Next day, mid-morning, Sanskar was all dressed in a deep crimson red kurta and white pajama that had been set aside for him for the engagement ceremony. He was sitting in his balcony in the egg chair. This was his place of solitude and solace in the house during the day time. He had sadly been assigned the task of driving Laksh, Uttara, Ragini and Swara to the engagement venue, which was a luxury hotel close to their villa. Almost all of the functions were to be held there.

The extended families and friends on both sides had been put up there, but his family and Swara's parents had been staying at the villa. Bade Papa, his Dad, Badi Maa and Swara's parents had been at the hotel since morning, looking after the guests, along with Adarsh bhaiyaa. Parineeta Bhabhi and his Mom overseeing them at home.

Sanskar was watching the waves from his room, almost in an unseeing way. His mind was elsewhere, where it always went despite all his efforts. A painful gasp from the room next to him roused him. He was somehow sure it was Swara's voice. Worried, he called out to her, but didn't get any response. He waited for a few minutes, wondering what he could do next, when impulse took over and he climbed over the railings in the balcony, just as Laksh had once tried to. He had stopped Laksh then, today he was doing it himself, worried for Swara. He jumped into her balcony and called out to her even as he moved the sliding doors leading into her room.

He saw Swara sitting on the bed, all dressed up in the finery and a pink lehenga ensemble, holding her hand. Tears were streaming down her eyes.

"What happened?" he asked worried, as he came and kneeled down by the bed.

She shook her head but didn't say anything. He pulled her injured left hand from her right one, which was clasping it to relive the pain. She had hurt her fingers. While the little finger and the index finger had minor reddening and some abrasion of the skin, her middle and ring fingers were hurt worse. Some of the skin had peeled and there was some blood.

"We need to clean the wound" Sanskar told her before pulling her to the bathroom. "It will sting a bit" he said before gently pouring some cold water on the wounds.

He tapped the wounds dry with the towel that was in the bathroom before he guided her back to sit on the bed. Getting the first aid box, he put some small Band-Aid on the minor wounds before applying some antiseptic cream, little cotton and covering the bigger wounds on her middle and ring finger with slightly bigger Band-Aid.

"What happened?" he asked again as he picked up the Band-Aid wrappers and threw them in the dustbin.

"I was closing the sliding door and they slid really quickly trapping my hand along with it" Swara told him softly

Sanskar nodded "I will ask someone to look at them so that you don't get hurt again." He told her "It will get better soon" he told her quietly after a bout of silence and then made his way out of the room.

"Thanks" Swara told him quietly

He looked back at her, nodding once before walking out of the room and back into his.

Uttara came abut 15 minutes later, calling him so that they could drive to the hotel for the engagement ceremony. Sanskar was driving with Laksh siting next to him. Uttara sat behind, in the middle of the seat, with Ragini sitting behind Sanskar and Swara behind Laksh.

The first couple of minutes of the journey passed in an odd silence that was awkward. Wanting to normalize the situation, Sanskar turned on the radio. It played some old English songs. The one that was playing just ended and the next one began. As the guitar music played, Sanskar quickly recognized the song. It was after all one of his favorite. But the last thing he wanted right now, was for that song to play and make things more awkward. He also wanted to stay away from his memories of her. He changed the station.

"Why did you change it?" Laksh asked

"Isn't this one of your favorites?" Uttara asked, leaning in a bit ahead poking her head between Laksh's and Sanskar's seat.

"This one is nice" Sanskar tried to say

"This!" Laksh said looking at him confused and concerned

Sensing that it was heavy metal music –something that he never enjoyed – he changed the channel again. Some old hindi song crooning from the radio.

"This one is better" Sanskar said not looking at either of his siblings

"What is going on with you?" Laksh asked bluntly

"Bhai, have you become Devdas because of Kavita?" Uttara asked touching his beard as he moved his face out of her reach even while focusing on his driving "Was that one of your songs for her?" she asked

"Nah! He only took her clubbing with our group a few times. These songs don't play there. He never took her slow dancing." Laksh explained

"How do you know?" Uttara asked

"Kavita would complain to me about this guy!" Laksh said explaining

"Can you stop discussing my love life?" Sanskar said annoyed

"So you admit you have one going on" Laksh said smirking only to be ignored by Sanskar

"What is going on then?" Uttara asked Sanskar "What is with the beard and the song change?"

"Have you met someone in London?" Laksh asked him

"What is this? Ask Sanskar twenty questions day?" Sanskar commented annoyed at where this was going and with Swara sitting right there in the back seat.

Laksh narrowed his eyes before widening them "It is Disha, isn't it?"

"Disha?" Uttara asked

"She studied with us in school. She had a big crush on this guy. When I went to London last year, guess who I find in his group of friends" Laksh said for dramatic effect

"Disha!" Uttara exclaimed

"Exactly! She never looked all that great in school, but boy had she changed. Of course one thing hadn't changed. She still had the hots for this guy" Laksh explained "You hooked up with her, didn't you?" Laksh asked Sanskar

"Disha isn't in London anymore" Sanskar told him neutrally, trying to end the topic

"That is the reason for your state, isn't it?" Laksh commented making it sound as if this was his "ahha" moment

"She moved to South Africa with her husband after her marriage, six months back" Sanskar shot out, thoroughly annoyed now.

"She got married?" Laksh said feeling surprised "Why didn't she invite me?"

"Because she didn't want you embarrassing her in front of her husband talking about all her silly childhood crushes" Sanskar said gritting his teeth

Laksh humphed while Uttara giggled at this. Laksh's eyes widened again "It is Erica, isn't it?" he said after a minute.

Sanskar stopped the car "Get out!" he ordered

"What?" Laksh said confused

"Get Out!" Sanskar said annoyance dripping through his tone

"You cannot throw me out for this" Laksh said defending himself

"Get Out!" Sanskar said again before unbuckling his seat belt "We are here" is all he said before getting out of the car and handing the key to the valet for parking.

Laksh looked around realizing that they had reached the hotel already. He and the others got out and went to the Jade Ballroom that was decorated for the ceremony.

As he had been doing, Sanskar stayed in the background. There was some initial fuss over Swara's injuries before Laksh put the ring in the ring finger of her right hand and completed the ceremony.

Once the ceremony was done, the family and guests had enjoyed a nice lunch at the hotel all together. Sujata had been dragging Sanskar everywhere trying to introduce him to some of the guests. After being introduced to three families, Sanskar started seeing a pattern. It looked as if his mother was trying to get him introduced to families with girls of marriageable age. Annoyed he left the hotel and drove back home alone. It had helped that the London team had called him asking for him to look into some of the proposals they had put together. He spent most of his time on those until it was evening and Kailash kaka came, telling him that family had asked him to get ready for the Sangeet ceremony which was to take place in some time.

Sanskar got ready and went to look for Adarsh bhaiyaa. He wanted Adarsh Bhaiyaa to look at one of the proposals before he okayed it. As he reached the first floor landing, a girl's voice fell on his ears.

"This is wrong. We shouldn't be doing this" the girl said in broken voice before he heard quick steps coming his way.

Not quite sure what was going on, he moved away and stood along the wall which meant that he wasn't going to be immediately seen by the person. A few seconds later, a slightly distraught Ragini ran past and went down stairs. He looked at her surprised. He quickened his steps towards the direction she had come from, keen to find out who she was talking to. But even before he could enter the passage leading to the rooms, he bumped into someone.

He looked up, startled to find Adarsh Bhaiyaa in front of him. Adarsh bhaiyaa seemed to be in a rush. He was quickly making his way towards the stairs excusing himself but Sanskar called him

"Adarsh Bhaiyaa! Wait!" Sanskar hailed

"Sanskar can we talk later? I need to go downstairs now and drive some to the hotel" Adarsh Bhaiyaa told him before trying to leave

"Wait!" Sanskar called again

"What is it Sanskar?" he asked

Sanskar pointed to his jaw. "You have something there" he put in awkwardly.

Adarsh touched his jaw and looked at his fingers. Realizing there was lipstick there, he wiped it quickly "Don't talk about this with your Bhabhi, please" Adarsh pleaded, going down the stairs before Sanskar could respond.

What the hell was going on? Sanskar's mind screamed. Was what he saw real and was it some stupid coincidence? First Sanskar himself and now Adarsh Bhiayaa as well! Both had crossed lines that they should not have. Was there something wrong with the Maheshwari boys? Could Laksh also be...? His thoughts trailed off. No! No! his mind screamed. Laksh cannot do something like this. He cannot hurt Swara. Sanskar wouldn't let him do that. She didn't deserve anything but the best.

As he walked upstairs to the second floor landing, he was still lost in his thoughts. He decided had to find out what was going on with Adarsh bhaiyaa, for the sake of Parineeta bhabhi, Ragini and also for Swara. He knew Ragini was really close to her.

Just then, the lights went away. He wasn't too bothered by that. It wasn't unusual in Goa for electricity to go away. They did have a generator, which would kick in any time now, he was sure. He walked over to the side table by one of the walls close to the stairs and opened it. Pulling out a candle and a matchbox, he lit the candle, making his way to his room.

As he was walking over, someone came out in a rush, almost coming close to bumping into him. Realizing he had a candle in his hand, he moved it a bit away, so as to not burn the person. But fortunately, the person caught themselves just in time before they hit Sanskar. Sanskar bought the candle up and realized it was Swara. She looked beautiful all dressed up for the Sangeet ceremony. The candle light making her look even more beautiful than usual, which was saying something.

"Sorry" she said quietly

Sanskar nodded "The lights will come back any minute now. The generator will kick in. Don't worry" he said understanding the reason why she must have rushed out.

Swara nodded in understanding before silence fell on them. Swara looked away from him, lowering her eyes and playing with her dupatta.

Not wanting to make things more awkward for her he said "You can take this candle. The lights will be back. I will go and check, if they don't"

Swara looked up at him and then at the candle, a bit unsure about what she should do

"Don't worry. Take this. I can manage" he assured her.

She nodded and took the candle from him before making her way back to her room. He watched her walk away, rooted on his spot. She stopped just before she opened her door and turned around to look at him.

"You should take care of yourself. You look tired" She told him softly, before entering her room and closing the door.

He stood still at her words, warmth rising in his chest at them before he reigned his feelings, reminding himself that they were most likely casual words of comfort from his cousin's would-be and that the things were far from perfect.

Just then the electricity came back as well and he went back to his room for a few quick calls to London before driving some of the parents this time, to the hotel.

Since Sanskar had been late in flying back home, luckily he had been spared from the dance practice and from participating in any of the dances. Or so he thought. He has been standing at the back when the performances started, trying to blend into the background.

Initial performances had been more by the kids in the family, Swara's friends and his and Lucky's school and college friends who had arrived just in time for that ceremony. His friends had initially planned to pull him in, but knowing their intentions, he had steered completely away from any of them.

The first performance from the family had been by Adarsh Bhaiyaa and Parineeta Bhabhi. Uttara had told him they had planned the performances to be fun, more for the entire family to enjoy. They danced to 'Sasural Genda Phool", with Lucky joining in pulling Parineeta bhabhi away when the lines "Devar samjha deve" started. Out of nowhere, Uttara caught hold on him and pulled him towards the dance floor and pushed him to where the three that were performing. Shaking his head, he joined in, teasing Adarsh bhaiyaa along with Lucky, as they twirled Parineeta bhabhi dancing her away from Adarsh bhaiyaa who was trying desperately to get to his wife. In the end, the two cousins relented and handed Parineeta bhabhi back to Adarsh bhaiyaa for them to end the dance together.

Next up were the three sets of parents. The fathers started the performance with "Eh Meri Zohara Jabeen". He couldn't help but laugh on seeing his Dad trying to move awkwardly, his Bade Papa looking completely out of place in the dance and Shekhar uncle completely engrossed in the dance, almost as though he was a real hero.

The mothers threw the men a look that implied their performance wasn't going to cut it, giving them a cold shoulder as part of their performance before Lucky entered the scene singing "Bachna Eh Haseeno" acting as though he was trying to show the fathers how it was supposed to be done. The mothers danced enthusiastically with Lucky, most of all his mother, he thought shaking his head, before the mothers broke into "Yeh Ladka Hai Allah".

Sanskar hadn't anticipated being able to forget his emotional state during the wedding, but somehow for just those few minutes, his family had distracted him enough for him to be able to break into a smile, a real smile, probably for the first time in three months. But it lasted only for a few minutes as the next performance was announced. It was Swara's.

Swara danced with Ragini and Uttara to "Bani Bani Prem Dewani Bani" and Sanskar was again reminded why he couldn't forget the girl in front of him. His breath had caught in his throat as he saw her, now on the well lit dance floor, unlike the candle light shining on her before. Dressed in cream dress with fuchsia border, she stood out. She looked ethereal and graceful in her every move. He watched her mesmerized for the entire part, shaking it off when everyone clapped for her in end. He shook his head before walking over to meet his friends, trying to put some distance from her.

The rest of the evening flew by with him listening to his friends and family half heartedly. His Mom again tried to get him to meet more girls, only this time unsuccessfully. Once in a while, his eyes were drawn to her as she too was being introduced to her new family members by Badi Maa and his Mom.

It was really late by the time the family returned back home. Everyone too exhausted by the activities of the day. He was sure they crashed and fell asleep as he did, the moment they landed back in their room. 

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