Chapter 11 - Can We Go Back To How Things Were Before?

Arjun was still reeling from the fact that Miss. D was with him, in reality. He kept gazing at her and held onto her hand tightly.

"We are getting late," Advika remarked, glancing at her watch.

"I don't mind," Arjun shrugged.

"It's almost eight. My family would be looking for me," she urged with a smile meant to convince him.

Right on cue, her cell phone started vibrating.

"You are carrying a phone. You never used to do that," Arjun remarked, a little surprised.

"Yeah, well, someone once told me it's not safe to come out alone and that I need to be safe," she smirked.

Arjun chuckled remembering their first meeting when the first thing he had ever spoken to her was an advice for her safety. Advika gestured to him that she would have to take the call and answered her phone.

"Hello," she spoke to the caller. "Yeah, I am still at the beach. I will start in a couple of minutes. Yeah, sure. Bye."

She turned to Arjun and with an urging tone, said, "That's my brother. I really need to get going."

Arjun opened his mouth to protest, but before he could say anything someone interrupted him from behind.

"Sir?"

Arjun and Advika turned back to see who it was.

"He works in my house," Arjun informed Advika in a low whisper before asking the man aloud, "Hey Vinodh ji. What are you doing here?"

"Your phone has been ringing for an hour now. And you are late by forty-five minutes. I got worried." Vinodh held out Arjun's cell phone for him to take. True enough, the phone started ringing.

Arjun sighed as he took his phone, looked at the caller ID and answered it briefly. "Hello Rishi, I will call you back in a few minutes. Yes, just give me some time, I will call you back."

Vinodh gave a queer look studying Advika and then asked Arjun, "Is she the one?"

Arjun smiled so brightly that he didn't have to answer in words.

Advika waved a cheerful 'Hi' to Vinodh and remarked, "He worries you a lot, doesn't he?"

Vinodh smiled and nodded. "It's good to see you. Maybe now he will stop zoning out randomly."

Advika bent her head smiling sheepishly. Arjun squeezed her hand and turned to Vinodh gesturing him to leave. "I'll come in a while. Go. Leave."

Vinodh gave a silent agreement with his smirk and left.

"Everyone seems to know how problematic I have been," Advika muttered.

"Don't take that to heart. He just nags me a lot. He has been looking after me since I was ten, so he kind of takes a paternal approach towards anything related to me." Arjun put his hand to the side of Advika's face, cupping her cheek and willing her to look at him. "It's not about you, okay?"

She looked at the concern in Arjun's intense, dark brown eyes and slowly nodded.

"I really need to go now," she said, shifting in her seat.

"Wait, can we have lunch together? Or dinner? Or just meet after a while?" Arjun was anxious.

"I will come over here tomorrow morning. Same time as always," Advika promised.

"Are we not meeting today?" he looked disappointed.

"Mr. J," she took his hands in hers and explained, "It's my father's sixtieth birthday today. There's a party in the evening and lot of things for me to plan and work out on. I could you invite you to the party, but it would come off more as a shock to my father than a birthday present. I can't have him fret over today."

"Oh," Arjun uttered understanding the situation. "Okay." He thought for a moment before realizing a courtesy he missed and added, "Hey, wish your father a very happy birthday. And lots of best wishes for a happy and healthy life."

Advika chuckled and accepted, "Thanks! Will pass on the message."

"So, we will meet tomorrow?" he asked longingly.

"Yes, I swear," she assured.

As they both got up from the wall, Arjun's phone started ringing again.

"You might be having a busy day today anyways," Advika teased him. Arjun was about to playfully defend himself when Advika put her arms round his neck, gazed into his eyes fondly and said, "I'll see you tomorrow."

Arjun felt so helpless with the sudden proximity that he could hear his heart beat erratically. He simply nodded in acceptance and whispered, "Okay."

She stepped back, waved a 'bye' at him, turned and left.

Arjun kept looking at her as she disappeared from the place.

And then it hit him. He hadn't taken her phone number or her address or any of her details. He had absolutely no way to contact her. His heart sank.

He went home hurriedly answering all the backlog of phone calls he had missed in the morning, and as soon as he saw Vinodh, he asked in a panic mode, "You saw her, right?"

Vinodh looked at him as if he was mad and answered, "I did. And I spoke to her also. You were there and saw it all."

Arjun heaved a sigh of relief and muttered, "Okay. She was real." But the lack of her details still haunted him.

He spent the whole day wondering if she would really come back or not. What if she didn't? He didn't have any way of reaching out to her. He knew she wouldn't lie about meeting him again. Still, he could think of a thousand situations where things could go wrong. There was so much anxiety and fear he could feel deep down in his mind, as if he had seen just a mirage of her that would disappear again.

"You look... awful," Vinodh commented as soon as Arjun returned from office looking tired and haggard. "I thought you would be over the moon now that the girl is back."

"I have a lot to think," Arjun murmured as he collapsed into a longue chair.

"About her?" Vinodh asked, handing him a glass of ice coffee.

Arjun took a sip of the cold coffee, noticed the concern on Vinodh's face and briefly explained his dilemma.

Vinodh sighed. "She said she would come over. Can't you wait till tomorrow and see for yourself instead of mulling it over in your head so fervently. It's not doing you any good."

Arjun closed his eyes sinking back against the soft cushion of the chair, listening to Vinodh reprimand him. He nodded and grunted a 'hmm...'

Vinodh shook his head as he turned to go to the kitchen, remarking on the way, "Either you have become too insecure and clingy, or she has messed up with your head terribly." He paused in his tracks and looked back to give Arjun a piercing look and said, "You do understand that it is not going to be easy for either of you to slip into your past lives as if nothing has happened, right? It's going to be slow, and would need a lot of patience on both your parts."

Arjun opened his eyes and titled his head to meet Vinodh's gaze. He had been getting the same thought the whole day and had been prepping his mind too for the slow burn that would happen to make Miss. D stay with him. She had looked so cautious, scared even, when she appeared in front of him that morning, as if she wasn't sure Arjun would be happy to have her back.

"I hate it when you speak my mind," he pronounced in a low growl to Vinodh.

Vinodh shrugged and left to get dinner ready.

As restless as his night was, Arjun was happy to an extent that he would be seeing Miss. D again in the morning.

He woke up earlier than usual, sneaked out of the house before Vinodh could see him, skipped his morning jog and went straight to his usual place at the beach. It was still five fifteen, too early for both him and Miss. D, who hadn't turned up yet.

He said, waiting, glancing frequently in the direction of the road where Miss. D usually arrived from. Minutes passed.

At quarter to six, she appeared. Walking down the road towards their spot, wearing a soft orange coloured long shirt, the colour of a warm dawn, and blue jeans, her wavy hair pinned partly at the side and left loose to flow with the wind. She was walking looking at the sea, carrying a journal, smiling softly and looking every bit as brilliant as Arjun had always viewed her. Arjun's heart eased for a moment out of relief and then pounded at the sight of her approaching him.

Miss. D tilted her head to look ahead as she walked and noticed Arjun sitting on the wall watching her. She stopped in her tracks.

Arjun waved at her with a warm and welcoming smile.

She stepped towards him slowly, a slight confusion playing on her face despite the grin she was giving him.

"You are so very early," she remarked.

Arjun shrugged and got up to stand facing her, looking at her ardently. "I just wanted to see you," he said.

Her smile faltered. "You look tired. Didn't you sleep well?"

"I..." Arjun fidgeted with his watch for a moment pondering how to answer, and then decided on being honest with her. Secrecy had interfered with their relationship a lot already. "I didn't have your phone number or address or any of your contact details. And I was worried something might go wrong and stop you from coming over, and I wouldn't know how to reach you..."

He could see her face lose colour.

"Mr. J," she started, her voice cracking. She raised her hand to touch his face, tracing her fingers on his cheek slowly at first and then placing her palm to the side of his face tenderly. "I am so sorry," was all she could manage.

Arjun's lips twitched at the corners and eased into a smile.

"How bad did I mess you up?" she asked blinking as if she wanted to stop any tears that might form.

"It's okay. I guess I would have still turned up this early even if I had your contact details. I missed you that much." He said it as if it was the most natural thing to happen.

When she couldn't let go of the sadness in her expression, Arjun leaned forward lowering his face to the level of her gaze, looked into the depths of her eyes and whispered, "Smile, please. A smile adds so much brightness to you, you have no idea of it. You look like a lost puppy now, and I feel somehow guilty and responsible whenever I see lost puppies. Should I offer you a treat?"

The metaphor was out of place and funny for her. She smiled.

He gestured for her to sit and both of them took their usual places on the wall.

"I missed this place so much. The sunrise, the wind, the sea waves, the sound they make, you," Miss. D stated slowly, staring at the sea, the rays of the rising sun dancing in her eyes.

Arjun tilted his head to look at her at her words of 'you'. She had missed him. That made his heart skip a beat. He wasn't alone.

"Did you notice any changes?" he asked.

"Not much. I anyways didn't notice anything other than the sea and you before too. And both are the same."

Arjun was sure he wasn't the only one feeling a little fuzzy. He simply looked ahead at the sea grinning to himself.

Someone tapped at his shoulder from behind. He turned back to see Pooja standing with a quizzical look on her face.

Miss. D also turned around to see the teenager, curious.

"You have made a new friend?" Pooja asked Arjun. She regarded Miss. D with interest and gave her a smile.

Arjun waved his hand in front of Pooja's face, gesturing her to stop staring at Miss. D. "She is not a new friend. She is my old friend and my best friend."

"I thought you had only one best friend," Pooja observed.

"Yes, the very one." Arjun chuckled.

It hit Pooja then. "Oh, is she the one? The one in your interview?"

"Yes," Arjun replied.