Only Mine Chapter 17: YOU AGAIN

The rising sun of Saturday seemed to hold no brightness for Sameer and Naina. A phone call the previous evening had wreaked havoc in their lives. They went into a stupor where everything happening seemed like an alternate reality while they still lived in the moments where they had met each other. None of them could believe that fate could be so cruel to them.

Sameer tried to talk to Munna and Pandit but they assured that if it was Nanaji’s decision then it must be for his good. Pandit even argued, “as it is you don’t feel anything for Naina… even after all these years you keep thinking it is just pranks, so why are you sad now? Just give another girl a chance.”

Because I love Naina.

He wanted to scream, but he didn’t. If this needed to be told to anyone that was Nanu and Naina, and then he would tell his friends that they were right all along. Also, he really needed to define this feeling of love in his mind. He still needed to understand what was love exactly? Was it the incomprehensible attraction he felt every time he saw or talked to Naina? Or was it the loneliness he felt when he wasn’t with Naina? Or was it the hallucinations that he had of suddenly hearing Naina’s laughter from somewhere or imagining how she would react on seeing him in this new life?

Keeping all this aside, he knew there was no way he was going to fall for any other girl. So meeting someone else was useless, but still just to respect Nanu he would go and meet that girl and clearly tell her that he loved someone else. Surely Nanu would also understand once he explained about his feelings.

Naina called up Chachaji and tried to persuade him, but Tauji interrupted asking if she thought he would find a bad prospect for her.

Yes, you would.

Naina wanted to tell him, but she kept quiet knowing her pleas would never be heard. Dismayed she also talked to PB, hoping she could help but PB said that there’s always a time for a girl when she has to find a life-partner. Maybe she won’t like the boy she is meeting, but that shouldn’t stop her from opening herself to the possibility of marriage. PB advised her to meet the boy, and if she doesn’t like him then they would talk to her family together. That assured Naina a bit as she knew no one would refuse PB at her home. So she decided that she would go to the café, meet the boy, but tell him that she isn’t interested, and also she would tell her family the same. Surely she could come up with a thousand faults in some random boy.

That night none of them slept well. Sameer hugged Naina’s photo close to his heart trying to feel her warmth but there was no relief. Naina clutched onto the tiger soft toy, tears leaking from her eyes as she cursed herself repeatedly for losing Sameer’s number. While he knew the reason of his restlessness being his newly identified feelings for Naina, she didn’t understand why she was thinking more of her meeting with Sameer than escaping the boy next day. Many kilometers away in Ahmedabad a bunch of people prayed that tomorrow’s day would end with the good news of Sameer and Naina’s alliance, and each one of them had a different reason. Nanu and the gang of four friends prayed because they wanted to Sameer and Naina together and happy. Bela and Anand prayed because they wanted a good future for their daughter. Tauji and Taiji prayed because they wanted to get rid of the unwanted girl. Rakesh prayed because this alliance didn’t require any expense or dowry from his side. Arjun prayed because he hoped such a big family name could help him in his job.

Sunday wasn’t as welcome as it usually would be. Sameer cursed the day, tossing his clothes around in the tub while washing them as if he could take his frustration out that way. He burnt his breakfast; skipped his lunch; avoided shaving, and chose the dullest clothes he could find from his cupboard – a pair of dark blue jeans that had started fading slightly at the knees and a plain white shirt. That would be boring enough to ward away any attention, he thought. He also didn’t comb his hair properly, usually he would spend ten minutes brushing them up until he could see the gloss, but today he left it messy, just setting it a bit with his hand. He slipped on his watch out of habit, checked his reflection once and fastened up the second button of his shirt which he usually left open. He made sure there was nothing at all in his appearance that could attract attention.

Naina also wanted to make sure that she didn’t look good. Of course she probably never looked beautiful, but today she was determined to ensure she looked her worst. She shampooed her hair out of her daily habit, but then she meticulously applied oil again. Surely that would disgust the boy. To be on the safe side she also skipped her morning regime of creams and body lotion that day, and thought that maybe she could scratch her arms few times in-front of the boy making him think that she had some itching disease. Her stomach was uneasy the entire day so she barely ate anything. And when evening arrived she pulled out a dark pink kurti which she had worn so many times that PB classified it as a cleaning rug. She also opted out of any kind of makeup, and only wore a pair of small earrings and watch. Checking her reflection in the mirror she determined she was looked clumsy, foolish and too stupid to ever know fashion. It was the perfect look for the evening.

Naina decided to not take PB’s car but rather travel by taxi just to ensure that there wasn’t any materialistic factor that could attract the boy’s attention too, and Sameer also ditched his bike in favor of taxi. He had noticed that having a bike of his own had raised his stakes a bit in college among girls, however he had never been so much interested in girls and ever since he had realized his feelings for Naina none other girl grabbed his attention even a little bit. The evening was a beautiful one, but all Sameer and Naina could think of was how to make sure that their prospective partners didn’t like them.  Naina decided to be highly disinterested during the whole conversation and pretend as if she didn’t understand even the smallest things. Sameer knew he couldn’t be rude to a girl, so decided that he should go in extremely late as that would enrage the girl and she might just leave even before he entered. Although making her wait was extremely inconsiderate but that’s exactly what he wanted to portray, that he was no good for relationships.

Naina reached on time, feeling happy at the weird looks some of the other patrons threw at her because this meant she wasn’t looking fit to sit in this café. Maybe the boy would feel embarrassed by her and leave. She asked a waitress about table number 3, and mentioned that there was a reservation in the name of Anand Agarwal. The waitress guided her to the table, and asked if she would like to order something.

“Not yet, thanks”, Naina smiled, “I am waiting for someone.”

The waitress glanced once at her oily hair and faded kurta, then smiled politely and left from there. Naina rolled her eyes, ignoring the condescending looks, and glanced outside. She loved Marine drive, and she had been to this café a few times because from here she could sit and observe the people. She was like that… Sometimes she liked to just sit and stare at the several shades of sea for hours, and sometimes she liked to sit in the café with a cup of hot coffee and spend her time observing the people who came to Marine drive. As she waited her thoughts wandered to how her life had been since she came to Mumbai, but still she blocked all thoughts of Sameer… His memories made her soft, made her yearn, made her care… But today she needed to be tough to get rid of this unknown boy. That is why she thought of how Mumbai gave her wings of freedom, how her family who she had loved more than anything else didn’t believe in her, how she had transformed herself to fit in Mumbai. She thought of her struggle and hardwork, she thought of her success… everything except the heartache that she had locked away for the day. Tomorrow… she decided tomorrow she would again start her efforts to reach Sameer, but today getting this supposedly prospective groom off her back was the most important thing.

The guy is still not here.

It was already way past 6:30pm and they were supposed to meet at 6pm. Naina decided that she couldn’t wait anymore for such an irresponsible jerk. Just as she grabbed her purse and decided to leave, the bell clinked again, and a silhouette was outlined against the last rays of the setting sun. The boy or man entered inside, letting the door close, glanced here and there, and then stopped still… just like Naina had.

Naina watched the person walk over slowly disbelief etched on his face, just as it must have been etched on her face too. He stood by the side of the table, gazing at her with incredulous recognition, and then they both glanced down at the number 3 placard kept on the table. Immediately their gaze moved up to each other again, a moment passed and another, before they both exclaimed together, “YOU!!”

Sameer Maheshwari stood facing Naina Agarwal in Marina café beside table number 3, both of them jolted by the realization that they were supposed to meet each other, that their families had arranged this meet. There should have been several questions in their mind, but the extensively fluctuating roller coaster of emotions that they had been through in the past several months had finally came to an unannounced screeching halt and the shock waves coursing through their body made their conscious go numb; as their eyes met it wasn’t questions that they were faced with but rather memories of their journey. They didn’t how long they stood like that lost in the whirlwind of past, they were unaware of the odd suspicious looks people threw at them as they relived a journey of almost four years in few minutes.

The sky darkened with shades of twilight, the orange hues deepening, blending with lavender and blue, as the last vestiges of sun disappeared over the horizon. Sameer was the first one to recover from the shock; he looked down once more to confirm that he was indeed at the current table, and murmured, “I can’t believe Nanu chose you for me.”

Naina jerked out of her own memories at the sound of his voice, and then registered what he had said. She scowled, her voice had an edge as she said, “of course… that must be so disappointing for you. I am so beneath the status of the rich and handsome Sameer Maheshwari.”

She side-stepped him with a heavy heart, hurt by his words, and decided to leave. But as she crossed him, he caught her hand, his expressions puzzled, “what? I didn’t mean it that way… I… I mean… I had no idea… And you… you never called again… I waited… and now… here… we… like this…”

She heard his blabbering, and an elated beat picked up again in her heart when he mentioned that he had waited for her to call again. At the same time she felt embarrassed because she had lost his number, but she didn’t say that to him. Instead, with an intention to prod, she said, “why should I have called you? You had your sparkly ass girlfriend.”

His tensed muscles relaxed slightly and he smiled a bit, “umm… her name is Priya. And I hated the jeans she wore that day… in fact I didn’t like her entire getup, but it would have been impolite to tell her that. Also, we are not together anymore.”

On hearing this, Naina relaxed, and nodded, “good.”

He wondered how to proceed, and he was also reluctant to leave her hand that was still in her hold. So he asked, “shall we get coffee?”

She nodded, and as he left her hand after a bit of hesitation, she glanced down at her own fingers as if she had never noticed that he had been holding her hand. It made Sameer’s heart bubble with hope, that maybe his touch was natural to her.

Naina sat down, blinking her eyes because she was still in a daze from the impact of suddenly seeing him after so many months and so much effort. He looked so handsome, like always… effortlessly handsome. His slightly faded jeans suddenly seemed like it was just the thing to wear, and his messy hair… How did it get so messy? Maybe it was the wind outside. But still it looked fabulous, and her fingers itched to straighten those silky locks. The waitress who had come to take their orders was the same one who had guided her to the table, and Naina saw her eyes stray on Sameer appreciatively while she was blessed with the same weird glance, this time mixed with curiosity as if she was wondering how did a handsome boy came to meet a girl like her. And that’s when it hit Naina as to how she was dressed.

Faded old kurti, oily hair, no makeup… Good God Naina…

Her cheeks reddened in mortification, and when Sameer asked what coffee she would like she could barely speak up her preference. He dismissed the waitress and looked at her curiously, “what’s wrong?”

Naina didn’t meet his gaze, but grabbed her purse, and murmured, “I just… I need to go to the washroom.” She didn’t wait for his reply, just dashed inside the ladies room and stood in-front of the sink, her eyes closed, and took deep calming breaths. Sameer… She was supposed to meet Sameer for marriage? How was it possible? It made no sense at all… How would their families ever meet? Or had her family got to know that the boy with her all those years ago was him? Her head throbbed with all the questions, but she didn’t know how to find the answers. All she knew was that Sameer was here… And she looked like hell.

She opened her eyes, staring in dismay at her own reflection. God… The efforts she had made to ward off any boy coming to meet her certainly seemed effective. She hoped Sameer wouldn’t disappear by the time she was back. Quickly grabbing some tissues she decided to do some damage control, and tried to wipe off the excess oil from her hair. She wasn’t sure if it worked or not, but there was oil on the tissues so she thought she had at least took out some of the oiliness. Next she washed her face, dabbed it dry with some more tissues and looked through her bag for anything that she could use. She only managed to find her compact and a small tub of lip-balm. Dammit… Why couldn’t she have had at least a lipstick? Trying not to feel disappointed at her obvious lack of rescue materials she used what she had, and tried to straighten her kurta as much as she could. There was no way she could restore the color, but maybe she could make it look like she had worn it because it looked good on her.

Outside Sameer was going through a similar situation. On seeing Naina rush to the washroom he had wondered what she was up to, and if she was not happy to see him. That was when it had dawned on him that he must be looking like a mess with his simple clothes and disheveled hair and unshaved jaw. Oh God… He was almost tempted to rush to the washroom himself and see if he could find a shaving kit somewhere. He rubbed his jaw feeling the rasp of beard, and sighed because there was nothing he could do about it. But his hair… he could work on that a bit. So he combed them using his fingers trying to set it in his usual style. He also undid the second button on his shirt, hoping it would catch her attention. Then with nothing to do he sat back and waited for the coffee and her. Meanwhile he wondered how was it that he ended up here with her. Had Nanu understood something from his talks and behavior? Or Nanu genuinely saw Naina as the ideal girl for him? He knew Nanu liked Naina a lot… and he also knew that Nanu would have had no objection if he had told that he loved Naina. But that conversation hadn’t happened. Still Naina was here… He didn’t know how, but at that moment he chose to ignore the question and focused on counting his blessings. Now that he had found her he wouldn’t let her go… Of course he can’t confess that he loved her without any preliminaries, plus the circumstances they were meeting in were so strange… Marriage… Here he had just thought of dating Naina, and now he was meeting her for a wedding proposal. There was no simple way to share his feelings straightaway without sounding stupid, and also he had no idea if Naina liked him that way or not. What if she said she can’t ever love him? No… He couldn’t take that kind of rejection from her. He needed to tread carefully.

What’s taking her so long?

He frowned in the general direction of the bathroom, and he saw a couple at another table – the boy had just stood up, maybe to go to the washroom, and the girl quickly pulled out a small mirror from her purse to check her reflection, and touched up her lipstick. The gesture was so similar to what he had just done himself that he chuckled.

Wait a minute… Naina…

Oh God… Had she gone to the restroom to do the same? He had felt shock, pleasant surprise, elation, and a lot of other things on seeing Naina. But that didn’t mean he hadn’t noticed her. She looked just like the school Naina he knew. Her hair wasn’t in pigtail, rather a ponytail, but still she had it oiled just like school. There wasn’t an ounce of makeup on her face. And she was the total opposite of the fashionable Naina he had been greeted the last time. And he was surprised that even after seeing her in that kind of state he still wanted her with just the same ferocity. But… if she had really gone to spruce herself up then that meant she cared about he thought of her appearance. That would be a good start.

A minute later Naina walked out of the washroom, and came up to their table, her cheeks still somewhat pink, and her gaze still shy. He smiled at her, and when she returned the smile he wanted to grab her and kiss her straightaway. Sucking in a breath he adjusted himself, thanking his stars that he was sitting and the table hid his condition from her. It would be a trouble if he kept on reacting so violently to her all the time.

The waitress brought their coffees and a single plate of chocolate cake. Naina looked at it in confusion, and then up at him. He shrugged, “I just got something for us to share… if you don’t mind.”

“When have I ever?” She blurted immediately making him grin.

As they sipped on the hot cups of coffee and shared the sweet cake, they talked… there was nothing and no one to pull them apart, or any pranks, or any formalities to attend to. This time it was just about them. When she had returned from the washroom, Sameer had noticed immediately that she had applied lip-balm and maybe washed her face. Her hair was still oily but he knew she couldn’t do anything about it, just like he couldn’t do anything about his unshaved state. He had also noticed that her eyes had strayed to his hair and then to his shirt, and a dull pink had tinged her cheeks on seeing his open buttons. It gave him courage to start talking, to find more about her. And that’s why he carried the conversation with ease, asking about her college and where she stayed. When he got to know that she studied in H.R. College he frowned, because he had been unable to find her there. Perturbed he asked, “do you bunk your classes?”

She was puzzled, “no… I am usually regular.” But then she confessed, “umm… actually I did bunk for the first time few weeks ago.”

He asked, “why?”

She shrugged, “just some important personal work. Where do you study?”

“Jai Hind College”, he informed, “in the same area as yours… no special college for rich kids.”

She bit her lip as she remembered her comment from the movie theatre, and softly said, “I didn’t mean that… It was just a shock to see you like that suddenly.”

“Tell me about it”, he muttered, “if I hadn’t seen you at the fair in school, I would have refused to believe it was you at the movie theatre.”

She queried, “why would you do that?”

He smirked, “because you looked sexy.”

Her eyes widened and she blushed, “thanks… I guess…” Then she looked puzzled, “wait… you mean… that day… in school… at the fair…”

He nodded, “yes… you looked sexy that day too.”

Still blushing she scooped up the last bit of chocolate cake in her spoon, and immediately Sameer caught her hand, “uh uh… That’s mine.” Saying so, he leaned forward and ate the cake from her spoon that was still in her hand. The gesture was so familiar from their school time that she smiled wide.

He licked his lips to take in all the traces of chocolate, and then asked, “so you live with your Bua-dadi… But, why did you come to Mumbai to study? You liked being in Ahmedabad with your family and friends. And also… why did you go for just a week during the summer vacations?”

She swallowed, her throat suddenly dry as she wondered what to tell him. Truth was so complicated that she didn’t know how to explain. Shifting her gaze away from him she looked outside, and said, “I wanted some freedom, and Mumbai offered better education. As for summer vacations, I just did a short trip because PB and I had plans to visit Matheran. But I did go back for Diwali.”

His eyes narrowed as he listened to her subdued voice, his gaze trained on her face, he understood there was something she wasn’t telling him but he didn’t think it was the right time to prod further. So he accepted what she said, and changed the topic of discussion, asking about what she liked in Mumbai. That brightened her up as she told him of her friends in college, the places she had visited in these two years, the new food she had tried. He listened with a smile though he made a mental note to check on two of her friends Gurdeep and Bikram. If these two were anything like Danny then Naina shouldn’t be friends with them. She also wanted to know more about him, so he told her of his job which surprised her.

“You really did that?” She asked astonished, “you have been working for two years.”

He nodded, “yes. I have learned a lot of things. They also promised to send me out on an assignment with their team this summer. Let’s see how things work out.”

She smiled, “I am so happy to know that. But where do you stay? And what about food?”

He grinned, “are you worried for me?”

She looked down, moving her finger over the edge of the now empty coffee cup, and softly said, “I am… I wanted to know since we met at the theatre because you looked tired and thinner than I remembered. In fact you still do.”

He felt his heart soar with happiness at her concern, and there was a serene smile on his face as he replied, “maybe I have just missed someone who would care for me.”

On hearing this she glanced up, her gaze colliding with his because he was staring at her, his eyes lit with some strange expression that she couldn’t comprehend. It compelled her to not look away, as if he was holding her captive with just his gaze, and she didn’t mind. She wanted to have her fill of staring at his profile. How long she had looked for him… Should she tell him that? She wanted to, but she also knew that it would leave her vulnerable to him. He would have the option to choose or reject and she didn’t know if she had courage to part ways once again. She didn’t know how long she sat there staring at him, but she jerked when he spoke in a deep drawling voice, “have I ever told you that you look fantastic in pink?”

Her cheeks flushed with color and she lifted her hand trying to adjust her hair, and stammered, “ye…yes you did. In the theatre.”

“I did?” He asked puzzled because he didn’t remember. Then he leaned forward slightly, asking in a low voice, “is that why you wore pink today? But you didn’t know who were you meeting… Then why pink Naina?”

Her gaze moved over his hair that now fell on his forehead, his eyes, his lips and she felt slightly breathless as she replied, “I wore this because it is old. I… I thought the boy would reject me if I am dressed like this.”

He gently prodded, “you wanted me to reject you?”

“No!” She blurted, and then glanced down in mortification, trying to explain, “I meant whoever the boy was…”

“But it is me”, he cajoled, wanting to know more of what she thought of this meeting. She didn’t know what to say, his questions were causing some fluttering in her stomach and she had this strange urge to tell him that she didn’t want him to reject her. But the words didn’t come out of her lips. So she just said, “I don’t want to get married so soon.”

He stared at her for some time before sighing and straightening in his seat. His voice was comforting when he said, “I understand… I wore faded jeans and didn’t comb my hair so that the girl rejects me.”

She looked up in surprise, and quickly asked, “and the beard?”

He laughed, “yes that too…” Rubbing his jaw again, he said, “I must be looking like a loafer.”

“No, you still look handsome”, she immediately assured and then blushed furiously.

Amused but happy, he grinned, “thanks honey… you look beautiful yourself.”

The honey in his deep voice caused those flutterings again and she muttered, “liar… PB says this kurti is fit for being a cleaning rug. And I have oil in my hair which I know you hate.”

“Hated”, he corrected, “I thought I hated… But to be honest I have missed your oily hair since the last time I saw you. If it means anything to you, it doesn’t bother me… You still look just as beautiful.” Tilting his head he added, “and as for your kurti… what’s there not to like? Yes, it is old but it fits… if you know what I mean.”

Oh she knew what he meant. The kurta was so old that the fabric had gone all soft and molded perfectly to her body. She felt comfortable wearing it but she didn’t know that someone would notice such a thing. But apparently he did. And from the way he had tilted his head to get a better look, it was obvious he liked what he saw. What was happening? He was blatantly flirting. And he was calling her honey. This was the second time he was doing that. Did that mean something? She felt confused. He hadn’t even talked about the wedding proposal. What should she do? Abjectly she noticed it was time for her to go home. She didn’t have the car which meant she couldn’t stay out for long. Reluctantly she said, “I will have to leave. It is late.”

He looked disappointed but didn’t say anything. Closing her eyes she dishearteningly added, “Chachaji will call tonight to ask about the proposal. I… I will say… no.”

His posture shifted from relaxed to alert in a split second, “what? Why?”

She nervously queried, “shouldn’t I? You want to marry me?”

Yes!

He wanted to confess, but held back. There was something in her voice that pulled him from the edge of telling her how much he liked the idea of being with her for a lifetime. Besides for him also it was ‘now’ that he realized that he didn’t just love her but he also wanted to spend his whole life with her. He suddenly felt elated and nervous both at this. Until this morning he didn’t even know where Naina was, and now he was discussing wedding with her. He needed time to sort his own emotions, and also to know what Naina truly felt about him. This is why he tried to calm down and explain, “I was just thinking… if we say no like this it would hurt our families. And we also need not hurry. If you agree… we can take some time with each other and then talk to our families whatever we feel.”

She didn’t know she felt slightly disappointed. It wasn’t as if he was going to say yes. But still… Anyways his idea seemed better. Besides that meant she could spend some more time with him, meet him… and who knows what might happen. It could be that he genuinely would start to like her. So she nodded, but also added, “if we say no later then it might hurt them more.”

He combed his finger through his hair, “let’s not get ahead of ourselves. For now… let’s stick to what we discussed and if we have to say no then we will have proper reasons for them.”

She nodded, happy that they would meet more often now, and also sad that there was a probability of him saying no. She was also confused by the fact that why wasn’t she thinking of saying no. She had never thought of marriage and had thought she would refuse any proposals when she was in college, yet why suddenly Sameer’s name being added to the proposal held so much appeal for her.

As she was lost in her own thoughts, he called for the bill, relieved that she hadn’t ditched the idea of dating and said no straightaway. He was sure that if he had time he could convince her of his love, he could show her that he would make her happy, he could tell her how much he was attracted to her. He paid the money, and then said in a low voice, “shall we go?”

She looked at him, coming out of her thoughts and nodded, “yes. I should get a taxi.”

“We should”, he corrected, “I will drop you home.”

She immediately objected, “you don’t need to…” But he interrupted, “yes I do. Let’s go.”

Naina didn’t argue, instead felt happy when he held her hand automatically as they crossed the road. He hailed a cab, and gestured her to sit inside. He slid in beside her and asked the address. She told it to the driver, and Sameer brows furrowed, “you live there? It is two stops by local from college.”

She nodded, “yes it is. How do you know?”

“I live in between my college and your home”, he informed, “one stop from college. My office is there too, and I also travel by local.”

She was puzzled, “you don’t have a car?”

He bit his lip, hesitantly admitting, “no… I don’t. Though I have my old bike here. I asked Nanu to send it to me this year as my birthday present.”

Something didn’t fit… Naina didn’t know what it was… But she hadn’t pictured Sameer Maheshwari to be traveling by taxi or local trains. She hadn’t thought he would bring his old bike from Ahmedabad, when buying a new one here was just as easy for him. She thought she would ask about it to him later, and for now just focused on the happiness of being with him. As her home approached, he held her hand again, and softly said, “Naina… I have missed you a lot.”

Her heart thumped and she had to drag in a deep breath. But she also honestly confessed, “I have missed you too Sameer. I don’t know why… but I have.”

He smiled, “we will figure it out together. You have my number, right? Just call me tonight after talking to your family, and we can decide when and where to meet next.”

Her face flushed again with mortification, and she didn’t meet his gaze, “no… I… I don’t have your number. It has been so long, I forgot where it is.” Quickly she pulled out a small notepad from her purse, and wrote down her own number, “here… this is my number. You call me. Bye.”

She was out as soon as the taxi stopped, and dashed inside the huge society gates. He smiled clutching the bit of paper in his palm, and then asked the driver to turn back for his home.

There was a spring in Naina’s step as she walked inside her home and PB noticed this immediately. She queried, “so… I guess you liked the boy?”

Naina halted, unsure what to tell, “uh… did you know who I was meeting?”

PB shook her head, “no… but your face shows that you are happy.”

“I am”, Naina smiled, “the boy is good. And… I kind of know him from school. His grandfather was the trustee of my school, and I met Sameer when I was in 11^th.”

PB nodded, “I like the name… Sameer…” Then with a mischievous sparkle in her eyes, she asked, “Now tell me how does he look? Is he handsome?”

Naina laughed, happy that PB was so open-minded that she could confide some details to her. She sat down next to PB and said, “oh yes… he is… so so handsome…” And so began the tale of the coffee meeting.

That night Naina kept pacing in her bedroom wondering when Sameer would call. Often she had disturbing thoughts of him deciding against calling her. She wondered what if he had lied about liking her oily hair and faded kurti. She couldn’t even eat proper dinner and PB attributed it to the anxiety of a new relationship. Chachaji had called after dinner and she had conveyed their decision to her family, needless to mention Chachaji and Chachiji were happy with the way things were progressing. Preeti couldn’t talk much but she said she would call later to hear the whole story. As the minutes ticked by she started to feel disappointment, but every time that feeling would creep up she would resolutely think that Sameer wasn’t like that. The toy tiger was once again a solace in her anxiety.

On the other hand Sameer had tried to call Nanu as soon as he reached home but got to know that he had a dinner appointment. So he waited, and meanwhile he brought out the stuffed rabbit from his cupboard and placed it near Naina’s photo-frame on his bedside table. Now there was no need to hide his feelings. Yes, he liked having her photo near him; yes, he adored the stuffed rabbit because it reminded him of Naina’s eyes; yes, he loved Naina. He loved Naina! Just that sentence brought a wide grin on his face. He opened the top drawer in his bedside cabinet and pulled out a golden bracelet with dangling stars. He had found it at his special place, and since then apart from the rabbit this bracelet had also provided him solace. He liked to think of it as lucky charm for him, stars of destiny, he had termed it. But now he realized that this must have belonged to a girl. And because he loved Naina, keeping this bracelet with him felt like cheating. Naina and all things related to her provided him peace and happiness, then how could he keep this bracelet as his luck. He wrapped in carefully in a bit of newspaper, and placed it inside a drawer in the cupboard, deciding that he would leave it back where he had found it on his next trip to Ahmedabad.

Nanu called him at around 11pm, and immediately asked, “so…?”

Sameer grinned, “I love you Nanu… Neat trick…”

Nanu laughed, “I knew you would need a little bit of push to realize Naina’s importance in your life, and the shock of meeting someone else for marriage would be the perfect jolt you needed.”

Sameer chuckled, “good planning. But honestly… not being able to find Naina for so many months was jolt enough. That day when you told me about meeting a girl… If you had listened for a few seconds more then you would have known. I was about to tell you that I can’t meet any girl because I love Naina.”

“You were?” Nanu asked surprised, “you had realized it already?”

Sameer smiled, “yes… it was a long journey but finally I took that turn you wanted me to take. I answered all the questions you asked me, and I knew… Naina is my ‘the one’… That someone who changes everything… that someone for whom I can change everything.”

Nanu felt proud of his grandson. He queried, “then why didn’t you tell me? Why did you go for the meeting today? And how was the meeting with Naina?”

Sameer told Nanu everything about the meeting, his reason for not confessing, and the time he needed to make Naina comfortable. Nanu agreed wholeheartedly, feeling amazed that his grandson had matured so much to not only realize his feelings but accept the responsibility that came along with it. Nanu also demanded that he would like to meet Naina sometime soon, and Sameer promised that they would come together to Ahmedabad.

Some distance away Naina was still sitting on her bed clutching the toy tiger to herself. PB had come once to wish good night, but after that she was alone with her miserable thoughts. Finally around midnight, the cordless on her bed rang shrilly and Naina immediately picked it up, “Hello…”

At the other end Sameer smiled, leaning on the bed, “hey honey.”

She had thought she would be extremely angry when he called, but the rush of relief on finally hearing his voice was too much, and needless to say the ‘honey’ caused another wave of nervous fluttering in her stomach. And so her voice wasn’t much irritated when she asked, “why are you so late? Another girlfriend?”

He smirked, “another? Do you mean you are my girlfriend?”

She blushed at this statement, but she was still worried about the probability of another girlfriend and so she remained quiet. After a minute, Sameer sighed and assured, “look… I haven’t a girlfriend since quite some time. I am late because I was waiting for Nanu… He had gone out for dinner and I wanted to talk to him before I called you.”

“Then at least you could call and inform”, she blurted, “I was waiting, worrying…” On realizing what she was saying she trailed off.

His lips curved in a lopsided smile, “good to know that… did you find my number?”

She bit her lip, nervously patting the tiger, “no… I didn’t look.”

He chuckled, “well… write it down again, so next time whenever you worry you can call me yourself.”

“One minute”, Naina said and grabbed her purse, fumbling to look for the notepad and pen. He rattled off his number and she wrote it down, this time keeping it in her purse safe and secured. After that she nervously queried, “what did Nanaji say?”

“He is very happy with our decision”, Sameer informed, “and he said he wants to meet you as soon as possible.”

Naina smiled, feeling happy of Nanu’s approval, “I also talked to PB and chachaji both. They are okay with what we decided. Umm… PB knows that I know you since school time and she asked how you look.”

He was curious, “did you tell her everything about us?”

“No… I just said that Nanaji was my school trustee, and that’s how I knew you in school”, she informed.

He nodded, and then asked, “and what did you tell her about my looks?”

She laughed, “the truth… I told her you are very handsome.”

He hummed, “I can get used to being praised by you. By the way, I had thought you would ask me in today for coffee or tea… But you just left me in the taxi and ran off.”

Her face flushed, “I… I am sorry… I didn’t think… I should have, but…”

“Naina…”, he softly interrupted, “relax honey… I was just teasing. There will be many opportunities to meet at home. For now, we should plan about when to meet next, because I am not going to wait long.”

Her heart thumped and she smiled, “umm… How about Tuesday? My college ends at 1pm.”

“So does mine”, he said, “but I have got to be at office by 2pm, and I stay there until 6pm.”

She queried, “then when do you have your lunch?”

He shrugged, “I get a sandwich or a roll to eat while I am traveling.”

It sounded rather hectic to Naina, but she didn’t comment on it. There would be enough opportunities to find out more about his lifestyle later. At this moment she wondered how they would meet if he had such a busy schedule. Just then he said, “I can take leave for a day.”

“You shouldn’t”, she immediately said, “you cannot take leave from work every time we decide to meet. It’s unprofessional. Why don’t we meet for dinner on Tuesday?”

He agreed, “sure… where?”

She thought for a moment and said, “I will meet you outside your office at 6pm and then we can decide.”

“That sounds perfect”, he smiled, “what will you wear?”

She chuckled, “Sameer… there’s still one day in between. How can I tell you today what will I wear on Tuesday?”

He frowned, “don’t girls plan in advance?”

“I don’t know about other girls”, she said in a teasing tone, “but I only plan for next day, and sometimes not even that.”

That sounded normal to him and he felt happy that Naina hadn’t gone fashion crazy like most Mumbai girls. His eyes sparkled as he demanded, “then tell me what are you wearing tomorrow so I can dream about it tonight.”

Her lilting laughter made his body buzz with need, and he was amused at his own reactions to her. How could he react like this to Naina? It seemed as if his own body was on some rebellion where as much as he tried to be in control it kept on reacting to every gesture from her. Her voice was light as she said, “I am planning to wear a deep blue salwar-kameez tomorrow.”

His mind immediately flashed back to the first rains they had enjoyed together in Ahmedabad. She had worn deep blue salwar-kameez that day, and suddenly he yearned to see her like that once again. He asked, “can you wear that on Tuesday please? I want to see you in that color again.”

She was puzzled, “again?”

He picked up the glass frame staring at her photo, “yes… you wore that color in rains… in Ahmedabad.”

Her eyes widened in astonishment, “you… you remember?”

“Of course I do”, he immediately replied, “it was special… that day… those moments. Don’t you think so?”

She was silent for a moment, and then confessed, “I haven’t forgotten that day either.”

He closed his eyes, leaning back on the wall, a reminiscing smile on his face. Naina was also thinking about those moments. None of them said anything, but even the silence was comfortable. A minute later, he whispered, “it’s late.”

“I know”, she replied.

“I don’t want to disconnect”, he said.

She smiled, “neither do I.”

He sank down on the bed, “what should we talk about?”

There were so many things she wanted to ask, but there was one thing she wanted to know the most since she had met him today, and so she enquired, “do you still play guitar?”

He smiled, “yes I do. You want to listen?”

“Yes”, she replied, “but not on phone.”

“Okay… we will figure out where you can listen”, he assured. They kept talking for some more time on random topics until they both dozed off. The phone stayed connected linking their dreams, as he slept holding onto her photo and she kept the tiger close to her. Sometime around 3am Naina woke up because of a sound from outside, and realized that she had fallen asleep while talking. She quickly picked up the phone, and was about to ask if he was awake but paused on hearing the soft sounds of his breathing. She understood he was sound asleep, and somehow his peaceful slumber gave her peace too. She whispered almost inaudibly, “good night Sameer”, and then disconnected the phone before falling asleep herself again.