Forget Me Not

Chapter 8: Sleepless in Seoul

"Company card Coffees taste the best!" Aishi captioned her snap and hit sent to Joshua. They had been exchanging snaps for a little over 3 months now. It started off with a feverish intensity of snapping every little detail around them. They clicked a picture of everything that was going around them, food, wildflowers, traffic, practice room mirrors, everything they wanted to share with each other. And as days went by, the number of snaps reduced, but they still kept sharing pictures of anything that made them think of each other. Neither of them had brought up the kiss again, nor did they confess their feelings. They are both enjoying this phase of getting to know each other without the burden of a label. They both knew this wouldn't work out outside of their screens. They both knew this exchange came with an expiry date.

Their worlds had very little overlap. Aishi spent most of her time staring at engineering drawings and Finite Element Analysis results on her computer screen. She worked 12 hours a day, managing stakeholders from 3 timezones. She considered art a luxury, a rich man's pastime. Joshua spent most of his day in recording studios and in practice rooms. Creating art was what brought food to his table. Aishi woke up at 5 am and was back in bed by 10 pm. She mostly spends her weekends cleaning the house or meal prepping lunch for the rest of the week. Joshua only sees sunrises before he goes to bed and wakes up well into the afternoon. He doesn't understand the concept of weekends, schedules demand his presence anytime during the week. So, it was understood that at some point, these differences would take over this novelty of acquaintance and they would slip back to their monotony. They still wanted to enjoy it while it lasted.

Aishi is now supporting a new project for a client in Korea and she is required to fly down to Seoul for a couple of days to meet them and understand their requirements. Since this is a new project and she is still new to the particular technology they are developing, she is not wasting any time in the airport. She is continuously reading up on the background and clearing all her questions with her mentor and other teammates. Joshua is ecstatic, to say the very least, about meeting her again in person.

"I'm sure my card can buy you better coffee!" Aishi smiled at Joshua's snap. He made a sly face with a dog filter.

They both decide to meet after Aishi's client dinner. They decide to go out for dessert. Aishi takes the cab to meet Joshua at his label company.

"There you are! Our little rocket scientist!" Kimmy greets her warmly with a hug at the reception.

"Hi Kimmy! It's so nice to meet you again. Is Josh upstairs?" Aishi asks

"Yup, you know there might be paps down here, so I asked him to stay in the studio. I hope you don't mind."

Kimmy walks her to the studio and there she finds Joshua grinning from ear to ear as soons as he sees her. He walks towards her to give her a big warm hug. They stay in the embrace for a little too long and Kimmy slips away, finding his cue.

Joshua looks down at Aishi and gives her a light peck on her forehead. "I missed you.", he says softly.

"I missed you too", says Aishi as she snuggles her head into Joshua's chest.

"I ordered some ice cream. I hope you have room for dessert?"

"Always!"

They chat together for hours together, filling in on the details of their life. It's almost as if there was no time lost since the time they met in Frankfurt. Around 3 am, Joshua suggests that they go around for a walk since most of the streets would be deserted by then. Aishi agrees.

They drive down to the Han River and walk by the water. There were occasional cars that were whooshing past them, but they felt truly alone for the first time. Joshua pulls Aishi closer and looks fondly at her.

"What?" Aishi chuckles

"Let me look at you a little longer. I don't know if I can live with just the snaps." Josh replies

Aishi is suddenly flooded with the thought of her leaving the next day, and how she may or may not see him again. Her fairytale lasted a little too long, her pumpkin carriage is still pulling on, she wanted to make it last a little longer. She looks up at him, slowly stands on her tiptoes till her lips touch Joshua, and kisses him slowly. Joshua kisses back.

" I don't know about the future, or how long this will last. But, at this very moment, I love you. And I don't mean it in a I-love-you-as-an-artist way, I am in love with you and I won't deny myself the simple pleasure of confessing my feelings to the boy I love." Aishi says, her eyes brimming with tears.

Joshua kisses her back, "I love you too."