"Manchala, mann chala teri ore"

Inayat's POV

"Hey, would you mind if I dropped Aayat off? That way I can meet her family too, it's been quite long." Utkarsh hesitated and awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck. Advait nodded in approval. I smiled at him as a 'thank you' and we left. What even is Utkarsh doing?

As the car moved further and further away from the restaurant, Utkarsh increased the volume of the music. As the song changed, music of Aayat from Bajirao Mastani took over the car and that led me to mute the radio.

"What were you high on today, Utkarsh?" I spoke and inhaled deeply to calm down the storm in me.

"Nothing, I assume. But I don't think that's right, I saw you engaged with Advait, the Advait Singh Mewar today so there is definitely a possibility that I might be high." He looked at me, smirked and looked back at the road.

"You aren't funny, Utkarsh, just annoying," I cleared my throat before speaking ahead. "Moving on, why did you make me tell him how we met, huh?" I looked at him and raised my eyebrows.

"Well, I did it because I had absolutely no clue what was going on, like the situation between you and him. Besides, I didn't want to accidentally say something you wouldn't have wanted him to know." Utkarsh spoke in a serious tone. That actually makes a lot of sense.

"Okay, that makes sense. But, why'd you assume I wouldn't have told him anything? I mean we're getting married, why wouldn't I have told him?" I asked, making sure that it looks that Advait and I are actually giving this marriage a try to him.

"Well my assumption was correct though, because he did not know," He looked at me and smirked. "Which means, you are just getting married for the sake of it, aren't you?"

"I— but— be—," I tried to reason, but just couldn't, he knows me too well. "You know what, yes we are, and?" I just gave up and rolled my eyes.

"You literally have so many people around you to choose from and you choose him, that's just poor decision making, Aayat." He explained with a calm voice.

"Except I didn't have a choice," I spoke and started looking out of the window just to almost meet my end because Utkarsh hit a short brake and stopped the car in the middle of a quite empty road.

"What!?" He looked at me and I didn't say anything, just nodded. What would have I said either?

"So, you were forced?" He asked while still trying to recover from the shock I just gave him.

"Directly, no but I was kind of obliged to do this for Di and Jiju, they needed my help." I tried to reason and he just rolled his eyes.

"Does that mean you don't need my help to run away either?" He asked me, still confused with everything going on as if I wasn't confused myself enough.

"Absolutely not," I declared and paused before gulping my saliva. "I don't want any kind of drama to happen between December eleven and December fifteen, I just want to pretend that this is my real wedding and have the wedding of my dreams."

"Maybe, it is the wedding of your dreams, Aayat. Maybe the two of you are able to make up and you're able to forgive him and it turns out to be what you've dreamt of since a very long time." Utkarsh tried to put some hope in me for some reason.

"After what he's done, Utkarsh? Now, I seriously think you're high. There are no feelings for him inside of me. Hate, love, anger, regret, pain, nothing because I'm over it and over him. Besides, dreams change, mine changed too, a very long time ago." I declared and looked out the window right after turning up the volume of the radio and letting the music take over. I did this because I couldn't look him in the eye while partly lying. I do still feel the pain he gave me sometimes and I still do hate him more than anything.

We reached home and though the whole family was pretty shocked to see Utkarsh there with me, they were happy. Kaju seemed to be extra happy as she got more 'good girl' compliments than the usual day.

Once Utkarsh left, my mother dropped the news of how Advait and I should discuss and choose one of the designs Jiju will be sending us in an hour or so and tell him our decision as the invitations need to be printed and given to the people as soon as possible. I sighed internally. The pure thought of conversing with this guy made me feel exhausted.

It happened, Jiju sent me a drive file with multiple different designs in it. All of them were so pretty that it was quite hard to decide which ones to choose. I thought for a few more minutes before finally deciding which ones I wanted to choose. I checked the clock and it was 8:30 so I decided to ring Advait up rather than texting him.

"Hey," I spoke as he picked the call up. "I didn't want to text you, but I wanted to discuss the invitations and so I called you."

"Oh," He cleared his throat. "I was about to call you for just that. I've actually decided, what about you?" He asked.

"Oh, me too," I chuckled awkwardly. "I chose the second one, what about you?" I asked, being confident that he must've not chosen that one.

"Me too, actually. I guess I'll just tell Bhai Sa about the design, then?" He spoke blandly. I hummed in agreement and waited for him to say something.

The next twenty seconds passed without us saying anything and then I decided to speak so that I could cut the call without being too rude.

"So..." We both spoke together. Great way to make it more awkward, Ina!

"Yeah, bye." He spoke awkwardly.

"Bye." I spoke and cut the call.

I sighed and put my phone away. It felt like such a relief that this awkward conversation was over. I'm pretty sure I won't really be calling him anymore, just texting.

~

Our wedding invitations had arrived and today was the day we were visiting the temples and inviting the deities first because that is the most auspicious thing one can truly begin with. We were beginning with visiting the Eklingji Temple as he is considered the true ruling king of the Mewar Dynasty and the Ranas were just his ministers. I took a leave from school for this, today better be a good day.

The route to the temple was not as rocky as I recalled it to be from the last time I visited, which was two years ago. Though the road wasn't uncomfortable to travel on this time, the journey to the temple sure was. Throughout the journey, my head was filled with thoughts of how life was going to be like after a month.

Once we reached, we were welcomed by my soon to be in-laws. The ladies of the house wore their traditional clothing, the Rajputi Poshak, which I adore while the men wore embroidered Kotis with Kurtas and the traditional headgear. Maa, Chachi and I wore sarees and the men of our house wore Kurtas.

Together, we walked into the temple as the sound of the bell rung by Jiju and Kabir as they entered took over the area of the entrance. We were greeted by the Pandit, whose feet Advait and I touched to seek blessings. He blessed us to stay together as long as we live, which is basically forever.

We put the wedding invitation close to the Shivlingam and sat down with our legs crossed as the Pandit chanted some Shlokas. As the Pandit instruced, I closed my eyes and joined my hands to pray to Eklingji. I didn't ask for much, just how I wanted all this to end as soon as he could make it end and requested him to bring new beginnings as soon as this ended.

We stood up to do the Aarti and I adjusted the end of my Saree on my head so it covered my hair. While doing the Aarti, one of Advait and I's hands were slightly touching each other. When they first touched, it brought the feeling of a slight spark inside my body. This spark turned into a fire as his eyes met mine. But, the fire was soon extinguished as my eyes went towards the Shivlingam.

On the way to the next temple, both of us were made to sit next to each other. The road was rocky but it did not feel as uncomfortable as sitting next to him. Jiju was driving Didi sat on the passenger seat with Meera in her lap, next to him. Kabir sat next to me while his cousins sat on the backseat.

We visited the Karni Mata Temple next, and then the Ganpati Temple. We seeked blessings from the respective God-Goddesses and then were on our way to the Mewars' house. The route was not long but I felt quite heavy-eyed so I rested my head on Kabir's shoulder and tried to doze off, which worked.

We reached their house in what seemed like half an hour and I was woken up by Nisha Didi to get down from the car. As I woke up, I found my head resting not on Kabir's shoulders but rather on Advait's. Though this was very embarrassing but wasn't as shocking because I'm used to moving a lot in my sleep. But what was more shocking was that his head rested on mine too. I would've probably not even known about this if Nisha Didi didn't wake me up before him.

Though, the question now was, how do I ask him about what exactly happened? Or, more so, do I ask him about it? I would rather break my favorite cup. I should probably just ask Kabir about it without overthinking much.

We were walking towards the gate to their house, when I grabbed Kabir by his hand and pulled him towards me. He didn't look surprised, as most would, rather he just raised his eyebrows and rolled his eyes.

"Kabir, what happened in the car?" I questioned, trying to act a little chill.

"Nothing happened in the car, what do you mean by what happened?" The linings on his face showed how confused he was. How even is this guy so stupid?

"Kabir, I slept on your shoulder, right? Then how did wake up on Advait's?" I sighed and asked, whispering his name.

"Hold up," Kabir spoke and let out a dry chuckle. "You never slept on my shoulder, you slept on his the whole time. Why'd you do that though?" He smirked.

"No, I didn't, Kabir."

"Yes, you did, Ini."

"Stop playing with me, I remember leaning on my left side—" I spoke and stopped immediately as the realization hit me. Oh, no. Kabir was sitting on my right. How could I be so dumb!?

"And, drumrolls, I was on your right side, Inayat Sharma." Kabir spoke just as that smile a lawyer has on his face when he wins a case took its place on his face. He turned around and started walking towards the car our parents were in, which had just arrived.

Dad and Chachu talked on their way and decided that we'd be leaving once they'd arrive. But, my to-be in-laws insisted that I stay back while all of them go home and that Advait would drop me off after later. I wanted to say no, but couldn't.

So, I waved my family off and walked back with them to their house. As I walked, I saw multiple little shrubs in beautifully coloured pots and a few Ashoka trees stood tall as their leaves moved with the breeze. I walked closer to the entrance and saw Advait talking to someone on the phone.

Advait looked angry, I could see his jaw clenched and that vein on his head popped too. He looked like he was constantly trying to take deep breaths to calm himself down. He paced to and fro and then cut the call. Rolling his eyes, he went inside with that anger still on his face. I walked in a moment after.

I went into the living room and sat on the couch. He sat exactly in front of me and I could see that he still looked pissed. I wanted to ask him about what happened because he looked really pissed off but I brushed that thought off because why should I even care. And even if I did ask him about it, I wouldn't get a proper reply.

"Bhai Sa, I tried to get him to say the truth, but he's still not opening his mouth. We'll have to get the truth out some other way." He told Jiju, who was sitting beside me.

"Don't worry about it right now, Advait. We'll look into it once we're done with your wedding, which should be your first priority right now, Kunwar Sa." Jiju chuckled a little and slowly blinked at him, trying to assure him that it was going to be fine.

I sat there clueless, with just my chin resting on my arm as this conversation took place. I tried not to hear much because then I would be curious and then not ask them about it because I would get too awkward doing so. Why couldn't you be socially less awkward, Ina?

"Bhabhi Sa," Lakshay spoke, as he walked towards us with a glass full of lemonade. "Has Bhai Sa showed you around this house?" I shook my head in denial.

"You haven't seen the whole house, Laado?" His aunt asked, shocked. "Advait, tum kisi shubh muhurat ke liye ruke hue usey ghar dikhane? Abhi hi le jao usey, garden se chalu karna."

(Advait, are you waiting for an auspicious time to show her around the house? Go take her right now, start from the garden.)

"Lekin, Bua Sa—" He tried to reason and she cut him off.

"Khabardar jo koi bahana banaya hai tumne." She warned him and widened her eyes at him. He sighed and gave up.

(You better not make any excuses.)

"Chalo, phir," He stood up sighed showing his undesiredness and I felt much like what he was feeling, but stood up with a fake smile, nonetheless.

(Let's go, then.)

We headed towards the garden and no words were exchanged between us till the sweet smell of tiny, white Jasmine flowers reached our noses and the color of the hibiscus flowers was highlighted in front of our eyes. I was amazed by how well kept the garden was. There was a Victorian-looking water fountain in the center too.

"This garden is just so beautiful," I spoke as my eyes still adored the beauty in front of me. "Oh, look at that," I slowly walked inside as multiple butterflies took flight and disappeared into the sky.

I walked around this garden, which at first sight did look a little small but walking around disproved that opinion. But, I really liked this place. This could be my escape from Advait and his nonsense after the 'wedding'.

I turned around to find him, again, leaning on the doorframe that divided the interior part of the house and the garden. I adjusted the pleats of my saree as my hair fell in front of my face and I tucked it behind my ears as I looked up again and started walking towards him.

Once I stood parallel to him, he was still staring at something or maybe nothing in the garden. Not wanting to waste any time, I patted on his shoulders. He turned his face towards me and blinked in disbelief.

"Huh?" He stood up straight. "When did you come here? Weren't you just there?" He adjusted his Koti, looked at me and then again at the nothingness he was staring at.

"Maybe if you didn't stare into emptiness, you would know when I came here." I spoke. This sarcasm had some sort of effect on him, it seemed to annoy him, and I liked it.

"Chalein?" I asked him and waited for him to take the first step.

(Shall we go?)

We were climbing the stairs to first see the terrace and then explore all the other floors while going down. He was three steps ahead of me. I walked slowly, because climbing three flights of stairs was no easy thing to do in a Saree. I had already climbed the first two and only one step remained now on the last one. He stood on the landing floor, waiting for me as I struggled to climb the last step.

I took a step ahead, then tried to take another, reaching the landing, which resulted in me stepping over my own Saree and losing my balance. My body quickly started being pulled towards the earth's gravity, and in those one or two seconds it felt like my whole life came in front of me and I was sure that it was done for me.

I grabbed the railing on the side of the stairs to make this movement slower and regain balance as a scream escaped my mouth and I closed my eyes. But, to my surprise, his hand grabbed my other hand and he pulled me towards him with a lot of force as I unfastened my grip on the railing and inhaled deeply.

He held onto me from both my shoulders, almost hugging me and walked a few steps away from the stairs. He took away his hands from my shoulders and exhaled while walking away. I again took a deep breath and tried to comprehend whatever happened in this last one minute. Everything fell silent for two minutes and it felt very awkward. I didn't know how to break this silence, and I assumed he didn't either.

"Khamosihyon ki suraton mein, dhundhe tera shor, dhundhe tera shor."

~

a/n-

heyyyyyy!!! guess who's back from the dead? that's right, it's me!!! (just for today tho)

I know this took LONG but I've been so busy, I hardly get any time to write. No promises, but I think the next one won't take as much time.

Anyways, tell me how you guys liked this one??? And I would love if you guys tell me about what's going to happen in the story after this, make some guesses ig!

also i sometimes post lil snippets from unpublished chapters on my insta— @being.a.tithi so maybe follow me there.

hope to see you guys soon,

Love,
Tithi <3