Aahil sat cursing the traffic at the signal. Drumming his fingers impatiently on the steering wheel, he looked at his watch for the nth time in the last few minutes. 8:00 PM. He was sure the clock had conspired against him and was moving time faster! He glanced at the huge bouquet of red roses sitting atop the back seat accompanied by a huge gift box also for the nth time. Gifts and the bouquet, both chosen by his secretary for his wife, he thought guiltily. He looked at Sanam's sweet and simple text for the nth time too"Drive safely honey. I'm waiting."
Inspite of Sanam's insistence he'd rushed to office immediately after workout. She must have laid out a special breakfast, which he'd skipped. The scores of meetings and presentations had made him loose track of time and he had left for a meeting near the outskirts. Even cut her phonecalls as he was busy in discussions. Later when he reached office, he was informed by the staff that Sanam had come over to have lunch with him. Huge lunch fare carrying his favorite dishes sat atop the coffee table in his cabin. A single red rose accompanied a note Happy Anniversary Aahil. Love you and don't skip your lunch'. At that moment he felt like kicking himself for forgetting their anniversary of all days!
To his chagrin, there were scores of meetings lined up till evening, one of which was very important and he could not skip it.
"Allah Miyan! Why today of all days" he cursed loudly maneuvering the car for a U-turn. The heavy rainstorm had caused most areas in city to plunge into darkness as uprooted trees snapped power lines and blocked roads. Waterlogging had caused a few routes to shut down and he finally reached home by 9 PM.
Lack of electric supply had made no difference to the life at IM. The palatial mansion was lit up and looked resplendent, thanks to back-up power supply!
He walked in to the eerily quiet mansion, that was scrubbed clean ... every nook and corner! Not a speck around. He understood she had been a little disturbed and rightly so ... her disturbance always manifested itself in her launching into a cleanliness overdrive. She would cook when she was happy and clean when disturbed. Aahil sighed. Sometimes he wished she would complain and nag him.
... to be continued😳