From Arranged To Love

"Kriti"

I woke up around noon, stretched my body and headed straight for the shower. I then had breakfast and drove to Sid's house straight away.
I rung the bell and Mum opened the door with a wide smile on her face, I was curious as why to she was smiling so widely.
As I walked into the house I was amazed, it was decorated so beautifully. "Wow!" I said as I looked around. "This is so beautiful, how much more is left to be decorated?" I asked mum.
She sighed and said: "just the stairs and outside and we'll be done." Mum replied.
Payal then came down, "hello Mina, when did you get here?" She asked.
"Just now, I had a busy night at work." I replied. She nodded in response and they all got back to work making sweets and desserts. I joined in to help but mum said it was okay so I headed upstairs searching for Sid.
I looked in the guest room I slept in but he wasn't in there. I knocked on his door but there was no reply, I assumed he was busy or sleeping so I walked off to my room.
I rushed so much in the morning that I forgot to check my phone. I had some missed calls from Kriti. I called her back and she answers instantly.
"Oh my gosh Mina!!! How have you been?" She said excitedly.
"I've been good, and you!?" I replied happily.
"I've been good too, I wanted to come see you, are you home?"  She asked.
I didn't know what to tell her, 'should I ask her to come over to Sid's house? She can help us' I thought to myself.
I went down to ask Payal and she said it was fine.
"Yeah sure, I'm actually not home I'm at my to be husband's house but you can come over." I said blushing at the words"to be husband"
"Sure just text me the address" kriti said as she hung up.
I texted her the address and then turned around and nearly for a mini heart attack as I see Sid smiling at me brightly. His hair was a cute mess and his eyes were cutely squinty. I'm guessing he had just woken up from his nap.
"Hey" he said in a deep husky voice as he tucked a loose hair behind my ear.
'Oh my gosh, he's so sexy!!' I thought to myself.
"Hey Sid" I replied with a wide smile.
He chuckled, "why are you so pink?" He asked, although he knew why I was pink.
"Nothing, I just feel hot" I replied
"That's the worst excuse Mina, I know it's because I look sexy." He replied with a cute smirk.
"Whatever" I said and left the room.
"Wait, who's Kriti?" He asked
"She's my best friend, she's coming soon." I replied.
He nodded in response and I went down stairs as I waited for Kriti.
An hour and a half later I heard the bell ring and I ran to open the door. As I opened the door I saw a lovely young lady with a beautiful lovely smile standing there. She had shoulder length dark brown wavy hair and she wore a very fancy turquoise knee high dress with matching jewellery and shoes. Kriti has always been a fashion lover, that explains why she's a fashion designer. We both have each other the tightest hug ever since we haven't seen each other for about 1 year now.
She greeted the rest of the family kindly and as if she knew them for years. She didn't meet Sid yet and she was really impatient to see him so she could embarrass me in front of him.
After a few minutes he finally came down stairs in a sexy black shirt and jeans. His hair was spiked up and he had a cute smile on his face. I looked at Kriti as she stood there mouth open staring at Sid. I admit I was jealous of her for staring at my man like that, he smiled at her then looked at me and gave me a wink. He walked towards Kriti and they shook hands, "I'm Sid, nice to meet you." He said politely.
"Hi Sid, I'm Kriti. Mina's childhood bestie. It's a pleasure to meet you." She said. Sid nodded in response and walked into the kitchen. I was so jealous right now but I decided not to be such a baby about it. "Your to be is so sexy yaar." Kriti said as she stared at him. "Before you give him Nazar (evil eye) let's go, I'll tell you everything.
Kriti laughed and followed me upstairs but I noticed she was staring at Sid but in a different manner but I brushed it off thinking I was just exaggerating. She followed me up stairs into my room. "This is a lovely house." She said as she looked around.
"Sure is." I replied casually.
"Okay so tell me about Sid, how did you guys meet?" She said excitedly
"Well, Sid's dad Sooraj, is a childhood friend of my dad's and he considered getting me married to Sid and at first I didn't like the thought but I cared for my siblings and parents and we decided to meet him. The moment I saw him I fell in love with his personality, he was funny and kinda cute. I realised how quickly he got along with Allie and I knew he was a kid guy. Then I said yes I'll marry him and it was a yes from him as well." I told her the story with all the detail I could and she was amazed. "Wow I thought that only happened in movies" Kriti said as she smiled. "I guess, anyways you tell me how's your love life going?" I asked trying to change the topic before it gets too detailed.
"My love life is great at the moment, I'm still in a relationship with that guy you never liked." She said
"Oh, Aiden? Yeah that guy is really annoying and rude but everyone has their own opinions." I replied. I didn't like her boyfriend much, he's never been loyal to her and he's so rude. He's always harassing girls and I don't know why Kriti can't see that.
The reason Kriti and I haven't met for a whole year was because we got into a fight about her boyfriend as he tried to abuse my sexually but she never believed me so we ended our friendship right there and then. Then a few months later we started talking again but nothing was the same, she was dating the same guy and she would always bring up the past.
"So what happened to your ex, didn't he cheat on you?"
That question really annoyed me, Kriti always does this to me.
"Yeah I don't want to talk about it and you know that Kriti." I replied.
She rolled her eyes and walked out of the room and went to my mother.
I sighed "she's never going to change." I said to myself as I followed her downstairs. I find her talking to Sid while twirling the end of her hair. She was standing pretty close to Sid, mum and Payal looked at me and they knew I was annoyed.
I regret calling Kriti over. I thought she'd changed but nope not one bit. I was annoyed at the fact that Sid was still talking to her. I ignored them and went to help mum and Payal to make sweets. I was furious, a feeling of anger and sadness was casting over me but I didn't let it ruin my mood. After all the decorations were done the house looked amazing. I just couldn't stop staring and admiring the beautiful decorations.

After a few hours Kriti left without meeting or hugging me. I knew something was up and she was acting like a child without reason. I watched her drive away then received a call from my boss, I answered the call hoping I don't have to start work now instead of at 7pm.
"Hey Mina, just letting you know that you can take tonight off. We have someone else that can fill in for you."
I was thrilled, I don't have to go to work.
"Okay, thank you so much Nat." I replied with relief.
"No worries, have a great night" she replied and hung up.
That's when I got a very unusual text from Kriti. She said "better watch out for your so called to be husband, he's very dashing someone might take him from you." -love Kriti
That message just pissed me off, I knew she was talking about herself. I honestly didn't know Kriti would go this far. I didn't bother replying to her, I let myself ignore that message. I just put my phone away and went to have dinner, I was starving. After dinner, mum, Payal, Rohan, Zeef, Allie, Sid and I had a long discussion about Sooraj's birthday party. The planning was going out great, until mum mentioned inviting Kriti. "I don't think we should invite her mum, she wouldn't turn up anyway." I said as I thought about the message she had sent me. "Oh she'll come don't worry, I've already invited her." Sid said.
"Oh" I was shocked, he barely knows her and he invited her. Allie looked at me and she instantly knew there was something wrong. She followed me to my room after the discussion was over, "what's wrong Mina, did Kriti say something to you?" She asked curiously. I pulled out my phone and showed Allie the message from Kriti. Allie was shocked, "Kriti said that? I can't Believe it" Allie said. She sighed and walked out of the room. "Allie, please don't tell anyone." I told her. She nodded and left the room.
I had tears in my eyes, it kind of scared me, I really like Sid and I wouldn't want to lose him and I'm pretty sure he won't fall for Kriti.
I decided to avoid Sid for a while just in case I just yell at him for no complete reason. I had a shower and decided to go to sleep since I had to wake up early the next day. I tossed and turned in bed thinking about Kriti's message. I just couldn't sleep, I walked to Sid's room knocked on the door. He opened the door with a bright smile, as if he was waiting for me.
He saw tears in my asked and he got really concerned. "What's wrong Mina?" He asked me.
"Nothing, just not feeling too well." I lied.
"Come here" He said as he dragged me to his bed and he sat next to me. After a moment of silence,he offered me a glass of water. I took a sip of the water and then just stared at Sid who looked really tense. He caught me staring at him and he just smiled and I laid my head on his broad shoulder. He caresses my hair softly and enlaced his fingers with mine. I was glad the room was dark otherwise he would catch me blushing. We were silent for 20 minutes until he broke the silence. "I love you Mina" He said as he kissed my hand. I had no response, I love him but I don't know if I've fallen in love with him. I need some more time and to be honest I really never had a good impression on love, marriage or relationships. I find it hard to love someone with all my heart. I didn't reply to Sid but he didn't say anything for a movement, "I know it's hard for you, it's okay take your time." He then Said. He let go of my hand and just stared blankly at the walls. I was annoyed by him so I got up and walked back to my room, shut the door and fell asleep thinking about Kriti. She was acting so strange, as if she has some kind of enmity with me.