Only Mine
Chapter 15: First Time Again

As the train cruised in Ahmedabad junction, Sameer stood by the door of his compartment staring at the crowd on the platform. Very soon he spotted two boys jumping up and down, waving over the head of the moving crowd, and he grinned waving back at them. As the train stopped he quickly picked his one bag, and stepped down only to be enfolded in a tight hug by his friends, and then a warm embrace from his Nanu. Sameer grinned, “so… how are you all?”

Nanu looked him over with the eyes of a mother, “you have lost weight… I keep telling you, let me get a maid for you… at least for cooking.”

“I am fine Nanu”, Sameer assured, “in fact I was getting a paunch with all the bread-omlette I had been eating, so I started some exercises.”

Pandit thumped his back, “not a problem… Nanu has gotten prepared enough food to feed an army just to welcome you. You will need a lot more exercise.”

Sameer laughed, “I am planning to learn some more cooking too.”

“Your wife will be one lucky woman”, Munna teased, “we will remember to not let our wives meet her ever.”

Sameer teased right back, “that is… if you manage to get married.”

Pandit chuckled, “ya… we haven’t got the looks.”

It took a moment, but then Sameer replied, “maybe that’s not so important.”

Nanu observed this change in his thoughts and for the first time after a year felt that his grandson had indeed made the right decision. Maybe being independent was what he had really needed. As they walked out of the station Sameer collided with someone, nearly knocking the other boy down and quickly apologized, “I am sorry.”

“It’s okay”, the boy responded without looking and rushed off in another direction.

Sameer shrugged and was about to follow Nanu out, when recognition dawned and he halted, causing Munna to bump into him. Pandit steadied Munna, and asked, “Sameer… watch it man… where are you lost?”

“Arjun”, Sameer whispered.

Nanu was puzzled, “who?”

Sameer looked around, “that was Arjun… Naina’s brother… Oh my God… Naina is here? I have to find him.” And before his friends or Nanu could stop him, he had dropped his bag and rushed off in the same direction as Arjun.

Sameer jostled through the crowd of people, trying to find an opening here and there, avoiding crashing into rushing porters, and finally after ten minutes he spotted Arjun near the door of a compartment, smiling and offering his hand to someone. He stopped, his heart beating fast, waiting for the moment when he would again see Naina… A hand stretched out from the train, and Sameer stood up on his toes eagerly… any moment now… However, the smile on his face disappeared on seeing that the girl who descended wasn’t Naina… He didn’t recognize her, but this girl was much taller, and was wearing a severely stylish shorts and top. Dismayed he turned away from there and trudged back to the platform exit.

Nanu was also anxious, but one look at his grandson told him that it wasn’t Naina. Still he asked, “not her?”

Sameer shook his head, “some other girl… must be his girlfriend.”

Munna tried to prompt him, “why don’t you ask Arjun?”

“I would never do that”, Sameer replied immediately, “I have seen him talk to Naina, and I didn’t really like his behavior. Besides, I now understand how middle-class family dynamics work… If I openly ask about Naina to her family members then it could land her in some serious trouble. I don’t want to hurt her.”

Nanu patted his back, “it’s okay… cheer up… We will surely find Naina sometime.”

Sameer smiled, not really sure if that was ever going to happen.

What he didn’t know was that Naina was at her home right in that moment, packing her bags because she was leaving that night to go back to Mumbai. Her stay in Ahmedabad had been short but extremely eventful with constant taunts from neighbors and Taiji. This even led to some minor disputes between Chachaji and Tauji. Her father was worse, because he never even bothered to talk to her. However, meeting Swati and Preeti was just what she needed. They had even gone to the pani-puri vendor which Sameer and his friends frequented and to their surprise the man remembered them. She had thought of going up to the pond once, but then decided against it as there was no use to remember him. The toy tiger had stayed in Mumbai, so Naina didn’t have anything to hold onto at nights and that meant disturbed sleep for her.

That afternoon as she stepped out to go for some shopping with Preeti, she was surprised to see Shefali and wished her, “hi… what a surprise!”

Shefali hugged her, “look who’s talking. You didn’t even tell me that you were going to be here. I just arrived this morning and Ar… umm… I mean… he came to pick me up.”

Naina smiled, understanding that it was Arjun bhaiya who had gone to pick her up. Funny he didn’t come to receive her. Preeti queried, “any luck on modeling?”

Shefali shrugged, “nope… just some small assignments. I am telling you… all the fun is in Mumbai.” Then she turned to Naina, “hey… why don’t we go for dinner tonight… there is a very good new restaurant called Swagat.”

Naina shook her head, “I would have loved to, but I am leaving tonight. Sorry…”

“So soon?” Shefali queried, “when did you arrive?”

Preeti replied to her, “Naina only came for a week.”

“That’s too short”, Shefali observed.

Naina sighed, “there’s nothing here now… except a couple of people.”

A few passing ladies glared at Naina, whispering amid themselves, driving the point home for Naina that there wasn’t indeed anything left here for her. Shefali scowled, “I see what you mean Naina… forget these losers. Once I get to Mumbai, we will have tons of fun.”

Preeti pouted, “what about me?”

Naina laughed, “you and Swati can join us too.”

Sameer stood in the balcony of his old room, he felt good to be back, but Ahmedabad brought lots of memories. It was one thing to miss her, but he should not be a douche and spoil all the fun for his friends and Nanu. They had planned so much for the vacation, had waited so much for him to come home, and here he was wallowing for a person who probably doesn’t even remember him. Having said that he would still feel better when they all left for their Jaipur trip, Ahmedabad was somehow stifling. It seemed to him that the more he missed her, the more the universe kept conspiring to not let him meet her. How could anyone not know where she was? She was a person for God’s sake… She can’t disappear from the earth. He didn’t want to let Nanu see that he was sad or missing Naina, and so he didn’t even attempt to call her… Anyways, whenever he called someone else picked up. That was one night Preeti kept hoping that by some miracle Sameer would call and she made Naina pick up every call until it was time for her to leave.

Two days later when Sameer was out with his friends to do some last minute shopping for the Jaipur trip, they decided to go for some pani-puri. The vendor welcomed them with a smiled, and prepared their special serving. Sameer complimented him on remembering this even after a year, and he grinned, “I might have messed the proportions up, but the girls came a few days back so I have recent memory.”

Pandit started coughing, Munna nearly dropped his plate and Sameer asked puzzled, “girls?”

The vendor passed on some water to Pandit and replied, “yes… the three girls you all used to come with. And one of them took the exact type of pani-puri which you did.”

Sameer couldn’t believe what he was hearing, and asked again, “the girl who used your chutney to play prank of me?”

The vendor nodded, smiling, and preparing another round for some new customers who arrived. Sameer washed his hands, lost in thought. When Munna asked, he whispered, “she came here… this is our place, and she came to eat here, and she also remembered what I liked. She remembers me…”

“Well, of course she remembers you”, Pandit supplied, “how can she forget you?”

Sameer was still in a daze, “I… I don’t know… I thought… I am going to call her.”

Before anyone could stop him, he rushed to a PCO and dialed her number, waiting with fingers crossed. A man picked up and he disconnected… On his second attempt Preeti picked up, and Sameer immediately demanded, “Sameer here… don’t disconnect the phone Preeti. I am in Ahmedabad and I know Naina is also here… I need to meet her. Please… just once… let me talk to her, please.”

Preeti was shocked to silence, and took so long time to recover that by that time Sameer was desperate. He said in an irked tone, “if you don’t let me talk to her, I will come to your home right now…”

That got Preeti’s attention, “noo… no… Naina was here for a week, but she left two days back.”

Sameer didn’t believe her, “are you kidding me? Naina loves her family. She won’t come just for a week on vacation.”

Preeti let out a sarcastic chuckle, “yeah… if only her family loved her back.”

He quizzed, “what do you mean? Preeti… where is she? I need to meet her… I don’t care which city she is in, just tell me and I will go.”

Preeti smiled at his desperation, and thought that maybe he was realizing his feelings. Still to make sure she queried, “do you love her?”

Sameer was taken aback, and blurted, “of course not… I just…”

“Then you don’t need to meet her”, Preeti interrupted, “my sister doesn’t deserve a jerk like you. Goodbye.”

Sameer stood stunned staring the receiver in his hand, the loud beeping tone mocking him. What the hell was wrong with people? Why did everyone thought he loved Naina? Couldn’t he just meet her as friends? And what was the matter with Naina… didn’t she miss him at all? Here he had been missing her since one whole year, and she… God knows where she was. And why was everyone so secretive about her location? He tried a couple of more times, but somehow he knew Preeti wouldn’t talk to him again. Maybe he should have just lied that he loved Naina… but how could he? It was such a big thing.

Sameer’s condition wasn’t good that night and for the first time Nanu wondered if he was doing wrong by hiding Naina’s whereabouts. Next day too, on the train to Jaipur he was mostly silent, only joining his friends for a game of cards, and then he was engrossed in a book. The heritage hotel also didn’t hold any appeal for him. Finally when Munna and Pandit fell asleep tired with the journey, Nanu asked Sameer to come out with him for a walk. They talked about how Sameer’s life had been in the last few months, and also argued a bit about his stubbornness for not accepting any help. After thirty minutes they sat on some stairs leading to a gazebo, and Nanu queried, “why do you miss her?”

Sameer sighed, “I need to apologize to her Nanu. I didn’t behave nicely the last time we met, and I can’t…”

“You can’t bear to think that you are the reason she might be sad”, Nanu finished his sentence.

Sameer nodded, rubbing his hands over his face, “I don’t know what happened to me. I know she didn’t talk to me, but I never even asked her why she did that… And she never told me where she was going.”

Nanu was silent for some time, but then softly said, “I can give you a lot of advice but that would be all very philosophical. What you need is to understand what’s happening inside you.”

Sameer shrugged, “that’s just it… For so many years I had been arguing with you regarding my future, but I never could come up with a proper answer… I never understood what I wanted, until… Naina showed me the path. She understood my turmoil, my confusion… she really listened to me. And then helped me see a path I could possibly walk on.”

“So… what you are saying is that until you meet Naina again, you won’t understand what’s happening inside you?” Nanu queried.

Sameer looked up at the quarter moon, “maybe… I don’t know… All I know is I have tried very hard to forget her, but I haven’t been able to. Everything reminds me of her… She has never been to my home in Mumbai, right? But still… when I am cooking I am reminded of how she wanted to see me cook. When I eat alone I remember how she used to feed me before I could even ask. When I am frustrated all I could think of is how she overlooked my anger and understood my heart. If I buy ice-cream, I still leave half of it…for her. Whenever it rained last year every single time I thought of her because she taught me to enjoy the rains, to appreciate the storm, and then to appreciate the sunlight of the new day even more. I knew her for such a short time… How can she be in every moment of my life? I don’t understand…”

Once again Nanu stayed silent quite astonished by the depth of his grandson’s feelings. The boy was in love, desperate to meet her, but had no idea how to sort the feelings inside him and give it a name. Would it really help if he met her? Or would he brush away the emotions as friendship? It was tough to predict. That’s why Nanu decided to approach the matter with caution, and he softly asked, “when you were with her… you must have felt something… maybe few moments here and there?”

Sameer looked up puzzled, “what do you mean?”

Nanu smiled a bit, “like when you held her hand… or when she fed you… or when you shared food. There must have been something.”

“It’s not a big deal to hold hand”, Sameer countered.

Nanu shrugged, “maybe… You can hold a hundred hands, yet there could only be the touch of one hand that you will crave… Is that Naina’s hand? You might meet many girls, but still the most precious moments could only be with one… Is that the time you spent with Naina? You can be amidst thousands of people and yet miss that one person… Is that Naina?”

Sameer frowned puzzled at all these questions, and Nanu continued, “you must have asked yourself several questions since the time you realized you are missing her, but they are all irrelevant as of now… The questions I just asked you are the ones which you need to answer to yourself truthfully. I know this can be very difficult, so take your time.” He pulled out a notebook-sized gift wrapped box from his kurta pocket and handed it over to Sameer, “this should keep you company while you think. And remember… once in a lifetime you meet someone who changes everything. If the answers to those questions are yes, then you have already met that someone.”

Sameer looked at the box curiously, his mind racing with questions, but before he could organize his thoughts Nanu stood up, and said, “well… I will leave you to your thoughts. We are going sightseeing tomorrow; cheer up for your friends… They have missed you very much. Good Night Sameer.”

“Good Night Nanu”, Sameer smiled, and watched his grandfather walk back inside the hotel. He wondered what was in the box and so he opened the wrapping to find a white cardboard box. Curious, he lifted the tab and peeped inside… What was it? His searching fingers found a delicate glass photo-frame and he pulled it out, only to almost drop it in shock, because after one whole year his gaze met once again with whiskey colored deep hypnotic eyes. Naina… It was picture of Naina complete with her school uniform, two oily ponytails and wide smile that took his breath away. How did Nanu have this? Just then he remembered that he had given his camera to Pandit during the fest preparations to capture some moments for the principal. That made sense… Pandit must have clicked this photograph.

He looked at Naina’s picture, his fingers tracing on her hair recalling how he had done the same in rain last year, and then again when she had been hurt before his match, and he could almost feel the oil on his hand. Strangely enough it didn’t disturb him, and neither had it at that time so long ago. Why not? He hated oily hair, but still he had touched her hair, and even now he wished that this was not just a photograph but the real thing… the real her.

What’s happening to you Sameer?

He had no answer, and neither did he have the energy to seek answers. Every moment he had spent with her was etched clearly in his mind, and yet on seeing her photograph everything seemed to hit him with the force of a boulder rolling downhill. When a few drops of water fell on the photograph, he frowned and looked up at the sky wondering why it would rain in May. But then he fell something salty on his lips, and lifted his hand to wipe his face, surprised to find it wet.

What the hell? Are you crying?

Almost frightened out of his mind, he stood up and rushed back inside the hotel. Once in his room, he opened the cupboard to stash her photograph there, but couldn’t do that. He thought he had gone crazy to behave like this, to confess all those things to Nanu, but still he pulled out his diary and wrote down the questions Nanu had asked him. Maybe he could think about it later… Once he had gained his sanity back, and he was alone back in Mumbai. Till then the photo could stay facedown. He didn’t need to see her. Nope… not at all.

He turned off the lights, set the air-conditioner on high, and snuggled inside the blanket wondering why Nanu had booked separate rooms. Usually he would bunk with Munna and Pandit… but well… this was okay too. Maybe Nanu he needed space to think. He kept turning over, unable to fall asleep, and tried all the tactics he knew… even counting backwards and trying to imagine absurdly cute sheeps jumping over the fence. After an hour or so, he gave up, “oh what the hell… come here”, and grabbed the photo-frame from the table. His eyes narrowed as he looked at her smiling face, and said, “if I ever meet you again, I am never going to tell you about this madness.” Saying so, he clutched the photograph to his chest, and smiled to himself, falling asleep before he could even realize it.

The next morning Sameer woke up relaxed after quite a long time. He hadn’t met Naina yet, but having her photograph seemed to give him some solace. Nanu was happy to see Sameer calm and smiling once again. The remaining days of vacation were filled with fun as they explored the exotic lakes, majestic forts and gorged on delicious Rajasthani food. It felt good to again be just carefree and bicker with his friends. That week he made lot of memories and missed Naina a little less, but she wasn’t far from his thoughts. After returning to Ahmedabad he visited a couple of more places with his friends, revisited his special place alone, drove on his bike to his heart’s content, and did some shopping too. Weeks passed and it was time for Sameer to return to Mumbai, and as he packed his bags he made sure to tuck in Naina’s photograph carefully.

Mumbai welcomed him with mild temperatures and fast winds, and he knew that it wouldn’t be long before rains arrived. And that meant he would miss Naina more. He resumed his job, pleasantly surprised when they said that they would be happy to have him onboard again. And they also increased his stipend by 20% which was a considerable addition to his household budget. Elated with his progress he shared the news with Nanu and his friends who congratulated him. That night when he was on the terrace of his apartment he spotted a broken star and he immediately closed his eyes, making a wish to meet Naina. At the same time a considerable distance away, on another terrace a girl also looked up at the sky at the same time to spot the broken star, and wished for peace and happiness.

When college started for second year, Naina was faced with another invitation of date from a boy called Arnav, and she politely refused. However, the same day she struck friendship with another boy called Dhananjay, popularly known as Danny, who asked her for help in accountancy. Danny had a weird sense of dressing style, with copper highlight streaks in his hair, and an eclectic choice of t-shirts; but his sense of humor and eagerness to learn struck chord with Naina. Danny also played some amateur pranks on his classmates, and that reminded her of Sameer, but even though this trait was a huge contributor in Naina being friends with Danny, she never joined him in any of the pranks. Chaaya was cordial with Danny, but somehow Bikram and Gurdeep didn’t like him. They even warned Naina that there was something off about Danny but Naina didn’t pay heed to any of this.

At the other end Sameer almost groaned aloud in frustration on the first day as Nidhi approached him with swaying hips and flirty smile, and in order to avoid her he immediately hailed Priya who was overwhelmed by the attention. Priya was mediocre in studies, was known to run through boyfriends faster than sand in a strainer, and liked to wear bright shaded clothes. Sameer hated all these characteristics, but the only thing that made him choose Priya was the knowledge that she wouldn’t cling to him; in-fact he might score the record of quickest dumped boyfriend because he had no interest in prolonging the relationship and neither did he have enough money to spend on her. For him, Priya was just a way to escape Nidhi. But still he was sane enough to treat Priya seriously enough, because according to him no girl deserved to be treated frivolously while dating. And so he had his first date of second year in a nearby café where he found out that Priya liked to choose the most expensive items on the menu as she believed that higher price meant good quality, which resulted in Sameer sticking to the cheapest coffee and no meal as he gave the excuse of not being hungry in order to stick to his budget.

Around fifteen days went by since that café date, and Priya started dropping hints for another date, this time for a movie. Sameer was reluctant and initially didn’t pay much heed, but a few days later he felt compelled and fixed the a time for watching the upcoming blockbuster. He also thought that maybe after this date he would talk to her that things weren’t working out and tell her that he didn’t have enough money for repeated dates, surely that would make her break-up with him. He knew that this would also mean that the news of his inability to spend on dates would surely spread through college but that was better that going on these dates half-heartedly. He sighed to himself, working late night on proof-reading an article, at this rate he would never fall for any girl and then Nanu would find someone as per their deal. He didn’t know what to do, he just didn’t feel an iota of interest in any girls in his college. Was it because of Naina? But how could it be? He had never gone on any dates with Naina; neither had they spent moments like couples do.

Finally Sunday, the day of date arrived, Sameer dressed up in jeans and green colored shirt, and took a taxi to the park where Priya had asked him to meet. This told him that she had lied at her home about her whereabouts and it added to his discomfort, though he understood that it was normal for many girls to not tell at home about their boyfriends. As the taxi slowed down, he saw her waiting near the entrance and waved at her, for some reason she frowned while walking up. Sliding inside she immediately asked, “why are you in a taxi?”

Sameer was puzzled, “what do you mean?”

She rolled her eyes, “I thought you would bring your own bike or car so that we can spend time even after movie.”

“I don’t have a bike or car”, Sameer replied, leaving out the detail that he did own both in Ahmedabad.

He could see that this news didn’t please her, and it didn’t bother him. This meant the inevitable break-up was close. He noted that she was dressed in an extremely tight lemon yellow top, with an equally tight grey jeans, and was carrying a pink purse that made him recall a recent article on street-fashion disasters in the magazine he worked for. Priya had a disapproving frown on her lips, “I don’t like this shirt of yours… it’s too plain… couldn’t you wear something hip? And who comes to date without flowers?”

Sameer made an excuse, “sorry… I was late, so didn’t get the time.”

She made a condemning sound and looked outside, and Sameer ticked off the accumulating break-up points in his brain, somehow pleased with the scenario of being dumped by the end of the movie. If possible he wouldn’t even have gone today, because since morning he could see grey clouds gathering in the sky, it seemed the first rains of season would arrive today and he would have liked to stay at home. Reminiscing the time spent with Naina was somehow much more pleasurable than going on an actual date with another girl. Add to that he really liked the shirt he was wearing, and yes it was plain because he had bought plain shirt for his office, and as for flowers, he didn’t know why he hadn’t even given a thought to it.

It seemed like the movie was already a hit because there was a long queue for ticket. Thankfully there were two windows so the queue was split. He stood there behind Priya who again had a frown on her face and he wondered what had he done now, maybe he should have asked her to sit while he bought the tickets. He shrugged looking around, hoping it wouldn’t start raining while they were watching the movie; he wanted to see the first rain. There was some commotion in queue beside them, and as he turned to check, his gaze collided with a pair of whisky brown eyes. Sameer stilled in shock, blinking he tried to take in the face that owned the pair of eyes which had haunted him since more than a year now…

Naina! Oh my God!

Naina also stood still, her eyes wide in astonishment on seeing the reason of her happiness and sadness both in front of her eyes. Was it a dream? No… He was here… for real… and God… still just as handsome… But had he lost weight? His face also seemed little dull. What was he doing here? Had he shifted here? Where was he staying? Hostel? As questions after question raced in her head there was some strange impulse inside her to care for him, to see to it that he eats properly, to check if he slept properly. She knew he didn’t need her… didn’t want her… and she had not met him for more than an year…. But neither of this stopped her from worrying about him.

They were so engrossed in staring at each other that none of them realized that the queue had moved forward. Someone bumped into Sameer and a guy pushed Naina asking her to move on. She stumbled, and gasped, her hand reaching out for support, and automatically Sameer grabbed her, pulling her out of the line. They looked at each other and at the same time exclaimed, “you!”

“Excuse me”, Priya’s voice interrupted them, “am I missing something?”

Before Sameer could answer, Danny butted in, asking in a gratingly oily voice, “Naina… who is this baby?”

Baby? What the hell? Who was this boy? Good God… Such a horrible dressing sense.

Sameer’s eyes narrowed and he pulled out some notes from his wallet handing them over to Priya, “get the tickets; I will be back in a few minutes.”

He pulled Naina along with him, and she had no choice but to follow, however she did turn back and said, “Give me five minutes Danny.”

There was no empty place to have a private conversation; the only place with least crowd was the popcorn stands because people would buy those in interval, and so he pulled her over there. He looked her up and down, and recalled the first time she had come over to his house in Ahmedabad… She had worn a bright red salwar-kameez, and that was the first time he had held her… And today too she was dressed in red, albeit a frock that fell till her calf and a broad brown belt with golden butterfly buckle was clinched around her waist, highlighting her curvy figure. To add to that she hadn’t worn many accessories, just small gold hoops in her ears, a black beaded anklet on her right leg, and strappy sandals. She looked like she had stepped out of his dreams… And what happened to her? Her hair was open, styled and oil-free. Was this his Naina? If he hadn’t seen her at the school fair before, looking just as gorgeous, he might not have believed that this was the Naina he knew… But he had experienced that day, and he knew that if she wanted she could look like a million bucks. But that didn’t tell him why she was in Mumbai? Why she was in a movie theatre? And most importantly what she was doing with the boy?

He must be her boyfriend.

He cursed his inner voice, and spoke aloud, in an irate tone, “what the hell… what are you doing here?”

She had been staring at him with undivided attention, but at his tone her face took on a defensive expression, “watching movie, I suppose… Isn’t that what people come to do here?”

He ignored the sarcasm and questioned, “I mean… what are you doing in Mumbai? Seems like you are following me.”

She folded her arms, her temper rising, “I am not following anyone. I live here now… I study here.”

“Which college?” He asked promptly.

She replied just as quickly, “why do you care? The differences between us still remain… I study in a normal college, while yours must be super premium where all the fancy rich kids study. We are still just as different as we were in Ahmedabad.”

If only she knew, he thought to himself. Dragging a shaky breath, he moved his hand through his hair, which distracted her for a moment and made her pulse skip madly. He ignored her jibes and focused on the question that seemed most important to him at the moment, “what are you doing with that guy? Are you on a date?”

She didn’t dignify his probing with a verbal answer; rather just raised her eyebrows hoping he would take the hint. He understood, but still prodded, “Naina… who dates a guy like that? For God’s sake he is wearing pink t-shirt…”

“I like pink”, she quipped.

He replied, “and it looks fantastic on you… but not on a guy… He is a punk.”

She registered what he said about pink on her, but ignored it, and instead commented, “says who… look at yourself… you have come with a girl whose clothes would tear from the seams any moment, and she has sparkles on her ass. What a choice.”

He bit his lip, refraining from mentioning that he hated what Priya was wearing. He had noticed the sparkles stuck on her bottom when she had alighted from the taxi and had been horrified. But Priya wasn’t important now… What was important that Naina was defending the pink punk. Deflated a bit he queried, “so… you really are on a date?”

She was frustrated with his repeated questions, “I can see you are still an ass.”

He smirked, tilting his head, and taking a step to come closer, his voice dropped a decibel as he said, “and I can see you have still got a fine ass.” And then he winked.

Her face flushed, and she didn’t know whether to be mad at his comment or be happy that he had noticed her features since beginning, even when she was an oily-haired girl with no fashion sense. Not knowing how to respond to his flirting, and also noticing that his companion and her companion both were staring at them, she decided to end the conversation, “look… it’s not like we are friends or anything… so why all these questions? You go watch movie with your date, and let me enjoy it too. It’s not as if we are going to meet again.”

Sameer hated the words she uttered, but he also realized that he had no right to stop her from watching a movie with someone else. And so he watched her leave with the pink punk, and reluctantly joined Priya as the crowd moved inside the hall. He was irritated when he saw the Priya had booked corner seats for them which clearly stated her intentions, but to his shock he saw that the pink punk had also got corner seats for himself and Naina. Rights be damned… He didn’t like what he was seeing at all. He wanted to go over and pull Naina out of the seat, tell her that she shouldn’t be sitting on corner seats with anybody… and… and he wanted to sit there with her himself… protect her… God… what was happening to him?

He missed the opening credits because he was so busy trying to think why he didn’t like the fact that Naina was not sitting with him. As the move progressed, Priya tried to hold his hand, but his fingers were lax as he watched the pink punk lean towards Naina and whisper something in her ear which made her laugh. His blood boiled wondering what was so funny about that guy, he could also make jokes. Priya kept her head on his shoulder, her hand now wandering onto his chest, and he shuddered, hating the sensation, so he moved her hand aside and sat up straight. He gritted his teeth on seeing the guy with Naina lean close to her often. Were they holding hands? As if in reply to his mental question Naina raised her hand to push back her hair, and he sighed in relief. However, the next moment he noticed the punk lean closer again, as if aiming for her shoulder or neck, but Naina was oblivious to his attempts. Priya tried to get cozy again, and when he shook her off, she furiously whispered, “what’s wrong with you? You do know the meaning of corner seats… don’t you?”

“Yes I know”, Sameer muttered, “and looks like someone else does too.”

Before Priya could ask more questions the sign of interval flashed across the screen, and people started to get up. He noticed Naina get in the queue to exit too, with the guy behind her, and his eyes narrowed on seeing that the punk kept inching closer on the pretext of crowd. Sameer clenched his fists wanting to murder him. He was determined to let Naina know what her so-called date was up to; surely she would see sense and ditch him. But as they went outside, he saw Naina disappear inside the toilet, and Priya clung to his arms demanding several snacks. For once he didn’t think about money and let her buy whatever she wanted, his priority was Naina for now; he needed to talk to her, let her know about her… her… her companion’s intentions. There was no way he was terming the punk as Naina’s boyfriend even in his mind.

He saw Naina near the popcorn stand, and tried to go to her, but then the punk appeared out of nowhere and escorted her inside. Priya also started tugging at his hand, saying that the movie will start. It was then that he noticed all the items Priya had bought – popcorn, samosa, cold-drink, chocolate, and even a pack of chips. He blinked, “what’s all this?”

She scowled at him, “substitute of romance.”

He groaned mentally as he calculated the cost of all that she had purchased, the taunt on lack of romance didn’t bother him much… There was no way he was going to indulge in any hanky-panky with her. Now if it was Naina…

Wait Sameer… What the hell are you thinking?

He must be going mad, that was the only explanation. As the movie started again, he tried to keep an eye on the punk sitting few rows ahead of him, and also tried to decipher about what must be causing all these weird thoughts inside his head. How could he think of romancing Naina inside a movie theatre? No… Naina deserved so much better. Flowers… Candles… Walks on beach… Private dinner… A cozy movie at home… Slow dance… And the gentlest of kisses…

Wait… wait… wait… Now you are thinking of kissing Naina? And where did all these romance ideas suddenly pop from?

He shook his head, trying to clear the haze clouding it ever since he had laid his eyes on Naina today. He needed to stop thinking in this direction. Just then a sudden movement caught his attention, and he saw the punk saying something while Naina pulled back, her body stiffening so suddenly that he could note it even from five rows away. Well… it looked like Naina now knew about the guy’s intentions. Good… now she could say no, and the punk won’t try anything and he could relax. But his assertion was wrong as after a few minutes he saw the guy put his arm on the chair behind her, and she straightened, saying something to him. Sameer thought she must be asking him to remove his hand; however the punk just grinned and replied something he couldn’t hear. Naina didn’t say anything more, but he could see that she wasn’t relaxed anymore. Sameer kept a close eye, anticipating trouble, and surely after just another minute the guy shifted his hand from the seat to Naina’s shoulder, and she jerked spilling the popcorn in her hand. That was it… The punk had crossed his limits.

Sameer stood up ignoring Priya’s protests and moved down the broad steps to the row where Naina was sitting. Naina glanced up as soon as he reached there, and he ignored the punk, just addressing her, “come out… we are leaving.”

Naina need not be told twice, and she dropped the half-empty popcorn tub and grabbed her purse. But as she stood up, the punk raised his legs, blocking her path, and gave a fake wide smile to Sameer, “you are disturbing us.”

Sameer didn’t spend energy in arguing with him, he simply warned, “you have 30 seconds to move your legs and let her out…”

The punk smirked, “else what?”

“Okay… 30 seconds up”, Sameer said, and punched his nose hard. The punk started howling in pain, holding his nose. Sameer was satisfied on hearing the painful sounds but still wanted to punch him some more for daring to touch his Naina. However, he refrained from doing so as people around them were starting to stand up to check what the commotion was. Rather he extended his hand to Naina, “c’mon… now.”

Naina held his hand without hesitation, and he helped her out, guiding her to the exit, closing the big heavy doors shutting the sound of movie and people. He pulled her outside the theatre intending to leave, but Naina stopped as soon as they reached the main entrance and simply said, “your girlfriend is still inside… you need to go back to her.”

He had been keeping a stronghold on his anger, but now it just exploded as he yelled, “I don’t care… do you hear that? What the hell were you thinking Naina? Coming on a date with a guy like that…”

“It wasn’t a date”, she yelled back, shocking him to silence. She took deep calming breaths and then said in much more normal voice, “it wasn’t a date. He just asked to go see a movie as friends… I had no idea what he intended.”

He couldn’t believe it… She might have changed drastically where fashion was concerned, but she was still the same innocent girl he knew from Ahmedabad for whom even a simple handhold had held so much importance. He noticed that he was still holding her hand, and was gratified that she didn’t pull back. Fighting his insane anger on seeing the pink punk with Naina, and then his own unruly thoughts about her, he tried to make sense of the situation, but his voice still held an edge when he said, “how can you be so careless? What if I hadn’t been there today?”

She frowned, “I know how to deal with boys… Didn’t I deal with you?”

He replied in a tired exasperated tone, “you never had the need to defend yourself from me. I never intended to hurt you in any way… didn’t you ever understand that?”

She let out a sarcastic chuckle, “what does it matter what I understood about you… about us?” She gulped, regaining her composure, and pulled her hand out of his hold, “anyways… thank you for helping me today… I should leave now.”

“I will drop you home”, he immediately said.

She stopped him, “no… your… girlfriend is still waiting inside. Go back to her.”

He again repeated, “I don’t care.”

“Then you shouldn’t have taken the responsibility to bring her”, she retorted irked at his careless attitude.

He sighed, somewhere understanding what she was saying, and nodded after a brief internal struggle. Taking out a bit of paper from his pocket, he wrote down his number on it, and gave it to her, softly requesting, “please call me tonight. I just… I need to know that you are okay, and reached home safe.”

She closed her hand on the bit of paper as if preserving it, and gave him a small smile, “okay.” He smiled back at her, and hailed a cab so that she can go home. She kept turning back to look at him as she walked to the taxi, and waved at him after sitting inside. As the taxi moved, she glanced at her hand that had once again been held by him after more than a year, feeling a strange peace in her heart. He stood watching the taxi leave, her smile imprinted on his heart and a feeling of being alive again rushing through his veins. Thunder rumbled in distance, the chances of first rain stronger than ever, and it seemed as if a new chapter had started in their life as they met for the first time all over again.