“May I come in?”, he asked.
“Yeah, sure”, I replied.
“So I was asking whether we should continue with the sex trafficking story?”
“Definitely.”
“Okay then”, he said.
“ Hey , are you going to stay back for a long time?”, I questioned.
“I have to, I have a lot of work left”, he answered.
“All right .”
“Do you have a lot of work too?”, he inquired.
“Just a bit.”, I answered.
“ Okay , I should go now.”, he said leaving the cabin.
I had no work left. I was waiting for him to complete his work so that I could ask him to drop me home in his car. We live in the same locality. It had been two months since I had realised that I had feelings for him. I really like him. I wanted to confess everything to him today but it was already half past ten and I could not wait for him anymore. Disappointed, I packed my belongings, switched off the light and walked out of my cabin.
“Hey, are you leaving?”, he asked as soon as he saw me.
“Yes, it is already late. I am sorry I cannot wait .”, I answered.
“Oh no, don’t apologise, it’s fine.”, he replied with a warm smile.
I did not realise from my cabin that it was drizzling outside. I decided to take a walk back home. Halfway to my home, the light wind changed into a strong one and the drizzle into torrential rain. My pace was slow. Despite the atrocious changes in the weather, I liked it. I was drenched to my skin when I reached home. I was exhausted so I decided to skip dinner and go to sleep.
THE NEXT MORNING
It started drizzling early in the morning. I was waiting for an auto rickshaw to reach office when a black Alto K10 stopped in front of me. My first reaction was to reach for my pepper spray when I heard his deep , rusty voice, “Hey do you want me to drop you?”
“I am sorry Abhishek but I would rather prefer walking.”, I said .
“Oh come on, you will fall ill.”, he said .
It started to rain heavily.
I got in his car with a reluctant look, though deep within I was happy because I finally got a chance to ask him out.
“You look really beautiful today. Those large mascara smeared eyes of yours, they’re gorgeous.”, he complimented.
I started blushing. I had a plethora of questions in my mind – Was he hitting on me? Should I confess now?
“ I really want to tell you something. I have been wanting to tell you this for a while now but I never really got the courage.”, he said.
For a moment,I looked at those mesmerising brown eyes which had me enthralled. Time seemed to stop and my heart started to palpitate like a bullet train.
“I love you.”, he said.
This out of the blue confession evoked a Crest of emotions in me but I was transfixed.
“I have always loved you. From the day I saw you in office as the fierce and brave journalist who is equally kind and gentle. I wanted to confess everything yesterday but before I had the courage to do so, you went off. These feelings have burdened me so much. You do not know how much I have regretted all the moments when I had a chance to tell you but I let it go. I do not want to hide it anymore and I do not want to lose another chance.”
I tried to control the tears that threatened to fall from my eyes as the rain was falling. Amidst the rain and the violent gushes of wind, tears started to fall out of my eyes uncontrollably. I looked at his eyes which shone as bright as the Sirius. I felt his hand on my wrist.
“Ring Ring ”, my phone rang.
Damn! It was a dream ,yet it felt so real . And eccentric. It was 7:45 A.M. already and I was running late for office . I had a missed call from my colleague Sayantan Paul. I called him back.
“ Hey Good morning! I had a missed call from you”, I said over the phone .
“Didn’t you get the news?”, he asked.
“What news?”, I asked .
“Abhishek died yesterday in a car crash. The police found his body today morning . Weren’t you the last person to see him?”, he said.
I could not answer his question. My hands became numb. I felt my heart crumble into a million pieces. My throat dried up and a chill ran down my spine .
