I was wearing my usual shorts and tee and lost in my trance music . It was a good sunrise and I was resting after a good lap of 6 kms from my cardio routine. Gentle breeze with a sudden smell of the pani-puri snacks (an Indian baked chat item that attracts young blood like moth to fire) . I then heard a graceful gallop as though someone was running but so effortless that the sound itself appeared how much in control they were of their legs. I made a slow casual turn towards my right to not stare and gape , in case it happened to be a guy and it might make it awkward for both of us. Hey - Love is love, no judgements there, but I was just trying to not appear like a goof. As my neck slowly turned , I could see from a corner of my eye that there was some wavy hair involved and the last part of the turn suddenly accelerated when I saw this girl strutting like a mermaid. She abruptly stopped , held her hips , puffed , bent her head down and then as though her legs knew that I was kind of cooking some curiosity towards her , she came and sat beside me. I instantly muted the headphone but still continued to wear it. She gently arched back , stretched her hands and then made a sound as though she appeared to clear her throat. My heart was racing. I thought she was about to speak to me and Bam. She did . She goes , Hey, I never saw a day coming when I would ask this off an absolute stranger but desperate situations need desperate solutions. I acted surprised and took off my already muted headphone and pulled myself closer to her and looked deep into her eyes. She then said, I have seen you regularly in this route and I thought you will not be one of those creeps , please don't make me feel otherwise. I have got a pant situation and I think my pant has developed an awkward tear on my leg. I don't want to move any further and worsen it. With immense self control , I restrained my eyes to not shoot a look at her tear, not out off perversion , but a subconscious instinct to look at something when somebody is talking about it, like when they say my toe was injured or I stepped over dung etc. She kind of noticed I was still looking at her intently in the eyes and said, I can act like I am limping , I just need someone to cover my left side of the body until I reached my scooter . Can you kind of , how do I say this. Can you just . You know what , never mind. I am sorry I spoke to you . Leave it. I said, lady , chill . You already involved me, just go through it . I can see you need some assistance with something , you can trust me and as you guessed I am not a creep. She paused for a dreadful 30 seconds and then said, Can you just hold me by the waist like support me and one hand over the shoulder , I will slowly limp till the parking lot . That way , no one can see my tear and I can just hop on to the scooter and go home . All my excitement dialed down as I marveled at this beautiful lady's confidence, physical cuteness and her super cute super funny proposal to protect her from her ignominy. I kind of respected her for the poise in which she was dealing with the situation. I said, do you want me to spell the obvious. How do you expect yourself to ride when you have this thing going on , will it not expand further and tear off. She said, that won't be an issue as she had stuffed an emergency face shawl for sunny days and she can wrap it around her thighs once she reached her scooter. I am Srini and I am a software developer. Jhanvi she said. I am into banking . We began to enact our drama as I was now holding her by the waist, hand over shoulder as she even made some grunting sounds to go with her fake limp . That girl , let me tell you . By this, no one will be urged to look at her in any other way than sympathize with her thinking she got some leg cramps. We slowly went to the parking lot , when she quickly covered herself and then blankly stared at me, deciding whether to continue a conversation with me further or just say a thanks. I think, the butterflies in her own garden were kind of interested in the honeycombs in my garden and she just said , Alright, let's meet tomorrow.
We did meet tomorrow , when I could pick a scent that she had worn which wafted ahead off her as I saw her face slowly breaking into a grin. I dropped guard myself as I said Hi Jhanviii.. . We just looked both directions to see if we can continue in her direction or mine and she took that decision for us when she did a 180 and we continued power walking in my direction. I must say, I never saw myself encountering a conversation such as yesterday's with a total stranger who was a girl and as I said that she laughed out loud and punched me in the upper forearm as though she knew me way too well only to instantly realize she might have jumped the gun. To comfort her I nudged her upper forearm myself in a manner she wouldn't think of me as a friend but a guy who is yet to be "classified" , if you know what I mean. We did our laps that day and our meetings became more regular, but not daily. It was like, we were comfortable the way we were and there was this beautiful space developing between each other and a connection was brewing. Then came the day we exchanged our numbers and chats turned into conversations and we even started analyzing our perspectives which were tricky topics like existence of God, being a vegetarian , and then came THE topic. Any past people ? We both synchronously began typing but when I saw her typing, I stopped and when I started typing she stopped . This went on for a few seconds as we were afraid how a response to this question might steer this relationship when we hit enter at the same time with the reply "None until...". I suddenly hooted in excitement as a nearby pigeon got scared and sped for its life. There is only way to decode this and that you guys confirmed we liked each other .
So, fast forward one day, when we had some cold juice and pani-puri nearby and were walking in the road, chatting on newer topics, when she suddenly laid the red carpet for me . Why don't you come home, I will introduce you to my brother. I was super happy like super happy super happy. Not because she just made the move , but because all the walking and drinking was building up a big bladder situation for me but I was too proud to tell her I need to ease myself. This way, I could both pacify my kidneys and also meet her brother who I was really hoping would be cool like her. He was also working in the Tech industry , a year younger than her. We went home and she was taking some time to see if the house was in good condition to have a visitor. By this time, I was ready to open a water jet that would hit the next door neighbor as I collected myself and asked her , where is the restroom , so that I could go and wash my legs. She said there is one upstairs and one in the hall, ( it was a duplex ) and she would be hitting the one in the hall. I got tensed, oh god, I need to climb the stairs with this any-time-to-burst-bladder. I mentally thanked the Gods for having made me born as a man for this specific power we have .
Her brother Vinay was still yet to be seen and he was the last of my concern. I ached for my release and nothing mattered more. I took heavy cautious steps towards the loo and when I saw the door a bit ajar , I went in with such gratitude as I shut the door and made a hugeee groaning noise as the river flowed endlessly in streams. I apologize for such graphic description, but I want to do justice to what actually happened. I was closing my eyes and literally experiencing the joy of ahem, when the curtains suddenly opened as I saw the brother of my girl stand in front of me in pure shock urgently searching for a towel . The poor guy was wearing headphones and was soaking in the bathtub oblivious to my water show and he let out a huge sound and was about to hit me with the shampoo bottle when I quickly raised my hand to my chest and said Srini , Srini as though he was supposed to know who I am. My lucky fortune, she had confided to him about knowing me from her walks. He then broke into a huge laughter and slapped me in my face and pulled me into a hug as his towel fell down again. By this time, we just got so casual and candid in our realest self, we simply embraced the sheer stupidity of the situation.
We could hear Jhanvi race up the stairs and Vinay quickly draped his towel and I also shut my basement as we both stepped out , in giggles when she goes "what the F is going on, Man, I was about to enter the bathroom downstairs when I heard you moan and groan and then when I heard his shout followed by some nonsensical laughter, I didn't even wash myself and rushed here. Look, I know my brother is handsome and all , but you are supposed to be with me and not this creature", Vinay instantly took the cue and pulled me closer and faked some sounds like he was kissing me and boldly claimed "he is mine get lost !!!". We all had a hearty laughter as I went downstairs and he went on to dress himself up . She made some Ginger lime tea and we were all sitting in the couch simply saying nothing for the next few minutes , when Jhanvi said - Vinay , I think I am in love as I took her hands into mine and I said "me too" and Vinay put his hand on my shoulder and rested his face on my left shoulder and said , I know monkey. You are.
And folks, that's how I dreamed my valentines day would be but who am I kidding.
The search continuessss ..... ;)
