"Ek tha raja, ek thi rani, mile jo dono huyi barbaadi"
~ Author ~
Andaman And Nicobar Islands, India
The couple stared at each other in silence. The shock was too much to bear. The sound of heels echoed in that silent compartment of the jet to let them know that they could leave now.
Meher grabbed her bag from the table and was the first one to walk out, unable to handle the tension that had ensued in there. A few minutes later, Kabir followed and noticed that a car was already waiting outside, for their escort.
He chose not to sit in the back with Meher and took the shotgun along with the driver. Meher sighed and turned her head to look outside, taking in the surroundings. As they hit the road, a smile took over her face as she remembered coming here was on her bucket list, something that the twins were aware of. She never got time to plan a trip to this place, something was never right. Either the age or the time.
"Hello, Sir," she turned to look ahead, my eyes meeting with our driver through the mirror. "Ma'am," he smiled at me. Meher awkwardly returned the smile, waiting for him to respond. "I am Malhar Pandey, at your service. Mr. Aryan Raizada has booked me to accompany you whenever and wherever you want to travel."
Meher hummed. "So are you a tour guide or a driver?" Malhar laughed, his easygoing laughter filling the silent car, bringing down the tension. "Both, you can say even though this is a side job."
"A side job?" Meher was curious, she shifted to sit in the middle so she could properly converse with the guy.
"Yup," he nodded, "I actually work here as the Department head of the Marigold Luxe Villas, which is by the way your home for the next few days. And, we have flexible timings here, thanks to the hybrid mode. So I usually wrap up all the important work and then become a tour guide for the guests," he winked at Meher through the mirror.
Meher giggled, a small blush coating her cheeks. Kabir, who was intently listening to the conversation, straightened up when he noticed the guy openly flirting with his wife. He finally got his shit together and wrapped his head around the fact that he was currently on an island with Meher and some guy who claimed to be a tour guide was flirting with her, the latter openly responding to his actions.
The guy was definitely around his age, a bit leaner and clean shaven. He had long curly hair, which he hated to admit, did suit him a lot.
"How long have you been here, Mr Pandey?" Meher shoots another question.
"It's my third year now," he happily answers and then adds, "It's just Malhar."
Before Meher could ask any further, Kabir cleared his throat aloud, making the two stop from conversing. "When are we reaching the resort, just Malhar?" He almost grits, plastering a fake smile on his face.
Malhar's smile faltered, looking at the rigid man. "In just two minutes. We have already entered the premises."
Meher eyes Kabir in distaste. The man can't see anyone in excitement, can he?
The car took a soft turn towards one of the deeper sections of the premises, and soon the line of the sea was getting wider in vision. A line of luxurious villas came into her vision, stretched over a huge area plot. The gaps between the villas were significant and were separated by trees. The visuals were amazing.
Meher was excitedly tapping her feet to get out of the car and explore the place. Kabir or not, she was going to make the most out of this place.
In the end, the car stopped in front of one of the houses. Meher jumped out of the car, taking in the bright sunny day, smelling the salty sea gently flowing. Her eyes sparkled as she felt the weather, loving the place already.
"You seem to love the place," Malhar chuckled as he got out of the car, followed by Kabir.
"Yes!" Meher chirped as she hopped around the place. Kabir blinked his eyes at her, he was seeing a new side of her.
He had never seen Meher so happy and excited.
After all, they were never in the same place to know what each one of them liked, he had his world and she had hers.
But now, it is different. They shared a world now, their relationship might be moving at a rocky pace, but they couldn't help but deny that they were indeed a part of each other's worlds now.
Malhar helped them unload their luggage in their villa and gave them a tour of the place.
"This is the living room," they entered a cosy-looking living area, where couches were kept in front of a large LED TV. The entire house was white themed, much to Kabir's displeasure. "If you go down the hallway, there's a game room and the kitchen, where you can have fun and cook if you don't wish to eat at our restaurant." they walked towards the opposite direction of the kitchen where there was another hallway.
Malhar opened the door at the end of the hallway and they entered a huge master bedroom, which was decorated for the couple on a honeymoon. Towels shaped like swans, some goodies— the ones Meher wished she didn't peek at and lastly, there were couple coded outfits. Kabir grimaced at the scene and cursed at the twins.
"This is the highlight. Your room for the next four days," the room was spacious, with a huge comfortable fluffy bed in the middle, a couch in a corner and a huge glass window which directly opened into the seashore. The distance between their room and the sea was so small that they could actually escape and walk near the sea endlessly.
"It's beautiful," Meher whispered, dazed at the view. She always loved beaches and this was her ultimate dream coming true. A villa opening into the sea. How dreamy can it get?
After touring around, they came back again into the living area, where Malhar led them to the front yard. The front yard was concrete, with a large pool in the middle with wooden lounge chairs and umbrellas hovering over them. "The last place where if you tired and want some relaxation, a perfect place to lounge and cook barbeque," he pointed towards the barbeque corner, where all the types of equipment required to cook a barbeque was there.
This made Kabir smile a little. He loved pools and lazying around. Maybe, he could use this break to laze around and swim all day. When the night would arrive, he could cook barbeque and maybe offer some to Meher as well if he was in a good mood.
After a few more interactions, Malhar took his leave, leaving the couple at each other's company. The two, tired from the day's events fell on the couch in the living room, not speaking a word for a few minutes.
Meher took a breather and thought about how things rapidly changed over the past few hours when she was frantically packing for a conference that was supposed to take place in Chennai.
"Fuck you," she muttered aloud. Kabir's eyes flew open, startled at Meher's sudden cursing. "What?"
"Not you," she waved her hand in the air, dismissively. "It's for the twins. I packed more formal wear when all I needed were beachwear and casuals. May they choke on their spit."
Kabir nodded. "Amen."
Somewhere in Mumbai, a pair of twins started coughing violently on the dining table, raising a wave of concern among the parents.
"There's another pair of suitcases there," Kabir pointed out, "We didn't bring these along."
Meher's brows pulled up in confusion as she sat up straight. "Is that a mistake?"
Kabir shrugged.
Meher walked over to the corner where all their suitcases were lined up. She noticed two unfamiliar suitcases. On a little inspection, she found a paper rolled over one of the handles of one of the suitcases. She freed the paper from the paper and unfolded it, revealing a note in familiar handwriting.
I know the clothes you must have taken are not beach appropriate. Sending you both my latest beachwear collection (swimsuits, t-shirts, dresses— everything is in there ;)). The blue suitcase is for Meher and the green one is for Bhai. Have fun!
Kisses,
Arya xoxo.
She stared at the suitcases and then at the note. How much extensive planning did the twins do to make them go on this trip?
"What is it?" Kabir asked, sitting up straight, smoothening clothes.
"Clothes," she crumpled the note in her palm, "from your dear sister. It's from her latest collection."
Kabir scoffed, mirroring Meher's expressions. Even if Meher was slightly happy about coming here, that didn't stop her from being irritated and pissed at her best friends for making a fool out of her.
Kabir went ahead and grabbed his suitcases and went inside their bedroom, to freshen up and change while Meher decided to tour around the place and get a hang of everything.
This was going to be a long day.
* * *
After the two had settled in, they were back in their favourite modes, with Meher lounging on the chair in front of the pool whereas Kabir was sprawled on the floor of the living room. There was complete silence as the two of them were busy, on their phones— Meher was busy speaking to Arya and Kabir was scrolling reels on Instagram.
"You can't be that angry with me, Mehru," Arya whined from the other side. "At least, I sent the two of you to your dream destination."
Meher rolled her eyes. "I wouldn't have been angry if you had sent me alone, bitch. You have tied me with the spawn of satan on this trip."
Meher was annoyed the moment she heard Arya giggle from the other end. "You two are married. And this is what is it called? I can't remember, Aryan!" She heard her best friend call up her twin.
"What?" She heard a bark from the other end. "What is the initial period of newly married couples called?"
"Honeymoon period," he answered.
"Haa, honeymoon period Mehru, honeymoon period it is. You need to enjoy that period, girl, build some spice, use the clothes," her excited suggestions got Meher triggered and she wished to throw the phone on her head. The suitcase that Arya sent for her had dresses but also those kinds of dresses.
"Hello, Meher are you listening?" Arya asked as she didn't hear Meher speak for a while.
"H-Hello?" Meher said, acting like her voice was breaking down.
"Meher? Meher?" Arya kept on speaking but Meher didn't answer.
"Arya, I can't hear you. The network here is not great, will call you later. Okay bye," she kept the phone away from her ear and screamed, cutting the call right after.
"Honeymoon phase, my foot," she mumbled.
She sat up straight and turned to look inside to see Kabir busy on his phone. Kabir looked like he was vibing with the vacation, judging by his clothes. White and blue striped shirt and white shorts suited him. Whereas she was dressed in a floral dress that reached her knees.
After having enough sunbathing, she got up and made her way inside.
"Meher,"
"Hmm?" She stopped midway, turning to look at him
"Will you come with me for lunch?" Kabir finally stopped scrolling and looked up. "You go, I am not hungry."
"Okay," he shrugged. Not that he cared whether he ate or not, although a tiny part of him did bug hum.
Did she not want to eat with him?
"Meher," he called her again when she was about to leave. Mehrr nodded.
"We are on this trip together, even if we didn't want it, why not roam around together and enjoy this place?" Kabir called a truce.
Meher did not expect that from Kabir. Judging from his expressions, she did not find any foul play. But her mind was divided. Should she give in and enjoy this trip without any fights or stand her ground about enjoying this trip all by herself?
The heart didn't agree with the mind. And Kabir, he looked hopeful. Like he too was tired of years of fighting and bickering. Like he wanted to forgo the tension and breathe in peace.
Meher slowly nodded.
Kabir smiled, albeit a small one. "Alright, lunch?"
This time Meher nodded, shyly. "I am starving," she rubbed her stomach, looking down in embarrassment.
"Let's go."
* * *
The lunch was fairly a silent affair. No matter how much they tried, there was always a string of silence between them that encaptured whatever they had in between. Meher gobbled down her food as the lady in distress had been starving since morning whereas Kabir ate his food slowly, enjoying every bite and scrolling through his phone.
After Meher was done eating, she opened her phone to check the itinerary which she had prepared for herself this morning.
"What are your plans for today?" Kabir kept his phone down, now looking at Meher.
"I was thinking of renting a bike and riding around the place, getting a hang of the place and the stores," she answered. Kabir nodded.
"Actually," Meher, kept her finely manicured hands on the table, leaning towards Kabir. "Let's rent two of them and go biking today. We can go sightseeing from tomorrow onwards. Tell me, are you up for it?"
"Works," he shrugged. "Let me check online about renting bikes." He proceeded to search online until Meher held his wrist, stopping him.
"I have already figured that out," she said, showing the phone. "We can collect it in like an hour."
The couple wrapped up their lunch and headed back to their place to get freshened up and rest. They decided to get the bike a little later, closer to the evening as the weather wouldn't be as hot in the afternoon. collect the things they would require while they are biking.
Meher and Kabir walked over to the shop where they were supposed to rent the bikes. After getting their rides for the day, the duo set out biking side by side with the sea, enjoying the sea breeze.
What they hadn't realised was that they had ridden fifteen kilometres and the sun had finally set, the night was slowly kicking in.
Kabir stopped in the middle, making Meher who was riding behind him halt as well. "What happened?" She dragged her bike to him, panting.
"It's about to rain," he looked towards the sky, the clear weather now suddenly turning darker, the smell of the sea was now mixed with the stench of the onset of the rain.
Meher looked up to see the sky and as if on cue, there was lightning passing through the dark sky, with its thunderous beat following closely behind it. "And there's lightning."
It was one drop at first that fell on Meher's face, and then there were two. Soon, there was thunder and lightning with the rains following it, which made it look like this wasn't going to stop for a while.
Kabir and Meher dragged their bikes to the bus stop nearby, hoping to catch a bus and get a ride back.
"Damn it, there's no signal here," he violently slapped his phone in his palm in the hope to get a signal and call Malhar. "No luck here as well," Meher flashed hers, the worry lines etched on her forehead.
And just like that, more than an hour passed by and the rain didn't stop pouring. The waves crashed higher than normal and it didn't look like it was safe anymore for them to stay as they were too close to the sea.
"I don't think there's any bus to come," Meher broke the silence that had persisted for a while. Kabir looked at his watch, it was already past eight.
There were no cars, no bikes, no living soul on that road. It was as if they were stranded in the middle of the road. Kabir looked around the place, it was just a long road and nothing on the sides except the jungles.
"Kabir we are stranded in the middle of nowhere," Meher cried in frustration, constantly trying to get the signal so that she could make a call.
"No need to state the obvious Meher, I know it," he bit back, as the frustration and anger got the best out of him.
"Toh kisne kaha tha tumhe race lagane ke liye? Badtameez," she barked back.
"Excited kon hua tha, pagal ladki? Competition ka naam sunn ke toh tumhare body mein zyada khoon daudne lagta hai na, an bhugto!"
"Fucker."
"Bitch."
Both mumbled curses under their breaths not before glaring at each other. But that fight didn't last long as the two had no one except for each other.
It was better not to fight and rather work together to come up with a solution.
Kabir, tired from all the panicking and riding, sat down beside Meher, giving up. "Is the Internet working? We can at least make a WhatsApp call."
Meher glared at Kabir over his nonsensical question. "There's no network, where will the internet come from?"
"Oh yeah," he mumbled.
"Kabir," Meher whined.
"Hmm?"
"What do we do now? We can't stay in this bus stand for the entire time," Kabir turned to look at her, the latter looked almost like she was about to burst out crying. That was just what he had thought until Meher Mathur burst out crying.
She sat there beside him, her eyes closed and tears running down her cheek. Kabir bit back a smile, finding it oddly funny and lowkey adorable.
He awkwardly patted her shoulder when Meher turned to him and hugged him tight, crying even harder this time. The sudden hug took aback Kabir as his hands were up in the air, as he hadn't returned the hug. Meher adjusted her face on the crook of his neck and was now sniffing when Kabir finally decided to let go and hug her back.
His one hand was around her, holding her gently whereas the other patted her hair in reassurance. "Don't worry we will get out of here," his hold on her became tight as he patted her. "Stop worrying, I am there and I will figure something out."
And Meher believed that. She believed that Kabir Raizada was there for her, for them and she believed that he would bring them out of this crisis.
So she let go of all of her worries and embraced him, letting herself feel protected and taken care of.
Stranded on a rainy night? Quite a start to the honeymoon. What do you think will happen next, put your guesses down in the comments.
My exams ended on the second and now I am travelling to Hyderabad as I update this chapter. I realised that writing romance is a difficult task. So many of you ask me to write romantic scenes (mostly the scenes where they get cosy and all of that), I want to ask all of you, what is romance for you? Like I said before, this is a slow burn, the couple is navigating their journey on their own accord. Kabir and Meher have a lot of unresolved feelings which now they are trying to solve but it takes time.
In the kind of love stories I write, I believe the relationships have a hint of reality and how a relationship progresses between two people who are in the process of falling in love. So I hope you all understand that this story will surely have those moments you wish for but at their own pace. Rushing in just for those moments ruins the flow of the story on a big level. I hope you all understand that. I know you have been waiting for a long time, but trust me it's worth the wait.
With all that rant, I hope you enjoyed reading the chapter.
Do VOTE, SHARE and COMMENT. Comment a heart if you enjoyed reading this chapter.
With Love,
Akii.