"You are supposed to be my best friend! So it is your moral responsibility to help me!" Jay addressed Sanyukta.

"What do you want me to do in this situation?" She asked.

"Help call off my wedding!" Jay's expression made her laugh.

"How dare you laugh? You are supposed to be jealous that your best friend is getting hitched to some random girl. And you are supposed to help break it up just like Julia Roberts did in that movie about her best friend's wedding!" Jay sounded out of breath.

"Shut up, Jay! Urvashi is a lovely girl, you two look good together and your families are of similar status! Then what is the problem?" Sanyukta meticulously brushed off some lint on Jay's sherwani.

"The problem is, my Yuvrani, that I am not sure I want to marry her. I'd much rather spend my life with you instead, that is, if you are willing to ditch your mystery man. Help me, please!" Jay held Sanyukta's palms in his own.

"You know what Jay, I am very certain she is the girl for you and that you will find true happiness soon after you are married. You are just nervous, you need to train your mind to accept Urvashi in your heart!" Sanyukta smiled encouragingly.

"Did you find true happiness after leaving everything to be with your whatchamacallit? No Sanyukta, then you would not have to hide your relationship status from the world and there would be no dark circles around your lovely eyes!" Jay looked her in the eye.

"Jay, life is not meant to be a perfect score. You win some, you lose some! I walked away from my parents to find what I was looking for and when I did, it came with certain conditions. I have accepted the imperfections. You circumstances are different. Stop comparing our lives!" Sanyukta sighed. She knew Jay would not relent easily.

"You and I, we will be perfect together. We understand each other so well, and I'd never hide you under a rock, I'd flaunt you for the world to see!" Jay persisted.

"Am I the only one you had this fantasy about? Stop whining, Jay! Your haldi ceremony is due in minutes, so stop this nervous banter already! Manav and Roxanne texted, they cannot be here tonight but will surely attend your wedding!" Sanyukta ran her fingers through her soft tresses. Drama came naturally to Jay, she was used to it.

"Did you ever imagine Roxanne will be reduced to the role of a domestic goddess? She was the hottest girl of our batch, and now she is a busy mother to that brute's twins!" Jay blurted out.

"Is that not natural progression? She is enjoying wedded bliss, for sure!" Sanyukta glanced at the antique clock on the wall, it was nearly time.

"Unlike you, that's for sure too!" Jay added, just before his sister entered the room.

"Sanyukta, thank God you are here, please talk some sense into this foolish boy!" Urmila looked like a dream, dressed in a royal Chanderi tissue saree and jadau jewellery.

"Urmila, you look stunning!" Sanyukta remarked. Urmila knew how to stand out in a crowd, she had been a TV star for many years.

"Thanks Sanyukta! I love your look too!" She complimented Sanyukta on the drape of her golden muga silk mekhela chador.

"Please follow me, I need your help. And Jay, come down within ten minutes, accompanied with the groomsmen! Don't keep us waiting!" Urmila led Sanyukta downstairs.

"He made his last ditch appeal, did he not?" Urmila asked cautiously.

"You know your brother, he loves to act as much as you do!" Sanyukta laughed.

"That may be so, but he still has a lingering crush on you. Anyway, he knows what he must do, he is sensible enough, I trust!" Urmila asserted.

"He's a hopeless romantic, but he and I can only be friends, nothing more. You always knew that, Urmila!" They had reached the ornately decorated Durbar Hall of the family's ancestral palace.

In a few minutes Jay followed them downstairs. He looked dapper in ethnic clothes and carried a ceremonial dagger. The photographers clicked away as he took his place in the centre of the room.  

Five married women used a mortar and pestle to grind turmeric to a fine powder and this was then mixed with sandalwood, rose water and coconut cream till it formed a mixture smooth enough to be applied on skin.

Beginning with his mother, his sister and cousins, followed by other female relatives used mango leaves to dab the haldi on Jay's limbs and face. There was plenty of laughter as the harassed groom gingerly resisted their attempt to paint him yellow. 

"Come Sanyukta, it is your turn now!" Urmila said.

Sanyukta carefully dipped the tips of the mango leaves in the ubtan and touched them on Jay's cheeks, arms and feet, followed by feeding him a piece of cashew burfi.

The groom-to-be was then given a ceremonial bath, accompanied with fun and frolic. The leftover haldi was sent across for the bride, whose ceremony was being held in another part of the palace.

A freshly bathed and changed Jay sat on the ceremonial baithak while his cousins kept him busy with their chatter and clicking of photographs. Sanyukta sat quietly among the ladies, with Urmila humouring her every now and then. She tried to keep herself occupied by clicking pictures with her phone and sending them to their college group.

Although she had been introduced around as his classmate she invited curious glances as she was the only female among the crowd of Jay's male friends. 

"Just ignore them, unless you want matchmakers to hitch you with someone!" Urmila whispered before she walked across to her husband to exchange a few words.

"Actually I am engaged, the boy is abroad on assignment and we shall marry as soon as he returns!" Sanyukta had no choice but to lie. She had taken care to sport her solitaire ring as proof of her engagement.

Mercifully for her the snacks and beverage service began and Urmila beckoned her to join the family on their table.

"Charmed to meet you finally, young lady! Jay speaks very highly of you!" Vijayendra, Urmila's husband broke the ice. Sanyukta recognised him, he was Urmila's co-star once and also hailed from a noble family in Maharashtra.

"Try these goolar kebabs! And what is this, you are not drinking? A glass of wine for the young lady!" Vijayendra summoned a bearer who offered a wine glass to Sanyukta.

"I prefer vegetarian!" Sanyukta declined the kebab politely. Jay immediately called for a vegetarian platter for her. 

"These dahi kebabs and jackfruit yam tikkis are brilliant, you have to try them, I insist!" Jay plied her and her resistance melted. Jay was right, the snacks were truly scrumptious. Sanyukta sipped her champagne slowly, savouring the bubbles. 

"Since it is tradition for the wedding meal to be vegetarian, we have a meat feast and an open bar during the haldi ceremony! But looks like my brother has decided to go vegetarian to keep you company!" Urmila noted.

"Jay, kya baat hai, you have gone off meat?" Vijayendra asked.

"Until the wedding! I don't want to pig out and feel bloated. It is hard to smile at the camera when one has indigestion!" Jay slid into the seat next to Sanyukta as his sister rose to attend to some guests.

"You are doing fine, just keep up the spirit!" Sanyukta whispered to him.

"I tried telling her that I have dated plenty of girls before, but she does not seem to care!" Jay whined.

"Why should she, as long as it is your past! Besides, how do you know if she hasn't dated boys before?" Sanyukta laughed.

"Are you kidding? She probably still wears a chastity belt, and the keys hangs around her mother's neck! And I am supposed to be her first! Yikes!" Jay shuddered.

"Tell me something I don't know about traditional Indian mores. Jay, is that why you are panicking? Because she is inexperienced?" Sanyukta could not help but ask.

"Not just that, her clan believes in raising their girls clueless. If she is upset with something I do she'll probably go back sobbing to her folks. I don't think I can handle that!" He smiled for a picture being snapped.

"Shut up, Jay! Give her some credit, she too has to put up with your stupid mood swings! She will learn if she has not yet, and it is your job to help her! Nobody's perfect! Both have to grow in it if a marriage has to work!" She picked up another glass of champagne.

"Hello, there is such a thing as compatibility! We've not been matched for that!" Jay persisted.

"There's also another thing called adaptability. Everyone knows they have to change a bit to make a relationship work! So chill, and enjoy your own wedding, or you'll appear constipated in the wedding pictures." Sanyukta left him behind to help herself to a simple meal of pithla and bhakri at the buffet. She needed her beauty sleep, that was her valid excuse to retire to bed early.

Her feet automatically carried her back to her room. She cast off her clothes and accessories, cleansed off her makeup and took a long shower before getting into her sleepwear.

As she stepped out of the bathroom she was stunned to see a slightly drunk Jay lying on her bed.

"Jay, you idiot, what are you doing here?" She nearly shouted. It was not a good idea to have him in there with her.

"Why did you not tell me you were involved with Randhir Shekhawat? There are nearly a dozen missed calls from him! No man calls a girl that many times this late unless it is something very personal!  " Jay sounded surprisingly sober.

"You stalking me now?" Sanyukta blurted out, trying to grab her phone from his hand.

"So I am right. Now it's my turn to call you an idiot. Did you not know that this man got engaged to the heiress Sara Ranawat in a very classy ceremony a couple of days ago? What's going on, Sanyukta?" Jay stared at Sanyukta as is she had committed a crime.

"Jay, please, I cannot explain, it is complicated!"Sanyukta fumbled. She knew Jay would not stop at that.

"So you are involved with him! A man who is about to marry a suitable girl chosen by his parents, just like mine found me one! Are you going to come clean or not?" Jay insisted.

"Firstly, Jay, I don't owe you an explanation. Secondly, you are getting married tomorrow, it is not proper for you to be here at this hour. Please leave!" Sanyukta's tone was soft, almost defeated.

"You know me better than that Yuvrani! I am not leaving until I know the truth. And I hardly care about what anyone has to say about finding me here!" Jay pulled her by the wrist and sat her down beside him.

"It is a long, complicated story, Jay, some other time, I promise!" Sanyukta tried hard to fight back the tears that threatened to flow down her cheeks.

"Do you really think I can get married to some girl tomorrow if you are in this state tonight? Yuvrani, I will not get married until I am certain that we have no chance of being together!" Jay wrapped his arm around her and she leaned into him, her tears flowing freely now.

"We cannot be together because I am already married, Jay, to the same guy!" Sanyukta sobbed.

"What the hell? Did you marry in some filmy style, when he put sindoor in your maang in some deserted temple one dark night? That's not even legal! Are you stupid?" Jay was alarmed. What shenanigans had this girl gotten herself into? He had to know.

"No Jay, we had a proper ceremony, and even registered our marriage!" No sooner had Sanyukta mentioned a marriage Jay recoiled from her, as if he had seen a venomous snake.

"You are this guys wife? And you are ok with him getting publicly engaged to some rich woman? Are you for real or am I hearing the script for some badly made Hindi soap?" Sanyukta wept silently and Jay hated the idea of seeing her in this state. He had to get all the hard facts tonight.