The Dinner Date

Part 2: If We had more Time

…

Here’s part 2 of Ashima and Kabir’s love story.               

Happy Reading!

…

Five years ago, I walked into Niti Aayog breathing just fine. I had a contract in my hand.

A six-month contract.

Temporary desk with temporary files.

I didn’t know Ashima would become the only permanent thing in it.

Five years ago, I watched her argue with a laptop, ultimately losing to it, and I thought, ‘Who fights machines and loses?’

Later, she threatened me, and I encouraged her. I won that argument.

She lost, the laptop lagged, and I rejoiced.

I didn’t know I’d spend the next six months watching her win everything else, including me.

And I didn’t know I’d lose her anyway.

She once told me I smelled of sea and home. She told me that after six months, two fights, one monsoon, and a thousand cups of bad coffee.

I was a corporate employee. Contract ID #2309

I didn’t smell like anything to her then.

Here’s when I started to be.

Or, at least I thought I had.

…

5 years ago: The Midnight Panic

It was day 7 of “the” project. The same project we were supposed to work on in pairs.

These 7 days have been a roller coaster ride for us, especially for both of us.

After 5 arguments, 7 disagreements, and unnumerable eye-rolls, Ashima and I have finally declared peace and showed each other white flags.

It was one particular night, and we were still working on a report due the next morning. It was already midnight, and the report was to be submitted by 8: 30 am sharp.

We were working on this report since yesterday, and there is still a lot to be done.

One thing that I understood about this job in these 7 days was that everything that I assumed about government sectors and jobs was a sham. We had grown thinking that the government sector works on a “chalta hai” syndrome, but I was wrong.

Everything was organised and systematic. Each work was done with precise expertise, and clocked out at a very sharp deadline. The meetings were boring, no doubt, but the goals were ambitious. People worked around the clock and delivered exceptional results.

One such task was the compilation of this particular report that Ashima and I are working on. Everything was in front of us, but the result was far.

And that’s when it happened.

“Oh no!”

I heard her exclaim loudly. It got my attention.

“No, no, no… this can't happen… not now!”

She looked horrified, and her face had lost all its colour. She had that cute frown she got before she cried, along with the inverted crying curve on her lips.

She looked beautiful.

And I sighed, goddammit.

Wtf, Kabir! Focus. I reminded myself.

Lately, I’d noticed I had to remind myself to focus on the said work a lot of times when I am with her.

Weird!

She not only takes my attention but also my ability to think and react.

Very, very weird!

“What’s wrong, Ashima?”

By now, she was almost in tears.

“My laptop died!” she whispered, almost inaudible. I might not have heard had I not been sitting so close to her.

“My laptop died, and I don’t have my charger, and the document that I was preparing about the potential tenders required for the policy, I think I lost that too.”

“You didn’t save it?’

“I don’t know… I don’t know, Kabir. I can’t think.”

That’s when it happened. Tears fell out of her beautiful doe eyes, and my heart stopped.

No, no, no. I can’t let that happen. I can’t see her crying. She is so small and fragile. Do something, Kabir!

I could hear my subconscious panicking along with Ashima, as if they had already synced in.

“Okay, okay, listen!”

I didn’t ask and reached to hold her shoulders to ground her. She was already shaking and ready to burst into a full-blown crying session at any moment.

“Listen, Ashima, look at me, please.” I tried to sound soft and steady. I didn’t want to alarm her. She was already stressed. My panic would only make it worse.

“Shh, shhh, stop crying first, hmm.”

“Here, drink some water.”

I offered her my water bottle, as that was the closest to me, but also because I wanted her to claim something that was mine. It didn’t occur to me then.

But it does now.

I waited for her patiently to gather herself and relax. Although her eyes were still watery, she had stopped crying. She slowly sipped some water and then closed the cap.

“What are we going to do now, Kabir?”

She looked at me with those tear-filled, vulnerable eyes, and that was, I realised, my undoing.

“We only have one laptop, we were supposed to do individual work, there are so many channels to be filled. My laptop just died, the tech room must be closed by now, and we are sitting in this partially closed cafeteria.”

“Everyone has already left, and it's just our work that is still pending. What are we going to do?”

She finished, and I could see that her eyes were going to pour out soon.

But before that could happen, I swiftly took her hands in mine and looked straight in her eyes, as if trying to convey a message directly to her brain.

“Shh, take a deep breath…” I started, but when has Ashima Bhasin ever listened in one call?

“Kabir…” she tried to interrupt me, but I had to make my move to defuse the situation.

“Ashima… trust me on this. Hmm?” I asserted.

“Close your eyes and take some deep breaths.”

She finally followed and closed her eyes, taking deep, slow breaths.

And Kabir Parashar was gone!!!

I was lost in her. This was the first time I was looking at her up close.

She had soft features, just like a baby, like the world hadn’t gotten to her yet.

Her cheeks were bubbly and smooth, just like butter.

A cute button nose, which she loved to scrunch whenever in disagreement.

There was a mole above her luscious pink lips, which was very inviting.

Only if she knew!

Kabir, focus!!

I reminded myself quickly, clearing my throat and my thoughts.

I kept looking at her with admiration until she opened her eyes.

And my trance broke!

I was brought back to earth when she took her hands back from my hold, hesitantly.

She was nervous, given the proximity at hand.

I needed to make her comfortable.

“Better? Hmmm?” I enquired, and to my relief, she looked at me with a small, sweet smile and nodded.

“See? It wasn’t that difficult. And now we will think and find a solution to this problem as well.”

I explained to her slowly, very slowly, for my own record. She listened with amusement on her face, as if not believing the existence of this soft Kabir.

“See, we still have 8 hours in our hands, a laptop, a very efficient policy maker, that’s you, madam, and a decent human operator, you know me. I think we will do fine.”

I explained our situation to her calmly, and she looked at me like a lost child whose school project was due tomorrow, and they had to seek the help of their elder sibling to complete it on time.

What the hell, Kabir! Sibling? Really? That’s what you got in that brilliant brain of yours? That sick comparison, cheee!!!

My inner Kabir spoke!

I ignored it and turned my attention back to Ashima.

She looked satisfied with my confidence. And we started working.

In the next 4 hours, we were able to retrieve some files and documents from Ashima’s drive. I asked her to log into her account on my laptop, and she did so immediately.

She trusts you, buddy!

…

It was 5:15 am, and as I made my way out of the restroom, I saw the most ethereal sight in front of me.

There was Ashima, leaning back on the sofa, placed at the corner of the room, with her eyes closed, probably lost in a deep sleep. Her posture was relaxed, and her legs were lifted up in a cross- legged sitting position. She was slightly tilted towards the window as if she had fallen asleep while looking out.

The exhaustion of today must have gotten to her.

She looked comfortable, except for one thing. Her neck seemed to have settled in an uncomfortable position, and that worried me.

I slowly approached her and very calmly adjusted her properly, holding her face in both my hands.

She smelled like coffee and exhaustion.

I looked at her and kept looking for I don’t know how long.

And in that moment, I knew, this temporary contract was going to add something permanent to my life.

…

Present: The Hospital

That day is still marked in my senses, fresh as new.

It was the day I fell in love. Head over heels kind of love.

It was slow, at first. But as days passed, I realised that my feelings for her were growing all over me.

They were crawling up my flesh, flowing in veins, beneath my skin.

And there was nothing that I could do to stop it.

You know, all those times, when in a Bollywood romantic movie, the hero sounded helpless in front of his feelings, and we found it a typical cliché.

Well, guess what? That’s what love does to you.

All those cliché moments are actually real. Very real. And the man, who’s found himself dwelling in this feeling, becomes helpless and senseless. Anything beyond his love, and everyone except the person he loves, becomes non-existent. 

The world disappears.

That was exactly what happened to me.

I became oblivious to a world where Ashima Bhasin did not exist. And I was fine with that!

…

Today was just another routine day in the hospital.

I was here since morning, and it was almost late evening now.

The world outside this room was moving at its usual pace.

Patients were being discharged from the IPD, ready to go home. Home, where their family was waiting for them.

In one of the corner rooms of the maternity ward, a baby had just joined the family commotion with his whimper.

And here, in this room, Private section, ward no. 302, I was sitting with the love of my life, waiting for her to wake up. For a miracle to happen.

…

She often complained that her hands always remained cold.

In every season, and especially in winter, they were icy cold.

But whenever I held her small, delicate, soft hands, I always found them to be warm and grounding.

I could never differentiate between the coldness of her skin and the warmth that her presence offered me.

And yet today, when I sat beside her, I could feel the coldness she always hated.

Her hands were frozen and still.

There was blood running in them, but the warmth was gone.

Only what remained was her silhouette wrapped in hospital sheets, breathing through an oxygen mask, barely there, barely present.

…

…

It still hurts… Isn’t it?

Kabir deserves to have his happily ever after with Ashima, just like everyone in love.

But will the miracle happen, or will she leave him forever, hanging by a thread of endless hope and hopeless desire?

This is not just a love story. This is a story about what love leaves behind.

Join me in this journey in Part 3, soon!!

Please leave your valuable reviews. Vote, comment, and share!