Hiya *waves*
I am so so sorry for the delay. This chapter is unedited first draft. Hence, may feel a little inconsistent.
For those who might wonder why was there always a queue or crowd on each ride. Just remember that we are a population of 1.35 billion in 3600 sq. Km.
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"Can we go back to the sidewinder again, I don't want to miss on a cool ride since I am staying," I said.
"Let's go," he said, ushering us towards the ride. We stood in the queue which wasn't very long and waited as the people settled into their chairs and the mechanical belts came down. The ride was a wheel with seats which spun with increasing speed connected to a huge iron rod that oscillated the wheel like a pendulum.
We watched people scream their hearts out as the wheel passed us with a whoosh. It looked nauseating to be honest. Eventually the ride slowed to a stop and the people got off. We went in. I put my bag near the gaurding gate for safekeeping like as did a couple of other people. The safety procedure was repeated.
While we waited for the ride to start I looked over at the stranger-whose name I should totally ask for-only to find him already staring at me with a stange look on his face. I blushed and immediately looked away. He chuckled huskily.
In the beginning, the ride was fun. There was occasional screaming from around me or the mechanical whirring which had me thrilled. The rod swayed the wheel higher making the wind whip around my hair. It got me grinning like a maniac.
However, a funny sort of churning brimmed in my stomach as the wheel started to spin faster. The whirling and the free fall started to make me dizzy.
When we started to move towards the highest point, my grip on the belt tightened. I closed my eyes firmly but they shot open as I felt warmth on my left hand. I peaked from under my lashes to find it engulfed it in his right one.
"Deep breathes, lioness, take in deep breathes. Focus on the wind. And don't worry, I've got you," he assured me. I smiled back at him gratefully and did as he said.
Though the advice made me feel better, it did not magically take out my fear or transform me into a swan elegantly embracing its first flight. Neither did it stop me from screaming like a banshee as we fell. Looking back, I had probably cut off the blood circulation to his hand completely.
But things had certainly become waggish after my nausea subsided. I had definitely enjoyed the exhilaration I got from being haphazardly thrown around. Once the ride stopped everybody got out. I picked up my bag and followed him. He offered to carry around my bag for me but I refused.
"Where to?" He asked when we were standing outside the arena.
"You choose," I replied as I tried to secure my windblown baby hair with my hair band. The stranger stepped forward with raised hands but stopped and motioned with his hands towards my hair as if asking May I? When I nodded he took a few wayward strands of my hair and tucked them behind my ear. It was a pretty platonic gesture but it got my cheeks burning.
"Thank you," I murmured. He just smiled and looked about.
"Do you mind if we go to the other side?" He asked politely.
"Sure," I replied falling into the step with him. Honestly, it was refreshing being with him. When you are in business, you meet a number of men who are just hard ass alpha males. They are so intent on stealing away what they want that they forget they can simply ask for it too.
We trudged across the bridge made over a little water body that seperated the park in two sides. People were boating and doing other water sports there.
"What's your name? Actual name?" I asked him.
"Arjun." He said, not looking at me but searching for good attractions on this side.
"Aisha." I lied. He looked down at me and smiled, "Nice name. But I am still going to call you lioness."
I laughed lightly but agreed, "Suit yourself."
"Shall we do rock climbing?" Arjun asked after a beat. I looked in the direction he was pointing at. There was huge, regular gym, indoor rock climbing wall but it was all painted and shaped to give the impression of rugged hillside.
"That one? It's pretty big. Are you sure it's safe?" I asked uncertainly.
"Yeah. It looks sturdy and they have got cables and safety jackets. It'll be fine. Besides, everybody is doing it. We should do it too," he said looking at me hopefully.
"सब कुँए में कूदेंगे तो क्या तुम भी कूदोगे।" I threw in casually. (If every body is jumping in the well. Then will you do it too?).
Arjun looked at me with mirth in his honey eyes. He quipped, "You sound like my mom right now." I shrugged.
"Come on, lioness, आज कुछ तूफानी करते हैं।" He said cheekily making me snicker.
(Let's do something stormily adventures today.)
"Alright. I give in," I said as I followed him towards the wall. When we reached there only a couple of young guys were getting geared up to climb, the rest were simply watching. A few feet away from the wall was a yellow railing keeping people at a safe length from any mishaps.
I asked Arjun to go in first. As he was getting strapped i inspected the wall closely. The outside was rough representing a mountainous terrain. There were deep crevices, edges, pockets, crimpers embedded in the wall and painted with the same rocky texture sprinkled with a few real life rocks.
The boy who was currently climbing the wall only made it to the halway mark before he fell and clung to the cable. The next guy almost made it to the top but slipped at what looked like a deformed protrusion.
"Most people only reach there. They slip on the sloper. बस वही मुशकिल है थोड़ा।" said the keeper strapping on the gears of the guy behind Arjun. (That is the only difficult part)
It was his turn now. Arjun went upto the wall and inspected it. After some contemplation he started climbing up. He had re-rolled his sleeves upto his elbows. He moved elegantly and quickly between the rocks. I couldn't help but drool over his arm muscles which flexed as he pulled up his weight. He looked delicious.
He was quite precise and methodical. He didn't tug on any rock and was light on his feet. I noticed how sometimes he would step on a small rock rather than lunging for a bigger piece even slightly out of his reach. I smirked. Smart guy. He took calculative risks instead of rash decisions.
Me, along with the entire crowd tensed as Arjun reached the point where the last guy had fallen off. There was only one sloper on the entire wall and it was up on the top. Arjun waited for a beat before trying to establish a strong grip on sloper but his left foot slipped.
"Ohhhhhh" grimaced the crowd. A startled gasp left me as my heart skipped a beat, then started jackhammering against my chest. I moved closer to the railing, practically latching unto to it. I released a heavy breath as I saw Arjun come back to his last position by hanging onto the cable.
I put my hand on my chest to calm my thundering heart. Arjun looked down once quickly before going at it again. He reached for the sloper and pushed his body down under it as much as possible. He put his straightened arms close to the sloper and leveraged upwards. In a sudden twist, he rotated his hands sideways, molded himself into a frog like position then without losing a second teetered outwards and caught the top edge of the climbing wall.
A spliting grin grazed my face as I cheered along with the crowd. Arjun grabbed the hand of the man on the top with his free hand and pulled himself up. He stood on the top for a moment before proceeding to take of the safety gear and rushing down the stairs on the other side.
I rushed towards him as he exited the premise and lunged at him. He caught me with ease and spun me around once. His grip tightened around me before he finally put me down. I pulled back and grinned up at him.
"You did it. Congratulations!" I squealed.
"I did. But God, if I almost didn't get a heart attack on the last rock." He said rubbing his chest. That comment made me scowl. I hit him on his arm.
"Yes. You, stupid oaf. What do you think you were doing? You could have simply come down, if you knew it was too risky. What would have been the victory worth if you'd gotten injured?" I snapped at him.
"Had I given up, I would have missed the chance to see this sweet dimple." He poked my left cheek. I swatted his hand away. Oh, this shameless flirt.
"That is not the point. You could have hurt yourself." I protested.
He just gave me a charming grin in return, "So you were worried for me, lioness?"
"Of course, I was worried. You were dangling from thirty feet above the ground like a shoe string. Don't you have any sense of self preservation? What if the cables had broken? What if you'd hurt yourself? Or died?" I ranted without filtering any words that poured out of my mouth.
"Again, that was pretty safe. And had I died it would have been knowing that I spent my last moments with the prettiest girl I have ever had the pleasure of meeting," he said firmly, his tone husky.
My cheeks tinged pinked at the compliment.
"That was smooth. Thank you." I replied while avoiding his amused gaze.
"Go on," he said, squeezing my waist gently, "it's your turn now"
"Yeah, no. I think I will pass" I drawled. He opened his mouth to perhaps protest so I cut him off, "I have done this before. I won't even be able to go quarter of the way up and I'll probably end up banging my head on one of those rocks. I am not good with all that body positioning techniques you just used."
He smirked as if wanting to say something but held it back.
"Sure?" He asked
"Yeah," I confirmed. He pouted a little. It literally made my heart melt at how adorable he looked. Suddenly his eyes lit up. His eyes got that impish gleam again.
"So since you are not going on this one though you said you would, I get to choose the next ride and you must get on it. Deal?" He proposed.
I frowned. Well, it seemed harmless. I nodded though a bit reluctantly. "Deal."
"Great. Let's go," He said grabbing my hand and pulling me along with him.
"Wait. Where?" I asked, perplexed. He looked over his shoulder at me and smirked. "To the trampoline."
My eyes widened. I walked out from behind him to his side and saw a humongous trampoline divided into three sections using nets. There were three pairs youngsters hopping around in them. The opening of the first section was on the left side of the net, the second opened in the front and third had a gaping slit in the ride side
A small crowd was gathered near it. "What's happening?" I asked somebody in the crowd. A young girl turned to me and said, "They are having an impromptu bouncing competition. Whichever pair lasts the longest, wins."
"What's the prize?" I asked the girl.
"Purple monkeys." She pointed to a stack of small purple monkeys. Oh. Suddenly, the crowd started cheering. I glimpsed back at the trampoline where now only a pair of girls were standing. Arjun tugged on my hand, "Let's go. We are going next."
"No, wait," I pulled him back, "We need a strategy first."
He considered what I had said. He motioned for me to continue. "You are right. What do you have in mind?" He asked, crossing his arms across his chest.
Momentarily I was distracted by the close up view of his sturdy looking arms but then I snapped back into the present.
I said, "Look, with the way they were jumping around aimlessly, it was sheer luck that those girls won. When we go up there, you jump first then when you land I'll jump and vice versa. Okay?"
"One of us is bound to lose balance if we drift off too far." He pointed out.
"Then we hold hands. Simple." I stated. He nodded. We took off our shoes and climbed up with two other pairs. One was pair of girls other was of a girl and a guy. We wobbled up into the third section.
"Are you all ready?" Asked the host.
"Yeah," All of us replied.
"Ready?" Arjun mouthed. I nodded with determination, "Let's win this."
"Go"
Arjun jumped first and then we went ahead with the plan. It only took half a minute for the pair of girls to go down meanwhile we had established our pace. I couldn't help but grin like a lunatic as the crowd went wild once they realised what we were doing.
Both of us looked at each other laughing and springing. A rush of giddiness overtook me with a pinch of yearning as I recalled the familiar memories from my childhood.
When the second couple too tumbled down in a vain effort to copy us, the crowd burst into applause. The shot of adrenaline from the win, the evocating nostalgia and the sheer happiness of being childish was as close to heaven as it could get.
Growing bold, I jumped as high as I could which made Arjun stumble. I gasped as we got tangled and I fell on Arjun. He hissed but his arms immediately wrapped around my waist holding me still. My arms went around his neck. He blinked down at me before we both exploded into another laughing fit.
Still giggling, I got off Arjun's lap. He stood up and jumped out of the right side. He turned back, put his hands around me and effortlessly lifted me off the trampoline before placing me on the grassy ground. My hands were placed on his broad shoulders while his were still on my waist.
We simply stood there smiling and looking at each other. From the corner of my eye, I was vaguely aware of the crowd shifting its attention to the next group of thrill seekers.
"We won," I whispered still high on the euphoria. He smiled and then bent down to place a chaste but sweet kiss on the tip of my nose, making butterflies erupt in my stomach.
"Yes, little lioness, we did."
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Dear Lord, I am awful at writing romance. It felt sooooo dull reading compared to the sparks I felt while thinking it up.
Anyway, I am sorry for the delay in updating. It was double the word count that I usually write. It's just that I start college soon so I am trying to spend as much time I can with my family before I have to leave.
Also, I went to watch Spider man - far from home and omigod it is beautiful and two post credit scenes like, damn. And it's world cup semi final today.
The next chapter will be up soon, hopefully. Till then:
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