The headlights of the procession stretched down the road, transforming it into a river of light.
The quiet Christmas night was suddenly bright with life and excitement.
Shehnaaz nestled her head on Sidharth’s broad chest. Every shred of loneliness within her had vanished. She knew where her past, present, and future belonged—by his side, and in his arms.
Shehnaaz sobbed quietly. In the silent night, her suppressed sobs were as heartbreaking to hear as the plaintive cries of a new-born kitten.
She did not want to cry openly.
Someone might hear her, and laugh at her for acting like a spoiled child at her age.
Besides, she was now aware that her feelings for Sidharth had changed: they had grown beyond the innocent, guileless trust of a young child towards her caretaker.
Once she was done crying, Shehnaaz buried her head in Sidharth’s chest and took a long, deep breath, as though trying to absorb the warmth of his body.
Sidharth patted her gently on the back. He was soothing her, pacifying her, the way he used to when she was a much younger child.
Shehnaaz closed her eyes and finally lifted her head from Sidharth’s chest. She took a step backwards and broke away from his embrace.
She looked around her, and, for the first time, realized that Sidharth had practically brought an entire procession with him to pick her up.
A long line of military vehicles were parked on the road. The first three vehicles were mine-proof and explosion-proof 4WDs. These off-road vehicles were so sturdy, they would be able to run over a mine field and through a hailstorm of rocket missiles relatively unharmed.
Behind the 4WDs were four identical cars: black, sleek, and bulletproof. They served to confuse the enemy; anyone attempting an attack on the commander would first have to figure out which of the four bulletproof cars he was riding in.
The bulletproof cars were followed by three military pickup trucks, the standard form of military transport inside urban areas. Dozens of fully-armed orderlies rode in the back of each truck.
These were Sidharth’s orderlies, led by Harsh, the head orderly. They were under Sidharth’s direct command, and listened only to his orders.
As soon as Sidharth stepped out of his car, 100 fully-armed soldiers jumped out of the trucks behind him. They
took up stations at every entry into the long street, their guns loaded and at the ready.
Several pedestrians and cars tried to turn into the street, but all of them immediately turned around at the fearsome sight of the armed soldiers and made a detour.
Sidharth and his men had practically taken over the entire street.
Both Rohit and Deepak were dressed in their full lieutenant colonel uniforms. They stood together behind
Sidharth as they watched the surroundings attentively for possible threats.
A short distance away, military snipers knelt in position, behind walls and railings. They covered all the blind spots in the vicinity, defending the motorcade against potential enemy snipers.
Sidharth was the major general and acting commander of the 6th Military Region. It was standard procedure for someone of his rank to move about with a motorcade of this size.
He had rarely done so, however—in the past, he had almost always traveled incognito with minimal guards, all of them disguised in civilian clothing.
So why had he brought this grand procession with him just to pick her up?
Wasn’t her identity supposed to be a secret?
When she had moved out of the Special Ops base to go to college, she had used a fake identity. Nobody outside of the military had ever found out that Sidharth was her guardian; it had been a well-kept secret.
Shehnaaz looked at Sidharth doubtfully. Her evocative, soulful eyes shone like black jade in the night, bright with unspoken fears.
Sidharth understood the meaning of her look. He looked at the vehicles and men around him, before turning
to smile at Shehnaaz. “Your relationship with me is no longer a secret.”
This meant that Shehnaaz no longer had to hide her connection with the military.
Shehnaaz’s heart leapt. She was overjoyed, but in the next moment, she was suddenly uneasy and doubtful.
A multitude of expressions flashed across her face. Her lips curved downwards—it was impossible to tell what she was thinking.
Shehnaaz lowered her head. “Really? But I’m 18 now. I don’t need a guardian anymore.”
Sidharth did not argue. He turned to open the car door. “Let’s go. I’m here to take you home.”
Shehnaaz looked up at him, but could not see any flicker of emotion on his stoic face. She turned to look at where she had been sitting.
Her pink suitcase was still there.
Deepak quickly walked to the suitcase and carried it to her.
“Thank you, Brother Deepak.” Shehnaaz’s voice was a tiny, sheepish squeak, almost too small to be heard.
Deepak smiled at her as he lifted her suitcase into the trunk.
Shehnaaz stooped to get into the car. She sat in the last row. Sidharth followed her, and sat next to her.
It was a big car, a lot more spacious than the average car.
The backseat was wide enough for four people, instead of the usual three.
As soon as Sidharth sat down, however, Shehnaaz felt boxed in. She moved awkwardly to the far side of the car, towards the other window.
Sidharth noticed she was being unnaturally distant and reserved. He glanced at her, but did not say anything.
He inclined his chin at Rohit, who was sitting up front and had turned around to watch Sidharth for his next
instruction.
Rohit nodded. He turned and rapped his knuckles on Harsh’s seat. “Go.”
Sidharth’s instructions were relayed to his men. The soldiers who had been standing guard immediately returned
to their trucks and buckled in.
At the same time, the sniper bringing up the rear issued a command to the other snipers stationed along the route, instructing them to be ready to cover the motorcade.
The order was passed down from sniper to sniper.
Shehnaaz sat in the car, sullen and unhappy. She did not know what to say.
She had been dying to see Sidharth again in the last six months, but before she saw him, she had discovered her secret, unspeakable feelings for him. She had been thrown off-balance by her discovery; she was flustered, and did not know how to act around with him.
The car engine purred to life. The car began to roll forward.
Sidharth put an elbow against the car window, while his other hand rested on his knee. He looked straight ahead,
his lips lightly pressed together. He did not speak.
The car had been sound-proofed. It was extremely quiet inside the car.
The car began to move, but the inside of the car did not heat up: it was only a little warmer than the temperature
outside.
Shehnaaz had been frozen numb from the outside cold.
She thought she would be warm enough once she got in the car, but she was wrong. She wondered if the heater was working: the car was already speeding down a highway, but
the inside of the car seemed to be hovering at the same frosty temperature.
She breathed into her hands, trying to warm them.
Sidharth was facing forwards; he was not looking in Shehnaaz’s direction, but he had been watching her
attentively from the corner of his eyes.
He noticed Shehnaaz trying to warm her hands. He lowered his eyes and thought about it. He gave a cough, and said, “Sana, hand me one of the books in the box next to you.”
Shehnaaz looked down and saw a box next to the door. She opened it, extracted a random book, and handed it to Sidharth.
They were sitting apart. Sidharth had not moved to receive the book, and Shehnaaz’s arms were not long
enough to reach him.
Without thinking about it, she scooted over with the book in hand. She sat a little closer to Sidharth, and tried again to hand the book to him.
Sidharth finally extended a hand, but he did not take the book. Instead, he grabbed hold of her wrist and, with a
small, effortless tug, pulled her over to him.
His other hand reached out, plucked the book from from her hand, and tossed it carelessly on the seat. His hand, big and warm, was now wrapped around Shehnaaz’s small, delicate hands, warming them.
“You were out in the cold for too long. I can’t turn the heater in the car up yet, the sudden warmth will make you sick. We have to take it slow.” Sidharth rubbed her hands as he
patiently explained why the car was not as warm as it should be.
His low, sexy voice opened the flood gates inside Shehnaaz: a warm current rushed out of her heart and into her limbs.
Shehnaaz immediately felt warm all over. She felt like she had just stepped into a hot spring.
She looked up at Sidharth and whispered, “You knew I’d been sitting outside for hours?”
“Yeah.” Sidharth paused. “I should have sent a car over to you. You wouldn’t have had to wait in the open.”
So he had known that she had waited at the gate like an idiot for over two hours…
Shehnaaz’s face reddened in embarrassment. She did not like being teased, however. She huffed angrily: “Well, I don’t have ESP—how was I supposed to know that Parth would be so petty?” She launched into an account of all that had happened, with special emphasis on what had
happened inside Parth’s apartment. Once she was finished, she whipped her head to the side and stared out the car window in brooding silence.
Sidharth preferred her childish tantrum over her previous awkward reservations. His impassive face finally broke into a smile as he said sympathetically: “…Well said. Put your foot down and let the whole world know you don’t want anything to do with him, ever again. You don’t have to suffer in silence.”
Deepak, Rohit, and Harsh had heard the entire conversation from the front row. They could not resist rolling their eyes.
If there was an award for Blind Irrational Helicopter Parent of the Century, Mr. Shukla would have won it by now.
When had Sana ever ‘suffered in silence’?
She had practically flayed Parth and Mahira alive!
Then again, in the eyes of someone as irrationally protective of Sana as Mr. Shukla, making Sana stand outside a gate for two hours in the freezing cold probably counted as a horrifying act of cruelty, the likes of which the world had never seen. Oh, how his poor baby must have suffered…
Deepak and Rohit kept their inner commentary to themselves. They did not have the balls to turn around and say it to Sidharth’s face.
Shehnaaz was very happy to hear that. She had turned her head to look out the car window, but the corners of her mouth had quirked into a secret smile. The smile did not last, however—in a minute, the expression on her face had changed to one of bewilderment.
She turned to look into Sidharth’s dark, fathomless eyes. “Sidharth, where are we going? This isn’t the way to the airport.”
Didn’t Sidharth say he was going to take her home?
Weren’t they going to the airport, to catch a flight to C City?
Sidharth patted her hand. “I’m going home, and I’m taking you with me.”
“Home?” Shehnaaz did not understand. “Whose home?”
“My home,” replied Sidharth. He fell silent after that.
Up ahead, a heavily-guarded residential area came into view —this was where the big-wigs of the Indian Military lived.
Shehnaaz was even more uneasy now.
In the last six years, whenever he was off-duty, Sidharth had spent every minute of his free time with her.
He had never returned to his own home.
She had not known that Sidharth had had a family home to return to, all these years, and she did not know how to react. She trembled all over.
Sidharth glanced at her. He said impassively, “My father is the director of the military’s Political Department.
My grandfather retired a few years ago. There will be a few other relatives, but you don’t have to pay any attention to them.”
Rohit turned around just then to add helpfully: “Sana, Mr. Shukla hasn’t returned to his family home for six
years now. Thanks to you, he’ll be able to celebrate Christmas with his family this year.”
“I don’t celebrate Christmas,” Sidharth replied unhurriedly. “I’m going home for the New Year.”
Spend the New Year? There was a week’s time from Christmas to New Year. That meant she’d be spending a
whole week with Sidharth?! The happiness came so quickly Shehnaaz didn’t know how to react. As her thoughts ran with her excitement, she began to absentmindedly fiddle with their joined hands, holding and releasing his hand as she linked her fingers through his. Sidharth was silent as he let her play the game, and purposely moved his hand closer when her hand wasn’t tightly pressed to his. He stretched his hand as much as possible so their hands lay together. Shehnaaz continued her game, so fully absorbed that she had forgotten her resolve to not cling to Sidharth. Not aware of the passing time, when she looked up again, the procession had already stopped in front of the community entrance. She instinctively turned her head to see Sidharth looking at her quietly with a half smile; his gaze moved to their joined palms. Even though it was
Sidharth who had been the one to take her hand first to warm it, Shehnaaz felt embarrassed. Her heart pounded and she was terrified that Sidharth would see through to her true feelings. Her awareness had her immediately yanking her hand away and moving away to sit on the other
side of the car; she took a deep breath turn before turning to look out the window. A pink blush spread on her cheeks all the way to her tender earlobes.
Their car stopped and as expected, there was a security checkpoint at the community entrance. After verifying the permit and military documents, the soldier on duty stepped out to give Sidharth a military salute. “Good evening, Chief!”
The window slowly slid down and Sidharth nodded slightly at him from inside the car. “Good work.”
The soldier was so touched he blushed with pride. “This way, Chief!” He jogged back to his post and pressed on the button to raise the crossbar blocking the intersection. Sidharth’s procession slowly drove in. He was returning home to visit his family, so his guards, orderlies, and personal secretaries would only return to the 6th Military Region base after escorting him home. The atmosphere in the car relaxed, yet although Shehnaaz was sitting on the other side of the car, the flush on her cheeks had not yet subsided. She dared not look at Sidharth and focused on the snowy landscape outside as much as possible, memorizing the way they had come in. The roads in the community were well laid out and lined with phoenix trees that had already lost all their leaves. The heavy snow was still falling, but it wasn’t enough to accumulate on the ground. Shehnaaz was perplexed as she leaned her head against the window to watch the inconspicuous road. Sidharth crossed his arms and kept silent, his expression unreadable.
Deepak turned around to chat with Shehnaaz, “Sana, what are you looking at?”
“I’m looking at the road, but there’s something weird. Why is the snow not piling on the road?” Shehnaaz inquired curiously.
Deepak chuckled and pointed his finger at the road outside the window. “There’s a self-heating device in this
road, so the snow melts as soon as it hits. Isn’t it great? You don’t have to clear the snow or worry about it affecting traffic.”
But how much energy does it take to heat up the roads in a complex like this? Shehnaaz immediately had a new understanding of how luxurious this community was. If even the common roads had self-heating devices, it went to show just how incredible the facilities in the community were. It left no question as to how high class the people who lived here were. Shehnaaz consciously straightened her back,
suddenly worried that she was going to embarrass Sidharth. She snuck a glance at him and saw that his eyes
closed, their thick black lashes resting on the tops of his cheeks. She had no idea what he was thinking about. His
characteristically indifferent face made her a tad anxious as always. Thankfully the car stopped and she was eager to put some distance between the both of them. Shehnaaz
grew even more anxious and smoothed her long hair as she looked about her. The people in the car glanced at her, but no one said a word. Rohit was the first to open his
door, and then came over to open it for Sidharth. Sidharth exited the car, then slightly moved over to wait.
Once Shehnaaz came out, he took her hand and had her stand beside him. Before them was an exquisite courtyard.
It was surrounded by white brick walls and guarded by a towering wrought iron gate. Matching iron grate lamps hung above the gates, and illuminated the black wooden plaque
on the white wall, which read ‘Shukla Manor.’ Deepak walked to the side of the wall to enter a password. The iron
gates opened with a click and the sound of several footsteps and excited calls could be heard.
“Mr. Shukla is back?”
“Mr. Shukla is back?!”
“Elder cousin is back!”
“Elder cousin!”
Many people came into view, milling about the gardens, and looking toward the entrance. It was in the middle of the night, yet the courtyard was brightly lit, as though in preparation of a party. Perhaps that’s why everyone was waiting for him. Shehnaaz felt her knees go weak. When the great iron gates opened and the Shukla family surged out to greet him, Sidharth casually turned around to stand in front of Shehnaaz and reached out to adjust her Hermes
scarf. His slender and warm fingers glided on the cool skin of her neck, making her shudder and her knees go even weaker. She couldn’t help but grip his arm for support. Sidharth looked down at her and smiled warmly as he placed a hand on her shoulder. “It’s fine. Come into the
house with me.”
The Shukla family who came out to greet him hadn’t expected to see this. Under the brilliant lights, Sidharth’s tall and strapping figure was tying a scarf for a girl! More than one family member rubbed their eyes in disbelief to make sure they weren’t hallucinating after having stayed up all night, awaiting his arrival.
Sidharth turned around and scanned every face in the group, merely nodding as he took Shehnaaz’s hand and walked to the entrance. Deepak followed them, Shehnaaz’s small suitcase in his arms.
Shehnaaz’s gaze quickly swept over all the people who came out to greet them, but she was unable to determine their relationships to Sidharth. She saw a middle-aged couple and a young man and woman come out to greet them. From looks of them, the older couple had to be around the same age as Sidharth’s parents. The two young people were probably Sidharth’s age. She remembered someone had called out, “Elder Cousin,” so perhaps this young duo were his cousins? Shehnaaz’s mind went into overdrive when she followed Sidharth inside the three storey Shukla Manor. The building was about twice the size of Sidharth’s quarters at the Special Ops base in C City. It was obvious that it had many more rooms and could house more people. Sidharth’s quarters in the city had only been for himself and Shehnaaz; she was was uncertain as to how many people lived here.
Shehnaaz gave her most beatific smile as she passed through thebcrowd and followed him to the living room. There were more people waiting for them inside. On the main sofa was an old man with white hair. He exuded a dignified air, and a cane
with an intricately carved dragon’s head at the top was held by a wrinkled hand. A lthough he was elderly, his intimidating face remained authoritative.
Sidharth gave the elderly man a military salute and brought Shehnaaz closer. “This is great-grandfather.”
Shehnaaz stared at Sidharth and then asked hesitantly, “T-This is your great-grandfather?”
“No, this is my grandfather,” Sidharth responded sarcastically and then shifted his gaze down at her.
“Shehnaaz, this is your great-grandfather.”
Shehnaaz pursed her lips, unsure on how to accept Sidharth’s address. She smiled sweetly at the elderly man.
“Merry Christmas, great-grandfather.” She purposely slurred the word “great,” so it sounded as though she was saying “grandfather.”
The old man carefully scrutinized Shehnaaz and turned to ask Sidharth, “She’s the one?”
Sidharth nodded and bowed. “She’s the one. I’m her guardian.”
A middle-aged man sat next to the elderly man. He had a handsome but weathered face that resembled Sidharth’s. He looked up to gaze at Shehnaaz. He nodded and repeated the first man’s question.
“You’re Shehnaaz Gill?”
Shehnaaz nodded, but was reluctant to say anything more without knowing what was going on.
Sidharth glanced at her and sensed her resistance to the greeting and introduction, but didn’t indulge her. He answered in a low voice, “This is my father, who is your grandfather.” He introduced her to everyone else in the room, “This is Shehnaaz Gill. I’m her guardian and Uncle.”
She nodded politely to everyone and then asked, “Uncle Sid, what should I call them?” She pointed to the four
people who had come out to greet them.
Sidharth looked at them and gestured at the older couple. “This is Uncle Ved and Aunt Jiva.” Then he turned to the young man and woman. “These are their children, Urvashi Rautela and Priyank Rautela.”
Shehnaaz was confused as to why Urvashi and Priyank had called Sidharth Elder Cousin, while Sidharth had her call their parents Uncle and Aunt.
Shouldn’t they be Granduncle and Grandaunt to her? What’s more, why was their surname Rautela instead of Shukla? She was clever enough to not question Sidharth about this openly however, and greeted them as told.
“Uncle Ved, Aunt Jiva, Merry Christmas.” She looked at the young siblings and said in English, “Merry Christmas!”
Priyank met Shehnaaz’s large and beautiful eyes and suddenly felt too tongue tied to speak. Uravshi smiled
as she came over to take Shehnaaz’s hands. “My Elder Cousin is your guardian? How old are you? I believe you’re younger than I am, so you can just call me Sister Urvashi.”
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I hope you enjoy reading it.
Love you all.