26th morning
430am:
Neel- Avni, wake up baby.
Avni- Neel, nahi 2 min ya, please and she pulled the comforter over her head
Neel- shook his head at her with fondness and pulled the comforter back down and gave her a peck on the cheek- baby utho na please.
Avni was not really a morning person. It was a task to get her to wake up on most days. And these days since the weather was colder she used to complain about how unnatural it is to wake up early when one should be cuddled up in the warm bed. But neel loved these little quirks about her. HE was happy to see her open up and pull a few tantrums. In the initial days of their married life and with one drama after another- things were always tense and she was always very mature and responsible at the time. But it was only recently that they had really settled into their married life and now that all the drama was done, she was starting to show her true colors! And neel was glad that she was comfortable enough with him now that she could do these things.
Avni was showing no signs of waking up. So neel finally used his ultimate weapon.
He got up and switched of the fan. And 1 minute later Avni was awake.
She could not sleep until the fan was on full speed even on a cold day. She would use extra blankets if required but she would not turn down the fan speed. And the minute the fan was turned off she would wake up!
She got out of bed with a glare at neel.
He just smiled at her!
Finally she was ready and at 5am they headed out to take their hike. They drove to the meeting point. There were about 20 other people there. They were split into 5 teams and along with avni and neil there was one guy called kabir and a girl called Diya on their team. Kabir looked like he was the silent types. After a polite handshake he did not say a word. But Diya was mega flirty. She took one look at neil and was eyeing him like candy. Avni immediately noticed how shamelessly she was flirting with her husband. Avni tried to calm down because she felt that maybe it was because she hadn't figured out that they were married. Avnis mangalsutra was well hidden inside the shirt she had worn and she wasn't wearing sindoor for a hike!
Neel in the beginning was a little uncomfortable with how forward diya was. Instead of a handshake she had hugged him as if they had known each other for ages! He quickly broke the hug but when he glanced at avnis reaction and noticed that she was getting jealous .He loved seeing her get jealous and annoyed because he could see her love behind it all.
Once they began the hike- kabir had set the pace for their group. Avni followed him, neel was right behind her and diya was behind him. Avni noticed that diya kept falling behind and neel being a gentleman would stop and wait for her. Once she would catch up she spoke in a sickeningly sweet tone , flirting with her husband. But avni didn't want to be rude and say anything to her. What was pissing her off was that neel didn't do anything. He didn't look bothered by how flirty this girl was being. She knew he was very polite but she still expected him to be a little bit more formal so that the girl would get the hint that he was not interested in her. But here maamla was fully opposite. He was helping her up giving her a hand in the tough portions. More than halfway through the hike there was a particularly difficult portion up a rock. Neel had glanced at avni who was very surefooted and made her way up the rock by finding handholds on the rock. HE was so proud that his girl was independent and had great presence of mind too. Avni was a bag of contradictions. In her daily life she was clumsy as hell and would always be knocking into things or tripping and falling. But on a hike she was being very cautious and very confident in her strides. Every little thing about her made Neel smile. Neel went up next and then as diya was climbing up, she was struggling a bit. So he gave her some instructions. But diya was still not following them and she was just about to slip but neel held her hand and pulled her up. In the process she had landed on top of him and the girl was really enjoying the moment while it lasted. Neel could not push her off him so he had to wait for her to get off and the girl was taking her sweet time. Avni looked back and saw the scene and she was really worked up now. But she knew she cant create a scene so she just took deep breaths to calm herself down. But her mood was really starting to sour. Finally neel and diya were up on their feet and they all took a small break before the last stretch . They sat down sipping water. Neel took a bar of chocolate that he had brought to boost his energy levels and took a bite. There was some chocolate at the side of his lips. Diya noticed this and instead of just mentioning it to him she decided to wipe it off herself. Her fingers were lingering longer than necessary and now neel was also very uncomfortable. Avni was so upset that her eyes were tearing up and she just quickly turned away, wiped her tears away roughly and started walking up again. Neel knew he had let things go too far and that his wife was very upset but he was lost as to how to tackle the situation. Finally they had reached the top. The view was amazing and it was a great to watch it after a long hike. The weather was great too. Neel was hoping to catch a quick word with avni so that he could calm her down but she was now avoiding him. He knew he had to apologise but she was not even making eye contact with him. With a heavy heart neel decided to let it go and talk to her once they reached the bottom. The way down was quicker than up. Diya kept trying to make small talk with neel and he was trying to be as curt as possible, But avni was so pissed that she had quickened due to all the adrenaline rush. She was leading the group now and was several paces ahead of them. Suddenly as she was walking with all the rage she slipped and fell down and she slid down a few rocks. Avni was panicking , but a few metres later she found a handhold and stopped falling. She managed to pull herself back up but she had grazed her sides and hands in the process. Neel who had seen this from above was terrified. He had run down shouting her name but by the time he reached her, she had thankfully found her footing and was getting up. He helped her dust herself off and examined her for any wounds, but avni just dusted his hand off and told him in a monotone voice- I'm fine and started walking ahead. Neel was very upset, he wanted to give her a good shaking asking her to be more careful. He shuddered to think if anything worse had happened. But he couldn't create a scene so he just walked back down.
