Doosra Chance

Chapter 6

Here's the second update of the week! It's a bit of a shorter chapter, but enjoy reading! Longer chapters will be back soon!

While Aarohi and Malini laughed together, Raj and Aryan, both leaning against the wall, observed Aarohi. "Tell me more about her, the ex-wife of your childhood best friend who became your sage se zyada close wali younger sister." 

"Poor thing, really. And please don't ever tell her I said that, she'll slap me with her chappal if she knows that I still pity her sometimes. Rishi and Aarohi had a very unique marriage of convenience, a platonic one. Rishi thought he might actually be falling in love with her, which nearly messed up the balance they had, when Rhea came back into his life. Life kept throwing them together, and I guess they figured out their years of misunderstandings. Rhea became pregnant and while Rishi was figuring out a way to explain everything to Aarohi, she figured it out herself. She was devastated, but didn't show it to anyone. I remember when I found out and I went to see her, she controlled herself so much that she called back the tear that was on the precipice of her lashes."

"Did she love him?" "I have no idea. Aarohi expresses some feelings so freely, but I doubt that anyone ever knows what's truly in her heart. Their wedding was a whirlwind, and their divorce happened even faster. Either way, I exploded at Rishi when he told me what he did. Beat him up. I had pretty much vowed to ruin his life for hurting my sister, but Aarohi convinced me to give up my revenge, forgive him, and even happily take part in his baraat again." 

"She means that much to you, and you never even mentioned her to me during all those weekly facetimes?" "Yes, she does. I've always wanted a younger sibling as a joke, to escape from the 'disadvantages' of being the youngest, but she's really special. Main such mein maantha hoon ki who meri choti behen hain. And bhai, we each barely had five minutes to talk to you before you had to leave for work. Time difference and all you know. And it was nothing urgent, I just thought I'd introduce you once you got back. And I did, didn't I?" Aryan simply kept staring at Aarohi with a frown on his face.

Unconventionally, Rishi's wedding happened entirely within the wedding venue, rather than getting ready at home and having the groom's family reach the bride's home, or the wedding venue, only at the time of the wedding. So instead, the groom's baraat only went from the dressing room to the main hall, but with all the pomp and circumstance of a royal baraat. Normally, the sister and mother of the groom tied the gathbhandhan, a symbolic knot of marriage where the groom's stole and bride's scarf are tied together. However, Rishi had neither sisters nor direct female cousins, and his distant female cousins were not close enough to honored with such a task. Instead, Aarohi and Malini tied Rishi and Rhea's gathbhandhan. 

The rest of the wedding ceremony went smoothly, and transitioned immediately into the sangeet-reception. Rhea was in the 4th month of her pregnancy, Malini decided to plan all the ceremonies within two days, so Rhea wouldn't have to struggle through several days of tiring events. The Mehendi and Haldi had taken place the day before, with only a group of about thirty close family members and friends. Today, the reception was planned immediately after the wedding. Rhea and Rishi went to change, and then have dinner themselves, while the guests had dinner, and came to accept gifts and take pictures afterwards. Of course, receptions usually end up becoming a second sangeet anyways, with music which is inevitably followed by dance, so Aarohi decided to rename the reception as a sangeet-reception, to decrease one event.

"Wow Aadhi, I must appreciate your appetite. You had three plates of appetizers not two hours ago, before the wedding, and now you were not only the first person in line at the buffet, but you've got two plates full." "Actually, Puri didi, one of the plates is for you. I know you, and I know you'll get caught up in greeting or helping someone and will end up last in line at the buffet. So, I did you a favor. And seriously? You've known me since before I was born, and you're still doubting my appetite." Aadhira leaned in with a hand next to her mouth. "Don't tell anyone, but I'm not really hungry, I'm just bored. And I still need to review the food for my blog. Don't forget to tell me what you think, too. People usually agree with your comments." 

"You know I always do, and thank you for bringing me a plate. Thank God your blog is anonymous, otherwise Malini aunty and Yash uncle would eat us raw if we mentioned anything bad. And poor Rhea, she was the one who insisted on these caterers. I didn't even attend the tasting." "Hmph, poor Rhea." "She is, in a way. It's not easy being labelled a homebreaker by society, especially when she didn't. If only she and Rishi had come back into contact six months earlier, then I wouldn't have been in the way." "Excuse me? In the way? Didi, you asked me not to say anything about Rishi and Rhea, but I'll only keep my promise if you don't say stupid, baseless things like you just did." "Ok behen, calm down. Let's take a seat at our table and eat."