Their car is moving away, but I stayed in my place, looking at their car, I saw Maa, Paa and Karan were also crying and looking towards their car which is going far away from us,

I felt a weight around my shoulder and turned my head to look who is it, it's Shiv,

"Hey sissy don't cry", said Shiv trying to console me,

While Di's wedding I met my many cousin's but me and Shiv have formed a special bond, he fights with me, irritates me, makes me laugh madly, he is a gem,

I nodded my head in approval and rested my head on his shoulder, while I felt a presence on the other side of mine and lifted my head to see who is it, I saw Rahul standing beside me,

"Let's go home", said Rahul the moment our eyes met,

"Rahul can I please stay with my parents, only for tonight", I pleaded,

He looked at me questioningly and thought for sometime before nodding his head in approval,

"Thank you so much Rahul", I said excitedly,

"No need to thanks, and if you want you can stay with them until Karan's wedding", said Rahul holding my cheeks between his palms,

"Really?", I asked questioningly,

"Yes, your happiness means a lot to me, you are my girl and it's my responsibility to fulfill all your wishes", said Rahul,

The moment those words came out of his mouth I looked at him scaredly,

'Your happiness means a lot to me, after all you are my girl', Ranga's voice echoed inside my head, all those memories are still fresh deep inside me,

For any normal human being Rahul's soothing words must sounds magical but for me it's not, this is not the first time someone have said those words to me, that time I was so small, innocent and naive but now I am a mature girl, this time I will not fall in this trap so easily, I don't know the concern which Rahul is showing me are real or fake,

"What happened Kareena", asked Rahul worriedly,

I nodded my head in denial and said,

"I will come back tomorrow, you are right I am your girl whom you had purchased by spending huge amount", I said sadly,

"How many times I have told you please don't think of yourself like that, I did, whatever I felt best at that time, I wanted you to take away from him, peacefully, and for that, this was the only best option I had", said Rahul sadly trying to explain himself,

I can see the pain in his eyes, my heart wants to believe whatever he is saying but my mind and those memories are not allowing me to fall for him so easily, I don't want myself to get hurt once again,

"I don't know Rahul", I said truthfully while a lone tear escaped from my eyes,

He suddenly come closer to me and engulfed me in his arms tightly,

I felt peace being in his arms, but how can I forget, I have felt peace in Ranga's embrace also, how can I forget that I have respected him as my father and at the end he betrayed me, he crushed my trust into tiny pieces,

"I know one day you will realise the purity of my feelings, I am not Ranga kareena, I am Rahul, your Rahul", he said while breaking the hug,

I stared deep into his eyes to find out any hint of lie on them but I found it were only filled with love, love for me,

He grabbed my cheeks between his palms and kissed my forehead and went away from me,

I turned around and went towards my parents and informed them that tonight I will be staying with them,

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After 2 hours of long drive finally we reached Raj's house or I should say our house,

The moment car stopped Raj went out of the car and came towards my side and opened the gate for me, he offered his hand for support and I grabbed it,

We both went towards the main gate where all my in-laws were already waiting for us to arrive and to ,

Mumma did our arti and then she placed seven plates on the ground vertically,

( Arti = It is Hindu religious ritual of worship )

"You have to lift all the plates while making as minimum as possible noise, it's a belief that the lower will be the noise, the peaceful will be the future of newly weds couple", said mumma,

I tried my best to lift all these plates carefully without making any noise or making minimum noise, the moment I lifted the last plate, I took a breath of relief,

Riya took all the plates from my hand,

"Now you have to dip your palms in this haldi mixture and place your handprints on the wall beside the main gate", said Mumma,

I dipped my palms on that mixture and placed my handprints on the wall,

"Now you both enter inside the house together, don't forget to place the right foot first", said Mumma,

Raj grabbed my hand with his and slowly we both move forward towards the gate and enter inside the house, first using our right foot then the left,

The moment we entered Riya pulled me with her and said,

"Now it's time to play games",

"You kids enjoy your games till I finish all the preparations for the puja", said Mumma and went inside,

All the cousins of Raj made us sit in the middle of the room and tied a thread on my left wrist and a similar one on Raj's right wrist,

"Now Raj and Bhabhi listen the rules carefully, you both have to open that thread from each others hand, the one who will open it soon will be the winner", said Sunny,

"And Bhabhi can use both of her hands to open it from Bhai's hand but Bhai can only use his one hand", said Riya mischievously,

First they asked me to open the thread and I opened it easily then it came Raj's turn, he tried hard to open it using only his one hand,

"This is cheating, I will use my mouth", said Raj irritatedly and bend down to use his mouth,

"No Bhai you are cheating" said Riya,

Instead of using his mouth to open the thread, Raj pecked on my wrist and the colour of my cheeks turned red,

"Ooooooo", all his cousins and friends started hooting and I lowered my head to hide it from everyone,

After trying for 5 more minutes finally Raj opened the thread and I was declared as a winner,

I saw a lady coming towards us, she is holding a big bowl in her hands,

She placed the bowl Infront of me and Raj, the bowl is filled with white colour liquid, Riya dropped many things inside the bowl, I didn't saw those things carefully,

"Bhai Bhabhi give me your rings", said Riya,

Me and Raj took out our rings from our finger and gave it to her, she dropped our rings inside the white liquid,

"Whoever will find their partners ring first will win this game", said Riya and gestured us to began our search,

Both me and Raj dipped our right hands inside the bowl,

All the boys cheered for Raj while all the girls cheered for me,

I rolled down my palms all around the bowl in search of Raj's ring, suddenly I felt Raj's finger entangling with mine finger and my whole body became stiff, I lifted my head to look at him and he winked at me, I blushed and again bend down my neck, I tried to release my finger from his hold but his grip was solid hard, after few seconds I felt Raj passing something under the water and I realise it was his ring, I once again lifted my head and look into his eyes questioningly, he blinked his eyes as gesture that I can show it to everyone,

I pulled my hand out and showed the ring to everyone, all the girls clapped for my victory,

"Now it's time for the puja", declared Mumma,

Me and Raj went along with Mumma towards the puja room, we both took the blessings of the God before starting our new journey, the puja continued up to 3AM in the morning,

"At 5 AM we have to go to the temple, we still have 2 hours left, I think you both should take some rest", said Mumma,

"Riya, take your Bhabhi to your room", said Mumma to Riya,

Riya grabbed my hand and pulled me towards her room,

"Bhabhi please be comfortable", said Riya and left the room,

I went towards the bed and sit down comfortably while lying my back on the backrest of the bed, it's not easy and comfortable to sleep on this heavy bridal attire,

Suddenly I heard a knock and the door opens slightly, Raj peek inside the room and the moment his eyes falls on me he smiled and came to me,

"Don't you think you are forgetting something", asked Raj,

I looked at him confusedly and he showed me his palm which have my medicines,

I make an unpleasant face and said,

"I don't want to have these"

"Your trick will not work on me, it's necessary to protect from spreading infection on your wounds", said Raj,

"But..", he didn't let me finish and said,

"No buts now be a good girl and open your mouth",

I nodded my head in denial and Raj started leaning closer to me, I felt my heart started beating at abnormal speed and I tried to push myself back as much as I can, he came closer to my ears and said,

"Don't force me to use my other ways to make your mouth open", said Raj seductively,

I felt his warm breathe on my earlobe, I clutched the bedsheet tightly with my palm to control the feeling which my hormones are creating,

Raj moved a bit away from me and I get the chance to normalise my heartbeat,

"Now open your mouth", said Raj and I obeyed like a good girl,

After giving me my medicine he kissed my forehead and said,

"Have some rest",

"On this dress?", I said sarcastically,

"Don't worry tonight I will give you Raj's special massage and all your tiredness will went away", said Raj teasingly making me blush,

"Bhai what are you doing here", said Riya entering inside the room,

"I am going angry cat", said Raj to Riya,

"How dare you call me that and that to Infront of Bhabhi", said Riya angrily,

Raj shows his tounge teasingly and stormed out of the room while I giggled and remembered mine and Karan's moment,

At 5 we all went to the temple and performed some rituals there, we spend one hour in the temple and again come back home, Mumma took me again to Riya's room,

"Karuna beta you freshen up and come down in the kitchen, today is your first day so you have to prepare some sweet dish for everyone, and after that Karan will come to pick you for the pag phera", explained Mumma,

( is a very small ceremony which is done by the bride or you can say that it is a small family reunion of few hours in which the bride comes to her home (mayka) just after her wedding to make sure that her parents are happy and healthy.)

I nodded my head understandingly while she gave me a packet and said,

"Wear this",

I opened the package to see what's inside it, it's a green colour saree with light embroidery,

I went inside the washroom to freshen up, after having my shower I wore the saree and I must say it's elegant, I am looking so pretty,

I went towards the kitchen and saw Mumma already present there,

"You are looking very beautiful in this saree", Mumma complimented me,

"So have you planned anything, what you are going to cook?", Asked Mumma,

"Umm, whatever you will say I will cook that", I said hesitantly,

"Okay then make kheer, it's Raj's favourite sweet dish", suggested Mumma,

"Okay Mumma", I said,

Mumma gave me all the necessary ingredients required to prepare kheer and went out of the kitchen leaving me alone,

First I put the milk on stove to boil then I soaked the rice in water, until the milk is heating and rice is soaking I decided to cut some dry fruits,

Suddenly I felt a pair of arms around my waist and warm breeze in between my neck and shoulder, the knife which I was using to chop the dry fruits dropped from my hand and I felt a tingling sensation on all over my body and my heart beat increased because of his sudden touch,

"Relax wifey it's me your Raj", said Raj,

"What are you doing here, remove your hands Raj someone will see us like this", I said,

"So what we are married now and I am holding my wife", said Raj while nuzzling his nose deep into my neck,

I bend down my neck because of the sensation and tried to remove his hands around my waist but the more I try, the more he tightened his hold and pull me closer to him,

"Ahem ahem", someone coughed and Raj instantly removed his hands,

"Una I am asking water from you since last two minutes, why are you not giving me", said Raj,

I looked at him with wide eyes shockingly and he turned his head to look at the other side innocently,

"Mom see your daughter in law is not giving me water to drink", complained Raj,

Mumma came towards him and twisted his ear,

"Aaauuuu Mom", cried Raj,

"Why are you disturbing my daughter", said Mumma and I gave him my victory smile,

Mumma pushed him out of the kitchen by holding his ears, I felt pity for my dear husband but he deserves this punishment, for putting all the blame on me,

After that I prepared my sweet dish and then served it to everyone, everyone praised my dish, while Papaji and Mumma gave me a gold chain as reward for making such tasty kheer,

_______________________________________

I heard a banging sound it feels like someone is knocking, I opened my eyes and examined my surrounding, it seems different, then I remember that I am in my parents house,

"Knock...Knock..",

I groaned and stood up to open the door,

"Good morning Di", Karan greeted me,

"Good morning Karan", I said in sleepy tone,

He handed me an envelope and said,

"Di Rahul ask me to give this to you",

I looked at him confusedly, he understood my confusion and said,

"He came early in the morning and said to give this envelope to you, I asked him to come and give it by himself but he said he have some important work and then went away"

I nodded my head understandingly and smiled,

"And Di get ready we are going Tandel's house to fetch Karuna Di for pag phera", said Karan and left,

'what's there inside this envelope', I thought and opened it,

_______________________________________