40 Bonfire

Name：She Was Not As UGLY As You Thought Author：AnjaliPrasannaNair
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It relaxed her mind and she let a smile visible on her face. As she opened her eyes, she found Rishi in a distance smiling back at her.

When Rishi saw her smiling, the only thought that struck him was- ' what a chaste soul!'

As Rishi saw her staring at him, he turned away and shook his head.

Aliya and Bhavna headed towards a huge bungalow. In Kashmir, especially in such remote places, buildings are not constructed. Mostly individual families have their own houses or 2-3 storeys bungalows. Such types of houses are prevalent here. The bungalow in which they were going to stay was called as 'Brown Palace'. There were enough rooms for the whole crew to stay in. Everyone checked-in in their respective rooms and freshened up.

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ALL ENCIRCLED AROUND THE BONFIRE

One of the crew members was playing a guitar while singing a song. Everyone clapped as he finished his turn. One by one, everybody had a turn to do something or the other to entertain the rest. When it was the turn of our CEO, he didn't do anything. Of course, no one even dared to insist him. Even Aliya was quite. Seeing this, Rishi sighed, realizing that now he had a neutral place in her mind.

Now it was Aliya's turn. She didn't know what to do. Suddenly Rishi came up with an idea which resulted in jealous looks of some female employees and a grinning smile from one male employee.

"You too know how to play a guitar. You may sing and play it simultaneously."

Hearing this Aliya's eyes were wide opened. She had learned guitar from his elder cousin brother in her childhood which soon became her hobby. But singing was not her choice. As soon as she was about to speak the one who had a grinning smile said

"C'mon Aliya! We would love to hear you sing. Honestly speaking, you have a sweet voice."

When she heard this compliment coming from her right side, she saw a handsome man giving her an encouraging smile

"I am Raghav, the chief photographer....

"Sir I know you."

"Oh! I felt that you may not know me as you are newly joined. And please don't call me 'Sir'. You may address me by my name."

"Okay, Raghav."

As Aliya said this, they both chuckled and firmly shook their hands with each other. On the other side, more than the bonfire, someone else was on fire. Someone burning with jealousy. Yes it was Rishi! Seeing his own employee flirting with his love was not bearable. So he quickly got up and went in a distant place from the gathering.

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AFTER ALIYA PLAYED GUITAR

"Where is our boss? Seems he is has mastered a degree in being an introvert! Haha!"

As Raghav said this in a humurous way, everybody let out a laugh including Aliya.

"He is not in his room. I saw him going in the opposite direction." someone said this from the circle

"I'll go and check."

As soon as Aliya said this and got up, she heard some whispers and whining. She ignored them all as she knew what were they envious about. Aliya took some steps ahead and moved her neck on both sides to see if she could spot Rishi. But to no avail. As it was night, she couldn't see at distant places. So she moved further. In reaching a considerable distance from the bonfire, she again tried to spot him. While doing so, she felt as if a silhouette was in the corner of her eyes. When she half-turned, she saw someone peeping from a 5 feet tall rock. When the person realized that he was caught, he came forward. He was Rishi. Aliya moved forward with a surprised look. As she went near to him, she had a foul smell itching her nose.

"Sir, what are you doing here? Were you bored sitting with everyone?"

"Y-yeah."

"So you should have went back in your room. Why did you come here? Is everything okay? I can smell something foul....

"Everything is okay. Actually I was returning to join you all."

"That is fine. But why did you come here?"

"Uhh... Nothing."

Aliya was questioning him as if she was his girlfriend who caught her boyfriend doing some mischief.

"What is that you are hiding behind your back? Show me."

As Aliya said this, she snatched away that thing from his hand before he could comprehend what she asked. When Aliya took it in her hand, she found it that was a brown-colored glass bottle. As she smelled it, she felt the urge to vomit.