THE LOVE WE NEVER SOUGHT- Is this the end of a budding romance?

 

It was shortly after midnight when an SUV with its headlights turned off approached slowly and stopped on the dark alley behind Stellar County Society in Greater Noida West. A shadow in a hoodie emerged from the car and swiftly walked towards the broken portion of the society’s boundary wall. The wall had collapsed owing to severe rains some time ago and was awaiting repair and restoration, which had been delayed due to an ongoing RWA funds dispute.

The hooded and masked entity, whose face was completely covered except the eyes, carefully removed the makeshift barrier created by a fiber sheet in the damaged part of the wall to keep stray animals and jaywalkers at bay and entered the premises on all fours. It was late in the night, so there was no one around to notice the unexpected entry. As he entered, he turned around and replaced the fiber sheet back into its place.   

Taking advantage of the dark and unattended area, He tiptoed to the tower where Anirudh and Pankti lived and hid himself in a corner from where he could keep an eye on the lobby guard. He seemed to be well versed with the society premises dimensions and the camera installed.  

The guard on duty was fast asleep in his chair. He quickly sneaked past him and took the lift to the 17th floor, where Pankti lived. Her iron door was latched from outside, indicating that she had gone to the terrace as usual after dinner.

He then took the stairway and slowly climbed to the top floor where Anirudh lived. His door was latched from the inside, indicating he was inside.

The hooded entity then walked up towards the terrace and hid behind the door that led to it.

Meanwhile, Pankti was alone on the terrace, taking a walk after dinner and humming a Kishore-Lata popular song that she was listening to on her phone over Bluetooth. Of late, she had developed a special liking for the 60s and 70s Bollywood songs after learning that Anirudh enjoyed listening to them, which is a sure sign of a woman hopelessly in love. A cold, gentle breeze was flowing across and the atmosphere was serene, making Pankti feel both relaxed and contended.

She walked for a while before stopping by the railing at the far end of the terrace, to look at the high rises in front and the lights on the road below. She was humming along to the music in her ear and couldn’t hear that somebody had come up behind her. 

She turned around just in time to see a masked shadow standing extremely close to her. “Tum kon ho?” She was startled.

What the shadow did next was unthinkable. It pushed Pankti right over the railing.

THE LOVE WE NEVER SOUGHT- A Chance Encounter...

 

 Anirudh took the metro that evening after a long yet productive day at Shalmali’s house. His team was doing an excellent job, and the client was quite pleased with the progress. Shalmali had a keen eye for minute details and knew exactly what she wanted. As a result, it became easier for Anirudh and his team to work on her clear description.

The metro was extremely crowded that day and Anirudh could barely manage to board the second coupe after the ‘women only’ compartment. After a few stations passed by and the crowd thinned, he was able to secure one of the two side seats and pulled out his phone to call Kabir.

“Haan beta…kya ho raha hai? Doodh piya?” Anirudh inquired asked as the call was connected.

“Haan Papa pi liya…Ab TV dekh raha hun. Aap kab tak ayenge?” Kabir’s innocent voice came from the other side.

“Bus metro mai hun aadhe ghante mai pahunch jaunga beta…tum jyada TV nahi dekhna… homework karne baitho mai aakar check karunga." Anirudh was instructing Kabir when something unusual caught his eye.

“Ok Papa!” Kabir said and disconnected the call.

As the call ended, Anirudh’s attention returned to the adjacent coupe, where behind a sea of female commuters, he saw intermittent glimpses of a woman talking animatedly with her fellow passenger.

‘How is this possible? Is this real, or am I dreaming?’ Anirudh mumbled to himself. Despite the on-and-off view, his eyes never left the woman’s face.

   

***

 

“Is weekend par dinner par mil ke dekh le Gaurav ko ki kaisa feel hota hai.” Vandana was trying hard to convince Pankti who was actively brushing aside all of her reasonings. “Tu bhi kahan ek hi baat le kar baith gayi aaj.”

“Ok chal thik hai …Tu chal mere ghar… aaj weekend hai aur Arun bhi out of town hai. Pyjama party karenge aaj full night aur pi kar out ho jaynege.”

“Aur meri Furry ka kya hoga?”

‘Kutch nahi hoga usko…teri pados wali Renu ko call kar dena wo usko cat food de degi, har baar ki tarah.”  

“Chal thik hai. Teri in bakwaas baton ke baad I definitely need to get drunk shit.” Pankti replied with a smile.

“Thoda khud ko open rakh kar apne aas pass dekhegi to tujhe dikhega mard kitne awe struck ho kar dekhte hain tujhe. Ab usko hi dekh…wo us taraf…bagal wale coupe mai. Kitne shock mai dekh raha hai tujhe jaise koi bhoot dekh liya ho.” Vandana remarked, laughing conspicuously.

“Kya bol rahi hai Vandana? Pagal ho gayi hai kya?” Pankti snubbed her friend, but couldn’t stop herself from looking embarrassingly at the direction Vandana pointed out subtly.

There he was…behind a sea of heads, a decent-looking man sitting just a few feet away in the adjacent coupe. He didn’t appear to be someone who would ever tease a woman, but at the moment he was staring at her without blinking his eyes, with his mouth slightly open. Pankti instantly fell in love with the expression on the face of that stranger.