Disclaimer: Everything’s mine. No one else’s. So don’t you even think of stealing it.

Summary: They had been childhood enemies before, but now they were something else. “Is it love? No. Is it hate? No. It’s not quite love/hate, either. So what is it? Some deep thing that we don’t understand ourselves.”

Author’s Note: Another one shot stand alone from the Lejos de Romántico universe. This has nothing to do with Meeting or On That December Walk in May. All you need to know is that a girl named Nirupa and a boy named Adam are marrying. :P

Would like to thank Romy for her feedback and support. You rock, girl! This goes out to you.

This is in Adam’s POV, by the way.

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It’s surreal. It’s honestly surreal. I can’t believe this. I can’t believe the truth or what’s happening in front of my eyes right now. Music sounds in my ears – a delightful, foreign music. I’ve never heard it before, yet I know it. Somehow, through the clashing of drums and the soft mellow notes of a sitar, it lets me know that I’ve been here before. That this music knows me and that I know it. It reminds me of her. Of course, she listens to this kind of music . . very mellow yet enough to make you dance.

Near me the – should I say priest? – is preparing the flower garlands and special powder for our wedding. The fire in front of me is burning brightly and there’s a festive and happy feeling to the air.

I know what you’re thinking. This is typical of a wedding. Big deal, right? But this isn’t a typical wedding. For one thing, it’s not at a church or a secluded place; it’s at Nirupa’s house. And there are no streamers or flowers hanging about the whole place. The only flowers I see are in Nirupa’s hair and also in the wedding garlands that we are to wear. Then there’s the whole unfamiliarity of it all – I’ve never experienced anything like this. I haven’t even been to an unconventional wedding like this.

I’m glad, though. If everything was the same, it would just be boring and dull. I always like something different, out of the ordinary. Something that sparks.

I really don’t know what to think, though. This is all nerve-wracking. I mean, here I am, thinking nonsensical thoughts that are all over the place. I’m just sitting here at the pyre and locking at everything around me.

And now an insecure part of me that’s long been hidden has appeared.

Right on the happiest day of my life. Great.

A swish of silk interrupts my thoughts. It’s her. I smile but don’t look at her. Not yet.

She scoots closer to me, being careful not to wrinkle or damage her sari. All this I see at the corner of my eye, quietly, soundlessly watching her. Without even looking at me, she knows that I’m looking at her.

I finally look up and see her; only her. I really don’t know what to say. Maybe she’s rendered me speechless with her beauty or maybe she’s bewitched me. A simple spell would have made it easy for me to notice her. Yet, unconsciously, I have noticed her. Of course I didn’t show it. Either way, I just can’t tear my eyes away from her. No matter how hard I try.

THAT sounded corny and un Adam-like.

I really can’t help myself when it comes to her, though. It’s uncontrollable. I don’t know how or why she has this power over me, but she does.

Looking at her now, I see why I haven’t regretted every single minute I’ve spent with her. We had been enemies before – childhood enemies, actually.

It goes beyond hatred with us, though. Somewhere during the eight years we’ve known each other, we realized that something was there. We didn’t know what, or whether it was just our imagination . . or maybe we were just going crazy. Whatever it was, Nirupa felt something for me and I felt something for her that goes way beyond words. Is it love? No. Is it hate? No. It’s not quite love/hate, either. So what is it? Some deep thing that we don’t understand ourselves. But we feel it.

“Adam? Adam!” Nirupa interrupts my thoughts. She snapped her fingers to get my attention.

“Huh?” I’m shaken from my thoughts. “What did you do that for?” I gave her a look, a silly happy grin on my face.

“I was trying to get your attention,” she gives me a weird look. “It was kinda weird, seeing you stare off into space like that.”

“How is it weird?” I teasingly ask her. “And you know you have my undivided attention. Always.” I honestly couldn’t resist saying that last part, knowing how she would react to that.

She swats me on the arm and looks down, embarrassed. “Yeah, I do,” she admits quietly.

“So? What is there to be concerned about?” I tease her. “Anyway, I was just thinking of us and about today . . .” I trail off.

“You still can’t believe it?” She asks, her eyes twinkling. “It’s not that hard to believe, you know. It was kinda expected.”

“I know, but still . . . I don’t know if I can explain it. Maybe it’s the irony of it all. I mean, who would have ever thought that we were going to get together?”

“I don’t think anyone expected us to, to tell the truth. But they knew it was going to happen.” Nirupa says, fiddling with her bangles. “It had to do with us, I guess. No matter how hard we tried to fight against it or deny it, it was no use. You couldn’t prevent these kinds of things from happening. And really, I don’t care anymore. I wouldn’t regret any of this for the world.”

I gape at her. “You mean all of this? All that has happened? Everything?”

“Yes.” She turns and smiles at me. Then we are quickly snapped out of our own little world by the priest to begin the ceremony.

It seems honestly surreal now, I think as I look at her, but I don’t regret any of it happening. I would rather have this, what we have, than anything else in the world.

And looking at her now, I realize that she’s my princess in bangles.