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Ishita couldn't act as if everything was okay. She was usually quite the pro at it — masking loneliness with unwarranted enthusiasm and zeal, patching up her fractured heart with strips of cellophane and forcing her tired body to be energetic until she had mini black outs in her room. She didn't know what was different this time. Ishita felt like a horrible person.
She sipped the little whisky left in her glass and glanced at her phone. Ishita hated that she had worried Sahana to the point she was blowing up her phone non-stop but she needed to not talk to anyone and drown in the silence for a while. She muted the phone and took another sip when she could hear footsteps becoming louder and louder in the almost empty restobar.
Ishita spared a careless glance to the side to assess the new customer. She blinked when she realised the person had stopped right next to her and that the person looked awfully similar to the man who was the source of her current discontentment with life.
"Are you stalking me?" she asked.
Jai sighed, his crinkly white shirt not sitting well with his perfect persona. "Can I sit here?"
"I don't recall you asking for my permission last time."
"Last time was different."
Ishita raised an eyebrow. "How so?"
Jai took a seat. "I'm here to talk about something else. I went to your apartment but I couldn't find you there. Sahana told me that you haven't been out drinking in the night since you've joined my company. She was unsure if you'd be here but I had a feeling you might be."
"Congratulations for being right," she said, sipping the remaining alcohol. "Do you want a reward?"
"Ishita, can you please for a minute just listen to me without throwing your witty sarcastic comebacks at me?" Jai asked. There was a desperation in his voice that Ishita recognized, mostly because it was similar to the one swirling in her chest.
"Okay."
Jai propped his elbows on the table and weaved his fingers together. He unwove them and again intertwined them together, only to later hide his hands on his lap. "Um, I just wanted to properly apologize to you for yelling at you like that. I was inconsiderate and harsh. I should have taken it easy. Not that this is an excuse but my parents called me just a while before the incident to inform me that they set me up for a blind date this weekend. I was frustrated and I took it out on you which is not at all acceptable."
"Jai—"
"No, listen to me, Ishita. I know I might come off as cold and arrogant but I am actually not. I am extremely introverted and like to be by myself. It takes time for me to warm up to others. I am misunderstood and I've not cared about it until now. I want you to know me for the person I really am and understand that I could never be intentionally rude to you. You've got to trust me on this. Just give me some time. I'll do better," Jai said, his palms now flat against the table.
