| Tied By Destiny |

𝙲𝙷𝙰𝙿𝚃𝙴𝚁 𝟿

Outskirts of Shimla

Reet's Pov

Half asleep, the entire day's incidents were swirling in my head making me feel heavy. The more I tried to shove the thoughts aside, the more it kept consuming me. I was dozing off at intervals, feeling unnaturally tired when I felt someone tapping on my shoulder.

"Sleeping beauty? Come on!" a manly voice was jerking my shoulder, believe me I could have broken the arm of whoever was doing that. "Let me sleep," I grunted and flicked away the hand and turned the other side. Curving my eyebrows, I closed my eyes again.

"Abey o! Gaari hai meri, koi five star hotel nahi ki soyegi tu idhar ghore bechke.(Excuse me? You are in my car and not in a five star hotel, okay?)" Arjun gripped my neck and made me sit up straight with a single hand, taking me by surprise, "Get up!" I crossed my eyebrows making a deadpan expression on my face and cursed him under breath, "What?"

I slightly rubbed my eyes to have a clear gaze from the windshield. On the right side of the road, were some shacks which were covered in darkness and a traversing my eyes a bit more, yellowish flickers of lights were visible from afar. The car stood directly in front of what seemed like a residential zone.

A village?

I blinked my eyes a few more times. Yes I ain't mistaken!

A freaking village!

"You found it?" I grinned excitedly, a wave of relief sweeping across me, "Thank God, we will not die of starvation now," Sighing deeply in relief, I mumbled. Picking up my bag and hanging it on my shoulder, I was about to open the door when I noticed Arjun drumming his fingers on the steering.

"You want to stay here throughout the night?" I shrugged, having a surprised expression on my face.

"Of course not." He sounded a bit nervous, removing a hand from the steering and rubbing it on his jeans. Locking the car after parking it in a corner he came out, glancing around.

"What?" He raised an eyebrow, after catching me staring at him for sometime, blankly.

"Nothing, nothing." I didn't know why I had zoned out for sometime. An uneasy feeling was still consuming me, my eyelids feeling unnaturally heavy because of all the chaos. The side of my temples were aching, uplifting the drowsiness I was already in. 

"Really dark here." I mumbled under my breath, walking through the muddy trail towards the dimly lit village. The mountainous track definitely was a tricky thing in the night with us stumbling lightly over stones.

"Let's hope that we don't encounter any witches or black magicians." He shoved his pockets in his hand and scanned the surroundings with a sigh "But whatever, I can claim with my closed eyes that they'll be still better than you."

What even--

I shot daggers at him with my eyes while he smirked in return. That same smirk on his handsome face which used to irk me and now too it does after years.

Not a freaking thing about him changed.



We traversed through the narrow trail that was leading us into the village, my eyes landing upon the bullock carts stacked in a corner along with hay grasses. The houses were the typical Himachali style, fire lamps being visible through the open windows. Cool whiffs on wind intensified causing me to tremble a bit, hugging the baggage closer to my bosom. 

Arjun shoved his hands inside his pockets, equally confused as he glanced around. A group of kids had stopped playing and were staring at us, making me feel awkward all of a sudden. Of course, a man dressed up in a shirt pant and I am decked up like a bride-

An awful combination, right? 

"Go and speak to the locals." He murmured, edging up a bit close towards me and breathing deep, "And yes, don't make a fool of yourself. Who knows because of you I may lose my image or something...." He rolled his eyes, glancing away and shoving his palms deeper in his pocket.

"Why bother losing your image when you don't even have it?" I sassed back, and walked away from there before giving him a chance to speak; mentally relishing him giving out a low groan but pausing himself, grasping his forehead. 

I only wished we were back in school right now. His face would've been worth looking in front of everyone. 

I suppressed a snicker and walked straight up to an old couple who were busy lighting a fire, breathing in deeply.

Thinking of an suitable excuse should work right now. 

*************

A/N 

Alleleeee ye dono 🐨

Signing off for today!

Nushkie