Disclaimer:

This book has been tagged as mature. I will give a mature/abuse warning when they are explicit scenes but please expect mature one liners/comments from the characters randomly. 

Notes: 

Shiv belongs to Sindhi/Punjabi tradition and hence the wedding is being performed as per his side of the things per Dadi's request. She was comfortable welcoming her new bahu in her own traditions. 

The reason why this note is important is that there are minor/subtle differences in the way different culture marriages are solemnized. In a Sindhi wedding ceremony, there are 4 pheras around the 'agni', where the groom leads the first three rounds while the bride leads the fourth. The couple together make seven vows. In some other cultures, there are 7 pheras around the 'agni' with the groom leading the first four and the bride leading the last three. 

Anjali

"Before the pheras, the bride is seated to the right of the groom, but after the pheras she is seated to his left, to signify that she is now closer to his heart."

Our priest said that aloud and gestured me to move to Shiv's left and I did exactly that. We sat down in the two chairs that we were sitting on before we got up for the pheras. We had just exchanged our seats now. Our  hands were still very tightly clasped together by a sacred thread that had been dipped in turmeric. The wedding had been marked as complete. Shiv gestured for Shivani di to arrange for paper towels. We had been sweating from the heat of the fire and humidity in the air itself with wedding nervousness only adding to it. The edge of my saree and the edge of his sherwani dupatta were still knotted. My gaze then moved over to Shiv, who was not only my fiancé but my husband now. My husband! It warmed my heart. I was now Shiv's wife! He looked at me and gave me the warmest smile possible. I smiled at him and then at our clasped hands. In the last few hours, we had been formally engaged as we exchanged rings and then we were bonded in the holy matrimony. Before the pheras, my parents had given my hand off as part of kanya-daan to Shiv with our priest chanting the incantations. Shiv had then put the nuptial chain around my neck and smeared vermilion on my forehead. I tightly clutched the nuptial chain using my free hand to offer a silent prayer for it to forever remain with me. 

The priest instructed my mother to offer sweet to Shiv to end our fast. Shiv ate half of it the piece and held out the remaining for me. I ate the half from his hands as he said in the soft tone, 'Congratulations, Mrs. Anjali Shiv Raheja!'. I felt buried in emotions as he took my new full name. My eyes filling up fast, I nodded a 'thank you' and said, 'Congratulations!' 

Slowly, my parents, Shiv's father, Dadi and almost everyone present came up to us to feed us sweets and congratulate us. Our fathers hugged each other and I saw Shivani Di and Pooja hugging each other. My mother on the other hand was with Dadi and both of them seemed pretty emotional.

Pooja and Shivani Di walked over with a bunch of more paper towels and Pooja whispered looking at me, "Do you want to use the restroom? I'll take you and then we can take the veil off from your head and set in on your shoulder to give you a reception look." I immediately glanced at Shiv. Pooja burst into laughter and said, "Abhi se restroom bhi Shiv Jiju ke saath hi jaogi?" I saw Shivani Di trying to stifle a laugh while Shiv gave me a knowing smile. I looked back at Pooja gesturing our clasped hands, "This is yet to be taken off."

"Oh, let me check if we can unclasp your hands just for a bit!" she smiled.

****************

Shiv

Anjali looked stunning was an understatement! When a woman dresses as a bride, there is a magical glow to it, I can say that now. I had never seen her this beautiful and I was definitely one lucky man to be married to such a beautiful woman when I myself looked a baby elephant of some sorts. 

*How are the outfits? I tried to match up someone like Shiv :D 

The reception was mainly us posing for various photographs with family, invited close friends , individual shots of me and then Anjali and finally some couple shots. After the photography session, we ate a late lunch. I was all ready for the joota-churayi ceremony that I thought Pooja and Anjali's cousins would insist on. They had both been so friendly that instead they put the kids of both families to hide my shoes. Teasing, cheering and laughing, the kids managed to get money/kharchi from me for the wedding. Interestingly, even my younger brother had managed to get money from me. 

I looked at Anjali who was nervously sitting next to me as it was now time for 'bidaai'. We were time constrained as we had to vacate the premises too but it was also time for us to reach home on time so that Anjali could be welcomed home properly. Some of the guests had started leaving too.

Pooja came up to us and sat next to Anjali, "She is very precious. Please take care of her. She will need you, Shiv Jiju!" I nodded as Anjali threw her arms around Pooja hugged her. I nodded at her as she kind of looked pointedly at me, "I trust that you won't hurt her." Aniket joined in and he stood to his wife who was still hugging my wife. "Sherni hai meri wali. Baad me mat kehna ki warn nahi kiya tha." He chuckled and slapped my back and I nodded at both of them.

"Don't worry, I'll take very good care of her." I responded looking at both of them. I knew this was going to be a difficult time for my wife not only because she was leaving her parents to start a new life with me but because she was taking a leap of faith and willing to step into my world. 

Shivani and Pooja led us both to the entrance as the edge of her sari and my sherwani's dupatta was still tied up. Both Aniket and Jai Jeeja walked behind us. Per the tradition, Anjali was to throw handful of rice three times over her head. By throwing rice, the bride thanks her parents for feeding her so well since childhood and having loved her so affectionately. 

Anjali's parents lined up to bid us farewell for our new life together after Anjali had thrown rice. Aunty was already crying. It genuinely hurt me to see mothers cry like this for their children. I sighed as I had to now remain strong and assure the very vulnerable parents that Anjali was going to be happy with me. 

Aunty and Anjali hugged each other crying as Uncle folded hands infront of me, "Beta, bahot hi kaabil haathon me apni beti de raha hun. Wo khush rahe, ye hi meri maang hai aaj aapse."

My father was standing a little further walked up to us as I took uncle's hands in mine, "Arey Sharma ji, Aap baar baar haath kyu jod lete hain. Shiv is now your son. You should command him that he must fulfill his duties towards your daughter. Nahi to aap uske kaan pakad ke murga bana denge." 

All our closed ones laughed including Uncle and Aunty. My Dadi was being helped by Harshit as sitting long hours always gave us knee pain. They both walked to us, "Aur behenji, Anjali aaj se hamari bhi beti hai. Don't think she is going to a 'saas-bina-sasural' as these three men know their way around kitchen and house. I will be here in Mumbai for another month but when I go back and I ever hear that my Anjali is doing all house chores, I personally come down from Punjab to make all these three 'murga's'. " 

"Dadi, the only person to trouble Bhabhi in our home would be Bhai himself." 

Everybody laughed yet again and it was safe to say that everybody was happy. Anjali on the other hand now hugged her father as she continued crying, "Go Beta, your new life awaits you! May you always be happy and healthy and God grant you and Shiv long years of togetherness, beta. Don't worry about me and your mother. We will take care of each other." She nodded as Uncle kissed her forehead and Aunty then kissed her shoulder. 

"Uncle and Aunty! Anjali is my responsibility now. I'll do everything to keep her happy."

Both of them nodded and I looked at Anjali who had tears in her eyes. I simply nodded at her as I couldn't look at her in such a vulnerable state. 

Jai Jeeja and Shivani held open the door for us. Little Riya sat in between me and Anjali which meant we weren't going to get any private time until we were in the bedroom. 

********************

After welcoming in Anjali, we sat down as per Dadi's request to complete yet another tradition called 'Dattar'.  Anjali had to exchange handful of salt with everyone to symbolize she would intermingle with everyone in the household just salt does in the food which only increases the taste of the food. Anjali was to receive gifts from everyone. I was honestly tired after such an exhaustive day but could never say 'no' to another tradition.

We started with me and Anjali first exchanging salt, the idea was to not drop any or drop very little. We exchanged salt five times making sure we were not dropping anything but some managed to slip away nonetheless. 

After I was done, Anjali repeated the process with everyone in the house including little Riya. Dadi and Shivani gifted her all the clothing and jewelry that they had bought for her from our side. "Ma" , I said involuntarily, to nobody. My mother would have given Anjali everything herself. I hope she was happy with the decision I had made and I also silently prayed that she continues to give me strength to take care of Anjali and me in these new beginnings. 

Next, Shivani Di and Jai Jeeja gifted her an envelope containing our honeymoon tickets to Mauritius. We were leaving in three days from today and spending about a week in Mauritius. Given the bond we shared, nobody questioned the expensive package apart from my father who was into father of Shivani mode. 

My stomach growled with hunger even as I had seemed to have lost my appetite. I had barely eaten lunch and now it was past dinner time. Jai Jeeja said he was going to arrange for dinner for me and Anjali a little more privately if possible. 

******************

Anjali

I was exhausted after the full day of rituals. The rollercoaster of emotions had emotionally drained me. Shivani Di and Shiv's Aunt led me to what Shivani Di said 'Your room with Shiv'.  I looked around and saw rose petals forming a nice heart shape on the bed side. There were electric candles on both the bedsides too. In addition, there were dry fruits, chocolates and some bakery items on the coffee table between two arm chairs on the side of the room. I noticed the room looked very different from what it looked when I was first here. There were changes, the basic theme had changed from black and gold to red and gold. If I was not wrong, there was a fair bit of renovation done here. Was this for me? For our new beginnings ? The decorations were light and it somehow eased up some tension within me but it also built up another set of emotions.

"Don't be nervous. I can understand how this can be difficult for you. Hope you two now start this new chapter blissfully without any past memories. Don't hesitate to reach out if you need anything. I am going to be in Papa's room as he moved to Harshit's room for these wedding days. Ok ?" Shivani Di said to me and left me in the room. "I'll send him in." She smiled at me and I nodded. It was time, finally!

I didn't know what Shiv was thinking about for tonight. Would he initiate intimacy? If he did, how was I going to handle myself if I panic. No no, he said we are going to talk first. I trusted Shiv with this.

But I didn't even know if I was desirable, desirable by a man like Shiv. Would Shiv accommodate for my inexperience in this domain? I started pacing up and down in the new bedroom in the bridal attire waiting for Shiv and trying to understand what was to become of this night. It was only today that we had held hands for the first time during the wedding rituals. First, my father had placed my hand in his large hand as part of Kanyadaan and then next, the priest performing the ceremony had tied our clasped hands together with the sacred thread for the 'pheras'.

Tired of pacing in the room in the heavy bridal attire, I sat down at the end of the large bed at the center of the room. Suddenly, I was reminded of the first night of her first wedding. Manish's cousin sisters had made me sit in the new bride style on the bed with the lehenga surrounding me in a neat circle. I had kept my gaze lowered and waited for him to arrive and sweep me off me feet. Nothing of that sort had happened though. Manish had never come in the room that night. I had changed after waiting for 2 hours and then drifted off to sleep in the arm chair in Manish's room.

Tears started pooling in my eyes as everything started to blur out. I just silently wished nothing of the previous episode repeated tonight. As though my silent prayers were heard, there was a knock on the door. I stood up immediately.

"Anjali?" I had never heard my name in a more softer voice. Instantly, my lips curved into a smile and I hummed in response. There he was walking towards me with a shy sweet smile on his face and a large tray in his hands. He looked like a charming king, not a prince. He was here ! 

"Umm, let me put this down. I got dinner for us. Shivani di and Jeeja packed it." He set the food tray by making space on the coffee table and then gestured me to sit. I sat down on the bed with my gaze lowered. I then felt him sitting next to me as the mattress sank a little bit where he sat.

I could literally feel the butterflies in my stomach just thinking about the proximity we were sharing.His calm voice made me look at him as he called my name one more time.

"Anjali!" I just hummed in response. I then saw, Shiv's hands reaching out to mine but he stopped at a short distance and uttered, "May I?"

Ohhhh! So he is asking whether he can hold my hands.With a smile I nodded in a yes.

He then very tenderly grabbed my hands in his and started talking, "You look absolutely gorgeous. The day has been very exhausting, I know" I looked down at our hands shyly. 

He continued, "I want to make a promise today, we already took these vows but I specially want to mention that these a promise to be with you, be your companion and try and understand you. Tumhari family ab meri bhi family hai..aur main apni responsibilities ko puri tarah se nibhane ki koshish karunga. Ek pati patni ke rishte main jo pyaar aur vishwas hota hai, wo vishwas tumhe dilana chahunga. Hamara rishta aaj dosti ka hai lekin aur mujhe yakin hai ki ye dosti pyaar se bhi upar hogi"

He spoke with so much sincerity in his voice that it warmed up my entire being. He let out a sigh. "Intimacy is important in a marriage and we both probably understand that very well. Let's take some time at least until our honeymoon. I know how this whole situation can be difficult for you, trust me it is also difficult for me. But, I was thinking that we let our emotions dominate this one. Also, if you are absolutely uncomfortable with something, please let me know. Kehna asaan hai lekin main chahta hun ki aap ye baat samjhein. I am sorry but are you upset about anything that I said? Please be open and honest."

My eyes welled up, "No Shiv, you don't need to be sorry. I am happy you are honest with me. That makes me believe that our relationship will grow strong over time. Don't worry about the tears. I am an emotional mess at the moment. Main bhi aaj ye waada karna chahti hun ki main iss shaadi ko nibhane ki puri koshish karungi, aapki family ko apnane ki bhi koshish karungi. Main jaanti hun ye shayad asaan nahi hoga, lekin iss ghar ki expectations puri karne ki koshish karungi."

I understood his point of view about delaying intimacy, atleast he is not completely rejecting it. "Ummm Shiv, intimacy ke liye there is time I agree."

He let out a huge sigh of relief. He was still holding my hands and his hold now slackened. I didn't want to let go of him yet. He brought his left hand to my face and wiped the tears down my cheeks using his thumb. He further leaned closer and placed a kiss on my forehead close to my 'maang - tika' under which lay vermilion that he had put as part of the rituals this morning. 

I felt secure when he kissed me. The other part of me wanted to dance in joy, my husband had kissed me !  

He looked down at our hands "Acha, I am seriously very hungry but more than that this sherwani is really starting to itch. I am sure this jewelry and heavy attire must be bothering too. Let's change and eat? I need to then find " He raised his eyebrows at me. 

"Hmmm" I asked him looking around for my belongings. 

"There." He pointed to the set of wardrobes in the room close to the washroom. Left wardrobe belongs to you. Your bag is in there. It arrived last night. You can freshen up first and I can go later." He had actually taken the bags when he came to pick up Shivani Di and Riya. 

I hummed and got up to go get changed. As soon as I got up from the bed, I stumbled on my heavy saree and was about to fall but instead landed safely in his arms. His left arm was around my waist and right on my shoulder from the front. He made me stand on my two feet and I was embarrassed at the sudden proximity and my carelessness. 

"Thik ho?" He asked me. 

"Yes, sorry I didn't..."

"Don't worry. Do you mind if I help you with the saree pins and jewelry? I imagine there must be a lot of pins used. " He smirked. Sure, there were. 

"Ok." I didn't want to loose the proximity we were sharing. It made me feel at peace just like his voice. I wanted to tell him how he made me feel. Perhaps, not right now! Absent mindedly, I walked towards the mirror in the dressing are of the room and Shiv followed me. He had put out the dupatta of his sherwani on the bed. I saw his top two buttons of the sherwani were unbuttoned and my gaze immediately traveled to his belly. 

We were standing infront of the mirror when I realized, he moved a step back and stood in a way just that his face was visible as he behind my frame with his face on my left. 

"THIS, this is better. You and me without this paunch." He sighed dejectedly. "I worked hard to reduce this before the wedding but here I am." I moved a step aside to expose him in the mirror. 

"Shiv! No ! I like you they way are. And may be this is my mistake, you look handsome! Please, I told you as long as you are healthy to keep disease at bay, you don't need to worry. I am here to support you in this journey if you like. " I really had no problems and I wanted to make sure he understood I wasn't the one for six abs. I had turned to look at him. 

"I'll keep that in mind. Thank you!" 

We were caught up in the moment. He then put his hands on my shoulders and started to unpin the veil I had set on the dupatta. He further moved to remove the maang tika from my forehead. He then turned me around to take off the jewelry from my neck. I was facing the mirror when his fingers made their way to remove another piece from my neck and then I realized, I had been standing there like a mannequin. Having realized, I felt suddenly flushed and so immediately turned around to hug him. "Awwww, is my bride ok?"  

I nodded against his chest, "Hmmm, Shiv, you are nice!" He hugged me back, "You are nice too!" I pulled away from him when he kissed on my forehead one more time. This time his lips lingered longer, "Go and freshen up." 

I walked away from him and into the washroom after collecting my belongings. I started to change in the washroom and saw my reflection in the bathroom mirror. I was wearing the matching red bra panty set that Shivani had handed over yesterday along with bridal attire. She had said it was tradition in their household that bride wears red all over including under garments and it would come in handy should things escalate in the bridal attire itself.

And as the elder aunties always say, listen to the husband in the bedroom.

Pushing aside all my thoughts I changed into a pale pink night gown and my stomach growled with hunger. Realizing just now I had starved myself until the wedding rituals as was the tradition and when it came to eating food, I was so panicky and edgy about tonight that I didn't eat much. I was just wondering what to do now to keep growling noises to myself and when I realized I was out of the washroom and standing infront of Shiv.

****************

 Shiv

I had changed into a night shirt and PJs. Honestly, I was so hungry that I wanted to attack food but I waited for Anjali to be back. My first night with Shikha was fun and crazy at the same time. We were both inexperienced with intimacy and had agreed mutually on waiting it out until the wedding night. But before that, I had helped her remove all the hair pins and the heavy jewelry too. I had then teased her by opening her blouse dori and hooks and feeling a little bit of her back. She wasn't exactly shy but she was excited. We had made love in this same bedroom, we both had gone crazy that night being young and in love .That night was a long wait for my younger self as my hormones were like a mad raging bull at that time and I would get hard every night thinking about my wedding night. 

Anjali stepped out breaking my chain of thoughts and I was glad for it. "Ahh, feeling light?" I asked her. She looked pretty cute in the night gown. She nodded at me and I gestured her to sit on the arm chair opposite to me. 

My stomach growled loudly this time and I sheepishly looked at Anjali. She smiled, "I am hungry too. It was nice of Shivani Di and Jai Jeeja to pack food for us." 

"Yes, Dig in. I can't wait. They are small portions. Shivani said there are also fruits, dry fruits and cake pastries."  

We had light dinner of curry and rice over light talks. I grabbed a pastry and I saw Anjali take a swig from a bottle. There was something about the way she drank that water. "Bite?" I asked her peeling the pastry lining. I walked up to her and grabbed her wrist and motioned toward the bed. She had been staring at me when I bought the pastry to her mouth. I was acting out but it didn't feel awkward, it felt natural for me to feed the pastry. 

She took a bite and I ate the remaining half. "Make your self comfortable. I need to find my name and get my gift. You are sure there is a gift, right?" I asked her.

************

Anjali

"Hmmm" I hummed in response. Something had just happened between us when he fed me the pastry. He took me hands once again in his and started scanning it with great concentration. His eyes narrowed and I noticed his chubbier cheeks slightly fall as he started examining my hands. 

"Yaar, kuch to hint do. Kahan hai?" He spoke after a couple of seconds. I chuckled. 

"Aap ka patience bahot hi low hai?" I said casually. 

"Patience kam nahi hai." He replied scanning my hands.

After couple of minutes, he asked, "sabr ka phal meetha hota hai. Hai na?"

I hummed in response. His hands were very warm. He was sitting slightly cross legged while I was sitting properly cross-legged too, I leaned back to the headrest and he looked at me, "Tired?" 

"A little." He came over on the other side of the bed and I extended my legs while he was stil holding my hands. "Comfortable?" He asked and I nodded. 

After a few minutes, "Ahh, that's my eureka moment. This is my name!" He pointed towards the center of my left palm where his name was. 

"Wait a minute, that's my name and there's yours too. What a little unique design." His whole face lit up as he realized the little genuis art of my artist. I couldn't help but smile. He looked so cute! 

"This is us. This is us." Saying so he pulled me a little closer and hugged me. It was exactly as I had imagined. A very warm bear hug. "Cough up my gift." He smirked.

"Give me a minute." I walked up to my newly assigned closet and fished out a long box from it. 

I walked back and handed it to him. "Here."

"Aww, I feel like a little kid for winning a competition of some sorts." He smiled.Very carefully, he peeled out the packaging and then opened the box. 

I knew him very little to figure out what he liked vs. what  he doesn't. I didn't even want to buy the wrong size of the shirt to not offend him. All I could think was that one moment when we were shopping for our engagement rings and he had dropped his branded sunglasses which had broken into two pieces. He seemed pretty upset about losing the good pair. I bought a pair from the same brand in the hopes that he would like it. I had personalized them by adding his initials "S.S.R" on the temples of the glasses. 

"Hey, you bought these. They are not the same but you remembered?" He seemed super surprised when he noticed his initials. "Thank you! This is awesome." 

I smiled at him, "I am glad you liked it so much." I sat down on the bed when he put the boz away on the bedside table. 

"Ok, I have something for you as well if you are not tired." I straightened up.

"Me? Why?" I was curious.

**********

Shiv

"For being my wife, that's why. Ok, so this is a game that actually Jai Jeeja suggested for us tonight. I arranged for it though. It's an ice breaker actually for couples. So there are questions for both of us clearly labeled as man and woman or rather blue for man and red for woman. 10 questions each. We are supposed to ask questions listed on the card one by one. We can answer questions and it's supposed to help us know each other better. Okay if we play this game? "

She nodded looking a little nervous. "You can skip what you don't want to answer. I don't know the questions myself as I am just opening it infront of you." She nodded again.

"Fair warning from the fine print here - there are bold questions too. Feel free to skip what you are uncomfortable with." I repeated but at the same time I was myself feeling the nerves right now.

"Ok." 

I gave her all the red cards and I picked my set of blue cards. They were numbered 1 to 10. 

"You start." She said weakly. I nodded.

"Blue Card 1 - Name of your twelfth grade math teacher?" This was going to be interesting. I saw her smile as she responded. "Professor Jacob D'Souza" 

"Nice. This sounds fun. Now read your card 1" I was curious.

"Red Card 1 - Name of your twelfth grade math teacher?" She looked at me. "Same question."

I grinned. "Mrs. Nisha Arora. Ok, Blue card 2 - Name of your school crush? Remember you can skip if it makes you uncomfortable."  

"I went to an all girls school." This time she grinned. 

"Fair enough" I responded and gestured her to ask

"Red card 2 - Name of your first school crush" 

I responded to that one, "Neha Sen. fourth grade." Her eyes widened.

"Seriously, fourth grade?" She said

"Well, I was fast you see." I sheepishly responded to that one. "Blue card 3 - Who taught you how to drive a car?" 

"I don't yet. I wanted to learn but it never happened as Mumbai is pretty easy to travel without a car. " I saw her looking distantly and I hoped I didn't touch any sensitive chord there. 

"I will teach you. That will be our first project work after we get back from honeymoon, ok?"

She nodded and pulled the next card, "Red Card 3 - Were you ever hit in your ummm.. balls?" She didn't look at me this time. I understood she was shy so I laughed out loud to make it easy for her. 

"This is funny ok. I was in college at that time and the boys challenged me to ask this professor a dumb question in class which I couldn't as I clearly didn't want to make a fool out of myself infront of this ma'am was not only our profession but department head. The boys later dragged me to the college cafeteria and this friend kicked me in my balls so bad that I lay on the ground flat thinking I am never going to have a good s*x life."

She lowered her gaze from me and chuckled. "My turn" I said and pulled my card

"Blue Card 4 - Crush name of a teacher/professor?" She raised her eyebrows and then lowered her gaze immediately. 

"Nikhil Maan" She almost whispered

"Awww, what would he teach?" She was co cute as  she looked like a deer caught in headlights.

"Umm English. Grade 9." 

"Sooo cuteee you are." I felt happy as she had been quite a sport playing the game. She immediately pulled the next card as her cheeks turned pink at my compliment.

"Red Card 4 - First time you cried? It's ok, you don't have to answer this." She said with a very concerned look.

"I will but. I am sure I must have cried a dozen times as a child but I remember very clearly when Harshit was born. Everybody had come home to see him and bought him like new clothes or bought something for Ma. I was eight and Shivani was ten then. Everybody was telling me now you are not the younger one and the younger one has arrived. You need to share Ma and Papa with him now. He will be the apple of their eyes. I was old enough to understand but it didn't settle well with me when this particular aunty said that I will have to share my toys with him and he would be more interested in my toys than Shivani's because Shivani is a girl. That's it.I started crying and threw a tantrum with dad that Harshit must go back where he came from. We need to drop him back at the hospital. Shivani still teases me with it." 

Anjali laughed hysterically. "That was soo funny. Kids do that. I have heard but I always wished I had a sibling. When I was four or five, I used to tell Papa daily to bring a new baby when he comes home from work like they were available in the streets" 

"Oh but Harshit was a trouble maker. I didn't like him having around a lot and he was indeed Mumma's boy. Time for my card." And I pulled out my card.

"Blue Card 5 - First kiss?" I broke off as she suddenly stiffened, "It's ok. I will get the next card. Blue card 6 - Your favorite pet would be a cat,dog, bird or a fish?" 

"Ummm, a dog. I like dogs but Ma is allergic to them so we never could have one. Red Card 5 - Same question, your favorite pet?"

"A dog too." I responded. "Blue Card 7 -  First country you visited abroad?"

"Umm no. I think my first abroad visit will be with you, Shiv!" 

"Hmm, mine was Thailand. We went there as a family. That was the last trip we took with Ma." I don't know why I shared that.

"Oh! Shiv, I am so sorry!"

"It's ok, ask me my next question." I smiled

"Red Card 6 - at what age did you lose virginity?" She looked at me and then added, "I will skip this one."

She pulled another card but I answered before that, "It's ok. I was 27"

"Blue Card 8 - Skip question. " I said reading it, it was the same for her and I knew it wasn't right. 

Soon, we were all out of questions as the questions were all neutral. I yawned and she stifled a yawn too, "Time to sleep?" I said.

"Hmm. Shiv?" 

Curiously, I responded"Yes."

"Thank you for making this easy!" She smiled. And here, I thought she had problems with sleeping arrangements, I mean the bed was huge and there was no couch. 

"Oh Anjali! We are in this together like I said before. " I gave her a smile.  "I sleep on the left side of the bed, would right side of the bed be ok for you?" I asked

She replied "Yes. Do you have a nightbulb? I get scared easily in dark".

"Yes, Let me show it you." I switched on the bulbs, we had the ones that lay close the floor so you could clearly see. She nodded and I sat on the bed. 

"You know you are cute. Good night Anjali! I will really work on making this marriage work."

"Me too, good night Shiv! "

I switched off the lights and made sure the bedroom door was locked and then we both turned in to sleep.

*************

A/N - The game was completely my invention. If you like it, all praises to me, if you hated it, all joota's and chappal's also my way :D 

How was it?

I thought the wedding night deserved attention even though they decided to not do "it". 

Thoughts?

Unedited, I will add English translations asap. My fingers hurt and its late in the night!

Do vote and share!