Valley of Flowers

Chapter 13

She wore a bright red and gold lehenga choli, maangteeka, jhumka and a bright gold necklace. As they took their pheras around the tree, her groom pulled at her braids.

'Stop it Laad Governor!' She turned around in anger.

'The seventh phera is done silly.' Her groom smirked, standing in his grey hooded sweat shirt, black cargos and sneakers, his long hair fluttering above his mesmerizing brown eyes. 'Have you forgotten to count? You are thirteen years old.'

'Why are you wearing these clothes on our wedding day?' she said her luminous eyes sweeping him from head to toe.

'The same reason we are taking our pheras around the match making tree Khushi Gupta .' Khushi looked about her to see they were standing under the match making tree in the midst of the Valley of Flowers, as three little girls stood clapping their hands with joy.

Khushi woke up, her heart clamouring wildly in her breast. No! She had no right to be dreaming about him anymore. Not after today. She had never imagined it would be like this. The dreams that had begun ten years ago when she was girl of thirteen were going to be shattered today.

The last one month had been the most tumultuous rollercoaster of emotions for her. After returning from Agra, Arnav had thrown himself into work, staying up nights working with his US office, sleeping only for about five hours, and then working the rest of the day for AR. He had extended his stay till the end of the week, so he could prepare the presentation which Lavanya had botched up. He had maintained a polite distance with her since the trip but it was she who had been having a tough time reigning in her feelings.

Her thoughts kept going back to the Agra trip when he had come and watched her dance performance and complimented her......I find your dancing unbearably beautiful. The rapturous moments they had spent together at the Taj Mahal, the dinner at the grand hotel, Oberoi Amarvilaas albeit in the company of Mr Sheik, and then finally the night they spent in each other's arms at the Gulistan tourist complex. When he had wrapped her up in his arms in the darkness, she had felt safer than ever. The memories of that one day would have to be enough to last a lifetime she thought sadly.

But just when she had thought he was being docile, he had slid that damn ring on her left finger, without a care, flummoxing her completely. She had been in the seventh heaven, that night at dinner, admiring how beautiful the ring looked on her finger when Mamiji had announced her engagement date. When Naniji had asked her the reason for such a short notice, she told everyone that since Arnav was leaving two days later, she had kept the engagement early to accommodate his departure.

Though she had been expecting this ever since Akash had begun to recover, the colour had drained out of her face. Though Arnav's face remained impassive, she knew he was angry from the tight clenching of his jaw and the barely controlled temper simmering in his eyes. He had left his dinner half way through, telling everyone he had a headache.

On the day of the engagement, he had come into the kitchen while she was frying jalebis and asked her to make him a cup of coffee. She had stopped her frying and switched off the stove. Grinding the coffee beans in the coffee grinder, she had emptied the contents into the coffee maker and then after adding the required amount of water, she had switched it on to brew.

'I never asked you before,' he began, 'how you trapped NK into proposing to you.' He said cruelly.

Tears welling up in her eyes, she had wrapped her fingers around the steel handle of the pan in which she was making jalebis, uncaring of the searing heat.

'Khushi!' he had yelled as she dropped the pan on the counter spilling the hot oil. He had grabbed her hand and put it under running water. ''What the f@#$ do you think you were doing?'