Meant To Be

Chapter 9. Hotel Raj Kumaar

Sam sat on the passenger seat of the car, with the door open and her legs outside the car, her back facing the driver's seat. She rested her head on the headrest of her seat looking out at the grasses, which now looked golden at sunset, swaying tension- free to the orders of the wind. The light breeze today, failed to lighten her mind. They had been stuck there from the past three hours. Sam's stomach twitched hard. She always used to feel the urgent need to use the washroom, whenever she felt nervous or scared. And now, she got the same feeling. She massaged her stomach a few times and then closed her eyes. Boby had been pacing back and forth in front of the car for the past three hours, in search of any vehicle that would pass that road and offer any help to them. A car and a motorbike had passed that route, but they offered no help to both of them.

It was getting dark. The sky had turned into a shade of blueish light orange and Sam could see the first stars appearing. "Can you please call my parents and tell them that we'd be late. They might be crying their hearts out, thinking that something bad might've happend to me." Sam said suddenly. Boby looked up at her for a brief moment, took out his phone from his pocket and waved it in front of her eyes. "There's no network over here. And I don't even have your parent's number." said Boby in an irritated tone. Sam hesitated then nodded slightly. She felt angry at the carelessness of her parents. How could they not take their numbers, when they are sending their only daughter with them (Boby and Sam)? She clenched her hands into a fist and her fingernails dug deep in her palms.

At that moment, both Boby and Sam heard a sound. It sounded more like the horn of a bus. She got down from the car and went and stood beside Boby. She saw a bus, coming towards them. Boby streched out his left hand and pointed a thumb towards her. For a moment, Sam was confused but then realised that he was pointing towards the road, which would take them back to their homes. The bus came to a halt in front of them. Sam couldn't recognise the bus. The buses of her villge were blue in colour. But this bus was yellow in colour with a red coloured strip painted in the middle. The driver looked at both of them curiously. "Is this bus going to Khimsar?" asked Boby, in a louder voice, pointing towards the road ahead. The driver looked at both of them for a brief moment and then towards Boby's car. At last he said "No. Not Khimsar but towards Chandelao. Khimsar is pretty far from here and it's not safe to travel at this time. Chandelao is the closest village from here and this is the last bus. If you want I can leave y'all there." "And what are we going to do in Chandelao? Play cards?" asked Boby in a sarcastic tone. Sam snorted with laughter and the next moment she saw Boby looking at her angrily. But she could have sworn that for one second, even Boby had grinned. She put her hand close to her mouth and tried not to laugh. The driver frowned his brows, gritted his teeth, cursed them both under his breath and said, "Y'all can stay in a hotel for one night." Boby gave Sam a what-to-do look. Sam shrugged. She was fine with anything, as long as she gets to spend time with Boby. But the thought of staying in a hotel with a man who is eighteen years elder to her was definitely making her feel nervous from the inside. Suddenly, she heard the bus' horn. Both of them looked up and saw that the driver was looking at them with an angry look on his face. Boby finally made a descision. He went and opened the back doors of the car, picked both their bags and climbed the bus.

The bus was mostly empty, with hardly two- three passengers occupying the last seat and the first seat. Sam saw the seats to her left were a bit longer in length than the ones to her right. She sat on the one which could occupy only two passengers (right side ones). To her great surprise, Boby came and sat beside her. "I thought, he might sit on the seat behind me or in front of me." She started feeling goosebumps on her hands and she clutched her bad tightly, which she had kept on her lap to sit comfortably. She saw that the road which they had taken while going to Khuri, was a straight road, which was now completely dark and looked abandoned. While the driver took a right turn to enter Chandelao. After looking at the cars and buses, which were moving on the road, she remembered. The car. She turned her head and looked at Boby, who looked at her and gave a slight smile. She went close to his ears so that he could hear properly, over the noise of the  bus and the traffic. "What about the car?" she asked. Now Boby came close to her ears and said, "We might just ask the manager of the hotel to repair it for us." Sam didn't understand this logic but chose to remain silent and continued looking at the slowly moving cars and buses, which were stuck in the traffic with them.

After half and hour, the conductor of the bus came from behind towards them. "Your stop is about to come. Please pay the fare." he said. Boby paid the bus fare and they both got down from the bus in front of hotel 'Raj Kumaar'. It was a decent looking hotel, with a beautiful fountain, constructed in the middle of the entrance. "You both can stay here for the night." said the bus driver from behind. Boby and Sam thanked the driver and entered the hotel. The hotel was well- lit and had many paintings. Sam looked at the hotel reception open- mouthed. Even though, she was a resident of Khimsar for the past sixteen years, she had never stayed in a hotel nor been to one. A voice startled her. It was the voice of the receptionist.
"Good evening sir. Good evening ma'am. Welcome to hotel 'Raj Kumaar'. How can I help y'all?"

"Can we get two rooms in this hotel for one night?"

Oh...er...I'm extremely sorry sir, but we cannot give you two rooms. We only have one room vacant. All the rooms including the luxury rooms are filled."

"Please, it's just a matter of one night. Could you please check if someone might've checked out of the hotel?"

After checking in his computer, the receptionist said in an apologetic tone, "I'm sorry sir, but there's only one room vacant." Boby looked at Sam. She didn't know what to do. "Er.. excuse me" said the receptionist, breaking the awkward silence "we can do one thing for y"all." At this Boby immediately looked at him with a puzzled look on his face. "We-we can remove that one double bed and can place two single beds in that room. Then....y'all can stay. Sam looked flustered and so did Boby. Boby cleared his throat and said, "F-fine." The receptionist beamed at them, nodded and went to give orders to place two single beds. After two to five minutes he came back. "It will be done sir. But it will take some time. Till then y'all can sit there and wait." he said, jerking his head towards the soft sofa and chairs in the middle of the reception area. "Please do tell us if y'all need anything." He added. Boby nodded in hesitation, then went over and sat on the sofa. Sam slowly walked and sat on the opposite side, from which he was sitting. There was again an awkward silence between them. Sam's mind stopped completely. "Sharing a room with Boby?"

What will happen?

To be continued...