Back In Time

~seventeen~

Vedant clutched the strap of his laptop bag and waded through the sea of office crowd as he made way for the platform. The escalator wasn't working today, and he found himself curse under his breath as he climbed two steps at a time on the frozen escalator to reach the platform in time.

Absentmindedly enough, his shoulder ended up pushing a middle-aged woman busy on the phone and her coffee cup landed on the floor messily.

"I am so sorry." He found himself apologize, and only then noticing the splashes of the burning coffee on his laptop bag. It was the one Meera had gifted him on his birthday. Brows creasing in annoyance, he barely registered the lady's face accepting his apology graciously as he rubbed his handkerchief on the bag at failed attempts of removing the stain.

It was a leather bag. Surely the stickiness wouldn't last after running some water?

The metro pulled up on the platform thereafter, and Vedant pushed through the crowd and squeezed his body between two middle aged men on the cold metro seats. Neither of the two looked like they planned on getting off at any nearby stations.

Sighing to himself, Vedant plugged into his earphones and scrolled through his unread messages. Being a little biased for Meera, he first opened her chat screen and found one unheard voice note.

Like an almost automatic reaction, he found the whole day's stress and worries dissipate as he put the voice note on download, more than eager to hear her voice.

.....Hey there! You've been offline all day so I figured disturbing you with my tale of woe would be a BAD idea. Just had to fill you in. I made it to the hospital in time, and Dadi is stable now. Her operation was a success. One of us gets to stay with her in the night and I offered to stay for Papa, he looks tired to the point of sickness.

There's something more I have to tell you. But I have a feeling that a voice note won't be the perfect way to the break the news to you. Call me tomorrow whenever you can.

AND if possible, PLEASE give me a wakeup call at 4 in the morning tomorrow. I'll be sleeping in the hospital, like I said, and there's a huge possibility that I won't stir on my own accord. Also, Dadi has this intravenous dosage that needs updates to the nurses after every four hours and I want to be extra careful about it.

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful for me. So um...yeah.

Love you. Miss you. Muah.

Vedant grinned.

3 minutes and 22 seconds long voice note.

Immediately enough, he opened his alarm clock and set an alarm for 3:45 and 4:00 AM and then re-opened her chat, only to replay the last bit of the voice note.

Love you. Miss you. Muah.

As the perspiration on his body slowly began evaporating thanks to the AC, he found himself admit for the billionth time, that while Mumbai was most certainly the best Indian city to live in, Delhi metros were something he didn't mind getting used to.

His phone beeped with another voice note from Meera. At first, he assumed she was online that instant, but then realized it was his crappy Internet that had only managed to download the second voice note just then.

Oh also! I think I saw your Mum in the hospital. I hope everything's okay back at your place! Don't tell her I told you about spotting her at the hospital okay? She looked like she didn't want to be seen by me.

Do you think I should drop by at your place once though? It's Vidisha's birthday day after right? I could take her for lunch maybe?

BE BRUTALLY HONEST VEDANT. I'm trying to do this whole family thing better and I can't do it without your help.

Mum went to the hospital and didn't want to be seen by Meera? That's strange.

Tapping onto his keypad he typed,

7:58 PM I'll ask Ma and keep you out of the story don't worry.

7:58 PM Glad to hear that Dadi is okay now. Keep me up to date though. And STOP saying things like calling me during work is a bad idea. You KNOW how guilty I feel that I'm not there to help when you need me most. I'm available for you every minute of the day. AND DON'T CALL ME CHEESY. I mean what I say.

7:59 PM Vidisha would love that! Take her to that pizza place you and I used to go to if possible!

7:59 PM And....yeah. I DO feel that dropping by at my place will be a good move. How about you go meet my parents, chitchat with them for a while and THEN take Vidisha along with you? That way Vidisha will be there to diffuse any awkwardness you might have with Ma and you won't have to stay there for long in my absence.

7:59 PM I'll wake you up. Don't you worry.

8:00 PM Also, I've stained my laptop bag with a little coffee. Sirf paani daalna will be enough kya?

8:00 PM Love you too.