As I lay in bed staring at my mehndi clad hands, I realized it would be my last day that I would be sleeping in my bed alone and in this room. Not like I wouldn't be coming back and visiting my parents but ofcourse I'd have to share the room with Karan then. I looked at his name that was printed by the mehndi artist so creatively that I knew Karan would never be able to find it. I hadn't spoken to Karan since my last day of work. Things had been so crazy that either when I called him, he'd be busy or when he'd call me I would be doing something.

Well I'll see him later on anyways I decided while staring at my phone ready to dial his number even though it was 2 in the morning. I was suppose to get up in 3 hours as the makeup lady was going to be coming then and I heard Priya and my mom running around downstairs while they tried to finish last minute stuff ofcourse not allowing me to be a part of it since I was suppose to get my "beauty" sleep.

Yeah right.

I definitely had to hook up Arnav and Priya I realized. That way Priya would also move closer to me too.

Now how am I going to do that....

Not that Priya didn't find Arnav attractive, infact she did have a minor crush on him- I mean if a girl didn't find him attractive, she ofcourse had to be the "other" kind. It was Arnav who was the problem. He absolutely had no interest in being with a girl. He was so consumed with his work and with whatever time he had leftover, he rather just spend it with his friends hanging out. Not that there was anything wrong in that but how long was he going to do this for. Eventually all his friends would get married and he would be too old by then to find a decent girl. I definitely had to crack that guy somehow.

Laying in bed, I looked over at the clock and realized it was already 4:55am. Time to get up and have some chai. I am not sure if I am a caffeine addict but I CANNOT start my mornings without tea. I already had Karan trained on the kind of tea I liked with all the special spices incase I didn't feel like making it myself.

"Chal Khushi take a shower, your makeup lady will be here soon. We are planning on leaving the house by 9"my mom reminded me and went to go get ready herself.

Our wedding was happening on a golf course which was in a little town that was half way between both the cities. Everybody had thought this would be the best just so that one side didn't have to do all the travelling.

"So how do you feel" nudged Priya while giving me a wink. She seemed a little too excited at 5 in the morning especially when she didn't sleep all night.

"Why are you this excited? Did you have too much sugar already? Please don't tell me you went through all those gulab jamuns that you were carrying around last night"

"Nope. My best friend is getting married today and I am just a little excited. Ok, how about you go shower and I'll go make a Starbucks run before the makeup lady gets here" answered Priya while running around trying to locate her purse that was buried somewhere in the midst of all the suitcases in my room.

"Sounds good!"

Three hours later I finally decided that I should have a look at myself. As I already had gotten a makeup trial done, this time I just wanted to see the final product and when I looked at myself in the mirror, I almost screamed. Holy crap did I look like 'not me'! The person staring back at me was someone totally different. I hope Karan recognizes me was my first thought. Oh well if he didn't, he'll know by looking at my outfit which actually weighed 21kgs to be exact. It was soo heavy that I knew I had to weigh that thing so that I could rub it in my husband's face and remind him of the pain I had to go through of wearing that thing the whole day.

While I was debating on whether people would recognize me, I heard all those ooohs and aahs and realized everyone was in my room staring at me. My nani trying to put a kala ticka behind my ear, my mom on the verge of crying, my dad looking at me totally trying to recognize if that was me or not and his expression made me laugh. I am absolutely like my dad, just a simple girl- nothing too fancy. Makeup required too much time in my books so I decided to stay away from it whereas my mom's collection of makeup could easily be compared to the suitcase the makeup lady had brought in. She loved it a little too much.

"Chalo everyone, it's time to go" I heard my dad say and giving my house one last look, I controlled my tears and sat down in the car.

Since we had an hour and a half drive to go and Karan's side should have also left their house, I decided to check if they had left yet or not but instead I got a text back from Arnav telling me that he had Karan's phone and they had left the house.

Well there goes my talking to Karan...

Two hours later, I sat by myself in one of the rooms waiting to be escorted to the mandap when I realized my hands were shaking. These definitely must be wedding jitters but why did I have this sinking feel that something wasn't right.

It didn't take too long for my suspicions to get confirmed when I saw the door to the room fling open and a panting Arnav stood there with the look on his face like he had seen a ghost. As I stood up to ask him what happened, he crossed the distance between us in four long strides and was all of a sudden in front of me.

Before I could even ask what happened, he raised his phone to my eyes and the text message I saw literally pulled the ground from under my feet. It was from Karan and all it said was:

"What do you mean he can't do?" I asked fully knowing what it meant but not being able to comprehend it as well as I would have liked to. Arnav stood there with panic written all over his face.

"I can't find him anywhere. I have been looking for about half an hour now while everyone has been asking where he is. He told me he was going to the bathroom but he never returned and his car is missing and...

I didn't hear the rest of the words as my world started to spin and found my legs give up underneath me. But before I could hit the ground, the last thing I remembered was a strong pair of arms coming around me and instead of feeling the coldness of the floor, I found myself being wrapped in this warmth that I never thought I would get used to.

Now there was chapter 3. As i havent received many responses, I am not sure if many people are reading the story or not but i would appreciate if I could get some feedback to know whether I should even continue or not. Please let me know and I will continue based on the responses I receive.Till then, have a good weekend everyone!Pinki