Chapter 3

Sahil's POV

I got up and got ready to go to market. Where was Swati??

Mom was overexcited and was about to panic if everything was in order or not. Though Sagar had finished everything.  Sagar and mom were ready and waiting for Swati to get ready. 

" Where is Swati?? I need to leave now... As I have to go.. and pick the fruits, sweets and clothes. " I asked.

" She is not ready till now.. you go alone... " Sagar said.

" No way... I will not go to pick the dresses alone... Tell her to come fast." I was adamant. I would not go to a saree shop alone, at any cost. I would wait till Swati come. 

I  turned all of a sudden and bumped into Manu making her lose her balance. She was just about to fall when I caught her in my arms. She was looking so beautiful and sweet. Her long black hair was open. Her big black orbs had become bigger with shock. I felt a little tug kind of thing towards her.

We both kept standing in the same position as if we were frozen for a few seconds. We kept looking at each other and then I realised it and straighten ourselves. I released her a bit reluctantly. I liked the feeling of her in my arms. But she got very embarrassed again. She was again not looking at me.

" Manu is ready.. she can go with you... Swati will come with us. Manu beta... Please go with Sahil as Swati is not ready yet." mom said to her but she seemed reluctant. She looked at Sagar and he nodded. 

Why was she friendly with my identical twin but not me..?? Did she need his permission to go with me ?? Weird...

What have I done?? I already said sorry for yesterday. I thought that she was Swati. 

" Ok, aunty. " She said  

I went towards my car and she followed me. We went to the market and bought the fruits. I saw that she handpicked the fruits and got them packed. 

She talked very sweetly with the fruit supplier. He smiled at her and said that she knows how to pick fruits very well. She smiled and thanked politely. He packed two baskets of various exotic fruits. 

Then we went to the sweet shop. I did not know which ones to buy. 

" I don't know, which one to buy, they all look so good. " 

" Take whatever you want," she replied without looking at me. 

" How about Kaju katli? " 

" Hmm ok. How many boxes do you want? " 

"  7 boxes I mean 7 kgs.  were written on the list.  " 

" Ok, so get  2 boxes of Kaju katli,  2 of motichoor laddoo, 2 of Moong daal barfi and one of any other. " She suggested. 

I selected some Kaju rolls stuffed with  Gulkand (sweetened rose petals mixture) because they looked very nice. 

" Bhaiya, bilkul fresh wali hi dena please  ( please pack only if it is absolutely fresh). " She said to the person who was packing the sweets for us. 

" Ma'am, aap taste ker ke dekh lijiye.. ( ma'am you can taste them). " He said and gave a piece to taste it. She took half of it and told him to give the rest to me. 

I took it and tasted. It was very nice. 

" Hmm this is good... Please taste every variety you are taking ." She said to me without looking at me. 

What is wrong with her? 

I tasted all of them and got them packed and I paid for them and took them to my car. 

Now we had to pick the sarees and dresses. 

We went to the shop and I followed her as I didn't know the showroom from where we had to go. 

She went to the person on the cash counter and showed her the bill. He nodded and asked us to sit for sometimes at it would take 5-7 minutes to go and get them. 

We sat down, one of the salesmen came to us and asked her, " Ma'am that day you selected a dress but it was not available in your size. But now we have it. Shall I show it to you? " 

" No, I am in a bit of hurry. We need to go to a function but I will come in a day or two and take it. Thanks. " She declined politely. 

" Ma'am it may get sold again. You can see while your sarees come. " 

" Not now, please... I don't want to be late. " 

" It will take just two minutes ma'am. I have it here only. " Salesman was quite persistent. But manu looked a bit uncomfortable. 

" Here it is ma'am. The exact design, colour and size you wanted. I showed it to you as it is so pretty that it might get sold before you come back for it." 

" I was going to a family function so I am not carrying my credit card. So I can't buy it right away. " She said to him.

" Oh!! But it's ok...  I can pay for... " I was saying when she cut my sentence in the mid. 

" No... I don't want that. This dress is not that important. "

" Aree ma'am paise sir de rahe hain, le lijiye, bik gaya to fir same colour and size shayad na aaye.( Ma'am it's ok, let sir pay, it might get sold then it will be difficult to get the same colour and size again). "

" I will come and pick it up tomorrow morning. And if by any chance, it gets sold, then also I am ok with it. " She finally said with determination.

" Oh c'mon Manu,  it is such a small thing, I can pay for this .... And we are friends... " 

" Correction, Mr Sahil Malhotra...  We are not friends. I am friends with Swati, not you. And I don't want you to pay anything for me. " She said in a low but firm voice. She looked very angry. 

What is wrong with the girl?? She was overreacting on such a small thing. 

Why is she giving me this attitude??  Let it be I don't care... 

We waited for another minute and a man came with two big boxes beautifully decorated with the saree and accessories and 2 big carry bags. 

She asked the owner to send someone with the stuff to drop them to our car. 

We came out of the shop and placed everything in the car and went to Mathur uncle's place.

She helped me in taking out the two baskets and placed them aside. And when I took out the bags, she shook her head and said, " No, those are for Swati and me. " Then I called someone to carry the fruits and sweets to carry inside. 

We went inside with all the things and greeted everyone. I placed everything near mom and Manu asked about Swati. Mom said that she had gone to meet Damini. She also wanted to go... So aunty sent someone to take her there.

Sagar told me to make a video call to dad so that he could be a part of this. I did that. 

Damini's father started the ceremony. He gave Sagan to Sagar. 

Then they called Damini, she was looking very beautiful, my brother couldn't take his eyes off her. 

Aunty made her sit and Mom went near her she touched mom's feet and mom kissed her forehead and hugged her. Mom started the ceremony and gave her Sagan.

So the ceremony was done and everyone was so happy.  They took blessings from everyone. The gift were exchanged. My dad was also very happy and said that he would be back within 10 days. 

The dates were fixed for engagement and wedding. The engagement was fixed after 15 days and wedding in a month. Sagar was very excited and so was mom. 

We all came back to guest house. Sagar had told me earlier that he had hired a bungalow for us to live here. He liked that bungalow as it was very big. Gautam's family had also used it for his wedding. 

The bungalow was ready. So we had to shift there. It was fully furnished so we just needed to shift there. We planned to shift there after a very small pooja. 

Though the bungalow was rented mom insisted that before we shift there,  we must have some kind of pooja and havan as we were going to have a wedding there. 

So we planned to have a pooja on the next day and then shift there. We didn't want mom to take the stress so we took the responsibility for the pooja as well. Samar also came for help. He asked his pandit Ji and arranged a pooja.