"This is cute"
"Just cute?"
****
You wouldn't be wrong wrong to say that she was nervous. She was so damn nail biting nervous, sweating in this already hot Delhi weather. She clutched her suitcase closer by its handle as she waited outside the airport, searching for her name on the que cards.
She found one 'Rati' scribbled on it in a hurried handwriting, barely readable.
Following the man with the que card, the driver probably, she came across the man she was here to meet.
"Hey!" Exclaimed her internet Friend who happened to be none other than freaking Virat Kohli!
"Hey" she did the handshake
"So?" He asked resting his butt on the bonet of his Audi. He was playing with the keys.
Sorry my bad, that que card guy wasn't the driver.
"Ummm" Rati shrugged and laughed a little,out of answer
"Look I flew all the way to Delhi just to meet you, you better make it worth my while" Rati pointed her finger demandingly
Yeah, she was just like that from the beginning with him. Their friendship was too natural to be fake.
"I know you couldn't resist my charm"Cheeku smiled cheekily
"Chalo ab" she hit his arm playfully
Ugh! Another judgement error. She wasn't nervous. It was regular perspiration.
They rode off to Nueva,a top notch restaurant in Delhi, exquisite cusine, complimentary drinks, finger licking starters and mouth watering deserts. Basically it was virat's favourite restaurant.
They had a sweet little private time with each other, giggling, giving hi-fi. It didn't seem that I was their first meet physically.
It had all started when one day Rati messaged Virat instead of her friend Vikram and then to started talking. First it was awkward, but then they became friends, chatted on daily basis, talked of the world, politics, sports, family, asked questions and slowly slowly they were so close, even though miles apart. So after six months of chatting on Instagram they had finally met.
"This place is amazing" Rati said finishing her desert and wiping her lips.
"It so is" Virat said getting up
"Where next ?" Rati asked as they walked out
"Aren't you tired already?" Virat scratched his beard unwilling to go anywhere
"Don't start" she crossed her arms "your tantrums now, Mr Drama queen"
"Excuse me?"
"Chalo ab" Rati laughed walking towards the car
"Huh" he made faces as they seated in the front seats
"You look funny" she laughed covering her face
"You meant cute" he smirked through the mirror
"No, I very clearly meant funny" she turned to him "F-U-N-N-Y" she spelt it out
She waited for him to say something, comeback but then she chuckled getting no comeback "Aww, got no reply to the university truth?" She pulled his left cheek slightly
"Don't do that" he sniffed
"Why?" She did the same on purpose
"Cause I'm driving" he sterned
"And am I distracting you?" She imitated
"A lot" he replied keeping his eyes on the road. Trying to rather.
"What will you do if I won't stop?"
"Then I will stop"
She smiled before realising
"The car" he grinned
She retraced her hand back.
"And a glamorous shot by V-rat koh-li. What a playar." He said in the foreign commentator accent
That's funny now!
He pulled over before a garden lake which was stranded at this time of the night.
They walked in, racing to the lake.
"Oww" Rati cried strangling and falling over the wet green grass
Virat stopped and turned back "I'm not going to fall for that fake fall" he pointed his finger and resumed
"Virat!.." she cried but he didn't stop
He ran all the way till the lake and waited, waited and waited but his friend didn't return.
"Hogaya khatam drama toh aana" he called out cupping over his mouth
But there was no sign of her.
"Shit, shit shit" he cursed all his way back to her
"I'm so sorry" he bent down to pick her up
"No problem-" she geared up to run smirking but before she could apply that cliché trick to cheat and win he picked her up in his arms
"What?" She asked in his arms biwildered
"Too old yaar" he snorted laughing at her frivolous try to cheat
"I hate you" she narrowed her lids
"Aye hayee" he placed her down on the lake deck and falled in beside her
"Thinking something?" He asked curiously staring her
She hummed in response admiring the beauty around her with the beauty inside her.
"First time meeting, airport pick up, dinner, racing,"
"Cheating" he added
She laughed "laying on the deck, water beneath, sky above" she shook her head
"You like it?" He turned to face her
"Yes, this is cute" she bit her lower lip lost in the night sky
He could find himself falling, slowly and steadily as he gently tugged her loose hair strands over her face
She caught him staring. Sorry admiring.
"Just cute?" He asked looking in the eye
She smiled.
Five years from now, and they come to the same spot every year, the same day, same hour, and relive their first meet. She smiles the same when he tugs her hair, the same.
