The lobby of the 5 star hotel was huge. The interior was tastefully decorated as only hotels can be. The huge French windows showed the beautiful city outside in the midday sun. The sea was glimmering like it had been sprayed with diamonds. The couches were occupied and he stood still for a second to spot her. There were 3 single women on different couches and he walked to her. He homed in on her more like it! She was sitting writing something seriously in her diary. Her bent head was dark brown with short hair falling across her fair brow. She was in deep concentration and had no idea she was being watched. He saw her tasteful powder blue blouse exposing smooth fair arms, the firmness giving away the fact she was working out regularly; her cleavage showing a mere glimpse of what lay beneath the demure top. Her trousers, were they jeans? Yes, they were navy blue cords! He was enamoured already. He saw her slender fingers gripping a pen, they were neatly shaped but with no paint. She was wearing black pumps. All in all she was a sight which was appealing in her simplicity and lack of pretense. He looked at her face and saw the small nose sitting prettily on her face…unobtrusive and yet something he inexplicably wanted to kiss! Her chin was determined and had the hint of a cleft revealing a woman who had passion and was social…in short a flirt!
He walked up to her and said her name gently, “Nikita!” (Please note it was not a question but a statement) he just knew it was her. Nikita looked up at Rohit and he was taken aback. It was like he was hit by lightning, a bolt from the blue. Her eyes were large pools of melted chocolate. They demanded that you drown in them. He couldn’t take his eyes off her. The illusion of simplicity was wiped out in an instant with that direct gaze of hers. Her beauty lay all here in her eyes. He saw the world in it, his world. He saw his neatly arranged world disintegrate in those eyes. Then she smiled. And he was in shambles. How could this be happening? She was standing up and he saw she was as tall as him. She held out her hand and her warm, firm clasp showed him her character. She was strong and fearless. She was honest and she was leaving his hand!! He wanted to hold it forever…. He thought he was going to dissolve in a heap when she spoke and said his name, “Rohit”. He never realized he had anything left to lose till her husky voice, lined with humour reached his ears. It was like he was being dismantled bit by bit and left there with no help to be brought back whole. He was lost completely and it was just 5 seconds since he had spotted her. How did he know it was her? Instinct? Whatever it was it was potent. He knew he had to be a man and make a mark but he was at a loss at to how he would word his next sentence. Effortlessly, Nikita said she was so happy to meet him finally and sat down gracefully. He followed suit. She asked him if wanted a beverage and he knew he needed a stiff shot of scotch but it was only 12.30 p.m and he never drank in the day!! She ordered her coffee and he asked for chamomile tea…to calm him!! This was the start to an afternoon that he never wanted to end.
By the time the beverage was done, Rohit was in control of some senses and he offered to show his favourite eating place. The drive down was thankfully short! He was hypnotized by her proximity and that fragrance….what was it? This fruity, fresh fragrance…bright and cheerful it was such that he wanted to lick it off her skin to figure out whether it was as tasty as it smelled! Once in the restaurant with the place crowded as usual, they were given a table for 2 near the waiters’ table. It upset Rohit but Nikita seemed at ease and said it was the company that mattered not the place or the food. As they sat, the proximity got closer and he felt her knee against his. He was electrified by it. She gently moved her leg away. He chased it with his knee but it was gone. He was bereft of the contact. Suddenly he saw her hands. They were playing with the napkin; nothing unusual in that, is there? Oh, but it was odd. She was nervous and covering it very well in this mask, in this cover-up of being a sophisticated woman of the world! He didn’t say a word but he kept his observation on unnoticed! And he saw the hands do a merry dance with a lot of the tableware, the salt shakers got a perfectly good waltz as did the fork! She was partial to the spoon though..she kept turning it round and round as if twirling her partner to a song she was playing in her head. The conversation continued unabated with sparks flying, both matching wit for wit and the humour keeping the company in splits. Each time he saw her laugh he was falling more and more in love. She laughed in a full throated manner, with no pretense and no fear of what the people would think. She was happy and she would show it. Her eyes, large, expressive pools of bitter chocolate, sparkled with fire and he kept drowning. Only too soon it was over and he had to drive her back. That is when he saw a flicker of apprehension in her eyes. He knew why, but he had nothing to say now. He held open the door for her and watched her enter. Her back was shaped such that it curved into her waist… not too slim to look fragile but not large enough to look embarrassing, flared out into hips that begged to be held and coveted. Her tight behind commanded attention and he knew from walking behind her that it swayed with a magic that was unreal. It held itself against gravity and he felt a throb in his loins he knew he had to quell before he grew bestial with desire. Once she was settled, he got in and drove off with her in silence. The drive back was stilted with electricity sparking off every surface. They didn’t look at each other but the chatter continued unabated. Only too soon they were at the place he was to drop her. She thanked him for a lovely afternoon, shook his hand, looked like she was going to peck his cheek, but he held back and she was gone. He saw her lithely running across the road into the maw of the station that eats up hundreds and thousands of people every day. She was gone and he was left like his world had stopped rotating, stopped glowing, and stopped just like that. But he knew what was to be done now. He wondered why he had fought so hard. Why, oh why, hadn’t he heeded their suggestion earlier? He called his mom. She answered after a few rings in which time Rohit was shivering with impatience. “Rohit? How are you son?” Such an innocent question, but oh so loaded! ‘I am not fine Ma! I am in deep trouble. I can’t think straight. Help me Ma. Tell me what to do?” He could hear her chuckle at the other end and he was irritated. She quietly said the words he hoped she would say, “Should I accept the proposal then? You liked her I think!” Understatement of the year!! Liked her?? He was head over heels in love! He? How did it happen? He was dead set against arranged marriages. He had been resisting his parents for years and when they pushed him into a corner this time, playing the emotional game only too well, he succumbed to his mother’s sad eyes, he agreed! The fact that she was exactly what he had been waiting for all his life, and he hadn’t found on his own made him cringe! He the archetypal womanizer needed his parents to find his dream woman! Would he ever live it down?? Who cared? He was in love and he wanted to sing it out loud, dance with the wind, yell and scream in joy! He softly told his mother that he accepted the proposal and could they please start the proceedings immediately so that they can get over with the ceremony in a week!! His mother’s peal of laughter was embarrassing and he blushed. He would be with Nikita soon…he couldn’t wait! Could she???
She was secretly smiling to herself all the way home. When she walked in her mother hugged her hard and said that their proposal had been accepted and they had to rush since the young man refused to be kept away from her any more than 7 days!
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