Tiny Stories

The Ring

"Oh Shit... Shit Shit Shit" I pulled the chair away from the table and crouched down to look for my ring. 

It wasn't there. There was a dirty tissue napkin I flicked aside to see if it had rolled under it. Yuck!

I brushed my dress again hoping it was stuck in the folds and would fall off. But no. No damn ring. Now I was in full panic mode. I couldn't loose my ring, my wedding ring. 

Now I was just randomly looking around under peoples tables shifting chairs as politely as I could. 

"I'm so sorry" I said as I almost backed into someone. 

"Hey! Supriya right?" 

I turned around to see the person I had just bumped into. Raghu? Rajiv? Raghav, yes Raghav, from work. He was the new architect that joined a few months ago. 

"Hey yes. Hi" I replied my eyes still scanning the floors of the cafe. 

"You loose something?" he asked trying to catch my eye. 

"My ring. My wedding ring. I had it on me just a few minutes ago and now.... I just... I don't know" I could feel my throat choke up. My eyes burning with tears threatening to come tumbling down. 

"Hey hey Supriya. We'll find it" he placed a hand on my shoulder and bent down a little to get me to focus on his face. He was much much taller than me, which wasn't very hard to be since I was exactly 5 feet tall. But the pressure on my shoulder made me feel a little grounded. 

"You sure you had it on you right now?" he checked. 

"Well I mean it's always on me. Im pretty sure it was .. but now I'm confused" I frowned while touching my ring finger absently so used to having my ring right there. 

"Ok let's look round" He turned towards my table where my bags were still and bent down to check where I had already checked once. Then we moved around the cafe got a few waiters to help us as well, but there was no ring anywhere. 

"Maybe you lost it on your way at the place you were before you came here?" He asked as I collected my bags looking distraught. 

"I went vegetable shopping before I came here" Showing him my cloth bags filled with veggies. "And I came here by rick. Oh no I hope I didn't drop it in the rickshaw" I panicked again.

"Hopefully not. How about the vegetable shop. Want to go check there?"

Really he would come with me?

"Of course. I'm happy to help" 

"Wait did I say that out loud?"

He smiled. "Yes you did. And really I'm happy to help. Let's go my bike is right outside." 

"Bike?"

"Ya sorry. Weekends are for my baby"

My brain had temporarily stopped functioning. All I knew was I needed my ring back. So without overthinking, like I normally do, I let Raghav put a helmet on my head, my curly hair getting fully smashed,  since I was carrying my shopping bags, and sat on his bike. 

Why would he help? And on his one off day. 

We didn't even know each other that well. He had recently joined the architecture firm I had been with for the past 6 years as a space stylist. We worked in two different departments but we met at the morning briefings. 

I remember the first time I saw him I felt a little head rush, a little flutter in my tummy. He really was a your typical tall, dark and handsome man, with that scruffy beard and dimpled smile that had all the girls at work giggly. Brushing it off as a natural reaction to a good looking guy I had ignored it but also had stayed clear of him.