The Week Before

Chapter 8

" Hema di, it's your engagement today." I woke up to Ananya squealing and shaking me. I had enjoyed a good  sleep and was surprised by her being so chirpy. I caught hold of her arm and asked " are you Okay? "
She thought for a while before answering " yes,of course I am"
I didn't push further because she honestly looked so happy right then.
She decided to leave me alone to get ready herself, and I decided to take a bath. People were running around to get everything ready for the engagement ceremony. My mother and father was arranging all the necessary things in the middle of the hall. Sudha aunty and my mother was wearing the same colour, I noticed.
The bathroom was in the bottom floor and I met a few people on the way to and from there. A few women congratulated me, I came to know that the little girl who I saw yesterday morning was named Surya and one of Varun's four nieces. I came to know this from her mother who introduced herself as Jyothi.
" Hema, get ready fast" my mother instructed as she walked towards me on my way back to the room. " your father has the ring and also make sure you wear the kundan necklace. Your cousins will be in your room. I am sorry I have to be here to help your father"
"It's fine, mom"I said before leaving for my room. True to her words, my room was filled with some of my aunts and my cousins Shiyuli, Neha, Ananya ,Amanda and Malati. She was the elrest one among my cousins and was the only married one, of course. Her son was not in her hands, and I realised that she had taken the job of getting me ready very seriously. Tanaya and Shiyuli was sitting on the bed playing with their mother's phome.
Everyone was dressed in shades of green and cream as we had discussed. They were talking to each other The room smelt of flowers and my lehanga was spread on the bed. I was glad I had already worn my blouse when 17 year old Shiyuli said" come here Hema di, let's get you dressed."
My lehanga had a dark green skirt with intricate, cream coloured designs on it. The blouse was green and and the duppatta was a mix of both colours. It took Neha and Shiyuli, the best friends of my family to get me into it. 
Sonia aunty, Ananya's mother took the box of jewellery I had kept for today and started handing me each one. The earrings matched the necklace and bangles which had a tint of gold amongst green. I refrained from wearing the chutti or the headpiece. Ananya went on to do my makeup. She was quieter than usual but still making light hearted jokes. Once we were done, we waited for someone to call us downstairs. I was nervous and was fiddling with the end of my duppatta while everyone was rambling on about something. I remember Malati's remark that today was my last day as a true bachalorette. That made me want to cry, out of happiness or sadness, we will never know. I was looking at my phone making a mental note to call back Georgia my agent for the fashion week, who had left me a call when Rohan, Shiyuli's brother knocked at the door and let us know that it was time for us to come down. I looked at myself in the mirror one last time from my seated position one last time before heading down. I was pleased with what I saw. Traditional and innocent, two things people would want to see today. I was escorted by everyone who was in my room to the ground floor. The first thing I noticed was his eyes. They widened on seeing me and i was bemused to say the least. He was wearing a green silk kurta set. I noted that the colour suited him  really well before taking in the rest of the crowd. Everyone had followed the dress code making me wonder how adi had managed to do this.
The middle of the hall was now completely filled with auspicious paraphernalia belonging to the priest who was standing at the middle of the room. The entire hall was filled with people and I was lucky that we had decided to conduct the wedding ceremony outside. The groom's party and the bride's party was seated facing each other unlike last time.
For the first few seconds I had no idea where to look. I could feel the stares of so many people on me, appreciating, jealous or maybe something else. Finally I decided to alter between an interesting block of sandal on the floor and his fingers. They were long and firm just like I had felt yesterday.
Of course they were, do you expect a man's fingers to change overnight. The priest started talking about something And soon reached the part where he wrote the date and time of the wedding on a piece of parchment called lagna patrika and my mother was asked to put a few things on it. She was asked to give it to me. While I was holding it, my mom and three of my aunts blessed me, pouring rice on me - The first ritual of my wedding. I was nervous but there was something there that kept me inexplainably calm. As I was standing up after giving the parchment back removing all the rice I could, I saw that the girl who had commented on my dance was standing in a corner glaring at me. The look on her face was of pure hatred and loathing. My glance kept going back to her as my mother gave it to my father who then proceeded to give it to Raghu uncle. He opened it and read aloud, " the wedding is to be conducted on 10:15 this Friday."
The continuous Sanskrit chanting in the background made the situation surreal. Soon after this Varun was also asked to stand up and the priest asked both of us to go to him. He gave us both the rings we had chosen. He took my right hand in his and put the ring on my second finger. It was the first time I ever saw my ring and I was visibly surprised at it. It was the most beautiful and elegant ring I had ever seen. The nine diamonds made a circle in the middle of the ring made up of platinum. I raised my head to look up at him to see that he had been taking in my reaction to the ring. I wanted to say that it was really beautiful but I knew that my voice wold crack and that a hundred people were watching me. So I put a ring on his hand to officially make us affianced to each other. That ring was also platinum but broader and had no stones on it. He seemed happy at that moment and I really hoped that the photographers we had arranged would capture that moment. As the priest officially declared the arrangemnt and everyone smiled and blessed us, I could still see her from the periphery of my vision.
What the hell is her problem?

The priest took leave soon after and everyone soon engaged in some activity like cleaning the hall or left the room. I was standing near Varun, not knowing what to say when Manav, my cousin who was running after Rohan stopped In front of us and told Varun" Congrats bro, now you are stuck with her for life". He ran away without waiting for a reply.
"That doesn't seem like such a bad thing" Varun said before turning to look at me. He probably caught me blushing at this before he said "You look very.... beautiful today."
"Thank you. You are not bad yourself"
"Why, thank you. What are you doing later today?"
"No plans as of now. What about you?"
" I am not sure, maybe visit someplace"
" That sounds ...great"I had no idea what else to say. The topic of a wedding and relationships always seemed too heavy to be discussed in our banters. She was still standing there and I think he noticed her too because he quickly muttered,
"Yeah, I will let you know when I come up with something " and scurried over to her. I was looking at him eagerly to see how their conversion was gonna go that I might have come of as staring to any observer. That might be why Jyothika stopped me on my way to my room and said with a sympathetic expression" don't worry, Roselyn is not a threat anymore." , pointing to the direction where that girl had been standing. There was no sign of the said Roselyn or Varun anywhere now.
Her statement made absolutely no sense to me and I was very confused by the usage of the word threat. Jyothika saw the confusion in my face  and quickly said with regret and worry in her voice "I am so sorry... leave it. Just forget what I said." And she walked away as fast as she could.
What did she mean by threat? I thought as I walked back to my room to change into clothes that didn't weigh 2 kilos.
Once I closed the door, I called Georgia and let her know that a model  called Vivian had shown interest in showcasing my designs. Once we had come to a decision on who is going to be my model, while I desperately tried to pick the rice out of my hair, I threw the phone on the bed and removed my clothes.
As I stood in front of the mirror wearing my underwear, looking at my reflection I thought about him. I know weird timing, right. But that is the first time ever that the thought of someone had caused goosebumps to rise all over my body.
Me, tall and curvy standing with hair risen up just from imagining a boy's presence is not something I had imagined to see anyday. But it was not just any boy, was it? He was my fiancee and I had a ring to show for it.
I quickly dressed up and went for lunch.