POTION OF LOVE

56. 𝐒𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐞𝐭

“Bola tha maine, kitna acha rang chada hai,” Sonia comments, hovering her hand over my mehendi. The deep maroon shade looked almost alive, especially across my palm where Lucas had drawn the design. Ginger who is resting on her lap meows along as if agreeing.
[Translation - See how beautiful the shade is, I told you so]

I hadn’t done anything special for it to turn this dark. No extra lemon-sugar, no covering it up for longer hours — it just deepened on its own. As if the color had chosen to deepen for me.

For the past hour, I had sat in my room staring at it. Wondering. Remembering. Realizing just how much life had shifted in a few months. And the more I thought, the more the tears kept threatening, spilling over until I found myself whispering prayers under my breath. Pleading for this feeling to never fade the way mehendi eventually does.

I had always laughed off that saying — The darker the mehendi, the deeper the love. Never believed it until now.

“Haan, maanta hoon,” I murmured softly, tracing the delicate swan design with the tip of my finger. Everytime I looked at it, an involuntary smile tugged at my lips. My heart jumps just at the thought of him drawing it for me.
[Translation - Yeah, I believe it now]

Charlie meowed beside me, brushing his soft head against my arm as though agreeing with my thoughts. Since I have gotten the mehendi, he couldn’t stop sniffing my hands and curling up in my lap as if he liked the fragrance.

“Jasmine, chal ek baar music settings dekh le—” Maya’s voice chimes in as she steps closer. But her sentence cut short the moment she noticed Sonia holding my hands.Her eyes widens, her smile lighting up. She sat beside me in a quick movement, reaching to hold my hand.
[Translation - Jasmine, check the music settings ones]

“Wah, kitna sundar rang chada hai,” she whispers in awe, her fingers gently brushing over the swans in amusement
[Translation - Wow, the shade came out beautifully]

Sonia smirked knowingly “Kyun nahi chadhega? Jija ji ne jo lagaya hai.”
[Translation - Why wouldn't it? Brother in law is the one who did it]

Heat rushed to my cheeks “Sonia!” I hush her, her teasing always gets me all embarrassed.

“It really did turn out beautiful,” Maya admits with surprise. She wasn’t there when it happened as she has been caught up with work. Typical of her to skip her own mehendi, claiming she couldn’t afford waiting days for it to fade when she had clients to meet.

Sometimes, I forgot she was a lawyer until moments like these.

My uncle, Nikhil and Kunal were back. Yet their faces held an underlying tension that they didn't reveal. I think uncle talked to papa but I think they don't wanna say anything during the occasion of marriage and spoil the mood. But I feel a storm coming already.

“Have you seen where your boyfriend is?” Maya asks, bumping her shoulder into mine. I wince, groaning as her elbow clashed with my arm. “I don’t know—” I started, but she didn’t let me finish.