FF: Unnamed (chapter eight updated) - Page 5

"Can you go and fetch Ratan?" Nimrit asked Preet through gritted teeth, throwing the groom's mother an awkward smile as she did so.

"Ji," Preet replied, before heading towards the stairs. Lifting the skirt of her bridesmaid lehenga up, she rushed up the stairs and knocked on Ratan's door. She heard no answer but entered anyway.

"It's your cousin," Munni, one of Ratan's many maternal cousins, told the bride who was perched on the edge of her bed, back facing Preet. Ratan was decked up head to toe in her mother's old bridal wear.

Preet avoided looking at Ratan's five cousins, including Munni, and said to Ratan, "Didi, Mami is looking for you."

"I bet Maasi's stressing again!" one of the other girls, Kiran, said with a giggle.

"Typical," Munni commented.

"Bua really needs to calm down," another, Vaani, commented with a laugh.

Preet rolled her eyes and said, "The groom's side is here."

This was followed by five identical shrieks. Ratan's cousins ran past Preet, pushing each other to get out of the door first.

"I don't want to get married!" Ratan complained before Preet could even get a word out.

Preet sighed sympathetically but simply replied with: "You've got to."

"The wedding night is going to suck!"

"Surely marriage is more than-"

"Sex."

"-all that."

"I guess you're right though," Ratan relented. Preet sighed in relief, starting to smile only to frown when Ratan spoke again. "There is the money, jewellery and new dresses a bride gets from her in-laws!"

"That's not what I was going for," Preet clarified, "but yeah..."

"A rich bride, that is," Ratan added, making Preet groan. "I'm stuck with some guy who barely makes more than Papa!" She suddenly laughed.

"What?" Preet asked, thinly veiled annoyance seeping into her voice.

"You're such a fool, you know. You have the chance to make money off Tekbir Sangwan but you're too frigid!" Preet crossed her arms, evidently irritated. "I would totally sleep with him! It's better to be a rich man's wh**e than a poor man's wife! Who knows? He could even make you his mistress, if not his wife!"

"Stop your nonsense!" Preet snapped. Ratan looked taken aback. Preet sighed before sitting next to her cousin. "Look, Didi. You may not like the idea of marrying this man but you have little choice, especially when you've already come this far."

Ratan stood up, glaring down at Preet as she said, "you'll understand the day you're left without a choice!"

Just then, Ratan's cousin, Simrit, popped her head around the door. "Maasi's calling!"

"We're coming," Ratan said, shrugging Preet off of her when she touched her arm. "It's your turn next. After me, Papa, Mummy and Fuffar Ji will all turn their attention to getting you married."

Preet gulped as she watched the stubborn bride off.

'She's right,' she thought to herself. 'I'm the next in line.'

"Congratulations on your daughter's wedding," the Shah of the Sangwans told the bride's father. Manjeet beamed with pride, proceeding to introduce Charminder to his son in law's father and other relatives.

Preet sat by Ratan and the other girls, her gaze following her father as he made a beeline towards their Shah like there was no tomorrow.

"Shah Ji, I didn't expect to see you here," he greeted.

Charminder laughed good-naturedly, patting the poor man on the back. "I was on business and passed by here on the way home. I thought, why not? The bride is a girl from our clan, after all."

"Indeed, she is," Chetan agreed. "We all have to give our girls away in the end. I'm glad Ratan is marrying into a good family."

"Yes. If I had a daughter, I'd spare no expense to send her off into a good household. Alas, I've got no children."

"No matter. You've got Tekbir Babu!"

"That I do. When my brother was on his deathbed, he requested that I take care of Tekbir. I can rest easy knowing that my wife and I raised him to the best of our abilities."

"I'm sure you'll look for a good bride for him. He is the next Shah, after all." Charminder nodded. Chetan stole a glance at Preet who quickly averted her gaze before he could see her watching. "I've got a daughter myself. Preet. Now that her cousin is married, she ought to follow suit."

Preet hid her increasingly reddening face in her hands, turning away from Ratan and the direction her father and Shah were standing in. 'Papa, why?' she thought. 'Oh, it's just so embarrassing!'

Tekbir, Charminder's nephew, approached Preet and stood in front of her. "Congratulations!"

Preet's neck practically snapped as she rapidly looked up at him. "On what?!" she shrieked in a flustered tone.

"Umm, the wedding?"

Preet's eyes widened. 'Did he hear Papa proposition Shah Ji? Is he making fun of me?'

"Thank you, Tekbir Babu," Ratan replied, sounding anything but happy. Preet sighed in relief. Tekbir raised an eyebrow at her.

She cleared her throat and asked, "What are you doing here, Tekbir Babu?"

"Attending your cousin's wedding," he answered smoothly. "What are you doing here?"

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Attending my cousin's wedding."

"There you go," he said, giving her a pointed look, before heading towards his uncle. Preet sighed in exasperation when she heard Ratan's cousins whispering about her and Tekbir. She turned to look at them, only for them to burst into a fit of giggles.

"Silly girls, silly Papa, silly Tekbir," she muttered to herself.