Jiya's POV:
Tomorrow would be the last day of the 2 month friendship 'pact' that I made with him. Honestly, the whole point of me making that deal was to know him better and become a good friend of his while making him one of my best friends. I didn't want anything more. Neither did he.
In these two months, we came a lot closer than I thought we would. I got to know about many of his likes and dislikes, how much he hated capsicums that he would skip it in every dish. Like, pizza, pasta and chowmein, every single dish. I chuckled keeping my volume down. I also got to know his favorite actress was Madhuri Dixit when one day I caught him watching a playlist of her dance performance on YouTube. He denied it initially but accepted it later on.
I looked at him. He was sleeping on the bed like always. I smiled. So many things had changed in just these two months. I remember the day we went to the farmhouse again, that time with Pari. We all had enjoyed there, like a picture perfect family. I also got to know of Samarth's favorite hobby, that is, playing a guitar. The memory of the song he sung there while playing the guitar is still fresh in my mind.
Fights happened too. We bickered a lot as we usually did. But the bickering too gradually slowed down to natural fights between couples. One day we had gone to 'Motherly Love' together. We met that same lady who had fainted in Samarth's hotel room when I had gone to interview him, replacing my brother. She was the one who gave us the blessings to be together and in love for the rest of our lives. We never got the chance to tell her that we weren't married that time.
And, as fate would have it, the next time we met her was when we got married. Who would have thought? As usual, we had started bickering in front of her over a trivial but not so trivial issue of who will massage her feet. What? He started it. At that time, she said, "The last time I met you both, you both were so well behaved. But, I get it, after few years of marriage everyone starts fighting like that. But, always remember, under the masquerade of your fights, love remains hidden."
I tossed and turned on the couch, my back facing him now. She was wrong about two things. First of all the most obvious one, we weren't married for years. And, secondly, there was no love between us. At least, from his side.
I didn't realize when in between all these friendships and stuff, I had started wanting more. I wanted flowers, chocolates, dates kind of relationship. But, above all, I had started wanting his love. My feelings for him had grown all the more strong. Because, I now realize, I always had feelings from him. At first I felt hatred, but that had quickly changed into attraction with it having changed into love now. Yes, I had fallen in love with this man pretty hard. If you had told me that I will fall for him so hard that nothing else would matter to me, before my marriage, I would have kicked you in the guts. But, it's life and love happens.
I regret it. I regret falling for him. Why you ask? I don't want my heart to be broken once again. The first time, it was because of a boy who never cared for me at all. At that time, moving on was easier since he was always a jerk. I didn't know why I fell for that boy in the first place though. I was so naïve that time.
But, if I get my heart broken this time, which I know I definitely will, moving on will never be an option. I had controlled myself really hard. Tried to maintain a distance even during these two months. But everything he did attracted me. The way he stayed awaked the whole night for me when I caught fever, he medicated me. He made me sleep on his bed at that time and himself slept on the couch.
I looked at him once again and again turned away. His bipolar nature has also changed. The most important thing is he is not afraid of being happy now. He laughs open heartedly, he treats people with respect now. Him getting angry is also rarely seen. Yeah, he has changed but to expect that he will fall for me is a bit too overboard. And, I don't have any problem. Well, genuinely I do have a little problem but it's ok. I will live with that. Seeing him happy, makes my heart go lalala. Woah, that was so childish. Ok, let's sleep now.
Ok, wait, I didn't tell you about something in these 2 months. The situation at my workplace has also improved. I mean, Rahul has started maintaining a distance from me since that coffee date. He is neither rude nor flirty, just perfect. Life is going just perfect for me right now. Now, let's sleep.
***************
"Samarth ji." Mihika called out to him in her ever so sweet voice. "Mihu?" Samarth asked to confirm. Mihika chuckled.
"You....you are looking so pretty." Samarth said without looking at Mihika. "Bass keejiye Samarth ji." Mihika blushed.
"You know, I miss you." Samarth whispered, looking elsewhere. "Really? Kitna miss?" Mihika asked to which Samarth didn't answer and kept looking elsewhere, his attention fixed on something or rather someone. Mihika chuckled seeing this. She nudged him and now he looked at her.
"Ohh, yeah, Mihu. You are looking so good." Samarth said again. Mihika just looked into his eyes and smiled. "Itni si der mein aapne 2 baar compliments diye hain. Abhi wala compliment mere liye tha. Lekin, pehle waala...." Mihika stopped and followed Samarth's line of sight.
There sat a beautiful girl, all smiling and enjoying with Pari, her face not visible. Mihika smiled as she knew what was happening. "Pehla waala compliment uske liye tha na?" Samarth looked at her in shock, finding words to deny it. "Accept it Samarth ji. You love her. You have fallen for her." Mihika caressed his cheek and mentioned.
"I don't. I only lo..." Mihika interrupted him. "Agar aisa hai. Toh phir, I say, love her, because now, she owns your heart." Samarth couldn't understand what was happening but his eyes kept moving to that beautiful girl with Pari. "Go Samarth ji. Start a new life." With that, Mihika seemed to have vanished in thin air.
Samarth still had to know who that beautiful girl was. He kept moving near her and she kept going far. "Papa, why is she going far from us?" Pari asked to which Samarth didn't reply and just kept following the girl when the girl disappeared suddenly.
"Jiya!!!" He woke up with a loud scream. Beads of sweat on his forehead. His pupils were dilated out of fear and his heart was beating at a higher rate. He took some time to calm down and drank water from the jar kept on the bedside table. He wiped the sweat off of him and looked at Jiya. He stepped down from his bed and went near her.
He smiled looking at her peaceful sleeping face. Millions of memories, millions of feelings related to just this one face. He wasn't thinking of anything right now. His mind was only captured with thoughts of her from the last few weeks. He couldn't concentrate on work anymore, he couldn't work even at home. He had tried a lot to get rid of these feelings but couldn't.
He tucked a strand of hair behind Jiya's ear and looked straight into her eyes. He held her hand. "Never leave me, Jiya. I---I can't live without you." A tear escaped his eyes at the fear of losing her and he kissed her knuckles only to see her shifting in sleep. Her other hand came straight on his cheek, hard.
He rubbed the area on his cheek. "Baap re! Neend mein bhi jhagdalu mode on hi rehta hai iska. Yahan main isse itni important baat keh raha hoon aur yeh thappad maar rahi hai mujhe." He chuckled nonetheless at the cute pout she made as if she listened to him in sleep. "I have a surprise for you." He smiled and again went back to sleep.
***************
The alarm rang.
Jiya snoozed it. But then, her eyes flew wide open. Samarth had told, no, practically threatened her to wake him up at 5:30 as he had a very very important meeting today. Jiya got up and sat straight on the sofa. She did a morning prayer. This habit got into her because of Samarth. Once upon a time, she had woken up before him and saw him doing this. She had asked him the significance and due to his good words, she started doing it too.
"Samarth. Wake up! It's 5:30 already" Jiya had kept an alarm of 5:25 and now it was sharp 5:30. "Hmm." Was all Samarth replied. "This idiot Sanki. Here I sacrificed my beauty sleep and actually got up to wake him up at this odd hour and he is telling 'hmm'? Just 'hmm'. Get up, you stupid, idiot, gande insaan." Jiya nudged him strongly and he opened his eyes, only to close them again and smile.
"Do wives wake their husbands up like this?" Samarth joked. "I wake my husband up like this only. If he doesn't like it, he can hire someone else to wake him up." Jiya sat on the bed beside him, saying that. He sat up straight, his back against the headboard.
He took Jiya's hands in his. "I want you to wake me up in the every day for the rest of my life." Jiya couldn't believe what she just heard. She warned her brain to not find any other meaning behind his sentence. Within last few weeks, Samarth had passed many such flattering comments her way, she made her mind not to dive too deep in his words and just take the superficial meaning of it.
Samarth did his prayer while Jiya just watched him. Watching him was her new found hobby. She loved it. "Waise, itni subah subah uthna zaroori tha?" Jiya asked him, lovingly but irritated as she had to skip her sleep.
"Yeah, I have to show you something." Samarth told. Jiya was shocked for a moment. "What?" She asked. "Yeah, but before that.." Samarth began before taking her hand in his. "I want you to promise me that you will never leave me." Jiya was too stunned to say anything. For a moment, she thought, he becomes mental every morning, but maybe cools down later. Today, she was facing him straight from the morning so he might not have gotten the time to cool down.
"Are you joking?" This was Jiya's question, more like a reply to his statement. "No. Jiya, honestly, when you first told me that you wanted to be friends with me and check this friendship thing out for two months, I seriously thought you had gone nuts. But, it's not that bad to have someone by your side, someone you can trust and tell your feelings to, someone whose hand you can hold and have long, meaningful conversations, someone who is as beautiful as you."
Jiya didn't know why she naturally blushed at the last part. It really looked like a love confession to her from a typical romantic movie, minus the candles and decoration. "So, did you find that special someone yet?" Jiya asked, although she knew the answer. "Yeah, the person right in front of me is the special someone." Jiya's heart couldn't stop beating erratically. So, this was what 'heart fluttering' actually felt like, Jiya thought.
"Me?" Jiya wanted to confirm. "Hmm. Thanks for being a wonderful friend. These two months went by in a blink of an eye. And, now after knowing the actual you, I can say you are not that bad as I thought you were initially." Jiya hit him with a pillow playfully and chuckled earning a hearty laugh from Samarth.
"You look so charming while laughing." She poked the dimple on his cheek. Samarth kept his hand at the back of Jiya's head and brought her closer to himself such that their foreheads were touching. He smiled and looked into her eyes and Jiya did the same. He looked at her lips and his eyes immediately darkened. A thought to taste those full lips right at that instant crawled up in his mind.
He moved closer to her lips and Jiya did the same. There was just a few inches distance between both of them now. Jiya could feel his hot breath on her lips. Samarth closed his eyes and moved still closer. The alarm went off at the same time. Both of them separated from each other and straightened themselves.
"Abhi ka alarm kyun set kiya tha?" Samarth questioned, clearly frustrated. Jiya tapped the off button. "Woh snooze kiya tha alarm ko jab abhi kuch der pehle baja tha, isiliye phir se baj gaya." Jiya was not looking into his eyes. Her cheeks were all red due to their proximity just a moment ago.
"So? You don't have to get ready?" Jiya asked him, trying to lighten the tense atmosphere filled with sexual tension. "Uhmm, yeah. But, before that. I have to show you something." Samarth got off the bed and came near her. She looked at him, confused. "Come with me."
Samarth brought Jiya to the helipad area of the terrace. Cool air was blowing and Jiya suddenly felt cold. "I told you to wear something that will keep you warm. But you never listen, do you?" Samarth fake scolded her. He took off his jacket and made her wear it. She could feel his body smell and sniffed the jacket. She smiled.
"Kya dikhana tha?" Jiya questioned. "Come." Samarth instructed.
Jiya's POV:
Again, the words Private Helipad Ground showed up in bold right at the entrance of the terrace reminding me of the day I had last come here, on the night of my marriage. Things were so different that time. Now, times, things and feelings, all have changed.
I looked at him. "Let's go." Samarth said and grabbed my hand. He took me near the helicopter Charlie Tango. "When did you buy a helicopter?" I asked him the question I wanted to right from the day I saw this huge thing. "Around 4 years ago, I guess. I had gone to Seattle." He stated casually and I looked at him wide eyed. "So, you brought this just like that?" I asked. "Yeah, why is that so surprising?" He looked at me weirdly but with a smile.
Oh, you will never understand Mr. Saxena why this is so surprising. I mean, our family thinks of buying a car and after one year we actually buy one. It takes one year for us to decide everything. And he.... We are so different.
"Get in." He pushed me a bit. "What? No way. You will take me on a helicopter ride?" I asked just to get it confirmed. I was scared. "No, I just want to show you the interiors of the helicopter." He said with a poker face. "Huh?" Was my reaction. "What are you? I mean, hell yes, I want to take you for a ride." He spoke in a 'duh' tone and pushed me to get in once more.
This time, I got in. He too sat in the pilot's seat. "Wait, we don't have professional pilots for this? You are going to fly this? Well, I want you to write on a stamp paper that you won't kill me mid way." I was scared for my life. I didn't even know if he was skilled enough to ride this thing. He can't be that talented, right?
"I have a license for this. And, license are only issued once you have cleared a test..." He began. "I know that." What does he think of me? A 2 year old or something? "So, trust me, I won't let you down." I looked deep into his eyes as he said that. Something was telling me it was more than just about this helicopter ride.
"Do you trust me?" He asked. "I do." I did. I really did trust him. Heck, the feelings were even stronger than that. "Great. Now wear the safety helmets, soon." He instructed me and I did as told. He did the same and started speaking on his walkie talkie kind of thing. "Charlie Tango ready to fly. Room 107 operate. Is the sky clear?" I didn't understand most of the things he told but just looked at him in silence. I heard a voice from the other end. "All clear Sir. Charlie Tango ready. Take off, 111. Over and Out."
And with that, he just took off, smoothly. I clutched his arm and he smiled. I looked at him to find him too focused with the controls. "Don't look at me. Look at the view outside." He spoke louder than usual for me to hear. I understood and looked through the window of the helicopter.
My gosh! It was a beautiful, serene view of the land below. We were at what? Some, 2000 feet above ground. The sun had not actually risen yet and the city was silent with few lights adorning the streets giving the perfect landscape kind of view. I was totally lost in the beauty of it.
"Look at that." He pointed to something in his direction. Wow! The sun was actually rising just now. The sky was getting filled with colors of yellow and orange. This morning view, right in the sky, it's priceless. "It's so beautiful." I shouted at the top of my voice in excitement. "I know." He agreed.
I chuckled as the helicopter started getting higher and higher. Thank Heavens, I didn't have fear of height. Or else, I would have fainted to be at such a height, that everything below was getting blurred due to the clouds. "This is so memorable. Thanks a lot." I expressed. He looked at me and smiled. "Just be with me forever and there will be more memorable moments." Wow! He can't melt my heart again and again saying things like that.
"Shall we land now?" He asked me. I nodded. "Charlie Tango ready to land. 112. Control room 107. Over and out." He spoke again in that helicopter-ish language and I smiled as that feeling of butterflies erupted in my stomach as we landed smoothly on his terrace. The nearing view of the earth beneath was enough for me to write a whole essay on the beauty of Mother Earth.
We got down the helicopter. "How was it?" He asked me while we made our way downstairs. "That was....unexpected." I couldn't find the appropriate words to describe the feeling. No words in the whole of English and Hindi language could ever match up to this experience.
"I know right. I had never rode this helicopter with anyone else, let alone a girl." He touched my cheek as he said that and a rush of adrenaline ran through my body. "I am a first, then." I spoke excitedly. "And the last." Someone, please stop this man from uttering such cute sentences. Being so cute should be made illegal now.
"It's 7 already. Aren't you getting late for the meeting?" I asked him as we entered the room. "No. There actually was...no...no meeting. I just wanted to take you on the ride and that could only be executed perfectly if we rode it at the time of sunrise." I hit him with the pillow for making me leave my sleep. "I would have killed you right now for making me wake up this early and lying to me about it but since your intentions were good, I kind of forgive you." I giggled as he bowed down dramatically.
"But, I should take a bath now. I do have some important presentations to look at." I nodded in understanding as he took the towel from the cupboard. He went till the door of the bathroom and stopped right there. He then turned around. "Wanna join?" The sexy look in his eyes was enough to kill anyone, including me. I was dumbstruck as he winked at me. After gaining consciousness, I replied. "Tum Sanki ke Sanki hi rahoge." I ran behind him only to have him close the door after getting inside and laughing loudly.