See You Later

Chapter 8

The present: The bride's mehendi venue

Okay, the niggling feeling that the bride was a little uncomfortable was turning stronger by the minute.

The mehendi ceremony was on in full swing. Maahi loved the colours of the theme the wedding planner had chosen. It again spoke in the same language of Kajal's charm. Quiet yet bright. Understated yet shining. The venue was the rose garden of the resort. Even the music chosen for the event was light and acoustic. It was all in all an event Maahi would have loved to attend as a guest. Too bad she was the only photographer here from her team. She had hired a couple of freelancers but they were only reaching in for the cocktail later in the evening. So needless to say, she was ridiculously busy trying to capture the aesthetic of the venue, the inherent joy present in the air and the clear love that everyone seemed to have for the couple of the evening. That is why when she kept finding almost hidden moments of stress on Kajal's face, she wondered what really was the matter. It could, of course, just be plain wedding jitters. Everyone got them, right?

Kajal sat alongside her sister on a beautiful, ornate bench getting mehendi applied on her hands. Maahi's favourite moment so far was of the mehendi artist asking what the name of the groom was to spell out in her design.

Kajal replied, "Vikramaditya."

The mehendi artist's eyes widened as she asked, "Uh...koi pet name hai?"

Kajal smiled a small smile and said, "Nahi. Usse pasand nahi. Full name hi likhdo."

Naina chimed in, "Haan! Ab dhoondne do usse apna naam."

Just then, Naina got a call on her phone. She picked up and said, "Bhaiyya, blue nahi, yellow! Haan." With that, she got up for a minute and walked away, continuing the stream of instructions.

Kajal looked up at her sister and again caught sight of the crowd. Her smile quietly disappeared. She bit her lip and looked at her hand as the artist worked a V into the design. That brought the faintest hint of brightness again on her face. Maahi zoomed out a little and caught it. She looked at the output screen and loved what she saw. There she was under a lush tree, getting her mehendi applied. You could see her as a bride, living in a small world of her own away from this one. Maahi loved the story this picture told.

Just then, the music suddenly changed. From light and acoustic, she heard the song change to one she had heard numerous times on Instagram in the past year.

She looked up and saw a guy walk in from the gate of the garden. Even though, it was just a simple grey kurta with white pyjamas, he looked impeccable. Maahi raised the camera and zoomed in to see him closer. In the process, she began to click photos.

She wished she had another way of putting it but she didn't.

He was lovely.

He looked up at the music that was playing from the speakers and broke into a laugh. He eyed Naina and shook his head, knowing that she was behind this. He then turned towards the bride and the laugh then became a smile. One that seemed to speak volumes. But it looked like only Kajal would understand all the little things it wanted to say. The way his eyes took in Kajal in made Maahi feel things she thought she was too jaded to feel anymore.

This must be the groom.

This must be Vikramaditya.

The song then came to the lyrics that were most popular. Just two words that kept on repeating but reverberated in the hearts of many.

'Main tera'

And it really looked like that. It really looked like Vikramaditya was helpless when it came to Kajal's hold over his heart and he knew it. He looked like he would let her hold his hand and take him wherever she pleased and he would gladly follow.

Maahi started feeling like she was ignoring the bride with the entry of this man. She felt guilty immediately and looked at her through the camera. Only now, she could see the both of them.

Maahi thought she had seen Kajal smile before. But this one, the one that came out in Vikramaditya's presence was incandescent.

He leaned down to his knees and raised two fingers to make the shape of a gun. With amusement shining in his eyes, he said, "Hands up, K."

She laughed at that. It was an effervescent laugh. Maahi could no longer spot the stress on her face.

She asked impishly, "And what if I don't?"

He shrugged lightly and said, "Then you run the risk of messing up my kurta. Not that I care, of course."

With that, he raised himself up and leaned forward to take Kajal in his arms, careful of her mehendi. Kajal closed her eyes and smiled as she raised her arms higher and held onto Vikramaditya. This was the little world she was probably thinking of before, Maahi thought to herself. She almost felt like she was intruding by clicking pictures of this moment but there was no way she couldn't. She didn't know them well but she knew that this moment was a shining example of their love for each other. And she would ensure they could see it fifty years from now in these pictures.

Author's Note: This story has had the...odd predicament of being in my head for way too long. In some ways, it's probably been there for a decade.

Which is why some scenes changed over and over again. This one was originally meant for Maahi and Aarush. But Vik has a way of swooping in and stealing the limelight. :')