9. Inclination

WILL

I finally opened up to her that night. I told her every insecurity, betrayal. She listened to me carefully without interruption. I was afraid to think she might judge me after knowing everything about me. But that thing never happened. She was encouraging me all the time. The way she was massaging my scalp really comforting to me. I didn't know I would ever run into someone I barely know and would tell everything about me. But I trust her, well she earned it the hard way.

Life is unpredictable. Life played you many ways then it eventually turns from another way where you can find the essence of life. The essence can be anything or anyone to whom you destined to be together.

Maybe after twenty-nine years of vulnerability, I got to know who is my essence of life, my savior, my soulmate. It is true that when we became mature enough we will find defiantly get to meet someone special who is also waiting for you for a long time. We just have to wait for the right time.

I was excited for the journey with her. I wanted to savor every single moment with her. I always got a positive vibe and calmness from her. She was tiny but stronger. She was kind yet firm.

She was younger than me but experienced enough to beat anyone with her intelligence. She must have been through a lot, that was why she becomes rebellious. Still, she won the whole villagers' hearts and earn respect and unconditional love from them. I felt lucky to meet her.

I would always remember this journey. I would miss her extremely, I was enjoying every passing second with her by my side.

I was laying on her lap, while she admitted whatever happened with me, was for the better. She told me that I was saved from my ex-fiance, it was good that I came to know their betrayal or my marriage would be ruined and my life as well. 

She also praised my friend and said he was my true friend. He cared, So he was hell-bent to find the proof for me where I always used to think he envied me or being overprotective. She was right, I should have believed him rather defending my so-called girlfriend. I was blind, hell I needed to find the truth by me.

She told me everything would be alright. She encouraged me by saying I was strong, not vulnerable, I could change the whole situation in the right way. She always gave me a positive vibe. She believed in my capability and persistence. I felt like my positive thoughts were pushed away my all negativities.

After some moment of my revelation, I was laying on her lap. After half an hour I stirred and looked at her, She was drifted into sleep while her hand was still on my head creasing softly. 

I felt bad the way she was laying there, so I carefully got away from her and hold her head and waist by hands to lay her down and put her head on the pillow. I brought her close to my chest and wrapped my hand around her. I watched her closely and memorizing every part of her face. I felt like a creep, by I could not help it. I creasing her face gently and tracing her face with my fingers,  I would draw her face when I to go back to my place. I was good at sketching. 

I tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, then observing her steady breath and she snuggled closer to me. I knew we were friends but friends do hug, right. So, without thinking about the next morning, I pulled her closer and sniffing the fragrance of her hair I drifted into sleep with satisfaction. 

The next day, I wake up before her but laid there holding her in my arms. I observed she put her one hand on my chest and another one was around my torso and our legs were entangled. Great! she will definitely gonna freak out, I thought. I sensed her waking up, so I quickly closed my eyes pretending like I was still asleep. 

She woke up and gasped inaudibly but didn't scream, I felt a burning stare on me. But I didn't move a bit, only I just pulled her even closer. I was playing with her. Damn me! She sucked in a breath. She couldn't decide what to do and how to escape from my cage. She then tapped my nose, but I still pretended to sleep.

She released a deep breath, maybe she was holding from the time she woke up. She muttered to herself, "Goodness, How do I do now? Sleeping beauty is still asleep. How come we ended up in this position?".

I mentally chuckled, and told myself, " Oh Sweety, I will take my sweet time to wake up and will tease you how you can't take your hands away from me". I mentally grinned.

With her, I feel contented. I totally forgot about my suicidal attempt, for the first time I thanked God to send her to save me from making a big mistake. Lots of people would be affected if anything had happened to me. I hope my secretary and lawyer were taking a good look at my company. I believed in them. My company needed me, I had to return quickly after the end of that the trip with Rika.

After some time I stirred and opened my eyes and saw she was staring at me with her large brown eyes. Her face flushed and she was trambling.

I smirked at her and said, " Wow ! what a beautiful view. You can't keep your hands off me, I see".

She widened and then narrowed her eyes at me.

She stated, " Good Morning to you too. And look at your hands' sweetheart. You are also in the same position as me".

My heart skipped a bit of her using endearment to me. 

I lifted my one eyebrow and said, " Watch your legs babe, you were taking advantage of me while I was asleep".

She saw and sucked in a breathe. I observed her face which becomes crimson red. 

I chuckled and said, " See I told ya. Looks like the rain still didn't stop from last night".

She hummed, Said, " Yes, in my defense friends can hug, but we shouldn't make a big deal with it. We slept comfortably though".

I nodded and said, " I can't deny, but we need to get up and order our breakfast"

She nodded and called room service, we have our breakfast and then we showered. 

We then sat on the bed and did nothing. 

Rika suddenly growled and muttered something under her breath.

The sight of her repulsiveness was quite funny. She was way too pissed and cursed the weather.

I chuckled and said, " Getting bored are we?"

She pouted and said, " We even can't go out of here. The condition of the road is good but still, we have to stay in this place."

I suggested, " We can use umbrella though, and can roam around the streets. What do you think?"

She replied," That's tempting. Let us go then. We can also buy travel books as it will be defiantly available in the markets as it is a tourist place kind of."

We both surprisingly wore the same colored outfit and boots. We both smiled cheekily and she exclaimed, " Let's take a picture and enjoy out stuck up day."

She took a snap of us and then we went out of our hotel room.

The manager greeted us and we started roaming around the street of that hill station.

We bought some necessary items, travel books, and her camera reels. Then we went nearby to an antique store where she dragged me and stared at a simple yet elegant silver bracelet. 

An old lady came and said, " It is a bracelet for couples dear, You both can wear this with everything."

Rika said, " Oh, that's nice. How much is it? We wanna buy both."

She told the price and gave it to us.

Rika grabbed one bracelet and put it around my wrist And said, " Now help me to ware my bracelet".

I smiled and put it on the wrist. 

We didn't notice that old woman still staring at us. She grinned and commended, " You both are the cutest couple I have ever seen. Next time please visit here with your children, I will be glad to see you the cutest family again. May God bless you both."

I and Rika were utterly shocked. We didn't know how to reply. But Rika quickly recovered and said, " Sure Grandma, We will defiantly. But you have to promise to take care of your health. Take care of yourself, grandma."

The old lady smiled and said, " Such a sweetheart you were. I will. Just come and visit quickly with my grandkids."

Rika nodded firmly and bide goodbye to her. Rika dragged me out from that shop and we both went near a coffee shop. We placed our things on the table and sat across each other.

Rika was totally red. Her cheeks, tip of her nose and ears to till her collarbone was crimson red. I had a wild imagination though, what if I kissed her suddenly or what if I accidentally see her coming from the washroom taking a bath with a towel wrapped around her, hair scattered on her face. I imagined what it would be looked like if she suddenly saw me standing there and watching instantly, would she be the same crimson red till above her breasts area. Oh My!

Dear God, what was I thinking? She was my friend, a very kind one. How come I think this way about her. Still, I am a man. We fantasy a lot. It was our hormonal nature. 

When the old lady said that we were a cute couple and to bring our babies next time with us to visit her; it was embarrassing and quite heartwarming to think that way.

And when Rika said we would bring them, it was surely made my heart swell. I knew it was not possible Yet, maybe we would hit it off, as we don't know what our fate is.

If time was right, I would definitely make her mine, and there would be no going back. I was sure she was the one. She was my soulmate and will be my everything. From the very first time, I saw her, listened to her voice, fell unconscious on her lap, I instantly felt like I finally found my home.

Back now to reality, our order arrived we ate our lunch and started walking toward our hotel silently. The rain finally stopped and the weather was cleaned but sun rays still didn't touch the ground. Maybe we could finally go out for camping.

We reached our hotel room and freshen up and sat on the bed. Rika brought her camera and laptop together and plugged it and turned on the laptop where I was reading the newly bought travel books.

Rika cleared her throat and said, " You didn't mind about me lying to the old woman right?"

I answered her methodically, "Why would I? You did the right thing, We had to lie, else we may complicate the thing to her. It is better than this way".

She agreed and said, " You are right, I must be overthinking."

I playfully ushered, " Though I don't mind to come with you here next year with our kid to visit her. You can always fulfill your promise to her, it is definitely up to you."

Rika was crimson red. It was her the most embarrassing day ever. I started laughing at her to see her mortified condition. She then smacked my arm and covered her face with her palms.

She then looked at me and said, " I will always count on you, don't worry. You can't take back your word when the time comes." She lifted an eyebrow. Oh so she was challenging me, That's fine by me.

I nodded firmly and said, " I always keep my words. For you, I will always be available".

She smirked and said, " We will see."

Well, she was anything but easy. She can switch her personality prominently and she was kind of a puzzle to me. I will investigate about her the time I will return back to my mansion, I decided.

I smiled and started reading those books and where she was merging the pictures and making videos. 

While reading, suddenly I got to see some of my pictures of Hardley Village. She was storing all the pictures in one folder with different name tags and moments. She suddenly caught me staring at the pictures. She smiled and said, "Wanna see my photos and videos?"

I nodded, she showed me and told me which pictures were taken from where. There had some of my single photos near the waterfall, at the farm while planting seeds in the field, some were with kids during our study session. She captured several poses of mine through her camera. There had several different kinds of scenarios of nature, videos too. I also saw some of our pictures together. One picture caught my attention where we both were looking like a happy couple near the river while facing sunset near the waterfall. It was an amazing view to observe.

She noticed and said, " I already made an email address for you where I will send these pictures and videos. As I said before I will keep in touch. Whether you will be free, mail me, I will talk to you. We will talk via email. I will give you an email address and phone number on our last day of this trip."

I Just listened, to the thought of being apart with her made my heartache. I wanna stay. But we both know, we have to go back to our place and had to fix our shit. We needed to work hard and face the world in our ways. I had to do it, for me, for Rika as she believes in me and kept encouraging me.

I nodded, and said, " That day I have to call my men to prepare things for my arrival, I will also keep in touch with you."

She beamed and we started doing our own stuff peacefully. Then we watched the weather is clear, so we started packing and will check out early in the morning. We already told a driver to pick us up at 8 am so we can reach out destination on time. We were excited. I came to know about the place clearly after reading the whole article, books, and place videos from the internet.

We ordered our dinner early so we could sleep and woke up early. We did as we decided. 

The next day we woke up and watched sun rays coming from the window, the weather was clear and the day was perfect. We took a shower and got ready, we checked out and went to a nearby restaurant for breakfast. After having breakfast we bought some food and coke to eat on the road as it was three hours journey. We waited for the driver and finally, we were going there.