PLEASE

Prachi slowly opened the door of her room, making sure not to ruin her Mehandi. She followed in towards the washroom, washing her hands and drying them off. If it was any other occasion she would have been impatient to adore her Mehandi-filled hands and stare at her palms.

But today, the beautiful red color was not capturing her attention at all. She closed the bathroom door, glanced at her reflection once, and walked over to the door.

She was about to turn the knob, but in the next second, she was spun into the wall next to the Closet. She squeezed her eyes shut in fear, screaming her lungs out.

When no sound left past her lips, she dared to open her eyes, slowly. But they went wide when a familiar scent hit her. She gulped, trying to catch her breath even though a hand was firmly pressed against her lips.

So this was the reason I couldn't scream. She observed.

Instead of struggling out of the grasp of her captor, she did the exact opposite and relaxed into his touch.

In terms of being careful not to ruin the mehndi, Prachi had not locked her door, and Ranbir, after giving a hint to Aryan, had snuck out of the function and into his ladylove's room. He had softly closed the door behind himself and waited patiently in the room for Prachi to come out of the washroom.

Prachi looked at the side of his face, as he attentively looked to the right for god knows what. His sharp jaw clenched, not to make any sound. One hand was firmly against Prachi's lips and the other was placed behind her head to make sure that it didn't hit the wall due to the force.

Her hand, without her knowledge, slowly reached up to hold his, which was covering her mouth. Just as she grabbed onto his, she saw, his face relaxed. And slowly, as if not believing, he turned to face her.

And, Oh, those molten chocolate orbs, they held just as much adoration and care and compassion and love for her as they ever had. If not more.

He slowly lifted his hand from her face, cupping it, to look at her properly. It felt like centuries had passed since he last saw her this closely. Her eyes, he observed, were slightly swollen. But everything else was almost the same. That forehead that always seemed to have a frown whenever he troubled her was clear, signifying that today she was quite calm. Or maybe still in shock.

Prachi on the other hand was neither calm nor in shock. Rather, she was lost. Lost in the feeling of love that her heart was craving for. Lost in the completeness that she yearned for. Lost, at the moment that was so desired.

She just looked on and on and on. Quenching the thirst that her eyes were dying for. This was so familiar, yet so different. The butterflies that used to waltz around in her stomach weren't there anymore. Instead, there was a warm, comprehensive feeling. Her heart, which used to go haywire on his touch, was not beating erratically like it used to, but it was humming softly, feeling content.

She felt at ease.

Ranbir, slowly withdrew his other hand from behind her head, tracing it slowly over her arm, gently, observing every fleck of feeling that crossed her ebony eyes. Seeing if there was any resistance or uneasiness, but coming across none, he took a step ahead, slipping his hand on her waist.

Prachi's eyes dropped on their own accord and she took in a deep breath, his cologne filing in her lungs and washing over her senses. He slowly reached where he desired to and gently rubbed the dried mehndi off. Leaning sideways to spare a quick glance at her waist and smiling merrily at the dark brown color smudged over her skin. Still darkening, signifying the love that was increasing with each passing second.

"Just as I thought." Ranbir whispered, unfortunately breaking the small moment.

Prachi's eyes snapped open, alarmed. She gasped, trying to get out of there. Putting her hands on Ranbir's chest to push him back, but Ranbir, already having anticipated some kind of reaction, held her hands, placing her palms flat over his heart, just kept on smiling.

"What are you doing?" Prachi snapped, "Leave me." She ordered, pulling her hands back with a jerk. "What do you think you are?"

"Firstly, I'm a 'who', not a 'what'. But ignoring your little, silly, mistake, I'm gonna answer your question. I'm checking if everyone is right, you know, 'if the love is true then the color of Heena turns out dark' thing, dida has always told me this, and see, our love is so true." He said, gesturing her to look to her left.

She hesitantly turned to look at the dark spot on her back, her cheeks tinting a soft hue and she couldn't stop staring at it. Ranbir, guessing her chain of thought, smiled to himself, before continuing.

"See, how dark it is. And yet, it is nothing in terms of how much I love you." Prachi's head turned back, looking at him with swarms of emotions.

"Second of all, as per who do I think myself, well, the person you love from the bottom of your heart. The proof is here." He forwarded his own hand, which had a slightly disfigured circle, but the dark color in full glory.

Prachi's eyes moved from his palm to his face and he wriggled his eyebrows. It took her a moment to get a hold of her thoughts, and the moment she did, her eyes turned to stone.

"What is wrong with you? Why don't you ever tend to understand the fact that I do not love you." Prachi exclaimed, "How hard is it to get in your brain that I am getting married to someone I want. And you... marry... whoever you want."

"Shh... shh.." Ranbir shushed her, taking another tiny step forward and towering over her. "You want to marry him?" He asked softly, something quite dangerous glinting in his eyes. But Prachi, being Prachi, stood her ground with a strong "Yes."

"Oh?" Ranbir mocked taking another step towards her, depriving her of whatever small space was left between them. "You know you will hurt him too right? Still, you won't feel odd when he, your best friend, will do this?" He asked as he tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear, still holding it there.

"No." Prachi squeaked.

"So would you be fine with this?" Ranbir continued as he softly trailed his fingers down her neck, his eyes following her's as Prachi nodded her head, not trusting her voice.

"So you won't be affected by me at all?" Ranbir asked tracing down her collarbone. Prachi took a deep breath, gulping before shaking her head.

"I didn't hear you Prachi. Would you be able to move on from all those feelings you felt with me? For me?" He asked, leaning forward, his lips brushing against her forehead.

"Just say once that you love me Prachi." He whispered against her forehead, "Please chikchiki, please, I can't handle it anymore. I can't"

Prachi's hand flew to his shoulders as she felt a tear drop on her face. She held onto him, not letting go.

"I love you Prachi and I know you love me too. Please."

"Ranbir."

"Please chikchiki."

"Ranbir I-"

~*~

Shahana was happily lounging alone while everyone else was admiring their or their significant other's Mehandi, feeling giddy to know what was going on. She would have approached Prachi till now, but she had seen Ranbir slipping out of the garden and had a clear idea that wherever the two were, they were together.

Her smile widened as the three male members of their 'Pranbir reuniting' group joined her on the couch. 

"What do you think would be happening there?" She asked, straightening a bit so that her Mehandi won't get ruined by the careless boys.

"Either Ranbir and Prachi were claiming their love for each other," Piyush guessed.

"Or ripping each other's head off" Aryan added.

"One of them." Aarav nodded.

"The first one seems much pleasing," Shahana commented.

"So, If they do confess," Piyush asked, taking Shahana's hand to observe it closely. "Would the plan still be on?"

"Of course it would be," Shahana clarified, "I ain't letting my hard work go waste."

"Look" Piyush exclaimed and everyone turned to look at the entrance of the garden, hopefully expecting a smiling Pranbir coming hand in hand to tackle the family.

"What?" they asked when nothing out of place was located.

"No, no" Piyush shook his head, his curls actually bouncing, "Not there, here." He gestured to his hands.

Shahana's hands to be specific, that he was holding. 

"What?" Shahana asked again, looking if even after all the care she still had managed to ruin something.

"This." Piyush pointed a finger at her palm, right under the ring finger. The girl and the other two boys leaned in over the hand to see a pretty, curvy, alphabet staring back at them.

"Umm," Aarav raised an eyebrow, "Is there something you would like to tell us?" He asked, trying to stifle a smile.

"Shahana?" Aryan asked and she looked up, tearing her hand from Piyush's.

"Excuse me." She called the lady that had been applying her Mehandi, who was sitting on the platform next to them.

"Yes?" The lady asked.

"What is this?" Shahana whisper-yelled, not wanting to gain any unwanted attention.

"What?" The lady asked, completely clueless.

"This." Shahana pointed a finger on her palm, showing her the alphabet written in full glory.

"Oh, you were texting him, and a girl only text her boyfriend so much, so I wrote the initial on your hand." The lady explained.

"How did you know who she was texting?"

"She glared at him whenever he delayed the reply."

"And how did you find out the name?"

"Every other person is calling him for some work or other, it isn't hard to pick on it."

"That too when the person looks is too handsome not to observe." Another, younger, girl that was sitting next to the lady, her current customer maybe, aided dreamily.

Shahana's jaw dropped at her audacity while the lady just laughed her off. Looking back at the angry expression on the girl. "Did I make a mistake?"

"Yes you did, we are not any boyfriend-girlfriend or anything." Shahana voiced.

The lady frowned. "But your eyes say something els-"

"Shahana," Abhi called, "Go and see where Prachi is, it's been too long."

Shahana just nodded with a polite smile. She was about to go but the tiny question the girl asked stopped her in her track.

"So, are you single?" The girl asked, and Shahana had full confidence that she must be a friend of Rhea.

"Well," Shahana said before anyone else could even comprehend anything, "He is quite busy for sure." And practically dragged him from there.

Shahana only let go of him till they were well out of the garden area and in her room. And only then did her mind register what she was doing. She immediately let go of his hand. 

"I.. uh- I'll wash my hands and then we'll call them." She said and disappeared behind a door to the right, not waiting for a reply.

The moment she shut the door behind herself, Shahana froze. What the hell did she do?

First of all, she overreacted over the initial fiasco, then she acted way too possessive over someone she claimed seconds ago that she is no one to him and then, she dragged him away from someone who was merely talking to him.

What was that about?

She knew that if it was Prachi, she would have teased her to the end of the earth saying that she was jealous. Was she jealous too?

No way, huh, why would she be jealous?

Shaking her head, she moved forward cleaning her hands, she could not help but stare at the cursive 'A' standing out in beautiful maroon color. She smiled to herself before walking into the room where she saw him sitting at the bed, fiddling with his thumbs. 

The laugh that built in her throat from seeing him sitting so innocently, passed her lips causing Aryan to look up at her. He forwarded her mobile towards her and she took it from him. She blushed slightly when she saw him looking at her hands and cleared her throat.

"Let's go." She said, moving towards the door and Aryan dutifully followed. They walked to the next room and looked at each other. Contemplating if they should knock or not.

Just as they were thinking, Shahana's mobile buzzed. Pragya was calling her. She looked at Aryan and despite their better judgment, they had to knock.

~*~

*Knock* *Knock* *Knock*

"Prachi?" Shahana called, "Massi is asking for you. So.." She stopped for a moment, "Can you come?" She asked, and then closely followed, "You can take some more time if you want to. I will handle massi."

"But hurry up a bit." She called.

"No, I'm coming." Prachi called back, getting away from Ranbir, not meeting his eyes.

"Prachi-" Ranbir tried but Prachi had already left the room, leaving him all alone.

"Ranbir?" The called boy looked up to see his best friend looking at him.

"yeah?" He replied, brushing off the tear from his cheek.

"Bro." Aryan tried but Ranbir cut him off, shaking his head.

Aryan and Ranbir reached the garden to see Rhea shouting at the Mehandi artist.

"What happened?" They heard Shahana asking Piyush.

"The color of Rhea's mehndi didn't darken," The boy filled them in, they looked at her hands, and true enough, Rhea's mehndi wasn't even Red. It was just a dull orange color, "And one of the aunties said that apparently 'Her groom doesn't love her ' This irked her and she just started scolding her."

"What's new in that?" Shahana commented, rolling her eyes.

"Rhea, it's okay." Pragya tried to resonate with her. "Maybe the quality of the Mehandi wasn't good."

"Then how did everyone elses' color turn out so dark? I know the mehndi came as a whole, out of which mine and Prachi's mehndi were divided and the rest was kept to be applied to the rest of the people?" Rhea countered, "Look." She walked over to Prachi and took her hand up. "See? how come Prachi's mehndi darkened. And see" she then moved to Shahana, "Shahana's even darker than her."

And actually, Shahana's maroon-colored hands were quite darker than Prachi's red ones, but they were missing the spot on her waist that was even darker than that. Not everyone missed though, as soon as Shahana freed her hands from Rhea, she took a step back, not wanting to take a chance for Rhea might get a hold of her again. she stepped back, looking down, careful to not step on Prachi's skirt, and her eyes landed on the circle on her back. 

She nudged Aryan and gestured to look at the spot and he followed her gaze, frowning. It took him a moment to figure out what it was and when he did, a bright grin broke on his face. He sure as hell knew that Ranbir must have brought it out to Prachi, and Prachi being the believer-of-old-beliefs must have taken it seriously.

It took half an hour for the family members to pacify Rhea. She calmed down only when Alia advised her to go to the parlor and get the mehndi fixed. And hence, the function ended on a bittersweet note. Everyone walked off hoping that this was the last bad thing that happened at this wedding.

A/N:- Hey honeycombs, how are you all? Here is another chapter for you all. Hope you liked it. If you did, make sure to shower your loves in form of Votes and Comments. 

Inline comments are most welcome. Feel free to point out any mistake you come across in the chapter.

Lots of Love,

Simran