16 | ≠ predictable

*** for full effect, watch the video and listen to the song before or after reading this chapter. I kinda love how those two dance without a care in the world (they also choreographed the entire song themselves. SO it was them being completely themselves in this song)and got the entire inspiration from here.

[okay I'm here a few hours later looking at the auto-generated subtitles and I'm actually dying.  wtf are those]

*** swipe and find of the decorations. Imagine that but inside a hotel lobby somehow. It's a hotel entrance. Super magical.

"DIL MERAAA BOL UTHAAA, HONE DO AB JO BHI HOGA."

I wake up to Aliana is singing in the kitchen. In the loudest, most out of tune voice I've ever heard. I can't understand the lyrics but listening to her dance and jumping around, I can only guess that it's an upbeat song. I get up from my bed in Palmer's guest room, quickly brush my teeth and walk downstairs.

I can't help but wander into the kitchen ever so curiously. The morning sun is shining in through the kitchen window, illuminating the entire room and her. She's dancing around the kitchen, her headphones blocking out everything around her. Flipping the egg on the pan and cracking open one more egg on another pan, she jumps around the kitchen ever so slightly, moving her hips from side to side as she does the silliest moves.

And then, she sees me.

She lets out a surprised laugh and grabs her phone. She disconnects her headphones from her phone, causing the song to play out loud in full volume. Beckoning me to join in, she continues her dance. Looking at the eggs and then at her, I make a quick decision. Grabbing two plates off the rack, I remove the eggs on the plates and switch off the stove.

Why waste food?

Soon enough, the upbeat Hindi song manages to wake me up completely. Aliana's singing along to the girl's part of the lyrics. Her face is lit up by a wide smile, hair completely dishevelled and she's stopping her singing randomly in the middle to catch her breath. And as the chorus begins yet again, I surprise her and myself as I grab her hand and twist her around in the most bizarre dance step I've ever done. Her laugh rings around the whole kitchen and my whole body, urging me to do more of what I did just so I can listen to that laugh again. I match her steps, her leading me into the most Bollywood-ish dance session I've ever had.

"Kya Dil ki sunn li, tumne?" she sings to me and although I understand nothing of it, I still laugh, grabbing her by her waist, picking her up from the back and turning her around. She lets out a squeal as I continue turning us around. When the last notes of the song start playing, I let her down easily and she turns around to look at me. We're both breathless, with matching goofy grins on our face.

And then we hear applause.

Snapping our necks towards its direction, we find Mr and Mrs Palmer standing, looking at us with matching grins of their own.

"It's been a very long time since our last morning dance session," Mr Palmer shakes his head.

This triggers yet another laugh from Aliana and I find myself turning back to look at her, not wanting to miss the sight of her eyes crinkling almost shut and her nose scrunching as she laughs.

She quickly walks over to her parents and hugs them.

Last night when we had reached, it was late in the night. Her parents had left us food in the kitchen and both had retreated to bed. Quickly having a little of the food, we both soon started feeling the need to sleep, tired from work and practice.

"Good morning. Nathan, right? I'm Noah Palmer, Aliana's father," Mr Palmer extends his hand in my direction and I shake it firmly.

"Good Morning, sir. Nice to meet you," I formally introduce myself.

"Oh! No 'sir' business. Call me Noah or Uncle."

I laugh, "Okay, uncle."

"And I'm Dipti Palmer, her mother," Mrs Palmer smiles. And immediately, I see in her mother's eyes the scepticism about me. She's judging my every move, deciding for herself whether I'm worthy of her daughter.

"Nice to meet you, ma'am. I've bought something for you. Hold on let me go grab it."

When I had told my mom about this trip, she had insisted I get something for them as a gift. When I asked Mia about gift ideas, she had told me that Aliana and her mother love plants and flowers. They have all kinds of roses except red ones, so I quickly made the decision to get a plant for them. Hiding it from Aliana was certainly a task, so I can only hope that she likes the surprise.

I run to my room and grab it, bringing it down with me. I carefully hold it in my arms and walk into the living room, where Aliana and her parents are talking casually. As soon as I enter the room, three pairs of eyes land on me and the plant in my hand. It's covered with breathable wrapping made out of jute so they can't see what kind of plant I have in my hand.

Aliana has a curious expression on her face, clearly thinking about how I managed to hide a full-plant in my bag and I wink at her.

"Here you go," I hand it over to her mother. Mrs Palmer keeps the plant firmly on the table and opens the jute covering. Instantly, three beautiful deep red roses fill our vision. I look at the 3 of them, nervousness taking over my whole body.

Aliana's face transforms into an expression of awe and Mrs Palmer's face matches that of her daughter. Mr Palmer looks at the roses and is the first to speak up,

"You probably just won over both my girls right now."

I chuckle, still waiting for the ladies' reaction.

Aliana looks up at me with unadulterated joy and walks towards me, engulfing in a tight hug. She rests her head on my shoulder as I tighten my hold around her, placing a small kiss on the crook of her neck.

"Thank you," she whispers and moves away. I smile down at her and turn my eyes over at her mom, who's watching me with a tender smile on her face.

"You can call me Aunty. Let me go get you something to eat. I can't imagine how hungry you must be after all that dancing" she winks before walking away. Mr Palmer follows her, sending me a well-done look over his shoulder. A weight lifts off my chest, feeling accomplished that Aliana's parents don't completely hate me.

Her mom quickly makes some more eggs, the eggs Aliana cooked completely cold by now. Keeping the plate in front of me, she quickly whispers to me, clearly not wanting her husband and daughter to hear.

"You like my daughter," she says, without even questioning it.

A smile makes its way on my face and I nod, confirming her statement.

"Good. I'll manage something," she says before walking away. I furrow my eyebrows in confusion.

Manage what?

After having our breakfast, Uncle tells us that we have an hour to freshen up and leave. I look over at Ali, who's staring at the rose plant and silently whispering to it.

"What are you saying to it?"

"Her. It's her. She's Rosie. Say hi to your kid."

"My kid?" I furrow my eyebrows.

"You think I'm gonna leave her here? I'm taking her back with me. She's our child now."

I smirk at her, walking closer to her and placing both my hands on both her sides, caging her.

"So, I met your parents. They like me, I think. I'm your date at your cousin's wedding. We have a pet plant. We're practically dating, Palmer."

She stares up at me and smiles, getting on her tippy toes to meet my eye length and throwing her arms around my neck. I hold my breath as our noses touch. She smiles wider and whispers, "Try harder, Wright."

⋈ ⋈ ⋈

Reaching the hotel in which the wedding is supposed to be held in, it feels like walking into a different universe. The entire hotel is decked in lights, flowers and so many other decorations that I find myself staring at it in awe. The innumerable lights look like stars. I look around to see quite a few people still putting up some of the decorations.

"Holy shit this is crazy."

"Wait till the ceremonies begin. You'll see real craziness. This is not even the tip of the iceberg," Aliana whispers to me as her parents walk over to the reception area to grab the keys for our rooms. I hear a loud shriek as someone runs over to Aliana and almost tackles her over, save for my hand which is wrapped around her shoulder. I steady Aliana and withdraw my hand from her shoulder.

"Aliana!! I missed you!!" the girl shrieks louder and squeezes Ali so tight that she lets out a small cough.

"I missed you too, Apoorva," Ali forces out. The girl, who I now know as Apoorva, pulls away from her and finally glances at me. And I feel the tackle even before it happens.

"Hiii!!" she screeches and pulls me into a bigger hug. She pulls back and takes a step back, red covering her cheeks.

"I'm Apoorva, Ali's favourite cousin," she introduces herself.

"My favourite cousin is getting married," Aliana whispers under her breath, causing me to chuckle.

"I'm Nathan. Nice to meet you," I smile. Apoorva's eyes take a quick route over my entire body and return back to my face, a small redness covering her cheeks as I smirk at her.

"So you are Nathan! We were waiting for you to show up! Well Madhura more than me, she wanted to see if Aliana's date is better than hers. And I can tell you now, you are so much better," Apoorva rambles on. Aliana raises her eyebrow at the mention of Madhura. She looks at me from the side of her eye and smiles smugly.

"Where is Madhura anyway?" Ali asks with fake curiosity.

"I don't really know. I'll go tell her you're here. Bye!"

As soon as she walks away, I turn and face Aliana, questioning her without words.

"Madhura and Apoorva. They're real sisters. Madhura hates my guts and Apoorva never leaves me alone. Nay, you've gotta be everyone's favourite date here," she explains.

"As if that's gonna be an issue for me," I smirk cockily.

"No this is serious. We need to be the best couple out there among my cousins."

"Couple, huh?"

She rolls her eyes at me and turns away, "You know what I mean, Nay. This is life and death."

Honestly, amused at Aliana's competitive side, I find myself loving the change. And since I'm on her team, it makes me love it more.

"Got it. We'll be the best couple without even trying, Grasshopper."

That gets a small smile out of her and she shakes her head lightly. Uncle and Aunty walk towards us, causing me to pick our bags up, ready to head to our rooms.

"Alright, kids. Here are your keys," Uncle drops a room key grudgingly in my extended palm and we wait for him to drop another one in Aliana's palm. Ali looks up questioningly and finds her mother smirking at her.

"Well? Is Ma sharing a room with me?" Ali questions her father. Her father shakes her head.

"You both are," Aunty answers her question for her. I snap my neck towards her mom, the keys suddenly feeling a lot heavier in my hand.

Dipti Palmer managed it.

"What? Why both of us?" Aliana asks, clearly confused out of her mind.

"Well, Meera reserved two rooms for 4 of us. So we trust you kids, enough that we won't be getting any grandbabies soon. You both are adults and have the freedom to share rooms," Mrs Palmer speaks firmly.

My jaw drops open and I look at Uncle, who's already staring at me with a stern look. I understand that look. I reassure him with my eyes that I won't hurt his daughter in any way. Probably noticing the sincerity in my eyes, he relaxes his stance.

"Breakfast will be in our rooms in a bit. Freshen up quickly. Ali," she says, addressing her daughter, "take your clothes and Nathan's clothes from me before going to your room."

We walk towards the elevator and walk-in. As soon as the doors are about to close, I catch a glimpse of an eerily familiar face walking in the lobby and my jaw falls open.

I look at Aliana to see if she also saw him and judging by the shock on her face, I know.

Maverick is here.

⋈ ⋈ ⋈

HAPPY DIWALIIII! Helloo! How's everyone doing on this fine fine day? It's Diwali here in India and I'm in a very festive mood. They're at the wedding. AHH. The venue at least. Next chapter will feature their outfits and I'm SO SO EXCITED. This scene has been in my head since the very beginning of the book.

Anyway, Question?

Q. What is your favourite festival and what are some of your favourite traditions which y'all do during the festival?

Sooo, It's also my best friend's birthday today and he's reading this book even though he's definitelyyyy not a reader. That alone makes me so so SO happy. Happy Birthday, Asshole.

Okay, I'll go now. Talk to you later? Ciao! Give me your feedback!!

Love,

Anushka <3