“I’d come here just to see a friend. How are you? Come lets go. I have an umbrella.”.
“Yeah, that’s what you need. A walk with me. If you wanted this then why didn’t you tell me that you were leaving the company?” Rohit said to himself, but still got up to go with her. As she led the way out with her umbrella, it started raining ferociously. Both were together in an umbrella, united by the umbrella but separated by the umbrella handle. He was still angry on her for not telling him and for leaving the company. But deep inside he knew he missed her. He missed having hot tea with samosas with her, he missed post lunch walk with her, he missed the long talks he would have with her, in total, he missed her. He realised all this only when he was walking with her. Her chatter box was on all the way they walked, but he was not listening to what she was talking. All he could think was how much he missed her. By the time they reached the bus stop, the rained had toned down its ferociousness and was reduced to drizzle. The sun was peeping through the clouds forming a rainbow. There were not much people at the bus stop. “Shall i? No not today. Or better i finish off the job today. What if she says no?”. The conversation was going on in his mind. “You never know she might say yes.”, he heard Akash say. He turned back to see , but no one was there. Just a fragment of his imagination, he thought. A bus was approaching, she folded the umbrella to board the bus. “This might have been your good chance dude, but lost it” again he heard Akash say. As she was about to board the bus Rohit called out her. She turned back. “What Rohit?”. “Eh.....!! Nothing. Be careful. Call me when you get to your PG. Cya”. “Sure Bye, Take care. J”, and she was gone. Rohit took out his cell phone and dialled Akash’s number, “Dude where are you?” “Hey I’am in my home town dude. You yourself dropped me to bus yesterday. Forgot so soon? ” “Oh ya... I called up to say you have a good time at home. See you after 2 days. Bye”
It was dull Sunday morning. Rohit opened his eyes and the clock was showing ten thirty five. “Too early...” he said to himself, feeling as lazy as a guy and closed his eyes again. Just as he was about to drift off to sleep, his cell phone rang. “Hello, ya Roopali tell me... ok... but tickets?.... Oh k... sure. Ill be there in half an hour. Cya there.”. He jumped out of bed like a cat. There was a new wave of enthusiasm in him. Her call had sure made his dull day, very bright.
Roopali and Rohit were, sitting in an almost empty theatre watching “Ajab prem ki gajab kahani”. Not that either of them liked the movie, but it was her favourite song – “Tera hone laga hoon...” and she was Ranbeer Kapoor’s big fan. And he was her fan. It was just about the time of her song when Rohit said “Ill be back.”
“Where you going?”.
“Going to meet the President of India, who is in town. I need to give her a memorandom on the issues our countries is facing now and how we can handle them.”
“What!!!”.
“Where would i go out in the middle of a movie!!! Obviously to the rest-room.”
“Well Rohit ,in that case, give the President my regards!!”, she said and smiled.
“Sure. The President will be happy to...”
“Shh... Go soon. Enough of your sarcastic jokes. My song is in few a minutes.”
“How do you know?”
“I’ve watched this movie 5 times, for Ranbeer Kapoor.”
“Fine. Keep watching that kid. I’ll be back in a min.”
And he went off. Soon her song started and she was lost in her song. Just as the line “Tera hone laga hoon ...” came up, someone came beside her. She turned aside to see Rohit on his knees, holding out a ring along with a rose, to her, singing along the song. She was shocked. There were a few whistles from the few people who were in the theatre. Rohit’s heart skipped a beat. Will she or wont she? She may become his partner or she may never speak to him. It was all a matter of seconds and a few words. She stood up and said “I...”
“You what?”
“I ...... I need some time to think Rohit.”And she left the theatre.
Rohit and Akash were having their lunch.
“Hey Akash, you were talking to her in the morning know, did you ask about me? She wont talk to me anymore.”
“Ya i asked but she said she didn’t want to talk about it now.”
“Why didn’t you force her?”
“How could I force anyone to talk?”
“You were talking to her for so long. What did you talk then?”
“We talked about work Rohit, not you.”
“I scared her off man. She wont respond to my calls now. I am ashamed of myself in a way now.”
“You must be ashamed Rohit. Why did you propose in front of so many people? You embarrassed her.”
“What was embarrassing in that?”
“It’s embarrassing for some people Rohit, especially girls – proposing in front of so many people.”
“I think I lost her. Well you know there are many other girls out there. She was not the only one.”
“No buddy, you don’t want to jump into flirting right now. Take your time to get over her else you will rush into things to take a revenge on Roopali. Just try to concentrate on work for now.”
“I’ll try Akash”
Rohit had proposed to Roopali, on same day a week back and till now there was no response from her. He saw her no more at the bus stop. Whenever he went to her PG, her hot PG room mate said that she was not at room. Off lately she had been visiting hometown regularly and when asked would say she had some personal work . He thought she may have talked about this to her parents and they may have got married her off to some guy they chose and that’s why she was not receiving his calls. He gave up hopes of talking to her anymore. As he was lying in hisbed lazyly, he got a call. He took his cell phone and went to the balcony.
“Hello, hey Roopali. How are you? I have been dying to receive this call.”
“Hey Rohit, I’m fine. How are you? I know you have been waiting for this call.........”
It was drizzling outside. Had she said yes his next walk would in this drizzle have been a walk to remember, but had she said no, he would have hated this drizzle forever. A single word could have changed his life.
“So what do you think Roopali, you and me?”...
“What!!! This is not fair. Roopali, how could you do this to me?”...
“And Akash knew about this? That’s why he was talking to you so much from last week. ”
“Ya Roopali, but I never expected such a big one!!!”...
“I am already half dead by now waiting for this call Roopali, but anyways now I am happy that you will be that other half for me from now.” A small smile slipped from his lips as he said this. Two lines of tears started from his eyes but were washed away by the drizzle. He would finally have the walk of his life the next day in this drizzle.
Rohit dialled Akash after her call but it was busy. He then started typing in his cell “Thanks buddy, You don’t know what this means to me. Thanks for being my friend. If it weren’t for your good talk with her about me, this probably wouldn’t have been possible. Thanks buddy. I owe you a big party, actually we owe you :)”.