Destiny's Game

Ch. 14 Wedding Preparations

The house was the most amazing one he had ever been in. He wondered how it would have been if this was his childhood home filled with his childhood memories. This was the home where his father, aunt and uncle had grown up in and Abhimanyu didn't know why, but he wished he had grown up here too.

The mansion mostly modern with some Indian architectural elements that perfectly blended well. It had around 7 en suite rooms  and 5 guest bedrooms. 4 bathrooms and 2 kitchens. Downstairs was a massive living room with a high ceiling and upstairs had a TV room, which in Rishabh's opinion was perfect was gaming. There was also a Mandir at home with all the deities his grandmother worshipped.

Suddenly, Abhimanyu's attention drew to his sister who squealed loudly. He saw her jumping up and down excitedly and focused on what she was looking at. A swimming pool with crystal blue water came to his sight in the backyard. Preeti rushed towards it, with Rishabh following her.

"Preeti, I think you should go to Australia where you will meet your fellow species: Kangaroos. They jump like that too." Rishabh said, teasingly as Preeti rolled her eyes. "I am just excited okay?" She defended herself.

Rishabh shook his head. "You were acting like you've never seen a swimming pool in your life when we have one in Mumbai."

"Yeah, but this one is bigger." Preeti walked around it, dipping her right foot into the water. She giggled. "It's normal in temperature. Oh, how I wish I had brought my swimwear!" She pouted dramatically.

Abhimanyu went back in to find his mother sitting on the sofa with a glass of water in her hand. Aria was with her, telling her about the gym that she had just seen. "It's so big, Badi-maa! I love it here!" He sat next to her and pulled her hair to which Aria huffed and hit his arm. Abhi laughed and she showed him his tongue, crossing her arms. "Badi-maa, tell Bhaiya not to do that again!"

"Abhi..." Shalini warned him and he raised his hands in surrender.

Their Dadi came in with Ritu. They carried trays of juices and handed everyone a glass. Abhi refused, not wanting to have it. His Dadi gave him a glass anyway and he awkwardly held it. "So, Abhimanyu how do you feel about this engagement?"

He shrugged, not having anything to say, but his grandmother insisted to have an answer from him. "Okay, what about the girl? Do you like Naina?" She questioned further, eager to know. His mother seemed interested as well, as she straightened up, perking her ears to listen. Abhi shrugged again. "I think she is okay."

"Okay?" His Dadi repeated, clearly offended by his words. "She looks like an angel!"

"She is not that special." Shalini muttered under her breath, but somehow Abhimanyu found himself disagreeing with his mother. She was special. Tanisha, hearing her, rolled her eyes before saying, "At least she doesn't look like a piece of shit." Shalini's face fell as it was a clear jibe at Ananya. Aria gasped hearing her Dadi say such words but then hid her mouth with her hand, so that no one can see her cackling.

"Maa..." Ritu, Abhi's Bua intervened, realising that there was a kid present between them. Tanisha looked guilty for a second but covered it up and feigned ignorance. "What?"

Ritu shook her head with her lips curved upwards behind her glass of juice. There was never a dull moment when Tanisha Khurrana is around.

******

The next day a Priest came to their house at ten in the morning. Abhimanyu was drinking his coffee and flicking through a presentation the CFO had sent when he saw the Pandit coming in. The whole family gathered around in the living room, annoying him as they were disturbing him from concentrating on his work. Frustrated with all the noise around him, he shut his laptop and turned to the Priest.