“W-what happened on your wedding day?” asked Aarush, slowly. Arun covered his face, as though he was trying to hide his shame.

Karthik took a deep breath.

“Everything.”

*******

Rani Shivaram sat in a chair, now rather bored of listening to a priest chant mantras for the last hour or so. The humidity was miserable, though standard for Kochi in June. And her lehenga, though sparkling and beautiful, was starting to get a little heavy. But at least the area surrounding the wedding hall was breathtaking; Kerala is called “God’s Own Country” for a reason, after all.

Rani looked to her left. Her girlfriend Elena sat next to her, wearing an equally sparkling and beautiful lehenga. She also seemed a little bored, and right now Rani wanted nothing more than to cuddle her, but couldn’t. “Don’t you dare ‘touch’ or ‘hug’ or whatever in front of the relatives,” her mother had said before the ceremony. “I don’t want them getting confused by your ‘vulgar’ behavior.”

Elena yawned. Rani looked at her, now filled with frustration that she can’t show affection to the love of her life.

“You good?” asked Elena, with a smile. Rani shook her head.

“I love you with all my heart.”

Elena chuckled.

“You know I love you too, but what brought this on?”

Rani shrugged her shoulders. She then looked around: Shyam was buried in his phone, and Amit was standing next to the altar. Ravi and Aditi were sitting a few rows away, and Aarush was sleeping on Aditi’s shoulder. Arun and Sandhya were nowhere to be seen. She then finally turned back to her girlfriend, who was looking so cute right now…

Rani glanced at the altar. The ceremony seemed like it was going to end soon.

“Come on,” said Rani, grabbing Elena’s hand.

“Wait, where?”

“I can’t take this anymore.”

Elena smirked. Rani pulled her out of her chair and they both ran to the back of the hall and towards the dressing rooms.

“What are you up to…?” asked Elena, more than familiar with Rani’s impulsive schemes by now. Rani opened up Karthik’s dressing room, and led her in before shutting the door behind them.

“Five minutes, that’s all I need.”

Elena grinned while biting her lip.

“Finally.”

Rani pinned her to the wall, causing the dresser mirror to rattle. The two women gazed into each other’s eyes.

“Did I tell you how insanely pretty you look in a lehenga?” whispered Rani, stroking her girlfriend’s brown hair. Elena giggled.

“Only about a thousand times.”

Slowly, they moved closer and closer to each other until their lips were mere millimeters apart.

“I love you, Elena.”

“And I love you, Rani.”

They kissed. Deeply. Passionately.

They didn’t seem to hear the voices coming from the other side of the door–

*FWAM*

Rani and Elena immediately stopped what they were doing and turned their heads to the open door. Staring back at them was Karthik, Amit, Shyam, and Ravi, who was carrying Aarush. Apparently the ceremony was over.

“O-oh, wow,” said Elena, wiping her mouth with her hand. “Hello, Rani’s family.”

Ravi tried to cover Aarush’s eyes, but he resisted. Shyam pulled out his phone to take a picture.

“Bro this is hot–”

“NO SHYAM!”

Amit knocked the phone out of Shyam’s hand and started smacking him. While that was happening Sandhya elbowed her way through the cousins and into the room.

“What is happening here??”

“Vulgarity, Mom,” said Ravi, scoffing. “That’s what.”

Sandhya looked at Ravi with confusion. She then turned to Rani and Elena, who both had lipstick smudged all over their mouths. Rani backed away from Elena a little bit.

“M–Mom—”

Sandhya stared at them, her eyes filled with shock and disgust. She then turned away without saying another word. Ravi glared at the couple before following his mother out. Karthik made a tsk and threw his hand up.

“My wedding…”

*******

“I think I remember this,” said Aarush. “Dad woke me up after the ceremony and we all went to your dressing room. I don’t understand why Dad tried to cover my face though, I’d already seen Rani-attha and Elena kiss before.”

Arun and Karthik looked at him with surprise.

“They were kissing in front of you?” asked Karthik, eyebrows raised.

“No, no!” said Aarush, his face turning slightly red. “It was only once, and I don’t think they knew I was watching. B-but anyway, what happened after that?”

Karthik scratched his chin.

“I don’t know actually. After the ceremony we all flew back to Bangalore that night only. Rani didn’t tell this part to me, but Arun Uncle was there.”

Arun shook his head. Aarush looked at him, worried but also pleading.

“Please, Thatha. I need to know.”