The Pink Pearls- Part 3

Asha approaches Ajit’s car with 2 cups of steaming coffee. Ajit brightly smiles at the prospects of some fuel to his blood and thanks Asha. Maya however is not quite sure if the coffee is for her. She just keeps looking at her fingers.

“This coffee is for you. I am not sure how you take your coffee but this dabha doesn’t have cream anyway!” laughs Asha.

“Thank you”, Maya gingery accepts the cup.

As she was taking the cup, Asha notices some burn marks on Maya’s palm. She keeps her mouth shut for it really is not her business.

“They are still serving dinner Ajit. If you want breakfast, we should wait for another 1 hour it seems” Asha says.

“No, 1 hour is too long. Lets just eat a very late dinner and get going”.

“What do you want to eat then? They have Biryani!” grins Asha.

“Of course they serve Biryani for you! What else do they have?”

“They have a veg-plate and non-veg plate, that’s all”

Ajit turns to Maya, “What would you like to have? Not that there is much of a choice”

Not used to being given a choice, Maya blushes not knowing what to say.

As if guessing what is going on through Maya’s mind, Ajit says, “Asha, we both will have non-veg plates. And thank you for doing this”.

“Any time buddy” walks off Asha.

As the friends gather around the car with their plates, one by one, they start to notice how exceptionally beautiful Maya is. With a simple salwar kameez, which almost covers neck to toe and a simple string of pink pearls, Maya was looking like an Angle in the moon light.

Only Aruna and Asha noticed how attentive Ajit was towards Maya and flinch. They cannot bear to see their friend hurt. Maya is their ‘prisoner’ who has to return when all is set and done. Asha shares with Aruna what she had seen on Maya’s palms. Both of them exchange worried glances.

On the other hand Ajit cannot keep his attention on anything other than on Maya. Something in her is so worrying. She flinches even to gulp water. Is she OK? Perhaps she has fever and she is not supposed to have non-veg? Perhaps she is cold in cotton cloths? Perhaps he should offer his coat? Perhaps he should stop caring so much. She is their prisoner and nothing more than that.

After they finished dinner/breakfast, they set on road again; this time Aruna was behind the wheel with Tarun by his side and Ajit and Maya behind. Aruna was surprised that Ajit had removed Maya’s blinds. This was the first time she had seen him…slacking off, if she can give one word for it. But she hoped to God that Ajit is not falling in love with the beauty that is beside him. She wished Asha was in the same car. A quick look at her the friends would convey volumes of conversation.

In the car which is following theirs, Asha was thinking exactly the same.

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It was 7:00 AM. Seth couldn’t go to Maya’s room that night because he had come across his ex-wife who insisted on spending time with him. With her on his side, he couldn’t have dreamt to go To Maya’s room. He would go first thing after shower. He already missed her.

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Maya has never seen a beach as she never did she step out of Hyderabad. She had only read in books about how beautiful beaches are. She was genuinely awed for the first time in her life. She knew that in Kerala there are lots of coconut trees but nothing had prepared for the beautiful Kovalam.

Suddenly she was filled with dread. Seth must be looking for her since long time. She wonders what is going on back in Hyderabad.

As she was finishing her thoughts Ajit says to Maya, “We are going to stay here for 3 days. Then we will be boarding a ship leaving to Kanya Kumari and from there, we will be heading to Canada”.

Aruna and Tarun are completely shocked by this revelation. They had never EVER told their prisoners their future plans. This confirmed Aruna’s suspicion that something is going on in Ajits mind. And she can’t deny the fact that he is refusing to meet Arunas eyes, no matter how hard she tried.  This further proves her point.

At no point the friends’ attention was completely diverted, should Maya attempt escape.