JOURNEY FROM YOU TO US

✦ | CHAPTER 35 | ✦

Karthik's POV 

"Just one day more, I will be in front of you okay na" I said 

"Raaaaaaaaa, pleeeeeezzzzzza" she said. I cut the call because I was already taking a cab from Delhi Airport. (come please) 

My baby, I have a surprise for you, you will never forget this surprise, ever. I told her that I was coming tomorrow, but who knows? I was gonna spend more time with her. I decide to keep silent. I chose a perfect time when I could surprise her. It was evening, and it was now already 6:30. She said she was coming in a cab from her office to home. I thought that I would just, you know...... Make her face full of wide with openness and heartfelt feeling. Because she said, she would hug me like she used to hug her old teddy bear. I am not a teddy for sure, but she is a doll for me. A Barbie doll or a frozen Elsa for me. I don't know how but I loved cartoons so much since childhood. Fan of Disney cartoons. 

"Hello baby," I said. In phone call. 

"Haaan Kanna," she said. I rang their apartment doorbell. 

"I will see who it is ?" she said. And then I asked her.

"what happened?" I asked her. 

"Dont know, somebody knocked the......." her eyes, fully open. She checked her call and I showed her my mobile that I was still talking to her on call. 

"Kkkaaaaaaaarrrrrthikkkkkkkkkk" she jumped on me, well it was a teddy bear hug. I kissed her cheeks and held her open hair. Her tears. 

"Eehhhhh, emaindhi?" I said and held her cheeks, which were full of adoration. (hey what happened?). She took me inside and again hugged me. In surprise I got her a bunch of roses and tulips, they were her favorite. But her single emotion whenever we went to market in Bengaluru, she asked me for mogra. 

"They are truly lovely like you," she said. Now, my heart melted. Actually, she always does. 

"Baitaki Veldhama?" I asked her. I rented a car which would come in another 20 mins. (shall we go out?). "Huh?" she was already surprised and don't know why she immediately went inside her room and changed into Kurta and Jeans pants. "Ready? Appude?" I asked her (so early?). "Okay 5 mins, I need to freshen up.... Can you show me..." without my sentence even being completed, she started giving me a home, tour. I wanted to say that I want to use the washroom. She knocked even Neha's room too. 

"Hi Karthik" she waved her hand and too did the same. "Vennela, your room?" I cut some 5-minute conversation happening between us. "Yeaaaahh yeahhh, padha" (yep let's go) she said. Her room was well kept, but a lot of carton boxes piled up at the end of her balcony. Her room was with a bamboo open rack for her daily office-wear clothes. 

"Room Inka neat Ga unchukovachhu kadha?!" I said, she was a little sad but again came up with Josh (you could've kept the room more neat). "Ahh sare, inko 2 months a tarvata manestha kadha" she said, (It is a matter of two months, after that anyway I will quit this job). "Sare sare. Okka 2 minutes" I excused (okay okay, just 2 minutes). I splashed the water on my face, just to remind myself that I was in Delhi, not Bangalore or Hyderabad. The water was so chill. 

"Karthik, all okay?" she shouted from outside. I replied "Yeah yeah all okay," I said. One thing I must appreciate is she kept her washroom very neat. I hate wet toilets, even if it's outside at home, or at the workplace. "Chala challa Ga undhi water" I said. (the water is cold). "Idi e matram challadanam kadhu, January lo choodali, baboi, chala chala challaga unde appudu" she said. (This is no cool than compared to January, it was super cold back then). 

At Hotel 

"Eh you know, this was designed by our firm only, I have this area pic in my cabin," she said. I wanted to put my hands on her shoulders but then, she understood my inner voice and she coiled my arms with hers and we started to walk through. We sat. Wow, it's so aesthetic and calm. This v/s Rameshwaram cafè was comparing earth and sky. No comparison at all.