Comedy of Confusions

13. Krish: Under the Starry Sky

"I am sorry. You were so still in this dark that I mistook you for a rock."  He apologized profusely, hand on his heart, surprised at not having spilled the champagne in his other hand. "Sorry again, I didn't mean to intrude" The silhouette of the person in front of him was still. He turned around to walk away when he realized that the person didn't respond. Something was not right. He walked back. Was the person having a heart attack?

"Are you O.K?" He asked softly, his heart started to race again after a brief interlude.

The person did not move. "Do  you nee..d hel..p? " He stammered  "Can you breathe?"  He cautiously approached the person to feel the movement of air under the nostrils. "Holy ****! You are not breathing.. Do you hear me ? 911.. 911.. Call 911 ..." he frantically paced up and down.

As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he exclaimed "Suhasini? Is that you?"

Minax was speechless.

"CRP.. you need CRP.."  Krish tried to pick her up when she unfroze to push him away.

"Suhasini? Is that you?" He collapsed.

He could see her nod.

"Are you ok? You need me to call 911?"  He quickly realized that 911 was not the emergency number there. " Damn.. what is the 911 number here?"

She held an outstretched palm in front of her as if asking him to calm down as she struggled to breathe.

Krish put aside his champagne flute and collapsed on a big boulder at the edge of the roughly hewn stairs she was sitting on.

"Hm.. " she was back, finally. "Yes it is me"  

"Are you alright?" he asked one final time.

"Yes" she let out a long sigh.

Many quiet moments passed between them before both of them recovered.

"Did not expect anyone to be out here"  He mumbled. "What in the world are you doing here?"

"I just tested the hypothesis of the dark lonesome river side being scarier than broad daylight in the city. "

"What? " Krish sounded incredulous. "Were you waiting here to test if you'd get scared? "

"No! That is not what I meant." Minax seemed to have been so shaken that she was on a different trip." It is just something new I learnt about myself now. I always imagined myself to be a brave sort of a person. Someone who could yell at a burglar by my bedroom window in the dark if the situation warranted. But no. I don't think I can ever do that. I could not as much breathe. And that is very disappointing, especially, given my day time track record."

"Day time track record?" He asked earnestly.

"Yeah, burglars, pick pockets, eve teasers, successfully tackled them all in broad daylight without losing my voice. But here, screaming is out of the question."

"Ah! I see. That is very useful information" It was laced with sarcasm.

Minax quickly recovered as if she remembered that she owed no explanation to anyone. "What in the world brings you here?" 

"Er...I just wanted to get away." He opened up without any hesitation. "It was getting too much."

"Too much?" she repeated curiously.

"Too much."  he picked up the champagne flute he had earlier set aside.

"Of what?" She asked gingerly.

"Of.. of everything." he stammered defensively, unable to see her expression in the dark. "I needed some fresh air."  He cast a long look at the horizon. The crescent moon was lighting up the sky and gleaming in the river. "Why are you here?"