'Cause You Said I Can

Chapter 1

An exasperated Madhumita switched her phone off and tossed it angrily into her bag. It was the sixteenth time that Sayali was calling her.

Her eyes were brimming with tears already. Her anger knew no bounds. She wanted to hurl away the equipment in front of her and run. But unfortunately she could not tune her hands the  way her heart wanted.

Had things happened the way she had planned, she would have been in her PG accommodation an hour back, all freshened up and doing a final round of check of her luggage. But no!Life is not that perfectly algorithmic! Her professor had decided to surprise her by getting in to his beast mode today.  TODAY, of all the days! He would not leave them until the simulation is done.

She cursed herself for not letting him know in advance that she had to leave early. He was in no mood to buy any reasons now. It was her first long leave, little did she know that leaving early would be a big deal.

And hence, Madhumita is still in her sweaty cotton Kurti, debugging the project code in the lab of Research Centre she was currently interning with. And not enroute to the airport with Sayali, in her fresh comfy travel wear.

-----

Kempegowda International Airport Bangalore, Domestic Terminal

"We're extremely sorry Ma'am. The check in is closed." said the Air Asia attendant at the counter , who genuinely seemed sad at her plight.

"We did try calling you but your phone was switched off. Fifteen mins back we were ordered to accept a standby passenger on board. Seats are filled now!" she added.

Madhumita felt that she might faint any moment. 

If only she had debugged the code fifteen minutes earlier! 

If only she had listened to Sayali who had asked her to take her luggage along to the Research Centre ! 

And above all, if only she had been assertive enough to tell her professor that she had a flight to catch- a rather important one!

Being way too submissive and not reacting adequately have always been her weak points. But at the moment, she did not want to to regret or cry. She wanted to fix the mess. She was informed that an Indigo flight scheduled to depart in three hours, would take her to Jaipur after one hour halt in Delhi.

"Rs.17,834." Madhumita read again, biting the life out of her lips. The camp registration had left her account balance a very humble four digit number.

She knew that none of her friends, given the spendthrifts that they are, would be able help her. Harshit is snoring away to glory with his phone switched off and Medha, her cousin has shamelessly forgotten her credit card password.

 "Why don't you ask your Mom ! I'll call Athai(aunt) and ask, if you're scared." Medha suggested over the phone.

 "Hell no! You've no clue how I even made her say yes to this. And I know how scary it's gonna be. She wouldl tell Appa and I'll be dead meat. I'm not taking anymore taunt for the day. You just find the password soon. Pleeease." Madhumita begged her cousin before hanging up.

It was while sitting with her head dug deep into her hands, as helpless as could be, that Madhumita received the best text message of her life.

PNR number for the booking of your Indigo flight 6E 684 from Bangalore to Jaipur is N754Q.

She wanted to scream loud.

Thank God for refreshing the girl's memory! She exclaimed as she opened her Whatsapp to thank Medha. However there was a message from someone else.

Being independent is a good thing. But if you thought that you're smart enough to survive without all of us, then you're wrong. You came into the world because of me and I'm still alive.

"Appaaa !!! " She cried . How in the world did he??

Soon came Medha's message.

You being older doesn't imply that I have to listen to you. You can thank me later. Now pls go board the flight!

She smiled through tears. Her dad could be a little on to the strict side, but there have been instances when he had transformed himself into a Daddy Cool. That too, in direst of the situations. She wished she had trusted him better!

I love you!

Madhumita sent, to both her father and her cousin. She chose to leave Sayali's 31 messages unopened.

Responses came in almost together .

Dad : Miss one more flight and you're out of the family.

Medha : Oh please stop being so obsessed with me.

Madhumita frowned.

'What a crazy family I belong to. Wish I had saved this I love you for someone else!' 

Someone else!

----- 

Her rescheduled flight gave her enough time to freshen up before the check in opened. She was glad that she was no longer in her sweaty Kurti. After changing into a pastel pink tee, she washed her face and poured mild perfume all over her. Mostly, she carried her face sans any make up. Not that she needed any!

What she needed now, however was a glass of Mojito, to quench her thirst and to lift her spirits. She just survived an extremely chaotic day after all!

As she approached the cafeteria, the familiar navy blue backpack carrying the camp logo caught her attention first, followed by the side profile of a young man dressed in khaki denims and a casual black shirt. 

Not just any young man!

 But a tall man with enviably cut physique, a nice stubble and unkempt wavy hair.He was scanning his wallet with his long, chiseled,slender fingers, when she reached the counter. In seconds, she heard his baritone voice.

"I'm really sorry I do not have change, you will have to excuse me till I get it from someone!"

The shopkeeper did not look very appreciative of the idea.

"Excuse me, ...Are you by any chance taking the flight to Jaipur?" She asked him, the fact that she knew the answer anyway, notwithstanding.

He turned in the direction of the calm voice. The very simple yet strikingly beautiful girl, who stood almost as tall as him, continued.

"Sorry for jumping in out of nowhere. But I see we're both part of the RRA camp. I can help you with the change if you want. You can return anytime later... " She was surprised how effortlessly the words flowed out of her mouth, to a stranger.

"Ohh...That's great, thank you!" He smiled.

Madhumita paid for both their drinks.This was their first meeting, but she had recognized him the moment she set her eyes on him. She knew his name too. Maybe that was the reason why she found it easy to talk to him. But she could not reveal all that. Cordiality had to be exchanged anyway.

" I'm Madhumita!" She extended her hand.

" Hi Madhumita...I'm Siddhant!"  He said, taking her soft hand and shaking it with a smile. 

He had instantly developed a liking for her name. He found it filmy!

Way more handsome than I had assumed! She thought.

-End of Chapter-