WHEN I FELL IN LOVE WITH HIM

---ALL OVER AGAIN

I dozed off next to my laptop on the sofa and was woken up, the next day with a Jolt. It was 8:30 a.m., and I had promised Piyush to meet him at 9 a.m. in the cafe. Late as always, I sprang up from my bed and quickly took a shower. I put on my favourite, bright-yellow salwar suit with my long hair spread loosely over my back, done a little makeup, I lined my almond-shaped eye with a dark streak of kajal, I also wore a sparkly golden bindi in my forehead and a nude lipstick , a pair of white sandle and was ready to go. I didn't have a lot of time to check or improve my appearance as I already had three missed calls and a couple of messages from my man. Yes, we had exchanged numbers only last night, and one more reason why I was up till 3 a.m. was that I was constantly checking his display picture and status on WhatsApp----I was as love-stuck as one could be! I browsed the messages quickly. One said that he was furious as I was not picking up his calls, and the second was to tell me that he was waiting for me in the coffee shop. It was delivered two minutes ago and I was relieved. I wasn't that late after all.

Missing a few stairs and escaping a couple of falls, I managed to reach the coffee shop unhurt. The place was deserted at 9 a.m., which was quite a contrast from what I was used to seeing. It was usually full of people all hours of the day. It was a Saturday morning, and most people either begin their day late or super early on weekends in Melbourne. Piyush sat at the corner table. It had an unhindered view of the street outside, which was also quite as compared to the other days. He felt my presence in the coffee shop as I walked towards him, and turned his face towards me. I froze midway and could not take my eyes off him. He was dressed in a white kurta pajama. Piyush gave me a warm smile. I observed that he rolled up his Kurtas sleeves, his biceps were filled with museles, he looks like a fitness freak in his clothes. It was not the first time I had seen him dressed in traditional Indian wear, but the way he sat there was pretty as a picture; he looked like an artist's muse---captivating and alluring.

There is a certain charm in the way he looks at me or at anyone for that matter, and I would never be able to explain it to anyone. No words can do justice to the feelings which rose in my heart when he looked directly at me, inviting me into his beautiful world.

I saw a small frown appear on his forehead, maybe because I had been staring at him for too long or probably because my mouth was open in suprise. 'Is something that matter?' he asked me as politely as he could, embarrassing me.

'No . . . no.' I bowed my head to hide my embarrassment, and waited for him to get up. I had called for an Uber which was waiting for us outside, to take us to the Temple.

'You look so . . . Handsome!' I finally managed to tell him once we were inside the cab. There was an awkward silence hanging in the air before and after the words were spoken. But I was happy that I had told him that I felt, for better or for worse.

He took it genuinely, and smiled and said, 'Thank you!'. The temple was half an hour's journey with our apartment. In fact, I realized that everything was half an hour to forty- five minutes distance from where we were --- malls, parks, the zoo, a temple -----I mean everything!

I aimed to utilise our time together in the cab by trying to know more about him, but as always my plans that day too did not work. Even before I could adjust myself next to Piyush inside the cab, Piyush established that the cab driver was an Indian and was in fact from his own city---Chandigarh. The rest of our trip was very pleasant for the two of them at they spoke at length about each other while I looked for opportunity to butt into the conversation every once in a while. Both of them politely ignored me and my failed attempts as they discussed Chandigarh and everything about it. Finally, we reached there in what felt like ages to me. We got down, and he bid goodbye to his city buddy. I respectfully covered my head with dupatta which I was carrying in my neck and we walked into a building which looked like a local corporation building in India with its red-bricks walls and low-maintenance gardens. My perception changed the moment we stepped into the grand hall. It was decorated splendidly with idols, lamps and flowers in every corner. A pujari was reciting beautiful hymns. There was a massive and perfectly sculpted marble statue of Sai Baba at the other end of the room, which was adorned with jewels and a crown. The place smelled divine with many incense sticks burning in all corners. In a few minutes, when the hall was nearly packed with devotees, the Pooja began, and everyone joined their hands, and the place went from beautiful to magical, from glorious to gloriously divine!

We took our prasad at the end of the pooja and walked out. 'Thanks for bringing me here,' Piyush said as we waited for our Uber to take us back to the apartment.

I did not want the trip to end like that but failed miserably when it came to finding the right words, in the correct order, at the right time. Thankfully, while I was still battling with the words to form an excellent conversation starter in my head, Piyush spoke. 'You are aware of my parents' circumstances, aren't you?'

I knew exactly what he was talking about. His parents were in the process of getting divorced, and not many people knew about it. It all started when Piyush moved out of Nani's house. Zarah had told me about the legal battle which involved a lot of money as Piyush's parents were joint owners of a massive business empire. But I could not let him know or his trust on his best friend would be broken. It was Rohit who had told Zarah, in confidence, who then told me, in good faith of course.

I shook my head, inviting him to tell me about it. I shall spare you the details of our emotional and lengthy conversation. What I will tell you is that I didn't take that particular Uber. Instead, we walked a little as he told me about his parents and their love which had got lost over the years, and I saw him in a new light. He had so much emotional baggage with him. We had a cup of coffee at a nearby cafe and later ate lunch at a restaurant. We returned to our respective rooms at 7 p.m.

That day, I knew things had changed. He saw me as someone he could trust, and I made a promise to myself to never break his trust at any cost. That was also the day when we held hands for the first time, and I rested my head on his shoulder ----When? How? Why? As I said, I will spare you the details.