Take Me Away

Chapter 23

The next morning came sooner than Heer expected. She was again fast asleep when she found a buzzing near her ear. Mosquito? No. It wasn't annoying enough. She reached a hand out and patted the bed until she found the phone vibrating under the cover. She held it up in front of her face and opened one eye to peer at the phone. She found Ishaan's name flashing across the screen. The other eye flew open.

"Hello?" She whispered even though she didn't need to.

He said, "Hi Heer..."

He always sounded so lovely. She hadn't heard him over the phone before. She tugged the blanket tighter and smiled as she said, "Hi..."

"Could you come downstairs?"

"Now?"

"Yeah."

"Why?"

He paused before replying, "I don't know if Rina told you...but I leave today. I have a few friends that I meet here and...well, our roads diverge today."

Heer blinked. Her grasp over the blanket loosened as she asked, "Oh?"

"Yeah...well...I wanted to ask you...Will you take a walk with me?"

She smiled wide. It was such an involuntary reaction. She nodded and said, "I'll see you in 10 minutes."

She saw him at the gate. He was rubbing his hands together to make them warm. She walked towards him just as he looked up to see her.

In college, she had seen Maddy look up when Rina entered a room. It was so...unadulterated. As though he couldn't help but look at her. As though he would look at her even if there were a thousand other important things waiting for him.

Today, Ishaan stood there, looking at her the same way. There were stunning mountains right behind him. There was a lush green forest on the right. But he still just looked at Heer as she made his way to him.

She shook her head as she neared him. He asked, "What?"

She smiled and said, "If only I could tell you..."

He raised his eyebrows in amusement and asked, "Oh, now I have to know!"

She laughed and said, "Maybe one day, I will tell you."

"Why do you have to wait for one day? Why not now?"

She frowned and said, "Because...you can't always say what's on your mind."

He sighed and held his arm out. She looked down at it and said to herself that it was the last day. One more day to feel like this. She reached out and looped her arm through his. It was so warm.

They began walking.

She asked softly, "Where are we going?"

He replied, "Somewhere beautiful."

"This whole city's beautiful though."

He smiled and said, "Then it doesn't matter where we go, right? As long as we go together..."

She squeezed his arm as an involuntary response to that. He kept his other hand on her hand and kept walking.

She then asked, "Why are we going wherever we're going?"

He looked at her almost as though he thought she knew the answer. She probably did but she wanted to hear it from him.

"You can haul me out of a tent to look at the stars because you felt like it and I can't do the same for a walk in the mountains?"

She laughed. She looked around and saw the mountains. It felt surreal to be walking on this path with him holding her hand.

She turned around, slipping her hand away from his arm to walk in front of him, face to face. But his hand caught hers just in time, not breaking the connection. She asked, "So we're just walking off into the sunset, like they do at the end of a happy movie?"

He laughed and said, "Yes, but we have something they don't."

She asked, "What's that?"

"A sunrise."

She felt overwhelmed listening to that. She didn't know how to express the feeling she felt. So, she turned and fell into step with him again, holding his arm tight and leaning her head on his shoulder.

Time brought them eventually back to the hotel gate. Before she could go in, he stopped her.

She looked at him and asked, "What?"

He smiled sadly, reaching out and played with the side of the hood that she had put up over her head. It was his hoodie that she was still wearing.

He said, "I have to say bye now, Heer. I just don't know how."

She felt overwhelmed again. Every other time, she was able to hold back. This time, she just let go of his hand, reached up to grab his hoodie and kissed him. He pulled her in closer and kissed her right back.

It felt like the cold mountain air had magic sewn in every thread. It felt like one of those experiences life threw with such power that she knew she'd remember it years later as though it happened just yesterday.

Author's Note: I can't believe how differently both these chapters have come out second time round. But I love both of them. Hope you do too. :)

S.