Today was the Haldi ceremony* and the Sangeet as well. Since two ceremonies were going to take place in one day, everyone got up earlier and preparations were made.
The Haldi ceremony went better than planned and everything went smoothly. And then it was evening, time for the Sangeet. This time around, Laura wore a simple but beautiful pink lengha and she radiated innocence. Everyone was dancing but Laura kept looking towards the entrance. Andre said he was going to get something around three hours ago but he wasn't back yet. After a few minutes, she saw him in his usual corporate wear; a black suit. She had a broad smile on her face as he approached her.
"I'm back..." he also smiled at her.
"What did you go to get, you were gone for so long that I was starting to worry." she pouted as she tidied his messed up hair.
" Nothing much, I just ran some errands for mum." She squinted her eyes at him. She was starting to get suspicious but she decided to brush it off, the important thing was that he was here now.
" Okay then."
"Hmmmn.. I'm so thirsty." And almost immediately, before Laura could go to get something to drink for Andre, Priyom appeared beside Laura with a tray on his hands, two glasses of fruit juice were on it.
"I was about to give this to Aarna and Ishani but the both of you can take it, after all Andre is thirsty and I haven't seen you drink anything this evening." he didn't wait for the both of them to retort before he gave the tray to Laura and walked away.
"Well you don't need to get me something to drink anymore, let's drink this" Andre said as he took one of the glasses of fruit juice and he started drinking it. He frowned at a realization and suddenly collected the glass Laura was about to drink from.
"Hey!.... Don't be a thief, you have yours." she retorted immediately as she tried to collect her drink back from him.
"You can't have it"
"And why is that?" she frowned
"It has mango in it." He stated. Laura widened her eyes in realization. She couldn't begin to imagine what would have happened to her if she actually drank the juice, she was allergic to mango. "Thank you....." she was really grateful that he stopped her on time.
Andre smiled at her "Well since you can't take it, I'll drink it for you. I'm so thirsty anyways." Not long after, Andre had finished both glasses of juice.
Prem, Sameer and Aarna were watching them from a distance and the trio couldn't help but facepalm themselves.
"This is bad." Prem pulled his hair in exasperation. They had spiked the drinks hoping that the both of them would take them.
"Well, we have to continue our plan. I'll go get Laura." Aarna said and she left.
She went to Laura and Andre and she took Laura away after persuading Andre for a while.
"It's time for you to sing my beauty." Aarna said as she chuckled. She wanted them to do everything as soon as possible because the drug they had put in the drinks would start taking effect in a couple of hours.
"Okay." Laura smiled. She had searched the translation of the song online and she was taking the song to be her own public but secret confession of her love to Andre. This way she wouldn't be directly breaking any rule in their contract.
The hall suddenly turned dark and all lights were turned off. After a few seconds a spotlight was turned on and under the spotlight was a beautiful lady in a pink dress sitting on a low stool and holding a guitar in her hand before she started playing it, a few seconds later she started singing. Her voice was so sweet and pure that the people were mesmerized. She would occasionally shift her gaze from her guitar to Andre and back after staring at him for a few seconds. The song lasted for about five minutes, the audience was very happy. Some clapped, some whistled and some gave her a standing ovation. She smiled as she looked at where Andre was standing but she couldn't see him anymore. She used her eyes to search for him but she couldn't find him. She concluded that he must have had to run errands again. She didn't know why but she was feeling her fever coming back so she went upstairs to take her medicines. She was about to take them when she heard someone knock on the door. She opened the door expecting to see Andre but it was Dhrit, Sameer's son. He was standing there while holding a folded paper with one of his hands and a shopping bag with the other. Laura bent down so they could be on the same height level.
"Dhrit how are you?" The young boy didn't answer. He only smiled and handed over the bag and paper to her. The little boy chuckled and ran away. Laura stared at the bag and letter in her hands and she closed the door.
' What is this boy up to?' she thought.
Dhrit and her had created a very good bond over the past few days and she had to admit that she really liked the boy. She was really good with kids so it was no problem bonding with the children of the house.
She sat down on the bed and checked the folded paper, turned out that it was a letter.
'Wear the dress in the bag and meet me at the garden in the next 30 minutes. Remember not to let anyone see you.
Your husband,
Avi❤️.
She smiled and said to herself "My dear husband Avi, what are you up to?". She brought out the dress from the bag and she was amazed at what she saw. It was a white strapless gown that would reach her ankles and it was slit up to a little bit above her right knee. It was needed to be tied at the back multiple times down to her waist and at the neck as well.
15 minutes later, she was done dressing up and she applied light makeup on her face, she was thankful that Aarna had come to check up on her so she helped her tie her dress at the back. It would take her up to 10 minutes to walk to the garden as it was a little bit far from the main house. She was about to leave when she remembered that she wanted to take her medicines, she took them and left. Turned out that she had taken the pills her cousin's fiancee Charlotte gave her..... She then left the room. She made sure that must people didn't see her and the few that even saw her were guests and not family members. She was so excited to find out what Andre wanted her to dress up so beautifully for.
Haldi ceremony: a pre wedding ceremony where Haldi( turmeric paste) is applied on the bride and the groom.