Foresight

Chapter XXXIV

"Dude you got to hang up the phone man. You have been on call for the past one hour. Who are you talking to by the way?" Neeraj barks from his desk to Rajesh, who has been standing at teh window and speaking on the call for way too long.
"It's his new girlfriend man. Don't interrupt." Tarun backs Rajesh, winking at him, as Rajesh had turned back to plead Neeraj for five more minutes with his puppy dog eyes.
"Show that to your girlfriend. It won't work on me" Neeraj barks back.
For the past one month Rajesh had been in constant contact with Pallavi, being her shoulder to cry on, taking her on outings every weekend, to cheer her up. Pallavi too found something in Rajesh that she had been searching for too long. Unknown to each other, they were falling for each other. It was only a matter of time, they were to confide to each other.
"Easy man. You are just jealous of that I have found a girlfriend and you are still single" Rajesh mocks Neeraj as he makes his way back to his desk.
"Nice joke man. Remind me to laugh tomorrow." Neeraj argues back before he glues back to his screen.

From the past month, the success of 'Circus Charlie 2' had bringing upon way too much orders to the trio. Since they had now a steady business relationship with SIDCO and were receiving a constant stream of money, Tarun fished out for programmers and employed them. The trio shifted to one corner of the office, separated from the remaining people with a panel and door. They got a big centre desk for themselves and occupied it combined. The main project 'Baseball 2.0' was nowhere near finished and they had to submit the final copy within two weeks. In fact, Neeraj thought of delegating the new guys a part of 'Baseball 2.0', but Tarun was strictly against it. As per his views SIDCO was too valuable to lose. So their projects are to be handled personally. And he had a point, for it was SIDCO that put them on the map. So the trio used to give the trainee's orders from their previous clients.
"I got to go man. Urgent work" Neeraj says, as he looks at his phone in a shocked manner.
"Whoa. We got tons of coding left and you are leaving now. Tell me it’s a death and that's why you are leaving" Tarun barks from behind his desktop.
"Dude understand it’s urgent. I will meet you guys tomorrow" Neeraj says as he swings his backpack and rushes to the door. As he makes his way out, a small box falls out from the open zip in his bag, which goes unnoticed by Neeraj in his hurry. Rajesh is the first to notice the box lying on the floor. He picks it up and opens it. Surprisingly it looks like a make-up box.
"What in the name of hell is that" Tarun asks, taking off his head phones, with a bewildered look.
"Looks like a makeup box. Why does Neeraj have a make-up box in his bag?" Rajesh mutters with a bewildered look in his face.
"Anyway we better get to working. We have a lot of coding to. We have to submit by this weekend." Tarun suggests, shifting back to his place, getting glued to his screen.
"Yeah man. Pallavi told me that Ashok is kind of breathing down her neck this time" Rajesh adds on.
"Speaking of Pallavi, she looks real nice man. Her boyfriend must be damn lucky" Tarun speaks up, looking away from his screen. ON this Rajesh blushes, which Tarun deftly catches.
"Why are you blushing? Are you two guys together?" Tarun asks sliding towards Rajesh.
"Not together per se. But we have been talking pretty close for the past month. I am feeling some kind of attraction towards her. But I don't know for sure that whether I should go ahead or not." Rajesh opens up.
"Why not man. She is a nice looking smart girl. She will be perfect for you. Plus she is also with our client. So it’s a win-win situation" Tarun pats on Rajesh's back, as he proceeds to slides back to his place.
"She is older than me" Rajesh turns around to the window, confessing to Tarun.
"Older than you?" Tarun grimaces a little hearing that, getting up from his chair and walking up to Rajesh.
"Yeah. Not only that. She is also a widower." Rajesh adds on, lighting up his cigarette.
"That is a thinker. What did she say? Is she ready for full fledged commitment? I guess she might not be into casual relationship, since she is older than us. So you have to think in that angle" Tarun suggests, lighting up his cigarette.
"Yeah man." Rajesh replies with a sigh.
"Dude the bottom line is that whether you like her truly. And also whether you can provide to her" Tarun suggests, silencing on the last part of the sentence, which reminds him of the heartbreak Jenny gave him a month ago. Though Tarun recovered really quickly, it was to not leave his friends hanging. He had still a lot of grief and it would take a lot of time to heal fully.
Sensing the silence Rajesh turns around comforts Tarun and heads back to his desk.
"Also if you really like her, age and her being a widow shouldn't be an issue to you" Tarun points out as he puts on his headphones and immerses himself to his desktop.
'Yeah. I find no issue in her being elder to me or being a widow. I will tell her how I feel today evening' Rajesh contemplates as he picks up his phone and drops a text to Pallavi, requesting her to meet him this evening. Once he gets a reply from her, agreeing to meet up, he gets back to his work.
Rajesh fishes out a cigarette as he parks his bike out of the SIDCO, waiting for Pallavi. She told she was running a little due to a sudden staff meeting. As he waits for her, he practices his confession in mind once more. Tarun convinced him that if he sees a good future with Pallavi, he should give it a try. Rajesh was also keen on settling down in a few years as he was already 24 years old now. It would be only a couple years, before his parents nag him to settle down. In fact his parents were already looking for matches, just not that vigorously. Although Rajesh was not against the idea of arranged marriage, he longed for a love of a women. When he and Andrea parted ways, even after discussing thoroughly that it was just casual and noting long term, it did pain him to separate from her.
“Hey Rajesh. Sorry for making you wait” Pallavi says, as she taps on his shoulder.
“Hi Pallavi. It’s all ok.” Rajesh answers as he flicks off his cigarette.
“So you wanted to talk today. Where shall we go?” she asks, knowing that Rajesh will take her someplace nice.
“Yeah. I was thinking that we will go to the beach and have some chocolate ice cream that you like” Rajesh answers, flashing a small smile.
“Yipeee” she exclaims, jumping in excitement, which in turn bring immense satisfaction to Rajesh. They both hop on the bike and zoom through the traffic.
“It’s quiet out her.” Pallavi says, holding her ice cream in her hand and admiring the waves, as they both stand in the waves. Rajesh looks little surprised, given they are surrounded by small children playing in the water and shrieking at the top of their lungs.
“Quiet with these kids around” he questions her.
“I meant the ambiance Rajesh.” She answers, tilting her head towards him. Looking at her face, auburn hair glistening in the setting sun, she looks no less than a Greek goddess.
“Mind blowing” he mutters under his breath. Hearing that she just turns towards him, flashing a smile.
“Pallavi, I have to say something to you” Rajesh starts up, taking a deep breath.
“Yeah Rajesh. I am listening” she replies, turning herself to him.
“Pallavi… I am attracted to you. You are a beautiful, strong, independent woman. Even after all the hardships you faced in life, you are still embracing life and living to its fullest. I am smitten by your personality and beauty. The first day when I saw you in your office, I was speechless for a few minutes. I was wondering how someone so simple yet be so beautiful. The first time when I held your hand, I realized that I don’t want to leave it. I wanted to hold it forever. When I hugged you, I wanted to hold you close to me forever. The warmth, affection, trust in our hug, I had never felt the same before. If you let me, I will keep you happy forever. Will you let me” he confesses his feelings to her.
Taken by surprise, Pallavi just stands still. Though she was expecting this in the corner of her heart and was happy to hear about, she was still surprised that it happened so early. Not knowing how to answer, she just stands there speechless.
“Pallavi I know it’s too fast and it might be the last thing you must be expecting….” Rajesh gets cut off before he finishes his sentence. Something soft, yet firm makes contact with his lips. As he opens his eyes to see what was it, he finds Pallavi has leaned in for a kiss and is waiting for him to respond. Suddenly instinct kicks in and he opens his mouth, inviting her soft tongue in. he grabs her waist, pulling her closer for the kiss. As their bodies make contact, current flows through their bodies. He feels melting into her through the kiss. As they get lost in the kiss, Pallavi pulls away for breath.
“That...was..unexpected.” Rajesh replies, as he takes a step back.
“Just like your proposal.” She replies, with a faint smile.
“Yeah” he nods along.
“Rajesh, it is fast as you said, but not the last thing I expected from you. I am also interested in you and would like to take things to the next step. But we can’t go to quick like we did today. You understand right” she requests him, with her puppy dog eyes.
“Yeah sure. I also want to take it slow. I just didn’t want to wait, lest somebody else whisks you away. I won’t be able to forgive myself easily if I missed the opportunity to some other guy.” He adds.
Listening to this, she breaks into small, sweet peals of laughter.
“Don’t worry. That won’t happen. Now will you drop me back to my hostel…boyfriend?” she asks, teasing him with the ‘boyfriend’ part, with a big grin.
“Sure..girlfriend” he replies as he extends his hand to her. She gives her hand and they walk back….as a couple.