Meant To Be

Chapter 10 The Night's Stay

"Your room is ready sir." said a familiar voice. Sam looked up and saw the receptionist standing behind the reception table and beaming at them. Sam was so anxious about spending a night, without her parents and with a man whom she had met, hardly a week ago, in a hotel, that she had goosebumps on her entire body and at one point felt that it all happens in reel lives. Boby stood up and went up to the reception table and started filling out some form, which the receptionist had given him to fill before handing over the keys. Sam sat rooted on her sofa.
After filling out the form and taking the room keys, Sam could hear Boby asking the receptionist, almost in a whisper, "Er... Can you please do us a favour?" "Yes, of course sir." said the receptionist, in his usual loud and professional tone. "Can you..can you.. please repair our car?" And Boby started explaining the entire story of how they had left Khuri to reach Khimsar, how his car stopped abruptly in the middle of nowhere and how they had taken the bus to Chandelao from there and had landed in that hotel. The receptionist listened patiently, nodding his head after every ten seconds. Sam went slightly pink and wished she could just close her ears with her hands to prevent listening to the entire story. But her anxiety wouldn't let her even move a muscle. "It's all because of me that we landed here. I shouldn't have agreed to come with them." Her thoughts were interrupted by the confident voice of the receptionist. "Don't worry sir, we have a car repairing service in our hotel. We'll send some men to repair your car. Just will you provide us the details of your car-I mean..the car colour, the number plate. Boby started filling out his car's information on a piece of paper and handed it to the receptionist. The receptionist thanked him and Boby thanked him back for the service provided. The receptionist smiled brightly at him. Boby turned back towards Sam and said, "Are you planning to sleep here or are you coming?" Sam went scarlet and her cheeks burnt slightly. She tried to get up from her seat. At last, she stood up and found it a great deal harder to stand up and walk towards Boby to their room. As she walked slowly towards him, she heard the receptionist wish them, "Enjoy your night sir and ma'am." Sam's ears went beet red after hearing this and she looked at Boby who faced had also gone scarlet. Their eyes met for a second and then Boby stared staring at the ceiling, as if noticing it for the first time, since they had entered that hotel. Suddenly, Sam felt like running away from there and started walking quickly towards the elevator.

The door of the elevator opened to reveal a long corridor, with closed wooden doors and artificial plants planted in a pot, on either side of the long passage lined with royal scarlet and golden coloured carpet. The corridor was neither brightly nor dimly lit. Sam kept looking at the beautiful plants, the lavish carpet and the closed doors, which bore the room numbers. Sam could hear voices from some rooms, of televisions, of people talking loudly and of children screaming happily. "Ours is 203." said Boby, looking at the card in his hand and turning to face the door, bearing the numbers 203. As Boby took out the room keys from his pocket and started opening the lock, Sam heard the barking of a dog from the room beside theirs. Sam's stomach churned. She was scared of dogs. "Can you please open it fast?" she said impatiently. "Yes, yes I am. Have patience." said Boby, still trying to open the lock. Sam kept giving nervous stares at the room, from which the barking could be heard and rubbed her palms together.
At last she heard the lock open and saw Boby opening the door. Sam quickly got in. Boby gave a puzzled look and got in too. He locked the door behind him and switched on the lights. The darkness of the room was replaced by the pale yellow light coming from the led light. Sam looked up at the fully furnished ceiling, from which a beautiful chandelier lay hanging innocently, waiting to be switched on and show-off it's dazzling beauty. The beds were separated by a small but a fancy lamp table in between the two beds. Sam adored the balcony the most the and chose the bed, which was closest to the balcony. Boby, looking at Sam's excitement, gave up, smiled, shook his head and placed his bag on the bed which was close to the wall.
Both of them changed their clothes and put on the clothes which they had packed. Sam jumped on the bed and switched on the television. She heard a 'click' and the next moment, could feel that the room was slowly turning cool. She pulled the blanket up to her neck and laid back down on the soft pillows. She felt relieved after such a long time. She felt as if all her life's problems, which was burdening her, were gone and as if she had become lighter in weight and was flying in the sky. She stretched a bit and continued watching the television. "What will you eat for dinner? Don't you feel hungry?" said Boby suddenly. Sam felt annoyed at being disturbed but the next moment, she cooled down, with a pale look on her face. She had completely forgotten about lunch or dinner. She never felt hungry the entire day due to the mess. It was as if Sam had forgotten the meaning of 'hungry'. "Er..I-I.." she started thinking quickly of dishes, but nothing came to her mind. She thought that some would be too fancy or some would be just extra for her. She suddenly asked, "What are you ordering?" Boby sat thinking for a while and said at last, "Roti and paneer sabji (Indian dish). You?" "Yes, please order the same for me." she said with a sheepish grin. Boby shook his head slightly, picked up the telephone, which was kept on the table, between the two beds, called the room service and ordered their dinners.
Sam continued watching television, while Boby waited for their dinner to arrive. "So...." said Boby. Sam turned to look at him, heart pounding fast inside her chest. "....tell me more about youself." "I'm sorry? What more can I tell about myself?" Sam asked, trying not to be rude. "I mean...y-your love life. Any boyfriends and stuff? Mostly people have relationships around this age only." Boby said wriggling his brows and giving an evil smile while resting his elbow on his pillow. Sam was taken aback. Why was Boby so interested in her love life? Sam blushed. "Do you think if I'd had a boyfriend, I'd have agreed to come with you on this trip?" she thought to herself, smiling. "Are you counting them or thinking who's name to take first?" asked Boby laughing hard, snapping Sam out of her thoughts. Sam couldn't understand what he said. She completely forgot his question. She gave him a puzzled look. Boby was still laughing but looking at the look on Sam's face, he tried to control his laughter. "I'm extremely sorry." he said still clutching his stomach. "I'm very bad at jokes so please bear with me." Sam gave him a nasty look, which Boby didn't notice as his eyes were filled with tears. "Er.. can I ask you something?" asked Sam, feeling annoyed because Boby hadn't asked her permission like this. "Sure" he said, wiping his tears. "Erm... For how many years have y'all been together..I mean..er.. how many years of marriage?" Sam never wanted to ask this question. It was always in her heart, but never dared to ask it. And today suddenly she felt as if this was the right time to ask. Boby stopped abruptly and looked at her. "It's...it's...been eight months." he said in a completely different tone from the one in which  he had asked that question till now. It was more of a serious and not-much-interested tone. "Oh" Sam exclaimed softly. At that moment, Sam was spared of creating an awkward moment by saying something stupid of why she had asked that question because the room service had arrived with their dinners. They ate their dinner in silence and quietly went to bed. Sam felt guilty for asking that question and felt as if she would not be able to sleep the whole night. But as soon as her head the pillows, darkness overtook her and she fell into a deep sleep.
She directly opened her eyes the next morning. She heard some voices beside her and turned to look and see Boby. He smiled brightly at her and wished her Good morning. He was already dressed in his usual pale yellow shirt and jeans. He said "The car's repaired. We can go home now."

Finally, Sam's going back home now. Will there be any problem. What will be her parent's reaction?

To be continued....