THE BLOOMING OF LOVE BETWEEN FORCED MARRIAGE

14. Nightmare, Surprise Dinner

            Rutuja got ready early and after making sure that Rishikesh was asleep she went to the hotel's management and asked them to arrange a place near the coast where they could have a special candlelight dinner at 8 pm. After making all the arrangements she went back to her room. It was almost 6:30 am now. She was pretending to read a book when he got up. She smiled at him and said "Good Morning, Rishikesh". He smiled and said, good morning "What has gotten you in such a good mood?"

She said you will know that tonight. Now go and get ready I am hungry. He got up saying give me ten minutes I will get ready now. And true to his words he was ready in 10 minutes. He said let's just order room service. She said, ok let's do that. They ordered the food and it was there in a few minutes. They have breakfast talking about what they were going to do today. When they finished Rishikesh sat down on the bed and Rutuja went and sat down on her bed. Now they were face to face.

Rishikesh sat straight to talk with her. He told her about himself and about the house he had in Mumbai. Rutuja told him about her likes, dislikes, etc. Then said now I am going to tell you about my other job. You already know that we are a team of six members. We have been chosen by the government based on a secret test. Our group consists of three girls including me and three boys. We have been doing research together for a year now.

Our group has important data on the ongoing project about what can't be told. The secret organizations are after us for it as they simply want destruction. We can't let this data in any other hands that's the reason they are after us. Sometimes it is hard to manage the attackers but, most of the time we have been successful. We have to ensure the safety of our nation even if it means putting our lives in danger. All of us have been trained in various martial arts so we could tackle the situations like that. They are a part of our daily life.

This is why I told you your life could be in danger. He asked, "Are we in danger yet?" She said no, not right now but it's better to be alert than something happening. He said, "You sound like a warrior right now". She said, "I am sure that I am, all of us are but, most of them fail to discover the warrior within themselves". Rishikesh said, "I have got a strong wife and will need to be as strong to support her". Rutuja laughed and said, you sure are strong my dear husband.

She finished and said, ok should we go shopping now. Rishikesh said, not yet Rutuja. She pouted and asked, "Why not?" He said because I have one more question left for you. She said, ok "What else do you want to know?" He said, "I just want to know the reason behind you not sleeping at night". Rutuja timidly looks down at the floor saying "I am sorry for not telling you but, I don't sleep. I take nap once a day.

He said, "I have never seen you doing that". It will affect your health if you don't rest properly". "You should take care of yourself". As far as I know you haven't slept a wink all week it's time to put you to bed. "You either sleep yourself or I will tie you down till you do". She said, "I will sleep don't tie me". She got under her comforter and immediately fell asleep, as she didn't know how tired she was.

Rishikesh saw her sleep silently and sat down looking at her peaceful face. She was asleep for about an hour now when he heard her whispering run, please run..... She was sleep talking looking frightened. Rishikesh went beside her and stroked her hair gently as he thought she was having a nightmare. The nightmare was so bad that she was shivering from head to toe. He woke Rutuja up as he couldn't see her like that anymore.

Rutuja woke up frightened and looked around the room. She understood that it was just a nightmare nothing else. She sat up in bed and he offered her some water stroking her back to soothe her. Being near Rishikesh calmed her down as she took deep breaths. When she was calm enough to speak. He asked her Rutuja, "Did you have a bad nightmare?" She took a deep breath before speaking and said yes I got a really bad nightmare.

He asked, "What happened in that, you were afraid of something?" She said it was about me and my team. We were on some investigation in the forest at that time they tried to catch us. My friends Mansi and Nisha were caught by them so we went to retrieve them. We got into their base and managed to release our friends. But, their alarm went off and they attacked. We managed to run a little far from the base but, I got shot in the leg and couldn't run fast. I was just asking them to leave me and run ahead.

Rishikesh asked her did she feel better now. She said, Yes I am feeling much better now. We should go shopping as planned now. He asked her "Do you want to go?" She said yes it is a good diversion to forget about it. He said ok let's get ready then. They got ready and went shopping. While doing shopping she found something that Rishika and Harshada would love to have and bought it for them as a gift.

They wondered about the market till they were really hungry. Then, found a good place where they could eat. They ate lunch together and Rutuja was smiling but, he was sure she was worried about it deep in her heart. That made him worry about her. She had noticed that he guessed right about her nightmare. She wanted him to be happy with her and tried her best to do so. It was evening when they went back to the hotel.

They put their shopping bags on the chairs of their room and went to the beach so they could enjoy the sunset together while taking a stroll around. After they were done strolling in the fresh air with the calming sound of sea waves they went back to their room and got fresh. Then sat down for a while to check out their shopping and packing bags. It was 7:30 pm and Rutuja asked Rishikesh to wear something good as they were going outside. When he was done changing she went and got changed in a maxi dress.

She took him out of the room towards the beach where she had asked the manager to set the dinner. She took him to the place when he looked in front he was surprised to see a candle-lit area with two chairs and a table arranged for dinner. Rutuja looked at his amazed face and asked him "Do you like my surprise?" He said it is a wonderful dinner with the view of the sea and the starry sky of night. Most the perfect place for dinner. At which she gave him a heart-warming smile.

They dined together in a place lit with candles and stars. Talked with each other about the amazing view they were having in front and above them. Rutuja was happy as Rishikesh got happy by the surprise as his smile was what she wanted to see the most. She was satisfied with him being happy and trying to enjoy as much happiness as she could before the storm hit them.

After dinner, they enjoyed the starry sky for a while before they went back to their room. They got changed and were ready to sleep as they had finished packing ahead of time and returning to their house after this unexpectedly twisted vacation at home. Rishikesh was pretending to sleep as he wanted to make sure Rutuja wasn't thinking about her nightmare while she was reading a book. While doing that he drifted off to sleep.