Devin laughed on hearing it but covered his mouth on seeing Yul's stare. Yul was looking as if he could tear Devin now.
"We need evidence for a marriage of five years. How will you two pull it off in front of others, if you are not comfortable with each other's body? How will people believe that Inu is your child, when you both can't even kiss? See, a long married couple will have an unseen rhythm between them. I'm not asking you guys to achieve that, but there shouldn't be any awkwardness at least, right?" Ginny was very thorough in her point and explained it carefully.
Yul and Liya agreed that what Ginny said made sense. But still, it was hard. How can you kiss someone you met a few days before, as if you are in love for years? They weren't professional actors and moreover Liya was very reserved in these matters. And in addition they had three others watching including Inu. Liya nodded her head on thinking about it and backed off.
It was first time for Yul too, but he was more focussed on meeting the demands. So he took a deep breath and pulled Liya by her waist towards him. Liya was stunned by the move and looked at Yul with wide eyes.
Devin prompted Ginny to take photos quickly and she complied. They really made a good couple in pictures.
As Liya was trying to get herself out from Yul's arms, he held her head in place and kissed her cheek. Anyone will doubt if Yul had previous experience in this, because in between kissing her, he took the selfies required.
After it was done, he let Liya go as if nothing happened and showed the photos to Ginny to examine. After getting her approval Yul walked to the next room quickly. Liya was still in shock of what had happened.
Devin followed Yul to irritate him. He asked, "So, how was it? I can see that you enjoyed it, from the way you look now, master Yul."
Yul kicked Devin in his calf, feigning anger and left to have some fresh air. Well, it sure was a new experience and Yul was yet to register how it was.
After some time, they continued taking the photographs. Liya was made to wear an artificial baby bump for the time she was pregnant, and then it was different time periods of Inu's growth. For the time Inu was a toddler, Ginny decided to use the photos Liya had of her and baby Inu, though it didn't had Yul in it. As for the rest, it wasn't hard because Inu was still smaller than that of his age, and making him wear baby clothes achieved the target easily.
Then for last, they took the pre-wedding photographs in the studio arranged in another room and finished by late evening. Ginny informed that she will select the best ones and make into an album. One family photo and wedding photo will be framed and everything will be delivered before the wedding. And thus, five years of secret marriage was made.
But Liya wasn't clear about something and asked about it to Devin, "Forgive me if I'm being stupid. But who are we really trying to fool with these photographs? Didn't we agree that my details won't be made public? So what's the need of this much preparations?"
Devin was going to answer her but Yul interfered. He said, "First of all we need to fool everyone. Second we need to be prepared for any kind of emergency. We can't just hurry and take some photographs as proof when someone doubts on us, can we?"
Liya understood what he said, but it still wasn't clear for her. Seeing her unconvinced face Devin explained, "It's for the elders in the family ma'am. It's not that the public isn't a problem, but the former matter most. Except master's mother, no one in the family knows about what is going on. So in order to bring Inu to the house without raising suspicions, we need a solid story and this is evidence to support that."
Devin made everything clear slowly and Liya kept listening. He continued, "Of course, we aren't intending to make any photo taken today public. These are like some insurance, to be prepared for the worst. And as for the wedding, even if master bring you and Inu as his family, without the traditional rituals and elder's blessings, your position won't be recognised. So I guess that clears everything. Anything more ma'am?" He ended the class with a chance for Liya to ask any more doubts.
Yul shook his head in disappointment about his assistant and his wife. Why does she have so many doubts and why Devin was bothering to explain everything in so detail as if to a child. How pathetic! He thought.
Liya looked at Yul's back as he walked out. She took a deep sigh on thinking about all the things that were going on. There was still a part of her who wanted to run away from here and she fought that urge by saying to herself that this was the best choice.
Yul was the perfect guy she would get to keep herself and Inu safe. Yul was definitely a complicated person but he was quite naïve when it came to love and relationships; self-sacrificing for the sake of his loved ones and easy to manipulate in the name of love. And it was also the only weakness he had. Since everything happening in Poonj was under the indirect control of Yul, from now on Liya could easily foresee anyone in and around Poonj that could pose a threat to her. But was it that easy?
After getting involved with the Amarok family and its inner family politics, can she really get out of this mess safely? Then there was the vision she had. How will she figure out a solution for all these? She didn't know. For the time being she decided to keep all those troubles for later. Let's get done with this wedding and rituals first. She said to herself as she tried to calm her anxious mind, while keeping Inu closer.