Headaches had taken over her. She realized that she slept for almost 16 hours, she tried opening her eyes but 2 bottles of beers took over her. Bad drinker! She managed to freshen up and sat in a corner of her room and wondered: “NOW WHAT?” she had a look on her mobile and realized that Ganesh tried calling her the entire morning. She gave him a call and discussed about the article. He really liked her work this time. Somehow she managed to have a look on all her messages and she realized that there was a text from SHIV!!! She was surprised. The text said, “Coming to Pune. Flight will land at 4 in the evening. Hope to see you at the airport.” She looked at the time and FREAK it was already 2:30. She rushed to the shower and was excited the entire time to meet him again. In an hour or so she left home and hired a cab till the airport.
She wore a white Kurta with light blue jeans. Her hair left open as they were wet. She wore a vanilla flavored perfume and was waiting at the airport for him. She texted him saying: “waiting outside the airport.” She was nervous and excited when she got a delivery report for the same. And there he was, standing right in front of him. He was wearing a trouser that fit him quite well and a dark brown color shirt. He was looking dashing as ever, Maya thought.
They smiled and met each other after a span of 4 years. They had the formal approach and finally they hugged. He could smell her quite well. “You’re looking beautiful”, Shiv said. She smiled and asked him about his whereabouts. He was in Pune to meet his brother-in-law and his cousin sister, who recently delivered a baby girl. Obviously he planned to stay there, with his family, but somewhere in the back of his mind he wanted Maya to invite him to her place. To his surprise, she didn’t invite him but for her it was quite obvious that he’s staying with her.
While in the cab, they hardly spoke anything but just about WORK and Social life. “Your Facebook profile had located you and that’s how I came to know that you are here. You didn’t care to inform me once about how you are and ask about my well-being?” his tone was firm and demanding. She said, “How many times did you call me after the last time?” he was silent, looking outside the cab and trying to hide his emotions for her. They finally reached her apartment. On the way, Shiv informed his cousin that he would be putting up with Maya. Obviously, Shiv’s entire family knew Maya as they were family friends.
It was almost 6 in the evening, when Shiv asked Maya, “So what’s the plan?” and they both had that mischievous smile on their face. They knew that it’s going to be a night with beers and food. “Get ready fast, let’s go and buy some beers and some good food” they left the apartment, and after many days, Maya took her scooter out. She asked him to hop in behind her. He was one guy who gracefully sat behind a girl on a scooter. Reason was very simple. He wanted to hold her. He didn’t manage to gather the guts to hold her by her waist and hence left the thought of holding her. They bought 8 bottles of beer and food’s quantity was something that a couple could never finish alone. But these two people were big foodies.
Shiv had to hold all the booze while getting back home. They reached home, changed and it was almost quarter to eight. They arranged everything in a very systematic manner, actually Shiv did. He was a disciplined man. He loved to see things kept beautifully, especially when it comes to food and drinks. They arranged everything on the floor and it was just perfect. Maya thought: “is this is a date?” she thought of asking this to him but then dropped the plan. They started having beers and food and Maya was a bad version when she starts getting real tipsy.
One bottle down and Maya was feeling it already. She looked at the other 3 bottles and thought: “FREAK all these are mine!!!” she now knew that she has started smiling. She knew this was the worst part of her being drunk. She looked at Shiv and realized that he had been staring at her all these while. She raised her eyebrow, which meant: “what happened?” he just nodded his head in a NOTHING and then had a sip from his beer and then gave his breathtaking smile with a dimple only on his left cheek. She smiled back and gulped a large sip from her bottle. They spoke about everything from Kolkata, to their families, their personal life. Shiv tried to look away, stood up and then went near the book shelf of Maya. Maya had the second bottle in her hand and she took a sip of it, walked towards him, and stared at his large but robust body. She was wearing just a light blue colored t-shirt and shorts. She touched Shiv’s back lightly, when he turned back, he could see the same Maya whom he loved a lot. The innocence in her eyes, smudged out kaajal, hair untidily tied up with few locks of hair falling on her face. He slowly moved his hand to her waist and stared into her eyes. Their eyes had the intensity; they were no more interested in the drink and the food. They wanted to be with the other, they wanted to be with the one they loved. Maya hugged him tightly and Shiv was no fool to be behind, he hugged her back.
The Chaotic Soul 