THE TRAITORS

DEEPER... INTO THE FACTS

Entering inside the hall, the mixed fragrance of the jasmine, rose and lily strongly hits the nostrils.
It is a huge 2 storeyed function hall, in middle of Jaipur, which is perfect in giving the tinge of the Royal Rajasthani architecture and interiors.
It's exteriors are gold plated, sparkling as bright as the afternoon Sun.
It is so huge that it's parking lot alone would suffice to accomdate a mini Kumbhmela.
In the interiors, the walls are cream coated, with white roses, jasmines attached to them in various patterns. There are huge chandliers hanging from the high ceiling.
Glistening walls, dangling smiles, glittery jewellery, perfume fragrances, delicious food aroma
gave a special aura to that palace.
Among them stood the stage of the day, eagerly waiting to lift the couple of the day, on her shoulders.
The hall is packed with hundreds of people, including both adult and kids.
The kids are running randomly, from one side of the hall to the other extreme, playing and screaming.
Among the adults, some are hurreidly moving here and there, some are leisurely chatting, and some are seriously gossiping.
Moving to the next floor we see an array of rooms, some filled with people, and some other filled with bags and gifts and other luggage.
Some rooms are filled with laughs and giggles, while some other are in silence.
We can also see some kids running in the corridors and some adults chit-chatting.
Then we see a girl in her mid 20s coming out from one of those rooms, situated at the farthest corner.
She wore a simple ivory lehenga.
Her hands are filled with bangles, matching her outfit. She left her silky hairs free. She put only a little makeup. She didn't put much jewellery, except for those bangles, a small necklace and a pair of jhumkas. But, above all these, the thing that gave her a unique grace, is her smile. Her beautiful smile.
She is walking through the corridor quickly.
Just then an elderly woman in her early 50s came to her and said ,
"Sakshi! So, you are ready!", she examined Sakshi from tip to toe and said,
"Wow, Sakshi! You are really beautiful! This colour suits you really well!".
Surprise and happiness are clearly evident in that woman's eyes.
Then Sakshi spoke, with a glint of happiness in her eyes,
"You are right, Aunty!!! Actually, all this is your Ayesha's idea. She is the one who decided, that the girls of our team will be wearing ivory today. I am looking good, right?", she finished by turning around herself cutely.
"Yeah! You are looking so good. By the way, did you check on Ayesha? Is she ready?", Aunty asked, with tension creeping onto her face.
"Aunty, you don't worry. Liza is with her. She is taking care of Ayesha.", Sakshi assured her.
Saying so, Sakshi left from there.
After few seconds, suddenly someone held her hand and pulled her into a nearby room.
She is about to shout, but that person cupped her mouth and whispered,
"Shh!!! Sakshi! It's me, Arjun!"
Saying so, he removed his hand from her mouth.
She gasped for a breathe.
"Arjun! What is this? You scared me!", she said, hitting him.
"Ouch! That really hurts!",he said and then placed his hand around her waist and pulled her much closer to him.
He then spoke again, taking her hand into his,
"Hmmm...., Someone's actually being very good in self defence, I wonder whose training it is!", a small smirk playing on his face.
Then Sakshi spoke again,
"Oh please, Arjun! You better don't talk about our training. In the beginning toh, you were very much excited, but once your best friend gave a call, you left, leaving me in middle of no where.", she finished with a pout, trying to move out of his grip.
"Arrey! This much of anger! It's Sameer, jaan! And moreover, it's his marriage!
By the way, you say you feel him as your brother and above all that Ayesha is your best friend. Then aren't you happy that they are getting engaged?", Arjun asked, pulling her much closer to him.
Now, they don't have any minimal space left between them. They can feel the shivers sent down their bodies, due to the warmth of each others breathe.
Sakshi then looked away from Arjun, but Arjun kept on looking at her. Thats when Sakshi looked at him again and began to speak, placing her arms around his shoulders,
"It's not that, I am not happy Arjun. I am actually very happy. It's their engagement and trust me, it is one of the most happiest days of my life, and moreover, our team got an off after a really long time and it's good spending our personal time, out here. And they both seem very happy together.", saying this, she made a pout and continued,
"But, I miss those mornings Arjun! You see that morning sun, that cool breeze that would hit us when we speed off on your bike, the way we used to hold each other's hand and walk bare foot on that green grass,"
"And the way, I used to kiss you,",Arjun interrupted her and bent over her and tried to kiss her, but Sakshi pushed him away and said blushing,
"Arjun, stop it na.."
He then came close to her and said, taking her hand into his,
"Sakshi, seeing you this way, I wish only for one thing, do you know what it is? Rain..",
"Feel some shame Arjun, It's my engagement today and all you want is, it to Rain,right?".
They both are startled by that sudden voice and looked at the door.
It is Sameer.
They both didn't know, what they should be doing now.
Sakshi is now hell angry on Arjun.
Can't he just lock the door?
She gave a nervous smile to Sameer and Arjun, he is not even trying to meet his eyes.
"So, what are you doing here?", Sameer questioned seriously, in his ACP tone.
None of them answered.
"I asked you both something,did you hear it?", Sameer asked more seriously.
Sakshi just lowered her head and Arjun behaved as if he heard nothing.
Sameer kept looking at them seriously.
"What's going on here? Answer me!", Sameer yelled, startling them.
Arjun held Sakshi's hand protectively. He didn't understand why Sameer is overreacting.
All three of them are silent.
"Ha haha! Ha ha ha ha...,", Sameer began to laugh all of a sudden.
Both Sakshi and Arjun stood dumbfounded.
"Arjun, that look on your face, ha ha.., I missed it man. Do you even remember, when was the last time your face wore that look? Ha ha..", Sameer said with a naughty glint.
"By the way, You were scared, weren't you?", Sameer said smirking.
Arjun is totally pissed off by his stupid antics. He went to him and said, choking him,
"Kaminey! I was scared because, seeing your grumpy face I thought that Ayesha had left you and went away. Now listen to me, if you keep on going with these cheap antics, you will soon end up divorced, before getting married. You understand?",
Still Sameer continued to laugh, but meanwhile, all of a sudden they heard a phone ringing.
They are all shocked. They began searching their surroundings and noticed that, it is from the other corner of the room. They could see no one.
"Who's that?", Arjun asked, suspiciously.
There is no answer.
The phone became silent, by now.
"Who's that?", Arjun roared this time.
After 2 seconds, a person slowly got up, from the opposite side of the bed, present in that room.
It's Shree!
Shree stood there itself and gave a nervous smile to them.
They didn't know what they should say.
Arjun gave an angry glare to Sameer.
"Trust me Arjun, I didn't do anything.", Sameer tried to explain.
Though Sameer and Shree, did all this unintentionally, they are somehow enjoying that look on Arjun's face.
All of a sudden, they heard some whimpers.
Those came from Sakshi.
They turned towards Sakshi and saw that tears pooled up in her eyes.
"Sakshi! Why are you crying?", Arjun asked, trying to hold her hand.
"Leave me Arjun. I don't want to talk to you.", she said trying to control her tears.
"Sakshi, I am sorry. But why are you crying?", Arjun said.
By now Sameer and Shree are also in a state of panic.
Sameer went close to Sakshi and at the sametime Shree also crossed the bed and came to them.
They understood that, Sakshi felt embarrssed.
But their intentntion wasn't to embarss her. They had accidentally eavesdropped on their conversation and thought to take this as a chance to tease him.
Now all the three began pacifying her.
Sameer started talking sweet nothings to her, while Shree started saying sorry by holding his ears. While Arjun started tickling her all of a sudden. They kept laughing and playing for sometime. And very soon, Sakshi got pacified and her million dollar smile came back.