Five-Thirty AM - VIII

Mitul lay in bed looking up at the ceiling. The quiet of the night around was broken only by a coyote howling once, and the intermittent drone of the cicadas. The darkness outside barely allowed any light into the room, though a small crescent sliver of moon rose into the skies, surrounded by stars.

She was thinking back over the week that had passed. Tomorrow, Sunday, was the last day they would be spending out here. Then it was back to Toronto.

It had been a surprisingly productive week for the biography. She’d recorded a lot of what Noel had been willing to tell her. They’d talked about his childhood and his teenage years.

She saw his family through his eyes.

An army officer for a father - strict disciplinarian, but never abusive, always allowing his children to make their choices, guiding them with a firm hand. His mother - the sweet matriarch of the family who even the strict army officer would not disobey or deny. The oldest brother, Naveen. Seven years older than Noel. He hadn’t wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps, instead electing to go to business school, and emerging as a successful entrepreneur. Married with two children that Noel doted on. The younger brother, Naval, four years older than Noel. He was a successful architect, once again choosing a profession other than the military. Noel was the baby in the family. He’d gone into the army as an officer. But then something happened and he became the most famous of them all. Over achievement seemed to be a part of their family’s DNA profile.

It was only now that they had started getting to the point in his story, where he joined the army. She had a feeling that this was the turning point in his life. Somethings had happened in the army, and she hoped he would share it with her, but she already knew that he didn’t like talking about those things. Would he open up to her? She wasn’t his psychiatrist. She was only the person writing his biography.

She thought of what she knew of him as a person. Kind, considerate, intelligent, sensitive, determined, commanding, goofy and fun. There were so many facets to him, she thought, snuggling further into the covers.

But those were just adjectives, cold words that never explained that inexplicable something, who he was as a man and how he made her feel as a woman!

Unbidden to her mind came the picture of him taking that tee off. Something had happened inside her. Her stomach clenched as she pictured him again, the pure perfection of his body. Her need to reach out and lightly graze her fingers on that smooth skin, breathe in the scent of his masculinity. She had smelt it that day as he put the towel around her and kept his arm around her. When he’d hugged her the day they went zip lining. A musky odor that released all the butterflies in her stomach. Her breathing deepened as she allowed herself to dwell on it, her lids drooping as she imagined feeling that smooth skin under her fingers.

A creak of the floorboard. Her eyes flew open. One of the twins was creeping out the door, and turned back to look at her. She kept her eyes shut.

Ten minutes later, she heard another pair of footsteps step on the same creaking board, before the door slowly opened. She kept her eyes shut, as she heard Anuj whisper, ‘Piya?’

She was on the pull-out sofa near the window and watched as he walked over to the bed, and shook Piya awake. The two of them quietly left the room.

She sat up and looked around. Her two cousins had vanished with their better halves in the dead of night! What the heck were they doing?

****

Noel came awake suddenly, as he usually did. The floorboards creaked upstairs. What the hell? He sat up in bed, and noticed Tinker Bell snort slightly in his sleep. He breathed deeply through his nose, calming his heart down, till the beats became regular.

He got up and pulled on a black tee that was lying by the bed, softly padding to the living room. Another floor board creaked. Then silence.

He stood there, a black shadow in the dark shadows, waiting for his eyes to dilate and get used to the darkness before he began to move.

A sharp snap sounded from outside. He tensed, his head tilting to locate the direction of the sound. It came from the back.

Another snap, like two logs hitting each other. He slowly opened the door and stepped out onto the screened deck. Two figures stood huddled there, looking out towards the woods on the right. His eyes had adjusted, so he could make out Jiya and Rajan who’d been moving towards the hammock when they’d stopped.

Another snap.

‘Get inside,’ he whispered harshly, the planes of his face hard in the darkness.

They stood frozen.

‘NOW!’ he commanded. They scuttled to the door and stepped in.

Another sound. A clatter, like a rock hitting smaller rocks.

He stepped deeper into the shadows, staying close to the walls, moving on the balls of his feet, his fists clenched and ready, his arms close to his body, the elbows at right angles. The door behind him opened and he heard a voice say softly, ‘Noel?’

In two strides he was at the door, pulling her out, pushing her up against the deep shadows by the wall, his hand covering her mouth, his other arm wrapped around her, holding her close. ‘Shh,’ he whispered into her ear. He knew how far sounds carried in the dead of night, and over still water.

A rock flew out of the woods and landed in the water with a splash.

She gasped as much as she was able to under his fingers. He could see her eyes open wide, trying to see over his shoulder. Carefully, he turned around, still with one hand over her mouth, the other wrapped around her waist, twisting her around, till her back was flush to his chest. They stood there, not moving an inch, his eyes scanning the dark outside, the only sound he heard was the beating of their hearts.

Another rock flew out over the water to land with a splash. But, this time it was a little further away.

Whoever it was, whatever it was, was moving away. They stood there still and quiet, not moving a muscle. How long they stood there like that, they didn’t know, until they saw a majestic stag come out of the woods and start drinking water at the edge of the lake.

He let go her mouth then, his arm sliding down to wrap it around her waist, dropping his head to rest his chin on hers.

She held the strong forearms that were still snug around her waist. Surprisingly, she felt no fear, just a bubbling excitement, cocooned as she was in his warmth. She turned around in his arms and looked up at him, her eyes shining in the dark.

‘Thank you,’ she said in a low voice.

‘For what?’ he looked puzzled.

‘Just ... ,’ she said. She searched his face, his eyes, as they looked into hers.

He stepped back from her, and she felt bereft of his warmth. But he kept hold of her hand.

‘What were you doing down here?’ he asked as he opened the door for her. ‘Come on, let’s go inside and grab some sleep.’ he said.

‘I came for a drink of water. Jiya and Piya were playing musical chairs upstairs and I got tired of the floorboards creaking,’ she continued speaking in the soft low tones.

He chuckled. They walked into the living room, and headed to the kitchen. Mitul had her drink of water, and as she walked to the spiral stairs, he reached out and held her hand.

She turned around, her heart suddenly racing at his touch.

‘Sleep in the den,’ his voice was a low growl. ‘I’ll sleep out here.’

She tried to make out his features but they were almost obscured in the dark.

‘It’s okay,’ she began.

‘Bigfoot will have to go through me first to get to you.’

She could sense his smile in his voice. Her heart tripped once and then jumpstarted again. She nodded her head. They walked to the den together, and he picked up a comforter before heading to the door. He turned back and ran a finger lightly down her face, lingering for a moment on her lips. She closed her eyes at that, her knees weak and trembling.

‘Good night,’ she managed to croak.

‘Good night,’ he said, before settling down on a couch to sleep through what was left of the night.

*****

They had decided to spend the day on the lake. None of them spoke about the mysterious sights and sounds of the night before. None of them wanted to acknowledge that they’d experienced something that they would carry to the end of their lives. An unsolved mystery.

Mitul had been unwilling to go out with the rest, pleading that she had work to do, but, she was vetoed by everybody including her aunt and uncle. In reality, she wanted to sit and think about last night. But that was not to be.

She wandered out to the pier, ready and waiting for the others. A movement to her right caught her eyes and she turned around. Noel was walking towards the woods where the sounds had come from last night!

‘Noel,’ she called. He didn’t hear her, his attention focused on the ground. He seemed to be searching for something. She hopped off the pier, which was about five feet off the ground at this point, before walking over to him.

What the heck did he think he was doing? she thought, as she followed him quickly. He entered the woods and she used his white full-sleeved tee as a marker to follow him. He was walking carefully, stepping along the side of a faint path that was covered in leaves. They walked for about five minutes before he crouched down. He was looking intently at the leaves.

‘Something was here last night,’ he said, looking up at her as she stopped near him. He didn’t seem surprised to see her, and she thought she’d been following him silently.

‘How did you know I was behind you?’ she asked curiously.

‘You make too much noise,’ he said. ‘The leaves brush against you, and you stepped on twigs, breaking them,’ he smiled. He turned his head up and looked around him surveying the trees surrounding them, his gaze lifting up, still searching. He stopped and pointed to a branch about a foot above his head. It had broken in the middle, snapped in half. ‘That was recent,’ he said. ‘See the sap still coming out of it?’ He pointed it out, before pointing to the ground in front of him. ‘The leaves are depressed, like something stood on them for a while. And broke that branch. Something tall was here last night.’ His eyes glittered at the discovery.

She shook her head at him, smiling, ‘an ex-army man who believes in Bigfoot!’

His jaws clenched, he tapped her chest with one finger, ‘if you believe in it, it’ll find you, whether you like it or not,’ his voice was low, almost a growl. He wasn’t talking about Bigfoot at all! She shivered as she looked up into his narrowed eyes, the brows drawn down, her own widening at what she saw there. The deep flame of a hunger that he’d been keeping tamped down, and was just now allowing her to glimpse. Her breathing became erratic, as her heartbeat drummed madly against the finger that still lay on her chest. Her lips parted and she tilted her head back.

‘Noel! Mitul!’ the faint voice disturbed the stillness of the woods.

She gasped. ‘We should go,’ she whispered.

He nodded.

She looked around, ‘do you know the way?’ her mind completely befuddled by what just happened.

He held out a hand, and she placed hers in it, following him trustingly as he led them both out of the woods into the bright sunlight again.

*****

The rest of the day had passed on the lake, a late lunch and a lazy afternoon. After dinner, they all sat around in the living room, chatting about nothing in particular, when Noel’s phone rang. He excused himself and walked into the den, shutting the door behind him.

‘Dev, what’s up?’ he asked.

‘The bad news is that Aman Mathur passed away,’ Dev replied, naming a legendary actor of yesteryears. ‘The good news is, all the attention has been focused on him these days, so you are out of the spotlight.’

Noel shut his eyes in relief.

‘But the fans are still out there. From what I hear, some are still waiting for you to return to the hotel. I’ve booked you into the Intercontinental for tomorrow and the day after. I’ve emailed your new itinerary, so check it out. I’ll be flying out once you get to the US. They’ve changed the locations there. All the details are in my email.’

‘Great, Dev, it’ll be good to see you again,’ he said.

‘So, how’s the biography coming along?’ calmly.

‘It’s coming along slowly, I think,’ softly.

‘And her?’ teasingly.

‘What about her?’ irritatedly.

‘How are you getting along with her?’ innocently.

‘Good,’ shortly.

‘Having fun?’ persistently.

‘Yeah, went zip lining a few days ago,’ changing the topic.

‘Zip lining? What’s that?’ curiously.

‘Look it up,’ bored.

‘Adrenaline?’ faintly curiously.

‘Tons of it,’ nonchalantly.

‘When are we doing it?’ eagerly.

‘We’ll figure it out,’ patiently.

‘Okay, man, I gotta go,’ Dev wound up the conversation. ‘Call if you need anything.’

‘Will do,’ Noel replied, and hung up.

He walked back into the living room, and sat down next to Mitul. They were all looking at him expectantly. ‘Aman Mathur passed away,’ he said.

The room immediately erupted into conversation. The older couple reminisced about the great actor’s big hits. 

'He always played such mysterious roles,' sighed Mrs. Puri.

The younger ones tried to remember some of them.

'What was his biggest movie?' asked Jiya. 

'Oh. The Invisible Man. He was amazing as the invisible man - the main character,' said Mr. Puri enthusiastically. 

'We must get the DVD and watch it when we get back,' said Mrs. Puri. 'His voice was beautiful!' she added, as she lapsed into phangurling!

In the cover of all the hubub, Noel leaned over to Mitul and said, ‘I need to talk to you.’ He stood up and said, ‘excuse us,’ and led the way to the den, making sure that she was following him.

She stood with her hands on her hips looking up at him curiously. ‘What’s the matter, Noel?’

He sat down on a chair facing her and said, ‘have a seat.’

She could feel her heart beats getting erratic, but she kept her face straight as she looked at him blankly. Sitting down, she crossed her legs and arms, and leaned back. ‘What happened?’

He took a deep breath, as if trying to gather himself to deliver some bad news. ‘People have found out that I’m in Toronto. Specifically fans.’ He leaned forward, his elbows resting on his knees, his hands clasped together. ‘They’re camped out at my hotel, it seems.’

She looked at him curiously. What was he not telling her?

‘I have to check out of the Royal Fairmount tomorrow and move to the Intercontinental. Dev has sent me the itinerary and I have to check it.’ He sighed. ‘They even changed the location in the US. I’ll find out when I see what he’s sent.’

‘How did they know about you being in Toronto?’ her mind had latched onto that one sentence.

He looked at her, an apologetic look.

She closed her eyes. ‘The ferry ride. Someone had taken pictures! and posted them,’ she said slowly.

‘Yeah. I’m sorry,’ he reached out a hand and held hers. She laced her fingers through his.

‘What could you do about it?’ she even surprised herself. What was done was done. The pictures were out there. No point in working herself up about something she couldn’t control. ‘How bad is it?’ His thumb was working its magic, calming down the tiniest bit of panic inside her.

‘Not too bad. Amanji’s death took the focus off us. They only got aired for a little while, before Dev had them taken down,’ he said quietly.

‘What now?’ she asked. ‘We’ve still got to finish the book.’

‘I know,’ he looked down. ‘I’d .. ‘ he stopped. ‘Do you want to come to New Foundland while we shoot? It’s boring, but we’ll get the time to work on the book.’

‘How long will you be in New Foundland?’

‘A week, and then we go to the US,’ he said.

She thought for a bit. He was so much a part of her daily life now. She didn’t want it to end. Shoving that thought aside, she looked at the situation pragmatically.

‘It would be better for me to stay here,’ she said slowly, not wanting to meet his eyes, not knowing what she would see if she did so. She felt his thumbs still for a moment on her hand, as his grip tightened on hers. ‘I can get my notes sorted out. I also have some other stuff that I am working on.’ She looked at him.

He was looking down at their intertwined fingers. He nodded.

She realized that he understood her need for space. They’d been in each other’s pockets 24x7 for the last few days. They needed to breathe away from each other.

He looked up and smiled at her.

For the first time she really allowed herself to look at his face, close up. She’d seen it on screen many, many times. But this, this was different. His thick dark brown hair that was starting to get long and curl a little at the nape of his neck, was brushed straight back from a broad forehead. A deep widow’s peak drew attention to his eyes. Large, green eyes with long lashes, tilted slightly at the ends, that were crinkled up right now. The brows were long, marking the boundary between his forehead and the rest of his perfectly symmetrical face. There was a small scar on one eyebrow. She knew that, having fantasized about that scar a few times!

She blushed at the thought and he raised an eyebrow, what? She shook her head and took in the long straight sharp nose, above perfect cupid’s bow lips, the upper lip longer than that lower, right now, tilted up at one corner as he watched her examining him. His cheeks were slightly hollowed, giving him a rugged look, and emphasizing the high cheekbones, in the slightly long face. His jaws were strong, square with a dusting of a five-o-clock shadow. It suited him, this stubbled look.

‘You should keep a stubble,’ her tone was almost mesmerized, her eyes half-closed, as she breathed his intoxicating muskiness in. ‘It suits you.’

He lifted her knuckles, brushing them lightly with his lips. ‘Okay,’ he said.

He sat up and said, ‘I need to download that itinerary now, can I use your internet?’

‘Of course,’ she shook herself out of the reverie that she’d fallen into. She gave him the card and walked out of the den. He stared thoughtfully as the door closed behind her.

***