The Guy with the Handkerchief

VI: The Conversation

One Week Later

Arindam and I were enjoying the Sunday morning at his house. Arindam's mother had cooked Luchi and Alur Dam for us. Arindam's Dad was busy extracting news from the newspaper and we were enjoying the delicious food with a heated discussion and planning on the Cricket Match to be played against the neighbouring community in the evening. Just when our captain Arindam was about to finalise our playing eleven for the match, his phone buzzed. Unknown Number.

Arindam decided to pick the call up.

"Hello!"

"Is this Arindam speaking?", replied a lady.

"Yes, May I know who is this?"

"Hi! Arindam, this is Shreya. Shreya Paul! The girl who you helped out a week ago! I hope you remember me.", spoke a humble voice.

Arindam stood up. Almost in astonishment. For a second he thought, how did Shreya get his number? And then he realised that he met her because of the misleading call itself. He distanced himself from others, as if he was too embarrassed to confront his heroics.

"Oh yeah of course Miss Shreya. Why would I not remember you. You didn't even need to tell me the details.", Arindam replied, "So, tell me, what can I do for you, ma'am"

Shreya smiled, "Firstly, please don't call me ma'am. Call me Shreya. You are too humble which is kind of embarrassing for me."

"Oh! I am extremely sorry", Arindam immediately replied back.

"Again Arindam, you are again being extremely humble." Shreya cut him out.

They shared a brisk laugh and continued.

"Listen Arindam, I am really embarrassed about whatever I did the last day. I thought I will get over it, but I am unable to. How is your head by the way?", Shreya enquired.

"With God's grace and your powerful hit, I have become capable of growing painful potatoes on my head now. Thank you very much.", Arindam replied sarcastically to which Shreya laughed her heart out.

"Listen! I want to apologise. Can we meet? And I promise I won't run you into any kind of trouble." Shreya replied.

"Yeah, Yeah sure. Why not. Where do you want to meet?", Arindam asked.

"Well, to be very honest with you, I don't know many places here. I am new to the city. Just shifted a couple of weeks back. Why don't you select a good restaurant where we can have dinner together?"

"Well, I can do that but I have no idea which cuisine do you like or dislike.", Arindam enquired.

Shreya smiled within herself, "Arindam, you are such a sweet person. You are concerned about my likes and dislikes even when I was so harsh with you. But you can select any cuisine you like. Since I am apologising, I must be the one who will take care of your cuisine taste."

"Wait, do you mean to say you are giving me a treat? No... no... This is not at all required. See whatever happened that day, I have already kept them in the past. I don't have any grudges against you. Trust me.", Arindam was embarrassed.

"Arindam! Calm down. It's all right. If you don't want, you can pay for yourself. But please don't cancel the meeting. I really need to apologise.", Shreya insisted.

"Okay! Don't worry about that. I will text you the address of the restaurant within some time. It has a wonderful ambience. I will book a table for two in advanced. You just have to tell me the time you want us to meet." Arindam clarified.

"How about 8pm? Will it be too late for you?", Shreya seemed concerned.

"8pm is perfect for me.", Arindam confirmed.

"Okay, 8pm it is. Will see you in the evening then. Goodbye", Shreya disconnected the phone.

Arindam seemed quite happy. Why shouldn't he be? Things were changing in his life. It had stopped being monotonous. Was it the start of something fresh?