Chapter 3

Car -Wrecker.

यूँ ही होती हैं ना सब की कहानी?
शुरू होगी कहाँ? किसी ने ना जानी
इत्तेफ़ाकों में, लाखों में मिलते हैं अजनबी

अनजाना-अनजानी मिल गई तो बनी कहानी
अनजाना-अनजानी मिल गई तो बनी कहानी

"You look gorgeous, Di," I say to my sister as I stand behind her, admiring her reflection in the mirror. She gives me a small smile, and we both gaze at her image.

My mom enters and looks at my sister, “You look gorgeous, baccha.” She then places a kaala teeka behind my sister's ear, murmuring, “Kisi ki nazar na lage.” She kisses my sister's forehead, and now both their eyes are glossy. Great, they're going to ruin her makeup.

I clear my throat to get their attention. “Ladies, let's save the tears for the wedding day. Fewer people will have to witness the mascara massacre.”

Mom shoots me a look as if I’ve committed a major offence. I was just being practical. After a moment, she says, “Are you going to explain what happened to your car?”

Shit! I completely forgot about that. When I returned home, no one saw me in the parking lot, and I managed to avoid everyone inside since they were all busy with preparations.

“Nothing, just some madman who couldn’t see rammed into my car,” I say casually.

“Is he alive?” my sister asks with a smirk. Everyone who knows me is aware of how much I love my car, so if someone damaged it and is still breathing, they were lucky.

“Unfortunately,” I grumble, “there was too much of a crowd for me to do anything.” My sister laughs at my remorseful tone.

"Come on, let's go downstairs. Ayush and his family are here,” my mom says. We nod and start to leave the room. My phone pings—it's from Zeeshan, my spiritual sibling and also my colleague. He was supposed to be here but had to leave for Delhi for work. 

“You guys go ahead. I’ll join you in a minute, just need to mail Zee some documents,” I say and dash to my room before anyone can reply.

Five minutes later, I head towards the lawn where the ceremony is taking place. I see my sister and Ayush bhai on a makeshift stage, whispering to each other. My parents are chatting with Ayush bhai's parents, and all the younger ones are busy posing and taking pictures.

As I walk towards the stage, I try to spot my friends or Agastya. The function isn't that big—only family and close friends are invited—but I can't locate any of them. I open my phone to text Aryaman, knowing they are probably at the bar already having drinks. These kids.

While distracted by my phone, I accidentally bump into someone and fall to the ground. I start examining my phone for damage before looking up and realising the person I bumped into has also fallen.

“Aren't you a little accident-prone?” I hear a familiar voice. I look up to see the car guy from before, sitting on the grass and looking at me with amusement.

“What are you doing here?” I ask.

“Shouldn't I be asking you that? Are you stalking me, Disaster girl?” he says with a mock horror look.

“Trust me, you're not worth the effort, car wrecker,” I reply, rolling my eyes. 

“Oh, really?” He questions “Because it sure seems like you're following me around. First my car, now this?”

“Please, you're just a walking disaster zone. I’m just trying to survive your path of destruction,” I retort.

“Well, maybe if you watched where you were going instead of burying your nose in your phone, we wouldn’t be having these problems,” he says, crossing his arms.

“Maybe if you were watching where you were going then we wouldn't be having these problems,” I snapped back.

He smirks. But before he could say something I heard my chachu's voice, “Are you okay, baccha?”I look around to see everyone has gathered around us and we are still sitting on the ground arguing like idiots.

“Yes,” I replied to him while standing up and dusting my clothes.

“Your elbow”, the car guy speaks again.

“Huh.”

“There is a piece of grass on your elbow,” he says with his left hand on his neck.

I quickly start wiping my elbow when my sister says, “Do you guys know each other?”

“No”, I reply.

“Yes,” he replies at the same time. 

Idiot.

“Yes,” I replied to Bhabhi.

“No,” the minion replied simultaneously.

She glares at me before speaking again. “I don't know him. I just met him once, this afternoon.”

“Where did you meet?” Bhabhi asks.

Before I can answer, the minion says, “Doesn't matter. Let's continue the ceremony.”

Doesn't matter? It seemed to matter a lot to her this afternoon.

“Wait,” Ayush Bhai says. “Let me introduce him. This is my cousin, Rudraksh Raichand.”

The disaster girl gives me a stink eye before muttering, “Yeah, whatever,” loud enough for only Bhabhi and me to hear.

Bhabhi swats her arm gently. “Be nice.”

She rolls her eyes and drags Bhabhi towards the stage.

Bhai introduces me to the rest of Bhabhi’s family, and we engage in small talk before I excuse myself.

I spot my cousin Agastya and my sister Alia laughing in a corner. I make my way over. “Hi, Bhai,” Alia greets me with a smile.

“Hi, Baccha,” I reply. “What were you two laughing about?”

Agastya tries to suppress a smile but fails miserably. “We were just discussing how you were welcomed into the Mehrotra house in the classic ‘Ishani way.’”

“Ishani way?” I question.

“The girl you were arguing with is Ishani, Bhabhi's younger sister,” Alia answers.

Younger sister? I’ve known Disha Bhabhi for years—she's sweet and kind. I can’t believe the disaster girl is her sister.

Before I can say more, Maasi, Ayush Bhai’s mother, interrupts us. “What are you three doing? They’re going to exchange rings.”

Ishani and her cousin Sara stand on Disha Bhabhi's right while Agastya and I are on Bhai's left. Bhai doesn’t waste a second and slides the ring onto Bhabhi’s finger. Loud cheers and hooting erupt.

Then Bhabhi, with a bright smile, slides the ring onto Bhai’s finger. More cheers erupt, and confetti fills the air. I catch Ishani rolling her eyes at the overenthusiastic crowd.

After congratulating the couple, the elders move inside the mansion. Since this is a family event, only a few people are left outside.

We arrange chairs around a table so everyone can sit and eat together. As I take my seat next to Bhai, I see Ishani across from me, already digging into her food.

“Ishani,” Bhai starts. She looks up from her plate. “Are you going to introduce your friends or not?” He points to the guy on her left and the girl and guy on her right.

She glances at her friends, then back at Bhai. “Nah, you’re good without knowing them,” she says, taking another bite.

Her reply earns laughs from everyone except her friends. The guy on her left picks up his fork and points it at her like a weapon.

“Let’s not resort to violence today, Arya. I'll introduce you,” Bhabhi says.

She first points to the guy with the fork. “Everyone, that’s Aryaman. He’s Ishani’s ride or die friend, he is a lawyer by the way.” He waves.

Then she points to the girl. “This is Ashna, the sweetest person in their group and an amazing architect.” Ashna mutters a small hello.

“And that’s Nitin, a businessman,” she continues. He waves and then complains,  “Disha Di you could have also used some words to describe us too, that's not fair.”

Ishani looks at her friend with an amused expression before speaking, “Jee, jee abhi aap ke introduction ke liye speech likhte hai hum.”

“Tu toh bol hi mat,” her friend Aryaman retorts.

“Ashna, how did you get stuck with them?” Bhai asks.

Ashna shrugs, and Ishani wraps an arm around her. “She loves us.”

"They are like family, they all have been together since school," Bhabhi concludes.

She then turns to us and points at Agastya. “That’s Ayush’s younger brother, Agastya, and their cousin Alia.” They both nod.

“Vedang is Ayush’s good friend and business partner,” she continues. He waves. Bhabhi then points to me. “And that’s Ayush’s cousin and other business partner—”

Before she can finish, another voice interjects. “Car wrecker.”

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