Journey of a Lifetime

The girl in Red dress

The sun rays streamed through the big glass walls of their wooden villa right into Raq’s eyes, disturbing his sleep. He woke up rubbing his eyes with one hand while the other hand searched for his  woman beside him. He opened one eye to find her sleeping in the other direction.

This meant she moved in her sleep. He slowly got up and turned to her side and tried to wake her up.
“Wake up, sweetheart. It’s morning.” He whispered in her ear. She smiled, still in her dreamy state.
“Umm, beautiful.” She mumbled in her sleep, making him chuckle.

He nudged her softly and kissed her forehead. She opened her eyes yawning and stretching her arms. When her eyes met his, she smiled slyly.
“Morning.” She said flashing her killer smile.
“When do we have to leave?” He asked reminding her of the shoot.

After they got back from their scuba diving escapade day before, Raq got a call from their manager checking if they were up for shooting a commercial in Santorini in two days. Santorini was already on their schedule and they had kept their plans fluid to give them the flexibity to move things around.

“Let’s get ready, first. And then we’ll see.” She said winking at him. While Shamz was in the shower, Raq made coffee for them. As soon as she stepped out into the dresser, he handed her the cup of coffee, pecked on her cheeks and directly went in for a bath.

Sticklers for timing and serious about their work, being late for the shoot wasn’t even an option for them. Shamz messaged the director enquiring about the call time for the shoot.
“Baby, we have an hour. Please hurry up, let’s have breakfast outside and then head to the shoot location. I will also need time for hair and makeup.”

Shamz yelled to Raq, who was taking a shower.
“Ok, coming in 5,” the reply came flying back at her from the washroom.
Once they both were ready in their casuals, they headed to Café Galini. A Greek breakfast in one of the most beautiful cafes in Greece, overlooking the beautiful blue Aegean Sea, was indeed the perfect start to the day.

After breakfast, the two quickly headed to the shoot location.
The director first gave them a brief about the shots lined up for the day after which they began getting ready. All the shots included art and creativity—painting to be precise. Raq had a wide smile on his face, all his teeth showing. He knew Shamz would also love it. He liked the fact the she was genuinely interested in his hobby.

She had in-fact rediscovered her passion for painting after meeting him. Raq stepped out of his vanity space and was taken aback as soon as he saw the set up. The room was long and deep. It had a proper gallery feel to it. One wall had numerous paintings on it while the other side displayed a few canvases on easels.

Loads of painting equipment was strewn around three small tables in the middle. When Shamz was ready, they began the shoot. Raq was to teach her how to paint. Raq being Raq, did it to perfection. In the midst of the shot, they ended up making a beautiful painting of a horse.
The shoot for the day was short, they had more than half of the day to themselves.

After resting for a while, they decided to head towards the beach. The sun was about to set when they reached the beach. The sun rays were spread across the sky in hues of orange and yellow. It looked mesmerising, the sun seemed up-close and personal, dipping down into the other end of sea.

It was so peaceful and calm, all they could hear were the waves hitting the shore. Clear warm colored blue turquoise water, and an endless white beach with perisa and mimosa trees behind looked like a dream. Fortunately, they couldn’t see a single soul around … it was just the two of them. The cool, strong breeze felt a bit chilly and ended up messing Shamz’s hair a bit.

She immediately tied it up in a bun. Raq had brought some paints and a canvas along. The idea to paint by the beach had been on his bucket list for a while now. Shamz sat in the sand and began to read her book while Raq got busy with his painting. About an hour later, he finally finished his “Picasso.”

A shadow fell over her and she immediately looked up. Her heart was beating fast but when her gaze collided with Raq’s gorgeous face, her heartbeat skyrocketed. His hair was sexily windblown and eyes covered with blue mirrored sun shades.
“Come here, baby! I have something to show you.” He pulled her towards his little painting corner.

As soon as the painting was revealed, Shamz was speechless. It was her, exactly how she was a few minutes back. Standing by the beach, looking at the sunset and the waves hitting the shore. He had recreated the moment exactly how it would’ve looked if it was captured in a picture. Her red flowy gown, her hair open and the book in her hand—it was as intricate and perfect as a printed picture.

She turned and put her arms around his neck. His reflexes were on point, his arms immediately went around her waist, pulling her flushed against him. There was no time to react and she covered his mouth with hers. Her lips were soft and warm, moving deliciously over his. Before his heart could take over, he immediately separated himself from her.

“Let’s take this party back to the villa.” He said winking at her.
She smiled and nodded in response. He quickly put everything in his bag and she held the canvas as they walked back to their villa.
On their way back, he asked Shamz, “Baby, do you know why I have made this painting?”
Shamz tried hard to think and made some useless guesses, but her memory was bad.

This was the first time, she had forgotten something related to him. “I am sorry, baby, but I don’t remember.” She cutely said apologising and kissing his cheek.
“Do you remember the first live we did, after OTT?” He asked giving her a hint.

Shamz thought to herself but all she could remember from that day was the outfits they had worn during that live. It was a special day for her, her father’s birth anniversary. They were at Shilpa’s and they had surprised their fans during that live.

“I remember a lot from that day, baby. Not much from the live though. You had met mumma, Shilpa, Jiju and the kids for the very first time. We all had lunch together and it was a beautiful day.” She said finally giving up.
“Hmm, right.” Came his response.

“Tell me, tell me baby! What is it that you are hiding? I can check the live, it is recorded and available on my page.” She grinned, trying to convince him to tell. Breaking the excitement, Raq cleared his throat and began to speak. “In the Q and A session, you remember I was asked to describe how would I like to paint you.

And this one, in your hand, is exactly what I had visualized it. It was always on my bucket list to paint you by the sea and today it is finally done and dusted.” He said describing the moment.
“Aww, I love you.” Shamz felt special and she knew what she meant to him. She quickly kissed his nose and they moved towards the villa.

While Shamz ordered dinner, Raq was busy preparing the jacuzzi. He swung her into his arms and carried her out, past the swimming pool and stopped beside a giant-sized jacuzzi tub.
“Oh. This feels so good.” She sighed as he lowered herself into the bubbling water. The warm water jets hit from all sides. “And it smells heavenly.”
“I poured a few drops of lavender oil in the water.”

He placed a sweet kiss on her neck and went back inside. He came back with two glasses of wine in his hands and handed over one to her. He finally eased himself into the tub, and sat down facing her.
He caught her staring at him and grinned. “What are you thinking?”

“I’m thinking about how much I adore you. And how lucky I am to have you.”
“Not as lucky as I am to have you, baby.” He smiled.
The way he was looking at her made her heart flutter. She placed the wine glass on the ledge of the tub and held out her hand. “Come here.”
When he moved over to her, she spread her legs and guided him between them, with his back to her front.

He leaned back and rested his head on her shoulder. She wrapped her arms around him tightly, loving the feel of him against her. “I love you so much.”
“I love you too, baby.” He smiled turning his head towards her.
It was a full moon night and the clear Santorini sky glittered with countless stars. They sat there in comfortable silence, both celebrating each other and the beautiful emotion that tied them together—love.