His Softness [Completed]

It's him!

Alia's pov :

Rajat, my fiancee. I met him only once. It is our wedding in three days. Never in my life did I think that I'll get into an arranged marriage. But here I am. Getting ready for my haldi function.

The wedding is nothing too lavish or with a lot of functions. It's just going to be haldi, mehndi and then the wedding. Simple with minimal guests and decoration.

I am the youngest GIRL in the family and I have not received much love or attention since childhood.
Apparently, my father wanted a son after two daughters and as that did not happen he stopped getting involved in anything and began blaming my mother. And in return my mother resented me. I guess they never heard of biology.

But anyhow, I am fine with a simple wedding as I am not so excited about it. I just did not want to get married right now, let alone to a total stranger. I wanted to get a job. I like teaching. I am B.Ed in English but as soon as I finished with my college, my parents started finding a groom for me.

And Rajat or his family do not want a working lady in the house. I mean how backwards are people in this day and age too!?

For the function, I wore yellow lehnga and white flower accessories. It was looking beautiful.

Not that it matters.

The ceremony was about to start and there were only 9, 10 relatives who were going to attend along with my father's best friend, Raman Sehgal, who came from London to attend this wedding. He specially came to attend both my sister's weddings too.
He loves my father like his own brother. They have known each other since they were infants. Before he moved to London with his family 13 years back, they were our neighbours. I was just 10 when they left but I love them more than my parents.

They have a son, Dhruv Sehgal, who is two years older than me. He has never once visited India after settling in London.
He did not even come to attend my sister's weddings. He would be 25 now. He was my first crush. Even back then I couldn't help but admire him. He was kind, good looking, and spending time with him was so easy and stress free unlike my family's atmosphere.

I don't have a crush on him anymore, I mean it's been 13 years. And i don't really expect to meet him seeing he never visits.

Uncle and aunty arrived yesterday and I will meet them today during the ceremony. I am really happy to see them again.

After some time the function started and every one started applying haldi on me one by one. Mom, Dad, Garima di, Ruhi di, my cousins and so on. The last ones in the queue were Raman uncle and Kirti aunty.

"Namaste, uncle, aunty."

"Namaste beta. God bless you.",said Kirti aunty.

"How are you, Alia? You are looking sooo beautiful!" Raman uncle asked while applying haldi on my cheeks.

"I'm good, uncle. Thankyou."

"We would love to sit and chat with you. After you get free, just come sit with us, ok? It's been so long, we missed you so much!" said Kirti aunty.

"Sure, aunty! I missed you too."

They both then went to my parents and I got up to go and wash all of it off.

"Hi! Alia, right?"

The deep voice of the person who spoke these words vibrated throughout my body.

I looked up to see who's voice that was and OH GOD!

Definitely not someone I was expecting at all.....

It's him! Dhruv Sehgal!

What is he doing here? Why did no one tell me he was going to come as well?

I can feel my cheeks getting red and my pluse is starting to race.

I couldn't help but admire him. He was looking so mesmerizing. That yellow kurta, those broad shoulders and man he was tall!

"God! You have grown up!"

"Ahh, Yea. Hi, D... Dhruv."

"You. are. looking. Beautiful. And," he took a step back and looked at me from head to toe making me even more nervous, "you have become so tall!" he said with full energy...and that accent!!
I am 5'7" and still he's at least 6 inches taller than me.

"Ohh, th....thank you."

He smiled and with his eyes gestured towards the haldi lying on the table.

It was the most beautiful smile I had ever seen.

"May I?"

I looked at him, puzzled for a second before I realised what he was asking.

"Yea, yea, of course."

I sat back down and he applied a little haldi on my cheek with a gentle hand.

His touch felt like a feather touching me. So soft, so smooth, making electricity serge through me.

"Congratulations." He said.

"Thankyou." I said, looking into his eyes.

I remember those eyes.
I can never forget.

Have they gotten darker?

Still that grey colour remindes me of a storm.

Wild, dark and captivating.

He got up and went to sit with his parents without saying another word.

If I am not mistaken, there was just a hint of something in his eyes before he walked away....maybe I'm just too flustered and I imagined it.

I took a deep breath, still a little shocked and after my heartbeat became normal, I went to my room and took a bath while everyone was having lunch.

By the time I came back downstairs, almost all the guests had gone home. Raman uncle and Kirti Aunty were sitting in the lobby with Mom, Dad and my sisters, having tea.

Dhruv was not there.

Where is he?

"Ahh! Alia beta come sit with me." Kirti aunty called out.

I sat beside her and we talked about all sorts of stuff. After some time passed and I couldn't see Dhruv anywhere I thought of asking her about him.

"Um..aunty, Dhruv came right? Where is he?"

"Yea, he came with us this time, finally. Actually, he had a meeting with some clients from work here and the dates matched so we decided that he should attend your wedding along with it too. He has gone to meet his clients only now."

Oh so that's why! I have heard that he's some big shot corporate lawyer in London.

"I remember you both were such good friends! Always together!" Raman uncle said.

"Uhm, Yea." I smiled remember all those sweet days.

My eldest sister is 7 years older and Ruhi is 5 years older than me so we never really bonded like sisters do. Moreover they both just treated me like some intruder. So it was always me and Dhruv. They both were very busy with their lives to spend time with us.

The next two days went by pretty fast. I got mehndi done on my hands and feet. I did not see Dhruv after the haldi function and to be honest, in so much commotion I did not get time to think of him as well.

Tomorrow is my wedding day. Let's start a new chapter of my life tomorrow.

I hope it's better than I expect.

Here's the first chapter of 'His softeness'. I hope you all liked it and if you did then please vote.
This chapter is a bit lengthy so the next one will take a bit of time to be published.
Thankyou for reading! ❤️

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