Chapter 16: Chapter 16
Three hours later, Laura came down to introduce herself to the family. Andre accompanied her. It was already night time by then. When she descended down the stairs, she saw some people standing behind Grandmother Lal in the hall-like living room and grandmother Lal was smiling do beautifully with her gaze on her.
Laura wore a simple yet beautiful yellow gown that reached a little below her knees and she tied her in in a ponytail. She wasn't a fan of makeup so she didn't wear any.
"Silence!" Grandmother Lal said in an authoritative tone. This made the naughty grandchildren and great-grandchildren that were chattering behind her close their mouths. She turned her back to Laura as she faced the rest of the family. Andre had already gone to greet his uncles that were at the back.
"You all already know that she is Laura and that she is Avinash's wife, so she doesn't need to say much. But she doesn't know us so you will all have to introduce yourselves to her because of the future. I have to go to bed now, goodnight everyone." She turned to Laura "Goodnight my dear."
"Goodnight Grandmother." Grandmother then went to her room. And now all attention was on Laura. Andre wanted to see how Laura would bond with the family on her own so he left with Prem to his(Prem) room. Prem was so happy that they could start executing their plan that night.
The first person to approach Laura was Sana, the little girl she bonded with in the afternoon. The girl requested to be carried once again so she carried her and then the family members started taking turns to introduce themselves.
"Hi I'm Aarna, that's my daughter Sana you're carrying and here is my son Dhrit" she gestured towards a 7 year old boy, the boy also greeted her "Hi aunty." Laura smiled and patted his head head in return. "Let me just show you who each person is okay?" Laura nodded to Aarna's suggestion. Aarna would point to each person and tell her their name and position in the family and Laura would smile to acknowledge them.
"That's aunt Lakshmi, she's the eldest daughter and my mother-in-law as well and that's her husband and my father-in-law, uncle Bharat."
"That's my sister-in-law Shraddha, the first grandchild."
"That's my husband Sameer, he's the second grandchild and the first male grandchild."
"Those are my sister-in-law Shraddha's children; Shreya, Armaan and Arjit."
"That's Uncle Dev, the third child of the family."
"That's Uncle Dev's first child Karan, he wasn't at home when you arrived."
"That's Uncle Dev's second child Ishani, the bride."
"That's Uncle Dev's wife, Aunt Uma."
"That's Uncle Ranjeet, the last born if the family."
"That's his wife Aunt Reha."
"His first children are twins, Prem and Priyom. You must have met them already." Laura nodded as she smiled at the calm Priyom, Prem was nowhere to be seen.
"And that's their younger sister, Naina." It was a teenage beautiful girl and she waved at Laura energetically. ' she seems to have Prem's spirit.' Laura thought.
"Due to the fact that grandfather is not feeling too well, you with see him as often as all of us but you've already met him in the afternoon so all is good right?"
"Yes thank you." Laura gave her a genuine smile. She has a very good memory si she would he able to remember each and every one of them. While the elders and the little children retired for the night since it was late already. The few people left were Laura, Aarna, and Ishani.
" Can you both please explain how you carry out Indian weddings. I was so busy learning Hindu that I forgot to get some knowledge about it." Laura asked to satisfy her curious mind. Since they weren't asleep yet, they could educate her right?.
Ishani was the one who answered her this time " Oh it's no problem, I'll explain. You see on the first day....."
******
Meanwhile with Andre
"What, you're trying to tell me that the two of you don't love each other?" Prem the extraordinarily brave cat asked while his cousins kept looking at him. After introducing themselves to Laura, his other cousins; Sameer, Kharan and Priyom had joined them and as if by magic, Prem had gotten the information out of Andre that their marriage was a contract marriage even though he already knew. He just didn't want Andre to be suspicious of how he found out.
"That's a rule in our contract." Andre replied nonchalantly.
"Ohhh... I think I get it. You love her, don't you?."
"No."
"Liar, I can see from how you behave towards her that you love her."
Andre sighed and positioned himself well on the chair he was sitting in as he crossed his legs " How about this?, One of you should explain what love is to me then I'll tell you whether I love her or not."
Sameer was the one who replied this time " These ones only know how to impress ladies, I'm the only one who knows the true meaning of love as I love my wife very much." Prem rolled his eyes.
"True love is ...."
****
"You mean you love him." Aarna asked Laura.
"Yes." she replied shyly.
"So why don't you tell him already?" Ishani was the one asking the question this time around. Laura's expression suddenly turned sad.
"It is stated in our contract that there must be no love between us."
"Ohhhhhhhh" Ishani was immediately silenced.
"How about we make him fall in love with you?." Ishani asked.
"No it won't happen, I really appreciate your ideas. I would really like to go to sleep now."
"Okay it's no problem. Goodnight." Ishani said.
"Goodnight." Aarna also greeted her and then Laura went upstairs to her room. She took a quick shower and changed into her usual shorts and oversized t-shirt. Her back was feeling really sore and it was aching so badly so she was trying her best to massage it herself since Andre hadn't arrived yet. She would try massage where her arms would reach but this made her more uncomfortable. She was doing this while standing with her back facing the mirror when Andre finally walked in.
"Hey what's wrong?" he asked her in a worried tone.
"My back aches and I'm trying to massage it." she was almost crying by now. "Where were you?, you just left without saying anything."
"I was with my cousins. Come let me massage your back." He said as he pulled her towards the bed. "Uhhm... you'll have to take off your t-shirt."
Laura widened her eyes and asked in a pleading tone "Can't you do it with my shirt on?"
"No you'll have to take your shirt off." He flashed her a mischievous smirk.
"Close your eyes then." His face suddenly turned cold
"Why?"
She knew she wasn't wearing anything under her t-shirt so taking it off would mean baring her chest in front of him. " I want to take off my shirt so close your eyes."
" Am I not your husband?, I'm not done stranger. Or should I help you?" she shot him a glare and the smirk on his face returned. "Okay I'll close my eyes." He then closed his eyes.
She hurriedly took of her shirt and then she lied down on the bed with her chest. "You can open your eyes now." He opened his eyes and went to get the oil Laura was using earlier. A lot of mischievous thoughts were running in his head.
He climbed on the bed and started massaging her back while applying the oil, once in a while he would move his hands to the side to feel her breasts that were peeking out but Laura was enjoying the massage so much that she didn't even realize what he was doing. To Laura it felt like his hands were magic while to Andre it felt like he was torturing himself by doing this. Laura was definitely feeling better and she kept sighing as he was helping her massage her back. Andre was definitely feeling uncomfortable, he was sweating in the fully air-conditioned room. His act had awakened his big monster that was in slumber, he had brought trouble upon himself. Once he was done, he rushed to the bathroom to have a cold shower. Laura was in the middle of thanking him when he ran away not wanting Laura to know what was happening to him.
' Is he okay?." Laura thought but when she heard the shower running she thought he just wanted to have a shower.
Andre came out after a long while and saw that Laura was already asleep, he then decided to sleep on the couch to avoid the reawakening of his big monster.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
mysticspells
mysticspells I'm really sorry I've not been updating lately