They returned to Rathore's mansion from a tiring rescue mission from pakdandiya.

Sleepless nights and constant fear were their companions for some days now. Though the mission was successful, the tired faces of imlie and aryan were visible way too much. They had to go to office to complete unfinished tasks of mr tripathi and also finalise some articles for publishing . Even though they just returned they had to complete task.

The whole week was very tiring. Arpita felt they were over tired by the hectic work. She felt they needed time so that they have enough rest. She decided to give them a weekend plan and decided to manage the office for a day.

When she told them this news, imlie was beyond happy as arpita, for the first time in many years, wanted to work. Aryan was not sure about arpita handling the office for a day so he refused her idea.

I : tum hamesha didi ko tokte kyun ho?

A : aisa nai hein....

I : aisa hi hein ..... Didi kuch karna chahti hein toh unhe himmat dene ke bajay tum unhe tok rahe ho , dara rahe ho ...

A : oh please! Bakwaas bandh karo .... Supervision ke bina didi kaam nai kar sakti.... Isi liye mein ye allow....

I : mujhe toh diya tha na ek dinn ke liye CEO banne ka mauka toh unhe kyun nahi?

A : vo baat alag hein ....

I : kaise alag....

A : tum regularly kaam karti ho office mein toh tumhe andaza hein ki kaam kaise hota hein aur didi ko supervision ki zaroorat hein...

I : humein vishwaas hein didi pe.... Tumhe nai hein toh hum...

A : mein ne aisa nai kaha....

I : uska matlab vahi hein.....

A : no

I : haan .... Haann....

And they start fighting like cats and dogs.... Arpita and narmada could see the headache coming. Narmada signalled arpita to go away with aryan's driver to office without making any noise. She too left not able to hear any more fights of these two, as they have been seriously fighting with each other since a week now. Their sleeplessness, work pressure, no proper rest would usually take a toll on their minds. A single spark of irritation would burst them out into fighting like anything. Today narmada had no patience left to seperate them, scold them or tame them ..... She literally followed arpita leaving the two of them in the middle of the hall. She even declared holiday for the staff for two days and asked them to come back to work on monday. She literally wanted to punish them for fighting like this.

Arpita said that it would be hectic for them to do the daily chores for themselves, cook and then clean up to which narmada said let this be a lesson to them for ignoring their health and working like maniacs. Arpita laughed at her mom's frustration and left behind the two stupid souls.

After sometime, they seemed to take opinion of arpita didi on who was right about her decision.

I : tum hamesha aisa hi karte ho..

A : bilkul nai

I : pucho didi se ..... Hein na.....

Her words stuck when she found the house empty. Aryan too was quite shocked to see the mansion empty.

A : WHAT THE HELL !!!

He tried shouting the names of all possible staff members he could remember only to be left unanswered.

I : ye sab kaha gaye ?

A : mujhe kaise patah hoga imlie.... ?

I : hum dekh ke aate hein ...

And they both searched for people in and out of the mansion to find everyone missing

They reached the main hall. They sat on the sofa tired. Took their phones to call di and ma only to find out their phones switched off. Even the bhaskar times phones were not receiving their calls.

A : WHAT IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE?

he almost shouted in frustration

I : chillane se kaanon ke parde phat jate hein, log dewaar phadke nai aate ... 😒

She said sarcastically

A : tum !!!!

I : ABP! Dimaag lagao .....

He stepped out of house to find a letter stating narmada's punishment for both of them. Imlie laughed at aryan's angry face but was happy to get a break for two days.

A : tum khush hori ho ?

I : ABP! Chutti mili hein hum donon ko .... Khush na ho toh rone lag jaun ?

A : tum samjh nai rahi ho .... Office mein...

I : bas karo yaar .... Di sambhaal legi .... Chalo andar tum.

Having no other option they went inside.

Aryan was way too frustrated as he was struck with her in mansion without having to do any work. He almost felt like having a smart phone without sim & WiFi.... Useless.

On the other hand, imlie took full advantage of having a break from her office. She danced, sang loudly, cooked and most importantly slept.

It was almost evening when she woke up to find out a grumpy aryan sitting on sofa watching news channel.

I : akkad bagge.... Chutti mein bhi news dekhna hein tumhe ?

A : aur kya karun? Mujhe ye chutti Kam punishment zyada lag rahi hein .....

I : arey bohot kuch hein karne ko tum dekho toh sahi ?

A : achha .... Kya interesting hein bolo ?

I : chalo mere saath .....

She literally dragged him to kitchen, made him prepare chai for both of them while she was frying pakode. Though irritated, aryan had a change of mood learning tea preparation from her besides listening to her atrangi stories of first tea making and frying sessions.

As he was about to put the tray of cups on the table infront of tv, she stopped him saying she has better spot for him. Curious to know what it is, he followed her.

She took him to the terrace of the mansion, a place where he had never been all these years. He was surprised to see a terrace garden set-up with two wooden chairs and a small table. He felt like a alien in his own house. How come he didn't know about this place which very much existed in his house.

A : ye sab....

I : isi liye kehti hun ki apne liye kabhi kabhi waqt nikalna seekho ABP!

A : par ye sab .... Kab aur kaise...

I : batati hun.... Aajao baitho.....

She guided him to the chair which was surrounded by plant- pots giving the complete look of a fine garden.

A : ab batao gi ?

I : haan toh hum ek dinn tumse bohot gussa ho ke upar chale aaye theiy, thandi hawa ke liye aur dekha ki yahan bohot badi jagah hein. Kuch dinon ke baad tumne humko vo magazine laake diye theiy na article references ke liye .... Vo naam.... Kya tha....
Bujin....

A : business today

I : haan.... Vahi .... Usmein humne ek entrip...

A : entrepreneur

I : entre... Kya

A : en- tre- pre- neur

I : e-n-t-r-e-p-r-e-n-u-e-r

A : haan...

I : uske baare mein ek article chapi thi vo padha... Unhone urban places pe garden ka idea ke baare mein, small place big usage ke baare mein likha tha .... Vo mujhe bohot achha laga toh mein ne ye baat di aur kaki maa se bola. Unhe ye bohot pasand ayaa aur unhone pucha mujhe kahan karegi ye sab toh mein ne ye jagah choose kiya tha

A : achha.... Aur ye sab kab....

I : fast forward lambigadi please meri baat poori karne do...

A : bolo..

I : tum hamesha sooraj doobne ke baad aatey ho aur sooraj se compete karke utkar chale jaate ho .... Ghar mein kam aur office mein zyada rehte ho na isi liye ye sab nai pata tumko ..

A : taane mare bagair tum kuch karte nai hona .... Bas topic ko aage nai badhana isko

I : bol rahi hun na

A : bolo .....

I : ...Toh mein ne unn entr-e-pre-nuer se baat ki unke ideas leke, yahan par chota sa garden banaya....

Jab bhi tumpe gussa hoti thi na, toh ek pot aur poudha leke aajati thi aur gusse shaant karne ke liye poudha laga deti thi .....

A : itne saare poudhe....

I : toh tum ho hi akkad bagge ... Toh hum kya karein....

He looked around and found it all so beautiful. He looked at a particular pot and asked why did she had grown that ?

I : arey vo.... She was excited but stopped herself from revealing something.

A : haan....

I : kuch nai ....

A : jungli kahin ki .... Khud ek jangal hein aur mere ghar ko bhi jungal bana diya...

I : ABP kahin ke !

She thanked herself for her timely reminder to be quiet about her feelings which were slowly but gradually growing more on her so called akkad bagga.

They were sipping in tea, looking at the setting sun, munching some pakode in between. There was a beautiful silence in the surrounding. Relishing the food and drink along with nature's beauty aryan was starting to feel peaceful on the terrace.

Imlie was actually stealing glances looking at her ABP now and then, on how he was enjoying the view. The peace on his face was everything imlie wished to have asked for.

I : kya hua Mr lambigadi, ek dum se chup hogaye tum toh ?

A : bas dekh raha hun sooraj ko... Dhalte hue

I : kabhi dekhi nai hein kya ?

A : nai.... Bohot arza hogaye dekh ke ....

I : aise kyun ....?

A : pehle na humare jee.... He stopped realising what he was about to speak.

The pain of his past, revenge, the hurt he forgot for few moments only stirred back into his life.

Imlie cursed herself for spoiling his peaceful moments. As she saw him walking back downstairs, she mumbled a sorry.

Later in the night, she found out that he had been drinking in the bar cursing himself for some unknown reasons.

She somehow felt she was responsible for his pain tonight, so she walked upto him to ask for an apology.

I : sorry ABP !

A : kis baat ke liye ?

I : humari waje se tumhe apne dard yaad agaye hein na ?

A : tumhare yaad dilane ya na dilane se sach nahi badlega imlie....

I : toh humein sach kyun nai bata sakte ....

A : aryan Singh rathore apne dard kisiko dikhata nai aur naa hi batata hein.....

I : apne dost ko bhi nai....

A : hum dost nai hein imlie.....

I : toh fir hum kya hein, ABP ?

A : patah nai....

I : mein tumhari kuch nai lagti?

Sach mein ?

Ab agar boss aur employee bole toh sach mein, sita mayya ki kasam, koni maar denge peeth pe hum .....

Aryan stumbled on being drunk, trying to get close to her. She stood still annoyed looking at him. He slowly leaned his body over the bar table, pulled her closer, raised her chin up and said,

A : imlie from pakdandiya vo insaan hein jo kabhi apni himmat nai haarti, vishwaas kam hone nai deti aur apni bhagwaan ke sabse pyaari bachhi hein ..... Samjhi tum

Imlie looked into his eyes as he said that...

A :

Tum vo insaan ho jisko dekh ke apne maa, baap, gaaon aur apne bina khoon ke rishte ke parivaar, sabko naaz hoti hein.... Vo imlie ho tum

Tum, vo aisi shaks ho jisko dekh kar aryan singh rathore ko garv mehsoos hota hein.....

Tum aryan singh rathore ki andekhi, ankahi, ansuni guroor ho imlie.....

Imlie literally had tears in her eyes listening to his words. She didn't knew she was so special to him, so damn special!

She felt short of words !!! Her tears rolled down on finding some spark of pride in his eyes as she looked at him.

Wasn't she was dying to see his expressive eyes ? To see what she meant for him ?

Though she suppressed her growing feelings towards him citing it to be her teenage infatuation, she somewhere knew, deep down, that her feelings towards him were so damn genuine, those which weren't this intuitive when she was with aditya.

Today his words broke her illusion of teenage infatuation, her fear of loving or trusting someone again, her stupid fate which is deprived of love.

She suddenly hugged him like she never did before. All her misconceptions died down making her to accept her feelings with open arms and a warm heart.

This happened only due to one damn reason - his racing heart and strong arms which held her to him unknowingly reciprocating his protection.

Drunk aryan or emotional imlie was not the reason for their hug but it was a protective man and a loving woman who couldn't express themselves more, than giving a hug.

A little later, she found him unconscious on her shoulder. She literally dragged this heavy weighing man to his bed and kept looking at him while sitting on floor holding his hand leaning on to the bed near him.

A deep sense of relief and sense of being safe in this world, crept into her mind. She smiled looking at him thinking how lucky she is to find love again in a person who was more than right for this whole world.

She felt she was no more a teenage girl. She understood she was a mature young woman of, the one and only, Aryan Singh Rathore.

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The next day morning, aryan woke up with a heavy head, still feeling little intoxicated.

He slowly tried to wake up from his bed but slipped on his own elbow and fell down.

A : " damn! I shouldn't have drunk yesterday..... I hate being so slumpy in the morning "

He tried again and finally could get himself up to sit by taking the support of bed post.

He tried to look at his surroundings and felt something was different.

He looked around and found a beautiful yellow flower on his side table with a letter and a glass covered with a lid.

He moved to it and took out the letter while holding the glass in his hand.

It read,

' chup chaap bina sawaal kiya ye pee lo ABP aur ready ho kar neeche aajao..... Breakfast tayyar hein .... Khalo ...... Mein tumhare Mrs ko leke gayi hun apne saath ..... Tumhara hone ke baad mujhe call kar dena tumhari Mrs lambigaadi ko bhijwa denge hum....

Aur haan, phool ko pheko mat .... Pehli phool hein uss paudhe ka jo tumhare liye kaata hein .... Rakh lo .... Vo ka kehte hein .... 'Present' 🎁 .... Present hein from your jungli'

After reading the letter a small yet cute smile crept on Aryan's face

He took a sip and knew it immediately that this is some desi nuska of his jungli to keep a check on his hangover. He smiled looking at the yellow flower on his table.

Unknowingly his fingers traced the edges of the petals of the flower making him feel the serenity of the touch.

Just like his jungli, the flower had it's own innocence and fragrance.

Wait

Wait

Wait

What did he just say ?

HIS jungli ?

HIS?

What the heck ?

When did she become his ?

Man ! Not again !

His jungli was making him go mad.......

Wait wait wait .......

Argh !

His jungli .... No

No

No

Imlie is jungli

That's it

Final !

He put the flower in his vase near the bedpost lamp and left to get ready for the day. Unknowingly he had placed the flower very close to his bed indicating she is close to him in every way.

Only the one who was sitting somewhere miles above the earth knew what would be the fate of these two pain struck souls !!!

The end

Do let me know your views on this !!

With love,

Writer_Ak ❤️