Chapter-8

It was dark, blistering and a wavy night in the Valley as everyone in the resort left for their respective shifts. Searching for him for a mild twenty minutes, she noticed him with the same bottle near the emerald turfs. Cussing herself, she braced towards him who was jabbering incomprehensive when Ishani called him "Ranveer" None of the voices was recognisable for him as he was hardly able to get the hang of the surroundings, all thanks to the single bottle of strong French country wine. French country wine is one of the finest in the world to make one dissolve all his pains and get over them. He was till blethering when Ishani sat opposite to him clasping his cheeks into her fair hands.

"Ranveer!" she called him when he looked at her wearily and susurrated "Sor…ry" He looked at her with his bloodshot, dark eyes which had nothing but pain and despair. Weary and worn out ones. Ishani saw him in such a state for the first time when she patted him on his cheek twice and thrice and made him realize about his surroundings. He looked at in an inebriated yet a dry state when she said "Get up, we gotta go home."

"Huh? Home? Is it time already, Ishani?" he asked at her, his tongue not settled at one place. Staring at him disgusted with his behaviour, she made him get up and took his right arm and put it around her neck when he asked her "You love children, right?" with a shrewd smile. Ishani looked at him shocked with his sly smile as she said "Yes, I do."

"And I am child, right?" he asked, trying to stabilize himself at one position when she saw him flabbergasted with his weird behaviour.

"Ranveer, you are high. We need to get back home, now!" she said and started to walk when he followed her, drowsily. Making him sit near her, she drove the car swiftly when she noticed Ranveer blabbering again. "I am sorry Ranveer. But I don't like this behaviour of yours. It is weird and I hate it." Ishani said whilst Ranveer was busy looking at the misty clouds and taking in the blistery weather. Reaching his house after an hour, Ishani took him to his bedroom and made him sit on the bed, carefully as Ranveer was still in his own, drunken world.

Trying to catch the imaginary stars, he saw an angry Ishani who was removing his shoes as he smiled nonchalantly and fell on the cottony bed as Ishani looked at him, in sheer aversion.

"Ranveer?" she called him angrily. As she received no response from the other end, she went forward to remove his tie when he caught hold of her hand and pulled her towards him as she was over him. The smell of his wine was too strong that she had to move her face away from his.

"Ishani…" his voice was seemingly torn and desperate as she saw him, tired of his unwanted tactics to woo her. She made an effort to go away from him as his grip over hand was only increasing, asking her to come near him. "Ishani…look at me. I need to talk to you. Tonight."

Calling her back once again, she answered back, "What do you want now? Do you want me to spend this night with you?" her voice was seemingly irritated and irked as he saw her in disbelief.

"It's not like that, Ishani." he tried to explain when she said "Ranveer, there is a limit for everything and this is it. If I am by your side as your friend, you should respect that. I am not a girl who easily gives into men. If that was your intention, I am sorry."

"Ishani…No! I just…just wanted to tell you something." Ranveer said, his eyes looking at hers though hers were hardly in contact with him.

"Tell what? I hate you, Ranveer. Drinking every day and creating a scene everywhere. I am fed up of you, Mr. RV. I don't want to hear anything."

"Ishani, I promise. I won't drink anymore. But I just wanted to say…"

"Oh Ranveer! Stop doing this. Your promises are nothing but just crap! A month over by now and you are still drinking, every day and I am always coming to make your bed, every day. I am fed up. That is it."

"Ishani, look at me" Ranveer whispered, "I will never drink another time. I am not able to control it, Ishani. It's not that I am addicted to alcohol. I am attracted to it whenever I see it. But let me tell you one thing…"

"Ranveer, stop this! You meant to say that it's attraction and not addiction? Crazy, I tell you." Ishani's voice was fuming when he pushed her and got up, sitting opposite to her. Catching hold of her cheeks tightly, his eyes fuming with the same amount of anger as she had, he came forward to her, their faces just an inch away from each other.

"I want to tell you something, Ishani." Ranveer's voice was trembling while his eyes were boiling in anger and fear. "Will you allow me to?" he asked.

All she did was to nod, though her eyes were distracted.

"Firstly, I am not a guy who craves for physical intimacy with girls. I am definitely not that kind of a guy. And secondly, I wanted to tell you that…" he looked at her once again who was quietly listening to him.

"That?"

"I love you." Ranveer said and cupped her face softly when she looked at him flabbergasted. Getting up instantly from the bed, she looked at him, her eyes red hot as she said "Mr. RV, I am sorry. But I don't love you. In fact, I hate you!" she said and left the place furiously before Ranveer asked her "Ishani, where are you going now?"

"Good bye, forever."

Ranveer muttered "Ishani…don't go" when he felt tear droplets over his eyes and his body perspired when he sprung up from the bed, crying as usual.

"Ishani!" he screamed when he realised that it was a dream. Sighing out, he said "It was a dream. I have to go and meet her at once. And I shouldn't confess my love to her anytime soon. She does not love me. I don't want this friendship of ours to be spoilt. She can and will never love me. I should stop thinking about her." Ranveer thought when he got up to see a note on his bedside table.

"Hope you had a good sleep, Ranveer. Don't search for me."

Ishani.

The sentence read when his heart sank reading it. 'Don't search for me?' What does it mean? I have to search for her, now. He changed to a shorts and a tee and ran down in search of her when he met his helper.

"Hey, did you see Madame today?"

"No Monsieur, I did not. Is everything alright?"

"Oh yeah, it's good. Thank you. Just keep the breakfast here. I'll come back and have them. I have got an important work to do." Ranveer said and moved quickly to his car, kick starting it in a jiffy.

"I shouldn't have got drunk yesterday. Even though I did not have any after she scolded me, I shouldn't have even touched them. I guess she left the place in anger as I was drinking every time. God, I am scared, I have to get back to normal. She is right, I shouldn't drink too much." Ranveer said to himself as he drove the car to the beach to find it calm. The sky was crimson and azure and the atmosphere was quiet except for the tweets of the young and the old birds, alike. He looked at the dawning of the sun and assumed it to be six as he missed to take his watch. Sighing, he went back for his search when he remembered the place. Smiling triumphantly, he popped into the car and headed towards the barn.

Reaching the barn silently, he parked his car and walked inside to see the keeper making his coffee for the day. Waving a good morning to him, the keeper said "Would you like to have some coffee, Ranveer?"

"Um, well…did you see a girl here some time ago? I am in search of her. Did you see her?" he asked him perplexed when the keeper said "Oh yeah, I did see. She came her back yesterday…around eleven. Guess she's still inside. She was looking sad."

"Thanks. May I ?" he asked pointing at the shed.

"Sure, Ranveer."

He went inside to see Ishani sleeping on the floor sans any expression. He smiled in a hurting pleasure as he sat down beside her, gazing at her lovingly when he saw his pet along with her, sleeping. Caressing her hair, he whispered "Why did you come here?" His eyes were moist seeing her as he rest his chin on his hand, waiting for her to get up.

Waiting for an hour and twenty minutes, she looped, yawning heavily as she relieved herself from Skittles. Opening her hazel brown eyes she saw Ranveer gazing at her and smiling as she rubbed her eyes in disbelief. Getting up in shock, she looked at him in sheer surprise when he chuckled and said "Surprised?"

"Totally!" she said, smiling as her eyes glistened, "how on earth sis you find me? I told you not to search for me."

"Oh well, I got up in a bad mood after a nightmare. I saw this message and got scared. I did not want to waste a single minute of my time as I searched a few places. I then came to your favourite spot, the barn!" he chuckled.

"Nightmare?" her voice was seemingly afraid, "are you okay, Ranveer?" she said, concerned.

"Yeah, I am. But let me ask you, why did you come here?" he asked, his hands folded like a strict army personnel.

"Well, I wasn't happy as you did not listen to me. I asked you not to drink and you did. So, I just thought of finding some personal time when I came here. I played with her for some time and took her for a walk. I slept along with her yesterday. I was just feeling low and I wanted to spend time on myself." Ishani said as his heart sank, more often nowadays.

"I…I am sorry, Ishani."

"No, it's okay Ranveer. I am fine now. I am in fact very happy after spending time along with her."

"What? But how?"

"Ranveer, it's simple. Life is always not about buying mansion, cracking business deals from different companies, rising up in the stock market and trends. That is not happiness. Happiness lies within us. Finding happiness in small things is very important. You may find it strange…but that's the truth. Just try to be happy with tiny things and look at the change in you. I am sure that you'll love that change." He gazed at her carefully as she continued "May I ask you something, Ranveer?"

"Go on."

"Shall we take Skittie to our house? Please…" she asked as he was reluctant to accept the proposal of hers.

"Let me think about it Ishani. Give me a weeks' time."

"A week? But why?" she asked him when he said "A week or before. But you'll know my decision before the next weekend. I promise on that."

"Okay." she said as she took Skittles into her arms and placed her back into her kennel.

"Shall we get back now?" Ranveer asked at an overjoyed Ishani.

"Ranveer!" she called him who had now gotten up from the floor as he looked back at her.

"Do you find happiness in anything? Anything which is huge for you yet small for others?" she asked him reluctant when Ranveer sat down, his face close to hers "Do you want to know it?" when she nodded a yes.

"I find happiness in you. When you're around me, I am happy." he said as they looked at each other lovingly. Too much of closeness within each other and the long lost friendship of theirs along with their new found one. Is this closeness the road for their destiny?

Done. Constructive Criticism is more than welcome and sorry for typos. :D