It was 7pm. I was leaning against the couch staring at the tv which was switched off. I browsed through the channels a few minutes ago, but hardly could concentrate. I put on the DVD player. The DVD is still inside from yesterday night and its rolling now. I had been thinking of her the whole day today and smiling to myself. Yes, we had called each other inbetween our office hours, quickie calls, but that didnt quench the thirst nor the excitement. She had totally occupied my mind. My colleague, Raj, who sat in the adjoining cubicle caught me red handed at one instance when I was struggling with a smile.
"Rohan Sir, what's the matter? Are you blushing? Your face looks as red as a freshly picked ripe tomato from the garden". I gave him a stern look and didn't reply. It was frustrating, sitting there. I repeatedly leaned on my chair, adjusted the seat, tried to sit straight and stare at the computer screen and tried to do some work. But no, i was very excited today. I recalled what happened yesterday and smiled to myself for the umpteenth time. It was getting so difficult for me to hide that smile and excitement from my colleagues.
I came home early. I called her a few minutes ago, she was on her way, boarded a cab, will be reaching in an hour.
I took a shower; put on my best pyjamas, the one she gifted me day before yesterday and a jack and Jones t-shirt. It's a navy blue pyjama with white dots uniformly placed at decent distance from each other, following a pattern. Although, very general, the only speciality of this pair of pyjamas was that she gifted it to me. It smells good. I feel good wearing it. Now a days, I love anything which has her touch in it. Also, it reminded me of what she specially said while giving it to me.
I was lost in the wild thoughts when my phone rang again, it was her.
"hey", i could hear the voice I cherish the most in the world, but it was layered with tension.
"where are you?", i too got tensed.
"Am just at the gate, a guy is coming with me." she spoke.
pause.
"who guy?", i was irritated and confused.
*pause*
"i am downstairs, coming. Bye" and she hung up the phone.
"hmmmm.....oh, is he by your side?" I realised I was talking to the disconnected line.
I threw the phone away. The carpet saved it from breaking. I felt betrayed. I had been waiting earnestly for this moment the whole day and she was least concerned, she had her friends and she was busy with them. I was all occupied in her thoughts the whole day and she had time for another guy. Sometimes, during instances like this, I remember the quotes said by some wise personalities, "don't give your happiness in someone else's hand, they will surely drop it", " love yourself, everyone else is taken" and similar many quotes started echoing in my head. The bottom line was, I was giving her more value than the value she gave me. I was thoroughly upset.
The bell rang.
I took a deep breath. There's guest. I put the cushions in place and cleared the side table.
The bell rang again. Nimi was always an impatient girl by nature.
I opened the door with a straight face. There was Nimi smiling at me with her beautiful bright eyes and asking why it took me so long to open the door. I saw a boy accompanying her. I didn't answer Nimi and instead said hello to that other person. She introduced both of us.
"This is my husband, this is Ajay." I had no clue who this Ajay was. I expected a rich, spoilt corporate brat, maybe one of her colleagues but here stood a petite, dusky, thin guy who had a hunch at his back. He looked nervous. I was confused how to greet him or to be precise, what to do with him. She waited for a moment looking at both of us and then rushed to the bedroom like a thunder and shouting on the way, "Ajay, I am just coming with your thing." Nimi had this habit of befriending people of all types. Rich, poor, younger, older. She felt for everyone. Specially the less privileged class. She had a good rapo with the laundryman, gardener, plumber, watchman or vegetable, fruit vendor of the apartment and help them with money, food, this, that, medicine and what not. I call her Florence Nightingale at times. She is empathetic. She would always be in a 'may I help you' mode. I felt bad, "She could understand the need of the whole world except mine. I love her so much and she didn't even look at me when she came" , my inner voice shouted, full of angst.
'With your thing?? what the hell is going on?' I recollected what she told last and got more and more furious. I looked at Ajay. He was standing in the same spot with his head down. I asked, "hey , who are you?" he looked at me, speechless, like a dumb! i didnt invite him inside and went to the bedroom. i was angry with Nimi, first, because she was so busy with another guy and second, because she was so busy with another guy and third,.....!
I entered the bedroom. She was standing with one foot at the stool, on her toes with the heel in the air and the other foot at the upper shelf, her hands reaching out at the top of the wardrobe shelves. i stood there silent and she was unaware i was in the room. Next, she put her other foot on the shelf, basically she was climbing the shelves, one after another and her eyes and hands on the upper shelf.
i went near her, stood just behind her, so that i could manage to hold her if she fell down. After all she was my wife and i was her better half.
i cleared my throat. i was angry with her.
"oh, you are here......... the honey cough syrup bottle, do you know where is it? i am trying to reach out to the first aid box. Do you think its there?" She was least bothered about my anger. Ajay was more important for her.
"Ajay seems to be a very important person" i said sarcastically.
She looked at me, blank and unresponsive, as if a little child was complaining for some toys. She resumed back to her game.
By now, she was half inside the wardrobe and I prepared myself more to save her lest she fell.
Showing least attention to my sentiments, she explained, "Ajay's mother is in hospital. She has brain cancer. His father died when he was young. He is just 13. His mother had faced a lot of struggles to raise him and his two little sisters. one is married but her husband is also a drunkard and................."
"Ok, I got it. But why you need that medicine?"
"His uncle is having a bad cough; he is attending his mother in the hospital while Ajay comes to work. Now, his mother is on drugs and needs to take rest, but due to the constant cough of his uncle, she is unable to sleep. He asked for some money to buy medicine, I gave him some money and thought this medicine might help. It worked for me last time"
I looked around and saw it at the bed side table corner. I pointed it to her. Next, I collected her from the wardrobe, in my strong arms, to help her get down. By that time, my heart already had melted seeing her helping the poor and needy, but upset. We boys, as usual, take it as our inborn responsibility to even fight demons to protect our loved ones from any harm but wish they had known what we need is a little appreciation and attention from them. I decided to not speak anything to this woman who had the biggest heart and always thinking about others except me. I was still offended at heart for the 'being busy with others and not giving me any attention' part. I let loose my hands and let her slip by, as her feet touched the floor, when I felt the warm, quick, short kiss on my lips.
"You had always been there for me to fall back to..... I missed you today, the whole day, very very very much I am going all insane in love with you." she said looking into my eyes, her hands still around my neck.
My heart was beaming with joy, like that kid who was given the toy he was crying for.
"OMG, today, you know how funny it was. Whatever happened yesterday kept coming to my mind again and again, and i couldn't do a single thing. And on top of that, what you know, Maya caught me red handed, smiling. Even Roshni. It was so embarrassing and they were after me to narrate them the stories. How could I? And......Ummm, wait, let me finish with that person outside, first!" she realised she had a guest outside. Butterflies in my stomach, I was so uncomfortable. I let her loose to go although I didn't want to.
"Ok" I mumbled.
In a moment, she disappeared to the living room.
I stood there with my hands in the pockets of my blue gifted pyjamas, looking down at the floor and again, a smiled struggled through my lips. I was standing at the spot pondering over what happened just now and what was I thinking, when, all of a sudden, I was pushed to the wall and she was all over me, kissing. It went on for a minute or so. Giving and taking and lust and love and what not. She rushed back again, saying with the naughtiest smile, "Will be right back". I couldn't even see her; I just felt the after effects of the sensations running through my body. I felt I was the luckiest man on earth at that moment. I sat on the bed and took a deep breath. I looked up. I heard her shouting outside, "a-j-a-y". I saw my reflection in the mirror and saw the smile, which was adorning my lips since morning today. I freed it this time. It escaped out by the right side of my lips perhaps because I saw a tilted smile in the mirror and adorned with that smile, I looked exactly like a red ripe tomato freshly picked from the garden. I checked myself out yesterday night also, in the same mirror but I looked happier today. Hope I look the happiest tonight. Fingers crossed!
"R-o-h-a-n...............R-o-h-a-n", I heard my wife shouting for me. I rushed to the living room.
"What??" I asked.
"Ajay is not here." she told, then paused for a second and rushed out towards the balcony.
"Where will he go?" I ran out of the door, to the stairs, looked down from the balcony towards the lane leading to the main exit. I shouted at the watchman of our wing from the balcony who sat at the ground floor near the stilt parking. I could hear no reply.
Nimi, holding her bottle of cough syrup, leaning against the glass railings of the balcony, shouting even harder for the watchman. We stayed in the second floor. When there was no reply, she looked at me and I looked at her.
"What's happening?" I knew not what else to ask her.
"Exactly, what happened?" that was her reply to my question. Suddenly, she rushed inside as if she had got a clue. I followed her.
"Just check, if anything has got stolen." she told.
It's been only a few days we were married. All the stuffs were brand new.
"He could steal also?" I questioned, while looking around " Nimi, first of all, would you tell me, for God's sake, who was he? Who the hell was he?"
"He was the cab driver of the morning" she shouted, "Today - morning - while going to office - remember?" she said with many pauses, word by word, to remind me that Ajay was the driver of the cab we hired today morning to our respective offices. When I reacted in the affirmative but still doubtful, she resumed, "While returning back from office, at the apartment entrance gate, he stopped me and introduced me, told his entire story. And hence I bought him home and...."
I stared at her for some time, "but why did he vanish?"
"I have no idea." she said, pulling in and out all the drawers of the TV console to check. The watchman arrived to enquire why he was called for. I asked if he had seen a petite young fellow leaving the apartments. Next there was a long descriptive conversation between Nimi and the watchman, about how the boy looked. When I realised that the conversation had gone beyond being simply futile, I interrupted and shouted, "have you or haven't you seen any boy going out of our wing?"
"No, I was in the bathroom, when you called for me" the old watchman with tired eyes and trembling hands said. He also had a hunch at his back. He was in his late 80s. I asked him, with due respect, to leave.
"What do you think, what had just happened?" Nimi asked me with awe, closing the main door, after the watchman left and again pulled the console drawer.
"Wait a minute, wait-a- minute", I saw, just behind Nimi, the play station's light blinking, I stoop down and checked, "the dvd isn't here" I looked at Nimi.
She stopped by my side, her hand on my shoulder, balancing her body on her toes while the heels on air again, somehow balancing herself in that position and with wide eyes looking at the play station, shouted "the dvd isn't here"
And we both looked at each other and said in chorus, "the dvd............isnt here", understanding for the third time.
It was Nimi who busted out laughing first, I tried holding onto it, as the matter was, in fact dangerous, but couldn't anymore and joined her. Soon we both were in rofl position, literally.
Generally, when we board a cab, which is so common now a days, we always forget that there is a human being sitting at the driver's seat who can hear us, see us and understand what we are speaking, although he behaves like a machine, doesn't speak a word while driving, except one time while starting the trip and next when we reach our destination and he gives us the bill of the trip. We got our lesson to keep that in mind and never speak about our personal details specially bedroom details in future when going in a cab. We hid it from our closest friends but discussed out loud in the cab, as if it was our bedroom.
