Were We Written in the Sand

Arriving in Shimla

Were We Written in the Sand

...

Shimla! The city of snow. The air of which contains serenity and a different kind of feel. A dream place to visit. And for those, who had visited once, it's a place wanting to be back again and again.

He wanted to come back again too. With her probably. Sitting by the window seat of the bus as he travelled through the city to reach his destination he filled his lungs with air. Years ago they had been there together, with the team. They didn't have anything deeper than. Just that increasing heart beats whenever he used to see her. It used to be difficult to keep the compliments to himself. For others it might look he used to deliberately make the comments but they were out of his mouth even before he could process them in mind. And even then, though half heartedly or may be full heartedly who knew he had said to her they would come back here again, together. She had only smiled before rolling her eyes playfully. She didn't use to trust his words, did he? She used to make his attempts look so futile, so stupid.

His heart constricted. He questioned himself, then when did it all become so serious from her side? He could remember a few episodes of her care and love filled behaviour but again he couldn't decipher the starting point. It was all so gradual, so slow. So slow that he missed it himself. So slow that he couldn't understand when it had come to the end point. He missed the hints. He missed the pleads. Or he just didn't care?

OO

FLASHBACK:

Abhirika were sitting in a restaurant. Abhijeet was busy over a call and Tarika was just stirring her soup, aimlessly lost in her thoughts. Abhijeet finished the call and looked at her.

"The soup isn't good?" He asked.

"No, its.. its fine." Tarika smile.

"What is it Tarika? You look awfully down these days."

"Stress of works I guess."

"Really? Aren't we work at the same premises? I know how stressful the works are going. Tell me Tarika."

"Umm.. Abhijeet..." Tarika looked away and sighed. "My parents are coming over."

"Oh, that's wonderful." Abhijeet sounded happy.

"Not so much." Tarika uttered under her breath.

"What? Why?" Abhijeet asked hearing her.

Tarika might not wanted him to hear that. So she became startled.

"No... It is wonderful. Really... but they..."

"They?"

"They... " Tarika sighed again.

Abhijeet's phone rang again. It was his informer this time. He started to talk with him and in between he looked at Tarika. She was calm and disappointed. As she realized Abhijeet had to leave to meet his informer she looked away disheartened and left the table slowly. The information he was getting was so important that he couldn't interrupt in between and he had no choice but to look at her going.

"Okay. I will be there to have the proofs." He cut the call and ran outside with a hope to find her waiting for him by his car. But she was nowhere. He sighed, cursing his damn luck. He took out his mobile to message her and found her message.