Forever Yours

Chapter Seventy Six

The Shukla family had landed in Jodhpur six hours ago. The whole family had claimed their respective rooms and wasted no time at all to take advantage of all the comfort the place had to offer. The palace in which they were to stay had been completely booked two weeks in advance by SidNaaz's teams so as to avoid any last-minute goof-ups. 

As the date of the wedding crawled closer, the internet was in a frenzy. SidNaaz was in the top-three of the Twitter trends list almost every day. 

Siddharth and Shehnaaz had been spotted on the Mumbai Airport along with their family and only within half an hour, the SidNaaz fans were having a literal meltdown, their tweets barely coherent with the amount of happiness they felt.

By the time they reached the Jodhpur airport, the amount of media that had gathered outside the departures section forced both the airport authorities and SidNaaz's individual teams to arrange for the Security of the couple and their family. 

The authorities on the venue, experienced in handling high profile events, were more than happy to coordinate with Siddharth & Shehnaaz's teams to provide the family with their best experience. 

The family had initially planned on teasing Siddharth by booking Shehnaaz into a completely different wing in the palace, but then they took pity on the couple and gave them although different, adjacent rooms 

The first few hours in Jodhpur weren't eventful, for everyone was exhausted and was eager to crash after a long flight from Mumbai to Jodhpur. 

It was early hours of the evening when the family, well rested and freshened up, decided to gather together for a game of Antakshari since there was nothing better to do. The family sat huddled up in the lawns of the palace, chatting excitedly.

The couples were all seated together on the foam mattresses, Rita Maa sat with Samyukta, twins on either side of the ladies. 

Kushal sat right next to Shehnaaz and was busy watching something on his phone while Ridhi sat a few feet away, watching the family silently.

The fiasco from three days ago was somewhat of a reality check for Ridhi and the day that she realized that she would get away with speaking shit about shehnaaz, with anyone in the Shukla family. The way her own brother and sister had defended Shehnaaz over her, told her exactly the kind of place that she held in their hearts. 

Now, Ridhi was no fool and she knew, anymore poking on her part would invite nothing but trouble for her and thus, for the most part of the last three days, Ridhi had kept to herself much to the relief of Samyukta and Sidharth who had practically taken to guarding Shehnaaz like a hawk whenever Ridhi so much as breathed in their shared vicinity. So far, Ridhi hadn't been too much trouble, which everyone was thankful for. 

Samyukta cleared her throat, grabbing everyone's attention. "We're playing Antakshari!" She announced.

Everyone cheered, "Who's going first?"

"Groom!" 

Siddharth sighed. "Okay, if you want everyone to run away. Sure, I'll go first."

"Don't be dramatic, Mama. Sabko aapke besure gaane ki aadat hai." Samyukta said sarcastically. "You're singing from the word-- L"

Siddharth smiled and started singing a half-decent rendition of the song "Lag Ja Gale" while staring intently at Shehnaaz the whole time. 

At the end of his performance, everyone clapped and hooted. "That was not bad."

Siddharth shrugged, grinning at everyone.

"Maami, your turn. S se gaao."

Shehnaaz looked at everyone and thought, trying to come up with a good song. A few seconds later, her melodious voice rang in the surroundings as she started singing "Sapna Jahan," mesmerizing everyone present there with the sweetness of her voice.

At the end of her performance, the hoots and claps were almost deafening. They were so loud. The loudest among them was her to-be husband, who couldn't stop beaming with pride. 

"That was beautiful." He said sincerely. 

Shehnaaz blushed, her lips stretched onto a wide smile. "Thank you."

"Bhabhi aapne seekha hai, gaana?" Priyashi asked curiously. 

Shehnaaz shook her head. "Orphanage mein, school and college mein classes hote the. But formally nahi, kabhi nahi. Itna time nahi tha." 

"Bina seekhe hi, itni meethi awaaz hai aapki. Bhai, apni next film ka playback inse karwaana." Nik exclaimed, making everyone smile.

Siddharth chuckled. "If she'd take me up on it, sure. Mein to chaar maheene se convince karne ki koshish kar raha hoon." He explained.

Shehnaaz slapped his shoulder playfully. "I'm not a professional, Siddharth. I'm not the one for this job at all." She said quietly.

Siddharth frowned, "Oh come on. That's not fair. You don't even want to try." 

Shehnaaz sighed. "I need formal training, na baby. I need to know the technicalities of singing before I can pursue something like playback, you know that." She explained softly.

Siddharth nodded. "That's true."

"Accha abhi woh chodo, hum konse word pe ruke the?" Samyukta asked. 

"Yaad nahi hai." Shehnaaz said. "Assign a random word to Kushal." 

Samyukta grinned. "Okay, Kushal bhaiyya-- aap gaayenge G se." 

Kushal sat up a little straighter in his seat, frowning thoughtfully and humming under his breath while thinking of the song that he was supposed to sing. 

***

Siddharth walked into the poolside through the backdoor of his room. The palace was mostly empty, except for his family and the staff. Tomorrow, the rest of the guests would start arriving. His friends, her friends, and their family would reunite. Tomorrow, the wedding would kick-start in the real sense of the word. 

The thought made him giddy. 

#SidNaazKiShaadi 

The hashtag had been trending for the last three days and honestly, to see the fans being just as excited about their wedding as they and their family were made him smile. 

It was the boon to have the life of a celebrity.

Of course, not every tweet under the trending hashtag was positive but 8/10 people on the internet, practically strangers were wishing them well and he couldn't help but feel lucky to have such love, so many blessings and good-wishes from people who barely knew them, but treated them like their family.

Despite every rational instinct of your body, you believe in the power of prayers. Siddharth did, at that moment. For him, for her, for them, and he was thankful for every kind word that he read. It helped him ignore every unkind word he came across. 

At last. He was going to become Shehnaaz's husband. He smiled at the thought. He couldn't wait to call her Shehnaaz Siddharth Shukla. 

His little bird would be his wife soon, so soon.

Six Days To Go. 

Hey guys. Just wanted to keep this one short for reasons. It was mostly just a filler chapter, and not much happened, really, but this felt like a good place to stop. The wedding has started, and I know exactly how I feel about it. I would understand if some of you don't want to or don't feel ready to read stuff like this, but I will be grateful if the disapproval or disappointment is conveyed gently. It's not easy for me either, and I understand if some of you find any part of the rest of the story difficult to read, but here's the thing.

This is my disclaimer, I don't mean to offend anyone here. This is just a piece of fiction that I write because I find comfort in it. This is my story, and beyond a point, I can shape it in any way I want. If anyone has a problem, they can stop reading my stories, but if I receive negative comments on my story, I will block you and report your profile. Have a great evening. I love you all.