#Shehnaz's POV

Dressed in yellow lehnga, I was ready for the haldi ceremony. Looking at myself in the mirror, blush crept over my cheeks as his face flashed before my eyes. He always says that I look too good in yellow. Now I am desperate to see his reaction but for that I will have to wait. Because I have to be in the room for some time as my mother said that she would call me when the ceremony starts.

Sighed I sat on the bed and as I had nothing to do, I started scrolling my phone. While scrolling, I came across the pictures which were taken at the previous haldi function.

I could not stop smiling while looking at those pictures because it was the first ceremony I attended. I let out a soft chuckle when his photo came in front of me.

I mumbled 'khadoos' seeing his angry look in the photo and drifted into the flashback of how I had created his image as a rude person in my mind.

When I came back home after completing the shoot, I observed that how everyone is working according to him only. My family always used to chant his name and his liking and disliking. They always used to do the things which he likes. They were always be like 'don't do this, Sidharth puttar won't like it'

I remember, after returning home, I was cooking as it had been so many days since the family ate anything I had made. I was about to put veggies in the wok when my mother came shouting.

"Mumma kya huya? Darra hi diya aapne mujhe"

"Ruk ek minute, oil kam karne de mujhe" my mother said ignoring me.

"But Maa, humesha itna hi toh dalti hoon na"

"Han, lekin abhi kam kar. Sidharth puttar ko pasand nahi hai itna oily khana"

And I was like seriously? "Tabhi itna rukha hai" I mumbled to which my mother slapped on my head lightly.

-

Me and Shehzan were in my room and with the loud music on, we were dancing and having fun when suddenly Papa came and slowed down the volume.

"Chote papa volume kam kyu ki'? Shehzan asked to which Papa answered,

"Puttar awaj thodi neeche rakh ke masti kro"

"Lekin pehle toh aapne kabhi nahi roka" Shehzan asked again.

"Han toh pehle Sidharth nahi tha na" he spoke which confused me and I couldn't stop myself from asking,

"Matlab?"

"Matlab yeh ke Sidharth puttar ko nahi pasand hai yeh shor sharaba"

"Oh god" I mumbled.

-

I was walking through the corridor when I saw him coming from the opposite direction. I stopped and passed a smile to him when he came near but he, in return gifted me a glare and without uttering anything, he left from there which made my mouth left open.

"Kitna khadoos hai yeh" I talked to myself. "Shehbaz ne sahi information di thi phone pe ke bahut akdu hai ye aur smile se toh dur-dur tak inka koi naata nahi hai"

My train of thoughts came to halt when my Badi Maa came to me and ask,

"Sana kya huya puttar? Aur yeh Sidharth gusse mein kyu gaya yahan se?"

I was about to speak but she interuppted me by saying "Kahin tune toh kuch gadbad nahi ki naa?"

"Main...main.. kyu karungi kuch?" I fumbled with words as last night incident came to my mind.

"Fir theek hai aur kuch ulta seedha karne ki sochna bhi mat, kyunki Sidharth puttar ko yeh sab pasand nahi hai"

"Kya yar Badi Maa, jisse dekho wohi bolta rehta hai ke yeh mat karo Sidharth puttar ko acha nahi lagega, woh mat karo Sidharth puttar ko acha nahi lagega. Ab main kya karu marr jayun?" I said irritably.

Badi Maa chuckled and pulling my cheeks she said, "Hayee meri bachi. Chal ab jaldi se ready ho ja haldi ke liye"

-

The guests started arriving and we were busy preparing for the haldi ceremony happpily. Only one peron who was not looking happy at all was Sidharth. His expression was clearly showing how irritated and angry he was.

I think his mother also noticed this, that is why she came to him and asked him what happened.

As I didn't want to hear them, I was about to leave from there when I heard him saying,

"Mom mujhe mumbai jana hai abhi ke abhi"

"Han nahi hoon main khush"

I was feeling bad because somewhere I was the reason behind his irritation and for that I said sorry many times but he ignored my all of my sorry.

"Yar itna bhi kya gussa. Maine jan-bhuj ke toh nahi kiya na...ab mujhe sapna thodi na aya tha ke Shehbaz ki jagah yeh aane wala hai.

Ab ho gyi galti ab kya karu main? Marr jayu? Akdu, khadoos kahin ka" I mumbled to myself.

My thoughts got interrupted and I came back to reality when Shehzan shook me and informed me that everyone is calling me because the ceremony is about to begin.

I walked to the garden area with my sister where the haldi setup was done very beautifully. From the decoration to the dress code everything was yellow. I couldn't take my eyes off as everything was looking so perfect.

Admiring the view, my eyes then landed on HIM, who was busy talking with his friends. He turned and with a smile on his face, he looked at me when his friends told him about my entry.

I gestured him through my eyes that how am I looking and he, in return mouthed 'Beautiful' which made me smile brightly.

As soon as I got there, my family made me sit opposite to him. There was big yellow transparent cloth in between us. I chuckled at his expressions because I knew he didn't want any kind of wall between us.

After the lot of teasing, the haldi ceremony started. Everyone walked towards us and started applying the turmeric paste one by one.

Looking at the paste they were applying, my thoughts took me back to the previous haldi ceremony, where knowingly and unknowingly WE applied haldi to each other.

Actually he was there in the kitchen when both of our mothers were preparing the haldi paste. I too came there with the phone in my hand.

"Rita Aunty aapke liye phone hai" I said while passing the phone.

Seeing his mother was busy talking on the phone, he took the bowl from her hand and started mixing the turmeric paste on her behalf.

"Are puttar aap rehne do, layo mujhe do, main karlungi" said my mother and taking the bowl from him, she said,

"Sana zara napkin toh de Sidharth ko, unke hath mein haldi lag gayi hai"

"H-han" saying this, I was gonna pass him napkin when he said,

"No need Aunty ji. Main apne room mein jakar saf krlunga"

Royally ignoring me, he was about to go but don't know how he stumbled and to take the support, his hands accidentally touched both my shoulders. And then the paste of his hand transferred to my arm and hand.

-

After some times the main ceremony started and after applying haldi to the bride and groom, we started applying it to each other and having fun.

I was running behind Shehzan with the handful of haldi paste, when I bumped into HIM. His cheeks got colored with the paste which was on my hands.

I closed my eyes tightly and mentally cursed myself that I gave him one more reason to ignore me. Not getting any reaction from him, I opened my eyes slowly and saw that he was staring at me with the irritation. But on the other hand, he was looking cute to me. I badly wanted to pull those grumpy cheeks but... I sighed.

I came to the reality when Rita Maa's hands touched my cheeks to apply the paste. I gave her a soft smile.

"Ab toh khadoos nahi lagta na Sidharth?" she said teasingly.

I chuckled remembering how I complained to her about his rudeness. And then I looked at him, who was busy laughing with both of my mother and sister while my mother was wiping sweat from his forehead with her duppatta.

While looking at him, I lost in my world again that how I witnessed the other sides of him, which were helping, loving and caring.

I saw him smiling for the first time when his friends came. They were teasing him for the haldi on his cheeks. Not only that, they also applied the paste  on him, that too forcefully.

After coloring him into yellow, they started running in the different directions. He angrily started chasing them. But when his eyes went on his mother, who was laughing wholeheartedly, the expression of his face changed automatically from angry to smile. And he too started having fun with his friends.

At night when I was in the hall, talking to Sargun over the phone, when I saw him coming out of his friends room and making his way towards the terrace. The thought 'Why is he going to the terrace at this hour?' confused me. But then I shrugged my shoulders thinking that maybe he need some fresh air. But when I saw his body language, it confused me more as he was repeatedly running his fingers in his hair and pressing his forehead. 'May be he is having headache' as soon as those words came out of my mouth, I started feeling bad as the flashes of that incident started running into my mind.

Thinking about what I had done, I pouted and then an idea came into my mind and chanting Babaji's name, I sent my mother for his massage. I did not go because I knew if I would go he, as always, would ignore me.

The next day I noticed the change in his behaviour. He was behaving completely opposite than yesterday. He was smiling and talking happily with everyone. He even smiled at me which confused me and in the same confusion, I looked back to see if there is any present here besides me. Not finding anyone, I shrugged thinking 'galti se smile kar di hogi'

Later I saw him helping Shehbaz in decoration. Because he was confused with the designs which I sent to him and decorators.

I made my way towards my brother when I saw Sidharth going from there.

"Oye! Tune toh kaha tha yeh akdu hai, aur theek se baat bhi nahi karta" I said, as soon as I got there.

"Kab?" he replied.

"Phone pe btaya tha na tune"

"Oh han, but woh toh jab aya tha, tab bola tha, uske bad toh maine aisa kuch bola hi nahi motto" he said pinching my nose.

"Aur tu itna ready ho ke kahan ja rahi hai?" he asked when I didn't respond.

"Woh kuch kam se market ja rahi thi"

After completing my work when I returned home, Badi Maa was already there in the hall and seeing me coming, she stood up and informed me that bade papa was calling me.

"Mujhe? Kyu kya huya?" I asked.

But as soon as she said that some bank problem has occurred, I made my way towards his room.

As soon as I reached there, I saw he was also there and talking over the phone and Bade Papa was waiting for him to finish the call.

"Bade papa aapne..." I couldn't complete as he spoke in middle.

"Dont worry uncle. Aapka kam ho gya hai, ab koi issue nahi nahi hoga"

"Thank you puttar"

Smiling, he left from there and I gestured my Bade Papa to ask what happend.

"Ohh kuch nahi puttar, woh choti si bank problem aa gayi thi. Tu thi nahi yahan toh jab Sidharth ko pata chala toh usne 10 minutes mein sab solve kar diya"

I smiled and thinking about the changes in him, I again went to the hall where I saw him with Badi Maa. He had a dozens boxes of sweets in his hand and was taking them to the kitchen. He did this two or three time.

After the last round when he came back to the hall, he wiped his sweaty face with Badi Maa's duppatta. His this action really surprised me and I started rethinking about his image I had created in my mind.

And while my family was having discussion about the ceremony, I was searching for my mother. And then I saw him coming from the kitchen with my mother and while coming he was saying to mother that,

"Aunty ji wahan important discussion ho raha hai aur aap kitchen mein thi. I think aapko bhi sunna chahiye"

Hearing this brought an unknown smile to my face.

I leaned towards Shehzan who was sitting beside me and whispered to her,

"Aaj Sidharth ko kya huya hai? Bada sab ke sath mix ho raha hai and hass ke baatein kar raha hai sab ke sath"

"But woh toh aise hi hain humesha se"

"Main toh kal se inki khadoosiyat witness kar rahi hoon"

"May be kal mood off hoga unka"

"Han. May be I was wrong to judge him" I mumbled to myself confused. But on remembering Rita Aunty's word, a soft smile appeared on my lips.

"You know? Sid na bahut hi caring hai, aur apne apno ko leke toh bahut hi protective hai woh... hamesha har kisi ki help ke liye ready rehta hai woh, jaise ke tu"

My trance got broken with the loud sound of dhol and I realized that the ceremony is over.

#End of Shehnaz's POV

#Sidharth's POV

I was busy looking her when suddenly Shehbaz came and pulled the two of us to dance. We, along with everyone, started dancing on the beats of dhol.

My eyes were not moving from her and with the thought 'We are finally getting married', a huge smile came on my lips.

"Finally i'm successful" I smirked.

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Hello, hey! How are you all?

So here goes the 7th chapter of 'Arranged By Shukla'

So what you think? Sidharth successful in what? Think and do tell me.

I hope you enjoyed reading it. If yes then hit the star if not then please hit the star *chuckling*

And please drop your comments also so that I get to know what you think about this storyline.

Will post next part soon till then #HappyReading