A Serendipitous beginning

Chapter 2

An evening in Chicago

It had been five years since the night of Sonakshi's engagement, when Dev had been drunk out of his mind and Sonakshi had to come to drop him at his house. Next morning, he found out she and Ritwick had gotten engaged after all.

Something had irrevocably changed inside of him. He had lost a deeply significant part of himself and in its place, a resentment had taken root in his heart. He had tried to squash it as quickly as it arose, but it just wouldn't go away. Eventually, he made peace with it.

The events had made two things clear: That he would do whatever it takes to ensure his mother's happiness, and he knew now she wouldn't support every decision of his.

With that, his relationship with his mother had changed forever, though he was careful and grateful that she didn't know that. To her, her Dev was, as usual, loving and devoted. He performed as a dutiful son, brother, the pillar of support for his family. But there was a chasm that could not be repaired. He held them all at a good distance.

Life had shaped up as an endless, joyless chore, trudging along, day after day, month after month, year after year, with no reprieve.

Until that fateful morning when he ordered coffee in a quaint little cafe halfway across the world.

Seeing her was like a multitude of colors being painted on in a black and white movie, making it vibrant and exciting at once. When she walked out with a simple 'Goodbye', Dev immediately ran after her and convinced her for just one dinner together. He then canceled his meeting plans, reserved a table at a Michelin restaurant, paid for an elaborate twelve course meal, arrived hours earlier, just to be sure not to miss her.

But Sonakshi refused all of it.

She took him to a tiny Italian place tucked away from the street and they ended up sitting at a small two-person table.

"They don't have a lot of vegetarian options, but we can get them to modify whatever you want." Sonakshi told him.

A little part of Dev glowed. He had fretted so many nights that she may have forgotten he even existed. But she hadn't. She remembered he didn't eat meat.

"Whatever you recommend is fine." He knew he would be barely tasting the food.

"Okay. Let's order some simple pasta arrabiata. It will be a lot so we can share." She declared, closing the menu. Realization must have hit because the next moment she amended. "Uh.. unless you don't want to, I mean, you want to order your own, that's fine."

"I would love to share, Sonakshi." He may not have been able to share his life with her, but nothing was going to stop him from sharing this one plate of food.

Sonakshi then politely asked about him and his family, his work. She told him about her family, her work. Nothing too much, he knew it was the surface.

She had told him once, 'if we only talk about happy stuff and ignore all the uncomfortable stuff, our relationship won't be complete.' He wanted to ask more but was too afraid to mess up this dream.

"Do you want dessert?" She asked.

He was full, but anything to extend this. "Sure, but only if you share."

"Okay, I love their cannolis, so we can have that." She decided.

The couple who owned the place came to their table and Sonakshi introduced them. They chatted for a few minutes with her and Dev couldn't help but smile. The girl who didn't even have a passport back then almost seemed like a local here.