Five-Thirty AM - VII

Breakfast was late today. All of them had slept way past nine a.m., the rains the night before having dropped the temperatures into the comfortable low twenties, allowing them to sleep longer. It was perfect weather to go zip-lining, Anuj and Piya had decided.

It was as they sat down for breakfast that Noel drew attention to himself.

‘Aunty, Uncle, I have to thank you for inviting me here this week,’ he started.

Everyone looked at him surprised.

‘Beta,’ said Mr. Puri, who had started becoming fond of this quiet young man, despite the dangers he posed for Mitul, according to his wife’s prophesies. ‘It was our pleasure to have you. Now we can tell our grandchildren that we had a famous film-star spend a week with us.’

‘Dad!’ surprisingly it was Piya who protested, blushing at the thought of children, while Jiya and Rajan just smiled at each other, and the rest laughed at her.

‘No really, Uncle,’ Noel smiled as he continued. ‘I really am grateful to you’ll for suggesting this. I just have one request to you all,’ and this time he looked at Piya directly. ‘Please don’t upload any pictures or comments or anything about me on whatever social networking site you might have access to. Please,’ his voice dropped huskily.

‘I don’t mind the publicity my life gets. I signed on to have a life in the public eye, by choice. So anything in my life is fair game - at least the media seems to think so, as do the fans. But I don’t want any of you to be exposed to that. You’ve no idea how very disruptive it can be. Besides, I know Mitul also likes her privacy a lot, so for her sake also, I’d request you to please not Tweet about this or anything that happens this week.’ He looked beseechingly at each of them in turn.

Last of all, he looked at Mitul, looking into her eyes to see if she understood what he was trying to do. I want you and your privacy protected, above everyone else’s, she read in his eyes.

She swallowed the tears that sprang into her eyes, but not before he saw the sheen of them. He felt a lump in his throat, knowing she was going to have a fit when she found out about the pictures that had already made their way out. But that was between them and he would handle it when the time was right.

The Puris, for now, needed to understand.

Rajan clapped a hand on his shoulder. ‘No worries, man. We won’t talk about it. Let’s just enjoy having you around, and as uncle says, can’t wait to tell my grandchildren about this!’ he chuckled, as Jiya rapped his knuckles with a fork. ‘Ow! Ow!! Jiya, what did I say?’ he protested.

That lightened the mood around the table. Although Mitul was still quiet. She wondered why the sudden heartfelt plea. Something had happened. Joyce hadn’t called her back, and last night he’d been a bit subdued. She had to find out, but Piya-Jiya were hurrying her along to get dressed to go for the zip lining expedition.

****

Noel stood waiting calmly while he was strapped into the harness of the zip-line. He’d elected to go first, having had more than enough experience with adrenaline-inducing sports like bungee jumping, parasailing and sky diving. So he wasn’t really expecting to get much of a rush out of this. Hanging from a thin wire, sailing down from tree to tree. It sounded almost sedentary. He could hear the excited chatter behind him as Piya, Jiya, Rajan and Anuj were debating who should go next. Pulling on the helmet, he turned to see Mitul staring at him with wide eyes filled with something close to fear.

‘Mitul, you come after me,’ he said quietly. The others looked at each other, while she nodded mutely.

‘Sure,’ muttered Piya, ‘so we get a little extra us-time,’ just loud enough for their ears.

He grinned cheekily back at her, and said, ‘you’re so understanding, Piya darling.’ Then putting on a sexy, come-hither look, he lowered his voice to a husky note and said in his best filmy manner, ‘if Anuj weren’t there, I would have carried you off into these trees, Piya,’ placing a hand dramatically on his heart. ‘Two of us, swinging from tree to tree.’

‘Hayyyy,’ she fanned herself, fluttering her eyelashes at him, while the others roared with laughter. He turned around and winked at Mitul, before stepping off the platform.

He wasn’t prepared for the rush that came with speeding down a thin wire, only a flimsy harness holding his body up, high above the treetops. Below he could see a ravine and a river foaming white, as it gushed over rocks rushing down the mountain. He zipped from tree to tree, the branches and leaves brushing hard his face. It was not at all how he’d expected it to be! His heart was thumping as he speeded up and slowed down with the contours of the land. The blood was rushing through his veins now, and he laughed out loud at the freedom of almost flying through the air. This was fantastic! He loved it!

All too soon, he arrived at the bottom of the mountain, taking a few running steps as he got his balance back.

‘You okay?’ the attendant asked him as he unhooked him.

‘Yeah! That was fantastic,’ he said enthusiastically, his pale skin flushed with excitement, green eyes sparkling.

‘First time, eh?’ asked the man understandingly, helping him take off his harness.

‘Yup! And I’m so gonna do it again,’ he nodded, as he took his helmet off and shook his head.

‘Here comes the next one,’ said the attendant, asking him to move aside.

He could hear the thin scream as she careened down the line, pausing only to take a breath and release another scream. Why was she screaming? Was she scared? Or had something happened to her? His heart was thumping hard, as he could still hear her scream, but he couldn’t see her. He scanned the trees, trying to catch a glimpse of her, his eyes coming back to the line, waiting to see her appear on it. Adrenaline was still pumping through him, but now it was laced with anxiety, what if something happened to her?

Next thing he knew, he saw her come flying down the line, still screaming. The attendant grabbed her and set her down, unhooking her from the line.

He pulled her into his arms, hugging her tight, relief coursing through him, ‘You okay?’ he asked.

She nodded her head, her helmet brushing against his chin. He pulled back and looked into her face. She looked up at him, her brown eyes sparkling, cheeks flushed, her mouth open in a wide grin. ‘That was awesome!’ she gasped.

He grinned down at her, ‘wasn’t it?’ he asked, undoing her helmet and taking it off. The sunlight fell on the dark waves of her hair, as she shook her hair loose. For the first time he understood that scene in Top Gun! There was something irresistibly exciting about watching a woman shake her hair free of a helmet like that. He helped her off with the harness, and then held her hand as he led her off the platform.

They sat down on some steps, side by side, his arm around her, laughing at their shared experience, their pulses still pounding with residual excitement.

He shook his head, ‘I didn’t expect it to be quite such a rush, you know,’ he admitted.

‘But it was!’ she exclaimed.

‘Have you done this before?’ he asked.

‘No, although I’ve done white water rafting and base jumping,’ she looked up at him from under her lashes.

‘Quite the adventurer, are you?’ he smirked.

‘Some,’ she admitted smiling.

‘What else?’ he probed.

‘Bungee jumping. Rock climbing. That’s it,’ she finished.

‘Hmmm ... you’re education of adventure sports is not complete,’ he said.

‘Ha ha ha!!’ she exclaimed. ‘And what else do I need to know?’

He opened his mouth to speak, but then made the mistake of looking into her eyes, and lost his complete train of thought.

Fortunately for him, Piya and Anuj chose that minute to join them.

‘Hey, guys,’ she thumped Mitul enthusiastically on her back. ‘Enjoyed it?’

Noel uncoiled himself and stood up, holding out a hand for Mitul to stand up as well. ‘Piya, I have to admit, this was a fantastic choice! Had a load of fun, girl.’ He held his palm up and she hi-fived him, before turning and hi-fiving Mitul as well.

She turned to Anuj and as he bent naturally and planted a soft kiss on her upturned nose, she closed her eyes, her hands clutching his jacket.

Mitul and Noel looked away awkwardly from this public display of affection.

Jiya and Rajan joined them soon after, and they made their way back to the car park.

****

They returned home after a long lunch at a roadside diner, serving food sixties style - fresh and greasy, and finger-licking good!

Mitul was yawning after the heavy meal, so Noel insisted on driving. The other four were in another car, and all he had to do was follow them home. He stayed on their tail, which is not difficult to do on a two-lane country road with nary another vehicle going by.

At some point, he started driving on auto-pilot, lost in contemplation. She had fallen asleep against the window, and he had only his thoughts for company. He gazed at her as they stopped at a red light. Somewhere, today, he had begun to acknowledge it. She was beginning to occupy a large part of his thoughts and his emotions were tied up with it. The few seconds of panic he’d experienced when he’d heard her scream had been pure hell. But was it just sexual attraction or was there more than that? How does one know? Anytime she was in his vicinity, his blood pressure seemed to go up and his pulses pounded. He always knew when she was in a room or was looking at him. And she wasn’t unaffected by him either.

He remembered the look in her eyes as she’d watched him in the boat. There was something there, he was sure of it. But what was it? He didn’t know, and the confusion inside him was telling him he’d need to sort this out soon. Very soon.

And then there was their lives. Outside of this idyllic utopian week, they had lives. Lives that they’d left behind for a while. Lives that tried to intrude here and now. Lives that wouldn’t cross each other’s once this book was finished and published. What then?

He pursed his lips as they drew up at the cabin. She was still fast asleep. He turned off the engine, and leaned over her, shaking her shoulder to wake her up. ‘Mitul?’ he said softly. ‘Mitul, wake up.’

She smiled at that and opened sleepy eyes up at him. His breath caught in his throat. Brown eyes looked into green eyes for a long moment, before she blinked.

‘We’re home?’ she struggled to sit up, her sleep-laced raspy voice doing something to his breathing mechanism like every time.

‘Yes, we’re home,’ he husked, the simple words tugging at his heart. ‘Let’s go in, shall we?’ he asked as he unlatched her seatbelt.

She nodded, opened the door and stepped out of the car. He watched her walk away towards the steps before getting out himself.

*****

The sun had set over the hills on the West, the emerald glow of the dusk settled over the lake. Stars twinkled to the East, reflecting into the still waters of the lake. Ripples flowed out from each lapping wave as it hit the land. Noel walked out onto the pier, his hands in his pockets, Mitul by his side, holding a citron lantern to keep the mosquitoes at bay. They could see the couple sitting at the end of the pier, Rajan’s arm around Jiya.

As they watched, Rajan tilted her face up to his, tenderness and love visible even from the distance. He closed the gap between them and kissed her on the lips.

Mitul gasped and turned away, wondering if her sisters and their boyfriends had chosen today to specifically embarrass her!

Noel scratched his head as he turned away too. He didn’t want to be privy to another couple’s lovemaking. Although Bro Code 110 stated that he should encourage and/or enable it, he just couldn’t bring himself to do so, especially with Mitul right next to him. So he did the next best thing. He coughed loudly and then cleared his throat.

The couple sprang apart, laughing. They looked up at Mitul and Noel with big grins on their faces.

‘You two should get a room,’ Mitul said, trying hard to sound disgusted.

‘I wish!’ laughed Rajan. ‘But ain’t gonna happen here, not with your maasi-maasa,’ he complained. Jiya slapped him lightly, giggling cutely all the while.

Mitul put down the lantern as they settled down next to the couple.

Noel picked up the guitar that Rajan had next to him and strummed it before handing it to Rajan. ‘Let’s have some music, Rajan. Serenade Jiya,’ he smiled.

Piya and Anuj joined them as well.

Rajan picked up the guitar and started strumming a few chords, before starting to sing a song. A song of love. A pean to the beauty of his loved one. The one he would lay down his life for. The one who he lived for. Softly, sensuously, looking into Jiya’s eyes as he sang.

Mitul felt tears coming into her eyes as she watched the two of them. How beautiful to be in love like them! she thought. She looked at Piya who was leaning against Anuj’s shoulder, their hands intertwined, looking deep into each other’s eyes.

Her eyes went to Noel, who was looking at her with an unreadable expression in his eyes. He narrowed his eyes, and slightly cocked his head. She frowned in puzzlement. A corner of his mouth went up, barely visible in the dim light.

Time to impress the lady, he thought.

They all clapped as Rajan finished his song. He took the guitar from Rajan and sat up. Settling it comfortably on his lap, he looked at Mitul, trying to find the exact right song for her. A quirky smile lifted his lips as he broke into the opening lyrics:

When I get older losing my hair

Many years from now

Will you still be sending me a valentine

Birthday greetings bottle of wine

They all burst out laughing as Rajan and Anuj joined in boisterously in the next verse:

If I’d been out till quarter to three

Would you lock the door,

Will you still need me, Will you still feed me

When I’m sixty-four?

They all joined in the rest of the song, yelling out ‘When I’m sixty-four’ at the end of it before collapsing into laughter!

A perfect end to a perfect day

***