A reason to live.

Chapter 10

The next day.

I woke up early to make breakfast. I made some spicy onion chutney and made the batter ready for the dosa. I went and got ready for the day. I was wearing a pink churidhar, it was sequined and was kind of ‘on the top’ for shopping but ma had told me to wear it as I was going to meet my would be athai. I quickly applied a little foundation, kajal, eyeliner and mascara, I also put lipstick and was content with my makeup. I always liked my hair to be neatly tied up, I French braided my hair, put on earrings, braclet and a chain with a pendant of a cross with a heart, I loved that pendant, it had a few stones and it was simple but unique which made it look elegant.

As I went down I heard ma and pa talking with each other. “Good morning ma and pa, I have a surprise, I'm preparing breakfast,just a few minutes.'' I said as I went to the kitchen and  made the dosas. We ate and pa  left for office soon after murmuring  something which I guess mom understood, cause she nodded her head.

Ma called Lily auntie and told her that we would meet at the textile store at 11 am.

It was around 9:30am so ma left me waiting in the hall and left to get ready, while I was waiting I texted Rohan 'heyy!! uhmm, listen, I want us to select the ring together.' I really wanted him to know as I've always wanted to get a ring similar or at least it should be a ring of our choice but I don't know Rohan's choice, so let’s see. I'll use this to my benefit of finding out about Rohan's choices.

Immediately I switched off my data connection as I didn’t want to answer any further question, just then ma came down and we left around 10:15am as we had to reach on time despite all the traffic. Once we reached, we entered a shop named 'Prerna textiles’. We waited a few minutes and in a while we were greeted by Lily auntie.

Rohan walked in a little later, while we were trying to select a sari. I told them that I wanted a designer sari and not a silk sari for the engagement as it was easier to manage but for the wedding I was to get an authentic silk sari, which I didn’t argue further as I felt that a silk sari for the bride on her wedding day made her get that special glow and uniqueness than the rest of the other ladies.

We were looking at various saris from red, blue, green, and all different and beautiful designs. I saw Rohan near auntie and looking at a sari, his eyes had a kind of wish, glow, twinkle, or whatever you can call it, I went near him as he was looking dreamily at the sari, ma and auntie were still looking at other saris. “hey'' I said as I looked at the sari he was seeing. It was such a gorgeous looking gold sari, it was a thin sari but had patterns with stone work and it did look stunning, he still had his hands on the sari'' “You will look gorgeous in this sari Sara'' he said and faced me. I almost jerked and stared at him “what??''

''This is the perfect sari for our engagement. If you are comfortable with the pattern and all, I would like to see you in this sari.'' he said looking straight in my eyes. I felt a different feeling engulf my heart, making me smile happily 

“I like it, in fact love it, wait I'll show auntie and ma'' I said as I gently took the sari in my hands and went to where auntie and ma  were. “I would like to wear this sari, it’s so beautiful na?" I said smiling excitedly.

 “It’s beautiful, you can wear this'' both ma and auntie said.

We went over to him ''let’s go check out outfits for you'' auntie said to Rohan 

''Ma, I've kind of decided what to wear and I want it to be a surprise” he said as he winked at auntie 

“Are you sure?'' auntie asked with doubt. “Ma don’t worry" he said reassuringly.

...

“Okay then, let’s go get some more silk saris, get one in green and pink.You'll need few saris for the engagement day'' auntie said 

“green and pink? why so specific Lily?'' ma asked. 

“aree yaar cause green is your favorite color and pink is mine.'' 

“okay let’s go'' ma said.

We went to 'kumari silks’, this shop had numerous saris, my God!!!. we were directed to a section and selected the saris. The green sari was dark royal green and had gold leaf like designs on it and the pink was light pink having a larger design which I don't know what it is but it looked nice so we decided on that.

We then went to the jewelry store.

Auntie and ma went to the section of jumkis while Rohan and I went to get our rings, which were on another floor.

As we started walking towards the lift, I was scanning the various designs of jewelry that were displayed. I felt a pull on my hand which made me to walk faster, I looked in front and saw that the lift door was going to close and Rohan took my hand in his dragging me towards the lift. We managed to get in before the door shut, it took a moment to realise the position we were in-his hand was circled around my body, and I could feel the heat of his hand on my skin, making me have butterflies in my stomach, I liked being in his embrace, it warmed my heart, I looked up at him and our eyes locked, he was nudged forward, the space between us becoming non existent and I could almost smell his scent,I let out the breath I was holding which fanned his neck, he released his grip off me. Thankfully the lift stopped and we got out.

As we were seeing rings Rohan asked me “so why did you send that message and didn't reply after that?''

“uh...mm...ma came and we had to leave so I switched off my internet'' I said not sure if he was convinced 

“Oh, okayy, but why did you want me to select your ring?'' he asked suppressing a smirk.

“To tell the truth, I don't know, it just felt right so I want it to be that way.” I said as he still had a confused look 

“okay whatever, let's go.” he said as we walked together. We were trying on different rings and I did notice his taste, It was simple and he did not like heavy designs, looking at the designs he was picking Itself brought a kind of peace to my mind. He had chosen 6 rings and told me to try it on, I looked at them and took the one that I liked, it was a band with small stones on either sides 

“We'll keep that for the wedding?” he said, I nodded and he gave another ring. It looked like three rings were in one and was very pretty as I was looking at it “'awwww', its so pretty, thank you” I said as I smiled at him, he immediately took the ring and put it on my ring finger and said “now it's perfect, yea, we'll take these two” he said to the salesman. 

It didn't take a long time for him, most of the male rings look similar anyways. He also got a wedding band and another ring which had a square shaped sapphire stone and a few white stones around it. It looked majestic on his fingers considering I like blue.

Once we were done we saw that auntie and ma had already selected a small chain, jumki, and a long chain, all were gold with white stones and it all looked like one set. Then we went to get bangles. I got two big bangles and four smaller ones, all this was a part of our tradition to wear heavy jewelry, so I had to accept it all, otherwise I would never even opt for gold shopping.