"Do you mind going for a walk by the waters?
I wanted to, from the time we checked in here, but didn't quite have the
company." She didn't expect it'll be that easy to ask him for a pleasant
favor. She thought words would choke out of her mouth when she decided to
stop him from moving away.
"Are you sure? I thought you didn't want to
entertain my presence anymore." He didn't mean to be sarcastic; he didn’t
want to lose the opportunity to walk by her, and if things lead to asking to
walk by her forever, this could be his only chance at that.
"I thought you wanted to be friends!"
She brushed by him walking down the stairs, knowing he won't be far behind. He
wasn't. He shook his head with surprise and smiled wide as he followed her.
While he knew his destiny was shaping up, he wanted to give himself a little
more time to sweep her off her feet literally, not knowing she already thinks
he has emotionally!
It was a dark and clear sky with few stars and
somewhere between a half and crescent moon. The water was quiet and still
except for those tiny waves that brushed by the shore. The shore itself was
calm thanks to the hour of the night, but the resort had probably anticipated
for the walks and had subtle lights installed to make sure the serenity isn't
compromised. While he was still a few feet behind, he couldn't stop smiling at
her struggling with her strapped shoes and trying to untie it to take it out to
walk on the sands. He doubled up his steps and held out a hand for her to hold,
while didn't expect her to take it. "Thanks, not sure why I didn't get off
the shoes after the reception!" she explained, he didn't need one. He
wished he could hold those hands for rest of the walk, he wished.
They ended up walking a mile, with her holding
the shoes and him glaring at the stars above. "Star gazer?" she
probably had questions too that she never knew she wanted to ask.
"No, was wondering which of the stars up
there aligned to make this all happen."
"Yeah, Shreya told me how shocked you were
to find out I was the Anjali you didn't expect to meet here." Her wall
seemed to have broken and the door opened! He just realized he could blush.
He slowed down and when she did too, she realized
he did on purpose to catch her by the eye. With his gaze that strong he took
her hands, the one not holding the shoes. He covered hers with his and smiled.
She didn't seem perplexed. "I met this girl who was simple and elegant. I
wanted to know more about her, like I had told my mom I would about any girl
she finds for me. But I didn't know these two were the same. I wanted to be
friends with you, yes. I believed that I had to be your friend to make you
smile, make you talk, make you more you. I think I did it. You're everything
that I'm not and you complete me. What will you do if I refuse to let go of
this hand for rest of our times?"
Not quite with the full smile but moved an inch
closer. She still had some part of her fighting to accept how elated she was.
He has made her come a long way in allowing herself to fall for someone,
someone she had just met, but this time around she wanted to get her instincts
and emotions rule over her life. She moved an inch closer to him, enough to
feel that familiar breath, dropped the shoes and covered his hands that were
holding hers and asked "So, we're thanking the stars right?" The
smile was evidently out. And he grabbed her closer towards him and held her
tight, "You know I still have a gazillion questions to ask you!" She
smiled got herself out of his grip to continue walking. She was dragging him
along, hand in hand, and he was still the few steps behind not believing how it
all unfolded!
It was the morning after, not having slept all
night and having to catch an early flight out, Anjali was feeling the rush to
grab some coffee from the restaurant before she could run into Shreya's whole
family for goodbye hugs. Shreya and Gautham had just stepped out of their
honeymoon suite to see her off. The trio huddled up in a table, with her bags
beside her. Few sips in and a toast to-go, she got up hurriedly, eyes searching
around for more. She didn’t want to steal Shreya's thunder and said no more,
but hugged her friend who stood up tight, wished her joy and to Gautham best of
luck to deal with her friend's idiosyncrasies. "I'm glad you listened to
your heart this time" Shreya whispered as Anjali started picking her bags
smilingly.
Right when she was about to lift, he grabbed the
bags off her hands and shouldered them up. "I'm dropping mom off at the
airport and am sure you both will have a lot to talk about!" Raghav smiled
with arms around his mom. The aunty person smiled wide at Anjali with arms
stretched out for a big welcome hug.
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