Aditya swivelled his chair to get a full view of the office. He was barely six months old in this new job. At 26 he looked like a college going lad considering he stood at 5’6” and had a slender body type. At one point he was embarrassed of his boyish looks but the charm he had mastered over the years made him look adorable. As much as he was interested in the glitzy lights of the city, he at the same time took active interest in people around. He was close to one of his friends Saurabh in the office who happened to share his flat too but he was too slow in his work and hence always busy. Aditya was sharp and observant and was quick to notice that his flat mate who seemed so sincere and had good looks been not only dull but lacked interest in exciting things in life. He was not ashamed of his nosy nature. He liked being aware of people around him and their lives. To Aditya, Sandhya seemed to be ambitious, stable and charming. She was good in her work and he was sure that she would climb the ladder of success within a short span of time. Recent promotions proved the same. But she was not in his friend circle but Ananya was. Somehow, he found Ananya too lousy, careless and rude. A few weeks back their friend circle had planned a good weekend together but Ananya seemed to ignore them and made some unrealistic excuse of her visiting some long-lost friend for lunch. Aditya was miffed with this attitude and such a lame excuse. Even if she had to meet someone then who ditches an exciting weekend plan for visiting some barely known people? Ananya’s discomfort with Sandhya was noticed by Aditya and it provided him much entertainment in the office. But Sandhya’s same charming attitude towards everyone bored him to death at times. Those were the only two girls he somewhat knew in the office but they annoyed him in different ways. He shrugged off such thoughts from his mind and got back to his work. He opened his Inbox and there was an email from his boss. Aditya disliked him too. Six months into his job and he disliked almost everyone. After a while he took a break and checked his WhatsApp. His “boyz and gurlz” office group showed 40 unread messages. He scrolled down without reading any of the forwards or conversations. The last forwarded joke was from Ananya. He immediately forwarded it to Sandhya on her personal number and grinned to himself. For a minute he waited for the blue ticks but then thought it to be too silly and got back to his work. He got sucked in his work and did not check his mobile until afternoon. At around 1 P.M. he checked his WhatsApp and saw Sandhya’s message. A thumbs up was for the forward, further she had added,
“Wanted to check out a new coffee shop, was looking for company, 6.30 PM today.”
A rush of excitement flushed his cheeks. Normally he was the one who sent such messages but it was a first for him. His charm made up for his not so macho looks, he thought to himself. He and Saurabh were to leave together today as their cook was on leave and they had planned to explore some inexpensive restaurants nearby which promised home style cooked meals. After sending a thumbs up and a high five emoji to Sandhya which he thought perfectly conveyed to her that he is cool about the coffee but not too excited. Aditya then got down to the task of convincing Saurabh that why he couldn’t leave for home with him today. He did not want to tell him that he was going out with Sandhya as he did not want Saurabh to bully him in case the date did not happen.
Aditya pushed his phone along with the ear phones below his pillow and he plunged into the thoughts about the evening with Sandhya. Sandhya was way beyond his league, too confident and blunt and this was the first time he had conversations with her and her point of views and knowledge about many things were far more informed and articulate than his. He felt a little unsettled in her presence as he knew she had more IQ than many others including him. He could empathise with Ananya now. Sandhya was casual about her brilliance and while there were people like him and Ananya who were cultivating themselves each passing day. He could gauge the fact that he was indeed just a company for her this evening. The coffee shop was exorbitantly priced. He was nervous to offer to pay the entire bill. Even after splitting the bill it would have caused a hole in his pocket. Sandhya paid the check. He insisted to spilt but she paid anyways much to his relief.
A few weeks after the evening he received a wedding invite on his personal mail. He was marked in Bcc. The invite was from Sandhya. She was getting married to some Michael Young. Curiosity got the better of him. He tried searching his profile on social media. But Sandhya was not their mutual friend in any of the profiles listed. He immediately called Sandhya. After customary congratulations all that he got to know was Sandhya and Michael connected well and shared many mutual interests. They were wanderers and wanted to wander together.
“So, is he settled in Mumbai?”
“No, Australia.”
“So is it going to be a long-distance marriage”
“No, putting up the papers today.”
“So basically, you will be shifting to Australia, have you found something there?”
“No, once I’ll shift there I’ll see, we plan to go around a bit then I’ll check up on something there “
Aditya found everything too vague, unplanned and beyond his understanding. Sandhya was way ahead when it came to her career. She had spark and brilliance both. He hung up the phone on some pretext, had some cold water and rejoiced the fact that he is a guy of limited thoughts, limited dreams and probably would survive owing to his limited expansion of mind.
