"Madhu baby, careful! You'll fall!" Lakshmi says as Madhu rans past her.

"Sorry Bhamma!" Madhu yells excitedly as she goes to the garden where Shree's haldi ceremony was happening. Madhav's haldi ceremony was happening at the same time in the backyard, near the kullam. She was wearing a green blouse and a red skirt, with her signature pigtails.

"Chill, Ma!" Ahaana says laughing as her twins: Parth and Pranaya chase after Madhu. "She's excited because her parents are getting married, and like us she's not just in the bride's side, she's in the groom's side too!"

"Yeah and if this were my parent's wedding, then I'd be high like a kid with a sugar rush." Ashok shrugs.

"Plus, this is our Madhu, she's half Shree; she's bound to get to excited." Devi adds as she and Ahaana secretly swallow another Thokkudu Laddu that Lakshmi made.

Madhu was tired as she ran from the backyard to the garden several times. Meow too followed Madhu as she ran back and forth.

"You called, Mumma?" She asks as she sits on the divan next to Shree, who was dressed in a yellow sari and had the turmeric paste smeared across her face, arms and legs. Madhu 

"Show me your hands." Shree whispers as she scoops a handful of turmeric paste into her palms. She smears the paste on Madhu's little soft palms. "As discussed, okay?"

Madhu gets up and quickly runs back into the house, and into the backyard. Madhav was seated under the shade of the mango tree, on a wicker armchair. He was wearing a crisp white veshti and a white shirt. He too had turmeric paste smeared on his face, arms and legs.

Madhu breathes as she sits on Madhav's lap.

"Have you been running too much?" He asks and she shakes her head.

"Mumma, wanted me to give you this." Madhu says as she shows her hand that was smeared with turmeric paste. He smiles and Madhu extends her arms to smear the paste on his face.

"That's so sweet of her!" He says smiling. He applies a palm full of sweet-smelling turmeric paste to her little palms. He pulls out a rose from the big bouquet Ahaana and Ashok brought for him. He tucks the rose behind her ear before Madhu takes off again.

"Nanna, gave you this!" Madhu says excitedly as she smears Shree's face with turmeric. She sighs and rests her head on Shree's lap.

"Ashok, be a good boy and get me a glass of that mixed fruit juice!" Shree asks and looks at Madhu. "Baby, why are you running up and down like this?"

"You and Nanna are getting married. Not every baby gets to be at their parent's wedding. And I want to be with you as well as Nanna." Madhu says. "I don't want to miss a single second."

"Alright alright!" Yashoda says as she walks towards Shree. She was wearing a splendid red sari. "Now can we conclude this ceremony? Where's that bucket of warm water?"

"It's in that big central open space thingy inside the house." Devi says. "What do you call it akka?"

"Nadumuttom." Shree says.

"I'll go get it." Devi says.

"Also, take this!" Ahaana says giving Devi the brass bowl of turmeric. "Take it before my twins rub it all over their chubby faces."

"And darling there a brand-new stainless-steel sieve near the bucket. Bring that too!" Yashoda tells.

As Devi walks towards the Nadumuttom of the house she sees Shyaam walking towards her. He was wearing a cream coloured sherwani with a pair of yellow baggy pants, the smell of his aftershave lingered. His hair, which had grown to reach his shoulder was left a mess.

"Hey, they sent you inside to get the water and the sieve?" He asks as he looks lovingly at Devi, who was clad in the yellow sari with a silver border. He loved how she simply braided her hair and had strings of fragrant jasmine clipped to the top of her braid.

"Yeah." Devi says smiling.

"It should be us, yaar!" Shyaam says whining. "That man said he'd talked to our moms!"

"Bhaava got busy with moving in here and other stuff!" Devi tells him, running her fingers on his shaerwani. "Plus, it should be us speaking to our parents regarding our marriage. Anyways, if Akka and Bhaava don't bring up the topic about our marriage, we should talk to them ourselves."

"Hmm, I kinda agree with you." Shyaam says.

"Do you have another option besides agreeing with me?" She asks and spoons a little bit on the turmeric on her palm and applies it on his cheek. "Husband."

He suddenly pinned her to the nearest pillar. She smiles as she looks up into his dilated eyes.

"I don't think so, wife! "he spoke sensuously as he came dangerously close to her.

Her breath was starting to become haywire. He brushed his turmeric smeared cheek and caressed her cheek gently. 

Her hands went to his face and pulled it down to meet her face as she pressed her lips with his and it inverted into a deep kiss. His hands went to her waist as he felt her silky waist, underneath her sari.

Devi felt her soul melt, in the way his lips brushed hers, and how he stroked her cheeks.

She pulls back to breathe.

"I love you Shyaam." She whispers as she looks at his eyes.

"I love you Devi." He tells looking at her with glowing eyes.

"Shyaam, if we get married, can we have a very very simple wedding? I don't want all these rituals and all-" She says as she plays with his hair.

"Whoa, so straight away to the wedding night, huh?" He asks teasingly. "I like that."

"No, duffer!" She says whacking his arm. "I meant I want a similar register marriage. No rituals. None of these. Let's just sign the marriage certificate, feed each other cake and live that happily ever after. I mean, to me what matters is the legal part of a marriage- it should be legally binding, right? What do you think?"

"Hmm if you asked me all this when we first met, I would have agreed." He says as he cradles her face. "But now, it's different, Devi-"

"Devi, what are you doing inside?" Lakshmi calls from outside. "Do you need any help?"

They immediately withdrew from each other.

"Coming Amma!" She answers and turns to Shyaam. "We'll talk when everyone is asleep."

He smiles and pressed a deep kiss on her forehead and pulled her into a bone crushing hug.

* * * * * 

"Baava, looks like Madhu is sleepy." Devi tells Madhav. Madhav just walked into the drawing room, wearing a blue teeshirt and a pair of black shorts. It was towards sunset, the haldi ceremony was over and the day of the much awaited wedding was nearing. Ashok, Shyaam and Sivaji were busy decorating the Nadumuttom where the wedding would take place.

Meanwhile, Ahaana, Anu and Devi were busy packing the freshly baked cookies into the cardboard boxes that had Madhav and Shree's initials intertwined.

Madhav notices Madhu yawn.

"Yeah and she has put like five cookies into each cake box she packed in the last few minutes!" Ahaana says. "We were supposed to pack three in each. One butter cookie, one cashew cookie and one chocolate chip cookie."

"And she hasn't stealthily eaten any of the chocolate chip cookies either." Anu smiles as she caresses Madhu's head. "This sweetheart has been helping alot for her parent's wedding."

"Come Madhu, let's get you changed and into bed." Madhav says and picks up Madhu.

"No Nanna, I want to help." Madhu says and yawns.

"No, no, you are going to bed right now!" He says as he walks out the drawing room carrying her. "You don't want to feel sleepy tomorrow morning during the wedd-"

He stops as he comes face to face with Shree. She was wearing a green kurta with a pair of yellow Palazzo pants. Her hair was pulled into a neat ponytail.

"H-h-hi, Shree!" He says smiling nervously, awestruck by how she was glowing with a divine and radiant golden aura.

"Hi, uhm didn't expect to see you here. I came to get-" Shree says blushing, looking at him only to be interrupted by Ahaana.

"Whoa! Whoa!" She exclaimed, getting up from the wicker chair she was seated on. "Didn't we tell you'll that you both are not supposed to see each other before the ceremony tomorrow?"

"Um-ummm." Shree says nervously.

"It's okay, I'm going!" Madhav says as Shree walks past him inside.

As he turns to talk a proper look at her, Ahaana closes the door.

* * * * *

"What are you doing here?" Shree asks as she walks into the kitchen few minutes before midnight. She along with Anu, Ahaana and Devi were sleeping in the master guest room. While Madhav, Sivaji, Shyaam and Ashok were sleeping in Madhav and Shree's room. Madhu and Ahaana's twins were asleep in the other bedroom near the kitchen with Lakshmi and Yashoda.

Shree was awoken again for the fourth time because of Anu snoring into her ear.

She yawns as she adjusts silken robe that she fastened above the thin strap night gown she was wearing.

Madhav was seated on the kitchen counter with a glass of wine in his hands.

"Hey aren't you supposed to be asleep." He asks looking at her.

"I couldn't sleep without you by my side." Shree says as she sits on the kitchen counter beside him. She takes his wine glass and has a small sip.

"Plus Anu is snoring." She says and giggles.

"No wonder Sivaji is sleeping peacefully." He says smiling as he holds her hand.

He notices his mother's ring, which he gifted to her on their previous engagement ceremony three years ago, shine brighter than the one the ring he had gifted her on Diwali.

"My mother's ring looks much better than the ring that I proposed to you with." He says. "Could it be more evident that my mother wanted you in my life more than me?"

"And look at you hand, Teddy." She says. "My Nanny's ring looks better on your ring than on anyone else's. Could it be more evident that he would have wanted you to marry his dear daughter?"

"I know. " He smiles. "I'm the lucky man who gets to marry this intelligent and gorgeous lady. Twice!"

She looks at her phone and notices the time - 00:03 AM.

"By the way, I'll be your wife, again, in another nine hours."

"Nine hours?" He repeats. "When you say it, it feels like nine days. I have to wait that long?"

"You waited all these days. It's going to be a week since you proposed." Shree says. "You know if you go and sleep now, by the time you wake up there'd only be three more hours."

Shree inches closer to him. "We should go sleep."

"Together?"

"Individually, stupid!" Shree says laughing. She gets off the counter. "We can sleep together tonight. I mean the night after the wedding. Not now."

He gets down the counter and holds her face. "I don't want to go without a kiss from my gorgeous fiancée." He whispers into her ear as he caresses her arm.

"We aren't supposed to be seeing each other before the wedding." She says looking at him.

"Chellam, you know I don't care about all those." He says as he caresses her hand. "I'm doing all these rituals et cetera for you- and because our mothers want us to. Just one kiss, chellam."

"We aren't supposed to kiss either, Teddy." Shree tells him teasingly as she caresses his arm.

"Then I guess it's okay if I kiss you right?" He asks and as she nods shyly he places a kiss on her cheek, followed by another on the other cheek, and another on her forehead and her jaw, before descending down to her neck.

"I. Love. You. Chellam." He say punctuating each word with a kiss on her neck. His lips blazed down her skin, while his hands moved down her body. He drags a few kisses down her neck and nuzzles the hollow of her beautiful throat.

He had untied the robe and was feeling her soft skin that lay underneath her thin strapped nightgown. He was careful and did everything to avoid leaving her neck and throat covered with hickeys.

Each soft kiss made her heart swell, and she hummed happily as he continued with his affections.

She had her eyes closed and she let her hands feel each inch of his muscular back and arms. He pulls back and in a flash takes off his tee-shirt.

She gasps.

"Madhav Ramakrishna, you are not supposed to-"

"It's my wish." He concludes teasingly as he let's his tee-shirt fall on the ground. "Plus I know you wanted to see me shirtless."

"No, who-who told you that I-" She fumbles unable to stop staring at his muscular chest, which was mostly unshaved, but now was all clean shaved. His cheat looked naked than ever and the sight of his entire chest exposed to her eyes made the her cheeks burn. She gulps as she gets a clear view of his entire chest. He notices him and raises a brow at her.

"Stop being too coy woman." He says and pulls her into his arms locking her in a tight lock. She laughs as she crashes into his chest. Her arms snake around his torso and she comes a step closer until there was no gap between them.

She buries her face into his chest blushing. She looks up at him and finds him looking down at her. A soft smile spreads on her face and she places a soft kiss on his chest.

"And you can't give that kiss on my lips." He says teasingly.

"Tomorrow night." She whispers and kisses his cheek. His arms loosen as she kisses his other cheek softly. She pulls away from him smiling. "Tomorrow night, I'll kiss you. On the lips. I'll kiss you until the sunrises."

"So just kissing huh?" He asks as she walks out of the kitchen.

She looks at him and shyly smiles.

To be continued.....

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