Not Around The Corner

Fifth Time

“I was feeling totally over him. Only a stupid crush; over, done with, but then he looked at me.” ~Anonymous

It was a beautiful Monday morning and the lovely month of July. I woke up to see birds chirping in our backyard. I lived in a big old bungalow in Mumbai with a porch and a garden. My ancestors built the house many years back. Many renovations and generations later, we still lived here. We being, my cousin and I. My parents were now based in Singapore where my dad had another firm.

I, Rhea Kapoor, lived with my first cousin, Gaurav Kapoor. He was a couple of years older than I. As I got to work that morning, I realised I had forgotten my mother’s case files at home. I had to give them to her attorney. I called up Gaurav and asked him to get those files for me since he always left an hour or so after I did.

Both of us were lawyers. For that matter, every member in my family was one. I had a Master’s degree in International Law from London University. I was interning at my dad’s firm in the city.  My elder brother Nikhil handled the business in Singapore with my dad.

Gaurav was engaged to my best friend, Anushka Rai. They had been dating since he was 18 and she was 16. Now, ten years later, they were still crazy about each other. Just last month, he had proposed to her and now they were officially ‘stuck’. Of course that was how I perceived it; they however were madly in love.

Anushka and I were friends since before I knew what the word ‘friend’ meant. Barring a couple of years when I was doing law, we had been together in every step of our lives. She was the absolute best.

As I paced the office lobby waiting for Gaurav to arrive, I looked up at the watch. It was already 10 and the attorney was to leave for another meeting.

“Gaurav, please hurry up,” I said softly to myself. Just then I received his call. He asked me to meet him out front. I hurried out and saw his car pull in front of the building. I took the file bag from him. Thanking him I rushed into the building hurrying up to the office.

Mr. Sahukar, my mother’s attorney, was waiting in his office. I thanked the Gods. Thanked them for keeping him here till I arrived. I handed those files over to him. Gaurav had entered the office by then.

“Rhea, I want you to sit on a meeting with some of our clients. Could you come along with me?” he asked.

“Sure,” I replied. “Thank you,” I said to Mr. Sahukar and followed Gaurav to the conference room. He had interned here before, finally getting his own office space last year.

On the way to the conference room Gaurav asked,” You have any plans with Anushka tomorrow?”

“Nope,” I replied. He smiled.

“What is going on?” I asked him curiously.

“It’s our 10th anniversary,” he said happily. Ten years. Ten whole years, these guys had been together. They had their share of ups and downs and fights too but they had been together through all of that. If at the age of 16 somebody would have told me that my best friend would be engaged to my cousin in ten years, I would have scoffed at that person.

“10, huh?” I asked, his excitement contagiously affecting me.

“Nothing special, I just want to dedicate the entire evening to her,” he said so in love.

“I am so happy for you guys. Have fun.”

We were to meet some company’s Operations head, Mr. Shroff who would be hiring Gaurav as their company’s corporate lawyer. I was to sit in on the proceedings and ‘learn’. Learning was important according to Gaurav. And if you thought he was my cousin and he would be easy on me, you thought wrong. He was very serious when it came to work.

“We should start as soon as my assistant manager joins us,” Mr. Shroff said. Just as he said it there was a knock on the door and I turned around to see the one and only, Akash Mehra. My eyes went wide. Mr. Shroff introduced him to us. “This is my division’s assistant manager, Mr. Mehra.”

Gaurav gave him a welcoming look and said,” Akash? Man, where have you been?”

“Hey long time,” he replied with a smile. Oh, that killer smile. Why was he here?

They both hugged as if they were long lost friends. Which they were not. Gaurav never looked at Akash back in school. Nor Akash looked at Gaurav. They came from different cliques. Gaurav introduced me to him and he said a small hello to me before we proceeded with the meeting.

My mind couldn’t concentrate on the current happenings. I kept stealing looks at Akash. He was very serious though. Wait till Anushka heard that Akash was here. She would totally flip out. I got my head back in the meeting and started taking the necessary notes. This guy was so not worth my time right now, my head thought. But he so is, my heart countered. I took a deep breath and decided to get through this before we broke for lunch. Then I could excuse myself and ask another intern to preside over the meeting.

As soon as we took our lunch break I followed Gaurav out and quietly told him to excuse me. “Why what happened?” He asked with concern. How could I tell him I didn’t want to spend any more time with Akash in one room? I was being immature but it had been really awkward and I couldn’t handle him right now. “I have to meet Anushka,” I told him the first thing that came off the top of my head.

“Won’t she be working right now?” he asked. I was so bad at this. I just couldn’t lie.

“She’s taking the rest of the day off. It’s important. You will come to know tomorrow for sure,” I replied trying to save my ass.

“Is it something to do with the anniversary?” Gaurav asked hopefully.

“Sure,” I replied hardly thinking of what I was saying. He smiled.

“Go then,” he said without giving my fib any further thought. This guy could be so easily lied to.

I left the office immediately and drove over to Anushka’s college. She had got her Masters degree in Literature from London University as well. Gaurav and she had got in the same university so they wouldn’t separate. Talk about commitment. Now she taught at one of the colleges in the city. I sped to her office. I was partially excited and partially terrified of Akash’s return. As I reached her office slightly panting, the peon told me she was in a lecture and would be back in half an hour and asked me to wait outside her office. How was I going to keep this news in my stomach for another half an hour? I decided to be patient. I sat down and looked up at the sky and realised it was going to rain today. As the drops started falling, I was reminded of the day I had first seen him. The day, Akash Mehra entered my head and heart.