Kiran : pronounced as Keee-Run 

Arya : Aaar-Yeah

Shruti :  Shru - Tee

Karan : Kuh - Run

Yaar= buddy in Hindi.
Arre = Oiii!!

***********

Audible deep breaths.

Car honks.

Cycle Bells.

Roadside vendors .

These were the sounds that could be heard inside the car as the white Fortuner stood at the traffic signal a good 2 kilometers away from The Marriott.

Kiran was still sitting in the same position she got back up after falling back when Shruti let go of the brakes too hard.

Arya was looking out of the window, taking deep breaths in. She was trying to wrap her head around the things that just happened, and how it might throw all her planned schedule for a toss. After all, she hated uncertainties and unseen changes in her plans. Shruti was sipping on the water from her bottle, calming herself and slowly feeling happy that she , and surprisingly Arya too, helped in helping Kiran run away. 

Shruti looked at Arya . She was 100% sure Arya will not turn up. Long distance friendship was not an easy thing. And so was long distance travel for matters like weddings. Or birthdays. Or funerals.

"I am surprised to see you." Shruti stated to Arya.

Arya turned to her , "Oh ! Seeing me is surprising to you ? What the heck was all that about? That was surprising, not me turning up for my best friend's wedding!"

"Yeah right, like you always turn up." Shruti mumbled.

"Hey! I was in a rough time myself then, okay? And I have apologized a gazillion times for that! Grow up and let it go!" Arya stated loudly.

"Oh yeah, grow up! You grow up! You were not there when I needed you the most, you bi-"

"SHRUTI! LANGUAGE!" Kiran scolded her from the back as Arya glared at Shruti.Clearly Shruti has not forgiven her. And Arya still thought that Shruti was completely self-obsessed as she never understood the reason why Arya could not be physically present when she needed her. 

Fuming noses and puffed cheeks could be seen on the faces of both Arya and Shruti.

"Sorry." mumbled Shruti as she accelerated the car at the Green traffic light.

"Not okay." mumbled Arya crossing her hands across her chest, turning to look out the window. 

A few moments passed after which Arya spoke up ,"Please don't wait for some auspicious time to start telling me about what happened back there, okay?"

Kiran sighed while Shruti thought it was about time to tell Arya the plan that she and Kiran had come up with the night before.

Shruti began, "She did not want to get married . So she ran away. And I , ......and you helped her."

"I need details." Arya ordered authoritatively.

Kiran sighed and began, "There was .......I just....." and then she let out an audible breath and continued while Arya waited patiently to hear her, "I did not want to marry him, Karan, he was..."

She was about to continue but she stopped midway when she heard giggles coming from the front of the car.

"It is NOT FUNNY OKAY?" She loudly proclaimed as Arya and Shruti started laughing hard.

"I am sorrrrrry....."Shruti said in between her laughs as Arya tried her best to control hers.

"Kiiiiiiii-rannnn.......Kaaaaaa-rannnnnnnn" Arya said in a sing-song manner.

"It is not funny! Stop it yaar!"

"If they would have gotten married, and would have had kids, then .....there kids names would have beeeeeeen........" asked Shruti to which Arya replied  laughing , "KeeeeKaaaaaa...."

".............or Run-run .....hahahaahah" Shruti added as they burst out laughing while Kiran's cheeks puffed up with anger.

Arya looked back at her and stopped laughing immediately, but couldn't help let a squeak out as she said, "Okay.....sorry , sorry. Go ahead, please ...."

"Yeah, so I was saying that Karan..."

Shruti giggled again as Kiran scolded loudly , "SHRUTI!"  to which Shruti replied with a feeble 'Sorry.'

"I loved him , once. But slowly , I started realizing that he was not the guy I would like to spend the rest of my life with. He was........it felt like ......once the day of our wedding started coming close, I started seeing a new side of him. And I started realizing , slowly, that this was definitely not the person I fell in love with. " Kiran had now gone in her own world as she started describing her ordeal as Shruti drove and Arya held Kiran's hands.

"And I just.....I tried denying it , for a long time. But yesterday , yesterday it was as if a bucket of cold water was splashed on me and I woke up and realized that I was getting married, to him. And for the first time, I was scared. Not of getting married, but of having to live my entire life with that kind of  a person. And his family. And I just snapped. It was all of a sudden that my heart and brain and every organ in my body said - No! No, I can't go ahead with this marriage. And I just decided, I just took the decision that I have to run away.

This would be my only chance. Otherwise every day for the rest of my life , I would be cursing myself. 

And then I called Shruti and told her that I needed to run away , and she had to help me with it ........."

Then Shruti began , "At first I thought they were wedding jitters, but then she told me everything , and I thought if I do not help her run away , I will be cursing myself for the rest of my life."

"Everything as in ? Tell me too." Arya requested. 

"Since sometime, I felt , I felt as if Karan was trying to be controlling me. Whatever I did , it had to meet his nod first. And at first I was naive, and I thought 'Oh it's so cute, he is just so protective about me!' but then slowly I found that I was wrong. Everything I would do would have to be what 'the daughter-in-law of our house is respected to do' according to his mother. Heck, even his mother was trying to control him and me. She freaking wanted kids in the very first year!

For heaven's sake, she even freaking picked out this dress for me! No doubt it is damn beautiful , but this is my own wedding ,and I wanted to wear another dress , which was not red in colour, and the damn bitch ..."

"LANGUAGE!" Shruti said back.

Kiran paused for a few moments before speaking up , "..........I am sorry I cannot find any synonym of 'bitch', so let it be. So that damn bitch of my soon-to-be mother-in-law said that only Red coloured clothes are allowed for the bride. I freaking hate red and here I am drowning in it! Just because she wanted me to wear it." Kiran finished frustrated thinking about the past.

"What was the colour of the dress you chose?" Arya asked calmly.

"Blue!" Shruti exclaimed.

"Your favourite colour." Arya stated as Kiran nodded.

"So had you ever tried to talk to Karan about his manipulative behaviour?"

"I realized just a week back that the type of behaviour that Karan had was called 'manipulative' and not 'protective' like how I had thought so. By that time it was too late. I thought maybe I was just being scared, but then yesterday it all became way too real.

I was in my room, all alone for the first time in days, and I was reading a book and suddenly I started thinking about all this, and I realized , 'Crap! This is not the kind of life-partner I want!' and it was , it was as if God wanted me to open my eyes for once and for all, that bitch messaged me about things that Karan and I should try , to have and I quote 'a fair and lovely, healthy and chubby baby boy ' by this time next year!Not only does that bitch want to control my sex life, she has already determined the sex of my first child.

BITCH! I want a daughter! 

So, I just knew I had to run away, and obviously mom-dad were not going to understand my point of view due to the extremely good impression Karan and his family had put on them , so I called Shruti , and then she planned all this."

"What all did you plan? And how?" Arya asked Shruti.

"I knew that getting an Indian bride out is harder than trying to break through the Prime Minister's security. So we used what the TV serials taught us - melodrama.I asked her to get ready like how it was already planned and then I would make sure that she would get a clear way out. 

Once she was ready, she messaged me . And then I came in and told all the cousins and everyone who had gathered in her room that I would like to spend some time along with her , you know - 'my best friend is getting married, let me just sit with her for sometime and calm her down before the big event and spend a few moments with her, as after her marriage she will be all for her husband and in-laws only' and all that stuff.  

And then they said that I should first go and change for the wedding , but thank God I had thought it out and so I told them that I will change in a few minutes. And everyone from her room left.

And the good thing was that only her room and her parents rooms were on that floor. The guests were on the upper floor. So all I needed to do was make sure uncle-aunty do not see her. 

So I told them that Karan's brother has come upstairs and he wanted to talk with them about something important, and so they rushed upstairs, and all her cousins - I told them that her parents have gone upstairs and that they need some help with some arrangements, and so her cousins rushed upstairs.

Then  I messaged her as I ran out and came downstairs to get the car, and after peeking out of her room and seeing a clear path, she ran downstairs. 

And then you came along and helped us. "

Kiran spoke up as soon as Shruti finished, "Thank you Arya, you came right on time. Otherwise I don't know what would have happened."

"You would have still managed to run away, I am sure. No worries." Arya said slowly.

"Always the optimist..." Shruti mumbled.

"This optimism is the only reason why I have come this far Shruti. You should try it sometimes." Arya said.

"Arya, I really did not think that you would make it." Kiran stated from the back.

"Hmpf! I wouldn't miss my best friend's wedding now, would I ?"

"It's good to see you." Shruti said looking at Arya for a moment. Arya nodded back at her.

"So what's the plan now?" Arya asked, "Clearly we can't keep driving all day for the rest of our lives, so ....what now?"

"Honestly, we hadn't thought this far ahead. We had just thought that we would keep our suitcases and other necessities in the car the night before , and go away from the city for a while. But where, and till when , no idea." Shruti informed.

"Alright, so you guys run away from the city. Then what? What will you when you come back? Clearly she will have to face her family one day!" Arya replied.

"Yeah, but that day isn't today , or a few days from now." Kiran said, looking out of the window.

And then , Kiran's face lit up like a firecracker as an idea came to her mind, "HA! GUYS ! GUYS , GUYS, GUYS!!!" She shouted poking her face between the seats in the front.

"What?" Arya and Shruti asked at the same time.

"Remember that road trip we never went on?" Kiran asked , hoping that a tubelight would light up in their minds.

"There were a gazillion road trip plans that we never put into action , Kiran." Arya stated.

"Arrreeee....no.....like , the 'Before any of us get married, we will go on a road-trip, like a bachelorette '  road-trip plan yaar!" Kiran informed happily.

"Yeah , but now no one is getting married na, so what's the point of that road-trip....."Arya stated deliberately to annoy Kiran. She knew where Kiran was going with it.

"Arya yaaaaar....."Kiran nudged Arya as she turned to Shruti and asked, "Shruti , come na. Let's do it. Let's get out of here, the three of us together, and just enjoy some time. I mean, it's been years since we even sat together in a car yaar! Please Please Pleeeeeeease!!!!" 

"Well, I am not flying back until next month so.......okay...." Shruti stated .

"Arya , please say yes, pleeease!!!" Kiran begged Arya.

"I am leaving in 6 days to go to Singapore. I have a meeting there, Kiran." Arya informed them solemnly. However, deep inside , there was a part of her that wanted to take a break. It's been years since she actually took a break with her friends. She could use some of that right now, but her work was also important.

"Party pooper." mumbled Shruti looking at Arya who hit her on her shoulders.

"I am sorry Kiran." Arya said as she saw Kiran's smile turn upside down.

"Come with us for a few days! Please! I mean, can't you do a video meeting or something like that? Please, please pleaseeeeeeeeeee Arya." Kiran pleaded , coming up with her cutest pout.

Arya sighed. 

"Ok. Let's see what I can do." 

Arya had not even finished her statement when Kiran squealed and hugged her tightly.

"Thank you thank you thank youuuuuuuuuuu...." Kiran said.

"Anything for you ." Arya mumbled as she patted Kiran's hands that were wrapped around her.

"Hey! Where's my hug , huh?" Shruti complained.

"You don't get any hug! Driver, keep driving, no hugs for you ." Arya mock-scolded Shruti as Kiran laughed, but then eventually hugged Shruti , which made Shruti to show her tongue to Arya, who did the same. 

"So what's the plan ?" Arya asked .

"Our clothes are with us . What about you ?" Shruti asked.

"At my hotel ." Arya informed .

"Guys, I need to change . Plus , I can't travel with all this jewelry . " Kiran spoke up looking down at all the Jewellry that she was wearing .

"Well, what we can do is that we can go to my hotel room and Kiran can change there .But what about the jewelry? Do you have any place safe to keep it ? Like .....the bank ? A locker in the bank , maybe?" Arya asked .

"Yeah. Yeah , actually I have a locker in a bank here . I can easily put these jewelry there for the time being .  And I don't think my fam-jam will be looking for me at the bank today. So it will be safe for me to go there , right?"

Arya hummed while Shruti said ," So we can go to your room , get Kiran to change and then while you pack ,I can take her to the bank and get the work done there and then we can come pick you up , watsay?"

"Sounds okay. " Arya said.

Suddenly , in a deep voice and raising her hands in the air animatedly ,  Kiran spoke ,"It's better than okay , Zack .  It's AWARD WINNING!"

Shruti and Arya sighed at the One Direction reference Kiran just pulled off . Clearly , that band was still in her heart . And mind.

Seeing her friends' usual reaction, Kiran started singing out the lyrics of "Best Song Ever " as Arya directed Shruti to take her to her hotel ASAP so that she can get rid of Kiran's pathetic singing voice.

"I would like to keep my ear safe! Drive fast!" Arya instructed as Shruti sped up , clearly wanting to protect her own ears as well .

And to the sounds of the horrific voice of Kiran , they sped off to Arya's hotel .

*******
DUN DUN DUN .......ANOTHER CHAPTER IS UP !!

https://youtu.be/o_v9MY_FMcw

ANY ONE DIRECTION FANS OUT THERE???????? KIRAN GIVES YOU ALL A HIGH - FIVEEEEEE!!!!

HOW WAS THE CHAPTER !???

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ALL THE LOVE ,
~INOLAS