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Chapter 22
The gang was busy polishing off their plates at breakfast, for they knew that they would be eating light and bland food for the whole week. "Hey, look who's here," said a voice from behind them and they all turned to look at the guide they had met the night before. "Oh, hey, Akash," Abby greeted with a smile. Her eyebrows lifted in interest when she noticed the man next to him. "Who's your friend?" Damn, there was just no shortage of hot men up here in the mountains! "This's Shaan. Shaan, just got back from an excursion this morning." Madhu woke up regretting her antics the night before and wasn't sure how to deal with the situation especially since Akash was one of the guides. She wanted to run away but knew excusing herself would be too obvious. Finally pulling on a brave front she put herself out there, and smiled sweetly at Akash asking, "Aren't there supposed to be three of you anyway?" Leaning towards Madhu, Akash answered her, "Yeah, you guys will meet Rishab and Harpreet when you get to base camp. Rishab came in last night and if I know him he is currently going over equipment and monitoring weather conditions before the climb." Rishab, Madhu thought, could he be... No, Rishab is a guide here, he can't be the Rishab Kundra. "Just make sure you're ready to roll in the next hour," Akash said as he straightened up and stretched. "We'll meet ya here at the lodge and take ya up to the base camp and we'll head out from there after gear check." "I'm so excited," Adam said and clapping his hands together. Akash and Shaan looked at Adam's weird reaction, "OooKay, we've gotta go. Have to meet with the other members of our group."Akash quietly whispered to Madhu in a teasing yet challenging way, "Be ready, caz the first few miles we're going to climb are gonna be pretty challenging" Madhu winked at him. "I'm always up for a challenge." Akash walked off laughing with Shaan in tow.
As Madhu and her friends entered the reception area of the lodge they immediately spotted Akash talking to some a couple who might be the other members of the group and waved and walked over to him. Madhu at once recognised the couple as being Deepali and Sikander. "Hey Deepali, I mean Dips, I totally didn't expect to see you and your brother here." Deepali seemed equally shocked if not more at Madhu's presence and blurted out, "You, you can't be here, not now." Madhu and the rest of the group looked on confused. Before she could recover from her initial shock, Rishab walked in with his gear and looking at all the people present, a bunch of emotions flashed across his face before he literally screamed out, "Oh God No!!!"
Mr. Bhatia had mentioned over dinner that Rishab had emailed all the Board members of his week long vacation and this knowledge left Deepali curious. In her need to know, she went to the office the next day and spent it eavesdropping on Bittuji's conversations, knowing fully well that if anyone would know about Rishab's vacation plans it would be Bittuji. Deepali had overheard Bittuji asking the accountant to make some payments. After threatening and bribing the accountant, she found out that Rishab had booked a cabin at Good Times Lodge and would be going mountain climbing. She decided that this was her chance to seduce and drive her hook deep into Rishab and accordingly set upon making her plans.
Akash knew that Rishab was furious as he wanted to be alone and hang out with him, his oldest buddy for a week, and not be surrounded by people he knew from his everyday life. So he took charge of the group and called out to them, "Well if you guys are ready, we'll start loading up and heading out to the base camp." Akash glanced at his watch, they were running a few minutes ahead of schedule which was a very good sign for the next few days. "So who is going to be carrying my gear?", Deepali asked. Akash, Harpreet and Rishab exchanged a look. They had just located the one who was most likely to cause a problem on the climb. Rishab decided to save Akash the hassle, "Its every person for themselves. If its too much for you feel free to stay behind." Deepali looked incredulously at Rishab. When she heard Madhu's friends giggling and Madhu nudging them to keep silent, she steeled herself and picked up her backpack and moved to the van, with a resolve that Rishab Kundra is going to be hers by the end of this excursion.
As Rishab was helping Madhu get her gear in the van, Madhu tried to talk to him, as she knew he was tensed, reading his body language. She figured he was mad at her for something, probably because she was causing further tension in his friendship with Deepali just by being here. "Look, I didn't expect to see you here. Honestly," she glanced at the ground, "I hadn't expected to see you ever again." She sighed and shook her head. "As you already know I'm here with some friends and they want to have a good time, so... I don't wanna fight." With some hope she finally said, "I promise to stay out of your way as much as I can. Okay." Rishab didn't answer and just stuffed his pack in the back before slamming the doors shut and checking something off his list. "Lets go. Everyone in the van now", he growled. Akash and Harpreet exchanged a look when Rishab brushed past them and jerked the driver's side door open. "What's the matter, Kundra?" Akash asked when he was sure nobody could hear him. "I don't want to talk about it, you got it?", he jabbed his finger in the center of Akash's chest,"And don't even think about making a move on her..." , looking past Akash at Madhu. Akash looked in the direction of Rishab's gaze and raised one eyebrow in surprise, wondering what was going on in his head, but let it go for now and walked around the van to get into the passenger's seat. "Alright to the base camp. Wooohooo!!" he said loudly so as to lift everyone's spirits.
Abby and Adam were trying to make sense of the situation. Adam inquired, "What happened with Rishab?" "Oh, it was nothing." "Are you sure? You seem rattled." he pressed. "Yeah", she said and opened her thick jacket, "just sweating from being stuck between you two", she tried to joke. "Okay." He wasn't convinced but he knew pushing the issue any further would start an argument. Abby nudged Madhu with her elbow and raised her eyebrow in question when she had her attention. "What?" she asked innocently. "Uh-huh, we'll talk later." Something was going on, but she had a feeling it wasn't something they should discuss in front of everyone.
She leaned over the front seat and tapped Akash on the shoulder. "How long will it take to reach the base camp?" "About an hour," he said, glancing over his shoulder. "We'll take care of a few last-minute things and then we'll head out." "So, we'll climb a little over 5,000 feet today, right?" Adam asked excitedly. "We've gotta do a complete gear check when we reach the base camp," Akash explained. "After that we'll be ready to go. The first day moves kinda quick but we've gotta keep a good pace to reach our camp for the night before nightfall." "Is it gonna be a straight climb up today?" Abby asked. The talk about the climb was beginning to change Rishab's mood and he answered instead, "Huh-uh, we'll actually descend at one point, goin' down about 400 feet." "Really?" "Yeah, that's when the fun really starts," Rishab said with a grin. "What kinda fun are we talkin' about?" Madhu asked curiously. Michael glanced at her in the rearview mirror. "After that descent we'll be ropin' up a bit and then we'll cross the icy lake. After that we ascend a while longer until we reach our first camp site." "Sounds like fun," Abby said excited. Madhu nodded in agreement, trying hard not to think about the man driving. "I can't wait to get out there."
Rishab glanced in the rearview mirror again when she spoke up and he saw the glistening in her eyes. He always claimed to be able to read people well but she was beginning to confuse him. Her paintings spoke of her loneliness but she seemed almost content, enjoying with her friends. Was he wrong then? No, he couldn't have read her paintings wrong and he did recognise something familiar in her eyes too. God, he shook his head in slight frustration, she was going to be the death of him. Ever since Akash mentioned her name last night, he hasn't been able to stop thinking about her. And when he saw her this morning, instead of being surprised at seeing her, he was somewhat pleased. And that was what was annoying him more, more than even Deepali's presence. He remembered Akash's description of all the little flirtatious remarks passed between his friend and Madhu and didn't like it one bit. And before he knew it, he was delivering a warning to Akash. He was mad at Madhu, mad at Akash, mad at Deepali, mad at the situation and most of all mad at himself for not being able to keep his emotions in check.
Listening to the conversation, Deepali was nearly hysterical. She had planned to bag Rishab during this climb but didn't realise that she would actually be doing some climbing. Sikander on the other hand was busy ogling Harpreet and trying to get cosy with her with his pick-up lines. While she was trying her best to ignore him, all the while wondering if she could throw him off a cliff and claim that it was his own stupidity by which he fell off.
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