Chapter 3

CHAPTER 2 – AND…. IT BEGINS

Arnav’s POV

I looked at the time on my phone, it was 945Pm and I felt my stomach rumble in hunger.I had been walking and wandering around the busy city center of Cape Town for almost 70 minutes now, just listening to my favourite music and although I had started to get hungry 30 minutes ago, I didn’t stop to eat, because I was in a very crowded area of the center at that point of time and I didn’t want to stop because I’d be recognised the minute I put the hoodie away and that would completely defeat the purpose of my walk.

I walk a little further down the street, I so wanted to try out some local street food tonight, but it had been more crowded than I had expected and now most of the joints around were kind of shutting down,and it was right then I spotted this little cozy café at the end of the bended round street which read – Chai and Coffee.I walked a little closer to the main enterance, and noticed that there was almost no one inside, and I looked at the name of the café again – Chai and Coffee, since the name Chai was there, it probably meant that the owner was of Indian origin, and would probably recognise me once I was in there, or maybe not, maybe the owner had left for the day already.

 I heard my stomach rumble again, and I decided to take the chance and stepped in through the door, and the café was more or less empty, and I spoke, still keeping my hoodie on – “hello, anyone there…”

I looked at my phone.It was 9:50PM.

I called out again – “ hello…is anyone here…”

And right then I heard a voice from the backend – “ Ill be there in a minute Sir…wait up…”

Ok.thank God, I wasn’t going to have to wait longer for a meal,or wait until I reached back the hotel to order room service.

I picked up the menu that was there on the counter, and scanned it and I spotted the name of couple of fusion dishes back from India, I had been right, the owner was definetly from India. I looked around the café there was no one else in here, so atleast I was going to be saved by getting mobbed by the crowd, and right then I heard that voice again – “ hey,im sorry, we are technically closed now, we take the last order at 945PM..and I cant technically punch in a sale post that, its against our rules…”

Since my hoodie was still covering a lot of my vision, I couldn’t really see this girl clearly, and I spoke, trying to make a last try – “ can you please make a exception to that rule tonight, its only five minutes over, and I am really starving..all I want is some black coffee and maybe a sandwich..”

And because I could see a part of her from her nose down, I saw the girl tap her feet on the ground and I saw her fold her arms across and she folded her lips as she spoke – “ummm..i don’t know, wait..let me think…”, and then she paused as she spoke, seconds later – “well, technically I cant really make a sale, im sorry about that, but you said you want some black coffee right??”

I nodded – “ yup, black, and no sugar…”

She picked up a filled and sealed cup from the counter behind her as she spoke – “ here, you can drink this, if you don’t mind..I made this for myself five minutes ago, but I haven’t even had a sip yet, its black and no sugar, just like you want too…”

I smiled to myself as I took the cup from her hand and took a sip off it, and I was surprised at the taste off it, I rarely met anyone who liked coffee as strong as I did, and without sugar too, and I spoke – “ thank you..this works, how much do I need to pay?”

She spoke – “ well you don’t have too, technically im not making a sale here, and I cannot turn away someone who is starving, so before I get to arranging something for you to eat, you mind if I ask you something?”

I nodded – “ yes, what is it?”

She – “ well, you aren’t a criminal or something right or a theif??you know, we have cameras in here,and all I have to do is press one button and the police will be here in three minutes, and I can handle you in the meanwhile, because im very well trained in the marshal arts…”

I literally choked on the coffe I had just sipped.

I couldn’t help but chuckle at that, she definetly had her doubts about me because of my hoodie and the way it was covering half of my face, and that I wasn’t taking it off. I kept the cup on the counter in front of us and spoke, biting back a grin – “I assure you, im not some criminal ok or a thief, im just a normal person, whose starving for a good meal,but I understand you ask, because…”

She tapped her feet on the ground and twitched her lips into a thin line again as she spoke seconds later – “because, of your get up, its strange…anyway, now that I have gotten my point across,and I will like to believe your word, I will arrange something for you..but before that…I have to close up, before any other customer gets in, and you can leave using the back enterance after you have eaten..that works?”

Ofcourse that worked, whoever this girl was really starting to amuse me and I was really tempted to pull out my hoodie and take a clear look at her, but I refrained as I spoke – “ yes that works, thank you so much…”

She spoke – “ ok then wait here, I just have to pull those shutters down…”

I nodded.

Her voice was very nice though.

It was different.

And her skin, as much as I could see off her face, was as clear as glass,spotless and glowing, and her lips were bright pink naturally , because I could clearly see that she wasn’t wearing any lip colour.

I would have easily mistaken her for someone skinny and with no strength in their body,if I hadn’t seen her jump up and pull down those massive shutters with so much ease, and I called out on reflex – “ you need any help??”

She spoke as she handled it all with ease – “no, im alright, I do this everyday..”.I watched her silently from my spot, and observed her from head to toe, but she wore black full sleeves round neck shirt and black jeans, so I couldn’t really figure out more, but it seemed like she had a athletic strength in that petite frame, now that I looked close, she wasn’t very skinny.And her ‘im trained in marshall arts’ comment went through my head and I couldn’t help but smile to myself.

She finished with her closing and all, and she walked up to me as she spoke – “ ok so hoodie guy, so you can come wait in my back office, and sit there, until I get something for you…”

Hoodie Guy.I chuckled inwardly at that, no one, had ever called me that.

I followed her through the backend opening and she gestured me to get into a small office set up kind off room and she spoke – “ wait here, and since you said you are starving, ill quickly fix up something from my kitchen upstairs…”

And I asked on reflex – “wait, you live here?”

She spoke from the opening of a door, that led to a opening to staircase that led up – “yes, I do…”, and she whisked up at a fast speed,and I just took the chair in front off me and took the moment to browse my phone, and sip the coffee, she had so kindly offered me.

Five minutes later,she walked back in with a bowl in her hands, and placed it on the table in front off me,  I looked at the instant maggi noodles in front off me and my mouth watered.I hadn’t had maggi in so so so long, my strict health and diet regime as a professional player did not allow me to indulge in junk food often and I heard her ask – “ instant noodles work for you I hope? It’s the quickest I could wip up in two minutes..”

I nodded and I spoke – “ it more than just works, I haven’t had this in forever…thank you…”,and I dug in immediately taking a bite off my bowl, and I watched her take a seat, in the chair in front off me as she turned to her desktop, and I asked on reflex – “ you wont eat?”

She – “ well no, I had a sandwich a while back, you please eat”,and she paused as she picked up a bottle of water from the backtable – “heres some water, incase you need it…”, and she returned her attention to her desktop.

I took a sip of the water as I spoke – “thank you so much…umm”, and I paused because I didn’t know her name, and it seemed like she understood that as she spoke – “ khushi, my name is Khushi, and you are welcome…”

I nodded, and because it was now getting difficult to eat with the hoodie on and also because I wanted to get a clear look at her, I finally took the hoodie off and I looked at her as I spoke – “ hi khushi…im arnav…”, and the minute I looked at her, our eyes locked,for a brief second, and I was taken aback by how pretty she was, her eyes were mesmerising and she gave me a small smile as she spoke – “ Hi arnav…”and she returned her attention to her desktop again.

Ok, so she doesn’t recognise me, because there was no reflection off the realisation about who I was on her face at all.

I continued to eat, sip my coffe and watch her silently as she worked on her desktop.

…………….

Khushi’s POV

Shit.

Shit.

Holy Shit.

I couldn’t believe, it was Him sitting across off me.

Arnav Singh Raizada – the vice captain of the Indian cricket team. Krishh’s biggest cricketing idol. My younger brother wasn’t just a fan off him , he use to literally worship this man when he was alive.

Even my father was a big fan off his game.

Even Verma Uncle, Rahul, and Varun.

Everyone I knew was a huge fan of the man sitting across off me.

I don’t understand cricket, I kind off never was interested in it, but I know about the Indian team and players because of my family and friends around me.

Infact, I had given up on watching the matches - the little of what I used too, after the death of my family.They were killed in the plane crash, which was enroute to Johannesburg to watch a cricket match in between of India and SouthAfrica , a year ago.It kind off felt like if it hadn’t been for krish’s love for the game and eagerness to watch a live match for the first time in his life, maybe, just maybe they would have never got on that plane and they would still be alive.

So out of personal choice, I refrained from watching the games, but ofcourse Rahul and Verma uncle were such buffs that I couldn’t really stop them from talking to me about it.

Thank God for the distraction of my desktop in front off me and these accounting entries that still needed my attention, that I had been able to hold onto my shock from reflecting on my face , as the reality of him sitting in front off me dawned on me for real.

And I couldn’t believe I had almost pointed to him that I was doubting him to be a criminal or theif, and that I had made him Maggi and given my cup of black coffee to him as a meal.

And that was when the thought came in my head – what the hell was he doing on the streets of Cape town right now? Shouldn’t he be in his fancy hotel, partying with his teammates,or just bask in luxury and prepare for tomorrows game?

I knew about the t20 match tomorrow, because Rahul was going to watch it with his friends.

I looked at him outta the corner of my eyes as he ate the maggi I had made for him and sipped the coffee, and it dawned on me, that maybe he was hiding beneath that hoodie because he was tired of being recognised everywhere he went, and the thought kind off saddened me a little ,I couldn’t even imagine how overwhelming it would be to have people and the media and the cameras always looking out for you.

I continued to work on my desktop in silence for the next ten minutes in silence as he ate the noodles, in silence too

And he finished and took sips of some water and right then he looked at me and he smiled as he spoke – “ thank you so much Khushi…and only because im curious, I want to know what do you do, you v been working away so seriously this late in the night…??if you don’t mind me asking ofcourse and if im not disturbing you from your work”

I couldn’t believe that Arnav Singh Raizada or ASR -the short of his name his jersey read,one of the icons of Indian cricket was trying to make a conversation with me and was being very polite about it.

The media called him an arrogant playboy.And that was maybe because, he looked the way he looked – so rakishly handsome, and enigmatic.

But the pictures didn’t do him justice.

He looked even better in reality, and he was not being arrogant at all.At this moment sitting off across of me after finishing up a normal maggi and coffe meal, he was just trying to be like any other normal person.

Right then my fathers words rang in my ears – ‘We must never judge a book by its cover Khushi’, and I nudged those media perceptions about the man in front of me aside, and decided to respond to him.

It would be too rude, if I didn’t.

I gave him a small smile – “no , I don’t mind you asking and you are not disturbing my work, im a student in third year of my management degree and im also pursuing charted accountancy, but iv taken a gap year, and iv just been taking in some work experience at a management company during the day…”

He actually looked interested as he leaned back in his chair and asked – “and this..??”

I explained – “ this is my uncles coffee shop, I help him in the afternoon shifts…its convenient because I only live up the stairs..and I also help my uncle out with the accounts of the café and that’s what iv been working on, because I will not have much time on my hands tomorrow…”

He nodded and gave me a smile – “ that’s interesting Khushi…”

 I asked now inquisitive – “so just because im really curious, is this your first time or do you do this often??”

He looked at me – “ huh??”

I smiled – “ I mean disguise yourself as some crazy hoodie guy, and roam around the streets of the countries you are touring in, trying to get lost in the crowd as a nobody, because I clearly understand and see from where you are coming from , it must be so overwhelming to be under scrutiny all the freaking time…and all those expectations and pressures..god, it must be crazy no?? “

………………………..

Arnav’s POV

Ok, so I meet a lot of people, a lot of them, but I have never seen or met someone as honest and to the point as this girl in front off me.

It was now clear to me that’ she had recognised me straight out the minute I had taken off my hoodie, but she was senstitive enough to try to comprehend the reason behind my actions,and she didn’t want to overwhelm me by doing something I was kind off escaping from, and only brought the topic up after I initiated a conversation.

I smiled at her as I spoke – “ well to be honest to you, I kind off wander around as the crazy hoodie guy a lot,and to answer the latter part of your question – yes it is crazy to be under the scrutiny all the time , and I haven’t really met someone who understands the other side of it so easily, so thank you Khushi..”

She smiled at me.

She had a mesmerising smile.

There was something about her that was extremely warm.

And she grinned and her eyes twinkled as she spoke – “ ok, so the next you are in Cape town and want to go into hiding for some alone me time, you can come here..i will let you hide in here…for sure, hoodie guy…I hope you don’t mind me calling you that..but id like to kind of stick to it..if its ok with you…”

I grinned back – “ thank you for lending me a hideout , ill keep that in my mind…and you can call me hoodie guy, its amusing, no one has ever called me that…people often don’t…”

And she spoke – “ people often don’t want to look beyond the surface or look at you or treat you as a normal person….i get it..i totally get it..”

 I asked surprised – “ you do??

She nodded – “ yup, it the easy way out no, judging the book by its cover…no one has the time these days to look beyond, or make an effort to change their perceptions…people will believe what they want to believe…”

I nodded – “ yup, that’s true, iv kind off excepted that you know…”

She smiled – “ good , easier to just accept the things we cant change no, no point in banging your head to a wall that wont budge..…”

Ok, so there really was something about her eyes and her words.

I nodded and I asked, now curious – “ so you knew who I was then??”

She smiled – “ ofcourse, is there any Indian on this planet who wouldn’t know you, you are literally worshipped, infact my best friend Rahul and his friends are going to watch the game tomorrow…”

And I asked on reflex – “really? What about you? You aren’t coming?”

Her expression changed a little at that but she gave me small smile as she took a sip of water from her bottle – “ no, im not, I don’t watch cricket…Im not very interested in it, I just know everything because of the people around me…”

Ok, I have no idea why her answer disappointed me.

But I gave her a small smile – “ fair enough, so do you watch any sport, or just training in your marshal arts…?”

Our eyes locked, and she burst out laughing at that, and because her laugh was so infectious, I burst into giggles too and she spoke in between her laughter , minutes later – “ gosh…yes…I watch a little bit of soccer sometimes with my friends, but amongst all the studying and work, I don’t get much time…you tell me, living and breathing only cricket or anything else interests you too??”

I smiled as I spoke – “ well, I do enjoy a couple of other sports too , but yes mostly its been living and breathing cricket..”

She looked at me – “ obviously, ya you’v been playing from such a young age…im sure that would take a lot of grit and dedication…”

And because it felt that I could, I asked her on reflex – “ tell me something, iv never really been able to ask anyone about this outright, but it feels like you will answer me straight, so can I ask you a question on my mind?”

She nodded as she spoke – “ sure, shoot it out…”

And I asked, not feeling embarrassed about it – “ how does it actually feel to attend a real day to day college?? I mean iv always wondered, because I never had the time to attend a full time collge course, iv done most of my college education through correspondence courses, and only attended summer schools in various universities, but that doesn’t really count much as a real college university life would…tell me , have I really missed out on something epic, for real?”

……………………..

Khushi’s POV

Ok, so out of all the questions, I had expected from him, I hadn’t expected hi to ask something like this, and there was no much interest and honesty on his face, that he was really genuinely interested in my answer and my heart went out too him, for missing out on all the regular things that normal people like us did, because he clearly longed for the experience, and I spoke – “well you want me to be honest right?”

He nodded – “ yes, ofcourse…”

I looked at him – “ it interesting you know, college life, but don’t worry you haven’t missed out on anything epic at all, the summer school experience would be a good trailer, the rest of the years are just like an extended movie version off the same..”

He grinned – “ are you saying this just to make me feel good, or for real?”

I grinned – “ well…”, and I paused as I faked a deep thought and then looked at him and I spoke honestly – “well lets just say, its 50-50…”

He grinned at me.

God, he was amazingly handsome when he grinned like that.

I looked at him as I asked – “ are you sure, you aren’t hungry anymore??i could make you another maggi if you want…”

He chuckled – “ id actually kind off like that, you know I cannot really indulge in junk food, but I want to tonight, provided you promise to eat the other half portion , with me…”

I smiled – “sure, I could do that…wait here then, ill just get us that yummy bowl-full of junk”

He nodded, and I walked straight up to my little kitchette.

I don’t know why people called him arrogant.

He was anything but that.

He was just a normal friendly person, like most of us.

But then again, maybe its all about the fact that people will see what they want to see.

I walked down ten minutes later and he looked at me and he asked – “ ok , you took longer this time around..”

I smiled , and that was because, I had deceided to show him something.I looked at him as I shoved a little round steel tiffin box in his hand and I spoke – “ you don’t mind holding this right?”

He asked – “ whats this?”

I looked at him – “ maggi ofcourse…come I want to show you something..just follow me through the back..”

He nodded,and stood up, and I walked out.

He should know, that even though hes missed out on so many regular things, his life is no less inspirational.

…………………

Arnav’s POV

I walked up this crazy spiral staircase upwards, just following Khushi up through the backside of this huge building, and once we had finally made it to the top, she looked back as she asked – ‘you ok??”

Seriously this girl amused me, I was a professional athlete. Ofcourse I was ok, I wasn’t going to be affected by some mere staircase climb.

I nodded, and just gave her a small smile and followed her on this terrace, and saw her starting to climb another ladder ,and I just followed holding onto the bowl of noodles in my hand, and climbed on top of this little ledge right up, and she sat on it, and dangled her legs down, and gestured me to join her, and I did, and she took the bowl from my hand as she spoke – “ look, theres something you should see…”, and she pointed to the other side where I spotted a huge billboard of our team up in the skyline and she spoke – “ look that’s you guys…”, and then she said – “ now look there, down below on the terrace…”, and she switched on the torch light of her phone and gestured me to look at place she was pointing out with the spotlight off the phone as she spoke – “ its dark, but you will get to see it…”,and I looked closer and I saw a huge wall art of that picture of us on the billboard, and it was amazingly done, it was so damm kool, and then she spoke – “now look on that other wall…”,and she put the light there, and I lfound myself looking at another wall art of a similar image of the billboard, but this time around it wasn’t us in the picture, it was little kids, dressed as us, in the image…”,and I spoke – “ wow…”

She grinned at me as she opened the bowl of maggi and handed me a little plastic fork from within , and she took a bite and offered me the bowl and I dug in too and she spoke softly as she finished her bite – “ you know what, you wont believe this wall art is done by three young 8 year old boys and 2 young seven year olds from this neighbourhood..who are big fans..”

I asked surprised – “ whattttt???? No way???? This is excellent…”

She smiled – “ exactly, and that’s why you should all know, that its not just a game you play, its beyond that…it’s a ray of hope, its an inspiration, it ties people to each other, people, adults, children, specially Indians bond a lot over this game, and kids like those, because of people like you, they believe that they can dream too, and its this passion that brings our so much of the hidden talent that lies within them…so Hoodie guy, you should be very proud of yourself and your team, your life is an inspiration to many young dreamers out there…”, and with that she took another bite off her noodles and I was kind off left speechless for a couple of minutes, and so I just took another bite off the noodles and I looked at her and I spoke softly – “ thank you..for showing me this..its amazing..”

She smiled – “ no worries, i just wanted you to know, that its just how it is right, you gain something, you loose something in return, in economics we call it opportunity cost…but its so rightly applicable in life too…”

I nodded.

And our eyes locked.

And I swear it felt like, as if I could just stay here and look into her mesmerising eyes all night.

But to my disappointment she looked away and she asked, her eyes twinkling – “by the way , what do you think off the view up here, hoodie guy?”

I looked around it was amazing, the whole city view all lit up and right then I looked at her and the wind played with the strands of hair around her face,and the moonlight fell on one side of her face and I swear to god, I was awestruck.

I grinned – “ its gorgeous…so beautiful…”

She smiled – “ I know right, that’s my city…my beautiful city…”

I asked – “ so have you lived here all your life??”

She nodded – “ yes, ever since I was born…”,and right then her phone buzzed and she picked it up as she spoke into the phone – “ thank you aunty, im so glad you loved the gift,it was nothing really….yes…”,and she spoke for a couple of more minutes and she hung up and she looked at me – “oh my god, its getting late, almost 1130, I think we should get going now…”,and she took the bowl from my hand – “ ill take that from you…”

I handed it to her, and watched her go down the ladder, and I just followed her down, mesmerised with the way the wind played with her hair.

Once we reached down, she took me down to the back enterance and to my surprise I saw a taxi there waiting for me and she spoke softly – “ I called a cab for you while we were heading down…its getting late and you have a game tomorrow..”

I smiled.I was touched by her honesty and her thoughtfulness.

I put on the hoodie back up of my sweatshirt and I took out my hand for a shake – “ thank you khushi, It was really nice meeting you…”

She grinned as she spoke – “ Likewise hoodie guy, all the best for the game tomorrow…”

I looked at her and gave her a small wink – “ you know theres a very nice application by the name of Cricbuzz, incase you wana keep a tap on the score and not watch the live match too…”

She smiled and she shook her head – “ thank you for the information hoodie guy…”

I grinned as I got into the cab – “ so are you going to download it or not??cmon, itll make me happy to know that my new friend is keeping a tap on the game..”

She smiled, as she closed the cab door behind me – “ ill think about it”

And she smiled at me as the cab driver drove away,and I looked back to see her walk back in through the buildings back enterance,and I turned around in my seat.

I felt good, really good.

I had never connected with anyone so easily, or felt so good in someones company so soon.

I had just experienced the most realistic conversation with a stranger for almost the first time in my Life.

And it felt like she wasn’t a stranger,anymore.

Not at all.

And on that note It struck me, that I totally forgot to ask her for her contact details, how was I going to get in touch with her?

Maybe, because I had no other way out,id just have to come look for here after the game tomorrow.

………………………………..

Tada!! Let me know what you guys think.

Pls ignore the editing errors haven’t proofread.

Wish you all a very happy new Year.

I will see you all with the next update, in 2020 now.

Much Love Guys.

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