—A few hours ago—

"We're here," Atif spoke, gaining Kabir's attention. He stared outside the window, taking in the scenery of the beautiful bungalow. Nobody would believe there could be such beautiful greenery in this area. 

Until he saw this house.

As they all got down and stood in front of Priti's house, Sham's parents got the gifts ready and the other relatives were behind them, ready to get in. 
Someone opened the door, welcoming them in. There stood Priti's parents with heartwarming smiles. 

"Kabir!" Ajay called from a slight distance as Kabir frowned, going towards them. They stood at a corner near the front door where everyone had gathered, welcoming the groom's side. 
"Look. Priti is going to be surprised seeing you, make it fun!" Wahi suggested as Kabir smirked, "Of course. Where there's Kabir, there's fun." 
"Good." Ajay gave him a thumbs-up. 

Kabir was about to speak when something erratic happened.

From the clear sky, a splash of orange juice dropped right in front of his figure, ruining his white panjabi.
"What the heck!" Atif gasped, moving away and looking at the sky. 
"Did it rain orange juice?!" Wahi gasped as Kabir stood there, dumbfounded. 
He looked at his panjabi to see it completely ruined. 
"Oh my god, baba! What happened?!" An elderly woman approached them, looking surprised. She must've witnessed the peculiar incident. 

"How did that- oh no. It must've been some naughty kid." She gave Kabir a sympathetic look and called, "Adil! Ei Adil!" 
A young boy, probably in his 12s, rushed towards them from the house, giving Kabir a confused look. 
"Is that a new trend?" Wahi and Ajay started laughing at his silly question. Kabir thinned his lips. 
"Shut up. Escort this brother inside and give him a spare panjabi.. oh no. I have to see who did this." She quickly went back, a few other relatives giving Kabir sympathetic looks. 

Kabir felt as if his brain was malfunctioning. What the fuck had just happened? He could've never guessed.

He could've sworn he'd never wear a white kurta to any function. Never again.

And the next thing Kabir knew, his friends had abandoned him, rushing off to somewhere and he was put into some area of the house where decorators were doing their thing. Adil rushed away somewhere with his kurta while he stood there with his white sleeveless t-shirt and white pants. 

"Please no one comes in. God, please." He mentally whispered. 

That was the moment a woman approached him, startling the shit out of him. He was perplexed at her words and assumptions. 
But he couldn't even blame her. No guest would visit a function looking like that. 

And his friends, being the devils they were, added fuel to the fire. 

It was probably the most bizarre thing to ever happen to him. 

"Uh..." The woman, in front of him, gave the men a deadly look and sighed, "I'm sorry uh... I-" 
Kabir stared at her, giving a glance to the 3 men standing beside them.
"Nisha, we were just playing around! You should've looked at this stupid's face!" Ajay started laughing, pointing at Kabir as the others started laughing as well. 

Kabir stared at Nisha, in her blue salwar kameez and vibrant warm pink lipstick. Something in her face glowed. 

Even in pictures, that wasn't so visible.

Standing across from this woman went so different than he could've ever thought. Her face was red — embarrassment and regret evident in the two chocolate wells under her long lashes. 
She raised her hand slightly, her mouth parting to say something but seeing her halt, Kabir smirked. 

It was like a sudden occurrence, that both confused and amused him.

He was drawn. And it wasn't only the woman's beauty that contributed to it.

"I-I'm so sorry." She quickly added, her eyes meeting his. He raised a brow, "Want to watch me wear clothes now?"
"W-What?!" She gasped as he gestured at the kurta in his hand through his eyes. She immediately turned around, murmuring an apology. 
Kabir smiled, quickly wearing the panjabi and cleared his throat, not bothering much about the 4 pairs of eyes staring at them.
"Did Nisha-pi do something?" Adil asked as Kabir smiled, "Kiddo, go now. I'll tell you later."
"What? I'm not a kiddo, I can listen." Adil insisted but Ajay walked towards him, holding his shoulder, "Mr Anwar, please. Let me guide you out."

"B-But-" Adil was interrupted by his sister's stare. He sighed, letting Ajay drag him elsewhere. 

Kabir stared at Nisha, waiting for her to say something. 
She fiddled with her fingers for a moment and took a deep breath, her hesitant expression easing slightly. 
"I'm sorry for the inconvenience, Mr Kabir. This was a misconception. Thanks to some monkeys and donkeys around, I might've been rude. I apologize." She spoke, in the politest way ever. 

A frown coated her face when Kabir scoffed in response.

"Either way, you did insult me for quite some time. And chose to believe these assholes who were lying. Well, can't help it if you're naturally that dumb." He spoke. 
His statement irked something in her. She stared at him blankly, holding in a few words of protest. 
"Excuse me?" She asked. Wahi and Atif looked at one another and said, "Sorry, Nisha. We'll make it up later. Bye!" 
They ran away as she stared at the door, frowning. 

"I'm not dumb. I just... sometimes, when you're deeply angry, things might go wrong. And, may I ask why you were standing half-naked in this area?" She asked. 
Kabir frowned, "Half-naked?" 
"Yes." She nodded casually, making the man sigh, "It wasn't half-naked. I had to take off my kurta and hand it to Adil because magically, orange juice fell on my kurta from nowhere." 

Nisha stared at him for a moment, processing his words and everything seemed to click in.

Seeing her strange expression, he wondered if she knew something. She cleared her throat, "Anyway... that's quite crazy. Must've been someone's mistake. I'll investigate that. Don't worry. I apologize for my rude behaviour, workers these days are so frustrating I lose track. Since you're our guest, I'll help you if you need me in any way." 

He nodded, satisfied. 
"Okay." He noticed how her cheeks had reddened.

He couldn't help but continuously notice her facial features. Her chocolate brown eyes depicted the beautiful things confining deep within a soul, her plump lips coated in lipstick, and her thick brows complimented her long and volume lashes. Her tan skin glowed under the light of the room. 

He took slow steps towards her as she looked down, backing away a little. 
He stopped at an appropriate distance, leaning closer to her face and squinted his eyes. She seemed flustered at his action, her eyes turning wider. 

"Pagal." He whispered and sighed, straightening his back and walking away. 
"What did he just call me-"
"Crazy." A worker said from beside her as she flinched slightly, glaring at him.
"Did I call you here to work or translate? I know basic Bengali!" Nisha scolded as the man frowned, walking away. 
She fisted her hands, frowning deeply.

"I get it I was too confused! But how dare he- that disrespectful little-" Nisha groaned.

Kabir got out of the room and smiled when the elder woman from before called him. He joined the others and smiled at Atif, Ajay and Wahi who stayed away from him. The smile held a different sort of warning.
He'd hold their funeral today if he got the chance.

He watched Priti ask the aunts worriedly as she looked at Kabir, giving him a soft smile. She had been so surprised when he first entered. 
She probably didn't get the chance to tell her bullheaded sister about it, he thought. Otherwise, no person would intentionally stir up such an unnecessary act and embarrass themselves.

———

"You didn't tell me that!" Nisha complained.
"I clearly called you so many times. And, are you blind? Fine, you never saw Kabir's photo but it's common sense. Does he look like he was here to work in any way? You don't even know the worker's faces." Priti whisper-shouted, making Nisha thin her lips.
"To begin with, I couldn't recognize most faces. And... which workers wear-" 
"Shut up. You always do this. The last time, you ended up shouting at one of my friends thinking it was them who stole your purse. You're so bullheaded." 

"Look... I feel awful and I know I was wrong. But he was rummaging through the flowers. Maybe not rummaging but he was touching the flowers and I saw a few torn on the floor. Whether he's a worker or not, he was ruining the flowers."
"And?" Priti cocked an eyebrow.
"And... he said I'm a crazy woman." 

Priti's stern look dissipated as she started laughing, confusing Nisha.

"Excuse me?!" Nisha asked, her sister continued laughing like a madman, "Deserved, honestly. He was so right."
"Shut up!" Nisha walked out of the room, to get called by her mother. 

"Maa?" She asked, standing across from the table. The guests were sitting there. 

Atif, Ajay and Wahi were on the couch, chatting with a few of Nisha's cousins. She watched them with a small smile until her eyes caught Adil sitting on Kabir's lap. 

"Nisha moni, come here." She cringed when her mother repeated.

'Moni' was a term used with names of people to address them with affection. Nisha, though sometimes appreciated it, was usually against her mom calling her these in front of guests.
"She's so beautiful." Sham's mother commented as she smiled, "Of course. I take after Priti and my mother." 
One of the guests she didn't recognize said, "Are you younger than Priti?"
"Yeah, 2 years younger." 

"Woah... then she's next!" The woman spoke as her mother smiled, "Truly, 3 of my children are daughters. It's sad to let them go."
"I feel the same about mine." Sham's mother spoke, sympathetically pulling Sham's sister, Soha, closer to her.
"Ay, Nisha. Serve the youngers some coke. They're all sitting there." Her mother whispered as she nodded, heading to the kitchen.

"Kire, Bindu." She looked at their house-help who sighed, "Too many people, too much work!" 
She laughed slightly at her complaint, "Leave half of the dishes, I'll do them. Maa ordered me to help you every day." 
"That's why I still work here." She said, her voice laced with satisfaction.

Nisha took the tray of glasses and entered the living room, right beside the decorated area—the place where she experienced the most bizarre incident of her life. 

She felt a pair of eyes watching her actions. 
"Here, you can drink some coke from here." She spoke when Atif almost got up from his seat, "Wait- I'll pour it." 
"Please add poison if available," Wahi added from beside making her laugh.

She poured some cola into an empty glass and handed it to Atif who grinned at her, "I can see your food, shut your mouth." 
Nisha scrunched her face in disgust, glancing at the figure near her holding Adil. 
"Nisha-pi, give me some." Adil asked as Nisha raised a brow, "Get yours on your own."
"Please!" Adil whined, making her scoff.

She poured a glass and handed it to him, her eyes meeting another dark pair for a nanosecond. 
"Me too!" Ajay spoke, making her sigh.
"After all the pain you guys put me through, you don't deserve the hospitality." She poured the glasses one by one, handing them to everyone.
"We're your guests." 
"Yeah, the only reason you're alive right now," Nisha warned. 

They all looked at each other. Nisha looked at Kabir and realized he was the only one she didn't serve yet. 

She took a deep breath, forwarding the glass to him.
"Only this much?" He frowned.
"Huh?" 
She had filled the glass nearly as full. What did he mean?

"I like my coke... 3 millimetres less than the glass capacity." His atrocious demand made her restrain a scoff. The others were staring at them so intensely that she felt holes being pierced at her back. Yet, she poured some more until it was almost overflowing and cautiously brought it to him.
"Mm... thanks." He took a sip of the coke while Adil watched the two figures before and behind him, enjoying his drink. 

Kabir kept the drink aside, uninterested in it as Nisha spoke, "If anyone needs anything, feel free." 
"Of course," Atif spoke, eating so rashly that he seemed inhumane.
"The food won't run away," Wahi commented, making him roll his eyes.

Not much later, Nisha was running errands for her mother, serving the guests and helping around. Being born into a brown family meant considering guests so important, no other culture could ever understand. 

Yet, Nisha was used to all this though it often invaded her personal space.

She stood near the bathroom and sighed, watching people walk around everywhere. 
"This is tiring." She wiped her sweat with her dupatta, observing her sister and the guests. Priti had a soft smile on her face, radiating happiness and apprehension.
"I hope her marriage goes well..." Nisha whispered, leaning against the wall when a voice from beside her spoke, startling her, "I hope that too."

She turned her head immediately, her eyes wider than a tennis ball, "What the f—"
"Oh woman, mind your tongue. We have elders here." Kabir spoke, making her frown.
"Excuse me... when did you-"
"You were too engrossed in thoughts, I guess. So you didn't notice." 

Nisha thinned her lips, glancing at the figure beside her. He was tall and also had a great body, weirdly. And he was probably her senior too, so she'd better stay away. 
Unlike how she was free with Atif, Ajay and Wahi, she never saw Kabir. 

5 years ago, when her sister disclosed to Nisha about her love affair, she'd only known 4 new people and Kabir wasn't one of them. 

How one perceived you often depended on how you carried yourself. And he carried himself confidently, from what she had seen in the past few hours. 

Yet, she was mad about the fact he tore a few flowers. Those were preciously taken care of by Nisha since morning.

And after all those analyses and overthinking...

He was eccentric, she concluded.