Meant To Be

Chapter 5. Call me...

"Why are my parents sending me with someone whom we've just met a week ago? Do they trust Boby and Shammi so much?" thought Sam as she took a seat at the back of Boby's SUV. She was sitting alone at the back as Boby was going to drive the car and Shammi took the front passenger seat. Sam kept her shoulder bag beside her, in the empty seat and looked out of the window to her parents. "Take care. And don't trouble them too much." said Sam's mom as she came closer to the car. "I won't!" said Sam calming her mom down. She waved her parents goodbye. There was a look of happiness in her parents' face but somewhere they were even worried for their child.

The drive was silent, with Shammi having bits and pieces of conversation with Boby at irregular intervals and that too in a hushed voice. There was an awkward silence in the car. Just as Sam was about to say something to cut off the silence, her phone rang. It was Nish. "Hello?" asked Sam. "Hey! What's up? It's the first day of our vacation and I'm so damn bored. Come over to my house. Or should I come?" Nish said real quickly. "I'm..I'm.. on my way to Khuri. I won't be able to come." "Wait...what? Khuri? Did you say? Why didn't you invite me with you? I'd have surely come with y'all!" said Nish in an exasperated tone. "It was a sudden planned trip and I'm going with Boby and Shammi di." Sam said in a hushed voice. At that moment, Sam could see that Boby had fixed the front mirror of his car and was looking straight at her with his dark eyes. For one moment, it looked as if both were looking in each other's eyes. Sam could feel butterflies in her stomach. Her brain had stopped working and due to this, she disconnected the phone in her nervousness and sat still. "Is something wrong with you, Sam? Why did you disconnect the call?" asked Boby, in a polite tone and again he looked at her from his front mirror. "I...I.. I'm alright. And I didn't have much to talk, that's why I disconnected it." said Sam, wiping the sweat from her forehead. "By the way" said Shammi, turning her head and looking at Sam. All this while, Shammi was looking out of the window and was enjoying the beauty of nature. "I love your yellow top. It suits you. Doesn't it, Boby?" she asked turning her face from Sam to Boby. Sam's face went red at this compliment. She was eagerly waiting for Boby's reply. Boby smiled brightly and said, "Yes it does. I was going to say that too." "Please just.. y'all do know how to make others smile." said Sam blushing. Just at that moment they reached Khuri. "Just ten minutes more and we'll be reaching her house." said Boby, giving out a deep breath. He was driving for quite some time.

After some time, they reached their aunt's house. They knocked at the door and stood waiting. A short lady, with grey hair and a bit of wrinkles on her face opened the door. The lady had a warm smile on her face. "Welcome my dears! Welcome" said the lady, extending both her hands as if to welcome them. Boby and Shammi touched their aunt's feet as a sign of respect. The aunt blessed them both with long life. Sam too went and touched her feet. She blessed her. "Who is this pretty girl?" asked their aunt, touching Sam's cheeks with a smile on her face. "She's our neighbour and she has come with us. Just to spend her time as her vacations have started." said Shammi placing a hand on Sam's shoulders. The aunt looked at her and said, "You're always welcome here, my dear." Sam smiled and thanked her.

They went in and sat down on the soft couch. It looked as if the aunt was staying all alone and her husband had passed away while fighting for the country. After eating some light snacks, Shammi went with her aunt in the kitchen to prepare the lunch, while Boby and Sam were left alone in the living room. Boby kept looking outside the window, onto his aunt's farm. Sam tried not to keep staring at him. She decided to go to the kitchen to help the ladies with the preparation. "Excuse me" said Sam, in a low voice "Even I'd like to help y'all. Can I?" Shammi was about to say something, when her aunt interrupted her and said, "You're our guest and we don't actually make our guests work." she said wiping her hands in her apron and smiling at Sam. "But if you really want to help, you can go and pluck some apples from that tree in my farm." she said pointing at a big tree from her window. Sam was unsure whether she could climb such a big tree, but she couldn't say no. She didn't want to go home saying that she didn't do anything useful. She smiled and nodded and walked out of the kitchen. She was walking towards the door to the farm, when Boby stopped her. "Where are you going?" he asked, frowning his brows. "Aunt has asked me to pluck some apples from that tree. So I'm going there." Sam said pointing to the apple tree. "Okay, even I'm coming with you. I can't leave you alone." At that moment, Sam felt a feeling of protection. She couldn't help but supress a smile which made Boby smile too.

The apples were a bit higher than Sam had anticipated. She looked at the apples for quite some time and said, "I think I'll have to climb the tree to pluck some." "You? No not you. I'll climb the tree. You'll fall down and I can't risk that." said Boby, waving his hand. "What? I can climb trees. And as for risking, I can't risk an 'uncle' climbing a tree and then breaking his legs." said Sam with a slight smile on her face. It just came out of her mouth and she deeply regretted it. As soon as she said that, Boby looked shocked and hurt as if her words had broken his heart into a million pieces. Sam regretted it because she called Boby an 'uncle' and also for making him feel bad. "I'm... I'm.. so sorry.. I didn't mean to- "Well, call me Bob. I don't like to be called uncle or something which makes me feel old. Just Bob." said Boby in a serious tone. Although it was a joke, Sam didn't smile or laugh and neither did Boby. "You climb the tree. I'll catch the apples." said Boby. Looking at Boby's face, Sam felt as if to just run away from there. But she couldn't. She just nodded her head and turned towards the tree.

What will happen next?

To be continued...