I called Rehan in the evening. He received the call after one ring itself, as if he were waiting.
"Hello," said the voice on the other side.
“Hi, umm, it’s Suman”, I said. My voice stammered.
“Hi, where are you?” He asked.
“I am still at Golden Beach. I have just changed my clothes.”
"Changed? Why?" He enquired
“We had water rides.”
“Oh, Ok. So, by what time will you come back?”
“We will just move out now, take cabs and come back. I think I should reach back by 7pm.”
“So, do one thing. Get down at the red light of the professor's colony. I will wait for you there.”
"Ok." I disconnected the phone.
I told Reema. She was surprised.
“Madam, what is going on? You never told me anything.”
“Nothing is on. All his friends are going, and he asked me too. You can also come, if you want.”
She joined her hands. “I have no interest in going with him. You remember how he behaved with us.”
“I know. But I don’t think that was intentional. I mean, they have such rules here, and they all follow that. We felt bad because we don’t have habit of any such rules. But if you think of it, they are not that bad.”
“Ohh ho… Now you feel everything is fine. Very nice.” She said, taunting me. "Good going, Madam."
I laughed. “No yaar. Seriously, I feel he was not that wrong.”
“Leave it, dear. You go for your dinner and enjoy.” She smiled.
Then we planned how we would act in front of everyone as all others would go inside and I would get down at the red light for some excuse. So, no one will come to know.
We came out and tried to find cabs. But as it was the rush hour, we could not find them till 6:30pm. So I again called Rehan.
"Hello," he replied.
“Hi”
“Where have you reached?”
“Actually, that’s why I called. We could not find cabs and so might get late. It's better you people leave and don’t wait for me. We will go on some other day.”
“No problem, I will wait for you.” I was impressed.
"Okay," I smiled.
We finally got our cab at 6:40pm. I felt that the journey had become too long. I wanted to reach there quickly. I was looking forward to it. I was also confused about what he is going to tell others.
It felt so bad making him wait for so long. I should not have called in the first place. Also, there was huge traffic on the roads. So, I messaged him around 7:10pm.
“Please leave. I am feeling bad for making you people wait because of me.”
Instantly came the reply. “My friend had come to drop me. He has already left. I am standing alone here, don’t worry.”
WHAT!! He is alone. Nobody else is coming. That was just a way to invite me.
I messaged him again. “You said all your friends are coming?”
“Yes, but now they said you people go; we don’t want to go out.”
Very smart move.
I laughed while reading the message. I could also not tell Reema about it. Was this a date? OMG. The thought sent butterflies fluttering in my stomach. I hope it won't be awkward, as I have never been out with someone alone. And then, ohh, his rules. What if I don't behave as he likes? It will be all visible one-to-one. All these thoughts were running in my mind. I was nervously excited. And after making him wait for so long, I can't even say no.
We reached that red light at 7:45pm. Life had plans for me – the special moments.
I asked the driver to please stop.
“What happened? Where are you going?” Sudhir asked. He was one of my batchmates.
One teacher or a trainer was also with us. He also looked at me with a doubtful look.
Suddenly, he got down and went to meet someone behind me.
Oh shit! Rehan was just standing behind me at a fruit shop. He was looking handsome in his cream trousers and navy blue shirt. Sudhir looked at him and then me. As if he had understood the reason for me getting down. I felt embarrassed. The cab stopped just in front of him by luck. I bid goodbye to others and went to the other side. I called him. When they left, he came to me.
We took an auto to Anjappar Chettinad restaurant at a distance of around 1 km. The restaurant was on the first floor. The ambience was very simple and classy. The walls were painted in lemon yellow with grey flooring. The roof was white with small, dim lights. They had glass tables and wooden chairs and sofas.
There were lots of people sitting there. We took an empty table at the corner. The waiter brought the menu. Rehan passed it over to me. But as I could not understand the names of dishes as they were given Tamil names, I passed it back to him. He asked what kind of things I liked and then ordered Nattukozhi masala with butter naan and a half plate of chicken biryani. We talked over dinner about our families, our work, our hobbies, and our likes and dislikes. And then we left the place at around 9:30pm.
We started walking back. As we were crossing the road, he held my hand. I looked at him. He was looking at the traffic and was normal. As we crossed, he left my hand, and I looked away. I wanted to walk with him, but then he said it will take us too long to reach back, so it’s better if we take an auto. As our mess was almost 6 kms from there, so I agreed.
After we entered the main gates, the auto was around 3kms away from our mess when he stopped him.
“Get down; let’s walk from here.”
I was confused.
He continued. “You wanted to walk back, right?"
I smiled sheepishly.
We started walking back. It was a deserted place, as it was already 10pm. Here, people get dinner at 7:30 and move to their rooms by 9 pm. We had conversations on lots of topics.
“You are smart. You should write books too," he said.
“I have already written some textbooks on my subject.”
“Seriously!!”
“Yes. You don’t believe. Let me show you.” I showed him the pics of the cover pages of my books on my mobile. Our hands touched once again. As he was looking at my mobile, our shoulders rubbed; we came close. My heartbeat increased. I took a deep breath.
“Wow.” He looked in admiration. “That’s great.”
I smiled.
As we were busy talking, I suddenly saw a herd of deer and a reindeer in the woods. I was a bit scared.
“What happened?” He enquired.
“See, a deer and a reindeer," I replied, panicking.
“So, what happened? They won’t do anything. Come with me. And yes, that’s not a reindeer; that’s a buck."
I felt embarrassed. He made me sit at a cemented seat made on the roadside.
“Why are we sitting here? Let's go. They could hit us.”
“Who said that? Have you seen them for the first time?”
“Actually, yes. I have seen it for the first time like this. On earlier occasions, I have seen them in zoos behind the bars.” I smiled.
“Oh, that’s the problem with life in cities. Don’t worry, I am with you.” He reaffirmed it by squeezing my hand and smiled at me. I smiled back.
“See there. You know why there is only one buck here?”
I shook my head from side to side. He smiled.
“He is a male. All others are females. They usually have one male with a group of females.”
I blushed.
“And why is that?”
He laughed. I looked at him. He was looking so cute when he laughed.
He looked at me. Our eyes met. He was still holding my left hand. I forgot the deer. Actually, I forgot everything around me for a moment.
The blood rushed through my veins. We came closer like a magnet.
“Let’s go back to the mess." I stood up suddenly.
“Ok”
We started walking back, but I could not speak much after that. My heartbeat had increased. My steps became faster. But I tried to behave as if everything was normal. My expressions were perfectly natural.
Just 500 metres away from the mess, he told me to walk alone so no one should see us together at this time, and he would follow me. We shook hands and said good night to each other. I bit my lips. He smiled. Then we left for our rooms.
That DDLJ moment: good night, Anjali; good night, Rahul. Hahahah
