Chapter 5


The Chopra/Kapoor Wedding


Anushri Chopra couldn’t believe it, today was her wedding day! She had always dreamed of this this day ever since she was a little girl, attending all her family member’s weddings wishing she was the one shining in custom made dresses. But soon she would.

The night she met Farhan, it had took every bone in her body to leave him and return home and as soon as she arrived her parents were waiting for her questioning what she had done with him. Her sister Priyanka left her husband’s side and stayed up the whole night talking with her.

Yesterday Anushri spent the whole day with her mother Gitali and her sister preparing the decorations and making sure their dresses were perfect. She was exhausted, but she still didn’t sleep last night. How could she? All she could think about was Farhan and seeing him again, marrying him today.



Anushri stepped outside to get some fresh air. She was extremely nervous and soon it would be time to change into her dress and begin the ceremony. Soon she would be no longer Anushri Chopra, but she would be Anushri Kapoor.

“Mrs. Kapoor. . . Mrs. Anushri Kapoor.” She said to herself. It sounded strange, but she would get used to it. She felt like this was a dream. She believed when she met Farhan it had been truly love at first sight and she felt like she was in love with him even though, they hardly knew each other. Anushri was ready to start this new chapter in her life with this man. She wanted to spend the rest of her life with him.

Anushri’s mother interrupted her thoughts of her soon to be husband.

“Anushri? Anushri come, you must finish getting ready the guests will be here soon! Hurry up now!” said Gitali.

“Okay Mom, I’m coming, I’m coming!” she said as she went inside her house and her mom and sister helped her get ready.

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The guests had all arrived, Farhan was here now. Here goes nothing. Anushri thought as she walked out back where they were having the ceremony and took her place at the arch. It was time.



Prakash gave his blessings and apologized that Farhan’s parents were not able to make it to the wedding because of an emergency, but they too gave the couple their blessing to wed happily. It was now time for Farhan and Anushri to say their vows. The guests were all quiet and still, they wanted to hear every beautiful word.



Anushri felt butterflies inside her tummy. She was very nervous but also felt very relaxed under Farhan’s gaze. She saw nothing but pure love and adoration in his eyes for her and she fought back her own tears as she began to share her vows she had written for him. Every word came straight from her heart.

“As I open another chapter in the book of my life, I ask you to be my companion, my best friend, to travel the journey of life, with me. With you, my love, I commit here and now, to share all my pleasures and my pains. I promise you, Farhan, to stand by you, in every situation of life, best or worst, in adversities or in riches and in sickness or health. Long ago, you were just a possibility and a prayer. Today, my dearest, I thank Almighty, to give me the wonderful opportunity to begin a new journey of my life, with you. With all the limitless love in my heart, I ask you, my love to make me a part of your life. Thank you for what you have been to me, a true friend and a true lover. With the future unseen, with the possibility of all uncertainties and troubles, I promise to protect you, honor you, love you and respect you. I commit to you, for the rest of my life, to be yours, at every step. May the faith and power of love, bond us eternally. May we be like one single soul, residing in two bodies. I give you my love, myself, my existence, my body, my soul....”



Farhan secretly flinched at her words. He never expected Anushri’s vows to feel so powerful and emotional. He had cold feet after meeting her. He wasn’t 100% ready to give her his last name and sign away his freedom, but what could he do now? He had no choice but to marry her today. He liked her, and that was a start.

Farhan stayed up all night researching pre-written vows online. He tried his best to remember the lines he had borrowed and did his best to add in a few of his own now as he looked Anushri in the eyes and he spoke to her for all to hear.

“Anushri, when I found out you shared my hobby for video games, I knew it was love. You are the most beautiful, generous, selfless person I know. You are not afraid to be yourself, and that I greatly admire. You are smart and different, and I look forward to sharing the rest of my life with you. As we embark on this journey together, I promise to try to keep a light heart and a sense of humor. I will be honest, respect you and support you in your dreams and goals. But most of all, I promise to trust and love you with all my heart, and cherish you with all my soul forever and ever.”



Anushri and Farhan continued the ceremony with their vows to each other. At this time most of the women at the wedding burst into tears. Priyanka being the most loud and dramatic out of everyone.



“I Farhan, take Anushri to be my wife. I will honor her, and care for her through sickness and health.”



“I Anushri, take Farhan to be my husband for richer or poorer, through thick and thin. I will remain loyal and truthful.”




They did the exchangement of the rings and they were now officially married. Mr. and Mrs. Kapoor. Anushri was so excited this was the best day of her life. Farhan’s jaw started to hurt from his forced smile, but he was glad the ceremony was almost over so he could go eat. The couple faced their guests right before the big moment . . . the kiss.

Everyone cheered and was happy for them. Aasif clapped his hands. Prakash stepped away as he felt tears forming in his eyes. Priyanka had her head thrown back and she wailed with tears of joy. Farrah happily smiled at her friend.



Olivia jumped up and shrieked with glee. “Ohmygosh! Anushri! I’m so happy for you! I love you girl!”





Gitali wiped her eyes with her handkerchief and smiled at her youngest daughter and her new son-in-law. They were a lovely couple indeed and she was so happy this had been a great day. She almost forgot it wasn’t all the over yet.



“Hey! You two lovebirds, we are still waiting for your kiss!” she laughed happily

And kiss they did. Farhan held his new wife in his arms as he brought her close to him and passionately kissed her lips. He didn’t mind this part. Anushri felt as though she would melt into a puddle on the floor. She couldn’t believe it she was finally married!



The guest cheered loudly and hooted as they kissed and finally pulled apart from each other.

People began to head towards the buffets and take their seats at the tables. Champagne flutes were passed around along with hor d’oeurvs of mini spicy samosas served with tamarind sauce.



“Can you believe it Farhan?” Anushri asked

“Not really, it still all feels like a dream my love.” Farhan smiled.

“I know! This is the most amazing day of my life!” Anushri exclaimed.

Gitali, Aasif and Farrah now joined their side and began to have a small conversation.



“Yes I am happy to have you as my son in law, Farhan you are a very handsome groom!” Gitali smiled.

"Hey, I'm glad you're my new brother in law!" Aasif said

“Thank you Gitali, you are a lovely mother in law to have.” Said Farhan

“Aww!” Farrah said

“Please, call me Mom.” Gitali said.

“Heh heh, okay Mom.” Farhan said uncomfortably.

“Yeah now that you two are married you can start having babies! How exciting would that be?” asked Farrah

“Oh Farrah,” Farhan began, “Anushri and I haven’t really talked about children yet.” He said

"Yeah, I want to be uncle!" joked Aasif

“But surely you two will give me wonderful grandchildren no?” Gitali asked

“Mom! Of course we will! I love children, but we do want to enjoy the married life a little before we have children right Farhan?” Anushri said.

“Um . . . cough cough!” Farhan briefly choked on the champagne. He regained his composure and continued talking, “Um, yes of course!” Farhan managed to say.

Ding ding ding

“May I have everyone’s attention for a brief moment please?”

Just then Prakash tapped his glass with a spoon to get everyone’s attention. Farhan was glad for the distraction.



“I know everyone is enjoying themselves and the champagne, Priyanka take it easy please, but I would like to take a moment of your time and ask you all to join me in a toast to my daughter and her new husband.”



Everyone stopped what they were doing and turned their attention to Prakash and the newlyweds.

“To the Farhan and his lovely wife Anushri. May their marriage prosper and be filled with love and joy and good health. To the newlyweds!” Prakash shouted.

“To the newlyweds!” Everyone joined in.

Now the guests returned to whatever they were doing. The Chopra’s butler began serving the guest the 3 course meal. One buffet table had Greek salad, roast lamb, and ambrosia salad for dessert. The other had chickpea salad, kaali daal which was a black lentil dish and gajar halva, a carrot dessert.



Prakash pulled Farhan to the side for a moment because he had some exciting news to share.

“What is Mr. Chopra? What is the exciting news?” he smiled

“Okay, I was going to wait until later, but here it is! Your big surprise! I have arranged for you and Anushri to spend your honeymoon in Hawaii. I have already taken care of everything my son. First class flight, 5 star resort reservation. You and Anushri have nothing to worry about.”

“Oh, that is wonderful! Thank you very much what a thoughtful gift.” Farhan said happily.

“It was the least I could do. Now, go enjoy the rest of your reception, your flight leaves right after the wedding.” Prakash.



Farrah found Anushri once again in the crowd of guest. She wanted to congratulate her friend privately.

“Anushri you look absolutely stunning today. I am so happy for you girl, and after all we’ve been through as friends, I am glad I could share this special day with you.”

“Aww Farrah! You’re gonna make me cry! Thank you so much for being here for me girl. I love you!” Anushri beamed.

“I love you too girl. I love the food too! It’s so good!” Farrah joked.



“I’m glad you enjoy it Farrah and just because I’m married nothing is going to change I promise you guys that. I just wish Valentina would have came to show her support, but that’s alright. I’m gonna grab a bite to eat I’m starving. I’ll catch you up later.” Anushri said as she went to go eat.



Up until now, Farrah hadn’t noticed Valentina was indeed not there. How could she do that to Anushri? Farrah made a mental note to investigate this more later on. Valentina needed a good butt kicking for doing this to her friend.

Olivia managed to find a seat next to her friend. She hadn’t gotten a chance to talk to Anushri alone the whole entire time. She wanted to talk to her before she left or got too busy.

The two friends talked and chatted about the wedding, the wonderful food and compliments to each other’s outfits. Olivia brought up Valentina’s no show, but Anushri just seemed to brush it off and changed the conversation.

Olivia did though, bring up the fact that Farhan seemed a little distant. She shared her concern with her friend.



“Oh no, he must be tired. Trust me he is fine girl. I’m a little sleepy myself I haven’t slept all night. I was way too excited.” Anushri said.

“Yeah I bet. I did the same when it was my wedding day. Sorry the twins couldn’t make it. Ever since my mom moved out, the kids have been missing her and wanted to spend some time with her.”

“I thought you were mad at your mom girl.” Anushri said



“Honestly I was, but now I’m over it. There could be some truth to her words about Duane. Speaking of him, he had got caught up at the office again, so he couldn’t make it either. You know how that is. We’re giving you guys a 1,000 simoleon gift card to H&M, I know how much you love to shop there.” Said Olivia.



“Oh Olivia, thank you so much! And I hope everything works out okay girl. You know Aasif found a job at your husband’s insurance office so he will keep an eye on Duane and Heidi for you. Don’t worry girl. And kiss the twins for me, I miss them so much!” said Anushri

Just then Farhan walked towards the girl’s table. He had a little too much champagne and the loud music was giving him a headache. Needless to say, he was ready to ditch this scene.



“Excuse me ladies, but if I may take my wife away.” Farhan said, “We have a plane to catch Anushri, your dad set up a honeymoon for us in Hawaii!”

“Ohmygosh that’s so exciting! I hope you two have a wonderful time!” Olivia told them.



“Really? Oh wow that is so amazing! When do we leave Farhan?” asked Anushri.

“I just told you, we’re leaving now.” Said Farhan annoyed. He didn’t want to sound too harsh so he added, “Come on sweetheart, your chariot awaits.”





Farhan carried Anushri in his arms and everyone clapped and cheered as the couple left to go into the taxi cab that was waiting up front. Gitali cried tears of joy. Priyanka hooted and hollered while Aasif supported his tipsy wife. Farrah and Olivia smiled and cheered for their best friend.



Farrah and Olivia turned towards each other exchanging glances. This was the first time Farhan had been introduced to everyone besides Anushri and Prakash, but little did everyone know, Farrah and Olivia had already met Farhan before they just never knew his name.

“This is not good Farrah. If word gets around . . .” Olivia began

“Hush! Word will not get around and we’re gonna make damn sure it never does. Anushri would die if she ever found out the truth and all hell would break loose.” Farrah said in a hushed tone.

“Yeah you’re right. Let’s focus on finding Valentina for now, we’ll deal with this issue later on.” said Olivia.

Everyone cheered even louder and the music got louder as well as Farhan and Anushri thanked everyone for coming and said goodbye. And Prakash watched it all go down from behind the back door.



So this was it now. He couldn’t go back in time. His little princess was now a married woman. He thought back to when Anushri was born. How Priya was so happy to finally be a big sister. How Gitali glowed as she held their youngest child in her arms.

And now she was leaving. Even though Priyanka and her husband lived at home with him, Prakash still had a bittersweet feeling about Anushri leaving. Not only would the house feel emptier, but there was a tiny voice in the back of his head telling him to stop her from leaving. Prakash wasn’t completely certain he had made the right choice for his daughter. He didn’t quite trust Farhan, but he pushed those thoughts back as his daughter was carried away.

“Goodbye Anushri.” Prakash whispered to himself.

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