Seasons of Love by Jaismita Alexander

Seasons of Love Part 19

Part 19

I was pretty excited to meet Rudra for coffee. After chatting the whole night, I woke up at 10 am in the morning. Summer vacations were on and stress of studies were less.
At 11, Rudra messaged me...
"So the coffee date is on, right?"
I read the message and sulked. He started his nonsensical teasing again. I replied, "Date? You are flirting with me? No use."
He immediately replied, "Lol. Okay fine meri jaan. We are meeting today right?"
"Yeah. Surely.", I replied with a smiley.
"Thank you madam", he teased.
"I am going to take a bath. Ttyl.", I sent.
He replied again, "Why are you taking a bath now? We are meeting at 5, right?"
"Uf!! Don't do this!"
"Do what?"
"Don't tease me.", I sent.
"Okay okay. Sorry. You go. Message after lunch", he messaged.

I was irritated yet was liking all the attention I got from him. It was fun. He could be extremely melo-dramatic at times to make me smile.
It was 2:30, I finished my lunch and lied down for a while. Growing up in a Bengali family, I heart the afternoon naps! But now most of my afternoons would be spent in texting Rudra. I messaged him:
"Lunch done?!"

"Yeah just. You?"

"I too.", I replied.
I asked about Arjun. He said that Arjun was with VK. We continued chatting for a while and then suddenly I realised it was 4:30. I texted him, "Okay now I must go and get ready. See you in a while!"

He said, "You girls take an hour to get ready before going out any where. I don't understand what you'll do!"

"Uff! I will take a shower."

"You just had a bath two hours back!", he replied.

"Oho. Still.", I said.
"Okay!", he messaged.

I came out from the shower and checked my phone. He was still messaging.
"Now she will come out of the shower, comb hair, tie or leave it open, then put kohl, face cream, face powder...."

"Rudra! Stop!", I messaged laughing on my own!
"What!? Am I wrong?"
"I am doing none of it!", I messaged.

"Oh I forgot."

"Forgot what?", I asked.

"That you are different.", he messaged.
"Yeah! Meet you soon. Ttyl. Don't be late!", I said.

"Okay. Okay.", he replied.

I dressed up quickly, slipping into my blue denims and an animal printed top. I tied my loose hair into a pony tail and lined my eyes with kohl. That's all I did and it took me just 10 minutes.
I came out of the room and was stopped by mom.
"Where are you going?", she asked.
"I have to finish my economics survey before school re-opens", I lied.
"Okay. Come back before your father returns, his colleagues will be home for dinner.", she said.
I nodded my head and left home. I took an auto rickshaw because I still feared to go to the bus stand.
In the auto, suddenly something struck my mind & a question lingered.
I lied mom? Why? I could have told her that I was going to meet Rudra. She knows him. Why did I have to hide it? I had no valid reason.
I got down at the stoppage and walked in to a gift shop. I stood there staring at various items wondering what would he like.
Utterly confused, I asked the shopkeeper to show some gifts for a 25 year old. He looked at me and asked, "Birthday gift?"
I hesitantly said, "No no. A small token of thanks."
He clicked his fingers and bent down to take out something from the lower shelf. He pulled out mugs. Different colourful coffee mugs. I knew he wouldn't like them and it was weird gifting him so.
"Umm. Not these. Don't you have something else?", I asked.
He now pulled out some keyrings, photo frames, cards, fancy pens etc. He wouldn't like any of them.
"No, thanks!", I said and came out of the shop. There was another shop beside it, I went in and without any second thought I picked up a bar of dark chocolate. Once he told me that he liked dark chocolates. I paid the shopkeeper and walked to the cafe we were supposed to meet at. He was late. He arrived with attitude as if nothing had happened. I was waiting for more than 15 minutes. We entered the cafe. There was no one so we occupied a table at the corner.
"This is for you.", I said giving him the chocolate.
"Oh thanks! I thought it was for Arjun.", he said winking like VK.
"Obviously, you are going to share it with him!", I said.
He made faces. He too behaved like a kid at times pretending to be envious of Arjun. He ordered for food. There was no non-veg in that particular cafe. But he guaranteed the food to be delicious there. And so it was.
We had a weird combo of chats and veg momos. I warned him that we'll puke and fall sick. But he wouldn't listen. Finally, the food arrived and we were talking non-stop. My mom called and asked me to pick up some items from the market. I told him that and he insisted to acompany me to the market as well. I did not refuse. We finished eating and came out of the cafe. He wanted to come with me to the market near my house which was opposite to the route he was supposed to take to return home. Yet he came with me. We took an autorickshaw and got down at the market. We went straight to buy some vegetables first. We both together picked some fresh vegetables. I laughed at the way he scrutinized the cucumbers. He rejected the crooked ones. Even the ones with a small black spot was thrown out of the basket. Finally, the perfect ones were packed. After buying a few more things we started walking towards my home. He was carrying a few carry bags while I was holding the others. He suddenly sat on a bench kept at the side of the foot path. I said, "What are you doing?"
"Wait wait. Let me take rest.", he said panting for breath.
I laughed at him and he got up making faces. "Huh. I am not tired. Let's go.", he said. I laughed more.
We reached near my house. He handed over the carry bags and left. I promised meet him soon.
He reached home 30 minutes after I reached. I knew it wasn't a normal day. It was a special meet.
Later at night we had a long conversation. And then we got tired of typing so he called. We spoke till the dawn broke.
For ten days it continued like this. We spent half of the night chatting and then the other half would be spent over the phone. We would meet whenever possible and each time I weirdly lied at home.

To be continued....

Jaismita Alexander.