A Flight of Love

Chapter 42 - Turmeric Tales

Abhimanyu and Akshara awoke to the suns rays shining brightly in their eyes. Abhimanyu placed his hand above Akshara's forehead, trying to block the suns rays from disturbing her sleep.

Just as he shifted his body to get more comfortable in the pool lounge chair, he felt the sound of someone deep clearing their throat.

Abhimanyu and Akshara awoke with a jolt to see Bade Papa, Akhilesh Goenka, and Harshvardhan Birla standing over them, their arms folded around their chest and a grim expression settled on their faces.

"Bade Papa!" Abhimanyu exclaimed, waking Akshara up and standing upright beside the pool chair, looking down at the ground in shame.

"Abhimanyu. Akshara. What is happening?" Bade Papa asked, sternly, his arms folded behind his back.

"Nothing, Bade Papa!" Akshara replied, nervously.

"All of us siblings, we were talking and hanging out after the Sangeet when we all fell asleep." Abhimanyu explained, looking around them to see no one was present except for Parth and Shefali who looked as equally guilty as them.

Traitors!

"I swear they were all here Bade Papa! We're not lying!" Abhimanyu exclaimed, dumbfounded at the sudden disappearance of all the younger, single cousins.

"Abhimanyu's speaking the truth, Bade Papa!" Akshara came to his defense.

"I don't want to hear any explanations, Abhimanyu and Akshara. Leaving you two aside, Shefali, you, and Parth, you, it's your haldi today. You should know better than to be spending the night out, wrapped up and sleeping in each others arms." Bade Papa turned around to scold Parth and Shefali.

"Sorry Bade Papa." Parth and Shefali apologized in unison.

For the first time since this wedding started, Abhimanyu and Akshara were relieved that they were not on the receiving end of any of Mimi or Bade Papa's teasing, playful taunts.

"Now you two girls, get going. Ma and Swarna are looking for you." He replied.

Akshara and Shefali obediently and nervously nodded their heads. They quickly grabbed each other by the hands and left Parth and Abhimanyu on their own accords.

"And you two." Manish turned around to stare at his two grandson-in-laws, putting the fear of God into them. "Do I need to help you or will you two go and ready on your own?"

Abhimanyu and Parth glanced at each other with widened eyes, gulping. "No Bade Papa, we're going! Going!" Abhimanyu announced, making a run for it along with Parth.

As Manish, Akhilesh and Harshvardhan watched their children disperse in fear, Manish turned to face the two other men with a giant satisfied smile on his face. "That was fun. I should do it more often."

"Kya yaar Bhaisaab, you scared the daylights out of the poor kids!" Harshvardhan commented, making the 3 men burst out into laughter.

~*~

The Haldi started off with a bang. Shefali and Parth, both of whom were wearing a shade of yellow were seated beside each other. First, Manjiri brought out a set of red bangles mixed in with chunky golden ones and made Shefali wear 10 bangles on each hand, as a blessing for a newly to-be wed bride.