Sindoor | The Devotion Duet Book 1

꧁Prologue꧂

Prologue

The room was drenched in red. There was chaos and noise and shouts. There was yelling, lots and lots of yelling. Men carried guns, tucked away in the black trousers most wore under white shirts. The movement didn't seem to stop anytime soon, and it was the most basic of expectations from an Indian Wedding.

The entire hall was draped in red velvet curtains, and walls, though cream in colour were adorned with red swirls and patterns. The five grand chandeliers on the ceiling didn't do enough to light up the darkness that red brought with it. If not for the golden lamps on the walls, the wedding hall would have been the perfect replica of the dungeons these men hid underneath their big, lavish homes.

Women at the wedding were dressed in bright colourful clothes. Not a single dark colour in sight. Some wore lehengas of mustard yellow, sky blue, and blush pink while others wore white, orange and lavender suits.

"Om is lucky to have Akanksha as his wife," Dev Rathore said to no one in particular. But he surely was eyeing his own son, who was busy talking to Parth Rajawat.

"Yeah," was all Viraj Thakur said, as he looked over at his daughter, who sat in a chair with his niece Maithili, his son, Shivansh and that absolute fucker, who just happened to be Maithili's husband, Rudra Agrawal.

Dev's son and Viraj's daughter were not that far away from each other. Kethaki sat at the table, her phone in her hand, tapping away. Her seat faced Aryan, while he stood, leaning against a golden pillar, a whiskey glass in his hand, with Parth standing in front of him. Still, she held his attention.

"They seem happy," Viraj said. This time, Dev nodded. "I just wonder when it would be time for my Kethaki on that stage."

"Aryan has been getting on my nerves so much over this!" Dev said. "Any time I even bring up the topic of marriage, he either gets up and leaves or changes the topic. No matter how often I try to have a serious conversation with him, he deflects."

Dancing, music, and celebration were in full swing, but it still wasn't jolly enough for Dev and Viraj. They were surely happy for the couple, but their own irritation over their children's refusal to get married was everpresent.

Viraj huffed. "You know what Kethaki does? I even so much as bring the topic of marriage, she looks me dead in the eye, until I shut up!"

Dev choked on his drink and chuckled.

"Yeah!" Viraj said, nodding his head, "Me! I shut up! I am a motherfucking gangster who shuts up when his daughter glares at him!"

Shaking his head, Dev said, "I don't understand why kids these days are so against marriage. Look at us. When we were their age, we couldn't wait to get married to our wives."

Viraj turned to look at his daughter, who was now talking to Shivansh. Shivansh turned to look over at Aryan and Parth, who waved over at him, and Shivansh got up to make his way over to Aryan when Kethaki grabbed his hand.

He looked at his sister, and even Maithli and Rudra turned to look at her. Kethaki, after glaring at her brother, shifted her gaze at Aryan. Her eyes, which were burning hot with anger, when her brother tried to abandon her, turned ice-cold when she looked at Aryan.

Aryan, unlike Viraj, didn't back down and held her gaze. Kethaki tugged her brother down, to sit right back where he did before, and she looked at her brother again. Shivansh shook his head, but remained seated.

"And this is something I will never, ever understand," Viraj started, while still looking between his daughter and Aryan.

Dev, who was busy looking for his wife amidst the crowd and missed the exchange, said, "What?"