“Hmnn, anything special?”
“Nah, usual. Nothing special”
“That’s why I didn’t notice anything different. You ALWAYS look beautiful”
“Right O”
Young love, she smiled when she saw the couple sitting two tables across at the cafe. The girl, she called her Kitty, she had eyes like a cat. And by analogy the boy was hmnn Puppy? Cause he was looking at her with such puppy love in his eyes! OK not puppy love, it was a lot mature than that but yeah, something about him was so puppy!
The glistening rings on their tangled fingers were testimony to their recent engagement. And the way he hung on to each word she was speaking, with rapt attention, spoke of a new relationship too! Amazing thing, young love. She was transported back to 10 years ago when the husband too was like this! Attentive and addicted. Now conversations were there, yes. Lots and mature, sensible and silly too at times. But the silence was comfortable too. Life was like an old blanket. Comforting and warm, bit worn out and not too exiting. Yet you couldn’t sleep without it!
Puppy had a bag of gifts too, for Kitty. And Kitty looked amazingly excited about being there, basking in all the love and attention. She missed this adrenaline rush, at times. Ah, when was the last time she got a gift?! Honestly, did she need one now. Maybe, maybe not. But the charm of young love is….well it cannot be quite described. She smiled at Kitty and Puppy, busy in their own world, and then down on her manuscript. The peace and quiet in the cafe helped her work on her book at leisure. She looked at her watch. She had two hours before more people started streaming into the cafe, three hours to go before the husband was back from work. And four before her hungry kids were done with their games and activities.
=====
She looked up from her table. A bespectacled lady was working furiously on a bunch of papers strewn in front of her, sipping cups after cups of coffee. She had been sitting there before they had walked into the cafe. Her presence was, hmnn something awesome. She was surrounded by an aura of sombre creative intelligence. Her table was messed with papers, her mop of her was tied into a messier knot on her head, yet there was some order to that mess! It was a clean mess, you could say.
Her new fiance was telling her some amazing stories of his life, about his dreams, now their dreams, but she was mesmerized by Ms. Messy for a moment. Her mind was shuttling between her man and Messy for a long time while she sat in the cafe, when another man walked into the cafe. He had an office briefcase in one hand, and a bag of groceries in another. He placed a quick pat on Messy’s head and stole a sip of coffee from her mug. And gave her a smile which said a lot, without saying much. She handed him a bunch of keys and gave him a smile which said “Hope you had a great day, I’ll see ya in a while after I have gathered my mess and ya thanks for understanding” without any words. He walked out and disappeared into a gate on the opposite side of the road.
Ah, mature love! She hoped one day, she and the fiance shared such awesome chemistry too. And as if reading her mind, Messy looked up from her papers, caught her eyes and gave a knowing smile.
“Hmnn…….for your money, which I will inherit” he said, still looking into his laptop
“C’mon, how do you know you will outlive me?”
“I’ll manage that….”
“Stop this nonsense”she said, a bit irritated
“Then you stop asking me these silly questions…”
“I cannot come dear, its the middle of the week. Its a working day!”
“Oh come on, your work and the world won’t stop if you do….I mean just come for a day!”
“And do what? Whole of Ambala knows you, we possible cannot go out. Unless you have told your folks about us…or you want to go ahead and do it!”
“You know I have not, and lets not get into that…there is a right time to do that and we have discussed it amply..”
“So dear, what am I to do there?”
“Oh think of something…I have to see you, its been long…..”
“Three months” said Saurabh “Not so bad”
Long enough to feel like a lifetime….she didn’t say that though.
“Maam, a new patient for you”, her assistant Bela chirped, breaking Sneha’s reveire.
“Now? Strange….. was there an appointment?”
“No madam, he just says its sort of urgent….shall I let him in”
“Hmnnn…OK, in a minute…”
She took a blank sheet of paper, and a deep breath. Get the thoughts out and let the sunshine in…..she told herself. She began writing some random list on the paper, trying to get away from the thoughts dancing in her head, when she heard a familiar voice
“May I…….”
“Saurabh!!” She was mildly shocked and astonished. There he stood in his handsome glory, his dimpled smile and travel ruffled hair. With his sack slung on his back and a single long stemmed perfect red rose in his hand.
“Did you really believe I would have missed this day for anything in the world?”
“I..uh…how did you come?when I mean….” she was too flabbergasted to make any sense
“I just wanted to tease and surprise you….” He came in and shut the door behind him. “Bela doesn’t know me right? Lets not confuse her doc!” he said as he held her gently in his arms.
Tears were streaming down Sneha’s cheeks as he lovingly smoothed her hair.
Next hour in the clinic flew like 5 quick minutes when he gave her a small gift for the day….to keep her going till the next meeting, whenever that would be. They had a cup of tea, shared a few laughs and took pictures to treasure for the days to come. After almost an hour, Saurabh reluctantly moved out…pained at the thought of leaving Sneha, and more at the thought of the long Ambala- Chandigarh- Bhopal trip back!
“Sir…..” chirped Bela as Saurabh was leaving, “You forgot to make the payment…”
“Oh, I am so sorry, how much will that be?” Saurabh asked with a disarming grin
While Bela was writing a receipt for him, Saurabh stole a last glance at Sneha…..to keep him going for the next few months.
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