Chapter 123

She had hardly noticed Akshar during dinner, since she was occupied with a couple of other guests over there. Three families that were there were their neighbors who left after a while and some with small kids chose to retire for the night and she was there with just his immediate family and a family friend.

She chose not to have any wine, somehow she had a feeling that it would make her feel worse, and add to the calories she had already loaded for the day. The conversations continued for a while and when it was past midnight she knew she has to get some rest. She was reluctant to ask where she can rest her head, since she was a last minute unexpected guest.

She managed to smile and stay up for a while and luckily everybody felt as tired as she did and she felt relieved that she can get some sleep. She always carried a travel kit in her bag, and especially this time she had more than what she wanted since she had stayed at Chari’s. Akshar took her to the same guest room where she had stayed last time when she was there, but this time it only had one bed. She was happy that she could finally sleep!

Chapter 122

Everything on the table looked delicious, the turkey, cranberry sauce, potatoes, pumpkin pie, naans, chole, salad, tortellini, some kind of flavored rice, from he look of it, it looked like Mexican. There were pastries, Soufflé and a cheese cake to add to the desserts. All the things that had been happening around her she had not realized that she was hungry; the sight of food triggered her senses and she was happy to be there.

She look odd with his sweater on, but she felt a little cold and was reluctant to take it off and somehow as if she read her mind her sister took her aside and gave her a nice sweater, which from the feel of it she could say was cashmere and had a rich look to it. To her amazement it even made her pants look good. She gladly accepted it and was offered a seat on the table next to Akshar.

In a glance one could say there were about twenty to twenty five guests including kids and she wondered if she had cooked all these on her own. She felt a little out of place, but within minutes she started to feel at ease and was actually having a nice conversation with a total stranger and a scrumptious meal.

Chapter 121

She was worried, not panicky anymore, a little scared though. He asked her if he could see her lips and he could see it was starting to get a little better but will take some more time. He suggested that they go in and maybe try something like drinking some warm water or maybe his sister might have a better idea, but she was not ready to go in looking like that.

Even though she didn’t say that to him, just by his observation he decided not to pressure her into going into a crowd and meeting his family, with frostbite. He didn’t know what else to try and decides to call his fried asking him if he had any suggestion on what to do. After a five minute conversation, with some reluctance he ended the phone conversation and released his seatbelt and turned towards her.

He hesitated for a movement and asked her to turn towards him and started to explain what will get the blood vessels activated and since his earlier technique had helped her to some extent and maybe this will to. He took her face in his hands, brought them closer to his, covered her lower lip with his and ran his tongue onto her lip in a massaging motion and after a couple of minutes she was starting to feel his lips and he slowly pulled back as if a doctor had done his job.

Chapter 120

She tried and after a few minutes it seemed to make some difference, she felt like her lips were numb, but she could feel something. She couldn’t have her face near the vent since she felt suffocated, but kept trying to warm up her lip and to get some blood circulation going. Without realizing she was slowly starting to panic, and the though of what led to her being here also played a part in it.

He couldn’t take his eyes of the road and he was driving pretty slowly due to the bad weather. Usually it takes about five to eight minutes to get his sisters from his friends, but today he was expecting at least fifteen minutes to get there. He took the last turn onto her street and he had to drive till the end since she lived almost near the end. He could see cars all over the street and he kept the conversation going.

When he noticed that she was starting to panic, he didn’t have much of a choice but to pull over on the side and attend to her. Her face was almost pale and he took her face in his hands and tried to calm her and it was starting to work. Once she was much calmer, her started the engine and parked right in front of her sisters blocking her drive way since he couldn’t find a spot to park.

Chapter 119

She felt a little chill, but it was not as bad as it was before and they pulled out of the driveway onto the road. Just then she noticed that he was dressed really well and she was in her jeans and was too casual and suddenly it occurred to her that today was thanks giving and she will be joining his family for dinner.

She knew she can’t do much about her cloths, but the least she could do is look a little better and decide to put some lipstick on and pulled down the mirror. She opened her bag and pulled out a lipstick and tried to apply on her lips, she couldn’t feel her lower lips and when she looked into the mirror, she didn’t like what she saw, it was turning blue, as if she had frostbite.

He turned around and looked at her and realized what had happened and he asked her to rub her lower lips with her hands to see if it makes any difference. She did as she was told and she was not sure if it made any difference and was starting to get a little scared. He asked her to fold lower lip within her upper lip and rub her tongue against it to generate some heat with her face near the vent.

Chapter 118

It was still pouring outside and she felt a little bad for upsetting them and it all reminded her of her reason to get out of there; her conversation with Chari’s wife, a trip down her memory lane etc and she was starting to feel tense all over again. A trip down the memory lane started to disturb her all over again and she was struggling to get back to reality.

Akshar suggested that she can join his family for dinner and can stay at his sisters that night, which she might find out to be quiet comfortable. She nodded with half her attention somewhere else and she walked into the bathroom to pick up her belongings. To her surprise, she was handed a bag by his fried before she could ask for one.

Akshar noticed that she was still feeling cold and offered her sweater and his rain coat and asked her to come through the garage and to avoid any more damage. He ran to the car with an umbrella and started the car. She wore his sweater that was quite big, and had to fold her sleeves up tuck it in her pants to keep her warm. She wore the rain coat and his friend directed her through the garage and she got into the car and were ready to go.

Chapter 117

She asked Akshar if she could make a call and before she could finish her sentence she had his cell phone in her hand ready to dial. It was a flip phone, Motorola and was very sleek and weighed less than five ounces. If one is not used to it, may not even realize that they are carrying a cell phone.

She dialed Chari’s number and before a second ring someone on the other side had picked up the phone. Without waiting fro an response from the other side, she let them know who was calling and as she had expected it was Pryag. She could sense how worried he was by the tone of his voice and she briefed him about what had happened and that she was doing fine and will see him tomorrow.

She could hear Chari in the background and a couple of other voices and she had to talk to Chari personally to reassure him. She had not expected his wife to come on line, but it was quiet obvious how worried all of them were and she apologized for taking off like that earlier and promised them that she will be there once the storm ends.

Chapter 116

She was a little surprised t see that her lips had turned a bit black and she was not really worried, maybe drinking some warm water would probably help and freshened a little bit and she started to feel a little better. She decided against the lipstick since it might take the moisture away from her lips and decide to go with just her chap stick and some lip gloss and she was ready to step out.

She didn’t know what to do with her wet cloths and decided that she could carry them in a plastic bag and maybe wash them once she gets back home. She suddenly realized that she must call Chari and Pryag and let them know that she is doing okay; she knew she would be worried about her since she had just took off earlier that day.

She stepped out and was greeted by his friends whom she had seen earlier and had hardly noticed, she remembered there were four of them and no one were introduced and she had immediately rushed to the bathroom since she was soaking wet. She realized they had increased the temperature for her and were all feeling hot and were just wearing a simple T-shirt and their sweaters were on their chairs.

Chapter 115

She hurriedly grabbed everything and closed the door and was still shivering, more than before since the towel had unveiled and exposed her legs adding to its misery. The room was slowly starting to warm up and she stepped towards the vent and was starting feel the heat and the parts of the body that didn’t feel the heat were still shivering. She used up all the towels and was finally dry and pulled out the cloths from her bag and was started to get dressed.

Akshar’s phone started screaming and he knew who it would be and as he had expected it was his sister calling to find out if everything was fine. He briefed her about his encounter and asked her if there was room for one more guest at the table and his sister gladly agreed to his request and the conversation ended with a happy note.

She felt a little better with a fresh set of cloths and with the warmth of the vent, but she was still not back to normal and wished she had a sweater or something to keep her warm. She decided to put on some makeup, since she was pretty sure her face was messed up and felt her face was a bit stiff from being exposed to such cold.

Chapter 114

Her lower half of the body was completely drenched and her pants were dripping in the tub. Every drop touched her socks before draining into the tub. She felt cold so cold even after getting rid of her pants and her socks and the towel that wrapped her around her lower half wasn’t helping much. Fortunately her coat had protected her to an enormous extent and her upper body had been spared from getting wet.

It didn’t really matter since she felt cold all over the place and was trying to get a grip and stepped out on the mat from the tub hoping to get away from the cold dripping water from her pants. It didn’t seem to help much and she heard a knock on the door followed by a voice “I am leaving a couple of extra towels for you in case you need them”, followed by another voice and some murmurs and the other voice added “I m leaving your bag next to it and I believe you have an extra pair cloths in there. Let me know if you need anything”.

She dried her legs and tied the towel around her waist, which hardly extended up to her knee, still leaving a slit, revealing her smooth left leg. She waited a couple of minutes making sure that there was no one outside and slowly opened the door and the door made a slight creaking noise. She reached for the towel and grabbed it and had to open the door a little more to reach for her bag and when she almost did the knot on her waist unfolded revealing her naked waist and legs!

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The bathroom was practical and esthetic with a pale lilac wall paper with white flowers on them with a darker rug hugging the floor with matching towels hanging on the stands with a face towel placed or a wore mesh basket with golden handles next to the sink welcoming anyone who steps in to feel at home.

The vase that was standing beside seemed a bit huge fro that room but somehow it blended unusually well even with it bright colored flowers. The cabinets were dark Mahogany with golden knobs giving a rich look to a small space and were well polished and looked as if they were brand new.

The curtain that separated the bathroom from the rest of the space matched well with all the other accessories starting from the soap dish to the toilet cleaner in the room. She stepped into the tub and pulled the curtain behind her and started to undress and her legs and hands were quiver so bad it could be heard form outside even with the loud noise of the TV.

Chapter 112

Chari looked at his restless son walking like a cat in the family room, frantic and worried than he had ever seen him before. He knew she meant a lot to him, and not knowing where she is, leaving her cell phone behind and in such a weather condition, he was equally worried too.

In the past couple of hours he and Pryag had tried calling half a dozen of phone numbers trying to find out where she was. Chari had even gotten a bit upset with his sister for loading her with such questions of marriage. He knew both his sister and Diya very well so he knew his sister had asked those questions from the bottom of her heart and at the same time having known Diya for all these years, it is like invading her privacy, especially by a total stranger.

Chari had been constantly watching the news regarding the weather and report of any accidents, he prayed that wherever she was she was safe and sound. Pryag was trying to think of all possible contacts and cross checking if he missed anyone and he wished she would somehow call them to let them know that she was doing okay.

Chapter 111

She felt miserable and cold even after being received with a warm welcome. She hardly hear his friends murmuring that he could have given them a heads up that he was bring a girl along and they would have tidied up. The owner of the house showed her to the bathroom while Akshar took care of the car being towed.

She desperately wanted to get warm, she had not realized that she was drenching in spite of being exposed to heat in the car. Her expensive designer coat had lost its charm and value after bathing in the rain miserably failing in its job trying to protect her. Her gloves, coat, and her jeans could fetch a half a bucket of water and would take quiet some time in the drier to dry out.

She couldn’t get rid of her cloths not yet, she has to wait for Akshar to get her bag from the car, trying to dry herself with a towel wasn’t really helping and she was starting to feel as if she were floating, slowly realizing she couldn’t feel her legs and the same sensation was slowly creeping into her fingers.

Chapter 110

She couldn’t believe it was Akshar, and somewhere out of the blue he was there to help her, and that was the last thing she had expected. He had shown up in the hospital in her time of need and now, she even wondered if he was like a guardian angel or something, watching over her. She didn’t know and it didn’t matter, she was relieve and grateful to him for helping her.

The tow truck guy arrived and Akshar took care of everything for her and she was in the car still a little cold from her wet jeans. Jeans was good when cold, but too heavy and wet with the rain, and her legs were not warming up at all and somehow she felt cold from head to toe. She would love to change her cloths since she had a spare in the bag from last night.

Akshar walked over and they were ready to leave. He took his rain coat off and she felt jealous looking at him since he was all dry and she was wet and cold. As if sensing her, he offered her his coat and added that that is the best he could do under these circumstances and told her she could dry up after we get to his friends.