Lost And Found

21. Meeting him again.

P o v of Sarah

We were in the sky. 

I looked sideways at him, flying just few metres away from me.

He was looking at me.
I blushed instantly and wanted to look away but,
he held my gaze.

It was too intense.

When we touched the ground, I took his hand and dragged him away from the crowd.
We found an empty spot hidden away from the world.

Noises felt muted.l

Sunrays were blocked by the canopy of the trees above us.

'Are you worried?',I asked him knowing too well he had something going on in his mind.

He just nodded.

We did not speak another few minutes and slowly started walking towards the direction Riyan was nudging me.

We came to a thick foliage near our hotel.
We could hear cheers and sounds of people laughing and crying.

The marriage was happening then.

We found a huge stone to sit and sat in another thick silence.

With Riyan every silence that would have felt like a punishment to me otherwise, felt like a blanket of comfortable serenity.

He just held on to my hands and gazed at the nearest tree.

A squirrel ran up and down trying to take few nuts up the tree.

'Sarah do you want to play skipping stones?'

'Why not?',I chirruped and followed him to the lake side to spend some time on the simplest of all pleasures.
***

We were back at home after a few days.
The wedding happened without any further issues and the couple left for their honeymoon.

And I know what you are thinking about...
Whether our parents met?
Yes, they did .
Did we tell them about us?
No.
After much afterthought at the stone skipping session,
Riyan had come to the conclusion that  it was indeed too early to let them in on our secret.
If we did that they will probably either oppose us or get us married.

So we just introduced them casually.
It went something like...
'Mom,  this is the family I stayed with on my trip back in Valpoi.',I said.
'Oh! my God. It was you. So thankful...So nice to meet you here... unexpectedly. Now we are even relatives.',Mom started and hugged Riyan's mom.

Riyan mom was equally delighted and  said, ' the pleasure was all ours. Your daughter was a delight to know.'

They continued to converse while our dads just nodded at each other in acknowledgement.

I sighed. Men and thier lack of conversing skills.

Maybe Riyan isn't the only one.

Risa looked happy and healthy and that was all I expected her to be.

It was such a good time we spent there.
So much so that now back at home, it felt utterly boring and the days felt dull.

It was convocation today and I had decided to start job hunting.

I had applied to a few companies and was waiting for their replies.

Samara and I even went to personally apply in certain companies as sometimes the emails went unchecked.

The heat was nerve racking these days.
I wiped off the sweat one afternoon as we were out to deliver our resumes to various companies that had openings.

Just next to those offices there was a shopping lane.
We decided to look around for some kurtis.

'Look at this kurti.', Samara pointed out at a yellow chikankari kurti.
It was pretty.

' It will look fab on you. Why don't you buy it?',I encouraged her.

'I think it will look prettier on you. Go ahead and get it.', she insisted.

' I'm not so sure of that colour on me.'

' It will look good.', someone from behind me whispered in my ears.
I took a full turn and came face to face with a face too known.

I burst into a full smile mirroring Bubbly.

What was his real name again.

I was mentally trying very hard to remember.

Damn it

'Bubbly.'

'Sarah.'
We both greeted each other at the same time.

' How did we meet here?'

' My office is just down the other lane. I work you know.', he said while brushing his hairs with his hand while giving me a modest smile.

He looked like a professional in his suit and hair pulled back.

' Ofcourse. So glad to meet you.
Meet my friend Samara.'

They exchanged introductions and Bubbly insisted that we had to get a coffee together sometime later.

I had to agree. His enthusiasm was hard to brush off.

' you wouldn't guess who I met today?', I was on phone talking to Riyan.

There was a long silence on the phone.

I sighed.
So much for a conversation.

' Bubbly.', I gave up after there was no apparent effect of trying to create anticipation.

' You mean Ammar.', he said slowly.
You might think there was a hint of jealousy in his voice but I knew better.

'Oh! That's his name. I had totally forgotten.'

' Good. You must.',  he said not intending me to hear

Oh so jealousy was there lying beneath hidden somewhere.

I smiled.

' jealous, are you?'

He huffed but didn't say anything. Classic Riyan.

' We are meeting for a coffee this Friday.' , I went on to get some reaction from him.

His reactions were innocently cute to me.

I think this much of jealousy was healthy.
I laughed at my own thoughts.

I had to take efforts to get some kind of  reaction from Riyan who would otherwise never be even slightly unreasonable.

He was way too understanding.

' Have a good time.', he said but there was no note of petulance.
He was a master of controlling his emotions.
He hardly let out any annoyance show .

But I could imagine him making faces behind the phone.

' Thanks. I will.'
There was a little silence then he said

'Also tell him I said hello and stay away from my girlfriend.'

I laughed.
Finally.
I could actually pull Riyan out of his robotic stupor.

' I won't.'

' You should.',he advised.

' There's no  need.', I assured him.

' It better to put some boundaries with him.'

'Yeah yeah. '
I mentally facepalmed.
That backfired.
That's what you get when you irritate a nice person to the point of him snapping.
My mistake.

More silence.

'So when are we getting coffee together?',I asked in an effort to divert the conversation.

' Do you want me to come down to Mumbai?'

'Ofcourse. It's not even a question.'

'okay.'

That's it. No further explanation.