Gayab Premi

Song - Offo from movie '2 States'

Editted on 10/04/24

***

Author's P.O.V

***

"Utha lo phone nahi to sir phod dungi aapka !"  ("Pick up the phone or I'll bang your head") , a girl in her mid twenties was glaring at her phone screen ready to eat the person who was not picking up her calls even after 7 missed calls. Well Mr. Boyfriend, you don't do that to your girlfriend.

It was currently 4:30 pm on a Saturday evening and the 24 year old, Aakansha was trying to see if her boyfriend was finally free from the miniscule task which was supposed to be done in the morning at 7:09 am . Aakansha has listened to the morning call recording for umpteenth time to check whether her listening skills were still intact. "10 min ruko tum me call back karta hu." ("Wait , I'll call back in 10 mins.")  were his exact words.

She was grumpy after working this full week and wanted to eat out , but now had an important task in hand - to find her "Missing boyfriend". No , she was not a control freak. But a 'mommy' type who got worried when he didn't text back. Yes , she was overprotective of him , her Ani aka Anirudh. A 25 year old , who was in his 3rd semester of MBA and ready to finish his degreee course soon and see his irresponsible nature , Aakansha wondered . She was ready to chew his brain out.

Just then , her phone blared with her custom ringtone "Mahiye Jinna Sohna" , put especially to tease Anirudh . "Mile kya?"  ("Did you find him?"), she hopefully asked their common friend , Jai. "Nahi shayad kho gaya" ("No , probably he is lost.") ,he said in a fake pitiful tone . "Insaan hai , meri clip thodi jo kho gaye. Bakwaas mat kar" ("He is a human , not my clip , to get lost. Don't talk nonsense") , she said in a slightly raised pitch.

"Acha , acha. Theek h. Cheekh mat. Mil gaya. Cafe me h , kaam kar raha hai. Meri call par baat huyi h abhi. "  ("Ok , ok. Don't shout. I have found him. I had a talk with him on phone , he is working in the cafe right now.") , Jai Said. Aakansha paused , he picked Jai's call , she thought. He was a goner now.

"Cafe kyu? Unhone to resign kar Diya tha na." ("Cafe? Hadn't he resigned")  Aakansha voiced out her thoughts. Jai replied , "Mujhe kya pta. Mujhe kaam hai me thodi der me karta hu call."  ("I don't know. I have a task in hand , I'll call you in a while.") He abruptly ended the call. 'Oh wow' , Aakansha thought looking at her phone.

After 30 minutes , Aakansha was dismounting her scooty , dressed in a pair of slightly ripped jeans , paired with a peach loose cotton shirt with small prints on it. In a hurry , she forgot to wear her sneakers and was sporting a pair of white flats , about which she was cursing her bf , as she never liked to step out in home worn footwears. She had even given her car for service. No makeup and hair tied in a ponytail, she still made some heads turn her way especially with her 5"7' stature.

Opening the door of the 'The Koffee Shop' , she was welcomed with the chill air of A.C. She didn't appreciate the beautiful interior like she did every other day , rather marched to the reception. Seeing her the young receptionist, Richa , smiled. But Aakansha didn't reciprocate it today. She needed to find her apparently 'slow-witted' bf. "Where is he?" , she asked . "Aayein?"  ("What?") , Richa muttered , confused. Calming herself, she asked more politely, "Anirudh?". "Oh! But he's not here today. He resigned remember?" , Richa replied.

Of course she remembered. Just then she received a text from Jai who was asking her to reserve a seat for him in the cafe as he was arriving shortly. 'How did he even know I am here? What a timing.' She was puzzled . Nevertheless she took a seat in the back corner of the cafe , which was surprisingly the only vacant seat in the otherwise mildly occupied cafe. Maybe it was the weather , it was March and was a warm day. She kept her phone on the table, waiting for even a tiny text from her boyfriend. Maybe she shouldn't think so much about it. Probably he was busy. But ... It has never happened earlier. She was scared.

Aakansha suddenly remembered that she didn't have her sling bag today like any other day when she often visited the cafe where Anirudh worked part-time to manage the accounts for the last year and a half. Despite being from a well to do family, he used to work on alternative days to gain some market and consumer service experience for his future. Also , he didn't like the boredom that came after working two years in a company and then joining 'IIM Lucknow'.

Being a coffee lover , she came here every evening for an hour , just to watch him work. She never disturbed him. But on rare occasions, when the occupancy was less , he would join her with two red velvet pastries. She unconsciously smiled at the memory.  It was not like that from the past week as Anirudh had quit the job to focus on his semester exams and final year. She missed coming here in just a week.

Suddenly, her attention was grabbed by a cute girl with a small mic in her hand and a boy approaching her with a phone in his. She became conscious. "Are you live?" , Aakansha asked hurriedly. "No , no . Camera pause per hai (Camera is paused). We don't record without permission." The girl politely spoke with a broad grin on her face.

"Ah!" , she exclaimed. "Hi , I am Isha , host of 'Match-Maker' YouTube channel ." The girl said introducing herself. 'Match-Maker', ofcourse Aakansha had watched their reels. They went to random people and tried to ask them to talk or go on a date. Now when she looked at the girl , she could recognize her.

"Sorry but I am not single." Aakansha told them with a sheepish smile. 'Was there a stranger who took an instant liking to her?' She thought . "We know. The hotty himself told us this and said that he still wanted to talk to you. No date , just a friendly talk." The host replied being surprised herself. "Huh?" , she murmured.

'Is it Jai? Vo, hotty? Nah. But, vahi to aise bina sir per ke kaam karta h. Was he stupid? Yahan vo pagal ho rahi hai aur uske bewakoof ko mazak sooj raha hai.' ('Is it Jai? He , Hotty? Nope. But , only he does stuff like this which is infuriating. Was he stupid? Here,she was tense and that idiot was thinking of pranking her.') She angrily conversed with her brain , which was plotting 101 ways to kill both her bf and best friend. 'Aaj to kisiki maut aayi h'. ('Someone's going to die by her hands today.')

"But-", Aakansha was cut off in the middle by the scrapping of the lounge chair which was opposite her.  She swiftly looked over to scold Jai , but was flabbergasted to see her handsome, cute boyfriend not dressed in the formals , but in a white tee topped with the denim jacket she had gifted him three years ago along with black denims. His hair were styled back with a light stubble. He looked dashing. "Haye!"  Aakansha blurted out in a brethless tone , out of habit on seeing him.

"I know right. I told you he is hot." , said the young girl wistfully, who was still standing near their table. Aakansha looked at her with narrowed eyes."He is my boyfriend." She said in an audible , possessive tone. The host stood there sheepish on hearing the information. On the other hand , Anirudh stifled his laugh on looking at his possessive girl.

"Sorry , but yes we are dating. I wanted to surprise her." He said to the girl , who was ready to slip on the ground after hearing his sweet yet manly tone. "No problem. You can do that whenever you like." She said dreamily. But snapped back on looking at Aakansha , who was fuming , looking at her bf , who had apparently gone missing but was sitting there unfazed.

"Umm ... Well , no problem, we have recorded it. That was soo cute of you." She said composing herself and wished a quick bye to the perfect couple, who looked so good together. The girl thought that to be the reason for them being together, but no , she was unaware to the struggles , like the one which was awaiting.

When the girl left , Aakansha hastily stood up to leave. 'Aise kaise kar sakte hai . Na phone uthaya aur kaise shahenshah ki tarah bethe hai' ('How could he do this? He didn't evn pick her calls and was royally seated there.') she thought to herself. Anirudh hurriedly grabbed her shoulders and made her sit back. 'Hey Bhagwaan! Me to Gaya aaj' ('Oh God, I ama goner.') , he thought being scared of the 'mama bear' who always liked to know about his whereabouts even if by a small text. And here , he had missed all her 17 messages and 7 missed calls.

"Akki vo-" Anirudh was cut off in the middle by his gf. "Explain." She said just one word with such a scary face that he wanted to run for the hills.

***

Ab kya ? 😉