There She Was - Parte UNO

"Do Plug in EVERGLOW by Coldplay while reading"

Alarms are boring. Yes, they are. Worst when they buzz sharp in the morning.
Why the hell do people choose to put on alarms when they don’t want to break their sleep’s flow.
It was one of those mornings, worst, it was a Tuesday!
The day after the monstrous Monday is always wicked.
But nothing much was on the cards. The usual routine is enough to entertain the mornings; gym,
then getting ready for the office followed by the usual horrible traffic.
Why do people have to work in the office, can’t they get paid for this torture of traffic.
A happy mood’s plan goes to vain when you have a hell lot of horns by the sane. The day was bland, as he didn’t
have much work to do. All that meant was that he had more time for non-office things!
Chilling scenes and numerous small breaks were all there on the plans. The day was going well, until. Yeah, until.

Stories always change from where they start, Aren’t They?

He was thoughtless, staring at his desktop when suddenly a notification popped up on his cell phone.
He instantly checks that. Holy cow (‘F’ word is censored for random Navratri reasons)

“Hey,ssup?” he read that message out loud.

It wasn’t the message that shocked him, it was the sender.

First of all, it was on Tuesday. Secondly, that was something unusual.
When everything was going plain, how could one handle such a turn? He kind of had mixed feelings!

It was all like, the time stuck his chords to particular number only and all of a sudden all activities had gone to slack.
He forgot to gulp down the loath down his throat. It almost choked his voice. He barely blabbered.

“Is this for real?” he pinched himself to get the painful confirmation.

“Yes, it is.” The answer was evident. But, how come? It was history as of then!
They were together once, but it was long ago. Almost ages, no not ages! Yeah but, almost 8 years ago. 

All of a sudden with that message, all the memories flashed again. Their first meets to their togetherness.
It was childish, but they had been each other’s better halves. Now they are just 2 different halves.

After a few minutes, he replied hesitantly, “I am good, how about you?”

Like he was deadly desperate to know her to answer. Moreover, her words.

The wait of an hour for her next message felt like an eternity to him; eventually, she replied,
“I am good as well. Just landed. Having 3 days off.”

Instead of thinking even for a jiffy he tapped the message box and typed, “oh. So you are here. That’s just great.”

When it comes to special ones why does our head stop thinking straight?
Basic functionality of our head is to think as per the rules set by our experiences, maybe that is why it doesn’t
follow the straight route for thinking.

Just a few seconds later, he got another message from her, “Nah, yet to reach there. Having a layover in Nagpur.
Will be there by tonight. Then a day off.” She explained to him her current whereabouts,
prolonging with

“Want to catch up?

Will you be free?”

He played it cool, “Yeah sure. Tell me when you want to meet?”

“Tonight.” She replied, “It will be possible for you, right?”

He didn’t expect such a firm answer. He was in awe. Almost struck.
Things were in slack, Again! He read the same reply for over a hundred times.
He was still consumed by his thoughts, but somewhere in the back of his mind,
a voice instructed him to type “YES”. Surrendering to the voice, he hit the send button.

And then the situation inside his brain turned all haywire.
The next instant, he was asking himself more questions,
“What am I going to do? How am I supposed to face her?”

Amid all his endless questions to himself, her message popped up,
“Ohh great. I never thought that you will say yes this fast. So, where should we meet, your place or mine?”

“I will come to pick you up.” He just typed out of nowhere, with mixed feelings.

“You sure you can come to the airport? Don’t come. Send me your location I’ll come to you!” she replied.

“No worries. I can come. In fact, I will come. Just send me the schedule of your flight, and I will be there.”
He played it cool as he had no other choice.

“Ok then. By the way, please bring 2 cigs, ultra-mild would be great.”
She replied and also confirmed the timings.

Now he knew that he had to leave the office early. Every man’s mind in such conditions plans out a how-to blueprint to help manage the leftover time. It is like there is a hidden algorithm fit in the back of man's mind.

He reached his home, and in no time he got ready. He selected his clothes instantly although
he had to select the best out of his waste (clothes). Men always wear the least worst-looking clothes, as men don’t have the best clothes ready all the time.

He booked his cab and left for the airport. The cab was for him, but along with him,
thoughts were his co-passengers. It was surreal. He hadn’t expected such things to happen.
Things were going great, and suddenly he had a full rush of excitement. He was enjoying that,
and on the other hand, he was terrified. He was about to reach the airport when his wrist band vibrated,
a text flashed over “about to reach, will be out in next 15-20 minutes”.
It was a text from her. He reached the airport and was waiting for her.
It was hard for him to settle his nerves down, so he lit one cigarette.
With the next puff, he flew, his cell phone started ringing. It was her.

“Where are you, I can’t see you fat-ass?” She was on the other side of the call.

“Near the smoking zone.” He directed her.

With the last peck, he turned to witness the best moment of the day.

It was her. As fresh as the light of a star. As soothing as the drift of a car.

“She is still beautiful.” He was yet to regain his composure.
Her white top and blue jeans had given him the best sight his eyes could get or precisely what he could ask for.
It was the best walk down the aisle. With every step of her toward him, his heart started racing with the winds.
All he could utter was a puff of air in the form of a pleasing sigh, “Wooooooh”.

She was finally there, in front of him. He couldn’t believe it until they hugged.
He didn’t know what overtook him at that moment but he hugged her with a best and tight grip.
He just didn’t want that moment to pass away. Moments later they decided to book a cab and head toward his
place to spend time. After all, they are finally getting together after almost 7 years.
They were not good, but yeah, friends at the least.

Those 45 minutes of that cab ride cleared the tension that had engulfed him.
He almost forgot that they were not together anymore. He touched her hands, he made her laugh,
he played with her words, and he got punches to duck.
It was all like those years of not being together meant nothing.
They were happy. Like nothing bad had ever happened. They were still cool like they were before.
They shared their secrets, they laughed over old times,
and there were tears of joy and questions of not being in touch for all these years.

No matter what, people move on. Things eventually cool down, only if you give it some time.
In the end, nothing but being true to oneself matters.

His day again going as per the tracks.

They reached his place; he gave him a tour of his home. He thanked his stars for this moment.
She liked being surrounded by him. They planned to watch a movie together. He picked one movie;
meanwhile, she gave him a sandwich which she had brought for him.
She knew that he would have skipped his tiny meal to meet her.  

Sometimes we get so involved with ourselves, that we forget the true meaning of devoting. It only occurs on such occasions, how special we could be to someone. Little things might not matter, but little efforts do matter.

They spent quality time together. They shared a lot of their pieces, of yarns and stories.
Time just passed like it was in an Olympics race. In no time, the sun-kissed the streets.
It was time now for her to leave.

He didn’t want her to leave. Saying goodbye was always hard for him. He didn’t want her to leave, again.

But he had to follow the ritual, she had to leave.

Before bidding him goodbye, she kissed his cheeks.
He smiled and kissed her forehead.
He hugged her for the last time.
He didn’t want the time to strike a new hour.
Those brief moments before parting were the best of his day or maybe life.
A day that started usually, ended unusually.

He stayed there until she was out of sight. He couldn’t believe that he is all alone, again!

She was happy. She had finally moved on!

#live... #love... #prosper...  

~ Abhishek Bose