To Love Or Not To Love| A FEATURED STORY

Chapter 20

Anya woke up with a start and wondered if she had been dreaming about the kiss. She found Anu still asleep beside her, and her cell phone flashed 5 am. She slept only for around five hours. However, she felt unusually refreshed.

With her memories intact, she was pretty sure it was real. She could never conjure the ground shattering kiss that made her come alive. She remembered his tender caresses that heightened her senses. Her knees had weakened. She leaned on him for support as he continued to kiss her. He broke away for a second in between and reclaimed her lips again and proceeded to kiss her jaw, neck and brought his delicious mouth back to hers. She thought she knew how to kiss, but this was outside the realm of her understanding.

She felt a rush of warmth and tickles in her stomach at the sheer thought of Ajay. For the first time, she was shy. She didn't know if she could meet him without blushing. He was both gentle and firm, and he was a master of this game. Once more, it brought to light about the things she still didn't know about him.

With a soft smile, she wondered where this was going to lead, and again the uncertainty was creating havoc in her already restive mind, which in turn halted her idyllic thoughts.

She was determined to finish her morning chores in haste, as they had to check out by 8 am, and that would give her enough time to enjoy the pleasant surroundings of the camp to her heart's content. Just then, she heard the creaking noise of the door separating the boys and the girls' bedrooms.

Ajay opened it marginally and peeked inside to find Anya wide awake with rounded eyes. He gave her a delightful smile which reached his eyes for once as he gestured her to follow him.

She squeezed her eyes shut to make sure she wasn't hallucinating. He was exasperated at her silliness and when she opened her eyes, repeated the gesture. She signalled ten minutes and waved him away.

"Meet you down, ok?" he whispered, all the while, looking at Anu. Once he was satisfied that he did not wake his sister, he left.

Anya didn't want to overanalyse about anything right away and got ready pronto. She went down and found Ajay pacing nearby.

"What is so important that you were about to wake me up at five in the morning?" she asked him, without any shyness that she had earlier supposed.

He turned and smirked, "You have to just wait and see. And before that, please don't ask me any questions. Just trust me, ok?"

He then produced a thick cotton bandana with which he proceeded to close her eyes.

She looked at him with raised eyebrows, "Now what is this for? Do you have plans to slaughter me and hide away my body?"

Ajay palmed his face but gave her a pleading look, "Trust me? Please!"

She smiled at him warmly and turned around, "Please do the honours. Only because you asked me nicely."

Once his task was done, he tested if she could see and took her hand to lead the way. She felt a jolt carouse through her and her breath hitched. She revelled at how her hand fit snugly into his.

He smiled in satisfaction when she tightened her grip on his hand. His mind slowly drifted to last night. The kiss that he shared with her was completely unexpected and made him swell in pleasure. But there was a nagging doubt in his mind about the right course of action, and if he was ready for any relationship at all. He now knew for sure that she was attracted to him too, and it was entirely in his hands to take this relationship to the next level.

He took a deep breath and for now decided to keep all these thoughts at bay to enjoy the moment with her.

"How much longer Ajay, this bandana is irritating me."

"A few more minutes. We are almost there."

Ajay took good care of her as not once she stumbled, even though they were walking across a rocky region. While Anya felt to have walked for hours and hours on an empty stomach which in actuality was only twenty minutes, they halted.

"Finally! It took ages to reach here. Are we somehow in Bangalore?" she joked.

He chuckled, left her hand and reached behind her to undo the bandana. She slowly opened her eyes and took a minute to accustom to the bright light. Then she looked around and gasped.

"Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God!"

She ran around in exhilaration, and then in circles for a long time admiring the sight with utmost happiness that her heart could hold. There were no words to describe the feeling that was going through her right then.

She was amid the rarest blooms in the Western Ghats, that of the Niligiri Kurinji otherwise, simply known as Kurinji flowers which blossomed once in every twelve years. She was ecstatic and lay down near the flowering plants, as close as possible, trying not to cause any harm. These were a botanist's dream, and it was her second time in viewing them in full bloom.

Through her parents, she had learnt that what people called the Mexican Devil, a kind of weed had destroyed known sites of Kurinji flower beds in several parts of Karnataka. It looked like a little pocket was left alone for this nature's wonder to exist in peace, and she was completely thrilled to witness it with no interference from other nature lovers.

She took deep breaths to fill in her empty lungs with much-needed oxygen and hoped she could carry it in a bottle to Bangalore, such was her state, while she scanned the purple blooms that covered most of the area her sight could reach.

Ajay walked in amusement and stood beside her with a small smile. He extended his hand to pull her up, which she accepted with a full-blown grin that lit her up from within. He could feel her happiness rubbing on to him. She threw herself into his arms, as soon as she stood, catching him completely off-guard, and they tumbled on to the soft grass laughing all the way. Ajay landed at the bottom to take the worst of the fall and held Anya securely in his sturdy hands.

She untangled from him and looked at him with misty eyes. "This is the best sight I've ever seen in a while now. Thank you for bringing me here. This...This means a lot to me, Ajay," she muttered.

He was thrilled to find her so happy. She was glowing beside him and intuitively knew this was a good choice. His heart too filled with content at her bliss. He reached for her and wiped away her tears that were soon replaced by a gentle smile.

He couldn't help it. Her features bore an ethereal look, and the warm smile added to her glow. He held her chin and traced her lips with his thumb, and that was all the invitation she ever wanted to close her eyes to enjoy the wonderful clench in her belly. She was on fire. He entangled his hands in her wild tresses and gradually brought her down for a lingering kiss.

Ajay took his own sweet time to devour her in a tantalizing kiss that titillated her senses and took her breath away. It was indulgent and moist but sizzling hot as well. He was not trying to claim her in battle rather beseech her to be his.

It shook her core and curled her toes as soon as his tongue touched hers. She never knew that a kiss could create such mayhem in her and make her chase down the fire that ignited in her belly. A long-forgotten flicker had been fuelled, blown upon, spreading the fervour through her nerves that sparked her raw spots.

He reversed their positions on the ground, keeping his weight away, without breaking the kiss. She shivered and brought her fingers to run through his hair and rubbed the back of his ears. Eventually, they had to break their kiss to catch their breaths'. Ajay lay down beside her on the ground closing his eyes and held her firmly.

No words were spoken, orany other sounds were made except for their laboured breaths, soughs of thewind and the buzzing honey bees that were collecting their share of the dailynectar from the rare purple blooms surrounding them

_________________________________________________________________________

If you've enjoyed the chapter please vote, comment and share.