Chapter 9


    Chapter 9: The Meeting


    Abhay''s P.O.V


    Since I had gotten up well before sunrise, I decided to first clean up and then quickly changed into some loose fitting pants and a T-shirt and pack up


    my camera so I could head to the desert for some shots of the sunrise. I brushed on my way out and caught a motor van ride into the desert along


    with some other men and women who were heading to Jaipur. I was also able to get a cup of piping hot tea on the way along with some biscuits that I


    enjoyed in the cool morning breeze as the motor van left the cemented town road and entered the bumpy desert road.


    I found a suitable ce to get off and waved the other passengers goodbye as I hoisted my backpack over one shoulder and headed toward the


    desert to find a suitable spot for taking pictures.


    Once I''d found a spot, I set my backpack down and began taking pictures of the sun as it rose above the dunes at first with an orangish-pink hue and


    then slowly turned bright yellow. It was a magnificent view and thankfully, a herd of camels decided to pass by me at the same time and I asked the


    man in charge to help pose with his camels for a shot or two.


    By the time I was done taking photographs, it was almost eight in the morning and the heat had began to rise. I wiped some sweat from my brows.


    and took out my water canteen to take a few sips of water before I headed back. But when I finally packed up my backpack and looked around, all I


    saw was sand dunes for miles on end without a single trace of a camel or a van to help me get back to the vige.


    “Oh, shit!” I pped my palm against my forehead in dismay. I might have gotten here easy but I hadn''t even thought about how I''d get back to the


    vige without any help. As far as I remembered, I wasn’t that far out of that vige. maybe a couple kilometers at best...but in which direction was it


    again? The sand was confusing my sense of direction and I hadn''t even bothered to bring mypass with me!


    Wait a minute! I still had my phone! Fishing it out of my pocket, I flipped it open and called the hotel I was staying in, but no one picked up the phone.


    Just my goddamned luck!


    “Wait, jiji!


    My head snapped up at the direction of the voice. There was someone else here! Awoman, most probably two. They could help me find my way


    back! Or maybe they have a camel or something that I could ride? I didn’t want to get my hopes up but when I heard that voice again, I was sure that


    I wasn''t alone. Someone wasing from behind one of the sand dunes and by the direction of the voice, I could tell that they were heading towards


    me. So I stayed put and hoped for the best.


    Her hair came into sight first but no one would be able to tell by the way they blended so beautifully with the white sands in front of her. Today, she


    was wearing a ghagra choli in deep blur and sky. The ss embroidery work in her ghagra caught the light of the sun and reflected it on the sand


    making it look like the sand around her was glowing. For a second my heart stopped as her icy blue eyes scanned the area around her and then


    finallynded on me.


    The temperature dropped by several degrees and I felt like I was back inside my dream in that snow coveredndscape, looking back at the white


    wolf with the same blue eyes. Something passed between the two of us right then and there, something I had no clue about. But I felt it to my bones.


    the connection, the attraction and the tension. And by the way her eyes stared me down; I knew she felt it too.


    “Jiji, why do you always-huh? Who are you?”


    The trance was broken and I shook


    my head to dear it. When I looked


    back at the duo, I found the ck ~


    haired waman looking at me withe>


    open ifitérest. I cleared my threat


    befaré''I answered. "Hi...L..Umin...m


    Abkay Rathore.” I waved atthem


    awkwardly. “And I think..{m lost.”


    “Oh?” The dark haired woman looked surprised. “You look familiar, have we met before?


    “N-no.” I shook my head and cursed myself for stammering. “But I was in the dhaba yesterday...in the afternoon.


    “Ah! That''s why I thought I''d seen you before.” She pped her hands together. “Well Abhay, you''re in luck. We''re headed back to town ourselves.


    You can tag along if you want to.”


    “Ruksaar!” The silver haired woman spoke for the first time since I’d seen her and her words sounded like a melody from some faraway ce to my


    ears, although the warning was clear in her voice.


    “Oh,e on, jiji!” Ruksaar, now I finally had a name to one of the faces, batted her long eyshes at the silver haired woman. “You certainly won''t


    say no to a lost traveler? Besides, we''re heading to the vige anyway.


    “Fine,” the silver haired woman rolled her eyes in disinterest. “He can tag along.”


    I blinked at her in surprise. “Hey! You have a Indian ent!” The words were out before I could stop myself. Damnit! I wasn’t normally this shy around


    women but being near these two was really intimidating. Why did I feel so intimidated by them anyway?


    “Why wouldn''t she?” Ruksaar looked at me as if I was some kind of a weird specimen. “She is Indian.”


    I looked at them both in surprise


    once again. She was Indian? How?


    She had bright silver hair and her >


    eyes weté blue, not to mention her


    skin color was really light, just like


    foreigners. But she did have an


    Indian ent..maybe soméone in


    Hét family had married aforeigner?


    “Come on, then, let''s get back already. I’m starving.” Ruksaar spoke to me as the duo descended down the dune and began moving west. in the


    direction of the vige.


    “Sure.” So the followed behind the women back to the vige.


    We walked the rest of the way to the


    vige in silence. Both Ruksaar and


    her sister were really fast, I could


    hardly keep up with them despite the


    long strides, but it was an


    experienced itself walking with .


    them. I dent know how they could:


    walk safast despite wearing such


    heavyémbroidered clothing but''they


    somehow managed it. At one point,


    tbe winds picked up, scattering sand


    everywhere and I had to Gover my


    eyes so as to block the particles


    from entering my eyes, but since I


    was standing right behind Ruksaar’s


    sister, I got a whiff of her scent. The


    strange thing was, it wasn''t a scent


    I''d ever smelled before and yet I


    could tell what that scent was even


    though I knew such a thing didn''t


    have any scent, and it took me right


    back to my nightmare. Content


    belongs to NovelDrama.OrgExclusive ? content by N(?)ve/l/Drama.Org.


    Because that scent...it was the scent of snow.