Not Around The Corner

At The Moment

“If you simply ignored the feeling, you would never know what might happen, and in many ways that was worse than finding out in the first place. Because if you were wrong, you could go forward in your life without ever looking back over your shoulder and wondering what might have been.” ― Nicholas Sparks

It had been a week since I was back in town. Jai had encouraged me to approach my life ambition. As soon as I was back, I had enlisted in some workshops and attended a couple of exhibitions. I had a lot to learn and I was charged up. The exhibitions exhilarated me. The photographs in the exhibitions gave me a lot of inspiration and left me smiling.

I had filled up Akash on this new development in my life. He was new to the concept of being in the wrong career line because he was doing what he always wanted to. He was supportive though. Today I had had an opportunity to actually showcase one of my pictures. The assistant curator happened to be a classmate of mine from school and she graciously accepted one of my photographs.

As I was going through the rest of the pictures in the gallery, Akash tapped on my shoulder. Since I was back, he was spending his lunch hours with me.

“Where’s yours?” he asked looking around.

“On the other side of the wall,” I said holding his hand and taking him on the other side.

“Beautiful,” he said after seeing it. It was Anushka’s pre-wedding picture. She looked radiant and excited. She was without make-up and she still looked beautiful. She was trying out an earring while talking with Jai when I clicked the picture. Thinking of Jai I wondered how far along I had come in one week. I wasn’t even thinking of photography a week ago and today I had a picture in the gallery exhibition. I had to invite him too. I called him up. He cut my call. I guessed him to be busy. I messaged him then.

Hey, listened to you and enlisted in an exhibition. Showcasing one of my pictures tonight. :) Can you come?

I pressed send and went over to where Akash was standing.

“Hey you,” I said as I put my arm in his and leaned on his shoulder.

“Why didn’t you ever tell me about all of this before?” he asked.

“I forgot that I even liked it,” I said matter-of-factly.

“You forgot?” he asked.

“Kind of. Didn’t think of it as a career,” I replied.

“But you are brilliant at it,” he argued.

I smiled. He was being so cute. He smiled too now. He kissed me on the cheek and whispered brilliant in my ear, making me laugh. Just then my phone beeped.

Sorry. Can’t.

That was Jai’s reply. Talk about being terse. Two words? He had been ignoring me since we were back and I hadn’t intruded on his life but I wanted to share this moment of my life with him and as usual he was a jerk. Why did I even bother?

I just shoved my cell back in the bag. I could care less about him at the moment. Akash’s lunch hour was up and he was leaving.

“See you in the evening?” he asked.

“Yup,” I replied.

I met the curator once and left for home. As I was entering the house, my phone beeped again. I checked it and saw a message from Jai.

Btw, congrats.

Wow. Two words again. What was up with him? I never knew someone could be this cold. I messaged a meagre ‘thank you’ and got back to getting ready for the exhibition. I was very excited and no Jai on this planet could rain on my parade.

I reached half an hour before the scheduled time. I couldn’t contain my excitement. Akash arrived soon after. He got me a bouquet of beautiful red roses. He was so thoughtful. I couldn’t help smiling.

The evening was a success and I couldn’t help but feel awesome about it all. I was very happy and satisfied. Akash took me out for dinner after.

While we were on our way back, Akash stopped to get cash as I waited in the car. I decided to check my cell phone as I hadn’t seen it since I left home three hours ago.

I had 14 missed calls added with about 10 messages. They were all from Gaurav and they had all come in the last hour. What was the emergency? I called him back immediately.

“Where the hell have you been?” he shouted from the other side. Gaurav never shouted. And he seemed agitated too.

“What is happening?” I asked him calmly.

I heard him out patiently.

“I will be there,” I told Gaurav. “Don’t worry,” I continued,” chill down. I will take care of it.”

As soon as Akash came, I said, “Could you take me to Jai’s?”

“Yes sure,” he said indifferently,” What’s going on?”

“Long story. Will tell you some other day,” I said. The day’s activity was taking its toll on me. I just needed to see if Jai was fine. That was my priority at the moment.