Silver Lining | Grooms #3

III. Intimate Thoughts

Nikhil asked Julie, his assistant to go on as his mother was calling. Leaning back against the door of his car, he answered the phone call. "Hi, sweetheart. Good morning." Even though he was talking to his mother, he would call her endearing names to tease his father when he was younger and by now, it had become a habit.

Rasika Khanna greeted, "Good morning! Hope I didn't wake you up."

"No, uh not at all. I actually have a meeting in five minutes."

Rasika scolded him at once, "You're unbelievable! Working even on a Saturday? No wonder Sonia left you."

He groaned at the mention of his ex-girlfriend's name. "Mom."

"Okay, okay. Sorry. I just called to ask if you found her."

By 'her', he knew who she was talking about without needing clarification. "Unfortunately for me, there are hundreds of Esha Shah in the area."

She chipped in, "Also unfortunate for you, you were an idiot for not having asked for her cell number."

He defended his lack of action. "And come off as creepy? What girl would give her number after talking for a minute?" Deep down, he knew he was an idiot. Once the flight landed, things had happened so hectically that he lost her in the crowd and the thought of getting her number had not even occurred to him.

"For being such a successful person, your personal life sucks, Nick." She chastised, behaving his age and talking to him as a friend instead of his mother.

As such, he had told his parents about Esha and what had happened in Vegas a week ago. Even if 26 years of age, he did not hide such major things from his parents. Living in different cities as well, he still kept regular contact with them.

He sighed, requesting after checking his wrist watch, "Yes, mumma. We've established that this year for sure. Can we talk later? I have to go."

This year, in particular, had not been the best for him. First, Sonia left him having given him an ultimatum to commit more to her and less to his work. And then the weekend that he was not proud of because he knew he was a better guy than that.

"Oh, alright. Go, but really Nick. You've got to get better at balancing work life and personal life," she gave one last piece of advice before ending the call.

With another sigh, he discarded his phone in his pockets. He knew she wasn't wrong. He did need to focus on his personal life now.

That image of Esha as he had first seen her in that night club was imprinted in his brain. He couldn't rid it no matter how hard he tried. Also, he knew. She might not remember the night but he recalled every single moment and it was impossible to forget. Even for him - a guy deadly focused on his work had been drifting off in memories this whole week at work.

Stepping inside the elevator, he closed his eyes for a moment. He told himself he needed to get it together. He couldn't let one girl take over all his senses completely. A girl he had known for few hours. But, no. The second he closed his eyes, her smiling face conquered his resolve yet again.

That smile on her face but those empty eyes. They made for a deadly combination.

The way she had held his hand with such right and dragged him away from the bar and towards a private section of the club.

The comfort with which she had so easily dissolved the concept of personal space and sat on his lap not caring for the fact that they were strangers to each other.

At the ding of the elevator, he opened his eyes. His mission of trying to bring focus to the coming meeting utterly failed. As the silver steel doors slid open, his eyes traveled up from the floor to meet to eyes of the female standing at the other end.