143

143 not sure abhi waha tak ka socha nahi.

Yep dekha ek khwaab was playing in my mind as well. Hamare khayal kitne milte julte hai....hehe....

just love the shock comment. Thanks a lot Rihana. Love you loads.

 

Part V

The Agarwal family and the Mehra Family arranged a grand engagement party for the couple which ended with a typical Punjabi bhangra dance.

Slowly preparations for marriage started in full swing. Sharad accompanied Poonam for shopping and helped her select the jewelry, sarees and dresses. One day while shopping for her dresses, Poonam asked, “Sharad where are we going for the honeymoon? I plan to buy dresses accordingly.”

Sharad thought for a while and said, “I don’t think we will be able to go anytime soon. I have an upcoming project which I have to complete. May be after six months, we can think about it”

Poonam was disappointed hearing that, as she always thought of going to Switzerland for her honeymoon.

“You didn’t select any dress, Poonam”

“No. will buy it later whenever we plan to go.”

“Ok, let’s think about it then.” Sharad said. Poonam was angry at the cold shoulder treatment and insisted on going home.

Finally, the D-day arrived and they got married. Sharad had a booked a hotel room for their first night. The bed was decorated with flowers and Poonam was sitting on the bed in a traditional red saree, a set of bride bangles and jewelry. Sharad entered the room and slowly went to the bed and tried to open the veil. Poonam held the veil tightly with her hands. Sharad stood up and from the pocket of his sherwani, removed an envelope and said, “A small gift for my beautiful life partner as we start our new life.”

Poonam stayed motionless and didn’t respond. Her eyes looked at the envelope. On the envelope, it was written, “Swiss Air”. A smile ran on her face and she looked up at Sharad. She opened the envelope and there were tickets to Switzerland. She hugged Sharad.

“How did you know that I was interested in going to Switzerland?” She asked.

“I saw your reaction, the first time we met.” Sharad said hugging Poonam.

As the night passed, the full moon immersed in the clouds of love.

The next couple of days went into the post marriage functions and finally Poonam’s dream became a reality as she boarded the plane to Zurich. While Sharad was checking into the hotel with the receptionist, Poonam wandered around the hotel lobby looking at the expensive sculptures and paintings. Once they checked in, they went to the hotel room. She stopped as she looked at the room number, it read – 1432. As she entered the hotel room, she saw Mistletoe sprigs hanging on the wall. She pulled Sharad and pushed him towards the wall beneath the Mistletoe, laid her hands around him and slowly started kissing him. After a passionate kiss, Sharad still in a shock asked, “What was that?”

“It is a tradition to kiss under Mistletoe. It’s considered bad luck to not kiss under Mistletoe.”

“Thanks for informing, I will have it all around the bedroom then,” quipped Sharad.

“Well the tradition doesn’t say it must be done every time.”

“Does it say it can’t be done every time?”

“Well, don’t get me started into traditions, there are a lot of them and you will repent for following traditions.” Poonam went towards the window and opened the curtain. There was a nice view of the lake opposite the hotel.

“Ok. After all the while spending time with you, I have learnt not to argue with you. Let’s follow the tradition of having some dinner.”

As they got seated in a restaurant, a Swiss waitress came with two water bottles in her hand,

“Frizzante or Naturale” Poonam looked at Sharad and he said, “She is asking whether you want Sparkling water or Still water.”

“I need Still water.” Poonam was in euphoria about the reality of the dream she always had.

After dinner, they went to the old town. There was a carnival at the old town with lots and lots of people going around and enjoying the night. As per the tradition of the carnival, people were wearing different kinds of mask and dressed in long coats and hat and greeting each other.

As Poonam and Sharad were going through the tightly packed crowd, Sharad suddenly screamed with his hand on his stomach. He looked behind. A man with the mask was looking at him and smiling and soon vanished into the crowd.

They moved out of the crowd and went in front of a restaurant. Sharad removed his hands and saw red blood in his hands. His T-shirt was torn and there was a scratch mark on his stomach.

 

Part VI

“OMG! What happened?” Poonam said removing her scarf and giving it to Sharad.

“Probably, I brushed against some pointed surface. Maybe against a bracelet on someone’s hand. A lot of people were moving around the narrow street. So it must have happened. I think it will be fine.”

“Why would people wear such pointed objects that can hurt anyone?” Poonam was angry. After a pause she continued, “Could it be someone trying to….”

Before she could complete the sentence, Sharad said, “What rubbish? I am fine. Let’s go back to the hotel. All it needs is a bandage and I will be fine.”

They came out of the old town alley towards the main road. Luckily, they saw a tram stopped at the tram station. . They hopped into it to go to their hotel. Sharad kept pressing his wound with the scarf. He was thinking as to who might have attached him. He had just made up something to not have Poonam worry much but he knew that it was a deliberate attempt to hurt him. “Could it be one of the business rivals that might have planned this?” His thoughts continued. Over the last few years, he had expanded his business at the cost of the competitors. “I just have to be careful. Also, I need to make sure that Poonam doesn’t get unnecessarily worried and let her enjoy the vacation she always dreamed.”

They reached the hotel. The bleeding had stopped by then due to the pressure applied by Sharad. They went to the receptionist.

“Is there a doctor’s office or hospital nearby?” Poonam asked the receptionist.

“Unfortunately, no doctor’s office will be open at this time. You will have to go to emergency at the hospital.”

“How far is the hospital?” Poonam inquired.

“It’s about 30 Kms from here, so about half an hour to forty minutes. But there will be a long wait time at the emergency.” The receptionist said.

“That is too long. I think I am fine. By any chance would you have a first-aid box” Sharad asked.

“Yes, we do. But it is not for our guests. It is for our hotel staff.” Receptionist replied.

Poonam pleaded with the receptionist to give the first-aid box and seeing that the wound was minor, she finally agreed to it and gave the first aid box. They went to the room and Poonam cleared the wound and applied antiseptic balm and as she tied the bandage around his stomach, said, “I am scared. I think this is a bad omen. Let’s go back to our home.”

“Don’t think that way. We have come here to enjoy. Such small incidents happen. I should have been careful and should have worn a coat and not go out in the cold weather like that. Let’s focus on our plan for tomorrow. Let me check out where we can go.”

“I have checked out everything. But I think we should stay in the hotel and rest. Maybe tomorrow morning we can go to the hospital and show it to the doctor.”

“Believe me I am fine. The bleeding has already stopped and we have applied antiseptic. If I don’t feel well then we will go to the hospital. Now tell me what our plan is for tomorrow?” Sharad was interested in knowing the research Poonam had done.

Poonam described her plan and he liked the plan and said, “I think we can cover all that but we will have to start early. There is a prediction of snowfall late in the evening tomorrow.”

“Yes, I know that is why I was thinking about going at 5:30 am. But now since you are hurt, we can go a bit later.”

“No. I liked your plan. Let’s follow it. Let’s sleep early.” Sharad didn’t want to disappoint Poonam. After some canoodling, both slept.

After a while, Sharad opened his eyes. He noticed Poonam had held him by her hand. Slowly he moved her hand and walked towards the window. His mind was thinking about the attack. He remembered sacking of the quality director, Mr. Rane. Mr. Rane was also the union leader of his factory workers and Sharad found that he was stealing the good quality parts and selling them to the competitors. This resulted in lower sales for the company. Sharad sacked him and handed him to police as he had threatened Sharad of dire consequences.

Sharad started taking care of the quality group himself. Sharad improved the quality of the products and that made his products more popular and commanded higher margins. He invested the profits in growing other businesses. The competitors couldn’t match the quality and started losing their market share. “Could it be either Mr. Rane or any of the competitors?” He thought. But soon his mind argued, “But why would they try to attack him a different country? How would any of them know of this trip? The only people who knew about this trip were my family and my PA.” His mind had more questions than answers. He went towards the mirror and saw the wound. The bleeding had stopped but still he had a light pain. He opened his bag and took a couple of pain killers. He saw Poonam sleeping like a child. He went back to sleep but sleep eluded him for a long time.

Next morning, the alarm rang and Poonam woke up. She saw Sharad was still sleeping. She looked at the dressing on the wound. There was no sign of blood oozing out. She nibbled his ear and whispered, “I Love You”. Sharad was still sleeping. Then she started tickling him. Sharad opened his eyes. Poonam kissed him on the lips and said, “Good Morning”. Sharad pulled her towards him and caressed her hair and kissed her back and said, “Good Morning”.

“How are you feeling?” Poonam asked him.

“Well if someone wakes you up with a kiss, what can be more wonderful than that?”

“No. I am talking about the wound. Are you feeling pain?”

“You are worrying too much. It is just a minor scratch. Let’s get ready and leave soon.”

She stood up and after getting ready, wore the yellow chiffon saree that she had bought long back and had worn many times in her dreams. She had prepared a list of sites where various movies were shot and had planned to follow the steps of the actresses.

In the meantime, Sharad stood up and started to remove the clothes from his bag to wear for the trip. He started laughing as he saw Poonam in a chiffon saree.

“Are you serious? It is cold outside and there is prediction of heavy snow and you are going to wear a chiffon saree?” He said raising his eyebrows and laughing loudly.

“No I have worn thermal tights under the skirt and also I will have my jacket. But I want to walk on the snow in a chiffon saree and want to see you spreading your hands like SRK while I run and hug you.”

Sharad kept on laughing listening to her. Then he controlled his laughter and said, “Oui, patron”

“What’s that?” asked Poonam.

“Yes, Boss”. Sharad said and he went to the bathroom to get ready.

They took a high speed train from Zurich to Engelberg.

 

Nice one Rajeni. Didn't want to keep it suspense, but someone commented badly about my genres so didn't mention it this time.

 

Thanks Usha. Sorry about it. Maybe in the next story.

yep there will always be twist and suspense.

 

Thanks Lata. this is all out bollywood story right from the get go.