Halfway Through- Part 3

She dialled his number. With every ring, her heartbeat got faster. She wasn't prepared for this sudden conversation between them. All she wanted was to hear his voice, to ensure that he was fine.

The call went unanswered. Hysterically, she called again. After the few rings, somebody finally answered. But no voice was heard. Minisha frantically spoke, "Hello, Nakul?"
A hushed voice came from the other side "Minisha".
She heaved a sigh of relief. It was Nakul.
"Where have you been? You're not coming to the office and nobody knows your whereabouts. Where have you vanished all of a sudden?" Her soft, anxious voice was replaced by the anger in her tone.
"I went to my parents in Varanasi, my father had been ill. I returned today only."
"Oh, I hope now he's fine", she asked with concern.
"Yes he is, just old age issues, sometimes his health goes down and it scares us so much. Though our relatives are always there to help if something goes wrong, but then my mother is all alone. So I had to be there for them. I had to leave all of a sudden, that's why couldn't inform anybody."
"It's fine, I understand. Well, the boss had been very upset about your sudden absence. After all you are his most trusted person in the office."
"Yeah, I should have informed him once. But things were pretty serious here, so I couldn't think of it."
"It's ok, he'll understand." She reassured him

Few seconds of silence followed. Their hearts had a lot of emotions treasured inside them, but their minds didn't know how to exhibit them in form of words.

"I need to go, I'll call you later", Minisha spoke, to escape the awkwardness.
"Minisha, wait." Nakul spoke in haste.
"Yes?" Now her heart was racing.
Few more seconds of silence followed. Nakul mustered up all the courage and finally said, "I missed you, every single moment. I wish you were with me, when I felt lonely, you were the only person I missed, whose mere presence could give comfort to me. Everytime I tried to pick my phone to call you, our last conversation, my bitter words for you, everything stopped me and made me feel guilty. But I really missed you a lot." He said with a choking voice.
Minisha was stunned. She never expected these words from Nakul. She got the collywobbles. She wanted to speak her heart out. But she hesitated, and all she could say was, "I am always there for you."

"I want to meet you. Can I come over to your place?" He asked.
"No, my landlord won't approve of that if he comes to know, you can understand."

"Hmmm...or you don't want me to visit your place, I've heard your landlord has a beautiful daughter, you don't want me to see her right?" He tried mischievously to make her jealous.

"Not only a beautiful daughter, he has a very handsome son too." She countered him with a giggle.

"Oh, in that case you need to vacate the place soon, I'll find you another house, can't bear any other man catching the glimpses of your beauty." He playfully replied.

She blushed. "We can meet at your place, if you don't mind."
"Sure, I'll wait for you."

...............

She was sitting next to him. The coffee tasted pathetic, too strong and minimal sweet. But she chose to stay courteous and praise him for his efforts. "You make great coffee." "Thanks" , he smiled and took his first sip, followed by a shocked expression. "I think I served you the wrong mug. I made the mild coffee for you, the way you like it. I like it strong, but my bad." he smiled with innocence. "You remembered my preference?" She was surprised. "I've been to many coffee dates with you, how can I forget?"
"Would you mind exchanging the mugs?" She asked hesitantly, partially because it was the perfect way to express her feelings, and partially because she couldn't stand its taste.
"I'll feel privileged if you'd do that." He spoke teasingly, and shifted his mug towards her.

"I am sorry." He said, after the coffee.

Sorry for what? For telling her that he missed her? For revealing his true feelings for her? She feared that he might take back his words.

"I am sorry for being rude to you that day, and for leaving without informing you. I should have thought about you."
"It's fine, you don't have to apologize. But promise me you won't do it again, won't go away like this. You don't know how much you scared me." He noticed the concern in her voice.
He held her hand softly. "Even if I try, I won't be able to leave. Now someone is there to bring me back everytime to her, and to make me stay forever."
After so many days of stress, anxiety and loneliness, it was a blissful moment for them. The moment they always waited for. He came closer to her, she didn't resist, she felt hypnotized by his touch. In a moment, she was entwined in his arms, resting her head on his chest. A lock of hair fell on her face. He tucked it behind her ears lovingly. He moved his fingers in her hair and kept playing with them. He planted a kiss on her head, then pecked it multiple times, unable to stop himself. She held him more firmly, as if his arms were the safest abode for her, peaceful and liberating. None of them wanted the moment to pass.

Her phone rang and broke the trance. She moved away from his arms, blushing and unable to make an eye contact, and picked her phone. It displayed an unsaved number. In a moment the pink tint of her cheeks faded away, giving place to the utter shock and disbelief. It was the number that she still remembered by heart. She kept staring at the screen, but couldn't pick up the phone.

"Is everything okay? Who's calling?" Nakul asked, watching her expressions.
"Yes, everything's fine. I don't know who's calling. It's an unknown number, probably some random wrong number." She tried to ease her expressions, and muted her phone.
The screen flashed. She got a call from the same number again. "I think I should go now, we'll meet again." Nakul thought she became repulsive by what happened between them. "I am sorry if I made you uncomfortable, I thought......" "No it's nothing like that, I need to go now, we'll talk later." She interrupted him and went out of the house. Nakul was bewildered, and started feeling guilty, thinking he made the first move too early. He didn't stop her, thinking that would be the best thing to do at that moment.

It was a call from Aarav, Minisha's ex- boyfriend, who broke up with her a year ago.