Take Me Away

Chapter 18

The hotel in Tabo was by far her favourite so far. It was small, cozy and the room had a balcony. The view, needless to say was simply stunning. After dinner, she went up to her room again and sat there, in the cold, crisp air enjoying the peace and quiet. She called her mother and checked in to see if she was alright. Her mother refused to talk to her for too long as she wanted to watch a movie on television. Heer laughed and let her mother be. She went back to the view. She leaned ahead and kept her head on the railing.

Now here's the thing about this hotel. The balconies are quite close. And fate has a funny way of placing things. Or even people. The balcony next door opened and Ishaan popped out. He knew this interesting balcony titbit. He had come armed.

"So..."

Heer jumped out of her reverie and kept a hand on her heart to calm herself down.

"Oh my God! Why do you always have to scare me like that?"

Ishaan ambled over slowly to the end of his balcony that was next to hers and asked, "Think about it carefully and tell me how you wanted me to approach you here."

"What?"

"How else was I supposed to call you? You were going to get startled no matter what I did."

"Yeah but you could have...I don't know...called my name?"

He laughed and said, "Yeah but...Okay...let me start over. Heer?"

She rolled her eyes and went back to her view, stubbornly avoiding him.

"You know I called you for a reason. I'm not one for idle chit chat."

"Yeah, right."

"Come on. Look at me."

She sighed and looked at him, only to find him standing there with two steaming mugs.

He raised the mugs up and said tantalizingly, "Are you really going to say no to hot chocolate?"

She raised herself from the railing a little to look at him. It was cold and she had never in her life, said no to hot chocolate. She then shook her head and got up from her seat. He broke into a grin and handed her the mug.

"How did you get hot chocolate here?"

He blew the steam off the mug and took a sip. He sighed and said, "I always carry a small tin in my bag. It's essential for cold weather places. Basics, hello?"

She nodded with a small smile and took a sip from her mug. Oh God. So good. So, so good. Great. So now, he knew how to make a mean cup of hot chocolate too? Sigh.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome."

The next few moments passed in companionable silence. Ishaan then asked quietly, "So...what do you do, Heer?"

"My mother owns a resort in Kerala. I manage it."

He leaned forward in his chair as though he wanted to know more and said, "Hey that's cool!"

She smiled and said, "Thanks! It's my mum though. She's the cool one. It was always her dream to open that resort."

He nodded and then asked, "And what is your dream?"

She was rocking in her chair when he asked this question. She paused. She then thought about it for a few moments. Had she ever given this any thought?

She then subconsciously replied out loud, "I don't know."

Ishaan waited for her to say something. When he realized that she has slipped into deep thought, he leaned forward in his seat and looked sideways at her. He said softly, "Heer, you know that it is okay to not know what your dream is, right?"

She blinked and saw him come back into focus. She just turned in her seat and allowed herself to look at him freely. As though there were no restrictions, no walls, no going back to Kerala, no risk of liking him too much. For these five seconds, she would just look and nobody would stop her. Because there he was sitting in a balcony with the mountains serving as a backdrop for him. He looked like a postcard to her. In order to make the picture even better, he broke into a smile.

After a few moments, she sighed and readjusted her focus to the mountains behind him.

He sensed that it was a subject that she didn't want to talk about. He then turned around and looked at the mountains. He then said, "Hey! So, I was talking to a waiter here and he was telling me that the sunrise from that point is spectacular. Would you like to go tomorrow?"

She looked at him and saw the smile again. It was the sort she could get used to seeing often with those dimples that just appeared at his summoning. His eyes that were so warm in this cold place. She thought of what would happen when she had to leave this place and go back to a place where she thought she was content with her life and her work. She slowly shook her head and said, "No. I was thinking of sleeping in a little late tomorrow? I feel tired. But thanks for asking! And thanks for this hot chocolate. It was so good!" She got up and handed him the mug. She then looked at him and smiled as she said, "Good night, Ishaan."

And even though she had declined his offer and she had walked back inside her room while he sat here alone on his balcony, he felt oddly pleased. She may have closed the door again on him but he realized that his name sounded good when she said it for the first time.

Author's Note: This is one of my favourite chapters ever. Both because of where Heer is mentally and physically and because of Ishaan being stuff postcards are made of. <3

May continue onto the next chapter. :P

S.