Part 13:
She flicked the ceiling light off and tucked herself into bed, her hair falling over her face as she closed her eyes with a smile to feel something warm on her cheek.
"Hi" she whispered softly, a smile came upon his face. "Hi.." he replied, they lay there on the bed facing each other saying nothing. He moved his hand over to her forehead tucking the lose strand of hair behind her ear, her eyes closed again gave another smile.
He moved closer to her and placed a kiss on her forehead, from her forehead he moved to her cheeks, "Mayank.." she whispered, "hmm?" he replied back moving away from her, her eyes opened as she looked at him leaning on his elbow looking at her,
"Was it really you there?" she asked, he chuckled "Is it really me here?" he asked back with a cute smile.
"Of course it is.. When ever I close my eyes your there, you make life so much easier" he laughed once again, "of course im only there when you close your eyes, I'm a figment of your imagination" he replied, "You're so real though" he shook his head, "Real in your heart.. Yet when you open those eyes of yours I shall be gone" she disagreed.
"No.. Because you always return, I know you return" she said, "Maybe for once it's you who has to return not me.. " he started before being interrupted, "Now that's being stupid, how can I return if I haven't gone anywhere?" asked Nupur.
"Come back to my life, this time I'll promise you I wont let you go like before" as he finished his sentence he kissed her again on the forehead and held her close.
"Mayank.." she said waiting for an answer, "Mayank" still no reply, she turned around and opened her eyes. The sun poured In through the blinds, looking next to her no one was there. The bed sheets still the same as they were last night, she sighed and hopped out of bed.
Not again. She sighed thinking, she heard a knock on the door as she wrapped her dressing gown over her PJ's. opening the door there stood Dia and CJ fully dressed and looking as bright as day, "Morning.." she said letting them in and went back to sit on the bed,
"It's 11 o'clock, and you just woke up?" asked CJ, Nupur nodded and Dia shook her head. "We didn't want to wake you up so we had breakfast thinking you'll be done by the time we finish.. " she continued then changing the topic, "any who whose dreams were you lost in to sleep so late?" she looked at Dia strangely, how did she know she was dreaming of someone.
No wait, you weren't dreaming of them. Your subconscious mind was…not your fault at all.
"No one.." she replied rolling her eyes, "Is the dining room still open?" she asked unzipping her bag and pulling out that days clothes,
"It will be closed by the time you get ready… but don't worry.. I brought some doughnuts for you" said CJ, nupur looked amazed
"I'm not going to even ask how you snuck them out but thanks you're a darl…so tum dono just chill.. I'll get ready phir we'll hit the town" they both nodded as they sat down and flicked the TV on.
---
"Chalo Mayank, Samrat…we're getting late!" Gunjan called from the bottom of the stairs, she looked again at her watch and sighed,
"I'm waiting in the car.. If both of you are not down in 5…I'll personally come and drag you both out of the friggin bathroom" she yelled up the stairs, as she was about to leave Mayank came by her side with an apologetic smile, "How long does it take to have a shower and get ready? Even we girls don't take that long" she asked him,
"We need to impress the girls Gunji.. Take a chill.. Aur anyways.. Hum holidays par hain" he said sweetly,
"I don't think Samrat needs to impress anyone" she said flashing her engagement ring in front of his face, he laughed and slid one arm on her shoulder and led her to the car,
"Jalan ho rahi hain? It's good.. Natural" he said laughing while she rolled her eyes and pulled away from him.
---
"I can't believe tum logo ne Gunjan ko phone kiya…" said Nupur in the car, "Mayank bhi aah raha hain.."
Main kaha phas gayi.. She asked herself
"Well.. Gunjan did say to give her a call for when we wanted to go sight seeing, thank god she gave us the number otherwise you wouldn't have given it to us" said Dia, "and anyways, Mayank is your ex par tum toh Samrat aur Gunjan ki achi dost ho hain na?" Nupur nodded,
"Par mayank ko yeh pata nahin hain…aur usko yeh bhi pata nahin hain ke main unki Papa ke company main kaam kar rahi ho.." she said in one breath sighing, "chod, everything has to come out sooner or later.. But right now, I'd prefer later. Don't tell him anything okay?" Dia bit her lip then nodded same with CJ.
"Good.. Now lets go see what Shimla's made of" she said trying to be hopeful.
---
*Note: I have never been to Shimla or Mashobra. Thanks to Google, I've got to know it's a popular picnic area and from there I've just made up stuff.
"Welcome to Mashobra, isn't it beautiful?" asked Gunjan to the girls; Nupur, Dia and CJ agreed as the boys came up carrying picnic baskets and rugs. The green hills surrounded them were padded with light snow but nothing to stop everyone from having some fun, families had set up picnic spots with their children and other friends and relatives. The sound of trickling water was heard from the nearby stream and then nearly blue sky made it even more relaxing.
Mayank placed the picnic rug on the grass and as he bent to set it out Nupur to bent down and tried to pull It out, their hands brushed and their heads knocked, jumping back they both apologised with a silence following, but as he flashed his smile she let out a laugh, "sorry again.." she said as he started spreading the rug out.
"how's life been?" he asked looking at her, she licked her lips and looked into his eyes,
"uhm… good…" she started, "it was hard to start all over again, but motivation kept me going" she said, "I'm happy, it's finally working out Nupur" she didn't know what to say, why was he being so sweet? Why was he being so cordial? If it were her in his position and he had left, she would have been pissed but she knew deep inside him being happy meant so much more, in the past 9 months when she was down and struggled to find the light she thought of him, thought of the fact that giving up would only hurt him more. She didn't want to go back and hear anyone say 'told you so'. She wanted to prove everyone wrong, to prove that she could do it, and she did prove it all; not only to herself but to her parents and to God.
"Thank you Mayank, for everything…" she said, "we're still friends na?" she asked and he raised his eyebrow,
"well.. I dunno about that, you haven't kept in touch.. Nor did you end up telling me where you went" she looked at Samrat and Gunjan who were busy talking to CJ and Dia and smiled,
"I was closer than you think…if it weren't for some people, I don't know where I could have ended up" she said looking at Samrat and Gunjan then back at Mayank smiling, he didn't know what brought it on but he came closer and gave her a hug,
"I'm happy" he said, amazed that he came in to give a hug but she was happy…
---
"It's getting cold" said Dia from across the mat, "I'm going to go get my jacket" she pulled CJ with her and stood up to go towards the car. Gunjan and Nupur were deep in conversation as the boys lay on the mat looking up at the sky, it had gotten colder yet the sky was still blue.
"Mayank ko kuch pata nahin hain?" Nupur asked Gunjan in a lowered tone,
"Pata nahi hain.. You should tell him, now that we met up… I saw you 3 days ago, why didn't you tell me you were coming here?"
"I don't know, I completely forgot about the fact you guys stayed here.. I didn't know you all were coming down for Christmas break, Benji was the one who told me"
Gunjan looked at Mayank and bit her lip, "I'm happy that he found a friend in Benji, but you haven't told any of your friends what happened in Goa honestly?" Nupur shook her head,
"It wont hurt them if they don't know, the hardest bit was convincing CJ and Benji to act normal around Mayank at work… not only that, I had noticed Mayank didn't have many friends in Mumbai…convincing Benji to be friends with Mayank took a while"
"Well, I'm glad it worked. They have become good friends now from what he's said" Gunjan put in,
"Gunjan..in nau mahino main.. Maine tumhein kabhi bhi nahin poocha ke Mayank kaisa hain… I'm sorry, if it wasn't for him.. I would have never met you, Samrat, or my dreams" Gunjan smiled.
"I should tell him.. I will tell him, who mera dost hain.. Itna toh bhi haq hain unke paas"
"What are you to mumbling about over there?" asked Samrat sitting up,
"none of your bees-wax Mr Sharma" said Nupur sticking her tongue out, Mayank looked at the three of them as they spoke. They looked so comfortable with each other, the 4 days in Goa couldn't have done this. It was weird.
"now we've got our jumpers, anyone wanna come on a walk with us?" asked CJ as her and Dia came back to the group, everyone looked up at them and then back at each other, "Er.. Lets all go?" said Gunjan standing up, as they quickly packed everything away and back into the car they made their way onto the trail and into the forest.
---
"1, 2, 3…Smile" said the old man as he took a picture of the six under the large oak-tree,
"Thanks uncle" said Samrat shaking the mans hand.
Nupur walked towards the back of the group her hands buried deep in her pockets as she looked up at the forest roof, not looking where she was going she didn't realise the steps coming up, as she fell face first she closed her eyes ready for the worst.
Mayank looked at her and went to grab her, he tried keeping his balance by holding a tree branch with one hand and grabbing Nupur by the other, by the time he'd got her she had slipped even more causing him to pull the branch.
The group turned around when they heard a little squirm from Nupur's mouth, as soon as Mayank stopped her from slipping she opened her eyes with a thankful smile only for it to be returned with a large amount of snow falling on her face. The tree branch snapped and as Mayank tumbled again, this caused the snow to shake all over Nupur.
She sheltered her face again screaming but this time no one saved her, opening her eyes she saw Mayank on the ground looking at her and the rest of the group laughing. She shook the snow off yet it seeped through her jacket and made her shiver. She let her hand out waiting for Mayank to stand up.
"sorry" he mouthed, "It's okay.. I should have watched where I'm going…gah.. Im so cold now" she said looking at herself,
"I think there was a spare jacket in my car Nupur…here are the keys go get it" said Samrat taking out the keys from his pocket, Mayank looked at his brother and got hold of the keys, "I'll go with Nupur, you guys continue" he said as they nodded, turning back around the way they came they randomly talked about things.
"Mayank the cars that way.." she said as he turned right instead of going straight he didn't stop, he continued walking; confused Nupur followed quickly behind, "Mayank.." she called again, he didn't stop once again. Few minutes later a stoned path was laid out and little lanterns adorned the path way towards a little cottage, set in the middle of the forest not many people surrounded the area making Nupur even more confused.
He walked through the door and into the warm caf, as she pushed the door open a little bell rang and she saw Mayank taking his coat off. "There's a bathroom through the left there with towels and the necessary stuff..go get warm, I'll be waiting here" he said as she went and sat by the window at the little table.
"Why didn't we just go to the car" she asked questioningly, he looked at her "I thought we could have some time alone…to catch up" he put in, she rolled her eyes and laughed then made her way to the bathroom.
He stared at the direction she went in for minutes, her smile and laughter replayed in his mind, and as he closed his eyes a picture of her popped up. Just like the millions of other times in the last couple of months.
10 minutes later she came out with her hair let out and her scarf in her hands, Mayank sat at the table reading the newspaper with a stern face. He hadn't read the newspaper in ages. Ages meaning the last week, he thought that this holiday would mean relaxing, and enjoying time with the family.. Forgetting the outside world and their issues. Yet, he couldn't help himself when he saw the newspaper across the room.
"You're back" he said with a smile on his face as she approached the table, "this place is really cute… how come they had towels and all in there?" she asked sitting down on the chair,
"not many people know about the little caf, but I dunno.. Ever since I was a teenager they've always had little hospitality things" he said shrugging his shoulder, "Anyways.. What will you have to drink?" he asked, she picked up the little laminated menu and had a skim through,
"hot-chocolate" she said.
"Nimi?" he called out, few seconds later out came a girl similar to Nupur's age with a smile on her face,
"I thought I heard Mayank's voice.." she said as she hopped over and hugged him, "what brings you here? I thought us Shimla people are too small for you Mumbai-ites" he laughed at her and Nupur looked on,
"I've just been busy…" he stated and gave a smile to Nimi who rolled her eyes, "What will you have? The usual?" Mayank nodded,
"And a hot-chocolate too" she nodded and looked at Nupur, "Hi, sorry for being rude I'm Nimita…" Nupur smiled and put her hand out,
"Nupur.." she said.
"This is the first time I've ever seen Mayank bring anyone here, you must be special" as Nimi finished, Nupur's cheeks flushed red. Mayank looked at them both, "Nimi.. Aisa kuch bhi nahin hain.." he said resting his elbows on the table, "uh huh" she said winking at him, he gave her a look which made her shut up and not continue talking, "I'll be back with your order soon" she said as she again skipped back to the kitchen.
"how do you know Nimi?" Nupur asked casually, Mayank looked up and bit his lip "We were close friends in high-school" he said, she raised one eyebrow and gave him a funny look, "close friends?" she asked questioningly.
"Well…" he started,
"let me guess… went out for a while in high school and the broke up due to no connection?" she said, he looked at her amazed. How did she know?
"tumhe kaise pata?" he said, "..wait. It was one of those relationships where there was no spark.. We're just good friends now.. Nothing can ever happen between us." he said it all in one breath as if he were trying to make a point, she laughed
"Don't worry Mayank… you don't have to explain anything" she said.
As their drinks arrived and they sat their in the warm cottage and talked catching up on the minor details of the last nine months, as she laughed a strand of her hair fell in her face she kept pushing it back but it didn't stay. Mayank leant forward and tucked her lose strand of her behind her ear, yet it still fell out they both laughed as they looked into each others eyes.
She'd missed this; missed his presence, his aura…and she missed his smile. The smile which made her heart skip a beat, the cute dimples on his cheeks. She was lost in her world of admiring him when she heard him call her name,
"You still haven't told me what you've been doing the last few months" he asked, she looked at him and bit her lip.
"I've been working and staying in…" she gulped, "In..er…Delhi..working with…uhm, Triple S M"
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Note: The aankhein Khuli bit from MJHT, cute but not how i imagined the one in this FF.. so.. if u couldn't picture it before, and thought the MJHT might work.. yehh but nahh.. haha
:D
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