They arrived at the designated Metro station although their destination was still a few kilometres away. Just then, they came across a rickshaw driven by a slightly older lean man.

“Take us to Akshardham,” Pallavi instructed as they settled down on the seat.

“Bhaiya, you'll manage, right? See, I'm no problem. It's her I'm talking about...” Adhvik teased, making the rider chuckle while Pallavi slapped his shoulder.

The sun was setting down at the horizon, leaving a hue of orange and red in its wake. The sun seemed bigger when they approached near the bridge. There was a huge grassy circle to their left and beyond that, they could catch a glimpse of the intricate designed temple.

“Oh, wow, look at that! It's so pretty!” Pallavi's eyes gleamed at the view. Adhvik instead gazed at her and the level of excitement she was exhibiting every minute. She clinged onto his arm, grinning.

“You just want to make as many memories as possible, don't you?”

Her smile dissolved, replaced by a frown. “So? Is there something wrong with that?”

“Um, no. Not really,” He replied, sounding unconvinced. “Just that we'll have more things to miss about us later on.”

But Pallavi was on about making it as memorable as possible for it to be everlasting. She wanted to know how it was like to travel with him, to experience a whole day with him atleast once. Adhvik eventually gave in encasing her in his arm and adding yet another selfie to their collection.

However, their cherry moods got ruined when they arrived at Akshardham.

The queue was the size of two trains.

“See, I told you. This is a famous place. Plus it's the weekend.”

“I don't care. We are going in!” Pallavi concluded with determination in her eyes. They just got in the line for security when she received a call from none other than her mother. “Yes, Mummy... It will take some more time. Actually I'm in Akshardham... Yes, with Aradhana only... I'll come by Metro... yeah, okay, bye.”

It was funny what all they had to do just to enter a royal temple. First they got in the humungous zigzag line to submit their phones and belongings. Weirdly enough, no phones were allowed into the place. However, if one wished to take photographs, there were professional photographers for that. They spent half an hour in the queue only to get in another to get the fucking tickets. As if that wasn't enough, they got in yet another line for security check, which was seperate for men and women. Okay, so maybe it was the world's largest comprehensive hindu temple but wasn't this too over the top? It was 7 in the evening now.

“I'll meet you at the main gate, okay. Wait there.” Adhik said before parting.

“I will.”

Thankfully, it didn't take up much time. As promised she saw her Adhi waiting at the huge ornate stone gate amongst the others in the crowd.

“Hi,” Both of them greeted, smiling from their eyes. They wordlessly took each other's hand and entered the temple— their last destination together.

The couple were first greeted by the small ten gates in the shape of arches around them with the three-step stairs circling them like a small stadium. These ten gates represented the ten principle directions written in the Hindu texts, inviting goodness everywhere. All the structures were made up of pink sandstone which reflected in its color while the structures reflected pure marble. The falling night did nothing to diminish the beauty of the structure as it illuminated with small golden lights.

“This is... beautiful...” Pallavi spoke slowly as she took in its beauty with her eyes.

“It is. Wait until you see the temple. It's divine.”

She stole a sideway glance, “You've been here before?”

“Yeah, with my ex colleagues once but during the daytime. It will be a different spectacle at night.”

When they finally entered the main area of the temple, they were stunned. Even the photos didn't do justice to the majestic 141 feet structure in front of her. In its entirety, it was a structure of a Hindu temple. However looking at it closely, it was an complicated sandstone monument with several domes and pillars with the biggest dome situated in the middle. These structures had smaller intricate designs and sculpted statues carved in them, making it aesthetically pleasing to look at. At the bottom of the temple, lay a cylindrical structure containing statues of nearly a thousand gods and goddesses. In retrospective, the temple contained 234 carved pillars, 9 domes, 20 pinnacles, and 20,000  statues of gods and deities. Beautiful was an understatement. It was otherworldly. 

After submitting their footwear, Adhvik and Pallavi stepped onto the wide golden staircase, touching their forehead in prayer as they did so. It certainly felt weird yet endearing how they ended their last date with a visit to a temple. The faint sounds of a Sufi like song reverberated throughout the sanctum. The inside of the temple was just as impressive as the outside if not more. The temple had a golden statue of Swaminarayan to whom it was dedicated to and its followers praising him. When they gazed into the pillars, they noticed carved drawings and designs decorated by jewels all the way to the dome like ceilin, telling the story of Swaminarayan's life. The interior was a calming mix of white, blue and golden. It felt like they had entered a royal palace. They stood still for a while, basking in its serenity. Pallavi stood there, nearly forgetting what brought her in the first place. The calming aura surrounded them like a diya in the dark, bringing peace to their souls.

They walked around the temple, praying to the statues of Krishna, Shiv, Ganpati, Lakshmi and other gods as they circled around the temple. It was such a shame that they couldn't capture such beauty in their cameras but perhaps that was the essence behind it. People didn't stop to take photos and reels. Instead they were walking around, capturing the temple's architecture with their eyes.

Eventually they exited the temple to roam around in what seemed like a palace of the kings. It was a two storeyed maze-like building that stretched so far that one couldn't see the exit. The place was long but alas, they were short of time. Their conversation soon lapsed with the time to become night.

Eventually, they headed towards the exit, through the bridge above a giant carved lotus. Whoever planned the place was an innovative genius. By this time, both Pallavi and Adhvik were tired, hungry and thirsty. They couldn't help but sit down on a stony platform near a waterfall to relax their sore legs for a while.

“You can bring your wife here next time...” Pallavi absent-mindedly mentioned in one of their ongoing conversations. She took the Bisleri water bottle from him and took a long gulp, filling her aching throat.

Adhvik spread his arms behind him on the stone and stretched himself, groaning. “Nah, I won't... I'll probably bring my whole family here or won't come here again.”

Was it because the place would remind of her or something? She began to ponder on it and decided she wouldn't bring her future husband either. Neither here, nor to the seven wonder park. Perhaps she wouldn't visit there for a long time.
It was as if these places had carved a permanent memory in their name.

Pallavi felt like she was leaving a wonderland when they exited the main temple. And when Adhvik left her to fetch their belongings, her chest tightened like Cindrella whose time was up past midnight.

The silhouette of Adhvik came into light as he made his way back with their belongings. Pallavi gazed at him into oblivion, recalling everything they had done today. From their car ride, their crash-course garden trip to different parts of the world, late lunch, metro train ride, gazing at the falling sunset on the rickshaw, all the way to their visit in Akshardham, she recalled them all. A weak smile spring up her lips as she received a distant one of her beloved. That same familiar smile that was etched into the depths of her heart. A lone tear fell off her cheek like a drop from a ocean. At that moment, she thanked him and the universe for making this day come true. Now that it transpired, she could finally muster up the courage to do one thing she couldn't do all this time.

I can finally let you go.

The first thing Pallavi did was switched on her phone as soon as it reached her hands. Although she informed them about the ‘no mobiles’ allowed rule, she could still imagine the number of anxious phone calls from her family and indeed there were 10 missed calls. However, nothing prepared for the message she read from Deepali.

“Pallavi, come home.
Mummy knows you're
with Adhvik right now.”

Adhvik tapped her shoulder, bringing her out of stupor. “What happened? You look as if you've seen a ghost.”

“I might will when I return home,” Pallavi replied, her face as white as a sheet. She quickly excused herself from Adhvik to make an emergency call.

“What do you mean by Mummy had a ‘strong intuition’, Deep?! You should have denied her claims. You just had to lie, idiot!” Pallavi snapped.

“I did!” Deepali retorted on the other side of the phone. “She just came to my room in the evening saying she has a very strong feeling that Pallavi wasn't with Aradhana. I denied of course. I denied again and again except she wouldn't believe me at all. She realised I was lying to cover you up. She straight way declared that you're with that Mansur boy.”

“Oh my God! But what could have made her suspicious in the first place? It wasn't like she could hear Adhvik's voice.”

“Akshardham.” Deepali replied, her voice low. “Mummy said she found it odd when you said you were going there. Aradhana would never go to Akshardham with you.”

“Eh, really? Shit, shit, shit, Deepali, what am I gonna dooo?! I don't think I can return home. I'm not—”

“Relax, sis. I know talking about this must have scared you but believe me— Ma is not angry. She is chill for now. I don't think she's gonna lash out at you or anything. She's just worried that you're with a man at such an hour. You know how parents are right. She's simply wants you to return home at once.”

Okay, that did relieve Pallavi a bit. More like slowed her heartbeat that was plummeting through the roof for the past two minutes.

“Oh, Mummy wants to talk to you...”

And her heart was back at it again, beating faster than ever like a drum. More like in her mouth. “Oi, oi, oi, why you are giving phone to her?! I can't talk to her like this. I... H- Hi Mummy.”

I'm dead, I'm sooo dead! Pallavi kept thinking as she heard Mrs Khuranna's voice but her mother was surprisingly calm. “Where is he?”

Adhvik who was walking a few steps ahead of her to reach the metro station looked back, shooting a smile. She shot a tight lipped smile in return and swallowed a reply, “Nearby...”

“Okay, listen. Forget the Metro, come by cab. It's 8 pm already. If you go by Metro it will take you two hours. I want you to come home quickly.”

“Actually we— I was planning just that.” Pallavi explained how they would take the metro blue line to Botanical garden and then take a cab from there to avoid spending surplus of money. 

“Hmm, that's fine but don't drop him off in front of our society. Your father might be there to take groceries. I'm not telling him anything so make sure of that, understood.” Mrs Khuranna's voice was firm and clear.

“He's going to drop at the bus stop anyway so he won't be there...”

“Just make sure of it.”

“Okay Ma.”

* * *

Thus, after a nerve-racking conversation they entered the metro.

“You look tensed, P. Is everything alright?” Adhvik called her off after noticing her sitting mute for a while. They were currently inside the crowded Delhi Metro.

“Yeah, nothing special.” She dismissed her hand.

“Pallavi...” He trained his eyes on her, not believing a word she said. Damn him! Damn everyone!

She let out an excruciating sigh, giving in and informed the gist of it.

“Just keep denying, idiot. Let your Mom say whatever she believes but it won't be confirmed unless you don't admit it yourself. I do that too. It works.” He advised.

As planned, they hailed a cab to Faridabad afterwards. Pallavi was whispering sweet nothing's to his ear but Adhvik was barely responding, already dozing off to sleep. She shifted to lean on besides him and held his hand. And then his forehead. Apparently he had a fever.

“Then you should have sat down on the train, idiot! Why let me sit?” She demanded but he simply nodded in response, his eyes still closed. She regarded him in worry. His health was often not the brightest. His body couldn't even stand a day trip. She often lectured him on that, advising to practice yoga and take ayurvedic medicine. His wife and family would surely have to look out for him.

She was just brushing his hair in an attempt to make him feel better when he draped an arm around her, pulling her close and kissed the top of her head. Her hand stopped.

Pallavi gazed at him, her eyes brimming with emotion, “Thank you for this day, love. I'll never forget this.”

“Welcome...” He blinked slowly.

They remained like that for the remainder of their journey, sitting in close vicinity. The car was like a safe haven that had wrapped them like a blanket, temporarily protecting them from their inevitable future.

“Are you sure you'll be able to go on your own? I can drop you off,” Pallavi insisted when Adhvik requested the cab to drop at the bus stop.

“Yeah, yeah, don't worry. I'm feeling a bit better actually.” He got off from the car and leaned down to face Pallavi from the window. “Inform me after you reach. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.”

And that could have been the end of this chapter but no— her sweet home awaited her. How would this pan out, even she didn't know.

* * *

Pallavi tiptoed her way inside the apartment, wary of facing her mother. Mr Khuranna flashed a smile at her as always before going back to watching TV. She was just about to enter her room when her eyes caught on the back of her mother besides the bed. She backed off immediately.

“You can come in, you know. I'm not going to eat you up.” came in the cool voice of Mrs Khuranna, nearly making Pallavi jump. Damn, she was so quiet too. How did Mummy know?

For a while, none of them spoke except for Deepali who seemed like she was about to burst into laughter. Pallavi refreshed herself, hoping to ignore the existence of the woman silently eating her food but alas, life wasn't as obedient.

“Toh ghum aayi uske saath?” She spoke for the first time in a hundred seconds. It nearly sounded like a taunt.

“Haan...” Pallavi replied, fighting to keep off the gigantic smile on her face but failed. Sorry Adhvik, but I just couldn't lie on this one. She let out a nervous laugh. “You know how I always wanted to roam Delhi with a man. So he just fulfilled my wish as a good friend.”

“Uh- huh, I believe you.”

She didn't believe me!

As Deepali stated earlier, their mother wasn't angry. She even smiled after noticing her daughter's face. Though that didn't stop her from pointing out things. About how Pallavi lied to her. About how she shouldn't associate much with that boy when nothing would come out of it. And that, she shouldn't disappear like this with him for all day again.

“Don't worry Ma. This was simply once-in-a-lifetime chance.” Pallavi replied boldly. She was too sappy to care about her mother's words at the expense of what transpired today with Adhvik.

An unforgettable memory.

* * * * *

(Okay, enough seriousness. Here's a little extra scene to lighten you up)

It was a normal morning in the office of Utopian Adverts. At 11am, Pallavi opened up her tiffin to have her mid- breakfast as usual. She swiveled her head around as if to check for someone. When the coast was clear, she opened the lid to take a bite of her poha.

“Aree kitna toosogi didi,” Came in Karan's voice as he entered the cabin behind her. Pallavi face fell in resignation. Karan directed his gaze to Sachit and sighed. “And then there's this fella who can't get enough of sprouts. Boss, itna protein bhi nhi toosete. You aspiring to become Khali or something?”

“No sir.” Sachit chuckled. They began conversing about something until Pallavi could take it no more.

“I'm just having poha, sir... you know like any other normal person who has poha for breakfast.”

Karan squinted his eyes, “But you already had breakfast.”

She crossed her arms. “That doesn't count as one.”

He raised a brow, “And what did you have?”

“Tea and biscuits.”

“How many?”

“Three... and one bread.” Her head hung low.

“And she says she didn't have breakfast,” He shook his head in dismay and went to his cabin. A minute later, he returned to his teammates with his own tiffin. “This is what a healthy breakfast looks like, fellas. Here, have some.”

Pallavi picked out a crescent piece of a brown looking fruit, her eyes nearly widening with realisation. “Is this chikoo?”

“No, it's Kiwi.”

“Oh,” Pallavi hesitantly took a bite and began eating it. “I thought kiwis were supposed to be green.”

“Aree, this is also kiwi.” Sachit mentioned between his bites.

Somewhere along, they delved in the mundane discussion of kiwis, chikoos and pitayas.

“No, the one you are mentioning is a smaller kiwi. I'm talking about the other one.”

“But I don't recall...” She squinted her brows, recalling her memory. She gestured with her two fingers, “Look, chikoos are ‘this’ big right and kiwis are smaller.”

Karan blinked. “But the kiwis I had are larger.”

Her brows marred with confusion. She gestured with her fingers again. “Like ‘this’ big or ‘thiis’ big... Actually—”

She was about to continue but was abruptly interrupted by Karan's uncontrollable laughter which quickly burst out the room, leaving both of them bewildered. He hugged his stomach. “God, stop that! Please!”

“Stop what?” Her brows furrowed.

“Your freaking hand!” 🤏🏼

She stared at her hand in utter puzzlement and repeated her gesture of this and that from before. Sachit who was in the dark till now finally saw the light as his eyes popped out. Now there were two men laughing haughtily at her. Something was oddly familiar about this situation. It was beginning to feel like deja vu.

“Karan sir, you... unbelievable...” Sachit spoke between his laughs.

“Aree, how is that my fault? For a second, it even looked like...” Karan's voice fell deaf to her ears as he whispered something to Sachit only for them to burst out laughing once again.

It was only when Pallavi observed Karan repeating her finger gesture while he talked to Sachit did she gasp out loud. She threw daggers. “You... you dirty mind! You thought I was measuring the size of something else altogether.”

Karan simply chuckled in response. “For a second, your hand even looked like it was holding it.”

“Eww! I can't even—” Her nose crinkled in disgust but she soon got down her seat.

And joined their laughter tirade.

* * *

One day, Karan Grover asked a weird question to Yash and Pallavi.

“What was the longest relationship you ever had?”

“Two years.” Yash answered. “It could have been more but alas, we are breaking up.”

“You broke up with that Gurgaon girl?” Pallavi threw back and he nodded. She was going to ask why but then stopped herself. That was his personal life. Instead, she added smirking. “What a coincidence! I'm breaking up, too.”

“Welcome to the club.”

“As for me...” Pallavi answered when Karan asked again, mentally counting the time since she and Adhvik started their whatever- ship on May. “Two years and... Almost three years. What about you, sir?”

She lied because she hated saying two years and eight months.

“I beat both of you. My longest relationship, apart from my marriage was six years.”

“Impressive, sir,” Yash said. A minute later he exited the room for a washroom break.

“That's a long period. The breakup must have hurt then,” Pallavi couldn't help but voice out.

“We were in a serious relationship. It was true love. ” Karan informed, holding a certain emotion in his eyes, “I dreamt of being with her but that witch got herself into arrange marriage and did roka without telling me. I got to know later on when she was about to be engaged. I promised myself to marry as soon as possible. I told my parents to be mindful about any rishta they'd bring as I'd say yes to her right away.”

Her eyes widened. “What, seriously?”

“Yeah. I sent that intention out to the universe on purpose and got it fulfilled.” He scoffed. “Apparently my wife was infatuated with me from the get-go. All worked out in the end.”

The conversation went on a bit longer where Karan talked about  his former love life. His ex seemed a bit airy and immature from what he told Pallavi. But more than his story, she was appalled by him casually sharing this to an outsider, even if it was just a snippet. Perhaps he didn't mind revealing some of his personal details. A part of her wanted to convey about her love story to him but she withheld it.

She wanted to bask in their Delhi date memory a little while longer.

* * *

Hope you liked the chapter along with the little office extra. Do comment