See You Later

Prologue

10 years ago...

Maahi Mehra had chosen to do engineering. It wasn't because her parents had forced her to take it up. It wasn't even because she had some burning passion to become an engineer. It was simply because she didn't know what she wanted to do. In such a scenario, engineering felt like a safe choice.

Fifteen days had passed since college began. For such a significant phase of her life, time had passed rather uneventfully so far, thankfully.

That is until Maahi Mehra walked into a bakery next to her college.

It was one of those bakeries that looked the part. Calming pastel colours that matched the macaroons in the counter display, lovely words written on the wall about the magic of baking and old, old songs playing on a vintage-looking gramophone. Right at that moment, 'Can't take my eyes off of you' was playing.

She was staring way too intently at cake designs. She didn't even know the person whose birthday it was, very well. But she was assigned to pick out a cake and she wanted to make new friends so she had decided to take the project very seriously. She perused the menu as the assistant behind the counter steadfastly ignored her.

Chocolate? Good solid option after all. However, it may seem like she hadn't put in enough thought. Never mind.

Perhaps mango? A good back-up option.

Oh, pineapple? Some people might find it too sweet?

Fudgy brownie. A whole cake masquerading as a brownie? Okay. This was the one.

She picked up the brochure and made her way to the counter. The assistant looked up with the most disinterested look on his face.

"Fudgy brownie?"

He pointed at a shelf wordlessly. Her eyes made their way to a plump, dark brown glorious slab of heaven. Calling it cake seemed too trivial. She nodded absently and held a thumbs up in his direction. The next moment, she found a wad of paper being pushed in her direction. She blinked and looked up. The assistant just raised an icing pen at her and frowned, as though it was obvious what he was referring to. He wanted her to write the message that would go on top of the cake.

She hesitantly reached for the pad and pen when she heard the door swing open. There are days she wondered if life would have been easier if she hadn't turned around. If she had just kept her head bent down and continued to think about what to write on top of a cake for a person she didn't know very well, instead of looking up. Then again...when does the universe ever not have a mind of its own?

And for some strange reason, the song that was playing in the store stopped playing. The grumpy assistant let out a sound of frustration, lifted the needle of the gramophone and placed it again. And the song started to play again from the beginning.

'You're just too good to be true...'

She turned around at this moment. And there he was.

If she had to describe the feeling in words, she would have to say it felt like a boulder crash landing from the sky right onto her senses. As though for those few moments, she couldn't even think of anything else. As though she could eighty one day and still describe this feeling.

Sigh. It was nice knowing life as it was before it all.

The guy strode in and plonked his elbows onto the glass countertop as though he belonged here. He took a deep breath and took in the cool, sweet-smelling AC air of the bakery, his eyes shut. He then blinked them open and pushed himself back to look at the glass display. He was completely oblivious to the attention he was drawing. It wasn't just her who was staring.

Then, wonders of wonders, the grumpy assistant spoke.

"Hello, how may I help?"

Maahi slowly turned around and looked at the assistant in shock. So, now he knew what to say? Why didn't he speak to her before? Then she looked at the guy standing next to her and kind of realized.

It was not about how he looked. While he did look cute, this felt like something more. It was like a connection. It was like...a song that played on the radio. She had never heard it before but she was still reeled in. She didn't know the words but she would sway to its rhythm anyway. She had only heard it once but she knew she would hear it again. She couldn't explain why she liked the song. But she knew she did.

And as though he could sense she was thinking about him, he directed his gaze at her. Without any warning whatsoever. And then, he asked her a question.

"So, what do you think is good here?"

She smartly replied, "Um..."

He turned around and pointed at the cupcakes and said, "I mean this looks nice but then I really think the mudpie could be the better choice."

She just quietly kept on looking at him. She didn't know she was capable of losing her ability to speak merely at the sight of another person. And yet here she was, caught in a game of statue, waiting for him to let her unfreeze.

The rational side of her made her snort at her ridiculous train of thought. He turned around immediately and asked lightly, amusement lurking in his eyes, "What?"

He wanted to know immediately obviously. How dare she laugh and not let him in on the joke?

She shook her head lightly and said, "Nothing. Um...the mudpie looks good."

"It does, doesn't it? Sir, two of the mudpies please." He looked at her and smiled to say, "Thanks! I'll see you later, okay?"

His first smile.

The number of times she would rewind this moment. It was a smile that really made his eyes shine too. Oh, the smiling eyes. It was a sight that no matter how many times she saw, it would always catch her off-guard. It would tiptoe towards her, wait for her to let her guard down and say, "Surprise!"

Sigh.

Without any knowledge of her inner monologue, he took the bag that the assistant handed him and walked out of the store. Maahi's eyes followed him. Maybe this part was where she could have gone back to the paper in her hand. Maybe here she could have focused on the task at hand. But no.

She watched as he walked out of the store. Her gaze was fixed on the giant glass window that now divided her world from his. Through the window, she saw him make his way towards a girl. A girl who already had her hand outstretched towards him. A hand he took and wrapped his fingers around. Then the smile came out again. Only this time it was directed at her. It was a different kind of smile. One full of love.

Ow.

A gust of wind blew past them making the girl's hair a little messy. While the guy spoke to her, he reached out and pushed a curl lightly behind her ear. The girl, while responding to him, smiled automatically. If this were a movie, the audience would let definitely out a sigh.

As Maahi watched on, the guy and girl walked away. Probably into a sunset with her luck. She wanted to shake her head and get back to work. Only she knew the effect would more than a mere shake of the head to wear off.

It's a good thing she didn't know the guy and she wouldn't actually have to see him later.

Right?