Comedy of Confusions

17.Minax: The Sign

It was too late for bird calls when Minax stirred in her bed. There was an eerie silence and an occasional hum of general life at a distance that she could discern from the open window. In any case she was in her foulest moods. 'Romantic date' had ended up a disaster the previous evening. She had a whole day in front of her and she had no company, no plans, nothing exciting to look forward to. There was an open invitation from his highness the one and only made in America to join that call with some start up which sounded as boring as it could get. If only Cheney was there with her, if only she had not taken his highness's taunts about her equation with her brothers seriously, if only...
She tore herself away from the pillow and sat up on the bed only to feel light headed. She fell back to the pillow and closed her eyes. A cup of coffee was all it took to screw her up.

'Tch tch.. Damn this coffee, damn espresso, Americano and machi... whatever it is. How in the world am I supposed to date, land a boyfriend if I am allergic to coffee when most dates start with a coffee? May the inventor coffee end up in special hell'

Minax cursed as she closed her eyes. After a boring few minutes, she remembered her phone. She had not checked it since she fell sick the previous evening.  Half a minute later she realized how big a mess that single cup of coffee had created.

"Dinner?" A lone unread message was waiting in her inbox. The sender was Chandan.

"Damn damn damn" She punched her fist into the pile of blankets she had kicked away. One chance, the one chance Priya had talked about was so close to materializing. One cup of coffee had changed the course of the evening. What could have been a romantic candle light dinner with Chandan ended up a boring sick-meal with his Highness Made in America. If there was any solace it was that she had paid for the meal, her yogurt rice and his vegan fried rice. At least this time she was free from the burden of having been bribed for god knows what. That apart, what about her romantic candle light dinner date? She could not go down without a try. She quickly decided to make the best of the rest of the weekend. 

"Sorry. Just saw your message, called it a day early yesterday. How about breakfast?"

She quickly replied to Chandan.  Sure enough, a cozy breakfast was not as good as a romantic candle light dinner but something was better than nothing. She nervously waited for a reply. It did take a few minutes. But the reply did arrive.

"Hi, I am out on a jungle trek. So breakfast is not possible. How about coffee at noon? I should be back by then."

Coffee! That monstrous concoction from hell ? No way. She had to dodge it and get hold of the situation.

"Lunch, 1 PM, Garden restaurant ?" She cleverly veered the conversation to something that worked for her.

"Brilliant! Cannot wait for 1 PM" Pat came the reply.

She closed the conversation with a smiley emoticon. Not everything was lost after all. Maybe, it was the beginning of the end of her perpetual single status. She squealed in delight. She called Priya to deliver the good news but Priya was inaccessible as promised. The very idea of the lunch date was enough to cure her foul mood and helped her get off her bed. A hearty breakfast did the rest to perk up her mood. Grabbing a large hot chocolate at the end of the meal, she felt proud of having made the most of Sam's money at the complimentary breakfast buffet. Not having anything else till lunch time, she lumbered her way to the conference room.

The call was still some time away and the conference room was empty. She found herself a spot at the farthest end and made herself comfortable. Perhaps, a tad bit more comfortable than needed, for when she heard the door open, she found herself waking up from a nap.

'Hello!!!!!' Dan greeted, complete with surprise. Clearly he was not expecting her.

Krish just nodded to acknowledge her as if her presence was as normal and expected as sunrise every morning. Dan looked at Krish once before turning towards Minax and offering her a seat closer to him. Minax indicated her comfort at the back, with a smile and settled down without much ado.