Marriage: Rewritten

Chapter 3

I look into the map again to figure out where I am. But, no matter how much I do, my surroundings are nowhere on the map inspite of me clearly following the directions from office.

I knew I was somewhere close but i didn't know how to go from here.

Now I had two choices- wait and figure it out on my own ( trust me, it's not as simple as it sounds, I was already late by half an hour and there's a high chance that the next gathering would be my funeral instead of Manisha's wedding if I got further late ) and the second one was calling Manisha and asking her directions ( which I felt guilty to be doing especially knowing she would be busy with Ameer).

I sigh and start my scooty and go a little further but it was a clear indication that I was getting away from the main road. Now, i really had no choice if i didn't want to be further late. So I fish my phone out from the dashboard and call Manisha.

She picks it up on the second ring as if she had been waiting for my call all along.

"Where are you?" She asks me. Geez, ever heard of 'hello' ?

"Manisha, I'm somewhere close but i lost my way. Tell me how to come from here. I'm standing near..." I trail off to find some landmark to give away to her.  "Okay, there's an apartment here that is pink." I try to read the name of the apartment but it was on the other side so I just gave up and let my laziness take over.

"Apartment? Neha I don't know anything either. This is my first time in this area. Wait, I'll ask someone here, stay on the line." She orders me and it was obvious she had muted the call. All I could hear from the other side was complete silence.

I tap my foot impatiently and stretch a little to find the name of the apartment. But as I was doing that, i could hear the phone unmute from the other side.

"Hello?" A voice greets me from the other side. A very deep, very masculine voice.

"Hello." I reply back.

"Hey, I'm Manisha told me you were lost. Where are you?" He asks me.

"There's a pink apartment here. Pretty sure the name says Joshi." I look around to get a look at the name of the apartment once again.

"Joshi? No, I don't know anything by that name. Are you in the main road or not?" He asks me and i could hear the confusion in his voice.

"No, i just took a left from the main road." I tell him, balancing my scooty.

"Okay, can you go to the main road and tell me some landmark from there?" He asks me and I agree, not like I had any other choice either way.

I start my scooty and reach the main road after a little u-turn. I look both the ways and spot nothing but a supermarket and a couple of houses along the road.

"There's a supermarket here." I tell him.

"No, I'm really not sure where you are. Do one thing, can you share your current location to Manisha's number? I'll come and guide you from there." He offers.

"Oh no, thank you. I'll figure the route out. It's okay." I really did not want to pull him away from whatever he was doing. Getting lost was my fault and I had to figure it out on my own.

"No, it's totally cool. I'm not doing anything here anyway. Just send me your location, it's okay." He chuckles from the other side.

It was getting late and i really did not enjoy waiting here alone.

" Are you really sure it's okay? " I ask him once again just to be sure.

"Yes, 100%. Now, just send your location to this number." He assures me.

"Okay, thank you so much." I tell him, really meaning it.

"It's really okay." I put him on speaker and open Manisha's chat and send her my location.

"Done." I tell him, releasing the speaker and placing the phone against my ear.

"Yes, one sec." He says and it was obvious he was going to check the location I sent him. "Okay, hang on. Her phone got locked. I'll find Manisha." He tells me and I could hear him asking someone next to him where Manisha is. A couple more seconds pass before I hear his voice again.

"Okay, she's got fingerprint lock and she has gone with Ameer to get a pendrive. She will be here soon, can you hang on?" I mumble a mmm in response to his question. While I was appreciative of him helping me, I cannot help but be annoyed that Manisha could not even wait until she was sure I was on the right way. 

A couple of seconds pass and it is increasingly awkward. I get extremely conscious of my breathing patterns and how horrible they would sound on the other side of the line. The only reason I was not hanging up yet was the fear of coming across as rude to the person on the other end of the line. Maybe I could ask him if he could just call me back when Manisha comes back. But would that offend him? 

It takes a couple more seconds of debating it out in my head before I could hear some shuffling from the other side.

"Hey, uh, If you really don't mind, can you send it to my number instead?" He asks me. "No pressure, only if you're okay with it." He blurts out again. "Only if you are cool with it. No problem if you are not. Please don't feel obligated just because I asked." Suddenly his voice is cut off and I hear him take in a deep breath. "Hey, you know what, I will just ask Manisha call you back?" 

It was taking everything in me to not laugh. It was a nice comfort knowing that it was equally awkward on the other end of the line as well. And suddenly the poor breathing that I was trying to control felt eased. 

" Hey, I have no problem sending my location to your number. Can you tell me your number?" I place the phone back again on speaker and type out his number on my keypad.

"Okay, I'll come pick you up." He tells me, about to hang up.

"Wait, is that okay? I don't want to bring any inconvenience. Just tell me the way I will be there. In case I am not sure, I could always call you back." Rule 1 of the long list of rules I played by is the difficulty with taking help. And I was definitely not going to impose that on someone just because they were kind enough.

"No, it's really not a problem. It's nearby but the roads you are on are dark around this time and the route is a shortcut so it is very easy to miss the roads. It's really not a problem." His voice sounded very reassuring but I still felt bad that someone had to come all the way here for me. 

"Are you really sure? I feel bad enough about taking your time with this call." This is why I cannot be trusted with the privilege of Google Maps while driving. I was terrible at navigation.

"It is really okay. Can you just wait outside the supermarket?"

As soon as I answered him affirmatively, there was commotion from his end. 

" Hey, one second, uh..." I drawl out my question hoping to not make me sound desperate. "What's your name?" As soon as I get the words out, I squeeze my eyes shut.

It's a chuckle I hear before his voice answers me.

"Oh sorry, I am Gautham."