SS: Recently Divorced THE END Pg 25 - Page 8

Rishabh walked toward the feisty reporter who had a bright smile and the energy of ten freshly brewed coffees.

"Guess all turned out well since I get to have a morning date with a beautiful lady. Don't you think?" he put his blinged out teeth on display but she looked unimpressed.

"Is that how you greet every person who walks through the fire house doors?" Madhubala scoffed and passed a coffee tumbler toward him.

"No, you're a special case". He cocked his head and checked her out one last time for good measure.

"Eyes on my face", she muttered clearly meaning for him to hear. He said nothing but offered a mischievous wink instead.

"Anyway, that was all a misunderstanding, you know that right?" he pursed his lips and patiently waited for a response.

She fiddled around with the rim of the coffee tumbler and said, "either way, you owe me an apology".

"Come on, let's have a toast and forget about eh?"

"This won't do", she rubbed her nose. "Looks like I am going to have to chide the chief about how he trains his recruits. Won't even apologize when I am asking nicely".

"Fine! I'll apologize. But what's the use since you had to ask?"

"My thoughts precisely. You should have done it before I had to spell it out for you".

"Still up for drinks?"

"Your fire house is in crisis mode Mr. Rookie. Get back to work!" Her smile mirrored his so precisely, it was fascinating.

"My number", he slipped a folded tissue paper under her palm. "Call me when you're ready to down a shot or ten".

She watched him intently as his six foot tall frame stumbled from the window side bar stool to the smack middle of the bustling cafe. Although you would never guess his miserable state from his brightly light features, his buckling knees gave away his fatigue.

"Hey", she called from behind. "How about them drinks?"

He turned around in an instant. Who knew one day a naive looking girl would fall for this trick? His failed attempts throughout the years were all leading up to this moment. He was finally getting a girl all with his own efforts. A job well done indeed. He put on his best grateful looking face and approached her.

"Since you're still a rookie and your station's in protest mode, I'll buy. But next time", she said. "If there is a next time, you better earn enough money to treat me. Alright?"

"Why won't there be a next time? Of course there will be next time. The plan I am going with, we'll have our second date planned by the end of this hour". He held the door for her and thanked almighty heavens for a generous girl. Atleast it won't be the money that keeps him from going out.

"Over confident much? I never said this was a date".

"Well, now you know". He signed a V to the bartender and she clearly understood it was a victory for the regular patron. He'd finally scored.

"You know I am sitting right here, right?" Madhu rolled her eyes twice over at the childish exchange.

"All the better. Now I won't have to hide my intentions". He shamelessly licked the cream on top of his pint.

"Incorrigible!"

"Drink to that". He held up her wrist to his own and offered a toast.

"I'll put in a good word to the chief so work diligently, okay?" A few chugs of beer later, Madhu was already getting tipsy.

"I have enough mentors, I don't need another one. What I want from you, I made very clear to you girl".

"Girl? I am a woman. Probably older than you". She rubbed her tightened fists against her cheeks to lessen the drunken blush.

"So? I know what I am looking at. The question is are you down?"

Okay, he was quite persuasive with that confidence.

"Fine. Don't meet me for a month and see if your thoughts are the same. I don't quite care for casual sex", she was being forward for once. Blame it on the alcohol?

"I am sorry but that won't do. I want what I want and I want you right now. In the present. You either say yes or no. There is no 'later' or 'in the future'. I am not falling for your tricks".

She laughed a hearty laugh. The kid was really something. "Wow! How did you know? This my tried and true line".

"I am what they call a playa'". He winked but even he did not know where this conversation was headed.

"Oh this 'a whole 'nother kind of weird", she nodded against his shoulder.

"Tell me about it. You were here for work and now look at you. Drunk in broad day light!" Like they say when it rains, it pours. Life could not get better than this moment for the young and inexperienced Kundra.

"Cab fare. Ask the driver to take me home. And you get back to work, okay?" instead of handing him the loose change he though she would, she opened up her entire handbag- equipped with condoms and tampon packs- for his convenience.

"I guess I met my match", he whispered and sent her off in a taxi back home.

_________________________________________________________________

Four years of marriage and one finalized divorce later, she was sitting in the same spot fiddling with her coffee tumbler and waiting for him to show up. She stifled yet another sigh and looked at her watch for the tenth time in the last five minutes. Perhaps he was stuck in an emergency- putting out a fire or rescuing an endangered citizen. She'd let him off the hook all these years so why stop now.

It only took five very slow drinks of mediocre tasting Jamaican blend for Rishabh to come running through the neighborhood cafe doors.

"Hey wife, I am here. Sorry for the wait". She emptied the chair in front of her to offer him a spot but he took the seat beside her out of habit. She smiled at the peculiar gesture but said nothing. He rubbed his hands on his denims and sneaked a peak at the rough draft of her latest editorial.

"Wow! As expected wifey is very good at her job".

"Rishabh...", she chided him half heartedly but he did not seem to get the message.

"So, what should we eat?" He linked his arm round hers for a second but an unfamiliar awkwardness forced him to break apart. "Ahem, the strawberry mouse cake sounds good, no?"

She nodded peacefully if only to cherish this moment.

"You look happy. About the promotion, have they told you where you're going yet?"

"I didn't bother asking. Besides, I thought my girl's smart enough to find out for me".

Oh he was really killing her with his choice of words. She ignored the stinging taste in her throat and said, "so no word about the positions at all?"

"Nope. Why do you ask?"

"Just because. You know, there's something I..."

"Cake time", he winked at her and ran over to the counter to grab their order. As he stood in the lunch hour line waiting for dessert, time seemed to speed up around him...as if he had limited moments left with his Madhu...and he would do whatever he could to prolong the miserable goodbye. Even if it meant gorging down three slices of fattening whipped cream cake.

"What is this? I thought we decided on one shared slice", she pouted staring at a tray full of colorful sweetmeats.

"You and I can't share anymore", he made up an excuse and immediately hit himself for being thoughtless. "Sorry", he hung his head in shame.

"No, you are right. That's why...I decided to move away".

His eyes suddenly widened and he felt short of breath. She said a few things here and there but he could bare make out the words between a continuous beeping noise ringing in his ears.

It seemed like she said, "Mumbai proper", "visit sometime", "girlfriend", "luck", "love".

"If...suppose...if...I...I ask you to stay...will...you?" he looked at her with those round hopeful eyes that made her weak in the knees and she would have said yes even if he asked for two kidneys and a lung so staying was no problem. "Yes", she said without hesitation but pulled herself together again. "But...please don't..."

He turned his eyes away from her and scanned the ceiling. He could see a fly or two on the wall and paint coming off from a far corner in the left. Perhaps picking out the faults of the place would take his mind off the hurtful goodbye.

Oh no! Here opened the floodgates. She was silent as a needle but her eyes were a wet stream of tears.

"Live well hubby. Don't skip your meals. Make sure to sleep for atleast six hours. Go home once in a while, don't spend your days at the station. I hope you find a voluptuous looking paramedic or firefighter though she'll never be as pretty as me. Give your dad a call every Eid and Diwali. I taped his birthday on the fridge wall so you can't forget this time. Also, I will talk to your mother about the divorce next week so don't bring it up before then. She'll get worried sick otherwise".

"Okay", he said maintaining a straight face but even he did not realize when his eyes turned misty and everything around him turned hazy except her still shining face.

"Thank you for everything", she cupped his hand in hers. "I love you and I wish you all the best".

He pulled their interlocked fingers to his mouth and kissed her skin.

"I'll crash often so prepare a sofa bed girl", he tried his dry humor perhaps for the last time and she still laughed out loud like all the other times she pretended to enjoy his unfunny jokes.

"Okay, go. Live your life happily and get lots of love". He slowly pulled his hand away from hers and the distance between them grew longer. She turned around atleast ten times trying to steal one last look of his waving form.

And so they parted ways. She was gone for good. And for him, now more than ever, it felt real.

The stabbing pain in her chest told her he was no longer hers to call and she was no longer his to hold.