SS: Dheere Dheere Se - ArDhika + NeSam ~ 2/13/16 p63 - Page 7

Arjun yawned sleepily as he sat in the banquet hall. He rubbed the back of his neck trying to massage out the knot that had formed. He had collapsed into bed the minute Radhika had left the room. And when he awoke the next morning he had a painful strain in his neck due to sleeping in one position the entire night. Arjun glanced down at his empty coffee cup and frowned. As he searched the room for a waiter, he suddenly felt his back grow tense and the uneasy feeling like he was being watched. He carefully scanned the other tables trying to locate who was staring at him. As his eyes landed on a table two rows diagonal from him, he sensed a strange familiarity. He wanted to believe it was the girl from room 1142, but she had sunglasses on and he could not see her eyes. He could have sworn she had been looking at him. His attention was soon diverted when he heard a deep voice inquire, "Sir, more coffee?" Arjun looked up and nodded. "Yes sir," the waiter replied as he took the cup away to give him a fresh order.

Radhika breathed a sigh of relief that she had not been caught. She stared down at her plate filled with breakfast goodies and decided it was probably best to concentrate on her food. The breakfast buffet was simply amazing. It had a wide variety of items that made it a true cross continental spread. She happily dug into her french toast soaked in maple syrup and blissfully sighed. She felt a little silly wearing sunglasses indoors but she wanted to hide the dark circles that had formed from the late night she had yesterday. As she took her third bite of food she started to sense a tingling sensation forming on the back of her neck. She cautiously turned her head to the left and saw the man who had been her savior the night before busily drinking his coffee. She pursed her lips in thought and then ignored her instinct that he had been staring at her.

Arjun gently shifted his eyes back towards Radhika's table and watched her as she ate. His mind kept pondering if she was the girl from room 1142. He knew he could do the smart thing and just walk over and ask her himself. But then the thought of being wrong and embarrassing himself in front of a complete stranger was too much for his ego to bare. So he sat there attentively watching the young woman two rows diagonal from him. His eyes widened as he sensed her turn towards his direction. He quickly looked down at his omelet and picked up his fork to eat.

Radhika's forehead creased as she sneaked a glance back towards the table. It was beginning to nag at her that she was being watched. She lifted her head and caught sight of a man with chisel features and piercing brown eyes staring right back at her. It seemed like minutes were passing by as they held each others' gaze but in reality it had only been a few seconds before they both quickly turned away in embarrassment. Radhika stabbed the french toast with her fork and tried to shovel a large piece into her mouth. This resulted in a messy string of syrup dripping down her chin. She fumbled with the napkin hoping she could catch the liquid before it dropped onto her kurti. "Oh-no!" she gasped as she saw evidence of several sticky droplets on her favorite pink kurti. She grabbed the ends and pouted in dismay.

Meanwhile, Arjun was fumbling around the table trying to find sugar packets. He spotted some in the holder and emptied two packets into his coffee cup. He took a sip and squinted in disgust. He hated sugar in his coffee and did not know what possessed him to add it. He simply was not thinking straight.

After wiping her chin thoroughly Radhika timidly shifted her eyes towards the left to see if he was still there. Unfortunately, her eyes met her best friend who had her arms crossed and furrowed brows. "Good Morning Sam."

"Don't Good Morning Me Miss Mishra." Radhika just stared at her with a perplexed expression. "And don't act innocent either. You know very well why I am upset."

"Sam..."

She stole a piece of pineapple off her plate and continued, "Radhika, what did I tell you about going off on your own?"

"I told you that I was going down for breakfast. I was really hungry."

"And I told you to wait while I took a shower and we would go down together," Sam replied and picked up another piece of pineapple. "And you never finished your story last night. So you hurt your ankle and decided to go back to the hotel? So what's the middle part of this story?"

"Yea, we'd like to hear this too!" Toral barked as she came walking up to the table with Asha and the rest of the girls following behind. "You have a lot of explaining to do."

Radhika gave a weak smile seeing her friends all sit down at the table. Her eyes could not help but roam over to the table diagonal from her to see if he was still sitting there. To her dismay he had left. The sound of fingers snapping brought her out of her trance and she saw Sam motioning with her head, "So, this story?"

Arjun closed his eyes and took a deep breath of sea air into his lungs. His lips curled into a tiny smile as he listened to the sound of waves rolling against the shore. He finally admitted to himself that taking the forced vacation from his aunt was actually doing wonders to the stress he had felt for the past month. Despite the events of last night, the afternoon's beach outing was making it all worth while. He sighed with a grin shaking his head as he saw Neil waving to a group of girls.

"8:30 at the lounge, okay?" one of the girls shouted. Neil simply nodded at the reminder.

"That's how many in one hour?" Arjun asked as his cousin walked towards him.

"How many what?" he replied as he took his towel from off a beach chair and gently wiped sand off his torso.

"Those girls," motioning with his eyes, "Who knew you would grow up to be a smooth talker."

Neil laughed, "It's called being nice. All I did was pick up a volleyball and got invited to a friendly game."

"And a date at 8:30?"

"Just for drinks with a group of people I met while playing volleyball. You know if you actually got up off of your butt," flicking the newspaper in his hand, "And stop reading the newspaper you could be having fun...meet new people...have some conversation...like normal adults do."

Arjun scowled as he fixed the paper, "It's called Sudoku. Keeps the mind sharp. And I'm here to relax not go out and party with strangers."

"Ahhh, I forgot you like to meet pretty girls late a night and save them from danger. You Romeo you..." Neil teased as he sat down in the beach chair.

"Don't remind me," Arjun replied with annoyance.

"So, you really don't know her name?" Neil inquired with much interest. "You were practically with each other all night."

"Why would I need to know that crazy girl's name?" Arjun snapped.

Neil snickered, "Doth protest too much."

Arjun shot him a dirty look making him smile even more. "Shut up. I have no interest."

"Right...no interest. But I do," Neil replied. "I want to see who this ravishing beauty is that made my dear cousin spring into action like Rambo Rajkumar! You said she's at the same hotel as us."

"Yea, I think I saw her at breakfast this morning," Arjun divulged as he took a drink of water from his water bottle.

"Oh? And you didn't talk to her?"

Arjun started coughing choking on water as he recalled the embarrassing memory of what occurred at breakfast. "You okay?" Neil asked seeing how he was coughing. His face was turning bright red. Arjun nodded as he tried to control the fit he was having. He breathed slowly and deliberately and then hoarsely replied, "Not interested."

Neil smirked, "Right, not interested...I keep forgetting," then chuckling to himself, "Her friends showed up didn't they?" Arjun tried to hide the surprise in his eyes by returning his concentration back on his Sudoku puzzle and ignoring the last question. Neil just looked at his cousin with a thoughtful grin knowing he had guessed correctly.

Neil checked his watch as he waited outside the lounge. He sighed and put his hands in his pockets, "What's taking so long? He takes longer to get ready than a girl. Who knew he was so metro?" He stopped his muttering when he saw one of the hotel staff place a sign in front of the lounge entrance. Karaoke Night, huh... he thought to himself. He turned around when he heard his name being called. The corner of his lips turned upward in a huge grin when he saw a familiar face walking towards him.

"Neil! How are you? I never got to see you this morning. I am so sorry," Sam apologized. "Radhika left to go to the breakfast buffet on her own even though I told her to wait."

He gave an understanding look. "It's okay. I saw Asha and the girls in the lobby. They told me she had gotten hurt and went back early to the hotel to rest. I'm glad she's okay."

"So am I," Sam replied.

"You're looking very pretty," Neil complimented as his eyes briefly took in the view in front of him. She was wearing a simple yet elegant white summer dress.

"Why thank you," Sam smiled.

"Are you meeting the girls?"

"Yes, I am," she replied. "And you?"

"I'm meeting some new people I met at the beach today for some drinks," Neil answered as they they entered the lounge.

"Oh, so you went to the beach?"

"Yes, my cousin Arjun and I. I was waiting for him when you came," Neil explained.

"Then shouldn't you go back to the entrance," Sam inquired as she stopped walking.

"It's fine. He can come in and find me...punishment for taking so long to get ready. So where did you girls go today?"

"We just stayed at the hotel and went to the pool. Radhika hurt her ankle so we thought it was best to take things easy for today and let her rest."

"Makes sense," Neil nodded. As they got closer to the bar Neil spotted Arjun sitting on one of the bar stools. "Well, what do you know...there's my cousin. Come, I'll introduce you." Arjun had just taken a sip of his drink when they approached him. "So, here you are."

"You're late," Arjun replied as he turned around and tapped his watch. "I've been sitting here waiting for you."

"I was outside waiting for you."

"You told me to come to the bar. I'm at the bar," Arjun stated.

Neil saw him glance over in Sam's direction and quickly introduced, "This is Sam. We met on the plane...and her friend Asha is getting married...remember I told you...we've been invited to attend all the events."

"Hi, nice to meet you Arjun," Sam greeted.

"Nice to meet you," he replied.

Their conversation was soon interrupted by a group of female voices calling Sam's name. She turned immediately and motion them to come where she was. "These are my friends," Sam informed. "Girls, this is Neil's cousin Arjun. And the Girls are...Asha, the bride...Pooja, Toral, Shreya, Bani...my best friend Radh---"

"Tum!" Arjun and Radhika both said at the same time when their eyes met.

Everyone in the group just stopped and stared at the two confused by their reaction. "You two know each other?" Neil inquired breaking the silence.

"She's the girl I helped." Arjun answered.

"He's the guy who helped me last night," Radhika replied.

"Wow, what a small world," Neil chuckled.

"So, this is Mr. Tall, Dark, and Handsome?" Bani squeaked. Toral and Shreya shot her a dirty look to keep quiet. Arjun had heard the comment but decided to play it off like he had no idea what she was referring to. He gave a polite smile and greeted all. Bani elbowed Radhika and whispered, "He doesn't seem rude."

"That's because he isn't being rude right now. He's behaving," she replied back.

Arjun caught how hard Bani was staring at him and shyly swiveled his chair more to the right, pretending to be more involved in the conversation with Sam, Neil, and Asha. The attention was making him feel uncomfortable. Of course she would have weird friends Arjun thought to himself as he glanced over and saw Radhika and Bani whispering back and forth to each other.

Several minutes later their small group was invade by Asha's fiancee and friends. Amit and the boys had planned on going out clubbing but after hearing Radhika's story they decided to stay at the hotel and spend time with the girls. The group soon split apart as some went to find tables for everyone to sit at, some went to the restroom, and some went to catch the attention of the bartender so they could order more drinks. As the crowd thinned Arjun looked about him and saw only Radhika was still with him.

Sensing his eyes on her, Radhika lowered the glass from her lips and stated, "It's alcohol free..."

Arjun let out a chuckle and replied, "So sure?"

"Personally ordered it myself," she smiled. "And you're here..."

"Don't count on your luck twice," he replied. He then glanced at her from bottom to top and smirked, "You clean up well."

Radhika was wearing a sleeveless white cotton silk salwar suit with light lilac sequin resham embroidery and a lilac churidar. She fiddled with her dupatta and smiled, "Thank you. Compliments don't come often from you...I'll take it."

Arjun gave a half grin and zinged back, "Well, if you wear better clothing you'd get more. Like your friends Toral or Sam." He saw how her eyes darken and knew he had agitated her despite the calm and polite demeanor she was portraying. "How's your ankle? You should probably sit."

"I'm fine," Radhika firmly informed. "I'm wearing flats."

Arjun slide off the bar stool and motioned for her to sit. Radhika ignored his offer even though her ankle was starting to bother her. She was not going to give into his Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde act. "Don't blame me when it gets so swollen that you can't walk," Arjun continued. He took another sip of his whiskey and then started to roll up the sleeves of his black dress shirt. He had purposely left the top two buttons undone due to the summer heat. Looking else where well he performed his task, Radhika's eyes could not help but fall upon the exposed skin. She could see the evidence of a well tone and muscular torso. And she was rather thankful that he took the care to at least wax his chest. Afraid of being caught in the act of letting her eyes linger too long she shifted her gaze and let out an involuntary gasp. Her hand immediately reached out and held Arjun's right arm in place. He had sterilize gauze coiled around his forearm. The memory of him fixing his sleeves the other night played through her mind. Her eyes widened as the realization dawned upon her that she had possibly been responsible for his wound. "I'm sorry," she said looking up at him.

Arjun mentally kicked himself for forgetting why he had put his sleeves down in the first place. He did not want people asking questions, especially her. But the summer heat was getting the best of him and he needed relief. "You've mastered the art of dry palm tree martial arts," Arjun teased trying to make light of the situation.

"Does it still hurt?"

"Only when you hold it in a specific position...much like how you're doing now," he smoothly answered.

Radhika retracted her hand and squeaked another apology. Arjun just leaned his back against the bar and stuffed his hand in his pant pocket. "It was you at breakfast this morning...staring at me." He turned in surprise at her direct accusation. "If you wanted to talk you could have just come over."

"Is it habit of yours to wear sunglasses indoors? I didn't realize I was dealing with a celebrity."

"I was trying to hide the dark circles," Radhika explained. She pulled back in alarm at the sudden way he was staring at her.

"Yes, I see them underneath the makeup," Arjun confirmed. Her forehead creased at his comment resulting in another quip, "You keep creasing your forehead like that and you'll get wrinkles."

"Is this how you normally talk to people?" Radhika asked. She was not quite sure if he was purposefully talking to her in this strange manner or he was actually socially inept. Last night he seemed to be speaking fine. Maybe it's the alcohol she thought to herself.

"Oh, before I forget," Arjun said as he pulled his hand from his pocket. "Here..."

Radhika took the slip of paper from him and opened it. What she read inside set her on fire. "A bill?"

"For my mobile. You owe me that much," Arjun explained.

"It wasn't my fault. It was the waiter who bumped into me," Radhika defended.

"And he wouldn't have bumped into you if you weren't in the way. And if you weren't drunk," Arjun firmly stated.

"How can you blame me for something I didn't do?"

"Who fell on me?"

"I did," Radhika timidly replied.

"So..."

"Well, you let go of your phone," Radhika countered.

"And I wouldn't have if you hadn't fallen on me," Arjun reasoned.

"That's not fair...you're not being reasonable," Radhika scowled.

"That's the bill," Arjun said pointing at the piece of paper in her hand. "I'll be reasonable and I won't demand all the money right now. You can even pay me in installments."

"I'm not paying it."

"You're going to pay it," Arjun ordered.

"No..."

"Yes..."

"No..."

Their bickering continued for some time until they along with everyone else in the lounge was interrupted by someone speaking into a mic. "Hello Everyone! I hope you all are enjoying your stay here at the Grand Hyatt Goa. Tonight at the lounge is karaoke night and with all the liquid courage available we'd hope there be a few brave souls out there who'd entertain us. And one such brave soul has decided to kick things off tonight. Everyone give a big round of applause for NEEEIL!"

"Neil?" Arjun repeated as he saw his cousin take the stage and the crowd explode into a roar.

(Borns - Seeing Stars, listen to the song as you read this part, and yes this is a guy singing...I thought it was a girl at first 😆 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2GOGwB4QYU)

"This one's for you!" Neil shouted as he pointed out into the crowd and gave a wink. He started to bop his head up and down as the synthesized melody and deep drum beats started up. "Saw her walking down the side of the road on the sidewalk chalk from my balcony window. First sight you made me look twice, 'casue I've never seen someone walk as light as the wind blows. I caught up to try to get your name, quickly wrote a love letter..." throwing a paper airplane from the stage that was caught by Sam, "...and turned it into an airplane. You looked up and that was enough 'cause you let out other butterflies that couldn't be contained." Walking into the crowd and dancing over to Asha, "Some dreams never do come true. Some love doesn't hit the target. I've been wishing upon you. Darling I've been wishing my hardest..." backing away as Amit came forward to claim her as his. Singing towards Pooja and Bani, "You've got me seeing stars, brighter than ever. Shining just like diamonds do," pointing at Shreya and Toral, "I know that in time it could be all ours, brighter than ever. Your love is such a dream come true," running towards Radhika and pulling her into the crowd of friends singing, "I know, I know, I know I need you, I know, I know, I know I need you."

Asha looked on in surprise as Amit stole the mic from Neil and continued the song looking straight at her, "There's a love I've been keeping aside and you're the missing puzzle piece I've been trying to find. Hey girl, you've got me learning to fly. Got me higher than a kite and I've been painting the sky. Some dreams never do come true. Some love doesn't hit the target. But my dreams are reality now, and you're the one I've been dreaming about."

Amit then put his arm around Neil as they both jump up and down singing together into the microphone, "You've got me seeing stars, brighter than ever. Shining just like diamonds do. I know that in time it could be all ours, brighter than ever. Your love is such a dream come true. I know, I know, I know I need you."

"I know, I know, I know I need you," Amit sang looking at Neil making Asha and the rest of their friend broke out into hysterical laughter.

Neil pounded his fist to his heart and then pointed at Amit as he sang back, "I know, I know, I know I need you."

Then all the boys in the group sang together, "Woah~Baby don't let go...Woah~You got me, you got me..." Amit dropped to his knees and pointed at Asha as he continued to sing, "Woah~Baby baby don't let go...You got me, you got me, you got me..."

Asha and the girls replied back, "You've got me seeing stars, brighter than ever. Shining just like diamonds do. I know that in time it could be all ours, brighter than ever. Your love is such a dream come true. I know, I know, I know I need you."

"I know, I know, I know I need you," the boys sang back.

"I know, I know, I know I need you..." everyone sang together.

The lounge soon erupted into cheers and whistles when the song ended applauding the rowdy rendition of Borns's Seeing Stars.

Arjun took another sip from his whiskey glass and grinned shaking his head. He knew this was going to be one long night. Neil was just getting warmed up. His eyes widened as he saw his cousin bounding towards him. "No," he stated. Neil didn't pay any heed to his request as he shouted, "Yo, bartender two shots!"

"No," shaking his finger at him.

Neil took the whiskey glass from his hands and finished what little was left. He then shoved one shot into Arjun's hand and then clinked his glass against his, "Drink..." Even though Arjun was protesting he obediently took the shot with his cousin. They both squinted their eyes and shook their heads at the sharpness. Neil grabbed Arjun's good arm and proceeded to drag him to the dance floor stage area. "I don't dance," Arjun protested.

"That's okay," Neil replied.

"I don't sing," Arjun said.

"That's okay," grabbing a drink off of a waiter's serving tray, "Then stand there and drink!" pointing his finger at him, "You're going to have fun tonight Mr. Arjun Mehra! It's time to celebrate the return of your cousin! It's time to have fun again. None of this grumpy loner stuff," poking his finger into his chest, "Your life is going to change from this moment. Mark my words dear Cuz!'

"Neil your drunk," Arjun informed.

"D*mn straight I am!" Neil shouted. "And tonight our life awaits us!" He then started to sing along with the song that was currently being sang. "Aa raha hoon main...zindagi aa raha hoon main...kar le aa mujhse dosti...zindagi aa raha hoon main...[I am coming...O life I am coming...come, be friends with me...O life, I am coming...]"

If only it was this easy Arjun thought to himself as he watched his cousin belt out at the top of his lungs. "mujhe kya jeet haar se...mujhe pyaar pyaar se...[I don't care for victory and loss, I love love...] aa raha hoon main...zindagi aa raha hoon main...kar le aa mujhse dosti...zindagi aa raha hoon main...[I am coming...O life I am coming...come, be friends with me...O life, I am coming...]"

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