Part 5:
Mayank finally reached his car, and after struggling for a long time, he managed to lay Nupur down on his backseat. He was about to close the door, when Nupur suddenly caught hold of his hand and pulled him towards her.
Mayank was taken by surprise, and was unable to balance himself and fell over her. "What the," he muttered angrily to himself. He looked down at her, and saw her chuckling at his reaction. "So you find it funny huh?"
"You know Mayank," she started, looking into his eyes.
"What?" Mayank asked her curiously.
"You," Nupur pointed a finger at him while she continued, "You were right."
Mayank was completely confused. "Right? About what?"
"You were right that," Nupur said, and suddenly caught hold of his collar, bringing him closer to her. His face was just inches away from hers. "That, I really enjoyed kissing you, and you're an amazing kisser."
Mayank stared at Nupur in complete shock. Is she serious? What's about her praising me all of a sudden? Mayank then suddenly shook his head as it dawned on him. Dude, of course she isn't serious, she's drunk! Why on earth would she enjoy kissing you? But then, why did I feel so happy to hear that from her? Gosh, this tequila seems to be doing its job on me too. Get a grip Mayank, get a grip. You've got to drop her home! He again looked down at Nupur to see her smiling back at him. He instantly got up, and turned around to close the door. He then got into the driver's seat, and held on to the steering wheel for a good whole two minutes.
Gosh, where the heck does she stay? I don't even remember clearly. Now what? Where do I roam around with a drunken girl? I guess, I'll take her home with me, Nikki will be there too! Perfect! Mayank then began driving over to his house.
Nupur surely didn't keep quiet throughout the ride. She kept on ranting about random and useless stuff, occasionally making Mayank stop driving the car, and warning her to keep her mouth shut. Finally, after a tiring and long drive, they finally reached his home.
Mayank had carried Nupur up to the door step, and rang the bell impatiently.
"Open up, darn it!"
Nupur kept protesting and hitting Mayank on his back, annoying him further. "Mayank, you moron, put me down!"
No one seemed to be answering the door, so Mayank angrily put her down and searched for the keys in his pocket. He finally got them and opened the door, and turned around to bring Nupur in, but was shocked when he didn't find her standing there.
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"Stop it, Rannvijay, this isn't time for jokes!" Dia scowled at him, still looking around nervously. "Where the heck is she?"
Rannvijay abruptly stopped laughing, on realizing that he was the only one laughing. He looked around at each one's face, only to find them all tensed.
"Oh, come on man, I'm sure she'll be okay! We told the bar tender to ask Mayank to drop her home, right? For all you know, she might happily be sleeping at home!"
"Yeah, guys, RV is right. Mayank will definitely drop her home. He isn't all that bad either!" Akshay said, agreeing with Rannvijay. He turned to look at Tina, who was pretty worried, and placed his hand around her shoulder reassuringly. Tina just looked up at him once, and rested her head on his shoulder.
Dia was almost in tears. She knew something was troubling Nupur, but still she left her like that. She began cursing herself. Tears slowly started streaming down her eyes, as she hugged Rannvijay tightly.
Rannvijay felt Dia hug him, and he instantly hugged Dia back reassuringly.
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"Nupur!" Mayank yelled on top of his voice, looking around his backyard. He suddenly heard someone giggling, and instantly guessed who it could be.
He rushed to where the giggling was heard from, and froze.
Nupur was busy sitting on the steps, in front of someone else's house, busy petting a cat. She kept giggling as the cat kept rolling on its back, as if, requesting her to pet it more.
Mayank could feel his temper rising. He walked up angrily towards her, and pulled her by her hand. Nupur kept turning away, but Mayank turned her around to look at him. "What is with you? I've been so friggin' worried about you! And you're here, happily giggling, petting this stupid darn cat, while I sit and rack my brains, thinking where you could have gone! When the heck are you going to get some sense?" Mayank yelled, looking straight into her eyes.
There was complete silence, except for the 'meow' of the cat, as if, trying to defend this pretty young lady.
Nupur stood completely still, looking straight into Mayank's eyes, unable to say anything. She could feel her eyes moisten, and tears slowly started streaming down her eyes. "You're a bad, bad boy!" she complained in between sobs.
Mayank bit his lip. This was no way to react. She was drunk for god's sake! How could someone be in his senses if he were actually out of his senses? And it was his fault that she was drunk. "I'm, I'm really sorry. I didn't mean any of it. It's just; you had me all worried about you! Don't ever run away like that. It isn't safe, understand?" his tone was near to a whisper.
Nupur nodded her head, just like a child who had been made to understand his mistake.
"Let's go home then?" Mayank asked her, surprised at his own sweetness.
Nupur wiped away her tears, and smiled at Mayank, nodding.
Mayank caught hold of her hand, gently, this time, and led her into the house.
He made Nupur sit down on the couch, and looked around the house, searching for Nikki. He went inside the kitchen, only to find a note on the platform. He picked it up, and opened it to read.
'Going out with Abhi, will get late so I'm staying back at his place. Will be home tomorrow, and I don't want to see you at home sleeping, understand? You need to attend office. Yeah, and don't forget breakfast.
Love you always,
Nikki.'
Mayank just crushed the note in his hand and threw it into the dustbin in anger. "Great! Now what to do with this Nupur?" he muttered angrily under his breath.
He slowly walked up to the living room, only to see Nupur fast asleep. He went towards her, and carried her in his arms. He slowly walked up to his room and placed her on the bed, and placed the blankets on her.
Nupur snuggled cozily into the blankets, having a sweet smile on her face.
Mayank looked at her and simply smiled. He moved his fingers through her hair, and slowly bent down to kiss her cheek. Nupur's smile just widened, and she caught hold of Mayank's hand and snuggled closer to him. Eventually, even Mayank fell asleep there, right beside the bed, his head resting on Nupur's hand.
********
Samrat and Gunjan had finally reached New York. They got down from the flight, collected their luggage and went straight home.
The moment they were home, Samrat just threw himself on to the sofa, while Gunjan walked in to the kitchen, to make breakfast. Both of them had been really stressed out since the past two three days, and felt no sense of relief all though they were home. They knew the challenge they had to complete was next to impossible, but neither of them would give up. Gunjan kept thinking of Shilpa. How would she be? It was really bad on their part to leave her like that, but then again, they were left with no other option.
Gunjan had just been staring at the salt box in her hand, lost deep into thoughts, when she felt someone move behind her. She didn't bother to look around, since she knew exactly who it was.
Samrat just felt restless, sitting all alone. So he went inside the kitchen, to help Gunjan. He went and stood right behind her. He slowly wrapped his arms around her waist, and kissed her neck tenderly.
Gunjan felt Samrat kiss her neck, and instantly turned around, after placing the salt box on the platform. She looked into his eyes, and unknowingly blushed.
Samrat felt really happy to see Gunjan blush that way. "I really missed that!" he had a playful smile on his lips. He inched closer to her, while Gunjan simply closed her eyes. Samrat slowly leaned in closer, and kissed her cheek. He then looked into her eyes with sincerity. "I'm really sorry Gunjan. I wanted to make this the most special trip, with lots of romance and memories to cherish, but it turned out nothing like it. Instead, I ended up putting you in so much stress!"
Gunjan could see how hurt Samrat was. She tried to lighten up the atmosphere. "Gosh, you're really getting too emotional. And about the romance, well, then we can always make up for it." She said, grinning.
Samrat saw the sparkle of mischief in her eyes, and instantly smiled. "Sure we can. How about now?" he asked her, with a naughty smile. Gunjan just smiled. Samrat brought his face closer to hers, and pressed his lips softly to hers. And in about no time, they were kissing each other passionately.
Samrat then broke out of the kiss, and carried Gunjan in his arms, and walked up to their room. He then closed the door behind him with a soft thud. At least for maybe a few hours, their mind was off the stress. And that's exactly what they needed the most.
*******
Nupur could feel her head throbbing with pain. She clutched it tightly and slowly sat up. She looked around the house with a confused look. Where the heck am I? She wondered. This surely didn't look to her like her room. She just closed her eyes for a few seconds, trying to recollect something, and opened them, only to find Mayank standing there, right in front of her.
"Mayank?" she spoke his name in utter disbelief. "What the heck are you doing here?"
Mayank simply grinned. "That's because, this is my house!"
Nupur looked around once again, and looked down at herself. She couldn't remember anything happening, so she just looked all the more confused. "But, what am I doing in your house?"
Mayank simply sighed. "You got drunk yesterday, Ricky tried to take advantage of you, so I saved you from him, and then I found out that your friends already left, and I couldn't remember where you lived, so I got you home with me, hoping that Nikki would be there, but she went out with Abhi, so I got stuck up with you. And then I put you to bed and then-,"
"Enough!" Nupur cut him short. "Did anything happen last night?"
"Yeah, wasn't that what I was just narrating out to you?" Mayank said, looking confused.
"I didn't mean that! I meant, uh,-."Nupur began, but didn't know how to continue.
"What did you mean then?" Mayank asked her, keeping a straight face.
"I meant, uh" Nupur began, but again was unable to complete whatever she was saying.
"Did anything happen between us? Is that it?" Mayank guessed.
Nupur nodded slowly, looking away in embarrassment.
"Yeah" Mayank said, looking directly at her.
Nupur looked up in shock. She could almost feel the guilt rise up to her cheeks.
"Of course! We talked! That's exactly what happened between us!" Mayank said, and then burst out laughing on seeing Nupur's expression.
Nupur could feel her blood boil when she saw Mayank laughing like that. What did he think of himself? How dare he joke around like that with her? But something about his laughter made her anger melt. It was as though his laughter was contagious. She began laughing with him.
"Thanks" she said, looking at him and smiling.
Mayank abruptly stopped laughing to confirm what he just heard.
"Thanks?" he repeated.
Nupur just nodded her head. She got down from the bed and stood in front of him.
"But why are you thanking me?" Mayank asked, on not receiving a reply for his previous question.
Nupur just walked up closer to him. "Thanks for not leaving me alone while I was drunk. Thanks for saving me from Ricky. Thanks for helping me. And, thanks for bearing with me the entire night."
Mayank just shook his head in disbelief. "I do not believe this."
"Friends?" Nupur asked, bringing her hand forward.
Mayank shook his hand with hers. "Friends"
"Bye Mayank, I better get going." Nupur said. She didn't know what made her do that, but she kissed him on his cheek softly, and placed her hand on his cheek.
Mayank was surprised. He instantly caught hold of her hand, and kissed her back on her cheek.
Nupur's face flushed and she quickly went away from there, to avoid any sort of awkwardness.
Mayank just stood still, and smiled. "She isn't so bad after all."
********
Gunjan came laughing out of the room, with Samrat chasing after her. She hurriedly went towards the kitchen, and stopped. Samrat also followed her into the kitchen, and stood beside her.
"Samrat, we've had a lot of fun for today. Now let's get to work soon." Gunjan said, her expression changing to that of a serious one.
"Yeah, I'll go and speak to Rahul." Samrat agreed and walked out of the kitchen.
Gunjan began preparing food, and was soon done. She kept everything on the table, and went up to the living room to begin working herself.
She opened up her laptop and just randomly entered Mayank's name in the search box, hoping for something relevant to show up. She came across too many links, neither of them related to her search. She scrolled down, until she stopped on a link.
'Sharma Industries (Las Vegas) finally out of the financial crisis.'
Gunjan just pondered over the link for a few minutes. It seemed like an article. Sharma Industries, Las Vegas, Mayank Sharma?
"Could this be.....?" Gunjan wondered, her eyes fixed to the screen.
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