The next morning Raj woke up, holding Anna in his arms. She was in deep sleep and snoring gently. He held her closer and cherished that moment.
He waited for a long time, wondering if she would wake up. He started laughing, realising she wouldn't. His laughter made Anna stir in her sleep. She clutched him tighter and went back to sleep. He gave up not wanting to wake her up and tried to go back to sleep. What felt like an hour went past, but Raj couldn't go back to sleep. He slowly pushed Anna away and got out of bed. She could sleep longer, but he really wasn't used to it.
He decided to call Jai since we had some spare time. Without looking Raj pressed on Jai's home phone number and it started to ring. His mother picked up.
"Hello?"
"Oh Aunty, sorry I took the wrong number"
"Raj? It's okay – Jai just woke up"
"What? He's at home?"
"Where else would he be?" She laughed and went to get Jai.
"Hello? Raj!" Jai said guiltily.
"Jai? Why aren't you in London?" Raj was surprised to know his friend was at home.
"Erm, well..."
"If you're not going there, why not come and join us here" Raj offered.
"No er, I erm" Jai was lost for words. Raj would find out his lie now.
"What's wrong?"
"Well, Raj I didn't go to London – there was no shoot"
"Why did you tell us you had to leave? You could have come here with us"
"For the same reason I wanted you to come to the ball Raj" Jai said almost to himself.
"What does that mean?"
"Anna is happy with you Raj, we both know it. I wanted you two to spend time together on this trip. I also wanted you two to dance together at the ball – the dances you're teaching her" Jai said gently.
"How do you know I'm teaching her?"
"She told me she had a surprise for me and it was to do with you – I knew Raj – you both are my best friends, you can't hide these things from me" Jai said laughing.
"Oh"
"It's okay, enjoy the trip with her Raj"
"I think everyone would enjoy it more if you came too"
"No, I'm not coming – I need to do this"
"Hey Jai, something weird happened last night. Someone went into Anna's room and she screamed – I'm worried"
"Who was it? Oh god is she okay?"
"She's fine now, but I wonder if we should come back"
"If you two think its serious, come home. But maybe she imagined it?"
"I'm not sure, the door was open, but I saw no one there, maybe he ran"
"Sounds so weird Raj, I don't like the sound of it"
"Neither, but Anna wants to stay"
"Hmmm, maybe I should come"
"I think you should"
"I have some things here to fix up and I'll leave tomorrow" Jai said worried about Anna and Raj. If he went, at least there would be three of them and they could enjoy the rest of the vacation feeling safer.
Raj hung up the phone and saw Anna coming out of the room rubbing her eyes.
"Jai is coming tomorrow"
"What? Isn't he in London" she said yawning.
"Er that got cancelled" Raj lied and then felt bad. "Actually, Anna he wanted to leave us a lone to spend time together"
"Oh" She felt bad for Jai. He was such a great guy – thinking about their happiness.
"Okay so enough of that" Raj noticed Anna looking sad "What should we do today?"
"Hmmm let's stay inside and watch videos – I saw you guys have a good collection of Hindi movies" Anna said feeling excited.
"If you want, we can" Raj said – he wasn't a big fan of Bollywood.
They sat together and started watching a movie. Raj was shocked at how similar him and the main character in the movie were, both dying, both in love and both part of a love triangle. In the end the protagonist perishes and Raj felt his heart drop, he would also disappear like that. Anna was crying next to him. He switched the movie off.
"Sorry, This movie always makes me cry"
"Why do you watch it?"
"It's a good movie – nice songs and I love the actor"
"You women are crazy – eagerly watching things that will make you cry in the end" Raj got out of the couch shaking his head. "Did we have snacks?"
"Yea, I don't know if we brought them in"
"I'll go get them from the car" He said and went out. Anna didn't hear the scuffling coming from outside.
A few minutes later, someone else entered the house.
YOU ARE READING
Dancing with destiny
Romance"No Anna will be my wife" Jai argued. They were playing a game they often played - houses and families. "How? I am the oldest and I get Anna" Raj pulled at her arm. Jai joined in and pulled from the other end. It was like tug-a-war and she was trapp...
