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.
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