"We do not meet people by accident, they are meant to cross our paths for a reason."
~ Unknown ~
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Shaurya Pratap Rathore was a man perturbed and intrigued.
He was perturbed by the fact that he had to do what he was doing in secret. Despite being aware of the ridicule he would face if he was caught in the act, it still left him a trifle uneasy at the stealth he had to employ to accomplish what he wanted. He had wondered how he could carry out what he wanted without being caught and had recently discovered this treasure of a place which was best suited for his purposes. There was no way he could be discovered here and he believed that the best hiding places were in those that were in plain sight.
There were quite a few advantages the place offered. The coffee was delectable with the chocolate chip cookies being an added bonus. His office was within easy walking distance and an additional benefit was the large library that was just around the corner from where he could simply pick up more books in the genre that he was researching. When he had decided that this place was ideal, he had changed his usual parking place to the one in the alley adjoining the small coffee shop which gave him yet another reason to walk to the place on a daily basis. It had not taken him long to realise that the shop had only two regulars, himself and the petite woman.
He was intrigued by that petite woman.
He looked at her again, a habit that had formed over the past few days. She always sat by herself at the small coffee table in the corner of the shop; it was the most secluded spot in the whole cafe, affording privacy, a direct view of the store entrance and the glass wall along the street side enabled one to stare at the never-ending stream of people who walked down the roads. It should have been very popular with couples but for the fact that it was also the brightest corner of the whole shop and hence avoided by any couple who would prefer the sequestration that softer, subdued lighting would offer. But then the bright light seemed to be what attracted the young woman, who was seated with a few books and a slim notebook open before her. It appeared that she treated the coffee shop corner as her a substitute study room.
He could not help noticing her, for like him, she too sat alone with books. He also haunted the coffee shop with only a book for company. He wondered what her reasons for preferring this place would be; he needed seclusion and some time to spend alone, which would have been impossible either in his office where there would be too many prying eyes or in his home filled with loving but inquisitive family members. And if they discovered what he was reading, there would be no end to what he would have to hear. But then the book he was reading was not very captivating either and he found his attention wandering to her again.
She was a slim and petite woman, just an inch or two over five feet, with a lovely wheatish complexion and dark hair. He imagined her hair to be long and thick, considering the sizable bun on her neck where she had fiercely twisted her tresses into. He noted that she was always simply dressed, plain kurtas and fitted leggings or jeans, but she was a very fit and trim woman; he had seen her walk, it was brisk and purposeful, as though she did not brook any wastage of movement.
However, nothing much else could be made of her face as she had stuck the largest and ugliest pair of glasses available in the market. Those glasses were like a warning, 'Keep your distance, company not wanted.' It appeared to work with most of the people, but then Shaurya was no ordinary man, the glasses and her attitude were like a beacon to which he found himself irresistibly drawn.
Though he was not willing to intrude on her apparent demand for solitude, he felt quite restless, unable to repress the urge to strike a conversation with her. His conflict might have continued for some more time had the fates not decided to be kind to him, three weeks since he first saw her. It had been raining and he stepped into the coffee shop to note the shop was full and the only table that appeared to offer any chance of a sitting place was the one occupied by that woman. In an instant, he made his decision.
"I am sorry, but there is no place available, may I?" and Shaurya seated himself without waiting for an answer. He glanced at her, only to be startled; she had the largest eyes he had ever seen, and even behind the gigantic glasses she wore he could make out that they were icy at him. He lightly bit his tongue and turned on his most endearing smile, he knew how well it charmed women.
It did not work; if anything her expression had gone from cold to frigid. Gathering her books, most of which appeared to be about mathematics and statistics, she started to leave. But when she stood up to leave, she stared out of the window, undecided; it was pouring outside and she appeared as though she did not want to risk getting her books wet. With a resigned shrug, she sank back into her chair and reopening her books, buried herself in them.
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Aabha was not as unaffected by him as she made out to be. If he had observed that she was a regular, she had registered his constant presence too. She could not help noticing him, she thought, 'he had a certain magnetism, with the confident and self-assured air that he possessed. He was always dressed in smart casuals and he walked with a purposeful stride that was neither a boastful swagger nor the gait of an aimless man.'
She had been a tad surprised at her observations, as a matter of a rule, she did not pay attention to people of the opposite sex for she was convinced that they were nothing but trouble, a fact which the attractive stranger who sat opposite her seemed to be reinforcing. He had dark hair, which was thick and lustrous and reminded her of the midnight sky. And he had an attractive face, with strongly arched eyebrows, combined with a well-defined sharp jaw and angular cheekbones that rendered his face perfectly symmetrical. She found his presence to be troublesome and her reactions to him were disturbing. She sighed and risked a glance at the book he was attempting to read and almost choked as she made out the title.
What he asked if anything was the matter with her, she looked at him and gave an inaudible gasp, he had the most beautiful brown eyes she had ever seen, eyes that were the brown of the earth kissed by warm spring showers, the colour of bronze speckled with gold and in one slant of light, they were no longer brown, they were a warm copper against burnt sienna. They were pools of glowing amber that invited her to lose herself in their fiery depths. She squeezed her eyes shut, chastising herself for her train of thoughts and shook her head, both in answer to his question and as a reprimand to herself.
She had enough problems in her life and family, to go looking for trouble in the outside world.
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From that day onward they shared that table by an unspoken consent and read their respective books in complete silence, which would at times be broken only by the soft crunching of the cookies. It took them another three weeks to start a conversation.
Aabha had reached the coffee shop looking quite harried; she was late and had had a long tiring day when she saw that he was already at their table and was still trying to read the same book. She smiled as she reached the table; apparently, the book was not engrossing enough as he did not seem to have made much progress since the day he had first sat at her table.
"You are late," he said by way of greeting.
She arched an eyebrow and replied, "You were not here for almost a week."
He smiled and answered, "I was away on an unavoidable business trip and it is nice to know that I was missed."
When she did not reply, he closed his book, "We have been here for more than a month and I have never seen you with books other than those that deal with Mathematics. An unusual choice for a woman."
In normal circumstances and if the same had been uttered by anyone else, that sexist generalisation would have had Aabha bristle with rage. But then she had missed his silent company and was a little captivated by the handsome gentleman, 'Oh, so we find him handsome, right?' teased her mind, to which she silently retorted, 'that was a fact, nothing to gloat about.' Glaring at Shaurya, she decided to respond with an equally banal remark, "Well, as unusual as it is for a man to be reading 'The Notebook' ".
Shaurya gave an embarrassed grin and his 'caught with his hand in the cookie jar' look was so cute that Aabha felt a tingle in her toes which passed through her like a warm wave. Ignoring those tingles, she sat down and continued, "So why do you read that romantic tripe?"
"You sound distasteful of romantic books. Do you not believe in love, the forever kind of love, born as soul mates type of love, a love that stays as in happily ever afters?"
Aabha shrugged, "No, love is just a word, love stories are illusions, soul mates are a myth, happily ever afters do not exist and nothing lasts forever."
Shaurya was taken by the acridity of her reply, he had always thought that all women, as a rule, were overzealous romantics who swore by mushy stories, and listening to Aabha denounce the very emotion left him momentarily flustered and speechless.
So here ends the first chapter, do let me know how you found it. Do remember, all feedback, good or bad, is welcome.
Best,
Nyna