Five Weeks by Shruti Omar (any book recommendations .txt) 📕

"Ah! I ate so much. My stomach is paining." She huffed, dramatically leaning forward and put hands on her waist. Yuvraaj crouched to her level and tickled her earlobe, "I can carry you if you don't mind."

She stood back, "Nope, I am fine. What's the plan for now? Are we going for boating?"

"Actually," Yuvraaj dragged, hiding his smile and leaned forward on to her shoulder, "I've planned something for today besides boating and kayaking."

"Which is?" She prompted.

"You'll know and you’ll love the surprise.” She didn't like the hidden humor in his tone yet followed him wordlessly. He was thriller and she was dared to have him on her plate.

******

When Yuvraaj had said that she would love the surprise, it didn't cross her mind the faintest that he would brought her to the cliff for paragliding. Evidently, she knew what the surprise was. He wouldn't have brought her over there for any fun. She gulped casting her eyes around to observe the people taking solo and dual flights, screaming high pitched with zeal that all but hyperventilated her.

Her feet solidify on the ground, eyes widened in horror and mouth parted so wide that the whole universe could settle in. Disparaging her fear, Yuvraaj stabilized himself besides her grinning ear to ear. His kindling orbs kissed her face. "You ready?"

"What? No." she squealed, coming out of her wonderland. "No. No. I am not going for this. How could you do this? You know I've acrophobia."

She found difficult to breathe when people around her were flying with artificial wings and their enthusiastic howls were ringing high in air. Sanity was a second away to wear off and her fears were defeating her shadowing her gradually.

"What about fighting with your fears, then?" He fondled her hair, stepping nearer. His eyes beseeched her to venture out. "We both will fight together."

Gripped in thick film of vulnerability, she repelled shaking her head, frantically, "No. I have all my life left for fighting with these shitty fears, now is not the time. Are you freaking planning to kill me? They bloody have no security at all." She panicked, whimpering at the boot camp that organized the paragliding.

"They have what with all those strings and safety guards, including the helmet. Why are you freaking out?" Yuvraaj emphasized, trying to persuade her, "I have seen you in the aircraft and I am ashamed to see that my wife is scared of flights. That harms my status because I love soaring up in air."

"Do hell with your status, my life is more important than your status, Yuvraaj." She thundered, glaring him and stomped his foot causing him to wince. "I thought you don't even care for this. I thought you care for me but now, all you care for your status."

Her shivering gaze suddenly caught the woman who started screaming at the flight and crew had to make her land safely on her feet. She mimed Yuvraaj to look and sniffed, “Look at her, look at her how scared is! I am telling you, Yuvraaj, this is no cakewalk. If I fall from that height, I don't think you'll ever find my body."

Rolling his eyes, Yuvraaj pulled her closer and kissed her earlobe, intertwining her fingers with hers. The object was to use her weakness to persuade her, but Anahita was smarter than that. She kept her melting emotions and kindling desires on bay.

"Do you trust me?" he husked in her ear. It took her a minute to process his words and frowned, pouting and whining like a toddler. "I actually don't and I am not planning to do especially in this care. Moreover we'd different plans for today. Then why have you brought me here to explode a detonator on me?"

With ease, his long fingers found their way on the crevice on her forehead and smoothed them. His eyes resting on her face and her thump pad descended down on her cheek, rubbing circles. "Then let's do it as trust workshop. You just have to put your faith on me and I swear I will not let anything happen to you."

"Are you crazy? We can do this workshop on ground as well, why is it necessary to go 10 feet up in the sky?" She rubbed her forehead, blabbering and glaring him.

"Nah, I need to get this fear out of you because I don't want you to cling upon anyone who is sharing a seat with you while taking off in flights, when I am not around." he left no room for the further discussion. She covered her face in defeat, “"Great! This is not the way to be possessive, Yuvraaj. I assure you I won't cling on to others, instead of that, I will clutch my seatbelts tightly or the blinds or whatever but I won't cling on to others. Moreover, you are not going anywhere so I don't need to do this at all. Now, I hope you are contented. Then let's go!"

She gripped his forearm and pivoted on her heels to leave.

"No ma'am, you are doing this. C'mon!" He dragged her back on the spot and wrapped his arms around her. He pushed her forward towards the camp and led her inside while Ananita slumped down her shoulders, crunching her nose. "That's the reason I don't like you. You force me to do things I don't want to."

"Excuse me! You should be thankful that I am helping you in overcoming your fears."

"I will do the same with you then." She threatened.

"I've no such fears." He guffawed and she snorted, "I will find that out very soon in time and then, I will pester you the way you're doing. You just wait and watch."

"I am looking forward to that, now choose which one you want." He emboldened her pointing at the para-gliders heaped around. (Para-glider – free flying, foot-launched glider aircraft with no rigid primary structure.)

"How does it matter when they all do one thing? Deport us to heaven. This is a direct flight to death. Choose anyone you want." She mumbled at the verge of crying and Yuvraaj sighed, cupping her face and turned her to him, "Look at me, do you seriously think I will let you enter any danger? Do you think I will let you get harmed till I am breathing? Huh?"