Without Closure (Part 2) - The Closure

 

This short story is continuation of the story - Without Closure. If you have not read it. Here is the link to that story - https://devvanishortstories.blogspot.com/2020/07/without-closure.html

"May I come in sir" a knock on the door of the meeting room broke the attention of Amit who was working on a very important presentation which had to be made on the coming Thursday. It was almost end of the day on Wednesday and he was still struggling to get the right flow. The knock was by the Sales Manager with whom Amit was to go for a meeting to launch a new partnership with a large organisation.The sales manager had come to confirm the meeting time. It was scheduled to be at 5.30 PM at Taj Landsend in Mumbai. After exchanging some more notes, Amit immersed himself into the presentation again.

Amit, after completing his graduation had gone on to complete MBA from the Mumbai University from a reputed college. He was picked up by a Mutual Fund organisation on Day 1 of the placements. He was a bright lad with great presentation ability!

Post the debacle that he had gone through in his first ever love relationship with Priyanka in 11th standard, he had shifted all his focus to studies and becoming completely career oriented. Girls - as friends were many but as a relationships - had no place in Amit's life. He had kind of made up his mind that someday all the girls just go away without reasoning. He went on to complete graduation from the same college, where as Priyanka had shifted to another college. Hence they never met after that day.

Years went by. Land lines had made way for mobile phones and mobile phones with just calling facility to smart phones. Emails were the new way of working in the corporates. They became the official way of communicating.  While all of this was happening in about 2009 the Indian corporate market was exposed to Blackberry. The smart phone which changed the way emails were used. But that's not what made BB so loveable. It was BBM which made it so brilliant. It brought chat to the finger tips. You needed to exchange PINs with the other BB user and that's it. You could chat with the person on the handset. (We were yet to see WhatsApp then). Amit had his own BB provided to him by the organisation.

On that windy Mumbai Monsoon evening at Taj Landsend, Amit had reached the venue about one hour prior to the meeting so that he could setup his stuff and be prepared.

The anchor called Amit to come over and announce the partnership and give more details. Amit dressed in his Pinstripe suit and white shirt looked very smart. He had been working out and it showed. He walked up and started with his usual flair and grabbed the interest of the audience in a jiffy. Everyone was listening to him in rapt attention. After the presentation was over - he opened the house for Q&A. The first hand to go up was of a lady whom Amit couldn't see clearly due to the lights glaring in his face on the stage. But he could hear her clearly. She asked a question and sat down. Amit, who was composed during any of his presentations felt a little shaken. Not because of the question but because of the voice which asked that question. He had heard it before. He knew that voice well. But he wasn't able to exactly pinpoint the person. He answered the question and took the rest of the questions from the audience but his mind was lingering at that voice. Soon after, cocktails were opened and the meeting was announced closed.

As soon as it got over Amit tried to figure out who had asked him the first question for that evening and he started looking at the direction from which that question came.

There she was - dressed in black one piece. The skin tone was fair. She didn't need to wear a lipstick. Extremely graceful. A few strands of hair obstructed her face. She tucked them behind her ears with her long slender fingers. Her large eyes met his. Priyanka!

Amit couldn't stop staring at her even though he knew that it wasn't the right place. He had a reputation to keep and moreover, Priyanka was a partner employee. Also, the past hadn't been great - she had disappeared from his life without any reasoning. He tried to look in different direction so that he could avoid conversation. He tried to get busy talking to others around him but one eye kept peeping at her and figuring out if she was still there or if she is looking at him.

A while later when he was enjoying his beer and sharing a joke with a colleague, he noticed a pat on his shoulder and turned around. He could have lost balance but the bar stool came to rescue. It was Priyanka.

"Hi Amit. Great to see you here. Great presentation. Very impressive." Amit was awestruck and couldn't really respond. He answered with a lame - "Thank you"

Snap came a response from Priyanka - "You could do better on saying a Hi. Never mind, we can restart! Go ahead!" And she chuckled. Amit smiled sheepishly and opened up for a conversation. "Hey Priyanka! Great to see you after so many years. How have you been?" The conversation started and went on for sometime but hadn't come to the main point - where and why had she disappeared!

Priyanka had also completed her graduation the same year that Amit did and post that she took up a job and had been working since then!

As the dinner got over. It was time to say bye. Amit had noticed that Priyanka also carried a BB in her hand. He wanted to ask her for the PIN but to convince himself to ask for it was a bigger task than actually even asking for it. He mustered all the courage that he had and on that day he could have borrowed some more from his friends at that place, but he had to get the PIN. Finally as the dinner got over and as they stepped out of the hotel before she could get into the taxi, Amit said - stay in touch. Priyanka - said "yes sure." That was the moment Amit was waiting for. Like a bullet came his response - "How? I don't even have your number. Do you mind sharing your number.?" Priyanka smiled and shared her number which Amit immediately dialled on his phone and gave a call to Priyanka to which she replied; "Don't worry that's not a wrong number!" As Priyanka pulled out her phone to save Amit's number, Amit quickly without letting Priyanka know that he had already noticed a BB phone with her, said "Oh BB... So we can BBM. That's better. Do you mind sharing your BB Pin?" Priyanka without hesitation shared the pin and Amit added her to his contacts.

They bid byes and parted ways for that day. Amit was almost on 7th heaven. He had never expected to meet Priyanka ever in his life and of all places in a partner meeting - Never! There was world war three going on between his head and heart about messaging Priyanka. His heart won and - he sent PING!!! Priyanka didn't check for long but she did later and responded - Hi.

Amit - Great meeting you today
Priyanka - Same here
Amit - Hope you had a great time today. I did
Priyanka - great presentation and good food!
Amit - good food - chef should get the compliments.. I have already received mine for the presentation
Priyanka - oh.. poor chef.. we have already left from the place.
Amit - No problem - you can visit the place again and pay your gratitude
Priyanka - hahahhahaha - very funny. Reached home. Good night
Amit - Good night

Amit started feeling butterflies in his stomach. He had met the girl he first loved after almost a decade and he still felt the bells ring in his head. He remembered every KKHH song. He remembered their train rides. He remembered how they shared the earphone to listen to the songs. He remembered every good thing. All the beers that he had and Priyanka were a heady concoction. He just dozed off as he hit the bed.

The next morning. He sent a message to Priyanka.

Amit - Good morning
Priyanka - good morning
Amit - off to work?
Priyanka - not yet. How about you?
Amit - do you work in the HO. I have been to your HO several times for this tie-up
Priyanka - Yes. Never seen you.
Amit - Oh infact I am going to be there today. Care to catch up for lunch?
Priyanka - won't be possible. I have a lunch meeting. Some other time may be
Amit - Evening? Chai at Landsend? The chef deserves your compliments for the great food.
Priyanka - hahahhahaha. Nice. Alright. Lets do it.
Amit - Alright. I will see you below your office at 5.30?
Priyanka - OK see you.

Amit rushed through his day with anticipation of meeting Priyanka that evening. Priyanka had a busy day and didn't realise when it got over. She was still sending some emails when her BBM beeped.

Amit - PING!!!
Amit - I m here!
Priyanka - give me 10 mins I will be there.
Amit - Sure.

Priyanka walked out of the building in sometime and Amit's heart skipped a beat. She looked stunningly beautiful. An orange colour kurti and white chudidar. A beige colour laptop sling bag complemented her outfit well. Once again a long strand of hair obstructed her face and she tucked it back with her fingers.

She opened the door of the car and hurriedly sat besides Amit. "I am sorry for keeping you waiting. Where are we heading to?"
"We are going to compliment the chef at Taj Landsend for yesterday's great food. That's what we agreed!" Both of them laughed and they were at Taj Landsend coffee shop in 15 mins.

As they sat and discussed about how years have passed, Amit was dreading to ask one question - Why did she disappear? And when he least expected - Priyanka dropped a bomb - "Do you want to ask me something? I have been noticing that you are restless like you want to ask something. I know what is it. So let me tell you - what happened in the May of 1999."

Amit was dumbfound to the straight forward approach which Priyanka had taken and was all ears to what was coming next.

"Before your judge me. Let me tell something. I really loved you a lot Amit. I really did." Amit didn't know whether to be happy with that or Sad. In one sentence Priyanka had told him that he mattered a lot and it was past tense! He didn't react though and kept listening to her with rapt attention.

"So, after you went to your native place I missed you a lot. I used to sit alone, listen to all the songs that we would listen to together and write long letters for you to tell you how much I missed you. I had decided to give all of them to you when you would come back." Amit smiled - after all he had also done the same while he was not with Priyanka.

"Shubh and I used to meet in the evening. He  was a common friend to both of us and one whom I could talk about you. Almost the whole duration, we used to talk about you."

Something strange happened after that, and I don't know how did it happen, my parents got to know about us. My mom got completely hysterical and my father got extremely possessive. I was not allowed to step out of house. I could meet only Shubh, that too at my place because  my parents knew him already since we stayed in same complex and were friends for long.

"I was completely broken. I didn't know what to do. I told Shubh that I wanted to talk to you. Somehow, even that my parents got to know. I trusted Shubh a lot and I knew he would find out some way to get in touch with you. But he couldn't because of the pressure at home. Eventually it boiled to a point where my parents told me that they will die of desperation if I kept thinking of you and kept figuring out how to meet you. The day on which you returned, I was home, I wanted to talk to you but I couldn't ever be near the phone bcoz of the vigilance from my parents. The day I spoke to you, my mom stood right besides me and made me say what you heard - Don't ever call me back!"

College reopened and I had made up my mind to meet you. But just before the day when college reopened Shubh met me and told me that my mom had spoken to him and told that if I continued to meet you or if this continued they will get even stricter with me. They told him to convince me about stopping this madness.

Shubh was a great support all the while. He was always there. He tried his best to talk to my parents. But there was no use. My parents liked him more than me I guess. They would tell everything to him and not to me. The poor guy had become like a postman. Even after we broke up he helped me to come out of it and regain composure to start life again. He convinced me that family was more important. After all they were parents. And that's how I was able to come out of your thoughts."

Amit was dumbstruck. He had nothing to say. He didn't know how to react. He had absolutely no reaction to the entire thing. He just heard and smiled. Just when he was about to say something, Priyanka dropped the second bomb. "I recommend that you should come home someday. Shubh will be very happy to see you! We still talk about you some days. But now the discussions are less. Household chores have taken up priority." Amit had a expression of disbelief on his face.

"Oh shit! I forgot to mention - me and Shubh got married about a year ago! He has been a great friend all through out. I didn't really love him at first but then I realised a great friend can be a great partner. My parents also agreed to the wedding. We live very close to where I used to stay earlier. You should drop by some day. Khub jamega rang - jab mil baithenge teen yaar!" Priyanka laughed.

Amit was lost in his own thoughts. Mustered courage to sport a smile and said - "Congratulations! Shubh is a lucky guy. Anyway, its getting late. We should leave now. I have a presentation to make for a meeting which is to happen tomorrow. Is it ok if you take a cab from here and I head back to office?"

Priyanka stopped by before stepping into the cab and asked - "so when are me and Shubh seeing you at our place?"

Amit's response was something he didn't expect too. "I don't want my relationship status to move from single to complicated. We will let this pass. We will see when we meet next. I will let you know. Oh yes. Give my regards to Shubh. Good bye."

Saying this Amit turned around. His car was brought by the valet service to the porch. He stepped in and drove away without making any attempts at figuring out whether Priyanka had left or not.

As he drove back, he again remembered how Shubh always liked Priyanka. He remembered the look on his face when they met first. He remembered everything and silently hoped that someday Priyanka would know how did her parents always find out everything she did!

He once again remembered the dialogue from Sholay - "Ek kahani adhuri reh gayi!" But this time he added a little bit of his own. "Dusri shuru jo honi thi!"