Daastan [#MissionDesi]

Chapter 21

The coffee house was bathed in morning sunlight. Sujatha sat in a bright yellow chair, wearing glasses. A novel was spread wide open on the table. For an onlooker, her eyes were traversing the fine lines from left to right but all she did was let her eyes move without her brain registering anything. Her fingers then traced an invisible ink over the blank front page which held a dedication by the author.

A car zoomed past the coffee house and a page fluttered which she held in place with her hand, a fastrack strapped onto her wrist. 9.55am. Almost time.

"Hey how long have you been waiting?" Anil occupied the green chair next to her, laid back, hands wrapped behind his head.

"Not much. Just 30 minutes,"she said, twirling the gold bangle on her other hand.

"OK. Well, if you need something, holler!" He smiled. As if on a second thought, he turned back and whispered something in her ear.

And with that comment he left.

I balled up my fist. I could take him down anytime. But not today. I looked at her looking around, taking everything in. Bright, vibrant colours everywhere. Anil did seem like an outgoing person. No wonder his tastes suited that of Vinayak's who would have loved this place, I mused.

Cane chairs circled round wooden tables, red and green bulbs hung from the ceiling, paintings on yellow walls, circled portholes carved into the walls giving the look of vast blue oceans beyond them, a hammock was tied to the mango trees whose branches extended outside the coffee house as if inviting people in.

A couple deep in conversation looked up as I passed them by as if they had been expecting me all along. Sujatha folded the white handkerchief couple of times, making it into a square, ironed it out with her palms and kept it over her novel, which was now left ignored, like the other unoccupied chairs in the sun.

Tweet Tweet! A lump with wings flew from a branch and sat next to the novel, hopping a little and its beady eyes looking at Sujatha. I stopped in my tracks as she smiled wistfully, as if she remembered it from long time back. And the bird chirped and twisted its neck as if listening intently to the words unspoken.

As I watched it fly away, I headed towards Sujatha, who had straightened up and closed her novel, the handkerchief pressed into its pages, temporarily acting as a bookmark.

"Hi," I said, sitting down on the brown chair across from her.

"Hi." She smiled. "Thanks for coming."

I shrugged and looked pointedly at the novel, "The choice. Hmm.."

"Yes. Nicholas Sparks. My favourite," she said.

"Since when?" As I said those words, instantly I regretted having said them. I wished I could take them back.

"Arvind...." She sighed.

I muttered under my breath, "I'm sorry."

She smiled and said it was okay. We then began talking about what we'd been upto presently in our lives.

Morning segued into afternoon, us sipping coffees, sodas, munching on crisp sandwiches laid out on white plates. We talked like two friends meeting up after a long time, catching up on our lives. I told her about my company and she about her enterprise. Both of us were careful to avoid words from the past which would interfere the flow of the conversation. We didn't mention the stale yellow papers lying in my drawers, that day. All we talked about were our new lives.

I realized that she was a different woman now. I had kept the old Sujatha that I knew on the shelf as I got to know this new avatar of hers. She was more carefree and confident.

Sujatha told me she used to work here before and showed me around, pride evident in her words.

Couple of hours later, she got up to leave. She had to go check on the women working in Daffodils.

"Would you like to come visit Daffodils?"

"Sure why not?" I said and stumbled forward as Anil slapped my back.

He chuckled and enquired about Rama, Vinayak and Hiya apologizing about his early departure from the anniversary. The man was bollocks! I thought.

"Ready to go?" he said.

Sujatha placed the novel in my hand and winked, "Thanks for the handkerchief. Washed and delivered!"

I chuckled and as we parted ways, I looked back once more as she sat shotgun in Anil's car. My eyes were glued to it till the car zoomed away in the distance.

"Lucky, isn't she?" a sweet feminine voice whispered into my ear.