Take Me Away

Chapter 16

For Kalpa, Heer consciously chose to sit behind, wrapped a neck pillow around her neck and willed herself to fall asleep. She chose to walk next to Rina, looping her arm through Rina's and kept a steady stream on chatter as they walked around the beautiful Chini village.

They then headed towards Circuit House. At first, they didn't know what it was. Then dada said, "You'll get to see fossil trees and lovely flowers. Walk further ahead and the view is too good."

Rina asked, "Is it a long walk dada?"

"About 20 minutes? One way."

Rina paused and then said, "Guys, is it okay if I sit in the car? My feet kinda hurt with all the walking today."

Heer smiled and patted Rina's hand to say, "Of course. You sit and relax. I'll be back soon."

Just as Heer closed her door, Ishaan jumped out of the front seat and fell into step with her. She looked up at him and he smiled back at her. She reached for her beanie in her pocket and clamped it on her head.

He mimicked her and put up his hoodie. She stuffed her hands in her jacket pockets and he followed suit. She shook her head and he did the same.

She looked at him and asked quietly, "Are you making fun of me?"

"Of course not. I'm just following good sense." He smiled.

"And shaking one's head is good sense?"

He shrugged and replied, "No but it suits you so I thought why not..."

She closed her eyes and shook her head again. She then realized what she was doing and stopped abruptly. He chuckled lightly and she looked at him sideways. How was she ever going to manage this?

She looked at him and went, "You know..."

He shot up an eyebrow in response. She then backtracked and said, "Never mind."

He lightly touched his elbow to hers and insisted, "No, what?"

"Is it always this easy for you to carry on inane conversations?"

He burst out laughing. Ugh. Why was that laugh so good?

As he recovered, he replied, "Depends on the person. I also refute that this conversation is inane."

"How could you be gaining anything of use from this conversation?"

He smiled, turned around and began walking backwards to face her instead.

"Heer...why do you have to make this difficult? It's a simple walk down a simple road. Why can't we just walk together without thinking so much about it?"

She looked at him and felt tense immediately. It was a downhill road. She reached out, took his arm and turned him around to walk beside her again.

"You're the one who's walking backwards on a downhill road. Now walk here properly."

Through a smile, he nodded, "Yes ma'am."

They reached the end of the road and saw the view. It was indeed too good.

Heer was sure she had fallen in love with this place. Everything was so peaceful and calm here. She took a deep breath and just tried to take in the scenery around her. It was almost too much. The mountains peeked out of fresh green trees. It was so beautiful that she almost hugged herself too tight looking at it all. So breath-taking that she wanted to just sit down and do nothing but admire the view.

So she did just that. Ishaan followed suit.

Author's Note: When I close my eyes, I can remember the beauty and peace this place had. Today, I could see it again through Heer's eyes. :)

Hope everyone's safe and healthy!

S.