"Did they leave?" Sanjay asked Anu as soon as he woke up from his restorative nap. He was more than refreshed and took a deep breath. Power naps anywhere between an hour and an hour and half helped him combat his usually sleep deprived state.

"Yeah."

"That's better. I hope they resolve whatever is going on between them. Coming to think of it, it was all pointless. Both are so stubborn and proud."

Anu nodded in agreement and enquired, "Did you sleep for real then?"

"Yes, I had a power nap, and that'll hold good till night."

"Power naps? Night owl? programming? What do you do for a living Sanjay?" Anu asked him, intrigued by his nocturnal activities.

He was dressed in a very old pair of jeans which were washed too many times and in an unremarkable but comfortable T-shirt. He paired it with sneakers which had seen better days.

Anu surmised that he had scrubbed up rather well than the last time she had met him, since his hair looked better, and he was clean-shaven. It was difficult to place his profession in such attire. He looked like a nerd from modest backgrounds.

"Nothing interesting. I'm a hacker more precisely ethical hacker."

"Wow, no wonder you sounded so knowledgeable when you spoke to Ajay this morning."

She smiled pleasantly at him. His eyes widened subtly at her beauty. She was gorgeous in a maroon, floral top, skinny dark blue jeans and some kind of hiking shoes.

"It was nothing. I must say you asked some valid questions."

A tell-tale blush adorned his cheeks which he tried to contain. He wondered why at all he was blushing, could be because of the way she smiled or the way she kept looking at him. Often making direct eye contact, being warm and open.

If he didn't know better, he would think she was trying to flirt with him. He wondered if she was indeed flirting with him.

As per the schedule, the ground staff had brought in tea, coffee and certain refreshments to the hut. While both of them indulged in those, conversation flowed freely without a moment of awkwardness with occasional lingering glances.

Things drifted to serious topics about Sanjay's dad, and Anu was surprised to find that he was homeschooled from sixth grade and only went to engineering college at the insistence of his mother. She too divulged about her divorce at a surface level and quickly changed the subject.

She realised that he was a kind and a caring person but was too practical for her taste. His life was only filled with his father's illness though his mother tried to give him something normal by sending him to college.

"How is your mother doing? I heard from Anya that she wasn't keeping well."

"She is fine, or else both of us wouldn't have left her alone at all. But she needs to work on certain things at her own pace. It was a nasty scare, took us by surprise."

"Hmm, hmm, I understand. I'm a pro at knowing all about such scary surprises," he dismissed. Being practical bordering almost on being cynical was not something Anu agreed upon. Though her life had many downs, she was an optimistic person and wouldn't have made it through tough times without it. She kept her thoughts aside and changed the subject.

All through the conversation, Anu felt very comfortable around Sanjay. Post Rajendra she could seldom stand men other than being extremely professional. Sanjay was unlike them. She understood that he was not that naïve a guy she initially supposed. He was sure shy, at times, but she did not doubt that he would go from being meek to being in charge in a split second.

Anya barged in with a huff and sat down. She pulled the refreshments tray towards her and made short work of the sandwiches. She then drank a huge pitcher of water that was stored in a mud pot across their room.

"I must tell you Ajay is a very difficult person to understand. A minute there, he was all ears and encouraging, and the next minute he was indifferent," she complained to Sanjay without taking into account of Anu's presence. Sanjay smirked, with laughing eyes glanced at Anu. Anya took the cue and turned around to look at Anu sheepishly.

Anu shrugged, "He is a little insensitive sometimes, but that could only be a cover for something deeper. If I were in your place, I would wait patiently. Anya, just give him a chance. He is not all that bad."

Anya shook her head in exasperation yet accepted Anu's reason. She went to her room to freshen up for the safari.

"I like the way you defended your brother. Anya is a single child and wishes everyone to shower their regard on her. She is not attention-seeking, but occasionally she likes it," Sanjay explained with whatever knowledge he had about Anya.

"What about you?" she asked him, looking directly at his eyes. Right through the evening, both had shared soft smiles and lingering gazes and slowly gravitated towards each other.

"Maybe you should be the judge of it," he replied, getting into the game. Anya made an appearance again breaking the spell which had all makings of turning into a heated moment.

"So are you two ready?" she looked at them and couldn't miss Sanjay's soft blush and Anu's flustered face.

"Looks like I disturbed something here. I'll make myself scarce."

Sanjay just shook his head and moved out the log hut followed by the two ladies with their heads hunched together.

"Tell me everything," Anya demanded.

"Nothing much to tell. Casually talking?"

"It didn't seem so. Either you were about to kiss him or already kissed him. Admit it."

Anu burst out laughing, "My dear innocent Anya, nobody kisses on their first meeting. We were just talking, may be flirting. I draw the line there."

"But still I feel bad for interrupting."

"Psst forget it. We have all the time in the world. So, what happened between you and Ajay?"

"As I said earlier, we were just talking, all of a sudden, he wanted to go into the Office here to meet the manager and arrange for booze or something and dismissed me. In fact, he commanded me to return to the log hut. I was taken aback."

"hmm. I'm sure he has some plan from what you say."

"I don't believe you."

Ajay joined the party when they headed to the assembly point in the open jeeps to leave for the Jungle Safari. He looked jubilant and smiled a lot. Anu knew his look. She was sure he had planned something and silently wished him luck.

The Safari proved to be of mixed prospects. There was a blink-and-miss sighting of a tiger. They saw all kinds of monkeys and macaques, Nilgiri Tahr, gaur, few spotted deer but not some exotic or endangered species. They had already seen these animals in the zoos. But the experience of finding them in the touching distance was unique.

Nevertheless, the trip was exciting because of the terrain they travelled on, and Ajay was more than happy to sit beside Anya while she occasionally leaned on him for support. Anu and Sanjay were bundled up into the other jeep and had their share of fun.

****

After the Safari, they retired to the log hut for a small break and again gathered at the buffet hall for dinner. Post dinner, campfires were arranged, and huge groups were formed by all campers to enjoy. The air was mildly cool—burning wood and sounds of the crickets filled the air. That was when Ajay opened a duffle bag, that he was carrying around, to reveal a few Bira91-Strong.

Anya gasped, "No Vodka? How will you survive Ajay?"

He rolled his eyes at her antics. She grabbed a beer in a dash and with a practised flick opened it in a minute. Ajay stopped her just in time to toast before she sipped her drink.

They toasted for happiness and drank.

"Not sure how you did it, man. This is impressive. What's a campfire without a little booze?" Sanjay mused praising Ajay.

"Couldn't get anything better. The manager was not supportive. He was dead set against even these. Had to somehow smuggle them in. He said he could lose his job."

"Never knew the strict Mr Mullapudi to be a rule-breaker," Anya chipped in, taking a swig of her drink. She was sandwiched between Ajay and Anu while Sanjay sat across from her, completing a tight-knit circle. There were other folks from the camp segregated in groups. They had to be extremely cautious of not creating a scene and drawing attention to their booze. Though the ground staff were organizing certain games, they declined to join the gamers.

"You don't know many things about me," Ajay whispered in Anya's ear causing goosebumps all over her neck, continuing their previous conversation thread. She was rendered speechless at the sudden turn of events. She found his beer almost empty and chided herself. She understood it was the booze talking. She never encountered a drunk Ajay before. He was always in control of things and was reserved, most of the time. She decided to limit her drink to stay sober and be the responsible one of the group.

Single beer turned to multiple. In the end, Ajay chugged down six of them and knew his senses were going hazy. After all, it had 7% alcohol in it. He was in some happy space to not bother about what was happening around him. After a minute, he looked around.

Anu was lying peacefully on Anya's lap. Anya was sober than the rest. Sanjay was in his bubble and was furiously jotting down some design on a notepad which he always carried. Ajay's gaze lingered on Anya, sitting next to him. She was running a hand through his sister's tresses soothingly.

He wanted those supple fingers on him—ruffling his hair, touching his face, then he would kiss her palm and gently draw her near him as he got closer to her lips. He would plant tiny kisses along her jaw, the corner of her mouth and lick the seam of her lips.

His breathing became uneven, and he tore his gaze away from her. He shook his head to get rid of such lewd images. It was a first for him to imagine kissing someone. This was wrong of him. He didn't know where her interests lay. It was both wicked and wishful thinking. He craved her touch and hoped she would come to him willingly.

As if his wish came true so soon, Anya touched his shoulder that sent his senses into a frenzy, "We should call it a night."

He glanced at her hand that remained on his shoulder, looked into her eyes and asked, "Did I say you look beautiful tonight?"

Anya rolled her eyes and chose not to answer. She removed her hand much to his disappointment, but he continued to ask her again, "Did I?"

"Will you help me lift her? She is too heavy for me to handle alone," she asked, instead.

Ajay tried to clear his head and got up to help Anya with Anu. When Ajay held Anu against him, Anya coaxed Sanjay to retire for the night.

They headed sluggishly to their hut. After a point when Anu proved to be a dead weight, Ajay carried her effortlessly which amazed Anya. Even in his drunken state, he was in control and took charge as usual. She wondered if he had meant to ask her the earlier question, instead of it being a drunken rambling.

As soon as they reached their lodgings for the night, Sanjay pulled out a tab from his backpack and faired all his design ideas. He was left all alone. Even in his alcohol-induced state, the programmer within him refused to die down.

Ajay placed his sister on the double bed with care and moved to remove her shoes. Anya, in the meantime, changed into a pair of comfortable shorts and a t-shirt. The temperature outside was just right, neither too cold nor too sultry.

He took his time to admire her curves and moved closer to her. He smoothly pulled her towards the empty balcony, and his arms caged her on either side of the wall— he was closer to her than ever before. She could feel his warm breath against her cheeks, engulfing her in his heady smell mingled with traces of alcohol.

"Did I tell, you look beautiful?" he asked yet again with a smouldering gaze and a half-smile that splayed across his divinely tempting lips.

His presence captivated her. This she realised was the 'Ajay Mullapudi charm' she had never witnessed before, and somehow was now turned up for her in full swing, partly because of his inebriated state.

She managed to shake her head in the negative in reply, that only fuelled his amusement as he gave a knowing smile.

"So, I've rendered you speechless?" he asked her as a smart aleck. She was still in a daze to verbally reply him. She was supposed to be the sober one but was now intoxicated beyond reason in his presence.

"You are one beautiful woman Anya, inside and out. I'm glad you took the courage to buy me a drink that lucky day."

He brought one of his hands and caressed her cheek. She closed her eyes, feeling strange excitement in her abdomen that slowly reached to unknown places. She leaned into his touch as he cupped her face with both his hands. He tightened his hold on her cheeks as she opened her eyes that were blazing with want. Her gaze lingered on his lips with apparent intent. He took the cue and brought his lips down to meet hers.

He encircled his arms around her waist, drawing her into him. She looped her hands around his neck and pulled him much closer than before.

His hands grew hot as he slid them from her waist to her shoulders and touched her neck to feel goosebumps on her skin. Her nerve endings tickled under his warm touch as he gently caressed behind her ears.

He kissed her with deliberate slowness at first and later deepened the kiss as she kissed him back with equal urgency. Her minty-mouthwash freshness contrasted with his Breezer breath, but she cared for nothing as she was lost against his open mouth.

For her, it was as if time stood still and thousands of her favourite plants bloomed at once bearing flowers of every colour of the rainbow and filled with sweet honey that the bees were suckling happily. It felt like springtime on earth both serene and sensual.

They were in their own bubble, and the sounds of the night ceased to exist.

____________________________________________________________________________

Finally they kissed. But its just a kiss. It could be mean nothing or it could mean something. This is a slow burn romance. 

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