The Accidental Wedding

16. A Place Close to His Heart

"No. Why do you keep doing this to me?" I said, dramatically and he laughed.

.

We drove around for another 10 minutes and slowed down in front of a large building. This was the area for the rich people in London.

Why the hell did he bring me here? I thought.

I was thinking that we would get out of the car and walk to some restaurant but he drove the car into the basement parking of the building.

"What are we doing here?" I asked him.

"Just wait." He replied.

We got out and held all the bags in our hands and walked to the elevator.

"Are you planning to push me down from the 43rd floor?" I asked when he pressed the button for the 43rd floor.

"Yes, that is exactly why I brought you here." He said while rolling his eyes.

A bell announced that we had arrived on our floor. 

I saw beige coloured carpets on the floors and chandeliers hung from the ceiling at every door. This was an apartment building.

"Why are we in a residential building?" I asked again.

"Will you please just wait for a minute. Can I not even surprise you?" He said, getting a little annoyed.

"Sorry." I said and kept quiet till we reached the end of the hall and stopped in front of a door.

4320.

He set the bags down and took out a key card from his wallet.

This is his apartment? What on earth is going on?

"Welcome to my home." He said when the door opened.

"But-" I started.

"No buts. I will explain everything, just get inside." He said as he held the door open for me.

The lights were automatically turned on when he opened the door with the key card.

The interiors were so beautiful, they made me want to cry.

The living room was the first thing I saw as we entered. The floor was hardwood and the beige leather couches were set in a L-shape. Behind the couches were huge windows with white see-though curtains which were opened and the London skyline was visible. All the lights, even the Thames river was visible from there. There was a huge television in front of the sofa set. The lighting inside were dim, coming just from the chandelier placed on the high ceiling. My jaw dropped as I took in the view.

"You like it?" I heard Shiv ask me and I turned around to face him.

"This- this is your place?" I asked, stuttering slightly.

"Pretty much. I bought it when I moved out of my father's place but I was already working for his company and I was paid a lot so I invested it in this apartment." he told me.

"It is beautiful. You lived here alone?"

"Yes. Sometimes I had Ashwin around when he came to visit or some random girl for the night. But other than that I was all alone here. So I moved out and went to India." He explained. It must've gotten lonely for him in such a huge apartment. Just the living room was bigger than all three rooms combined in my apartment.

"Oh." I said. "So if you haven't been here since so long, how is it still so clean."

"The apartment can go in vacuum mode if the owner is not going to be home for a long period of time. If we turn the switch on, it seals the apartment air-tight as soon as the front door closes. So the dust never came in. It is still in the same condition I left it in." he said.