"PING!"
The notification was barely audible amidst the chants going on at the holy pyre. Rishabh frowned in mild irritation as he reached for his sherwani pocket.
'Should have put it in the silent' he muttered to himself as he cast an apologising look at the irritated Panditji.
His curiosity peaked as the notification flashed across his face. A message from Bhavya.
"I am leaving 😏🧳💣"
A simple, short message. Three words, three emojis. But enough to have its desired effect. Rishabh gasped softly and looked around in suppressed tension.
He knew he could not just ignore a message from Bhavya.
If any two words in his vocabulary fit best for her, they would be 'Crazy' and 'Whimsical'. Sweet would come later.
'She must be joking. It is our wedding night for God's sake!' Rishabh wanted so badly to cry out loud, had he been given the chance. But he had to be there, sitting astute, heed the instructions of the Pandit, and be the ideal good groom.
As he put the second spoonful of ghee in the fire, his mind was pondering upon the message. Bhavya and he had been in relation for two years now, but they had known each other since school days.
And all that time they had known each other, she had been crazy. Be it playing pranks on each other, bunking classes after lunch, or sneaking phones into class, she was partaking in most of them.
But what made her the most threatening was her unpredictability.
Rishabh clearly remembered the one time his basketball team got into a tussle against hers for the playing area. She had kicked him right in the groin but immediately after that grabbed his collar into a kiss. And bit his lips so hard he was bleeding right there.
It was more embarassing in front of the whole school.
'No. I cannot take this as a stupid prank'. Rishabh shook his head while he sat there. He sent an urgent signal to Sugandha, his younger cousin.
"Just go and take a quick sneak, okay? Just inform me first. Do not tell anybody else" He uttered a quick instruction to her and sent her to Bhavya's room.
After what seemed like ages, Sugandha approached silently behind Rishabh and tapped on his shoulder.
"It was empty. And a trolley on the room". She whispered.
That was it. Rishabh started to prespire by the fire, suddenly feeling nervous. She had done it after all.
"I-I-I just need a quick break. Need a breath". Rishabh somehow mumbled those words mechanically as he took off from his seat. He could feel everyone's gaze upon him; surprised, mocking gazes. His ears began to burn red. But he knew it was needed. If the news of her escape spread, it would get only worse.
Rishabh stammered his way out from the wedding altar, and rushed for the stairs. Bhavya's room would be second to the right.
As he approached the door, Bhavya's cousins were the first to interrupt him at the door. "Oh ho! So Jiju is this desperate to meet Di?" They started giggling with each other.
After a bit of explanation and bribery, Rishabh finally got his pass into Bhavya's room. Sugandha was not wrong.
It was indeed, empty. A trolley lay open on the bed, like it was picked up to fill with clothes, until she took a last minute decision not to.
The window was open, indicating the path of her escape.
With a curious frown, Rishabh took a look all across the room. Something was amiss.
With a quick move, he flung open Bhavya's wardrobe. She had taken no clothes with her. No belongings either.
His mind started piled up with thoughts. With slow steps, he carefully went to the window and took a look out. It was in the first floor, with a tree right in front. If anybody wanted to, they definitely could just climb down and run. But that was not what he was looking for. Rather, his attention caught to a piece of paper stuck in the curtains.
He snatched it quick and opened it. Another message from Bhavya.
"Could not stay away for a moment? 😛 Come up in the attic"
Even within all the frustrations, Rishabh felt like laughing at himself.
She had done it again. He was there, away from the altar, scratching his head at her prank.
With no other options left, Rishabh sighed and headed up for the attic.
Sitting right in the middle of a table, crossed her legs like a Queen, sat Bhavya in her bright red lehnga. In the dim light of the LED's, she had this dark shade across her face. Her jewellery glistened in a faint sheen, adorning her chiseled beauty even more.
Beyond every word in Rishabh's vocabulary, the one word resonated the most in his mind right now:
She was gorgeous.
"Are you going to stand there till the wedding is over?" Bhavya chided softly and tapped on the table.
"I could escape anytime baby".
"Ha. Hell you would". Rishabh chuckled dryly as he approached his soon to be wife.
With a quick leap Bhavya was soon right before him, her hand gripping his Sherwani dupatta in a vicious grip.
Lips soon followed, and everything started getting cloudy in Rishabh's mind.
"Or, we can have a great wedding right here"