First Date to Forever

After Effects

         It was a sunny Sunday morning. Shonali woke up to the sound of slow songs playing on Maitri's speaker. Palak was sitting in the living area still deciding if she should go back to sleep or not.

         Shonali freshened up and quickly made tea for the three of them. It was after a long time that they got some time alone . Their room was the favorite hangout place for all their hostel friends. As they had stayed up late last night , everyone was probably still sleeping , giving them some much required time together.

        "How's Darshan ? " Shonali asked Palak . Darshan was Palak's long time boyfriend. They practically grew up together being next door neighbors and even attented the same school and same college for graduation. However now they were in different cities for their MBA, and for the first time in a long distance relationship.

    "Very handsome !! " replied Palak .

       This made both Shonali and Maitri laugh. This girl is always so full of mischief but they knew all was not well between her and Darshan . The distance was taking a toll on them. After having a good discussion about their situation and cheering Palak up , Maitri looked at Shonali with a raised eyebrow...

"What ?? " Shonali knew something was cooking in Maitri's brain .

"Tell me honestly , did you like Sujay ? I know you went on the date because of Sarika and this stupid Palak's deal , but now you can actually tell us your honest feelings. "  she asked.

Shonali smiled , "Honestly I had a nice time with him yesterday. I don't know if I like him , it's too soon to say that , but yes he was looking so handsome yesterday !! Was he always this good looking or I never noticed??  Please don't tell Sarika I said this , she will definitely tell him !!"

" He really made me feel very comfortable and never brought up what will happen after this date or anything that could have made it awkward for us. "

She thought for a second and continued " But I think he didn't like my company as much , because he didn't say anything when he dropped me off , neither did he drop any messages last night , which he was doing since he got my number ."

Maitri laughed " It's not possible a guy goes out on a date with you and not like you ! I am sure he must have fallen in love with you and must be at loss of words ! "

Palak joined in " Absolutely , he must be in shock that he went on a date with the great Shonali !! I think we should text Sarika and ask if he is alive ! "

All three of them started laughing.

"Yeah yeah , make fun of me ! I am definitely not some Miss universe or beauty queen that he will just fall for me like that on the first date ! " Shonali said.

Palak and Maitri just smiled , knowing how easy it would be for Sujay to fall for her ! They continued their banter for some time when suddenly Charu came to their room , still half asleep and looking absolutely pissed .

"Where the hell are your phones ??! Shonali please go and check your phone , lover boy is going crazy and making Sarika go crazy who in turn has been driving me crazy !! " Charu started rambling.

"And you two , where are your phones ??!! Sarika has been trying to reach you two since last one hour ? I want to sleep , its Sunday !!!! " , she whined looking at Maitri and Palak.

All three of them quickly ran to check their phones and were shocked to see the number of messages and missed calls !

They had lost track of time and were having such a nice morning with each other that they completely ignored their phones .

        Sujay had been trying to reach Shonali since last night , but she had not replied to any of his messages . He grew worried , what if she didn't like my company , what if she doesn't want to talk to me again ! Maybe she was tired and slept early ? But when he got no response from her in the morning too , he became impatient and called up Sarika .

    Sarika assured him that Shonali really had a good time with him and there was no reason she wouldn't respond to him . She might be sleeping in late as it's a Sunday Sarika told him , but seeing him so restless she called up Palak and Maitri . When even they didn't respond she had no other option than to wake Charu up !

    While the others were calling up Sarika and talking to her , Shonali opened Sujay's messages , he had sent few of them last night after she had fallen asleep ..

' Hey Shonali 
I really had a great time with you today . Thank you for agreeing to go out with me otherwise I would have missed out on getting to know such a wonderful person . '

'Also , I couldn't gather the courage to tell you this earlier but you were looking very beautiful today . 😊'

'I was wondering if we could do this again ? '

When he got no response from her , he panicked  !

'Hey I am sorry if I said anything wrong . I know it's too early to ask you out again . Please ignore my previous message . '

'Shonali , you there? '

'I think you have slept. I am sorry Shonali for ruining this. Do let me know when you get my messages.'

'Hey Good Morning ! I am really sorry for yesterday , I didn't mean to say that. I know you had agreed for one date only and I didn't mean to push you like that . Can we start over please? '

'Please say something Shonali , anything ! '

He waited till 11:30 for a response from her and then decided to ask Sarika for help. He could not afford to ruin things with Shonali like this. Right now it didn't matter if she wanted to go out with him again or not , all he wanted was for her to atleast talk to him .

   After reading his messages, Shonali decided to call him up instead of texting back .

    Sujay was pacing up and down in his balcony . He could hardly sleep knowing he had ruined whatever he had with Shonali. Suddenly his phone rang ,

'Shonali Calling ... '

He felt relief , happiness , fear , panic all at once ! After two rings he picked up the call -

"Hey Shonali "

"Hi Sujay ! "

    Hearing her say his name melted his heart ! He could just listen to her voice all day long ... 'Focus Sujay Focus' he scolded himself.

"I am really sorry Shonali , I didn't want to push you . Please just forget I had sent that message ! I am so sorry ! "

"Relax Sujay !! Why are you saying sorry ?? Actually I am sorry I was already asleep when you messaged me last night . And today morning I woke up and was hanging out with Palak and Maitri so couldn't check my phone. I was absolutely not ignoring you ! "
Hearing this Sujay relaxed a bit...

"But also Sujay I am not really sure if we should go out again ! Don't get me wrong I really had a nice time yesterday but I just am not in the space for dating right now . Hope you understand ?"