Reo and Me

Sixteen {Ju Roku}

Ayesha's POV

I drove slowly, it had just struck 8:30. I reached the Plaza in about 15 minutes and handed my car to the Valet. I walked inside the plush bar with dark red velvet seats and brown interiors. Sameer sat at the table, looking at his watch.

I walked towards him, the clicking of my heels made him look up. "Sorry I'm late." I smiled pleasantly.

"It's okay- I arrived five minutes ago." Sameer grinned. The Plaza was too serious for a fun catching up drink, I should have decided to meet somewhere else.

"How's life?" Sameer asked, sipping on his whiskey. I couldn't respond- the whiskey reminded me of Reo.

"Ayesha?" He waved his hand in front of my face.

"Huh? Sorry. You were saying?" I looked at him in the eyes.

"I asked how's life." Sameer repeated slowly, as if explaining a math sum to a toddler.

"Good. You say." I sipped on my margarita.

"I just moved to London. I've been moving for a long time now but I intend to stay now." He looked at me, as if signaling something else.

"Yes. How is everyone else?" I diverted the topic.

"They're doing good- Naina had a pregnancy scare though."

"What?!" I said loudly enough that the people on our neighouring table turned to look at us. "Sorry." I whispered sheepishly.

"I don't know. You know they've only been married for about like two months right? So she was late for two weeks and she got a pregnancy test. They had been meeting before the wedding as well so it was their child. But they didn't want one so early in the marriage. They were actually sure that she was expecting. But it turned out to be a scare. It seemed so real though because she actually threw up in the morning for about two days." Sameer finished and sipped on his drink.

"So is she okay now?" I felt like such a jerk- I hadn't even called Naina once after the marriage.

"She is. Naina was really scared at the thought of a baby but Rohan actually took the news well. Nevertheless, everything is okay now." He said.

I nodded. We sat in silence for a few minutes sipping our drinks when Sameer spoke up.

"You know Aisha. What happened was bad and it shouldn't have. I want to apologise for being such an asshole. Can you-" He couldn't continue because his phone rang.

He attended to it and I mentally rolled my eyes. This was his old habit- he always prioritised his studies when we were dating.

I mean it's a good thing he did because look at where the both of us ended. Highly successful and living a dream life. But sometimes, all I wanted was his attention. He didn't accompany me to any parties where all the other girls had their significant others over.

It was emabarrasing- it looked like I had lied about a boyfriend. But it worked. He would profusely apologise every time and make me his special waffles (which were reserved for me only) and I would instantly forgive him.

I was broken out of flashbacks when Sameer hung up.

"You were saying?" I asked curiously.

"Sorry. Work calls. Can we talk later? I'll call you." He gulped down his drink in one big mouthful and then winced as it burned his throat.

I suppressed a laugh. "I guess I'll talk to you later then." I waved.

"Bye." He smiled before putting on his overcoat and ran outside. Ugh being a doctor is tough work.

I too drank my margarita in a few minutes and placed the money under the glass.

"This is already paid for miss." The bartender smiled, pushing the money back towards me.

"Oh." He knew how much I hated when people didn't split the bill. "What was the total amount then?"

"It was a card transaction miss." She replied.

"Okay then. Thanks for the service." I smiled and walked out, pulling my overcoat around me.

"He knows that I hate to be pampered like this- why can't we split the bill?" I murmured as I put my car into gear.

————

The next few days passed quite in a blur. The project which I was working on was finally done. I had a much lesser load now. According to my senior, he wanted me to take an off.

"You deserve the rest!" He said, not looking up from his documents.

"But sir I just came back from Japan. It's really okay, I'll do it." I told him.

"Atleast take a day off. I won't like it if you don't." He finally looked up.

I sighed and gave in. Fine- if they want me to rest I'll rest.

I went home early that day, looking around the streets to do something. I spotted a small diy shop, tucked away in the corner. People were crowded inside though.

I parked my car and walked to the shop. There were great designs on the window- painting your own sculptures and designing canvases.

I wasn't very creative but I could paint. I decided on the painting sculptures, because the canvas looked tough.

I went inside the shop. "Hello there! What can I interest you in?" A small redhead at the counter asked me enthusiastically.

"I'm interested in painting my own sculptures." I said.

"Sure. Do you want the single sculpture package or the two sculpture package? It's a great discount- one sculpture for £10 and two sculptures at a reduced rate of £18.99." She smiled.

I thought before choosing the two sculpture package.

"Good choice. Please, follow me." She combed up a flight of stairs to reveal the most artistically designed loft. The loft was only for painting and there were 3 huge shelves with sculptures to choose from.

"Complete freedom. The aprons and painting supplies are in the two shelves. Take your time." She smiled and went downstairs.

I looked around and finally my eyes fell on the 'love' sculpture. It were just the letters LOVE placed on top of each other.

I chose that because it was simple to paint. I looked for the second sculpture. I chose a globe which ad a small plane around it. I set to work quickly. I tied the polka dotted apron around me and sat down on a small white table covered with plastic. I slowly worked my way through the first sculpture, even though it were just four letters. I painted them in red and the added the varnish on top. I liked how it looked.

The second sculpture obviously took some time to paint because it was a globe and a plane. Still I was very slow. It took me about 1 hour to paint that one. The redhead, whose name I knew by now was Kathy came up to me. "Great! Looks like you're done. Leave the sculptures there to dry and then we'll give you a call when they're done. Then you can take them back home." She pointed to an empty shelf near the window. The sun had set completely, giving rise to a dark night. I left them as instructed where Kathy later put on a tag with the number. I left my number at the counter and went out to have dinner.