MItali Jain 

The cool weather around me, made me curl up even more, as I pulled my blankets closer, and as I did so, I felt something touching my cheeks, something so soft and soothing. It made me smile involuntarily, but that made me realize I wasn't able to fall back into the slumber again. As my eyes opened, I was met with a modern fall ceiling, something quite different from the one back home.

And soon as my memories began to come back to me, I realized I fell asleep while dadi was telling me a story. I quickly stood up, and realized I wasn't all alone in the room. As Jai turned around his attention now at me rather being on his clothes, it made me even more embarrassed.

This was the first time I was waking up in front of him. I immediately went off to set my hair and realized thankfully they were still in the plait that I had made this morning, which meant surely they won't be in that bad condition.

"You look good, chill no need to fret." He said, as he walked up to me and sat by my side on the bed.

"I fell asleep." I said. My cheeks began to grow warm at just the thought that I fell asleep in my grandmother in laws lap while she was talking to me.

"Yes you did, and that was the first time I had seen dadi so amused... but let it be aside, you tell me are you okay?"

I felt my eyebrows scrunching together, as i felt my forehead and swallowed trying to see any kind of hint of fever but found none.

"You don't have fever, but dadi thinks you were quite exhausted... I am really sorry if it's because of me Mitali."

"no Jai, I was just... last week was hectic you know that, and then yes, somewhere Daksh and Shakti have me worried, but this, us its making me worried more. I am sorry I shouldn't have spoken to you the way I did back then."

Jai took hold o my hand and kissed them, and then he came closer and kissed my forehead and said, "Shakti is fine, healthy, at the brink of making Veer go nuts, I have never seen him this worried as worried he is for her. I don't know the details, but all I know is he feels obligated towards her. Your Reyansh along with Shakti is handling the state matters, the government and the royals haven't really made a good combination there, but they are quite fine royals. "

"I don't have a direct conversation with them, it takes time... maybe we could get an appointment for you as well. I just don't want you falling ill and then sleeping here in my bed. This wasn't the way I had hoped you will be here for the first time." Jai teased as he leaned closer, to kiss me when I stopped him and said,

"Daksh?"

"He is still no news, none of the places that we know has his location, even Kaka- the caretaker of their house is missing which means that they are together. In fact, I had come to meet you only when I found you asleep this morning."

"Morning? What's the time?" I quickly turned around in search of a watch when Jai made me look at him, his breathtaking smile back in its place, as he said,

"It's almost 3 in the afternoon, I did called your mom and told her that you are helping me out with something so you will be coming back home directly in the evening so chill."

I nodded my head and asked, "You were saying that you wanted to talk to me about something."

"ahh yes, there is this one place that Daksh's former secretary claims he could be at... do you know something about it? The secretary said that he would always go there at there in the beginnings of the monsoon."

I wondered for some time, there were a lot of things that Daksh would talk about, but he would never tell me as well about his whereabouts. That person loved his privacy at quite a different level.

Letting out a huff, I looked at Jai and said, "Daksh is quite a difficult person." I bit my lips and then continued, "Do you think he might have been in some kind of accident or may be trouble? He would seem disturbed. There was a time when I had met him and Shakti to discuss whether I should go on a date with you or not. At that time he seemed so disturbed, I had joked about it, and tough he had just waved it off, I guess I should have pestered him more."

"It's okay Mitali; don't fret on it more, I had told you earlier, they had a choice to tell us and share their issues with us, and if they hadn't as of now, then may be the time isn't really yet for us to know about it."

I nodded my head at him, and hugged him tightly. We sat there just like that for a long while when all of a sudden he asked me,

"So you really did discuss whether you should go on a date with me with Shakti and Daksh?'

I let out a chuckle as I felt him tightening his hold on me. I tried to look up at him, but failed to see his expression, "I was just confused, and nervous, I wanted things to be perfect for us, and I was still wondering at that time that what was it that you liked about me."

"You doubted yourself?" he asked letting go off me. And it was at that moment I realized it was better when I was not able to see his face, I was able to talk at least.

"Obviously I did. I was just an assistant art curator, while you were the owner of so many industries. You were something that every girl dreamt off, you know a perfect celebrity crush material... and you don't get to go on date with your celebrity crush, never."

I raised my head, my cheeks burning up, it was weird to say out thing so loud even before accepting them consciously. These were the things that somewhere I did felt, I did had thoughts about, but those were to be categorized into that category, where you know that they are there, they are true and wish to just forget it at the very moment.

Jai took hold of my face in his hands and squashed my cheeks together first and then gave kiss on my check. Those sloppy kiss which mostly I had received when I was a kid from my mom, and I never really liked it, years later today I found out, it hasn't changed much as well.

I pushed his hands away and wiped off the little bit of saliva that was there on my cheeks and scowled at Jai, while he continued to laugh.

"This isn't funny; I do not like sloppy kisses."

"oh yes, your mom told me... but tell me something, did you really had that celebrity kind of crush on me?" the way his eyebrows wiggled up and down, made me even more irritated. Hence I pushed him back on the bed and stood up making a bee line towards the washroom, once freshened up, I walked out to find him now leaned by the head rest, his hands folded up on his head, as he watched me for a few minutes and said,

"You know the thought that soon this will be an everyday thing makes me all giddy. Mitali, why don't we, prepone our engagement and wedding...as it is you are already here..."

"I have a few lists to be checked out, Jai we will talk later on ." I said and let my eyes wander around in search of my belongings; I couldn't remember where I had kept them when I came here.

By the corner of my eyes I could see Jai getting up from the bed and walking up towards me, as he then wrapped his arms around me, is chin on my shoulders and my back glued to his front.

"chill, we will go with what is decided. But for now, just relax, we are still looking for Daksh and if we come to know about something I will tell you... okay?" he planted a kiss right beside my ears as I nodded my head with a smile.

We were still busy; and a lot cozy in that innocent act of ours when Jai's phone rang. Letting me go, he fetched it, while I began arranging the bed. The one sided conversation seemed to get me even more alter at the mention of Daksh's name.

Waiting patiently had never been as difficult for me as it had been at that few minutes. I looked up at him, as soon as he said a thanks, followed by a see you and he walked up to me and asked.

"Mitali, do you know a place that had a beach house that Daksh might have ever mentioned?'

"He never mentioned about any beach house.... Wait, Daksh might actually have a beach house!" I exclaimed as I took hold of his cell phone and unlocked it. Logging into my Gmail account, I searched for the mails that I had with the various art dealers who helped me find Arundhati chauhan's paintings.

Finding out the one I had been looking for, I showed it to Jai and said, "Look at this, this painting might be of some help to us."

Jai looked at the painting for a moment and then at me and said, "but Mitali what could be the gurantee that a place like this actually exists?"

"Gosh Jai, this painting is from her live collections. Arundhati Chauhan had a collection of paintings; this is just a part of it. We have one end of the painting the other ends are missing. We have to find them. And since it is actually is a live painting, there might as well be a place like this."

I went through yet few more of the mails and contacts, calling out to people enquiring about the rest of the collection. Most gave me a positive reply, yet many weren't able to reach, some were far away but provisions were made to get hold of tem as soon as possible.

It took us about 3- 4 hours to get most of the paintings; Naveen had as well got back at Jai's place with my mom surprisingly agreeing with me spending probably the night here.

As I downloaded yet another picture of the paintings, I quickly got it printed, and laid it on the table, the pages connecting the painting in one big scene.

It wasn't just yet completed though... the main thing was yet to be received. But the painting in that course of 5-6 paintings, it gave us all yet another depicture of the whole scene.

The 'tiny feets', through the remaining paintings now had a meaning, yet still unsolved, and incomplete.

Running off behind the various pages, that held the amateur paintings of the kids, as the little boy, I presumed Daksh hold on the girl, who wore a pretty frock, her legs bare, so were the boys, filled with sand. The chase gave them such a joy; the places that were a bit blur in the first picture were becoming brighter at each successive painting.

Each held a new meaning of childhood, some drew the signature sceneries filled with setting sun, some had the bright colorful flowers, and one had a family smiling at something.

"This isn't completed yet, we need to find these two paintings, it will only after we find them we would be able to tell what is it really about." I said, my eyes wandering off to the paintings, analyzing them, trying to depict yet another story of this said story that was hidden behind these paintings.

But above all the things that got me more curious was the yet discovery of what was it that the kids were running after?

What could be that amazing and beautiful that had Arundhati capture it, and call it the tiny feets.

Was there really a deep meaning to it, or I was just trying to find yet another unavailable meaning.

"I guess, we will work on this tomorrow, do you think we could show this to a few travel bloggers or something and can find out what this place is actually and where it is?" Naveen asked, his fingers knotted together while he rested his chin on them. The way he looked so serious at that moment made me chuckle for a moment even after the serious situation that we were in.

To be honest this seemed so much like a mystery movie, as if we had yet another Da vinci code that we had set to solve.

And even before we could get answer to all these questions, Jai asked yet another one.

"But more than that, what makes me confused is, even if this is Daksh, than who could possibly this girl be?"  

A/N

All  I would say is 

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Yadni Bagwe