LOST AND FOUND IN THE PATH OF LOVE

PART 24-LOST AND FOUND IN THE PATH OF LOVE

The cool breeze placed a kiss on my neck. I whined in a low tone. As the time passed, the temperature seemed to decrease. Mother nature had decided to show her cold side. Hearing me whining, Laksh took off his stout and leathery jacket and wrapped it around me. My eyes expressed gratitude as I made a small wink. He walked away and sat near the bonfire, enjoying the warmth of the fire in a deadly cool night. I slipped further into his long jacket and inhaled his scent, which gave me warmth more than a bonfire. Though he sat near the fire, away from my side, his fiery eyes which were then filled with a whole lot of passion were boring deep into mine. As the Terrain was not fit for driving at night and moreover, Laksh's car was not the type which suited for a ride in a hilly terrain. Hence, we had to wait for some other vehicle or try our luck the next morning by driving it all our way, past those pits and rocky, unleveled roads. Time had almost froze that night. Each second seemed to be an eon. We were left at the mercy of mother nature.

Soon, we heard some wild animal roaring wildly. We stared at each other's faces. Swiflty, I woke up, ran to him, pulled him by his hand till we reached the inner area of the cave. "What are you doing urmi? why are you pulling me?", Laksh asked hastily. "Didn't you hear the roars of a wild creature? Just think what will be your situation when it finds you? So come and just stay in here.", I answered with a concerned expression, crossing my brows. "But...", Laksh was about to say something who was cutoff by my words."no ifs or buts. Just do what I say. I am absolutely comfortable with you. So u don't worry. Now come on. Sit here beside me.", I directed him to sit next to me. Having no other option left, he sat next to me. The intenstity of the sound became more and more. We luckily had bought a fire torch with us inside the cave and had slightly closed the mouth of the cave with a huge rock and some thorny Herbs. Suddenly a huge roar was heard and I quickly hugged Laksh as tight as possible and remained intact. I hugged him as a creeper which crept around a huge tree. "Urmi!!! Relax. Just stay calm dear. Its just a roar. Don't worry. Be silent.", Laksh tried his best to comfort me by patting gently on my back. "No.. I am afraid and I will never leave you. Let's get out of here. I sense something bad. Please. And I also think that the sound is coming from inside. ", I pleaded him and also explained what I felt. He too thought of my feeling and said,"hmm... U r right urmi. Even I too feel that the roar came from inside. Anyway, for our safety, we shall open the cave a little so that we may escape easily if our intuition goes right." I nodded and he slightly pushed the rock and those thorny herbs aside letting a small and a narrow way to escape.

Silence entered as an uninvited guest. I sat next to him and his hands encircled me, giving me more warmth and comfort. I slipped into sleep and lay down on his broad shoulders. As sleep is contagious, he too fell asleep soon. Time moved on as a tortoise, as slow as it can. I woke after having a good nap and found Laksh leaning on the wall of the cave, with one of his arm on my shoulder. Without disturbing his sweet sleep, I slowly withdrew myself from his captive; while the process was going on, he lost his balance in sleep and fell on my shoulder. I grabbed him and made him to lie on my lap. How cute was he while sleeping! I patted his head and played with his soft and silky hair. As I kept patting and playing, I never noticed a shadow approaching us. As I shifted my sight on the ground, I learnt that something was approaching us from inside. I allowed it to approach a little further so that I maybe sure of what it is. As it moved forward, I learnt that it was a hungry tiger with saliva drooling from its sharp canines. I shook Laksh hardly and made him wake up. I narrated everything and he too saw the deadly creature. "What do we do now?", I knitted my brows in confusion and panic. "What else! We shall escape from the way we had made to escape earlier.", he replied calmly. "But what if it follows us?", I asked him. "We shall try to close the mouth of the cave so that it doesn't harm us nor anyone.", he gave his confident reply, one of a warrior's. I shook my head and we slowly sneaked till the door and waited there for the animal to face us. Slowly came the animal into the limelight. I held the torch in my hand and we saw the most fierciest creatures ever. A hungry tiger, with its eyes filled with fire, body having the color of fire, its canines projecting outwards giving a demon look. Its physic built perfect, with sharp claws, skinny yet a muscular trunk and its tail perfectly curved and long. As it placed a step forward, we moved a step back. Similarly, we were just a step behind to get out. "Urmi! I will count till 3 and we get out and push the door and lock this thing here. Clear?", Laksh commended.  I replied a yes and he started to count."one.... Two.... Three...... Get out urmiiiiii.......", he shouted at the top of his voice. We got out and the animal tried to pounce upon us. As soon as we got out, we pushed the rock and locked the cave. "ufff!!!puuffff!!!!uffff...... Phewwww!!!....", I panted and sat on a rock there. He was also panting hard and asked with a smile,"so Miss. Banana, how was the trip?". " you call this a trip? I mean... How could you?" I returned back a smile. We panted and smiled together. Later, we walked a long distance to find a place to spend the rest of the night. We walked and walked and to our surprise, we were a little distance away from the road. "Look...we are nearing our way home!", yelled Laksh. My face enlightened with joy. "We would reach our place if we find a truck here. Keep your fingers crossed urmi.", he stated. We waited for sometime and to our luck, we found a truck, fully loaded coming on our way. We waved our hand for a lift and the truck stopped.

"Bhaiyaa!! Can u lend us a drive to the nearby town? Our vehicle has been damaged. Please bhaiyaa... Please", requested Laksh. "Arreh!! Bhai.... What will I do now? My truck us fully loaded. And there will be merely a little space for you two to fit in. I don't think that you will be comfortable in here.", the driver replied. "You need not worry about our comfort bhaiya...that small space will do with us. What do u say Laksh?", I requested as I saw Laksh. He too nodded and the driver agreed.  So, he got down his truck and opened the container,made some arrangements for us to settle inside. "Here!!!! As I told you people earlier, I have only this little space for you both. So decide for yourselves, whether to travel in this or not.",he shrugged his shoulders. "This is more than enough bhaiya.. Thanks a lot for your help. We shall adjust in here.", I replied with a wide smile. Soon, the truck was loaded with two people.,i.e, me and Laksh. The driver yelled, "Is everything OK? All settled?". We gave him a big thumbs up. He concluded,"Look here kiddos, there is no other way than to tap the door connecting the engine and the container. I will not be able to see or hear what is going on here. So, if you want anything, just tap that door", he said as he pointed a small door or a small latch attached to a sheet of metal, which was sure quite far from our hand's reach. We nodded. He added," This is the only light source here. This dim light. Don't expect more comfort here. Fine? If this is OK? I will close the door.". Laksh and me said in unison,"no problem at all."  Soon the doors were shut and the driver got onto his seat and started the engine. We were sitting next to each other with crossed legs.

Suddenly the truck made its way and due to the sudden increase in pace, I fell upon Laksh and our lips locked accidentally. my heart skipped many of the beats, pupils widened, body feeling jitters, new and magical feelings arising in my body. He would also have never thought of sharing the first kiss in such a situation, in such a place and in such a manner. Both were dumb(numb to be more precise). Shock covered our faces. None of us showed the courage to withdraw from the lock.

                         To be continued.................

So, how was this update. Oh my goshhh......🙈🙈🙈🙈🙈🙈🙈 I hope that everyone liked the scene at the end... Didn't I keep my promise of updating soon? I was not able to control myself from posting this. Please do tell me your views and let's sshare our views together.
Love-saimaha