Gehraiyaan.

Chapter 39

Sometimes, things in life occur to you in suddenness. You're simply winding yourself around the usual mundane routine: brewing that cup of coffee for the sixth time that week, reading the same old book from where you've bookmarked it, running the errands that have been memorized as fluently as a poem, and stare at the uninteresting sky, whenever time permits. Everything feels so normal.

But for a brief moment in life, the light around you takes a turn and your eyes gaze at the same world, but through a different perspective. Every thing somehow takes your breath away, and you learn the art of finding beauty in the smallest of things : be it the aroma of the coffee you've brewing for months, or the charm in the love story you've been reading day and night. Life has its own unfathomable way of throwing in a touch of magic into ordinary elements, even if it lasts for a fleeting moment, within a blink of an eye, or between two breaths. Here I go, again - sometimes, things in life occur to you in suddenness and that... that's the beauty of it.

And I reckon, today, I stand there and I know - for a fact - that feeling in my heart won't last forever, perhaps not even until tomorrow. But this is my moment and I've never felt the kind of jitters in my heart and tingles in my fingertips ever before.

"I'm not too overdressed, right?", I question Meenu, whilst staring at my reflection in the changing room in my café. "Depends on where you're going. Where are you going?", Meenu tries to play smart and I throw a death stare in her direction.

"Okay, okay, chill. You look so hot", she darts a weird wannabe-sexy look in my direction, that definitely failed terribly. I almost burst out laughing.

Moments later, my phone vibrates and I receive an incoming call from Darshan. I shoo Meenu away, before answering the call.

"Hey, I'm here to pick up Navya Shekhawat", Darshan fakes a professional posh tone, making me smile. "Oh, are you the driver I booked for the night?", I play along, twirling the ends of my hair around my finger. "Yes, Madam. How long will you take?", he questions and I can literally picture him smiling from ear-to-ear. "I'm on my way", I whisper, hanging up, and sprint out of the room whilst wearing a six-inch pencil heel.

Outside, Darshan's leaning against his car, fidgeting with his phone and the moment the sound of my heels echo around the space, he stiffens up, shoving his phone inside his denim pocket, hurriedly. Whilst pushing his hair behind - setting it in place - he looks up and smiles at me. He's in an oversized hoodie and a pair of plain black sweatpants. While me... I'm wearing a fancy black jumpsuit with a pair of high heels. I'm almost as tall as a skyscraper. God, am I too overdressed for no absolute reason?

"Hey", he stands straight on his feet and rubs the back of his neck in nervousness, taking small steps towards me. I can feel the tension in the air between us and it snatches my breath away. My legs are literally shaking underneath my jumpsuit, as though I haven't eaten in months. I don't if I should blame the cold in the air, or my nervous system for turning me into a shaky wreck.

We coexist in silence for a moment and look around, without knowing what to do or say. Darshan shuffles his feet on the ground and shoves his hands deep inside his denim pocket, while I simply tighten my grasp around my purse.

"Uhm, let's go, then?", the nervousness in his voice is evident and staggers his way towards the car, holding the door open for me. Once the two of us settle down in the car, Darshan holds out a cup of ice coffee for me, from Starbucks. On the cup, 'Nivi' has been scribbled in a cursive handwriting with a black sketch pen.

"I don't know what kind of flowers you like, because thinking about it...we don't know much about each other. So, coffee for you", he smiles. "Ice coffee is not my thing, but I'll take it", I shrug. "I'm sorry, Your Majesty. On your Wikipedia page, they didn't mention that you didn't have a thing for cold coffee", he sarcastically answers, making me giggle.