Ajabdeh looked at her reflection in the mirror as Rukaiya and Heer draped the elegant pastel green saree with a red sequin border around her red velvet blouse. She took a deep breath as Heer placed the only heirloom necklace given by their grandmother to their mother around her neck.
"Maasa wanted you to have it on your big day remember?" Heer smiled through the reflection in the mirror, her eyes twinkling. Ajabdeh nodded with teary blurred vision.
"Careful you two. You will ruin my efforts. I spend 2 hours understanding that makeup before I put it on her." Rukaiya joked, to lighten the mood as the sisters smiled.
This is not how she had imagined the day. This is not how her Papa would want it. But here she was, in a simple makeup Rukaiya managed to do, her hair parted in the middle and up in a bun with roses around the side and her locks reaching her necklace. Her eyes were lightly done in kohl and Rukaiya chose red lipstick and a small bindi with it.
Ajabde put her mother's watch around her wrist. It was half past nine. Jalal said they would be here by ten. Along with the registrar and Khan Baba as witnesses. Her palms were cold and sweaty. Jalal and Heer tried to convince them of a social marriage. Ajabdeh strongly refused that kind of extravaganza and Pratap emphasised the legal one urgently before the police protection was lifted. They gave up trying and arranged a little lunch party for themselves in the Punwar apartment itself. Heer would catch the evening flight back to Delhi and the hearing was due in two days.
The only alarming thing that had happened in a month was that someone tried to break into Jalal's office. Whether or was related to the case or not, none can tell. Lata had put in additional charges of attempt to murder and destruction of property. She expected things to turn quite ugly.
Pratap shifted uncomfortably in the front seat of the car as Shakti drove it.
"Are you okay?" Shakti asked as Pratap looked distraught.
"Am I doing the right thing?" Pratap asked a taken aback Shakti.
"Well we are five minutes away, say the word and I will turn the car." He smiled.
"This is not funny. Am feeling weird." Pratap scorned him.
"You are guilty of not telling Dad and Ranima?"
"Do I feel I should have?" Pratap sighed "Of course not. You know they won't understand."
"Are you ready to face them when we take her home?"
"Of course, both of us are mentally prepared for it."
" Then you are just feeling wedding jitters." Shakti looked amused.
Pratap gave him a cold stare to make him stop as they drove into the visitors' parking area.
He got down from the car and straightened his blue suit. He'd worn this to the office plenty of times. He possibly couldn't come well dressed even if he wanted to. Ranima would be suspicious.
Jalal greeted him there.
When Ajabdeh stepped out of her room, it was Shakti who met her first and gave her a hug.
"Are you okay?" He asked as she nodded unsurely.
"If you want we can go through the fire escape and run off." He chuckled.
"That is a good idea." She managed a smile "But there will be too much running around." Shakti smiled back.
"Don't worry." He reassured her, "Everything will fall in place."
"I do hope so." It was Heer who spoke.
Bairam Khan scrutinized Pratap from across the room with a smile. As soon as he had seen Pratap talk to Heer, he had known perhaps why Hansa chose him. Ever since Hansa was diagnosed, he had been extremely close to both girls. Heer took time off her study schedule to visit him on lonely afternoons and read with him. Ajabdeh made sure all his charitable causes ran efficiently. Jalal never made him work. These children were family to him, the only ones he knew.
Truth be said when he heard of it from Jalal, he thought it was reckless of Hansa to put the children in such a position. But after Ajabdeh was attacked he acknowledged what Hansa perhaps saw and understood about her daughter.
When Ajabdeh personally called him up to talk about the decision, he fully supported her. He had barely met Pratap once or twice on professional grounds, and he was nobody to judge her. He was happy Ajabdeh even considered a relationship.
Pratap looked up from the papers he was checking with the registrar at the sound of people approaching. He heard the soft tinkle of anklets alongside the footsteps of others and Shakti moved away as eyes met. It was brief and awkward as Rukaiya sat her down beside him on the opposite corner of the four-seater sofa.
Pratap stole a glance at her and immediately realised how the over-enthusiastic Heer and Rukaiya had forced her to dress up. The Ajabdeh he had seen till now would never dress up. Even if it was for her own wedding.
The word in his mind kind of made Pratap’s stomach churn. Was it jitters or he was actually tensed about the biggest decision in his life he couldn’t decipher.
Ajabdeh looked through the corner of her eye at him scrutinising the legal papers with the registrar. The only conversation they had in this one month was two text messages.
“Do you want Punwar Singh legally or just Punwar?” She had received his message.
“Punwar is fine unless you have an issue.” She had responded.
She looked at her name in bold on a paper now. “Ajabdeh Punwar.” One signature on the bottom of that paper was supposed to change her life forever. But would it? Could it? Could the Ajabdeh Punwar she knew ever change for someone? Her eyes followed the reflection on the glass top of the coffee table to his face. Could she feel anything more than overwhelming gratitude for this man?
Pratap’s eyes met hers through the reflection on the glass top briefly before they looked away.
“So we need to click pictures and videos.” The registrar instructed Jalal. “Are you ready?”
“Yes.” Shakti smiled, getting ready with his phone to record.
“ Who are the witnesses?” The Registrar asked.
“Jalal and I from Dadabhai’s side, Heer and Rukaiya from Ajabdeh’s.”
“You need a neutral witness too.” The registrar reminded them.
“That will be me.” Bairam Khan stepped in with a smile.
“Okay then” The registrar opened his pen, “ repeat after me.”
“I…Pratap Singh Sisodiya, son of Mr Udai Singh and Mrs Jaivanta Singh Songara take Miss Ajabdeh Punwar as my lawfully wedded wife.”
“I … Ajabdeh Punwar, daughter of the late Mr Ramrakh Punwar and late Mrs Hansa Punwar take Mr Pratap Singh as my lawfully wedded husband.”
“Sign the papers.” The registrar passed the pen on to Pratap who completed his sign and passed the pen to Ajabdeh who took it carefully avoiding his touch.
The witnesses signed one by one and Heer got up to declare “I am bringing some sweets.”
“Congratulations.” Bairam Khan smiled surprising Ajabdeh with a hug “Remember if you have anything to share I am a call away.”
“I will.” Ajabdeh nodded.
Pratap sat chatting with him for a while and was impressed with the kind of experiences Bairam Khan shared. It was Heer who took him aside with an excuse to the balcony.
“ I wanted to tell you some things.” She said with a smile as Pratap nodded.
“My Jija is not an easy person to deal with. So… there are some things you will know as you get to know her better. And some things I think I should tell you.”
“Don’t worry about her Heer, do your courses and come back, Shakti and I are here,” Pratap reassured.
“I am not worried about her.” Heer chuckled amused. “I am worried about you.”
“That was…” Pratap raised his eyebrows “Intimidating.”
“So she isn't really a talker. If she has problems she just gives it away in her body language.” Pratap nodded attentively.
“When she is sad or emotional, in turmoil and doesn’t want to express it, she drinks a lot of water.” Heer smiled remembering moments with her sister “Or If she is working continuously on something she is passionate about, she forgets to eat her meals and doesn’t even get that she is hungry until she has a headache. Also, she works on a continuous supply of coffee.” Pratap listened to her with a faint smile, his hands in his pocket.
“She doesn’t express her love to her closest friends and family even though she loves people unconditionally. She is more comfortable telling an animal she loves them than humans. She fears reciprocation, not lack thereof. My Jija is strange.”
“Or unique.” Shakti spoke walking up to them “Considering how you see it.”
“ She has zero alcohol tolerance, so stays away from it unless it's fine to blend wines and often shakes off her guilt with chocolates. If she is having chocolates and water together either she is in deep trouble… or you are.” Heer giggled.
“Wow, bonding over gossiping about Ajabdeh and forgetting me already?” Shakti interrupted.
“Yes, I just stole away your Dadabhai.” She laughed.
“No worries Ajabdeh is mine and she is the better sibling.” Shakti bit his tongue as Heer laughed amused.
“What?” Pratap frowned at him “How are you changing sides?”
“Now you are on the same side Dadabhai.” Heer and Shakti spoke in unison and laughed.
Pratap shook his head at them “I will remember everything.”
Ajabdeh stared across the living room while talking to Rukaiya, handing her over the files to see the siblings bonding. Rukaiya smiled and said, “I signed it, but for God’s sake please don’t talk about work with him today.” She reminded her.
“What do I talk of then?” Ajabdeh frowned “I have nothing else to talk of.”
“Really?” Rukaiya rolled her eyes. “Then ask him questions and get to know him better. Ajabdeh nodded.
“I think I should make a to-do list in case I forget.” She spoke genuinely clueless.
“Ajabdeh!” Rukaiya scolded taking the file from her hand and putting it in her luggage.
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