Cordially, Yours!

-43-

The flowy long hair. The hazelnut brown eyes. The white crochet shirt. A melodious laughter. The familiarity was daunting and more so, it pinched him to be distracted by a stranger. He was lost in this strange mix of feelings when Cabir seemed to be waving his hands in front of him.

"Kya hua Manik? I know I asked you to think through where we came but, bhai, itni gheri sooch?"

"Shut up, Cabir", Manik made a bad face and shushed him off. "Hotel ka kya scene hi?"

"None. Who knows were to go? This all looked so different in day light."

"Guys, it would be most practical to ask someone!" Mukti suggested as she gazed on the two people she saw running and laughing on the street ahead.

"Aur agar aapko koi jeeve nazar aaye to batana Mukti mohtarma?" Cabir said in a sarcastic tone while looking back at her from the rear-view mirror.

"Samane." she answered in one word and eyed the boy and the girl who giggled away.

Fab 5 followed her line of view and Manik's eyes fell upon their silhouettes- the flowy long hair, a loose dangling shirt and a melodious laughter rang in the alley.

"Good point." Cabir replied monotonously, he too was lost in the jolliness of the couple he saw. He started the jeep and reached the tall white church where the two shuffled on the winding stairs. Manik tagged Cabir from behind but, parked at bit farther than him.

"Um.. Excuse me!" Cabir called out.

The two "tom-and jerry" chasers pay no heed to the shout. Cabir glanced at Fab 5 and then, tried once again.

"Hello! Excuse us!"

His louder decibels worked this time and the boy turned his attention to him. A sculpted lad in rugged jeans and black jacket with a loose white shirt underneath descended down the stairs and came to their jeep. His finely cut jawline, deep brown orbs and ruffled hair made him look slick and hot-mess that for a moment, left the girls with wide eyes tracing over him. He winked at the girls and distracted their gaze. Embarrassed both of them looked away and toggled with their phones.

"Hello to you too, bro! What's up?" he greeted in a cool manner.

"Well, we are new here, first timers, and seem to have lost our way.." Cabir continued to described their situation in short.

"Don't stress, man! It's a bummer that you're phones died but, anyways, where could I guide you all?"

"Four Points by Sheraton" Manik said in a deep voice. The too-friendly, cool demeanor didn't gel along him, may be because this young-lad was associated to the girl that had pulled him a bit to much to make him go hay-wire.

"Fancy!" the lad replied. "You guys seem to have made good progress by far. It's not super far-off from here, just take the right road and follow along, it would take you to the city and from there, I think a few more rights later you'll be there."

"Aryaa! The game's not over. If I win, then don't you crib!" a mellifluent voice called out to the stranger presumably. He looked back at his excitedly jumping friend and shook his head at her childishness. He bid Fab 5 a bye and climbed the stairs two at a time. The jeep revved away and as soon as the stranger reached the girl who stood afar, Manik breezed away his bike too.

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"Bol chirkut!" Aryaman reached Nandini and huffed at the last stair he climbed.

"Tired already?"

"Tu chard 50 stairs twice and then carry a person as heavy as you and then tell me!" he complained while resting his weight forwards and massaging his slightly cramped legs.