Part 16

When Garima had asked Payal to go look for somebody, Aakash saw Payal walking away further down the corridor, he saw his parents heading out after Mr.Singhania and Payal’s dad. He saw his Di, Nani waiting for Garima aunty to join them. He saw his brother dialing someone on his phone. AND HE SAW OPPURTUNITY.

He quickly in two – three steps caught up with Payal. She looked up surprised but gave a polite smile and continued walking. They walked like that in companionable silence as if this was an everyday occurrence. For an outsider, it looked like they were well acquainted with each other and have reached a level of understanding; not like people who met just a couple of times.

Aakash was thinking hard about how to start a conversation and Payal was waiting for him to start it.

 “I wanted to tell you that I heard you did all the arrangements for the show. They are great. Even your anchoring was great.”

Payal smiled politely and thought “Nice try but flattery will get you nowhere.”

He understood she was not the type to fall for silly stuff like praise. “Buck up Aakash, get your head in the game." he gave himself a pep talk.

“I took pictures of the show, they will probably be ready by tomorrow or the day after. Shall I drop them somewhere for you?” He offered, trying his luck again, keeping his fingers crossed hoping that she would invite him home.

Payal was slightly impressed she knew that Aakash was trying to get in her good books. Yes, she knew he liked her from the first time they met, she studied people remember, actually she didn’t need that extra knowledge to figure this out. Being a sensible woman was all that was required to read and understand what was written in Aakash’s eyes…. “Mmm and what eyes he has, such depths of emotions she could see in there.”

But what impressed her was instead of resorting to his wealth or social status to show her his worth, he had chosen his skill to impress her. It was what was his completely and no one else could lay a claim to it. And he wanted her to recognize his value through it.

She was touched.

A genuine smile spread across her face and she stopped walking and turned to face him and said “Aakashji, I am really thankful for this, we couldn’t afford to waste money on good photographers. The other two photographers were volunteers who had photography as their hobby. I don’t remember my schedule tomorrow and day after, how about you give me a call when they are ready and we can take it from there.”

In a flash Aakash pulled out his phone and held it ready to record her number, and Payal started dictating her number “98********”… she said…

“Payal Gupta, why are you giving him your mobile number, instead of your home or office numbers…, admit it you are as interested in him as he is in you…” spoke up Payal’s heart…Payal chose to ignore the comment for now… it was too early for such discussions.

They resumed with the task at hand to find Lavanya and Shobha aunty and continued walking towards the theatre office room, where Shobha Aunty and Lavanya could be found as they were incharge of making the final payments to workers and others involved in the show.

Aakash was happy about the direction his relationship was going and he was already looking forward to the days that were to come. Payal however was trying to keep her thinking straight and not think about the man walking beside her. She chose conversation to distract herself

“Aakashji, did you enjoy the show, do you think the people got their money’s worth?” she asked his opinion.

“I believe it was much more for their money’s worth, Payal. It was well organized, unique collection of programs which catered to a variety of interests in people. There was something for people of all ages and genders to enjoy. What more could you ask for?” he gave her his true impression without biasing his opinion with his feelings for her.

Payal smiled and said “Thank you.”

But Aakash was not done yet “But if you ask about my experience in particular, I would say I really looked forward for time in between two programs…” he said looking into her eyes directly and saw realization dawn in her eyes and then she smiled back shyly and looked away to open the door to the office room.

*******************************

He saw her moving away from her mom towards his Nani and bending to take his Nani’s blessings. He heard his Nani ask her for a kiss.. his treacherous eyes immediately went to her lips as she replied something to his Nani and bent slightly towards his Nani and kissed her. He wanted one too… it looked so simple, he wanted to go up to her and ask for one kiss for himself too…

“What the!!... ASR never asked he just took.”…but what the heck was he thinking anyway… he was in a relationship with someone else and here he was thinking of how to beg a kiss from someone whom he had not even met properly. Dangerous unknown territory warned his brain…

He shrugged off his jacket and took out his phone so as to create a diversion for his thoughts and immediately he remembered his forgotten task. “AMAN!!”… he saw there were two more missed calls and he immediately dialed Aman’s number and walked a little away from the gathering and leaned on the corridor wall and waited for Aman to pick up his call.

“Sir, sorry for disturbing you but it was important.” was Aman’s opening sentence

“What is it Aman?” he asked

“Sir, today evening somebody called NandKishore Sharma called the office number asked to speak to you or Aakash sir. As both of you were out the call was redirected to me. He said he was your cousin from Australia and he was waiting at the airport for someone to pick him up. He said he would get a taxi if I told him your home address, he said he tried reaching you by calling home but it was not being answered.”

“I told him that all of you were out for an event and told him to wait at the airport and that I would send him the company car right away that would take him home.”

“I called the security at Shantivan and asked them if they knew any cousin of yours called NandKishore and they were not sure so, I sent the car but asked the driver to pick him up and bring him to the office. He is here sir in the conference room, he has had a meal and is watching Dabangg movie in the conference room, Sir.”

“What the!! Watching a movie.. in the conference room… put the phone on speaker Aman.” He said

“Sir, ASR wants to speak to you” he heard Aman on the other end and Arnav said

“NK is that you?” he asked and looked around trying to locate Mami. But saw that the hall way had cleared up and just then his eyes fell on the lovely figure on the wall opposite him, bending and trying to remove her ghunghru.

That was it he heard only very little of what NK said. He kept looking at the dainty fingers trying to undo her ghunghru on her delicate feet, he heard only the sound made by her bangles as she worked, intermitted by the sound of her ghunghru when she pulled hard.

He wanted to go kneel in front of her and lend her a hand….

His subconscious though was dutifully recording something like…

“Hey… Nannav mere bahi… how are you mate?? Where are you guys?? I was waiting and I forgot to pack my address book and my phone died and I had to look up your numbers in the directory at the airport and …..”

But by then she had looked up as if recognizing his presence and their eyes met, and he took in her lovely features, her perfectly arched eyebrows, her cheeks that looked like two soft fluffs of white cotton candy, her cute little nose that had turned a little red at the tip probably due to her crying earlier and then his eyes reached her lips and he thought how would they feel, under his fingers, on his skin, in between his lips or ….when his tongue..

“S**T ASR, what the hell are you thinking….”  And he looked into her eyes. They looked shocked as if she had heard his thoughts…”S**T”

“Nannav.. hey Nannav .. are you there??” he heard NK as reality crashed on him and he said

“NK get home.” he said and continued “Aman, take him home. HP should be back by now, he will know what to do.”

He disconnected the call and realized she had moved away from the wall and had undone one ghunghru, he stood up too, when he felt something under his foot and he looked down. That’s it he saw a flash of blue shoot out of the corridor and out of his sight.

“What the!!” he uttered.

“What do you mean by What the ASR!! Any normal girl would be afraid of the type of thoughts you were having..” his brain clarified

Any way he went back to see what was under his foot, it was a bell from a ghunghru, he smiled at it, he knew it was hers… he just knew it. He picked it up with care and pocketed it with a smile.

“chuck it, it’s trash” said his brain

“Shut up.” someone replied, he smiled he liked the answer that someone gave his brain, but he was not going to dig into who that someone was… not just yet.

***************************

When he reached the entrance he saw that goodbyes were being said and promises to keep in touch were being made. He had had an emotion filled evening he needed a break, he just went to his Di and said “We will bring the cars. Aakash come lets go.” He finished turning to Aakash.

By the time the cars came the other two families had settled into their cars and were ready to leave, Di and Nani waved one last time before they got in and the other cars left.

“I will see her again tomorrow” one brother consoled his heart and changed the gear to take his mom and dad home.

“I don’t want to ever see her again.” decided the other brother’s brain as he pressed hard on the accelerator.