What Do I Call This Type of Love? (Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Doon)

Chapter 1

  "Pyaal, your fiance isn't picking up his phone," Khushi exclaimed, worried.

  "I'm scared, Khushi," Pyaal whispered while looking at herself in the mirror and toying with an earring, "What we're about to do... It's good, right? Not bad?" She turned and faced her younger sister. "It's weird that on the wedding day the grooms' side would request so much money from us." Pyaal started crying. Khushi wiped away her older sisters tears, and assured her.  "Pyaal, what we're about to do isn't wrong at all. Because of the amount of money they asked from us, our dad has to put up his shop for mortgage. We can't let that happen, can we? Don't worry, Pyaal. I'll go talk to your fiance really quickly before the wedding. I'm sure he didn't have anything to do with this."

   "You're scared too, aren't you?" 

  "Of course I am. But I'll still go. Please don't cry." Pyaal nodded and tried to stop her tears from spilling out of her eyes. Khushi would take a piece of paper when she would go visit the groom to show him how much her family was suffering because of the amount of money they had requested from them last minute -- on the wedding day. Khushi's family wasn't the richest in town, yet they weren't the poorest. They were poor, but they lived comfortably, taking and buying only as much as they needed. They couldn't afford luxuries like having an air conditioning system in their house, or being able to buy shoes for 100 dollars every once in a while.

  Outside, Khushi and Pyaal's relatives were gathered in a circle, laughing and chattering about the upcoming wedding. Pyaal turned away from her younger sister and allowed herself to be led outside to the relatives by her friends. She sat down in a chair, anxiously waiting for Khushi to hurry up and come back in time for the wedding.

   Pyaal's aunt started dancing to a song and she was soon joined by the other wedding guests. Pyaal forced a smile and hoped the feelings about being worried over Khushi didn't show on her face.

   *

   Khushi ran through the house during the dance, trying to find the piece of paper she needed to take with her. She finally found it, flashed a thumbs-up towards Pyaal, and hurried out of the house, unseen.

*

   "Pyaal, where's Khushi?" 

*

  "Oh my god I don't have that much time. I'll have to hurry up. Why would they ask for so much money last minute anyways? Ugh, and I just ran away from home without telling Mom or Dad. But what else would I do?," Khushi muttered to herself. She had a habit of talking to herself often. "Asking for so much money on the wedding day? So me and Pyaal thought I could go ask her fiancee, Abishek, if he had anything to do with this -- if he even knew his family members were asking for this much money. Anyways, I don't think he knows about this. Hopefully when I go tell him, he'll stop his family members. Okay I'm going now." Khushi silently prayed to her God and sat on her scooter, riding off.

  "Move out of the way!" Khushi yelled at the large crowd staring at her, dumbfounded as she rode away. She had no idea why they were staring at her like this, and it was making her a little curious, and angry too, because they were making her go slower, and she needed to make it back to Pyaal's wedding in time. If she didn't, the wedding would be canceled, because she had the piece of paper that contained the money. 

*

   "Yes, we have the money," Khushi's father told the groom's mother on the phone. They had kept on calling and all they asked about was the money -- not Pyaal, or even the wedding preparations. Khushi's dad turned towards his wife. "I don't know why, but I feel like what we're doing is wrong."

*

  "Where's Khushi?," Pyaal and Khushi's aunt asked.

*