Chapter 27:

It was Raj's wedding day, well, his second wedding day, and he had never been so nervous in his entire life.

Oh he wasn't nervous about getting married, he was absolutely thrilled about that, for one thing, Naina and he would finally be properly married, all required rituals done.

That meant that Navin could no longer threaten him not to do anything more than hold hands.

That meant that they could finally have their wedding night.

Not that that was what Raj was most excited about in terms of getting married.

No, definitely not.

Because if it was then Navin certainly was going to kill him.

Anyway, the main point was that Raj was nervous because after everything that had gone wrong so far in their romance and all of the obstacles they had overcome and all the schemes they had created, he couldn't believe that today's wedding would go smoothly.

He wasn't sure when or where, but something was sure to go wrong.

And so sneaking away from the crowds of people who were at his house to help prepare for the wedding, he went to call Navin.

"Navin," he whispered, not wanting to be heard, "Is everything going alright on your end?"

"It's going fine Raj, you don't need to worry." Navin tried to reassure him. "Naina is feeling a bit nervous but she says she'll be fine once you get here."

"Actually I was thinking… do you think you could bribe the pandit to make the wedding a little earlier and do the mantras a bit faster?" Raj asked him.

There was silence on the other end of the line.

"Goodbye Raj, I'm going to hang up now." Navin told him, "I'll see you when you arrive with the bharat."

"But…"

The phone was put down with a decisive click.

Traitor…

Raj supposed that he would just have to wait the remaining three hours to get married to Naina if the priest couldn't be bribed.

"Come on yaar, what are you looking so glum about?" Abhimanyu asked him when Raj wondered back into his room. "It's your wedding day!"

"But why can't it be my wedding right now?" Raj asked, "Why did the priest choose such a late auspicious time? I've already been waiting two weeks from the time my parents agreed!"

"Well I don't know why you're complaining when you spent the whole two weeks with Naina," Yudi tells him sensibly, "At least you two were together for once.

Yes… a smile came to Raj's face as he thought about the last two weeks which had been absolutely perfect.

Taking Naina out places, walking around hand in hand or with his arm over her shoulders, going to movies, going out dancing… In the two weeks they had had before the wedding they had managed to squeeze in all of the dating activities they had missed out on in the last few months.

"Hai…." He said, a dreamy look settling on his face. In just three hours he would finally be married to Naina properly once and for all.

"So who were you calling just now, Bhaijaan?" Ali asks him, "Your lovely bride?"

"No, my lovely saala." Raj says, looking a bit upset again, "He refused to bribe the pandit to speed up the marriage."

All of his friends starting laughing at this, as it was exactly the type of reply that they expected from Raj. Practically every male cadet of KMA as well as his school friends were with him that night. The only one missing was Aalekh, who was over with Naina.

This was for two reasons, the first being that he treated Naina as a little sister.

The second being that if he ever turned up at Raj's house, his parents were likely to have a heart attack.

Raj glanced at his watch again, two hours and fifty five minutes to go.

But he could wait.

**

Meanwhile at Naina's house she was currently sitting with her friends as they helped to dress her up, everyone giggling and teasing her.

"Don't tease me too much Tanu Bhabi, it's your turn in two weeks time!" Naina told her warningly, a smile on her face.

Tanu blushed, she had waited so long to get married to Navin that she couldn't believe it was finally about to happen. They had had their official engagement the day before at Naina and Raj's sangeet and mehndi ceremony.

"And we all know what Tanu has gone through in order to make her lifelong connection with Navin," Pooja teased the other girl.

"Truly," Naina said, "I can't think of any other girl who would go to such lengths in order to marry my brother."

"Well you and Raj have gone to just as much effort!" Shalini told her, "I mean the things you did in order to get this marriage to happen…"

She picks up an earring from the assortment laid out on the bed, holding it up to Naina's ear to see how it looks. From their initial very cool reaction to her, Raj's parents now seem determined to give Naina as many presents as possible and be as nice to her as possible.

Naina isn't sure whether it's because they've been won over by her charming personality or because they're afraid that if she doesn't marry Raj they'll have to find him a girl like Neelu.

She's hoping that it's the first one but she's honestly not sure.

"But I'll say one thing for sure," Naina tells them, "We never could have gotten his parents to agree without the help of Neelu and Aalekh, and so Neelu I am now solemnly promising you that whatever help you two need to get married, Raj and I will definitely give."

Neelu laughs at this, "Thanks Naina, but I think our marriage is quite far off at the moment. For one thing I really like keeping my parents guessing about whether we actually got married that day or not."

"So what film did you actually see that day?" Naina asks her curiously.

"Actually… I don't remember." Neelu admits, "I wasn't really paying much attention to the movie."

And she blushes slightly, leading to a whole new round of oooooooooos and teasing.

In fact it does seem to be the marriage season of KMA cadets. Ali and Pooja's parents are still in discussions but it looks like they'll be getting married in the near future and Abhimanyu and Nandini's engagement is going to be held a week after Navin and Tanu's marriage.

Shalini and Yudi are the only ones who don't have any immediate plans, since they haven't really been dating long enough to think about getting married just yet.

Besides, Yudi is just really, really, really happy that he finally has a girlfriend.

"Well girls, the Baarat is due to arrive in an hour!" Nandini announces after looking at the clock, "So we only have that much time to make Naina the most beautiful bride ever and then prepare ourselves for our own beloveds to arrive!"

"Nandini, mine is downstairs already," Neelu announces, "Does that mean that I need to be ready first?"

Naina smothered a giggle, thinking that Neelu really was the perfect match for Aalekh, both of them were the biggest nautanki's she'd ever met.

"Just remember that you and Aalekh should try to avoid being seen by Raj's parents," Naina reminded Neelu, "Otherwise they might guess that the whole thing was a set up."

"Don't worry," Neelu told her, "No matter what, we'll get you and Raj married today, and not even his khadoos parents are going to be able to stop us!"

And Naina truly believed that.

Because after waiting for such a long time, there was nothing that could possibly stop her from getting married today.

Fire, flood or earthquake, she was going to take those pheres with him.

**

Finally the baarat left the house, making its way towards the marriage hall and for the first few minutes Raj was quite enjoying himself, his friends dancing around him, sitting on the horse.

Then he started wondering why these processions were so damn slow. In fact, his horse was going at a snail's pace.

Checking to see that nobody was looking he nudged the horse with his heels trying to make it go faster. Surely if it broke away from the crowd, everyone would just have to dance much faster and they'd all get there much earlier.

But his plan was ruined as Abhimanyu grabbed the horse's bridle, having seen what he was doing.

"Nice try, Raj, but no way." He told him, "You're only going to get married once… actually, twice… this being the second time… but you're only going to have one of these processions once and we're all going to enjoy ourselves dancing."

Damn.

Traitor.

First Navin and now Abhimanyu, was nobody on his side tonight?

Raj sighed and decided he might as well enjoy himself, after all, they would get there eventually even if they were going awfully slowly.

**

The moment the baarat reached the house one of Naina's college friends yelled in excitement, pointing out the groom.

"Wow Naina, great choice!" she told her, "Come on girls, let's go and welcome them!"

"Yes Tanu, great choice." Naina told her soon to be sister-in-law with a smile. "Thank god you chose Raj to set me up with rather than anybody else."

"Well we did consider some of the other guys…" Tanu admits and then at the glare from Naina very hastily adds, "But in the end, Raj was the only choice we ever could have made."

"Just as well," Naina tells her, and they peer out the window to watch the bharat arrive.

**

As Raj and his friends reach the hall, the girls run out to meet them, joining in the dancing happily, Navin and Aalekh also come out, Navin helping Raj off the horse and hugging him enthusiastically.

"Yaar in less than an hour I'll be your official saala!" Navin tells him, barely able to contain his excitement, "You have no idea how long I've waited for this day!"

"Actually I think I do," Raj tells him, "It would've been just before Diwali, right?"

And they both laugh before heading inside to be welcomed by Naina and Navin's parents and their relatives.

A few minutes later Raj is beginning to get impatient.

"Navin if you can't bribe the pandit to speed up the wedding can you at least bribe him to call the bride down?" he whispers to his friend.

"Raj, you are too much." Navin tells him, "Why have you suddenly become obsessed with bribing pandits?"

"Because I want to see my wife, damn it!" Raj says a little bit too loudly, and then noticing one of his relatives looking at him strangely quickly corrects himself, "Um, I mean my very soon to be wife!" And he coughs a bit self consciously.

However Navin doesn't have to bribe anyone because at that moment the pandit calls for the bride to be brought down and Naina's friends rush off towards the room she's in.

As she comes down the steps, led by Tanu and the rest of her friends and wearing a beautiful lengha outfit, Raj lets out a very long breath.

And then he forgets to take one back in.

He hasn't breathed in quite awhile, hasn't even moved when Navin shakes him to wake him.

"Navin," Raj tells him, "I love you, I really do."

"Uh, shouldn't you be telling this to Naina?" Navin asks him a little confused.

"Well of course I love Naina," Raj tells him, "I mean I really love Naina, I really, really…"

"Okay, okay, stop it!" Navin tells him before he can start it all over again.

"But I love you as well," Raj tells him a bit emotionally, "Because if it wasn't for you and your stupidly named mission, we never would've met each other."

"Well that's quite alright." Navin told him, "I was more than happy to be of help. Now step forward and go garland your bride."

And without waiting for a further invitation, Raj grabbed the garland and practically bounded towards Naina, his friends and family barely managing to keep up.

"Hi, you look beautiful." He told her all in one breath, "Will you marry me?"

"Well Raj, that is sort of what we're here for." Naina tells him, grinning, "So shall we do it?"

Before any more time can be wasted, Raj quickly puts the garland over her head and then Naina just as quickly puts the one she's holding over his.

Relieved that at least that bit is over, Raj grabs Naina's hand and starts leading her towards the mandap while everyone else looks on in amusement.

"Uh Raj, do you want to slow down a bit?" Navin asks him, "You two have plenty of time to get married, you know."

Reluctantly Raj slows his steps, but only slightly.

Once they reach the mandap, they sit down for the mantras and Raj leans over to whisper to Navin.

"Couldn't you just…"

"For the last time, NO!"

**

Unable to resist, Aalekh comes closer to watch the rituals, leaning his arm on Neelu's shoulder. They grin at each other, proud of the part they had to play in making this marriage a success.

It's then that Raj's father, hurrying on some task, bumps into them. Looking up to see who it is he's bumped into, his face pales.

"What are you both doing here??" he asks them, "I promise I don't want Raj to marry your girlfriend, look, he's getting married to someone else right now!"

"I know," Aalekh says shortly, "And that's why we're here…. To make sure it happens. So it had all better go to plan."

And unable to resist, he glared slightly.

Raj's father turned even more pale, and quickly decided that he should go and check on the food arrangements.

As soon as his back was turned, Neelu and Aalekh high fived each other, unable to resist.

**

Raj felt like checking his watch but he wasn't wearing one. They'd made him take it off because it didn't go with his Sherwani.

Pity.

Finally the mantras ended, and his uttariya was tied to Naina's veil as they got up to take the pheres.

"Seven lifetimes together," he told her, "Are you ready?"

"I've been ready for a long time," Naina told her, "And I'm sure that there will never be a dull moment."

He took her hand in his and they made the rounds together, both of them unable to contain their grins.

Naina supposed that she should look more serious. After all, brides were supposed to be upset when the got married, sad to leave their families.

But it wasn't as if she was going to be leaving hers forever. In fact, Navin and Raj would have their first ever posting together, so she would have her Bhaiyya and Bhabie with her for quite some time at least!

As they sat back down, Raj gave Naina a small thumbs up sign. Just two rituals to go and they would be married forever.

The mangalsutra was passed to him and he fastened it around her neck, giving another sigh of relief.

For the last step, the sindoor, in his haste Raj put practically his whole hand into the powder.

"Uh Raj, I don't think you really need that much," Navin told him a bit doubtfully.

"Why not?" Raj asked him, "The more the better, right?"

And he marked her hair parting a vivid red.

Finally they were properly married and the two of them couldn't resist grinning at each other.

"I love you!" Naina declared to him, "I really, really, really love you!"

"Oh god, she's caught his 'really, really' disease," Navin exclaimed melodramatically.

But neither Raj nor Naina cared, because they were finally married and that was the only thing that mattered.

**

After the rituals had all been completed, the happy couple had finally left for their honeymoon.

Naina supposed that she must be one of the first ever brides to actually be happy at her bidai, she had tried to cry, honestly she had, and it was lucky that she had had all of that acting practice to help her. But really, after everything they had been to in order to get to this point, there was no way she was going to cry on her wedding day.

That didn't mean that she wasn't going to put on her best melodramatic act ever though.

After hugging her parents and pretending to sob, she had thrown her arms around her brother.

"Oh Navin!" she exclaimed, "For the first time in life we'll be separated, your house will no longer be my house, how will I cope??"

Navin just rolled his eyes, he understood perfectly well that she was back to full on Meena Kumari mode.

"Don't worry," he tells her, patting her back, deciding that he might as well play along, "I know I've done my duty as a brother, I've sent you to a good home."

In the background Raj had once again wished he was wearing a watch. This was taking far too long. The wedding had happened without any problems and the last thing he wanted was for his honeymoon to be delayed.

Eventually Naina was satisfied that she had proved her sorrow enough and they had left the hall, heading for the airport and their honeymoon.

Now it was three hours later and as they sat on the bed together, Raj held Naina's hands, partly examining her henna and partly playing with her bangles.

"So back at Diwali time, could you have imagined that this was how it would all turn out?" she asked him, "I mean that we would actually end up getting married of our own free will?"

"Actually I liked you back at Diwali time," Raj admits, "I was probably at least a little bit in love with you already back then."

"Just a little?" Naina asks, disappointed, "You didn't go completely fida over me the moment you saw me?"

"Does it matter when it happened?" Raj asks her, "I went fida over you eventually, didn't I. In fact I still very much am, very, very, very crazy about you."

And to prove his point he leans over and begins to softly kiss her, planting kisses along her cheeks, her neck, her shoulder…

Later on.

Much later on.

Much, much later on.

Much, much, much… okay, you have the idea.

Raj hugged Naina to him as she murmured something sleepily into his neck that he couldn't quite understand.

"What is it, Naina?" he asked her, and reluctantly she lifted her head up.

"Raj, when we eventually have children and they want to know how we met and fell in love… what on earth are we going to tell them?"

Raj stared at Naina in confusion before finally working out what her point was.

Theirs hadn't exactly been a conventional love story, in fact it was probably one of the strangest and most complicated ones that he'd ever heard.

"We'll tell them… that it was all their Uncle Navin and Aunt Tanu's fault." Raj finally replies.

There was silence for a moment as they both drifted off further into sleep and then…

"Accha, Naina… do you know the phone number of the pandit who's conducting Navin and Tanu's wedding?" Raj asked her.

"I can get it off Ma," Naina told him, "Why?"

"Because I want to bribe him to do the rituals as slowly as possible." Raj says with a mischievous grin and Naina breaks into laughter.

"Don't you think we've already created enough mischief to last us an entire lifetime?" she asks him.

"Biwi, with you by my side, I don't think I'll ever be able to create enough mischief," Raj tells her, and kisses her forehead.

But for now all that he really needs is to go to sleep with his wife, his properly twice married wife in his arms.

After all, he has a life full of schemes, operations, mischief and most importantly love that he has to be rested for.

Now that Naina and Raj were married….

The world would never know what hit it.