The Making of a Fairytale

16| there's red all around

Shopping for her bridal dress was more difficult than Annika had thought it would be. She, Pinky, and Jhanvi had been at it for almost a week now, but they were nowhere near selecting one. Annika knew she was being a little too selective: there were lehengas that both her mothers-in-law had approved of, but Annika had had to reject. At this point, she didn't care if she was coming off as being defiant or even rude. The bridal lehenga was of extreme importance to her and it had to be absolutely perfect. Annika had a very rough idea in her mind of what it had to be like, but couldn't exactly pin it down. After days of going to all the high-class designers in Mumbai, Pinky and Jhanvi decided they were done with this. They would hand this task over to Shivaay. Annika, of course, didn't think Shivaay would actually agree to it, but he was at her house one Saturday morning, smiling and looking handsome as always. Annika was not looking forward to this. She had gotten annoyed with herself in the past few days for not being able to select a goddamn lehenga. God only knew how Shivaay would react. Regardless, they were off to a fashion house that was owned by a friend of Shivaay's. Annika did not think anything would come out of it because she knew this company rarely worked on ethnic clothes, but agreed to give it shot when Shivaay suggested they go check it out. In the car, Annika brought up a conversation she had been hesitant to start.

"Um, dad went through the contract thingy," She started, not looking at him. "He says it looks fine."

"Oh, great," Shivaay replied. "Did you sign it?" Annika nodded and took the paper out of her tote bag. She kept it inside the glove compartment for Shivaay to take later. She didn't want to talk about it anymore. Even though her dad had assured her that it wasn't a big deal and that it was just something a lot of hotshot families did these days, Annika wasn't entirely okay with it. The only reason she had signed it was because it did have logic behind it and she didn't want to make a mountain out of a molehill.

"Are we up for next Saturday, by the way?" Annika asked. She was pretty excited about her birthday. Damn, she was very excited. She had told all her friends that she would be celebrating with her fiancé and wouldn't be able to meet them. In fact, Annika already had a few things in mind that she and Shivaay could do on that day. That is, if Shivaay didn't have anything in mind already. That was an exciting prospect.

"Yes, of course," Shivaay smiled. He didn't say anything else, which made Annika wonder if he did indeed have something planned for them. She glowed inside.

Soon, they reached the boutique owned by Shivaay's friend, Karan. Karan himself was out of the city but his staff was overly attentive. They showed the couple around, giving countless unnecessary details on how this saree was embroidered or that lehenga was made. Shivaay seemed impressed, but Annika found their collection quite distasteful. She didn't voice it out, of course.

"How about this one?" Shivaay pointed towards a mannequin. It was wearing a peach pink lehenga with small glittering stone all over. Annika scrunched her nose.

"It's nice but...not shaadi material."

Shivaay only raised his eyebrows in question.

"I mean," Annika shrugged, "I'd just really like for my wedding gown to be red in color."

"But ma'am," One of the staff members interjected, "Red is kind of out of fashion these days. Brides are beginning to explore different colors for their bridal dress, and this particular shade of pink is very in." She said almost sardonically, like she was explaining fashion to Annika. Annika internally groaned. She was tired of explaining to people that she didn't care about some stupid trend. She needed her dress to be red and that was the end of the discussion.

"I get what you're saying," Annika said with her best sickly-sweet smile, "But I just really want mine to be red." From the corner of her eyes, she saw Shivaay covering his mouth with his fingers to hide a smile. Annika rolled her eyes.