#2 SS|TheContract+HerConditions|Link to New thread - Page 20

I remember about the radio and mannat ki chaabi' It'll happen soon kay? AFTER the honeymoon.

WARNING: ALL FIFTEEN DAYS OF HONEYMOON WON'T BE THIS DETAILED.

DAY 4 (On Board Louis Majesty)

Arnav felt Khushi stirring in his arms and the happenings of yesterday flashed through his mind. He let go of her immediately and sprang out of bed and stood by the window in the morning light. He didn't want Khushi to know he'd been vulnerable near her.

Khushi rubbed her eyes and looked around. She didn't see Arnav and the unfamiliar surroundings made her shriek. Arnav whirled around. "What the-!"

Khushi saw him and breathed deeply. "Oh you're here..." she said relieved.

Arnav turned around to look out and said coldly. "The cab will be here in half an hour and take us to the Piraeus port. Get ready..."

She was momentarily startled by his coldness but in a moment, but remembered what happened yesterday... At the Acropolis and later at the empty street. Khushi shuddered and puller her knees to herself and closed her eyes, trying to block out the images... "Thank you.." she whispered softly.

Arnav looked at her startled but gave her a curt nod. "The hotel brush and toothpaste is in the bathroom. Payal said she will get you a fresh pair of clothes."

Khushi nodded and staggered towards the bathroom. She closed the door behind her and sank onto the floor. With her face in between her knees she began to sob. How could she ever forget that gory day?

"Papa ice-creammm!" Khushi screamed indignantly.

"Beta we need to reach Mumbai before Shashi Bhai and Garima Bhabhi!" Papa said.
Mama laughed. "Raghav it is just ice-cream! Hardly two minutes! Besides, they are BEHIND us! Really, you two brothers are such kids...? If Madhu was here-"

Papa scowled in mock anger. "Don't pull Jiji in between! You and your sister Garima are no less Nimmi!"

"ICE CREAM!" Khushi screamed again.
Bhaiyya laughed. "Papa let's stop or Kuku will chew out my brains!"

Papa gave in and parked the car near a small ice-cream stall. He took out some money and handed it to Ashish. "Ashu, its dark out. Accompany Kuku and both of you buy flavors that you like?"

Bhaiyya nodded and the brother-sister got out of the car.

After buying the ice-creams of their choice Khushi and Ashish turned to be greeted by a horrifying sight.
A truck came from the opposite direction and hit their car. Ashish and Khushi had run towards them, but suddenly a man stepped out from the truck. Ashish covered Khushi's mouth and dragged her to a nearby tree and hid under its shadows. This planted a permanent fear of shadows and darkness into Khushi?

They watched the man stoop to check the damage and he turned towards someone else. "It's done bhai. Abbas has done a good job. They're dead. But the kids aren't here?"

Khushi got one glimpse of the face of the man who was being talked to and the image had burned itself in her memory.
"Forget the kids Aniket?They are probably in Shashi Gupta's car?"

"But Anish Bhai if we get found out?"

"We'll find ourselves a lawyer. Besides, who will dare to imprison the Malliks?"

Khushi could feel her brother's tears wet the back of her frock. "Bhaiyya?"

"I'll get them Kuku... Don't worry, I surely will!"

Aniket and Anish Mallik... She'd never forget their names. Not Aniket's voice, for she hadn't seen his face and not Anish's face...

Arnav sat on the bed, frustrated with himself. He was trying to ignore the small sound of Khushi's sobs. After ten minutes, she came out; her eyes were red and puffy... Her cheeks were pink. "Let's go" she sniffled.

Arnav looked at her unsurely for a moment and nodded once.

Two Hours Later-

The Louis Majesty ship was eleven storey high. The eleventh deck was the open sun deck, and below it was the swimming pool and open caf. The sun deck overlooked the swimming swimming pool.

In short, the 10^th and 11^th deck seemed like first floor and ground floor of the same house without a roof and a person standing below could see the sun-deck and people on sun-deck could look down below at the pool. To the left of the sundeck was a protrusion that was the chimney of the ship and also a small engine room.

Arnav found Khushi standing on the sun deck of the Louis Majesty ship, eleven storeys above the ground, listening to music. She was wearing a straw hat, and pale water-color green dress that flowed gracefully to a little above her feet. Her fingers played absent-mindedly with the mangalsutra around her neck, the only piece of jewellery decorating her.

She was clutching the railing tightly with one hand for the Aegean winds threatened to blow her petite self off the ship and holding the earphones tightly to prevent it from flying out of her ear.

I'm thinkin' about letting out

I wanna give in, I wanna go out

Been lookin' around

I finally found the rhythm of love, the feeling of sound

It's makin' a change, the feeling is strange

[SONG: Beat of my Heart by Hillary Duff. Listen to it, it's beautiful! ]

She grimaced...Rhythm of love? Love my foot! She thought and looked at her MP3 to switch it off. She heard footsteps behind her and got startled. Her MP3 almost dropped and without noticing, she pressed 'Record'.

She looked up to see Arnav and then turned to look at the purple Greek Islands in the distance. "If you're here to scold me again and accuse me of being a cheat, please leave?" she said, fingering her MP3, unknowingly recording their conversation.

"Look, you know Shyam and-"

"Drop it Mr Raizada. Don't take the snake's name and...I'm sorry..."

"For what?" Arnav asked.

"For making you uncomfortable yesterday...I shouldn't have said anything yesterday. I am sorry for being a burden to you..." She turned to look at him, and giving him a curt nod took the stairs down the open cafe on the level below the sun deck, with her hair bouncing as she went down.

Arnav stood under the sun, stunned; He thought she was going to admit being guilty! And moments later followed her downstairs.

ArShi and PaYash had to connecting suites on the 9^th deck of the ship called the Carribean Deck.

At the moment, all were in PaYash's suite. The men were watching TV and the women were moving around setting their things. Then the speaker that was fixed above the curtains boomed "Ole ze passengerrs pliss pay attenshone! Welkhome abord ze Louis Maajesti! Zis iz Minos, ze directore of your cruise. Too dziscuss your travelle and plesses we weel veesith, I would request you ole to assamble at ze feefth dake een ze Marco Pollo Hole! Tsank you!"

(All the passengers please pay attention! Welcome aboard the Louis Majesty! This is Minos, the director of your cruise. Too discuss your travel and places we will visit, I would request you all to assemble at the fifth deck in the Marco Polo Hall! Thank you!)

Arnav and Akash looked at each other and were about to get up when they heard a guttural sound. Startled, they looked back to see their wives laughing hard clutching their stomachs.

"Zizi, his Eenglish is funnier zan Buazi's!" Khushi laughed.

Payal laughed harder at Khushi's imitation and said "True and-"

They were interrupted by the sound of small coughs. They looked up to see their husbands staring at them and stopped laughing abruptly.

"Shall we go?" Akash asked.

"Yes Jiji. Let's go to Ze Hole..." Khushi said seriously.

Making Payal giggle again.

The four of them walked towards the elevator. The floors were carpeted by a beautiful shade of seaweed green and the walls' decorum was the color of light brown. Grand chandeliers hung at equal intervals and the walls were adorned by glass shades, also placed at regular intervals right above the glass. The corridors had glass walls that shone with sunny sparkle and overlooked the Aegean, shimmering in all glory. Khushi walked near the glass, trailing her index finger as she walked. In between, sofas were arranges such that they overlooked the sea. Opposite to the glass walls were mini-bars and arcade games.

Ten minutes later, they had reached the Marco Polo Hall. It was circular, and near the circumference was a semicircle dias. Half the perimeter was made of glass, looking out into the sea and the other half was wood. Rows of seats were arranged in an almost circular pattern. The distance between the dias and the first row was about two meters. First three rows consisted of plush velvet tan sofas. The rest of the chairs were rotating chairs. The room was lit by the light coming from the glass walls.

They took the sofas in the third row.

As they got seated, Khushi looked at her sister and smiled. She was finally confident in Western clothes. After great insistence on Khushi's part, Payal agreed to wear a yellow top and and white, long skirt.

She watched ruefully, as Payal settled comfortably next to Akash and rested her head on his shoulder. His hand went around Payal's shoulder and after squinting for a moment, he shook his head and rested it on Payal's.

Khushi closed her eyes and rested her head against the backseat of the sofa.

Arnav saw Payal snuggling into Akash, and Akash was looking at him with narrowed eyes. Shaking his head, he rested it on Payal's. Arnav's eyes went to Khushi, who was leaning back with her eyes closed. Slowly, he slid his arm from under her neck, making her eyes fly open. She sat up straight immediately and looked at him with suspicious eyes.

Without breaking eye contact, he put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her close to him. She squirmed a bit, frightened by his sudden display of affection. She sat stiffly, her hands fisted in her lap.

Arnav, with his other hand, rubbed comforting circles on the slope of her stiff fists.

She tried to fight the comfort that she could feel seeping through her at his soothing gesture and relaxed slowly, until she fit into his arms.

Before the lights dimmed, Akash looked over at his brother and bhabhi and smiled lightly. Success!

To make things easier, he would have to know what exactly was going on? He looked at Payal, and wondered whether he should talk to her, and immediately his mind answered that of course he should! That it wasn't even right for such a question to form as he shouldn't hide anything from his wife...

But not now...? He didn't know how Payal would react, and yes, call him selfish, but he didn't want to ruin the moment. Neither his, nor his brother's.

Akash had seen Payal's temper the day he had skipped breakfast and brought back uneaten behind their bedroom doors... And he was definitely not prepared to see it again...! And definitely not on their HONEYmoon!

As Khushi's warmth seeped into Arnav, Arnav told himself (or tried to) that he was doing this so that Akash wouldn't suspect the authenticity of their marriage...

Khushi rested her head on Arnav's shoulder, convincing herself that she was just acting for the sake of Jiji...

One Hour Later-

Their itinerary had been quite simple.

Itinerary of Course

DAY 1- Mykonos {Windmills}*
Back to ship by max. 7 p.m

DAY 2- Mykonos {Beach/Pelican Spotting}*
Back to ship by max. 7 p.m

DAY 3- Mykonos {Shopping till Afternoon}*
Back to ship by max. 11 a.m
Journey towards Turkey (Kusadasi) starts at 12 p.m
Arrival at night. Stay on board.

DAY 4- Turkey {Shopping} (Kusadasi)
(Turkey trip only for those who have multiple Schengen Visa)
Disembarking the ship at 9 after Breakfast.
Shopping and roaming around the city till noon.
Those who wish to visit Kusadasi Water Park need to carry Lira/Euros

DAY 5- Turkey {Ephesus} (Kusadasi)*
Visit to the historic ancient city of Ephesus. Starting at 8 a.m
Back by 5 p.m

DAY 6- Patmos {St.John's Cave and view of Monastery}*

Visit the Cave of Apocalypse and have a guided tour through quaint streets of the island.

DAY 7- TRAVEL ONLY TO CRETE

DAY 8- Crete
Knossos Palace

DAY 9- Santorini

Visit Capital of Santorini (Oia/Ia)

Trekking across caldera

DAY 10- Santorini*
Panoramic Tour of Island (Optional)

DAY 11- TRAVEL
Way to Athens

Days marked with * indicate that spending the night on board the ship is compulsory. The days unmarked indicate that choice of night-stay is up to the passenger (Hotel on the island or Ship suites)

The Louis Majesty would be docked at the port itself and those who wished to spend the nights on board could do so, or they could stay on the islands too.

On the 8^th Deck, the end of the corridor consisted of a large buffet hall, which served breakfast 7 a.m to 10 a.m, Lunch from 12 noon to 2 p.m and dinner from 7 p.m to 10 p.m. Between 3 p.m and 5 p.m, tea was served.

The two couples now stood in the line for buffet, and the most impatient man in the room would have been Arnav Singh Raizada, for he wasn't used to waiting.

Twenty minutes later, they had settled down at a table for four, with a scrumptious Greek dinner, which was first night special for passengers. From the next day, Indian food would be available too.

Arnav watched in amusement as Khushi dumped a generous amount of pepper on to her salad, and after 2 minutes of whining about the blandness of food, she began to gorge on it. Typical Khushi!

After a day of loitering around the ship, they all retired.

Khushi had gone crazy over the arcade games, and Arnav got a glimpse of the child in her after a long time, which was nice for a change after seeing the cold and grown up side of her.

Payal and Akash had spent most of the time roaming around holding hands, and admiring the waters from the glass windows of the ship's corridors.

When they all retired to suites, Khushi was explaining to Payal in detail about how many gift tokens she had won and what she'd take from the Redemption Booth and what games she had played, while Payal listened with an amused smile. Arnav and Akash walked behind their wives quietly, for Akash was still pissed off at Arnav.

As soon as they had entered their suite, Khushi had given a huge yawn and said "Sleep on couch!" and fell onto the king size bed, covering it fully.

"Excuse me?" Arnav said.

Khushi yawned again, half sleepy. "Well, you are excused'." And fell asleep.

Shaking his head, Arnav changed into his casuals and slept on the couch.