In the morning, Ramit woke up first. It was a rare instance. On his side, Geetha sported an uncanny smile with her eyes closed, still in her slumber. Her face looked as silly as it looked dangerous.

Amused, Ramit grabbed his phone from the nightstand and captured the moment.

Then, he gently shook her. "What are you dreaming about?"

Her voice wasn't clear but he heard what was close to "World domination. Hidden."

He pinched her cheeks until she slapped him away with watery eyes.

"What were you dreaming?"

She rubbed her eyes. With a delay of a few seconds, she smiled at him and said, "Good morning."

Ramit was too curious to give up and he questioned her again.

"Five years down the lane, we will be stable. That's the maximum period. We can pull it off in three years too, but let's have a cushion, so five. Fifteen years from then, we should be a big player if we manoeuvre through all the changes in the market, public perception and society carefully."

Ramit's lips parted slightly. She was planning to be with him for at least 20 years. 20 years was a long time, and by then she would be 44 and he would be 47. They would have lived half of their lives. Warmth flooded his heart and he replied with some giddy aggression, "Hidden is to make this world a better place! Not for your world domination!"

Geetha nodded. He somehow heard her dreams. She kept thinking about how he avoided her apology and she slept a bit late brooding over it. She quickly took her mind off of it. "That's good too! If we expand too much, we won't have time for ourselves," she said, finally sitting up.

She really had a bright outlook, he thought. He was still not very confident about the company. "One wrong move costs everything, you know..."

"If something happens, we can just go back to our jobs."

"What about Hidden?"

"Liquidate, what else? I'm more worried about you. Don't attach yourself too much to it and be more pragmatic." She checked the time and got off the bed and headed to the bathroom.

Ramit smiled looking at her back as she left. He hoped all the flattery she was putting his mother through was to win some points to really share her life with him. He hoped that she genuinely wanted to be with him as much as he wished for her to be in his life.

He disliked her doing so, but it gave him hope.

∼•∽

Their day was busy. Ramit and Geetha drove to their office directly and by afternoon they went back home and started packing their luggage.

"Be careful, okay?" He said, unable to shake off his thoughts.

"I will. Nothing will happen to me."

Then she went to the hospital for her checkup and in the evening they started their journey to the village.

The place was much quieter in general and smelled of fresh humus and burnt dung. Geetha had been there only once, shortly after her marriage.

By the time they reached, it was past 10. Only Ramit's mother was awake. Ramit's parents had already arrived that morning. That night they did not disturb the wisest and oldest man of the house since it was too late.

The next morning, they realised almost all of their extended family members were present. Greetings and small talk ensued. Geetha found the faces familiar but did not know much about anyone. She quietly followed Ramit around with a smile. At some point, she slowly held his hand. Ramit turned to her in question but she kept her eyes forward. He smiled and let her be.

After exchanging some words they walked into the backyard. There was his great grandfather, flying kites in the warm sunshine under the clear sky with kids, and full of vitality. "Pardada!" Ramit said. The couple touched his feet as the old man blessed them. Ramit then hugged him.

"How are you two?"

"We're great. What about you, pardada?"

He gave out a hearty laugh, saying, "Too energetic!"

"How are you, Geetha?" He asked her.

"I'm also very good." She said quickly.

"I thought... you wouldn't come."

"How can I not, pardada-ji. Maa was a little worried but I went for a checkup yesterday and everything is fine," she said sweetly.

"She was the first to start packing," Ramit said.

Geetha nodded, showing no embarrassment, making both the men laugh and joining them in the next moment as she laughed along. Then she left them to help a kid whose kite flew in a sine wave just two metres above his head and fell to the ground.

The kid, if she remembered right, should be one of Ramit's third cousins. Funny how he was half Ramit's height. She asked him, "Are your legs hurt?" Why was the kid walking in circles within a yard if he wanted the kite to fly up and above? He had to run and let more of the string into the air. He did not seem to be hurt though.

The little boy pouted and ran to his brother, who was a head taller, with the string tightly gripped in his hand. Geetha sighed. Good thing, she had nothing better to do, or she'd have turned away from the little idiot.

She walked to the boys and said to the older boy making him frown, "You play on your own. I want to teach him."

The boy glared at her and whispered what seemed like safety precautions against her to his little brother and walked a few feet away, keeping his eyes on them.

"Are you scared of me?" she asked the little fellow who was pouting at his brother for leaving him with the intimidating woman.

"Geetha, careful!" Ramit's voice interrupted them.

She turned to him and nodded before turning back.

"You... are Ramit brother's?" the boy asked.

Amused at his words, she smiled and said, "Yup!" How annoying the kids were, she thought. How could he forget her face when he attended her wedding?

The boy's demeanour relaxed. "You know how to fly a kite?"

"Yes. What's your name?"

The boy turned his lips down. "Didn't my mom tell you at Ramit brother's wedding?"

Geetha pursed her lips. It turned out that he wasn't an idiot, or she was also an idiot. But didn't he just ask her who she was? "You also didn't remember me." How embarrassing! This was the closest she could do to defend herself.

He looked at her with disapproval. "It's Kunal."

"Ah. I'm Geetha."

"Oh. Then we're friends." He wiggled his body shyly as he handed her his kite, quietly asking her to make it reach above everyone else's.

"If Ramit is your brother, how did I become your friend?" She folded her hands, showing no intention of taking the string. How can such an inauspicious thing happen the second time? Does that mean she was going to get friendzoned a third time too? No. No. No. That could not happen.

"Oh. Then I'll call you didi."

"Fine." She still did not take the string. She walked to the spool that was lying on the ground and picked it up, letting its spokes lay on her palms. "I'll stand here. Hold the string losely and run that way. Start and stop when I tell you."

They had waited for a few seconds when the wind blew. She shouted out a few instructions as the spool in her hand spun and the reel of string thinned out. The yellow kite soared high. Kunal's laughter and giggles filled the backyard.

"Now just stand and let the air take the string. If it slackens, pull it. Got it?"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah!"

"Shall I keep this down then?" She had just seen that Ramit had finished speaking to his great grandfather. She wanted to go and hold his hand again.

"No! Don't go!" He was scared there'd be no one to tell him how to rescue his falling kite if the air stopped blowing.

"It's already so high up above!" It was among the few kites that were soaring high.

"I want it to go higher!"

Geetha pursed her lips.

"Go and sit there." Ramit took the spool from her hands. She did not notice when he sneaked on her.

Exasperated, she said, "What will I do sitting there while you stand here? I wanted to come to you."

Ramit squeezed his eyes and looked up. He wanted to cover his face but the spool occupied his hands. She really gave him goosebumps being so direct with everything.

"Ramit brother, give it back to Geetha didi. Your kite did not fly that time!"

Ramit scoffed at the kid. That one time was three years ago. His mom had dragged him to meet them for some reason. The problem was with the knots of the kite. That day they did not stay for long enough for him to fix them for Kunal.

"Okay. Tell me when you're tired." He handed it back to Geetha.

She held it tightly, not letting the kite go any further. "You should say, either I'll hold it or manage on your own." He was letting a kid talk to him like that and did not do anything about it except dropping his smile. Who did she learn to fly kites from, if not from the duo of Abhay and him in the school grounds during two certain Januaries?

"Geetha didi!" A confused voice shouted at the couple.

"Leave it!" Ramit slapped her hand, making her let the string loose. Revenge really gave her the kicks.

Kunal turned back to his kite as the air took it higher. Finally, he let the couple leave when the string was exhausted. Geetha tied the end to the wooden pole of the house. Their observant great granddad walked to Ramit and asked what they were doing. When they told him, he laughed and said, "Good idea!" He turned to Kunal. "Kunal's kite is still flying high!" The little boy threw his fists in the air in celebration. Rest of them had wound their string back and had called it a day more than an hour ago. The old man held Kunal's hand and said, "Time for lunch."

∼•∽

The week went by in a wink. Geetha spent most of her time around her mother-in-law. She saw Ramit and his dad engaged in a conversation with Ramit's great granddad quite often. She saw Ria too talking with the old man every now and then but many times she caught her being lost. She wanted to ask about it, but she felt it would be intruding. If Ria wanted to talk, she would. If she ever needed to talk to her in particular then also, she would. She didn't like herself to be disturbed when she felt she needed some time to herself. So she did not bother Ria.

When the festival was around, the whole family enjoyed their stay in the cosy village. At the dawn of Lohri, as they sat around the bonfire, the old man narrated something unique and intriguing. It was a surreal experience he had during his trip to Kailash last month.

"We were a group of... some 200, meditating at Mansarovar. I had the japmala in my hand and we were sitting on the bank facing Kailash mountain... The chill numbed my feet and then all of my skin. Then all of a sudden, I heard splashes and plops. I should not have gotten disturbed but... don't know why, I opened my eyes.

"That sound was of rainbows, on both sides, cascading from the pots of devadutas. When they touched the waters of Mansarovar, they turned into precious stones and fell to the ground beneath the clear water. Then Kailash-ji, with his jatas, descended from the sky with so much brightness... This is the closest I can describe it.

"Then... he came down and down and started going further down into the lake. Finally, his head was also submerged."

Geetha listened attentively while Ramit did not know what to think. He was amused but that was all.

"Really?" a teen, another cousin of Ramit, asked. Geetha's eyes turned towards the boy as contempt filled them. Ramit caught her change. The questions in his mind vanished. God was real then, he thought.

"Hahaha..." The old man laughed. "Of course it is real. I saw it. Rahul did not. Well, he had his own tensions to concentrate on meditation." He nodded at Ramit's father, on whose shoulder lay Ria's head. Her lips had a small and sad pout.

"Only 21 people were fortunate enough to see the lord. We were all stunned. We were shouting about it. We were telling others to see too. It was all chaos until he went into the lake."

"Only 21? All at the same time?" Geetha asked, fascination and curiosity evident in her eyes.

"Yes. All of us saw the same. On the bus later, we were trying to tell each other what happened. But one spoke Marathi, another spoke Bengali, one more spoke Telugu, hahaha... Then others helped translate our speech. That's how we know what we saw was the same and so, it was real. It was so bright. After this, I can keep my eyes open even if you show me a lakh light bulbs lit at once!" he explained amid the pops of the bonfire in the beautiful twilight.

Ramit felt slight goosebumps as he listened. At the same time, he also felt Geetha's grip on his palm tighten. She was so still and absorbed. He slowly patted her hand before softly rubbing it with his thumb. It brought Geetha out of her reverie. She turned to him and smiled, feeling a little embarrassed. He returned her smile.

As the whole family said it was a great thing to happen and that they were lucky and that the old man had a long life to live, the sun rose over the horizon, quivering for those who looked at it through the fire.

∼•∽

Long A/N: It gets brighter as you read.

I have something to confess at this point. I often forget I'm writing a romance and not an adventure and I bring in too many diverse topics. I itch to do away with these and they seem to be unnecessary, but these are my intricate creations of writing. I can only take comfort that as a new adult book, it has scope for these explorations. I hope you are okay with these... ('-_-';)

I found something amazing on YouTube! You guys know I'm a little paranoid with how I may be reading from memory while proofreading, right? If I use a read-aloud software (browser extension) then it reads at a normal speed. I no longer speed read since I know/remember. I bet this chapter does not have a single mistake! Of course, do flag if you find any. <(￣︶￣)>

More importantly, after some extra pomodoros than what I estimated, I have completed writing the story! Zen mode done. I'll be as active I usually am! There are a few deleted scenes and extras which I should figure out what to do with, if they would be good for an epilogue and if an epilogue is needed at all. For now there are 32 chapters. With epilogue, it would be 33. Word count went a little over 78K, a very good length for a novel. (Although I have doubts if there is so much plot to call this a novel but I am not an over writer, so I guess I'm happy. 32... It's on the verge of becoming bulky.) ᕙ( : ˘ ∧ ˘ : )ᕗ

1K votes. THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH! ( ꈍᴗꈍ)

Most importantly, this book has won an award! It was chosen as top 1 among 10 entries in the Romance category. Mini Awards of TEEN_FIX. First award and I'm surging with exhilaration, feeling very grateful. THANK YOU! ✧◝(⁰▿⁰)◜✧