In A Heartbeat!

13.

It was almost dawn; Divya and Tanishka were sitting and chatting as if it's the one last night. Finally Tanishka realizes it.

"Divya, I promise I'll continue once we reach Goa."
Divya got upset because of this and made a whining face. But she needed some sleep too.

"Okay fine!" She said, and dozed off within minutes.

Although Tanishka couldn't sleep, she had her eyes closed and picturing Kabir and the time spent with him was bliss, totally.
But she opened her eyes hastily; into 'reality', as her brain would term this, and Samar popped into her head.

She just shook her head, and closed her eyes to sleep again.

Mrs. Ahuja was ready to leave, and she was excited for this. She woke her daughters up with the loud noise she made while moving her luggage, unassumingly though.

Divya and Tanishka got their belongings out to the living area.
"Mom! Where is Samar gonna meet us?" Divya asked.

"At the airport, directly!" Mrs. Ahuja yelled from the kitchen.

They drove to the airport, and Samar was the first person they saw on reaching. He must've been waiting for them.

He was just dressed casually, and yet looked charismatic enough to raise a few eyebrows.
"How blessed could you be Tanishka! 2 most amazing guys falling for you?" Divya whispered into Tanishka's ear.

Tanishka pretended that she never heard what Divya said, and just walked away.
"Hey! Tanishka..." Tanishka stopped as Samar called her out.

"You're looking just, too good! As always..." He said and took the bag from Tanishka's hand.
"I'll take it Samar!" She tried to insist, but Samar had started walking.

Samar had his eyes jammed at Tanishka's face.
"What are you looking at?" Tanishka asked, and looked away.

"I'm just, waiting for you to smile..." On hearing this, she chuckled a bit as Samar continued,
"...Every time you smile, I just feel like giving you everything!"

While walking up to the flight, Samar said quite a few things as such. He made her feel special at every possible moment.

Tanishka in response, had nothing for him; and she felt bad for this too.

During the flight, Divya deliberately went on to sit beside Tanishka.
"Okay now continue!" She said in a soft voice tone.
Tanishka looked around, to check if anyone else would listen in. She continued,

***

Kabir had started his dance practice again. His old friends and him, they had a dance group.
At some building's terrace, they practiced late in the evening. Tanishka would come just as a spectator, but Kabir used to pull her out to dance.

One evening, Tanishka dragged Kabir out for a minute,
"Kabir, my parents are serious about this Samar thing!" She was looking a bit worried.

Kabir had no reply for this; he just stood there silently, thinking of the future.
"What if I have to marry him or something?"

"Don't worry Tani! If necessary, I'll take you off from your wedding... in front of that Samar fellow, his family, and your family!" He leaned forward and hugged her.

"When are you introducing me to your parents?" He continued.
"Well... they are going to New Delhi tomorrow, and will be back next week. So around then maybe!?"

Kabir nodded, and walked back to the terrace.
"You'll be home alone for a week? Seems like we got a new place to hangout!" He smiled and went in.

For the next few days, Tanishka's apartment was their meeting place.
Watching movies all night long, late night talks, also cooking together; everything was just ideal!

One evening, they were supposed to meet at a nearby shopping mall. Tanishka reached there, and waited for Kabir.

The time decided was around 5 and it was almost 6. Tanishka was furious because Kabir wasn't answering any phone calls or texts.

So finally, she went back to her home with a red hot head.
At the door, she found a note being attached. She took it out, and it read -
"Please pick up a parcel from Sony electronics across the street. Just tell them your name, and they'll give it to you. Thank you!"

Tanishka was already enraged; she crumbled the paper and threw it away.
She thought, ''what if it's something important?''

So she ran up to that shop, and asked for the parcel. It was actually a brown colored envelope, with 'Tanishka' written in big block letters. Below which 'open it' was written in small running handwriting.

She opened it, and it read as -
"Sorry for this one. The actual packet is at Starbucks café. Take it soon. Please?"

"Who gave it to you?" She asked the shopkeeper in an angry manner.
"There was this guy, he said give it to Tanishka Ahuja. So I took it! He looked as if in a hurry."

Tanishka then left for Starbucks, trying to contact Kabir in every possible way.
At Starbucks, there was this same brown colored packet, with the same things written on it. She opened it,

"Really sorry Tanishka. The last one is at your watchman's cabin. Please don't slap him. It's not his fault. Thank you!"

Tanishka's temper was rising every passing second.
She walked back to her apartment, and took the envelope from the watchman's cabin. It read as,

"Okay now get back home."
Tanishka looked around, tore down that envelope and shrieked
"What the hell!"

She went up to her house. As she opened the door, she was taken aback by what she saw.

The living room entirely covered with flowers, and candles. Even some red heart shaped balloons, accompanied by ribbons hanging down.

In between all this mess, Kabir was down on one knee, and he holding a ring in his hand.
Tanishka's anger had disappeared within a second.
"Kabir!! What-Is-This?" She said and walked towards Kabir.

"Tanishka I love you very very much... and I know, my life will never be complete without you..."
Tanishka's eyes were getting filled by water, happy tears waiting to flow out.

She held Kabir's hand as he continued,
"...When I met you, I knew I'd met my match. It was just... just a matter of time until we arrived at this moment..."

Tanishka went down as well, holding his hand firmly. Kabir laid his hand forward to wipe off the tear drop on her face.

"...And I also know, that you're the only one I wanna share the rest of my life with. So, Tanishka Ahuja... will you marry me? Please?"

Tanishka was bowled over, she just nodded and faintly replied, "Yes!"
Kabir inserted the ring in her finger gently, and gave her a big affectionate hug.

Tanishka had just closed her eyes. She wanted to capture this moment, the best one of her life.

"I love you so much Kabir!" She placed her head on Kabir's shoulder, and her hands wrapped around him.

Kabir held Tanishka close to him, and kissed her gently on her forehead.

They lived the moment silently, together.