Chapter One
She was out to the coffee shop by the corner of the street again, a shabby restaurant she frequented to whenever work allowed her to.
The corner seat which was quite out of the peripheral vision to anyone who just entered the restaurant provided her some much desired privacy and in moments like these, with no one to occupy her thoughts, had she enjoyed her coffee with simply herself, a privilege she was not bestowed with any other day, given her job.
"May I take this seat?"
She looked up from the book she was reading to stare at a tall man, with a familiar face looking at her with expectant eyes.
Her first reaction was to check if the restaurant was that full, and to her surprise it was. Finding no solid reason to reject his plea, she shrugged before shifting her attention to the book in hand. While she was at it, she tried to recall why his face seemed familiar and after few seconds she recognized him.
He was not a friend, not a relative, not even an acquaintance. He was just someone she was familiar with only by face. He lived in the same apartment as of hers, she recalled and they bumped at the vegetable vendor stall, and at parking and elevator quite a few times. She stayed in fifth floor and since he always stayed in the elevator even after she got down, she assumed him to be living in some other floor up there. That was all she knew about him, and though she knew normal people would strike a conversation in this scenario, she chose to keep to herself.
He looked at the menu in his hands but his eyes drifted to the woman before him for a fraction of second. They stay in the same apartments and he had seen her for the first time some eight months ago struggling with opening her door with her keys, when he volunteered to help her out. He wondered if she remembered him from that day. His logical part of brain said she might not, another intuitive part of his brain said she did but chose to ignore.
She was a woman who would make heads turn, when walked into a room filled of crowd. There's something about her, which puts her apart from the rest of the crowd. Her fair complexion, her smooth texture of skin, her silky brown hair, her body which was curvy at the right places, her built which reminded of a perfectly crafted sculpture, she was a dream anyone would only dare to conjure. Her full lips, and the beauty spot beneath her bottom lip might have stopped many hearts, but what caught his attention at the first sight were her eyes. They were a tricky shade of blue, almost giving the illusion of violet. It was difficult not to notice her and he did hence, and though she seemed unaware of the attention she was getting from him and various other persons in the restaurant, he somehow had the inkling that she was aware of the attention but chose to turn a blind eye to it.
After all she have been living with the beauty all her life, so it was obvious that the attention was something she came to live with.
His eyes shifted to the book she was holding and an old memory came alive bringing a smile on his face.
"You remind me of someone" he said out of blue and bit his tongue when she raised her eyes to stare at him over her spectacles.
Her eyebrow cocked and he understood the line of her thought "No, though this is the most commonly used but cheesy pickup line, but I am not saying it for the sake of saying it. You really remind me of someone"
"I am glad I do" she said standing up instantly, and he felt as if a bucket of cold water was thrown his way.
"Hey," he said getting up. "Listen!"
She pushed her book in her bag, even as she looked up and considered him for a moment before turning on her heel to the door with him closely following her.
"Listen ma'am"
Just when she passed the revolving door, two things happened simultaneously. A loud horn was heard closer to her, and before she could even figure out what it is, she felt his grip on her elbow, and felt herself being pulled away.
Her reaction was almost instant. She cringed away from the touch and pushed his grip from over her arm until she lost her balance and fell on the footpath, with her elbows hitting the edge.
A shadow loomed above her and she felt the same man kneeling down beside her and reaching his hand out to check the scrape on her elbow. She crawled back and he pulled back his hand mindful of his moves and didn't help her, knowing that she wouldn't entertain it anyway.
"Are you okay?" he asked when she stood up on her feet. The scrapes on her elbows and her knees were saying otherwise but he still asked.
He heard a grunt and saw her give a curt nod.
"I am sorry"
"Thank you"
It was hard to tell if it was sarcasm or general reaction for him pulling her away from the car that just missed from hitting her.
He gave her a smile out of courtesy and turned on his heel, to walk away, wanting to give her some space she so desired and deserved, but her book that fell at his feet stopped his movements.
He picked the book up and was in the process of dusting it off, when he had seen something scribbled over it on the first page.
There was a name; her name written over it, but that was not what had caught his attention. It was a single line written at the bottom of the page, right below a date.
"Of coffees and brewing ideas" it was written in a cursive writing and he couldn't help but to fight a smile that bloomed across his lips. It didn't take him much time to figure out that the date specified the day on which she bought the book and the line specified her mood then.
For anyone else, it might come across as strange or an alien concept but he had witnessed firsthand craziness and love for books from someone and so the line just triggered memories, which always haunted him.
He found her snatching the book from his hands before muttering a curt goodbye.
When she was a good ten steps away, he called out to her. Familiarity often came not from company but from knowing a person. Unbeknown to them, he got to know her more than she allowed him to, because of the parallelism he drew from her with another person so close to his heart. Maybe that's why he didn't hesitate before speaking his heart out.
"For your information I am not hitting on you." She heard him but kept going. However, his next words halted her. "Not when both of us have other people in our lives"
He waited for her to turn, to see her face. As soon as the words left his mouth had he understood the damage he had done and the image he created for himself. Stalker, psychotic was what anyone would think about him, and he would not be surprised if she would file a police complaint against him.
When she turned, there was no emotion in her face surprising him. "Thanks for the observation. I profusely apologize to take your leave and miss out your wonderful predictions on virtual strangers like me since I have some work to do. Thank you for" she paused and involuntarily looked at the scrape on her right elbow "Everything" she completed before breezing off the busy street.
And Prithvi continued to look at her disappearing figure with interest.
"Geet Handa" he mumbled the name that he read on the book and smiled.
* * *
Unfortunately I can't send out PMs. Let us figure a way out together about which would be feasible? Twitter updates of any story I write? Or face book?
Also this story is sort of set in a different background so don't mind if my protagonists are not regular Maan Geet-ish. Geet is definitely not Geet-ish and due to her background, I picture her differently. If you can't connect with these characters with Maan Geet, you are welcome to follow this story in my blog.
Bigg Boss 19
Hindi TV Shows
Financial markets and global economy
Book Talk
111