The Blind Date:
Sanam sat in the Italian restaurant she was meant to meet her date at, feeling like a fool. She was wearing a red suit, and that's how her date would recognise her, except... there were at least three other women wearing red sitting at tables alone.
And, her date was twenty minutes late. Not the best first impression.
"And that's if he even turns up" Sanam thought as she toyed with the idea of getting up and walking out.
The waiter approached her. "Would you like to order a drink while you wait?" he politely asked her. Sanam was about to reply in the negative and state that she was leaving, but then...
"I'm here, I'm here. Just give me a minute and we'll order" Aahil panted from behind the waiter. "As you wish" the waiter said and walked off. Sanam looked up and her eyes widened. "You?!" she almost shouted.
Aahil was much too out of breath to answer her, so he just sat down in the chair across from her. Sanam got up angrily. "I'm leaving. I didn't agree to meet the rudest man I've ever come across in my life, and you're late!"
Aahil held her dupatta as she tried to walk past. "I'm late because I had a flat and I had to change it myself, except then I realised my spare tyre was not in the greatest shape either, so I tried to hurry to get here, ok?"
Sanam turned back to look at him. He seemed sincere, and his eyes were pleading with her. Very different from the last time they'd "bumped into each other" at her caf.
Aahil looked at her. "Please. Sit down. Give me another minute and then... well, now that we're here anyway, we might as well eat, right?"
Sanam took a deep breath. "Ok" she said as she took her seat. He held his hands up and Sanam was greeted with the sight of grease all over them.
"Let me go wash up. I'll be right back" he said as he got up. He stopped and looked down at her before he walked off. "You're not going to leave, are you?" he asked softly.
"I'll be here" Sanam said disinterestedly as she paged through the menu. She was trying to will that day out of her mind; the day the caf was short-staffed and she had to waitress, as well as cook.
Her mind had been in such a tizz, and then she'd been asked to take a latte steamer to a customer.
Unluckily for Sanam, her mind sort of went blank as she approached the customer's table. She thought her heart may have stopped.
It's not as if he was the most gorgeous man she'd ever seen, but there was definitely something about him that had struck a chord within her at first sight. She slowed down as she walked to the table, trying to drink the sight of him in as he messed around with his phone.
But when he looked to her and smiled, Sanam being Sanam, ended up tripping over her own two feet just as she got to the table, sending the latte flying off her tray, and all over the man's table and all over him.
He'd been pretty mad, but it was Sanam that had flown off the handle, if she was honest. She'd been so embarrassed at making such a fool out of herself in front of the only man she found highly attractive in ages.
What followed was a screaming match between the two which intensified to the point where they were standing nose to nose hurling insults at each other before Aahil stormed off.
Not that it stopped him from coming in for his latte steamers every once in a while still. "Just to annoy me..." Sanam would think when he would wink at her. He'd even tried to get her to wait his table once or twice, but she'd just told whoever asked her to do it, to tell him she was the chef and not a waitress.
Well, she was here and he was right. They might as well eat. Besides, it looked as though he had a rough night, and she couldn't help but feel a little sorry for him and a lot flattered that he still turned up for the date.
"Well, it's not like he knew he was meeting me, so get over the flattery, Missy" she thought to herself as she fidgeted with her napkin, waiting for him to get back from the restroom.
**********
Aahil washed his hands and then looked into the mirror. "Right man, you have got to show her that first impressions do not have to last..." he told himself.
He smiled as he remembered overhearing Sanam's twin, Seher tell his best friend, Rehan in the busy coffee shop that he and Sanam would be perfect together.
He'd been thinking that exact thing since their fight. He had loved the way her eyes had spat fire at him when she started screaming, even though he'd noticed her blushing seconds before she'd approached the table.
No one had spoken to him like that before, and he'd found himself highly impressed. She obviously didn't care who he was or what he did or how much money he earned.
It was something rare that he found himself admiring her for. Unlike the other girls he knew that threw themselves at him for every other reason - except for "him".
She had a temper alright... and she'd completely pushed his buttons that day, but had he not been so beguiled by her, he'd never have gone back to that caf.
Yet, he still went there once in a while to see her. He loved that she looked annoyed every time he winked at her. Those eyes of hers held him captive ever since the first day he'd looked into them.
He had tried once or twice to talk to her and maybe apologise, but whenever he specifically requested her to wait his table, he was told she was actually the chef, and was busy in the kitchen.
He did apologise once... but turned out he had got the wrong sister. And that was the only time he'd ever made the mistake. Now he could tell the difference between them quite easily.
He shuddered to think of how he'd have reacted had Seher suggested Rehan set Sanam up with someone else.
"No way..." he said to himself before walking out of the bathroom.
**********
"Do you want to dive straight into dinner or get something to drink and talk for a bit first?" Aahil asked as he sat down.
"Excuse me, this isn't a date. We're here and we might as well eat, right?" Sanam countered. "Fine..." Aahil rolled his eyes and shook his head at her stubbornness.
He reached his hand out. "I'm Aahil, and you're Sanam, right?"
Sanam didn't really want to, but the twinkle in his eye made her reflexively reach out her own hand. Aahil took it in his. "How do you know my name?" she found herself asking.
He put out a hand to stop her questioning, and waved a waiter over.
"Please can I get some water?" he asked. He was still slightly out of breath from running all the way here after leaving his car abandoned. Sanam looked up at him. "Are you ok?" she asked.
"Please... control yourself, or I might start thinking you're concerned about me" he teased. Sanam glared. Aahil leaned back a little in his seat and smiled.
"Ok ok, I will tell you. I realised I was running late when I saw that my spare was also punctured, and there was no way I'd have made it here if I waited for roadside assistance, so I just gave up and walked here, so I'm a bit... tired"
"You walked? Where from?" Sanam asked yet another question showing concern, but she couldn't help it. It's not as if they could sit at the same table together, eating and not talking at all.
He had looked mighty dishevelled when he'd first got there, but was slightly more presentable once he'd been to the restroom.
"Uhh... not far... It's not important. Anyway, I guess this is long overdue, but it isn't like I haven't tried before... I'm sorry about that day, about the things I said..." he said.
"Really, you and I both know that I was really at fault that day... I mean, after spilling your coffee, I said such mean things. And well, I didn't mean any of it" she said, looking down and feeling immensely stupid for her irrational temper that day.
"Truce?" Aahil said holding his hand out again. Sanam shook it and replied, "Truce"
"Thank God! I thought I might have to stop coming to my favourite caf for the best lattes" he said dramatically, clutching his chest over his heart, and Sanam laughed at him.
After recovering from their apology and truce, they moved into a sort of awkward silence, glancing at one another, once in a while.
"So uhh, why are you on a blind date? I mean, you don't seem-"
He was cut off by Sanam. "I don't seem, what? Desperate?" she asked. "Woah, I wasn't going t say that!" he said, holding his hands up in surrender, and taken aback at her accusation.
"I meant to say... Oh nevermind" he muttered, giving up and suddenly wondered how hard he was really willing to try for this girl who wasn't budging an inch.
"Why are you here?" Sanam asked. "Because Rehan asked me and I would never say no to him" he answered earnestly.
Sanam eyed him as he paged through the menu. He really was handsome, in a different sort of way, and looking all cute and pouty now. She bit her lip to stifle the smile twitching at her lips.
"I agreed because my sister asked me" she said softly.
Aahil was never one to stay down for long. He looked up at the sound of her voice and smiled. "Oh yeah? Seher's your twin, right?" he started talking as if they'd hadn't just got off the wrong footing - again.
"She is, indeed" Sanam smiled and Aahil could clearly see the love and admiration in her eyes, for her sister. But then her face fell a little. "What's wrong?" Aahil asked.
He was looking at her so intently, she couldn't stop the blush from creeping up. "Nothing, I mean... Seher's been acting a little weird lately. I'm sure it's nothing"
"Hmmm... as someone who has been hanging around with Rehan for a while, and with Seher a little... I can tell you that I think I know what the problem is" Aahil said out of the blue, once the waiter had left with their orders.
Sanam leaned forward in her seat. "You can?" she asked, genuinely interested to know if this man could tell her something about her twin that she didn't already know.
"Simple. She's in love" Aahil said smugly, crossing his arms over his chest.
"No way! Seher and love. You don't know her at all. Seher doesn't believe in love" Sanam said, completely amused.
Aahil leaned forward some more, as if he was telling her the world's biggest secret.
"No one really does... until it hits them"
Sanam blinked at the intensity she saw in his eyes.
She giggled the awkwardness away. "That's crazy! You had me going for a second there..." she said, shaking her head in amusement.
"I'm being serious. I've seen Seher and Rehan together. Believe me, she's in love" Aahil stated, looking very confident about what he was saying.
"With Rehan?" Sanam asked, sobering up. Aahil nodded. "And Rehan?" she asked. "He's got it bad too... but looks like they're both a bit unsure of how the other is feeling"
Sanam frowned. "You sound like you know it all" she muttered. "It's basic human behaviour, really. Not rocket science" he shrugged.
"Have you ever been in love?" Sanam clapped a hand over her mouth as she blurted out the words. "I'm sorry, that was so inappropriate" she gasped, her blush becoming even more apparent.
Aahil laughed. "Hey, it's ok. Isn't everything said on a blind date either inappropriate, or over-personal?"
Sanam smiled at his attempt to lighten the mood and fade her embarrassment.
"I've never been in love. But I sure hope I get to experience it someday..." he answered after a short silence.
"No offense, but you don't seem the type" she said. "Hmm, and what does my type seem to be, to you?" he asked without malice. She shrugged.
"The I'm-too-cool-for-love type"
"Oh, but that's where you're wrong. I'm not like that at all, but more about that in a while. Have you ever been in love?"
Sanam looked down. "Nope. Just not part of my plan"
"Plan?" Aahil asked.
"I want to focus on the caf, and take care of my family. I don't need someone to help me with that. I can do it by myself. I was never that girl that dreamed of Prince Charming riding in on his white horse to save her" Sanam said simply.
"You can't plan love!" Aahil retorted sagely. "You seem to know a lot about it" Sanam laughed. Just then, their food arrived and they started eating in mutually comfortable silence.
"So Sanam, do you ever plan on getting married?" Aahil asked and Sanam nearly choked on her mouthful of pasta. Aahil jumped out of his chair to rub her back and hand her water. "You ok?" he asked. "I'm-I'm fine, but where did that come from?" she asked. "Just curious" he shrugged.
"I don't know, actually. It's just not-"
"...part of your plan?" Aahil finished for her. She nodded, drinking some more water. "Maybe you should marry me - I'm already finishing your sentences" Aahil smiled. Sanam stared at him.
"I'm just joking, relax" he said, noticing the look of horror on her face. Sanam felt a bit bad. He had looked... hurt, when he'd said that, so she tried glazing it over as she babbled on.
"Ok, so back to Rehan and Seher... what else do you know, Mr Know-It-All?" Sanam asked. Aahil smiled. "I know lots of things" he said naughtily as he wiggled his eyebrows, making Sanam laugh.
"I meant about Seher!" she said, smacking his hand on the table as she realised what he meant.
"What? Don't you want to know everything I know, too?" he flirted. Sanam mock-glared at him.
"Ok ok... later then" he winked, and didn't miss Sanam's quick smile. "I've seen them together. Believe me; they've both got it bad"
"So... How can we fix this?" Sanam asked, taking another bite. Aahil's eyes widened for a fraction of a second. "We?" he asked, his voice betraying his surprise. "Yeah, y'know. Get them together, see their happily ever after, that kind of thing" Sanam said.
"There's no need for us to intervene. I think love will find a way..." he said softly, looking at her. Sanam looked up at him, fork mid-way to her mouth.
"You sound like quite the romantic..." she said, her face showing her confusion. He was like a different person than the one she'd built up in her head since their fight.
"And you're the practical. I told you, we're like two halves of a whole. Just marry me already!" he laughed.
"Aahil!" she scolded, but even she could hear how feeble it was.
"Ok ok, let's do this..." she said, pushing her plate away and having much too much a good time with him for the date to end, even though they were now done with dinner.
"Hypothetically speaking, if I were to consider... I have questions" she said cautiously.
"We're playing a game?" he asked, and she nodded, smiling.
"Shoot" Aahil swigged his Coke quickly and relaxed into his chair, although he felt anything but relaxed.
"Uhm... how did you know it was me here?" she asked, looking around and gesturing to the other women in the restaurant wearing red.
Aahil waved his hand dismissively. "Next question"
Sanam gasped. "That's not fair! You've got to answer!"
"I get one pass, ok? I choose this question to pass" he answered.
"Fine fine, but you're going to answer later - I'll make you" she said cheekily with a twinkle in her eye that Aahil just couldn't resist. "I'd love to see you make me" he mischievously. Sanam shook her head at his flirty innuendo.
"Uhm, ok... you said you're not the "I'm-too-cool-for-love type... what type are you then?"
"The "I-believe-in-love type?" he smiled. Sanam was about to say something but he cut her off. "Enough. It's my turn now" he said. Sanam squirmed in her seat a little at the way Aahil looked at her; as if he was thinking up the most personal question he could to ask of her.
"What's your favourite colour?" he asked. Sanam giggled. She was not expecting that. "Green. That was easy enough...You?"
"Tonight? It's red..." he smiled, and Sanam's face heated up once again at what he was implying.
"Uhm, did you really think I was the rudest man you've ever met...?" he asked softly. Sanam's eyes softened at him and she shook her head. "I probably didn't, but no one was ever that rude to me before"
"No one was ever that rude to me before, either" he smiled. "Sorry" she said remorsefully. "Heyyy, we called a truce, remember?" he said, placing his hand over hers on the table. Sanam shuddered slightly at the sweet gesture.
"You did. Thanks, its sweet of you to just forget it all"
"Sweet? That's the closest I'm going to get to a compliment, right?" he asked, pretending to be hurt. "Totally!" she laughed.
He closed his eyes for a few seconds as he leaned back in his chair again after he'd paid the bill, and Sanam felt a pang of guilt. He really did look tired, and here he was, entertaining her.
"Shall we go? I'll drop you at home, or back at your car or wherever" she said. Aahil sat up. "No, I'm fine. Don't you want something else? Coffee? Dessert maybe?" he asked.
He was beat, yes, but he also didn't know if he'd get the chance to spend time with Sanam like this ever again.
Sanam tilted her head and looked at him. "I can see how tired you are. Really, it's ok" she smiled. Aahil's face fell a little, and Sanam noticed.
"So, how do you think the date went?" Aahil asked sincerely. "Not as bad as I thought it would be when I first saw you" Sanam retorted deadpan, but Aahil could tell she was joking and pouted so cutely, making Sanam giggle.
"I'm having a really good time... with you" Sanam said and Aahil smiled at her words. "Such a good time that you'd consider a second not-so-blind-date?" he asked, reaching across the table to put his hand over hers. Sanam looked at him and then got up. "Maybe..." she smiled as she got up from her seat.
"Not bad..." he thought to himself as he got up. It seemed like she didn't want the date to end just yet, either. "Where am I taking you, then?" she asked. "Uhm... is the highway off the next left ok for you?"
"Sure. Why there, though?" she asked absentmindedly as she pulled out of the restaurant parking lot. "I kinda... that's where I left my car" he said sheepishly, looking down.
Sanam stopped the car. "You walked all the way from there?" she gasped. "Actually, I ran, but that's just semantics" he said.
Sanam took off again shaking her head. "Aahil..."
"You knew it was me, didn't you?" she asked softly as she looked straight ahead, concentrating on the road. "Would you be upset if I said I did?" he asked.
Sanam didn't answer and Aahil didn't prod further. He was too scared to ask how she'd figured it out, or what she was thinking. Sanam was lost in her own thoughts. It seemed to her that Aahil went to an awful lot of trouble to get her to go out with him.
And she now truly felt flattered, because she couldn't deny now that apart from his striking looks, he was also sweet, gentle, funny, and fun to be around.
"They'll be here soon. I'll just wait for them" Aahil said, breaking into her thoughts as they reached his car after he called roadside assistance. Sanam switched off. "That's ok, I'll wait with you"
"You will?" he asked in surprise as he leaned against his car. Sanam went to stand next to him. "Obviously. You haven't even asked for my number!" she harrumphed. Aahil looked at her; his eyes wide with surprise.
He put his arm around her and pulled her close to his side, their faces inches away from each other as Sanam turned her head to face him; her eyes sparkling.
"I thought this wasn't part of your plan, and this was just a blind date?" he whispered. "I think I have just learned that not everything can be planned" she whispered back, leaning closer to him.
"Uhm, Aahil?" Sanam called to him as she snuggled a little closer to him in the cold night air.
"Hmmm?"
He looked down to her and his grip on her tightened.
"I want to know everything you know" she smiled. He wiggled his eyebrows again naughtily and Sanam giggled. "Yeah... all of that" she whispered as he stroked her cheek.
It was an invitation he couldn't turn down. He dipped his head lower and brushed his lips against hers softly, sweetly...and then pulled back to look at her.
"Sanam... it was never just a blind date..."
"I know that now" she replied,
"It's a new beginning..." she whispered, before standing on her tip toes to kiss him again.
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