Chapter 2 — The Wedding Crasher

Zinnia.

Handsome.

He was super-duper handsome.

If I started describing him, I would run out of words. All I could say about him was, that his strong jawline made him look terribly hot.

“Hello?”

I snapped out of my dreamland as soon as he snapped his fingers in front of me.

“In whose thoughts did you get lost?” he teased.

“I… sorry,” I managed to say and averted my gaze at that instant.

“So do you believe I am from the groom’s side now?”

“Yes. Enjoy the wedding,” with that, I walked away from him.

He was definitely from the groom’s side because he was so confident. He even showed his face without any hesitation. I doubted him for no reason.

I looked at the place where the groom was sitting; it was called Mandap, according to what Kavita taught me. I decided to stand near Mrs. Kapoor who was standing near the madam along with the other guests.

She noticed me and whispered, “Where were you?”

“I was checking whether everything was in place or not,” I answered politely.

“You have checked so many times, Zinnia, dear,” Mrs. Kapoor uttered, “We trust your work. So stress yourself less and enjoy your best friend’s wedding.”

I nodded with a smile.

“Please bring the bride in now,” the priest said, looking at Mrs. Kapoor.

Mrs. Kapoor glanced at me and I understood her signal. I went inside the mansion to bring Kavita.

It was Kavita’s wish that her two best friends, Zara and Zinnia, would bring her to the mandap.

“Are you ready, Kavita? It’s time,” I informed her once I stepped into her room.

She sucked in a deep breath and let out, “Let’s go. I am ready.”

Zara looked at me and smiled while I did the same. We couldn’t believe that one of us was finally getting married. Though it was early since Kavita was only twenty-three years old, she decided to marry her family friend, Nehal Singh.

We started to walk toward the mandap, and Kavita held our hands tightly with her cold hands. She was nervous and it was obvious.

As soon as we made Kavita sit on the mandap, my eyes fell on five men entering the wedding. They seemed like thugs and when I saw the pocket knives in their hands, a gasp escaped my lips.

“What happened, Zinnia?” Zara asked me.

“Everyone’s focus is on the bride and groom now, so make sure none of them lose their attention. I have work to do,” I informed Zara and walked towards the group of men, who were trying to fit into the wedding ceremony, hiding their knives but I saw it already.

Why were they here? I had to make sure they didn’t ruin Kavita’s wedding.

I approached them as they stood at one corner, trying to blend in like the guests, but their eyes were constantly searching for someone.

“Hello, I am the organizer of this wedding,” I said to them with a smile. “I hope you are enjoying the wedding.”

“Yes,” one of them replied, not really paying attention to me.

“Are you looking for something? It feels like there is some shortcoming in my arrangement with the way y’all were looking around the surroundings.”

One of the men cleared their throat and said, “Actually, we were looking for one of our friends who got lost at this wedding. He was wearing a black mask.”

“He also has brownish hair, maybe copper brown,” another man added.

They were definitely talking about that guy who called me kid. But he said he was from the groom’s side.

“Are y’all from the bride’s side?” I inquired with a smile.

They shared a look with each other, and all of the five men nodded their heads.

So that guy was a liar. He wasn’t the bride or the groom’s relative. Rather, he was the wedding crasher, along with these five men standing in front of me.

Why did they have to crash the wedding organized by me, that too of my best friend's?

“I didn’t see anyone like that yet,” I informed them. I didn’t know the entire story and these men seemed dangerous. I had to talk to that guy first before giving his information to others. I added, “But I will let you know if I see him.”

The group of men smiled at me, which didn’t seem friendly at all, but I returned a friendly smile and walked away from them.

I had to look for that hazel-eyed guy. He had too many questions to answer.

I felt I would find him near the photo booth, so I went there to look for him first. That was when my eyes fell on that man, standing in one corner, leaning near one of the oversized pure white ceramic vases.

“I knew you were a threat to this wedding.”

He almost jumped hearing my sudden voice. When his eyes fell on me, he heaved a sigh in relief and removed his mask.

“It’s you, kid. Thank God.”

“Who are you?” I asked directly.

He furrowed his eyebrows. “What do you mean by that?”

“A group of five men just entered the wedding and they are looking for you. I saw them having pocket knives in their hands. So either they are the criminal or you. But you seem too innocent for that, so you better tell me the truth now,” I let it all out at once.

“I seem innocent?”

I was dumbstruck at his words. Out of all the sentences I said, the only one he heard was he seemed innocent? Was this guy for real?

“I can’t deal with this anymore. I am telling those guys that you are here. The end.” I was about to go away, but he grabbed my right wrist and stopped me.

“You can’t do that, woman,” he said sternly.

This time, I looked at him in amusement. He called me a woman instead of a kid. It meant the matter was more serious than I thought.

“So why are you here and who are those men?” I asked, crossing my arms against my chest after freeing myself from his grip.

He sighed. “They are just some muggers and they wanted to take my stuff. I did what a sane person would do, which is run. This was my first time in New York, so I had no idea where to go, thus I ended up crashing this wedding. I am sorry.”

I couldn’t help but burst into laughter at his story. “You… you… ran…” I said in between my laughs.

He narrowed his eyes at me. “I am sorry I cannot fight five people at once because I am not the male protagonist of a novel. In real life, people run.”

“Anyway, if they are muggers, shouldn’t we do something so that they get out of this place? They might ruin my perfectly organized wedding,” I uttered as the realization hit me hard. I had to make sure they didn’t do anything.

“They won’t do anything to the people here because it’s a wedding and people of multiple professions are present,” he informed me, which calmed me a bit.

“Then why are they looking for you? They should’ve left you alone once you ran.”

He chuckled. “I didn’t only run with my stuff, I stole their wallets too.”

“What?” I almost hollered, but he placed his index finger over his lips, indicating me to lower my voice. “Why did you steal from the muggers?” I whispered.

“I wanted to give them a taste of their own medicine.” He shrugged his shoulders, not even showing the tiniest bit of guilt or regret for his actions.

“No wonder why they are chasing you,” I muttered under my breath. “Now what?” This time, I looked at him.

He twitched his lips and thought for a while before saying, “Now, you will help me out.”

“How?” I went straight to the point. I had to help him out because those muggers might ruin Kavita’s perfect wedding.

I glanced at Kavita and Nehal getting married while the guy whispered into my ears, “You will go to the muggers and say that you saw me going out of this place.”

My breath hitched at our closeness. I glanced at his eyes and breathed out, “How will they believe me?”

“Run towards them and say that you saw me going out. They will believe you in a heartbeat if they see you panting. They will think you ran to them as soon as you saw me.”

“That’s a good idea.”

My eyes looked for the group of muggers, but a panic engulfed me when I didn’t see them standing at their place anymore. Where did they vanish?

“Hey, where did they go?” I asked and turned my back to the mysterious guy, only to find him pulling me into the photo booth.

“I am sorry,” he mumbled and leaned closer to my lips, making my heartbeat run a marathon.

Immediately, I shut my eyes.

A hand caressed my cheek, then I felt something on my lips.

Was this how my first kiss would go?