Anurāgaḥ

Chapter 7

Sorry for the late update my loves 

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~ Subha ~

I woke up to the sounds of prayers, bells chiming, and my mother yelling some instructions out to some poor worker.

I rubbed my eyes and sat up, trying to gain an understanding of what was happening around me. That's when Pooja Vadina came barging through the door,

"Subha, what is this kanna, you're still not up?" She quickly moved towards my closet and pulled out the saree that we selected for my engagement.

My engagement. Oh my god. It was my engagement today.

I gasped and jumped out of bed rushing here and there, how could I be so stupid and wake up so late?

We all know the reason you woke up late said my mind voice. Arjun

If only I hadn't been talking with Arjun till 3am last night. Ughhhhhh.

Over the past two weeks me and Arjun have become closer than ever in between going on dates every two days and talking over phone till sunrise every night.

Even though tomorrow was our engagement, tonight was no exception. We talked for hours about everything and nothing, important issues and useless things. We talked about how excited we were for tomorrow and how we couldn't wait. We talked and talked for hours and hours until I fell asleep while on call.

If only I had slept early.

"Oi, where is your mind madam?" Vadina waved her hands in front of me, "Quickly go shower, in the meantime, I'll sort out your jewellery, come quick, if athamma finds out you're just starting to get ready she'll lose her mind," she pushed me into my bathroom.

This gave me nostalgia of my first date with Arjun.

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30 minutes later, Vadina was decking me up, with my saree and jewellery, when I heard a shrill voice from the door.

"Subu babyyyyy, I'm hereeeee!"

I immediately recognised the voice of my best friend, Eesha.

"Haan, antha aypoyintharvatha ochava?"

(Are you after everything is finished?)

She was surely here late only because she wanted to skip all the heavy duty jobs.

"Hey, I'm here to get you ready aren't I?" she replied flipping her hair, "Be thankful for that, plus, I'm in time for the nischitartham right? So technically I'm not late."

I shook my head, you could never win with this girl.

Eesha picked up a bunch of the malipoolu and started strategically placing it in my half up half down while vadina continued setting my jewellery. They were giggling and teasing me and while I pretended to be bothered on the outside, I was secretly enjoying it deep down. I mean who wouldn't, I'm finally getting engaged to Arjun, one step closer to spending the rest of my life with him.

In the midst of our chatter, no one noticed my mother walking into my room with a determined face, "I can't trust you girls with anything," she started with her default disappointed Indian mum tone, "Eesha kanna I sent you here to bring these two downstairs, not join in with their chatter," she said hitting her forehead.

"Sorry athamma, she's almost ready," Vadina tried to pacify her, "See, just this papidi billa (maang tika), and she's done, we'll bring her down in no time."

My mother reluctantly nodded her head and took one last look at me, smiling with love, before heading back downstairs into the centre of the hurricane, and working restlessly to make sure everything is perfect. 

Eesha quickly fixed the small flyaways in my hair while vadina pinned the papidi billa. Doing our last minute checks, we walked down the stairs and into the living room full of close family and friends from both sides. 

They made me sit in the arranged seating area opposite the groom's side, in between my parents. The pandit (priest) looks up from his little calendar, "abbai ekkada amma?"

(where is the boy?) 

I look up to see that indeed Arjun was not there. One of his cousins went to go find him, thinking he'd be outside conversing with an uncle or something. 

His cousin cousin came rushing back soon after, "I can't find Arjun, he isn't outside and I couldn't see him anywhere in the house, I even checked in all the rooms," everyone was in shock, phone calls were being made and more people went to go find him. Even his parents looked super confused. 

Everyone was moving around frantically around me, trying to figure out where the hell this man was, while i just sat there in shock. 

Where was he? Did he leave? Does he not want this marriage? But he was telling me how he couldn't wait last night. Surely he wouldn't leave me right? No I trust him, but then that raises the question, where the hell was he?

Tears stung my eyes as I tried to calm my heart down, he's fine, he's fine, he's fine, I kept chanting to myself. Athamma noticed me and rushed beside me, "Don't cry darling, we'll find him. Don't worry okay, trust me," she tried comforting me but her words fell short in my ears. I appreciate her trying to comfort me but I was worried, where was he? He wouldn't just leave on our engagement day like that. And he's not a child to get kidnapped or trapped, so what happened?

Chaos. That was the only way to explain what was happening around me and inside my heart. Everything and everyone were everywhere. There was a whirlwind of emotions swirling through the air. Today was meant to be a great day, how did it end up like this, with my to-be fiancé missing?

The pandit came up to us slowly, gently reminding us, "Amma, muhurtham ki inka padi nimisale unnayi, abbai inka rakapothe, manam inka vere roju ki marchukovali,"

(There is only 10 minutes left of the auspicious time, if the boy doesn't return within that time, we'll have to do the nischitartham on another day)

I was about to speak up and tell the pandit he could just leave, when a loud thud came from the entrance of the house. Everyone whipped their head around to investigate the noise. 

The big door at the main entrance swung open to reveal the love of my life Arjun. 

He stood there with a look, mixed with emotions of anger, guilt and relief. The sun shone bright behind him, creating a halo of gold around him, making him look like an angel. Only one thing was off, his previously white shirt and pancha (garment) was now heavily stained. 

Realisation hit me.

Blood. 

It was blood. 

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Hey my loves, hope you enjoyed the update. 

I know it been ages since I've released a chapter, but thank you for staying patient.

Don't forget to vote and comment, I love you guys heaps 

And as always,

Enjoy reading :)