The Falling Petals...🌺

The-best-hours.....

At about 6:00 PM that evening, we reached my hotel. Before we got down, I asked the cabdriver to be back by 7:30 so that I could drop her home by 8:45 or so. According to the plan, her class at KMS was to last till 8:30 that evening.

Walking up the staircase of the hotel I felt a different feeling. I found myself among a different section of my friends. Friends who possessed a girlfriend, with whom they hung out in their cars, took them out to dinner, or maybe to a disco or a movie. Maybe their girlfriends had to lie to their families too, just like mine. I don't know why I never felt that way earlier. Dae had been in my life for a couple of months by then. But I guess her presence in front of me was making me see myself in that class of my friends. And, to be honest, seeing myself in that category was exciting. With her in my life, the world appeared so good to me.

Walking together, we reached room 301 once again. I handed over the keys to the room to her - I wanted her to open my room.

We entered and I switched on the light. My room was a little messy, with many things dumped on the bed - the empty water bottle, a T-shirt, my cell phone's charger and hands-free set all tangled up with each other, the bed sheet half on the bed and half on the floor and some of my official, but not-so-important documents underneath my pillow.

"Sorry for this mess. I thought the hotel people would do this," I said, rubbing my hand behind my neck.

She smiled, probably recalling how I used to boast that I was a near and tidy guy. She could now see that with her own eyes.

"I'll be back in a minute," I said and went to the washroom to wash my tired and oily face.

When I came out, two or three minutes later, I saw something which pleased me immensely. My room had been tidied up in those few minutes. From my bed, the things had returned to their proper places. The T-shirt in the closet, the charger wrapped and placed beside the TV on the TV set, the empty water-bottle in the dustbin, the official papers all piled up on the table in front of the couch.

And who did that? Of course, it was the real neat and tidy person in that room.

Wow! Now that's what being with a girl is. I felt this for the very first time. This is what is called a woman's touch. This is why we keep hearing, "Men build houses, but women make homes." And now I had found one such woman.

A little later, we were sitting on the bed, with our feet on the floor. On my laptop we were watching a dance video in which I had performed some time ago. It was a competition at my previous company. She was so excited to see me dancing and kept saying that if she happened to get on board at that company, we will perform together at the next competition. With those glittering eyes, she kept looking at the laptop's screen. And I kept looking at her.....

I am still not sure what was so beautiful about the side of her neck, underneath her ear, to which her long earring was drawing my attention. I stared at her neck and I stared at it some more. Her beauty was trapping my senses. And my senses were freezing every second. She was still watching that video when I came very close to her neck and, without uttering a single thing, I kissed her there.

I did not see her expression then, as I was still feeling her neck and the sweet smell of her body. This happened in no time and she was not in a condition to react either. When she gained her senses in a while, she responded by raising her face, letting me get to her neck, beneath her chin, and I went ahead, kissing each and every cell of hers. Our eyes were closed. I grabbed her in arms , felt her arms stiffening and gripping tightly the corner of my shirt, her voice expressing what she felt.

The video on my laptop was still running, but it failed to interrupt us.

She almost left herself in my hands. I leaned on her a bit and she leaned on the bed, our feet still touching the ground. She crossed her hands around my neck and my hands were supporting her body. together we were sliding down, every single second. The kisses and passionate hugs continued till we fell on the bed.

Suddenly, I remembered something. "I'll come in a second, just a single second," I whispered in her ear. Her eyes were still closed. And I went and checked and double-locked the room. I switched off our room's bright light and switched on the bedside lamp allowing it to illuminate our room softly. I did that for a reason which I didn't not tell her- memories from a movie were bothering me, in which a hidden camera in a hotel room captured a couple.

Then I came back to her. But her eyes were not closed anymore. She was staring at me as I walked towards her. Holding her hands in mine I stood by her and looked into the depth of her eyes. And, for the first time, I noticed something different in them. I saw a girl in whose heart fear had entered. Then I realized what caused it. The innocent girl, whom I saw in those eyes, was afraid of being with a guy, especially on his bed, in a  closed room, double-locked, which was not even lit properly, but illuminated by a dim light. She did not say anything, but I saw everything that was going through her mind at that instant.

"Shillang......" she said, and I gently whispered "Ssshhhh!" and placed my hand upon her lips, not allowing her to speak. I ran my palm across her forehead and very gently  closed her eyes once more, my fingers flowing on her eyelashes. Then I said to her, very softly, "You know what? I won't do anything which our conscience and values don't allow. I just can't. For the simple reason that I love you. I know my limits and I promise nothing will happen to make you feel uncomfortable, nothing that you will regret later. I promise....Just be with me in this moment." And my angel wrapped me in her arms, pulling me closer to her.

"Shillang!" she called my name with such affection. "I love you so very much, for everything you do for me." I felt her hands crawling on my back. Her fear disappeared and she was celebrating having me in her arms.

I was lying partly on the bed and partly on her. She was becoming mischievous and I was not different. Neither of us knew when the video in my laptop stopped. But the moment I realized this, without her noticing, I ran my favorite soundtrack's playlist on my laptop at a low volume, adding to the romantic ambience of the room.

Everything was just perfect - a dimly lit room, light music running in the background , nice bed sheets, and she and I.

I blew upon her eyes, which made her lashes go down further, gently closing her eyes. That wisp of air moved on her forehead from left to right, back to her eyes, then her cute nose, making an irregular figure on her cheeks, scrolling between her lips and riding her chin from where it slid down to her neck and was lost in the air between us. She opened her eyes again. I touched her nose with mine after which I rubbed it against hers, just like mothers do to their beautiful babies to express their love. She, too, was a beautiful baby. My baby. She smiled with that mischievous shyness.

What a beautiful moment that was! And, of course, I had to make it a memorable one, and how could that be without a kiss? And that's why, in no time, I thought of so many things to make it a perfect kiss.....I'll do this.....I'll do that.....I will embrace her this way, hold her face that way......and then..... So much planning for a kiss. And, then, I went for it.

Soon, our faces were close to each other, slightly tilted at opposite angles, our warm breaths falling on each other's lips. My lips touched hers. I kissed her. And I kissed her again.

I don't remember when I closed my eyes and I was lost in her. That moment was a heaven that I knew for the first time in my life. In that moment, I forgot everything, forgot everything that I had planned a few minutes back. Forgot even the fact that I had planned something. Forgot that the next day I was to leave this country. Forgot my job, the CAT exam, forgot my friends and my family. Forgetting everything, I lived that one moment.....The best hours of my life.