Not Around The Corner

Déjà Vu

“Sometimes your nearness takes my breath away; and all the things I want to say can find no voice. Then, in silence, I can only hope my eyes will speak my heart.” ~Robert Sexton

I woke up from a beautiful dream. I couldn’t remember what exactly happened in it but I couldn’t stop smiling. I reached work early today. Gaurav assigned me a new case. I knew I wouldn’t see Akash till the lunch break. It was hard to pay attention to what I was doing. Finally my colleagues left for lunch. I sat in my chair for a while trying to organize my thoughts.

There was a knock on the door. I looked up to see Akash leaning on the door. He looked so handsome.

“Lunch?” he asked.

I nodded and got up. We silently walked till the office cafeteria. I didn’t know much about this guy to actually have a conversation with him. He abruptly cleared his throat.

“By the way you free today evening?” he asked shyly.

“Yes,” I said softly. Why was I being so shy all of a sudden?

“You have a boyfriend?” he asked.

“No,” I said a bit too strongly. “No,” I said again trying to sound normal.

“Just checking,” he said with a smile.

“You?” I asked.

“A boyfriend?” he asked coyly. “Nope,” he answered teasingly.

“You know what I mean?” I said trying not to smile.

“No,” he said with a grin.

“So can I ask you out for an evening out with me?” he asked. He was such a gentleman.

 “Yup,” I replied.

“Great. I will pick you up at 630,” he said.

“630?” I asked. That was such an unusual timing for a date.

“You will come to know why soon,” he said with excitement.

We chatted generally for quiet sometime before we got back to work. He told me about his childhood. He had a normal childhood. Both parents had been around when he was growing up. He had an elder sister who was married now. She had a daughter a year ago. His face glowed when he spoke about them.

I left work early to get ready for the date. When I got home from work, I realised I didn’t know where we were going. I was confused as to what I should wear. Finally I decided on a pair of black skinny jeans and a checkered t-shirt. I pulled up my hair in a high ponytail. It was 6:30 on the clock right now. I heard a bike pulling up in front of my house. I looked out to check the weather and it had stopped raining now.

I got out and saw him looking real good. His eyes shone and his smile always melted my heart. He was wearing casuals too. So it was an informal date, I thought to myself.

“Where are we going?” I asked curiously.

“You will have to wait and see,” he said.

“This is excruciating,” I complained.

He laughed. “I promise, you will like it,” he said.

We took a long drive and surprisingly it didn’t rain. He took me to this familiar place. I couldn’t place it but I had been here before. This place reminded me of Anushka somehow. He parked his bike on the road and made me stand on one side of the road. As he crossed the road to the other side, I remembered the surroundings. This was where Anushka lived before she shifted right after school got over. This was the place where I had first seen him. I was floored. He was making this evening so special. I saw him on the other side of the road and smiled. A car zoomed by past him and just like 13 years ago there was a puddle there. I saw a drenched Akash grinning at me. He was crazy.