A heavy downpour accompanied by a major thunderstorm brought the city to a standstill. It seemed like the rain gods were lashing out for all that is done against the nature. Here she was caught in the middle of nowhere, begging the rain gods to show some mercy but all her pleas were falling into deaf ears as the rain only seemed to gain momentum with every passing second. She was a Senior Executive in a reputed multinational company. As fancy as the name sounds, the job involved prosaic number crunching, not exactly the kind of job that excites her. Secretly, she had always wanted to be a writer and she kept assuring herself that she will become one, someday. Needless to say what she would be doing in her free time. Reading and writing had become part of her biorhythm. A bibliophile that she was, she had a separate room for the love of her life, her collection of books. As much as she wished she could go back home, cuddle up and read , she was overcome by a disquieting restlessness. It was getting late to work, same old mundane work, she thought. If only I could gear up the courage to quit and not care, she sighed.
It was 9:30 and she was already thirty minutes late to work. Her stomach started to growl reminding her of her hunger. Great, she thought. Just then her mobile began to ring. Another call from work which she had no intention of attending. She switched off her phone and headed to the small restaurant which was pretty close to where she was waiting. She ordered a sandwich and went to occupy the extreme corner which was isolated from the rest of the restaurant. She fished for the book in her bag and started working on the story that she was writing. Halfway into her sandwich, she felt the presence of someone sitting right opposite to her staring at her intently. She pretended to be impervious to the eyes that bore into her and then she was no longer able to take it. What? she demanded. He responded with a nonplussed silence. She gave him a good long disparaging look and when she was satisfied, she got up and left. Exactly then, the waiter ran towards her with her sandwich. It took her a good 30 seconds to realize what she had done. She turned back only to find him gone with a note on the table that read, you are welcome for the sandwich by the way. And hey, beautiful eyes Avantika.
She was washed over by a gamut of emotions. She was enraged, guilty and happy all at the same time. Enraged because he was gutsy enough to look at what she was writing. Guilty because of her brash behaviour and finally happy because, well obvious reasons. She couldn't help but blush. All the bad things since morning seemed like it never happened. A random comment by a random stranger made her day. Without second thoughts, she headed home.
Next chapter : You, Me and (not) our love story - Chapter 2
