Her Warrior Poet (Pune Diaries Book 1)

by Candy Laine

“This is not good. She won’t sit with him in the same car. He won’t sit next to her at lunch. How on earth are we supposed to get them together if they both refuse to budge?” Rahat was fuming.

  “We need a solid plan.” Vishal agreed. “They need to spend more time talking to each other rather than avoiding each other.”

  “And how do you propose to get them to do that?” Ashish supported the idea of Arun and Shweta being together, but was clueless about how to get them there.

  “How can we get them to spend time together?” Gagan scratched the stubble on the side of his cheek. “We just have two nights here.”

  “I don’t know, but we better think of something.” Vishal stretched his hands out above his head. “For now let’s just keep throwing them at each other at every opportunity possible. Let them walk together at the beach. Ensure they sit together at dinner. Just keep creating opportunities for the two of them to be together.”

  “That’s a good start. Let’s also play Truth or Dare tonight.” Rahat added. “There’s a lot of potential for them right there.”

  ~~~

  In his room Arun had opened up his suitcase and dug out his swimming trunks. A couple of other clothes were hung up in the closet that Sameer and he were sharing. Sameer headed out for a bath. Arun opened his diary and wrote

  Unsettled

  I feel like a rudderless ship

  Going through the seas of life

  Searching for that one port

  That I may call my own.

  I feel like a leaf in the wind

  Flowing with the air as it blows

  Tearing around houses and

  Over the miniature trees.

  I feel like a star that shines

  Thousands of miles away,

  A little, tiny light so insignificant

  It barely qualifies.

  I feel like a particle of dust

  That is unique in it’s own right

  And yet as unwanted

  By the rest of the world.

  I am no more than dust, a star or a leaf.

  I have no more direction than one set adrift without a compass.

  Yet the wind fills my sails, yet the stars guide me.

  I am an ever present part of the world and it is part of me.

  Sameer was taking his time getting back. It was time to meet up with everyone. Arun decided to wait downstairs after changing into his swimming trunks and pulling on a half sleeved t-shirt and shorts. He wasn’t really surprised that no one else was there yet. He poked around, eager to know the territory, before returning to the hall.

  Arun sat down in the hall and bounced the ball he had found. The owners had an assortment of flip flops residents could borrow to walk on the beach. He’d explored the small outdoors shower cum hosing area they requested residents to use before entering the house. They even had an assortment of frisbees, balls, shovels and buckets for those interesting in playing at the beach.

  He heard steps coming down the stairs and looked up to see Shweta and Ashima walking down. They both had changed into single piece swimsuits with sarongs tied at their waists. Shweta had a towel slung over one shoulder and her hair tied up in a high ponytail.

  They didn't see him sitting in the corner and he had the opportunity to look at Shweta without her being aware of it. She was laughing at something Ashima said. He loved that sound. If only he could make her laugh like that. Unfortunately every time they were together she looked like a filly that was mildly uncomfortable and about to bolt.

  “Hi Arun.” Ashima finally spotted him. She looked at Shweta then at Arun. “I want a glass of water.”

  “I’ll get you some from the kitchen.” Arun got up from the couch.

  “No don’t bother. I’m heading over myself. Shweta why don’t you sit here, I’ll be right back.”

  It was the first time that day the two of them were alone together. They stood in front of each other awkwardly. Neither knowing what to say. Then Shweta sat down on a chair catty corner to the couch and Arun sat down too.

  “I thought they said one hour.” Arun looked up the stairs wishing someone, anyone, would arrive.

  “Most of them don’t run on military time.” Shweta smiled at him. “In fact Rahat runs on her own standard time. I’m not sure just how late they are going to be.”

  Arun smiled back. “If they are going to be really late we may miss the sunset.”

  Ashima walked up to the couch with a glass of water in one hand and sat next to Arun, “I don’t want to miss the sunset. Why don’t we go ahead. They can catch up later.”

  Sameer came down the stairs next. “Hey guys. Where’s everyone else?”

  “Sameer, come we’ll tell the others that we are not waiting for them and head out to the beach” Ashima got up and placed her glass on the table besides the couch. She tugged his hand and took him back up the stairs. “Why don’t the two of you start out? We’ll join you there.”

  Arun looked at Shweta, who shrugged and they both got up. They walked past the trees surrounding the house and the short mud track that went to the beach. The air was heavy with humidity and the smell of salty sea water was wafting in the light breeze.

  Shweta stumbled over a rock and Arun grabbed her elbow to steady her. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m good.” He kept his hand on her elbow till they reached the beach. She didn’t say anything when he reluctantly released her. They slipped off their flip flops and began walking to the water’s edge. The sand was cool and moist between the toes. The breeze was light and humid. The sun was a golden drop closing in on the horizon. As they watched, it turned into a colourful display of shades of pink and gold.

  “It’s so beautiful” Shweta said softly.

  “Yes. Beautiful.” Arun angled himself so that while he faced the sea, he could see Shweta from the corner of his eye.

  “They are going to miss it,” The sun was now sinking rapidly as Shweta turned her eyes quickly to the path they had come up by. “We should take some pictures. I didn’t bring my phone. I didn’t want to damage it with the sand and water.”

  Arun dug into the pocket of his shorts and brought out his phone. He took a step back and put Shweta in the frame with the setting sun behind her. She looked like an angel with a halo. He clicked a few more pictures of her smiling face.

  “Shall I take one of yours?” She held out her hand for his phone. He shook his head and moved to stand next to her, with his back to the sea. He took a selfie of the two of them with the light pink sky as the background, the sun was barely visible now.

  “Could you...” Shweta started and stopped.

  “What?”

  “I was going to ask you to share the photographs with me, but you don’t have my phone number.” Shweta ducked her head.

  “That’s easily remedied, if you wish...” Arun trailed off. “You don’t have to share your number with me if you don’t want to.”

  “It’s not that I don’t want to, I just...don’t want you to get the wrong idea.”

  “Shweta, I’m not going to call you all the time and plague you. And sharing your number with me does not become a pledge to a long lasting relationship. I’ll just send the picture to Gagan or Rahat, you can get it from them.”

  “No don’t do that.” She took the phone from his fingers and fed in her number. He smiled as he sent her the images and put the phone back into his pocket.

  “Would you like to stroll by the beach?” Arun’s heart was singing, he knew he would not call her but it was nice to have her number. Ten minutes later they were walking along the beach in companionable silence and still no one showed up.

  “Where is everyone?” Shweta finally stopped and stared back at the path they had come from.

  “Let me check.” Arun called Gagan and spoke softly. “Where are you guys? We are waiting at the beach.” Gagan said something Shweta could not hear. “Well how about letting us know? We’re heading back.”

  “What happened?” Shweta asked as he he
aded back.

  “They decided they were too tired to come to the beach. They are planning on heading out for dinner to a restaurant in town in an hour.” Arun had started walking fast. She was finding it difficult to keep pace with him, but even as she grew breathless, she did not ease up on the speed.

  If he wanted to get away from her, she could hardly blame him. She was mad at their friends too, but she couldn’t help but feel glad about the time they spent together. Obviously Arun was not too happy about it and wanted to run away as fast as possible.

  She would also not want to spend time with someone who had rejected her. Shweta felt guilty about what she had done at the wedding, but she still felt it better than leading him on. She was happy when the building came into sight and slowed down. He could continue on a trot if he wanted.

  She would give him the space he so obviously desired, by taking her time in the garden surrounding the building. It was truly beautiful in the twilight with a few of the garden lights being switched on. Shweta sat down on one of the garden benches for a while before heading in to change for dinner.

  o0o

  18

  Sweet Nothings

  o0o

  The year's at the spring, And day's at the morn;

  Morning's at seven; The hill-side's dew-pearled;

  The lark's on the wing; The snail's on the thorn;

  God's in his Heaven -- All's right with the world!

  Robert Browning

  Dinner was at a popular local restaurant. Somehow Sweta ended up seated between Sameer and Arun at the dinner table. Sameer was busy chatting with Ashima sitting on his other side. He seemed quite interested in her. Ashish, Rahat and Gagan were sitting opposite them. Ashish was glaring at an oblivious Sameer. She smiled at Ashish trying to distract him from wanting to pound her brother for flirting with his little sister.

  Ashish smiled back at her and seemed to relax. Really guys were so simple. Shweta went back to perusing her menu card to pick what she wanted for dinner. Vishal placed their order with the waiter. By the time Vishal was done ordering with his brand of humour, the waiter had a hopelessly confused look on his face.

  “I hope he remembers everything you told him Vishal.” Rahat looked over at the head of the table where Vishal was sitting.

  “If he doesn’t he’ll just have to keep coming back and asking us till he gets it right.” Vishal didn’t look worried.

  “I’m starving,” Gagan started drumming on the table. “I need something to keep my mind off food.” He gleamed at Rahat.

  “Oh no, I’m not kissing you here.” Rahat shook her head.

  “Who said anything about kissing?” Gagan looked all innocent, “Just wanted to play a simple game to distract myself from the hunger pangs.”

  “What game?” Ashima was intrigued.

  “How about Truth or Dare?” Gagan suggested raising and lowering his eyebrows suggestively.

  A chorus of “oh no”, “no way” and “forget it” came from all sides. Arun wondered exactly what caused that reaction. They had obviously played the game with not so pleasant results before.

  “What’re you guys afraid of?” Gagan retorted.

  “I’m not afraid of anything.” Vishal returned. “I just think it’s a silly game. And you come up with the most stupid dares. I’m not doing push ups and stuff just before dinner.”

  “I bet I can make it interesting.” Gagan retaliated. “And we’ll keep a simple dare. You don’t have to even get up to complete it.”

  “How?” Arun eyed him suspiciously. Gagan could be quite the prankster.

  “We’ll just do a round where you get to ask one question from the person sitting next to you. If you don’t answer the question your punishment is to kiss the person sitting on your other side.”

  “It’s simple enough. I don’t mind.” Rahat looked at Gagan and Ashish sitting on her two sides.

  “I do!” Vishal eyed Gagan on one side and Arun on the other. Everyone burst out laughing.

  “Okay, Vishal.” Gagan said magnanimously, “You can ask the first question. That way maybe dinner will be here before you need to kiss me.” Everyone laughed as Vishal’s eyes narrowed dangerously.

  “Fine.” He turned to Arun and said, “Truth or Dare?”

  “Why are you starting with me? Ask him first.” Arun pointed at Gagan.

  “Well I picked you. Now tell me what’s your pick?”

  “Truth.” Arun could not help but look exasperated when he said it.

  “Okay. Here’s your question. If you could kiss someone at this table of your own free will, would you do so?”

  “Yes I would.” Arun’s eyes darted quickly to look at Shweta. When he saw her looking back at him his eyes shifted to the fork he was holding with both hands as they rested on the table.

  “Who would you kiss?” Vishal leaned over.

  “That’s another question. You only get to ask one. Now it’s my turn to ask you Truth or Dare!” Arun glared at Vishal.

  “No, no.” Gagan piped up from the other side of the table. “We got to go in a circle. Arun you have to ask Shweta your question.”

  “What?” Arun looked at Gagan in dismay.

  “Yes, we’re going in a circle.” Gagan moved his hand gesturing to everyone in a circle.

  “Okay.” Arun turned to Shweta who was looking at him with a mix of anticipation and anxiety. “Um. Truth or Dare?”

  “Truth.” A million questions ran through Arun’s mind before he realized he could hardly ask half of them in the presence of all their friends and her brother. He looked into her timid eyes and wondered what he could ask her.

  “Come on, Arun.” Rahat hollered from across the table. “We don’t have all night.”

  Arun tried to speak but his mouth was dry. He cleared his throat and asked, “If there was one place in the world you could visit, where would you go? ”

  Shweta let out a breath she had been holding and smiled at him in relief. “I’d love to go back to Sikkim. It was a beautiful place.”

  “Yes, beautiful.” Arun repeated looked right at her face and she knew it was not Sikkim he was speaking of. Shweta blushed and dipped her head. Then turned to face her brother.

  “Truth or Dare, Sameer?”

  “I’m going to go with dare.” Sameer shocked everyone at the table by leaning over and kissing Ashima on the cheek. “I’ve been wanting to do that all evening!” He smiled pleased with himself.

  “Hey,” Ashish protested and pulled her towards himself. “Keep off my sister.”

  Rahat and Gagan started laughing while Vishal’s jaw hung open at the opposite end of the table. Arun couldn’t help but laugh at him. He looked back at Shweta and she was laughing too. The waiter arrived just then with the first of their dinner dishes.

  They settled into a loud and noisy dinner causing more than one patron of the restaurant to look their way. After dinner they piled back into the cars and Arun found himself in the rear seat with Shweta. Shweta looked at him and grinned.

  “What happened?” Arun looked back at the other car as Ashish insisted on sitting with Ashima and Sameer refused to get up. Finally Rahat got out of the car and headed towards theirs.

  “I think Ashima likes Sameer as much as he seems to like her.” Shweta laughed as Rahat got in next to Vishal and banged the door shut.

  “Let’s go Vishal. I’m in no mood to wait for them to sort out their seating arrangement.” Rahat blew a kiss at Gagan out of the open window as the car moved past theirs.

  “Wow. Sameer and Ashima! That was a surprise.” Vishal still looked a bit shocked.

  “I think they make a cute couple.” Shweta looked back at the car following them. It was too dark to tell but she thought Sameer had managed to stay with Ashima in the back seat.

  “He better not be messing with her.” Vishal looked unhappy. “Ashish can get pretty intense about his little sister.”

  “She’s not that little anymore, Vishal.” Arun said in a conciliatory tone. “She
’s a full grown adult.”

  “You know better than anyone how he reacts, Arun. He’s not logical when it comes to her. Don’t you remember how he bashed up that guy in school who dared to whistle at her?”

  “Don’t worry. We’ll make sure Ashish doesn’t do anything he regrets later. I don’t think he’s going to bash up Sameer anyway.”

  Twenty minutes later Shweta didn’t know what she expected from her brother, but this was not it. She was sitting with Arun on the couch while Ashima and Sameer sat on the settee opposite them in the hall. Sameer was ignoring Ashish and Vishal who were sitting next to them on the single chairs and talking only to Ashima who seemed to be enjoying his attention.

  They had started out playing card games, but eventually no one wanted to play another round. No one wanted to go to bed either. Then they just sat around talking in smaller groups. It was getting late now, but Sameer and Ashima didn’t show any signs of wanting to go to sleep. Ashish was definitely not going to leave till Ashima went up to bed.

  Rahat yawned and Gagan pulled her into his side allowing her to rest her head on his shoulder as he held her loosely. Shweta was ready to sleep as well, but she didn’t want to draw attention to herself by asking Ashima for the room keys. She decided to walk around for a bit to try and stay awake.

  Vishal saw her leaving and discretely gestured to Arun to follow her. “I’m going to sleep guys.” Vishal got up and stretched catching everyone’s attention.

  Rahat and Gagan got up. “We’re going too. See you guys in the morning.” Gagan wrapped his arm around Rahat’s shoulder and they began walking up the stairs. Arun got up as well. A quick glance at Ashish, Ashima and Samer showed that none of them was interested in the others. He strolled out of the room as well.

  Shweta walked down the stairs and into the garden. It was just a little chilly as the cool breeze had picked up at night. She walked along the path under the trees. It was really very quiet and peaceful here. She could hear the sound of the sea as it rushed to the shore just beyond her line of sight. She decided to walk up the little mount in the garden. From there she could look out at the water without walking all the way to the beach. It was so serene and she was completely relaxed.