Say You're Mine (Lovestruck In Bangalore #1)

Chapter 20

I MEERA I

I wake up as soon as my alarm rings, or should I say when my mom hollers at me to get up. I try to pull the blanket over my head but she's freakishly strong so she wrenches my blanket away from me, leaving me cold. We forgot to switch off the AC last night, so the room is a little too cold for my liking. As soon as she leaves the room, I put my blanket back on to go back to sleep. But I should've known better. Just as I get cozy, she's back, more tenacious than before. She pulls up the trump card, by splashing water on my face. And I give up. You just can't win against her.

I wipe my face with my blanket before sitting up, but my mom is long gone. She knows she won. I look next to me to see Remya still sleeping. When I look closer, I can see some droplets of water on her face. It must have happened when mom splashed water on my face. But Remya is dead to the world. Very little water like that doesn't work on her.

So I do the only thing I can, I take the glass of water my mom used on me and instead of splashing some on her face, I dumb the whole glass of water on her face. She wakes up thrashing and gasping like she's drowning and I can't stop laughing. When she sees me holding the empty glass over her face, she glares at me.

Ten minutes later, and after two fights and our moms yelling at us for five minutes, Remya and I are ready to get ready. I decide to take a bath in Vinash and Raj's room since Remya already locked herself in ours.

The makeup artists will finish getting shraddha ready in about half an hour, then it's my turn. When I enter their room, Raj is no where to be seen, as usual. But Vinash is still fast asleep. I decide to wake him up on my way out or he'll mess with me while I'm in the bathroom. He's a kid like that sometimes.

I try not to take too much time bathing but it's no use, I need atleast 20 minutes. I change into a t-shirt and shorts. The makeup artists will probably help me  get dressed in a saree.

On my way back I wake up Vinash with a generous splash of water. Ignoring his scream and curses, I make my way to my room. The artists have already started on Remya's look. As soon as they see me, they usher me to a seat next to Remya in front of the mirror.

After almost three hours of agony, I'm dressed in a red Saree similar to the one Remya is wearing. My hair is pinned in a loose bun with tendrils of hair framing my face. I look beautiful, if I must say so. So does remya. Her hair is in loose waves down her back. We take turns posing and taking pictures before taking a few mirror selfies. Just as we are about to finish, Vinash comes in, looking handsome in his blue kurta and mundu. So another 1000 pictures later, we decide to show our faces to the world.

Vinash holds out his hands for the both of us. The three of us walk down the stairs to the madness in the hallway. Ambika aunty, Vinash's mom is the first one to see us. She immediately coos, saying how beautiful her little babies look. She asks us to pose of a picture and we oblige. But Remya and I swiftly move away when she starts saying how we look like brides and how we're at a marriageable age.

This is one of the reasons why I'm stressed about wearing a saree around relatives. Our mothers associate traditional sarees with weddings. I think almost every South Indian mom thinks like this. As soon as they see some girl wearing a traditional saree, they asks if their parents are looking for a groom and they suddenly becomes marriage brokers.

A lot of people have already left for the wedding hall. Everyone is dressed in traditionals, most of the men are wearing a shirt or a kurta and mundu, a few opted for pants. Most women are dressed in a saree or an anarkali suit. The little girls have been dressed in cute dresses and some of the little boys are even wearing a kurta and mundu like their fathers. It's so adorable.