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khwxbeeda · 10 months

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The Almost Wedding: Ch. II

Krushna had passed the limit of “fashionably late” a long time ago, and the limits of giving a fuck an even longer time ago.

The news of Tanishka agreeing to marry Chaitanya had been making the media rounds for the last two months without any signs of becoming old news— the eldest child of a film mogul and the younger brother of a famous Indian-European actress was the match of the year for the young generation of India, and the public had been going crazy over the two of them being seen holding hands and going on dates.

Three weeks ago, Krushna had been sent an invitation for an event being held to introduce Chaitanya Kulkarni to Arjun and Tanishka’s extended family with a postscript from Arjun that said he had to come whether he wanted to or not. Krushna had replied with an affirmation of his attendance, curious to get to know the man that had managed to meet the high standards of his best friend’s older sister.

He was regretting that right now.

Why did the event have to be on the day before Christmas, and why did it have to be in the evening? The celebrations were in full swing all throughout the city, and the traffic of Pune had been horrific. He had spent half an hour being stuck in the same place on the way to the venue, simply because the traffic had refused to bloody move forward. It was the insipid icing on the unpalatable cake that was the entirety of today. He was tired and drained and had nowhere near enough energy to deal with more than three people right now, but here he was, stepping out of his car after an hour of suffering through traffic and nodding in thanks to the valet for opening the door.

He took a deep breath in and released it as his chauffeur drove away and out of sight, and lifted his chin to rake a gaze over the expansive, beautiful building.

The Ritz Carlton, Pune.

He remembered first coming here for a formal event with his sister and mother three weeks after it had been opened to the public, sitting awkwardly wearing a suit he did not feel comfortable in, listening to Rukmini and Aai talk with various business associates that had smiled at him condescendingly while asking him how his school was going. The second time he had come here, it was a few months ago with his friends from Milan to celebrate his own twenty-fourth birthday, and that had been one of the best experiences ever.

Now here he was for the third time, celebrating the betrothal of a woman he did not particularly like. Curse his curiosity— Arjun had talked about the Kulkarni siblings and their out-of-this-world beauty so often that Krushna was now very interested in meeting Chandan Kulkarni.

His phone chimed, and Krushna blinked out of his reverie, letting out another exhausted sigh. He unlocked it, and opened IM. Inadvertently, a soft snort climbed up his throat at the text.

Satan and his Gucci Gang

desi regina george

wheres the hot piece of ass 7:37 P.M.

Aharya Jadhav— Arjun’s cousin of the same age, a lawyer, a fashionista, and one of the most chaotic people Krushna knew, second only to Arjun himself. Two people began typing, one of them Arjun, but he raised his eyebrows at the other one. He had been reliably informed that Sarthaki would not be attending the event, having used her broken leg as an excuse to escape the torture. No doubt the annoying little shit was lying on her bed with a bag of chips and a pizza, having fun commenting about them having to suck up to Arjun’s family.

He began walking as his idiots continued to type, through the doors into the luxurious lobby and towards the lifts without bothering to talk to the staff members or check the Events notice board. He already knew where to go.

scared of apples

idfk man he should have been here like two hours ago 7:37 P.M.

bakwaas dictionary

are you seriously calling krush a hot piece of ass?? 7:38 P.M.

Krushna bit his lip to hide his smirk and stepped into the lift, hand rising to press the button for the eighteenth floor without even having to look at it. His thumb flew across the screen of his Samsung, firing off a reply that he knew would piss Sarthaki off.

aal izz well

i mean… arent i 7:39 P.M.

scared of apples

i mean… isnt he 7:39 P.M.

desi regina george

i mean… isnt he 7:39 P.M.

bakwaas dictionary

stfu and go back to your lame party losers 7:40 P.M.

Krushna stifled a laugh as the doors of the lift slid open on the eighteenth floor, right into the entrance for the rooftop bar. He arranged his face into a polite, charming smile and tucked his phone into the pocket of his trousers, checking his reflection in the mirror on the far wall for a second. Makeup was in place, hair was pulled back into a purposely messy half up half down style, and the piercings in his ears gleamed brightly, perfectly matched to the silver brocade of his black kurta.

Good enough.

He straightened his back and stepped out onto the balcony.

Arjun and Aharya descended on him like a flock of vultures amidst the blinding flashes of the paparazzi’s cameras, wrapping themselves around each of his arms and giving him identical sweet smiles that immediately sent alarm bells ringing through his head. He groaned under his breath as they dragged him towards the bar.

“Fuck, please tell me you two chuckleheads didn’t murder someone,” he murmured under his breath, “I do not have the energy to help you hide a body tonight.”

Arjun let out a strained chuckle.

“Nahi,” he gritted out between clenched teeth, a stiff smile stretched over his glossy lips. He looked good, with contour and highlighter accentuating his bone structure and wearing a royal blue silk kurta with matching trousers. The bi flag bead bracelet Krushna had gotten for him when he had first come out was in place as it always was, and it rattled ominously when Arjun dug his fingers almost painfully into Krushna’s biceps. “But I’m extremely fucking close to snapping Tanu Tai’s pretty little neck.”

There was a Marathi phrase for the situation that Tanishka and Arjun were in. Chhattis cha aakda. It literally meant “the number thirty-six”, and implied that three and six would always be at odds with each other due to being complete opposites. Arjun and Tanishka were not entirely different— they were both good looking, frighteningly smart and shared a number of little quirks— but they were always at each other’s throats about literally everything, and it was a 24/7 source of entertainment for their friend group.

“What did she do now?” Krushna asked, leaning back on the bar and turning to give Aharya a chaste kiss on the cheek. She looked beautiful, dressed in a pearly white saree with silver zari and matching blouse, a sterling silver choker around her slender throat and hair piled into a stylish bun with a silver and pearl hairpin. Her makeup was flawless, with glimmering silvery white eyeshadow, white highlighter and soft pink lip gloss. “And Aharya jaan, you look fabulous as always.”

“Thank you, my love. Tanu Tai is showing off her arm candy,” she replied with a roll of her eyes, accepting the glass of champagne that Arjun handed her and leaning back against the bar. “Chaitanya— that’s the husband to be— is pretty and smart, and Arjun has dealt with enough of her bragging about it.”

Arjun scoffed, extending a black glittery cocktail towards Krushna, who took it gratefully. After the day he had just gone through, drink and gossip was the perfect pick me up. He took a sip and hummed in surprised approval at the explosion of blueberry on his tongue.

“And like, I get it okay,” Arjun said, raising his own glass of some violently pink concoction to his lips, “the man is ridiculously pretty and he’s studying physics because he actually bloody likes it, the weirdo.” The last two words are said with affection, and Krushna suddenly remembered that Arjun had spent a lot of time with this mysterious to-be-fiancé of Tanishka’s since the beginning of September. “He deserves to be shown off a little. But god damn can you shut up for like three seconds?”

Aharya stifled her snicker behind her glass, and Krushna grinned.

“He’s approved by both of you?” he said with exaggerated shock, placing a hand to his chin. “This is a tremendous occasion, I simply must meet this mystery man now.”

Arjun and Aharya rolled their eyes as one, already used to his theatrics. “He’s out of Tai’s league, honestly,” Arjun muttered. “I don’t know what he saw in her that he agreed to a marriage, but we all know he’s way out of her league.”

Krushna raised an eyebrow, an amused smirk curling up the edges of his lips. Arjun saying something was out of Tanishka’s league was routine, and so was Krushna and Aharya taking turns to pour gasoline on the dumpster fire that was Arjun and Tanishka’s relationship. “Well, then,” he drawled, “someone, introduce me to this man— what did you say his name was?”

“Chaitanya,” Aharya supplied, dark brown eyes glittering with the same amusement that Krushna was sure he himself was showing. “Chaitanya Kulkarni. I think you might have met his older sister somewhere at your modelling gigs— Charita Kulkarni, that actress who’s based in France.”

He nodded, taking a sip of his cocktail. “Yeah, I worked on that campaign for UNICEF with her two years ago. Excellent woman, and very intelligent. I had no idea she had a sibling.”

“She has three,” Arjun said. “Two brothers and a sister. And all of them are bloody fit. Seriously, it’s actually frustrating. Shame the oldest is married, or I’d have hit on him.”

Krushna and Aharya burst out laughing, attracting the attention of nearby tables before they remembered where they were and toned down the noise.

“You won’t believe the number of times this dude has gone on and on about Chandan, I swear,” Aharya snickered, and Krushna laughed harder, patting her on the shoulder.

“Oh, darling,” he gasped, “I’ve literally been dealing with it every day since the day Tanishka met that fiancé of hers. The first thing he did was call me and whine about how it’s ‘such a shame that Chandan is happily married’ and how he would ‘climb him like a tree if given the chance’, never mind that the man is almost forty.”

Arjun glared at him, and the fact that there was definitely a blush creeping up his neck under all his makeup had Krushna burying his face in Aharya’s shoulder to stop himself from cackling louder.

“I do not whine,” the shorter man grumbled, looking like he was seconds away from stomping his foot. “I do not!”

Krushna could not stop laughing. He leaned against Aharya with an arm wrapped around her waist for support, both of them giggling uncontrollably, stomachs starting to ache with how hard they were trying not to laugh too loud. Arjun groaned through gritted teeth, and folded his arms across his chest and glared at them, leather shoes tapping on the floor.

“Look, do you wanna meet Chaitanya or not?” he asked impatiently.

Krushna sucked in a deep breath and nodded, forcing himself to stop laughing. He elbowed Aharya in the stomach and gave her a look that said shut up, and turned to Arjun with the most demure expression he could manage, making him snort derisively.

“Alright,” he muttered, grabbing his drink to throw the last of it back and setting the empty glass down on the bar. “Come on, Tai has dragged him along for her rounds. Find her, and we find him.”

— — —

Chaitanya stuck his free hand in his pockets and exhaled through his nose, making sure the smile on his face did not look as done-with-this-shit as he felt. Tanishka had her hand tucked into his left elbow, and was smiling charmingly at one of the many old ladies that he had been introduced to and promptly forgotten the names of.

Gods, this was too many people in too little time. He wanted to leave.

He had nothing against Tanishka and her family, of course— they were wonderful people for the most part, except for that one aunt who had asked outright if he was planning to live off of his family’s wealth since the M.Sc in Physics was obviously not of any use— but he really did not have the social capabilities to be dealing with such a large crowd. He had run out of things to say twenty minutes ago, and was simply smiling and nodding along to whatever Tanishka was talking about, not bothering to pay attention to anything.

Chandan, the traitor, was ensconced with a socialite at one of the tables at the corner, deep in conversation about something or the other. Charuta was in Delhi, having left two months ago for her work, and Charita was… nowhere to be seen. Chaitanya furrowed his brows and cast a glance all over the place.

Where’s Ritu Tai?

He scanned the entire place, but no. There was not a single hint of the eye-catching hot pink cocktail dress his sister was wearing. He frowned harder and tapped Tanishka’s arm so she would loosen her grip, and turned around, only to catch Arjun’s eye.

The boy in question grinned and waved, beckoning Chaitanya to join him. Chaitanya shrugged and tilted his head towards Tanishka, who had an iron grip on his elbow and was still talking to the lady. Arjun’s eye roll was visible even from across the pool, and Chaitanya suppressed a grin. He liked Arjun— the boy was hilarious, openly bisexual and an absolute riot. He was what Chaitanya supposed he would have been if he had not been such a bloody introvert.

A few seconds later, Arjun came to a stop right next to him just in time for a couple flashes of blinding white light to go off, reminding him of the presence of the paparazzi. The other boy was accompanied by two people— a pretty woman whose name he could not remember, and the most beautiful man Chaitanya had ever seen in his life.

His eyes were a startlingly bright grey, almost silver in the lights of the restaurant, made even brighter by the silvery smokey eye makeup and diamond sharp winged liner. He was almost a head taller than Chaitanya, with long black hair pulled back into a half up half down style that accentuated his sharp, contoured cheekbones, and full lips covered in transparent glitter gloss. The black kurta with gold brocade that he wore only served to show off his broad shoulders and thick biceps, and his ears were covered in piercings— two standard lobe piercings, a helix on the left ear, and an industrial on the right— gold to match the rest of his outfit.

Krushna Mahajan.

Chaitanya recognised him, from a couple of photos his sister had shown him from that one UNICEF camp again she had done a few years ago, and from a few posts on Instagram that he had seen on his FYP. He was a model and owned his own fashion brand based here in Pune, if Chaitanya remembered correctly.

“Good evening, Tanishka,” the man greeted with a deep, honey-smooth voice, full lips pulling into a smile that was just so on the wrong side of polite that was completely at odds with his pleasant tone, taking in Tanishka’s outfit with the classic Up and Down. “I see you’ve cleaned up nicely.”

There was a ‘for once’ implied at the end of the sentence. Chaitanya raised a brow and looked at Arjun, who winked and silently gestured with his eyes for him to keep watching. He suppressed a smile and acquiesced.

“Krushna,” Tanishka greeted with a ramrod straight back, much less polite. “I don’t remember sending you an invite.”

Chaitanya turned to her, blinking slowly in shock. That was the bluntest he had seen her speak today; she had even been polite to that one aunt Arjun had told him she had loathed since she was a child. Had she suddenly forgotten all her manners? Granted, the man had probably snuck into the party without an invite, but that was no reason to be unpleasant in full view of the guests and cameras. The old lady she had been playing nice with a few moments ago was less than three feet away, for fuck’s sake!

“Actually, Tanu Tai,” Arjun interjected, the promise of chaos written all over his too sharp, too smug smile, “I sent him an invite because you forgot to. After all, he’s practically family, isn’t he?”

Behind him, the beautiful woman smirked and raised her champagne glass to her lips, narrow-eyed gaze focused predatorily on Tanishka. Chaitanya was starting to think that this was an ambush, and that he just had the unfortunate luck of being caught in the crossfire.

Beside him, Tanishka clenched her jaw, plum-painted lips pursing dispassionately. She looked beautiful today, with a deep purple co-ord kurta and palazzo set that matched the tie Chaitanya was wearing, but that prettiness sharpened into something terrifying the moment she glared at Krushna. He decided it was best if he interfered, and hastily stuck a hand out towards Krushna with a small, polite smile.

“Good evening,” he greeted in the most amiable tone he could muster, “it’s nice to meet you. I’m Chaitanya Kulkarni. Tanishka’s boyfriend.”

Krushna’s intense silver stare fixed itself onto him, and the slow, charming grin that curled up his full, glossy lips was positively swoon-worthy. “Oh, they weren’t lying,” he murmured under his breath as he took the offered hand and shook it firmly. “You really are ridiculously beautiful. Hello, Gorgeous. I'm Krushna Mahajan.”

A red hot flush bloomed across Chaitanya’s cheeks, and he squashed down the urge to squirm, ducking his head and letting out an honest to God giggle. He was pretty sure he resembled a tomato, and silently cursed his pale complexion for flushing so easily. “Ah, um,” he stammered, an awkward smile curling up his lips, “not— not really. I’m just⁠― I’m just wearing a bit of makeup.”

Krushna chuckled, smooth and deep and unfairly attractive. “Makeup is not the only thing that makes someone beautiful,” he replied, gazing intently into Chaitanya’s eyes.

The sound of a throat being cleared broke the moment, and he realised Krushna still had a firm grip on his hand. He pulled away with another awkward laugh and turned towards Tanishka, who had her eyes narrowed at Krushna. Her fingernails dug into Chaitanya’s elbow till it was bordering on painful, and he winced, shifting a little so the pressure lessened.

“Ah, my apologies,” Krushna said, his voice very apologetic but the way he narrowed his eyes back at her very much not. “Congratulations on the betrothal, Chaitanya. Tanishka, I’m very happy for you.”

Arjun made an aborted sort of sound, hiding it by turning away, and Chaitanya blinked at him in confusion. Tanishka’s glare focused on her little brother, and the man in question raised his hands with a shrug and a badly hidden shit-eating grin. Chaitanya felt like he was missing about several hundred extremely important details, and he looked at Krushna with a raised eyebrow. The man simply shrugged back, and he felt himself unconsciously tracking the movement of the broad line of his shoulders before turning away and catching the eye of the woman in pearly white.

She winked at him. Chaitanya pursed his lips, feeling his flush return full force, and he blinked, trying to look anywhere except Krushna or the woman.

“Come, Chaitanya,” Tanishka gritted out, adjusting her clothes and tugging on his elbow, almost making him lose his footing. “We have other guests to meet. Arjun and Aharya can keep Krushna entertained.”

With that, he got dragged away before any of them could reply, throwing one last apologetic look back at the three friends.

“Tanishka,” he began, but the woman did not even bother to look at him, and continued to pull him towards whatever part of the restaurant she had her mind on. He sighed and ripped his arm from her grip as gently as he could, exceedingly aware of the cameras on the edges of the room that were eager to click away at any perceived unrest or drama, and gently grabbed her shoulders to turn her around. “Tanishka. Tanishka, wait.”

She glared at him, and he bent down to press a soft kiss to her forehead, and cheered internally when she leaned into the touch instead of pulling away like he was half afraid she would.

“What happened back there?” he murmured, and she shook her head minutely, the look on her face telling him to drop it. He ignored it. He wanted answers. “I’ve never seen you be that rude to anyone— hell, you were nice to that bitch who spilled her coffee on you the other day.”

Tanishka’s lips twisted up, features scrunching up into a poisonous look aimed over his shoulder, and he had an inkling that it was aimed at Krushna. “It’s nothing,” she said curtly. “Don’t concern yourself with it.”

Chaitanya sighed and dragged her closer for a hug, clenching his jaw when he saw a flash go off from the corner of his eyes. He turned them around so the cameras could not get a glimpse of Tanishka’s face, and leaned down to place another kiss on her forehead. “I just wanna know if there’s something I can do to help,” he said softly, running a soothing hand up and down her back.

Tanishka shook her head.

“No,” she whispered, closing her eyes. When she opened them again, Chaitanya was alarmed to see them swimming with mushed tears. He pressed her closer to himself, casting a panicked eye around for Charita. Bloody woman kept disappearing right as he needed her the most.

“Krushna and Arjun go way back,” Tanishka said after taking a second to control herself, words coming out haltingly like she was trying not to choke on her tears. “And they’ve made it their mission to ruin anything and everything for me. They hate me, and they make it known. It’s been like that since I was fifteen.”

Chaitanya stared at her, not knowing how to respond to that. Sure, Arjun had an unusual love for pushing Tanishka’s buttons, and guessing from what he saw right now Krushna was probably not her biggest fan, but that could not possibly mean they hated her. Hell, he and Charita still heckled the eldest two siblings to their limits, but that did not mean they did not love each other.

“I’m sure that—” he began, but Tanishka glared at him and shook her head.

“Let’s not talk about this,” she said, and before he could stop her, she extracted herself from his hug and walked away, the soft jingle of her paayal lost to the sounds of the party. Chaitanya stared after her for a couple seconds, unsure of how to react to this situation.

He exhaled, and ran a hand through his hair.

Maybe it was best that he focused on looking for Charita, rather than whatever sibling rivalry was going on between Tanishka and Arjun, and Krushna.

Tag list: @kanha-sakhi @musaafir-hun-yaaron @orgasming-caterpillar @natures-marvel @yehsahihai @h0bg0blin-meat @mad-who-ra @girlatreus @krisnosura (lmk if you want to be added/removed)

#the almost wedding #amrut writes #chaitanya kulkarni #arjun deshpande #krushna mahajan #tanishka deshpande #aharya jadhav #original characters #original writing #original work #romcom #romance #chaptered fic

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