room. That was how exhausted they were. Strangely, he realized that he was more content with this relationship than he had ever been with any of his past ones.  

It amazed him how much more valuable time could be when it was spent with the right person. 

And he knew now what that felt like. 

His mother was asleep when he got in. He hoped she wouldn't ask too many questions about his whereabouts last night.  Although given the knowing looks she was giving him she wasn't completely clueless. 

He sank into his bed as quietly as possible and lay to rest for the next several hours. 

***

Siddharth woke up to his frantically vibrating phone. 

Groggily he checked the caller ID and groaned. It was Yug. He checked the time and saw it was close to 11 am now. 

He sat up and ran a hand through his messy hair as he tried to blink the sleep away from his lids. He looked around the room and found he was alone. His mother, no doubt, busying herself with the upcoming wedding preparation.