The Unfinished Encounter

He hurriedly tied his shoes laces, tightened his tie and rendered a quick swipe of his hand through his hair. He picked up his laptop bag, took a bite off the half-burnt slice of bread and made a dash for the door. His wife came running after him urging him to have a sip of his coffee. Although, he had left by then leaving the door half ajar. Sounds of the pressure cooker whistling could be heard in the background.

His wife wore a look of disappointment on her face. She convinced herself that his mind was preoccupied with a couple of things for his upcoming morning update call. This is the term she had heard often ever since the transition to WFH had begun. She never really understood the reason why he used to panic to provide the status of his work in these meetings nonetheless she did not bother to ask fearing that her non-IT background might make it difficult for him to explain. She also never understood why he insisted on going to office. Especially when everyone had transitioned to the WFH model effectively and considering the rising number of cases in the city it was highly unadvisable. After all, it had been just two years since they were married and she wanted to spend more time with him. Suddenly, she realised that the fourth whistle of the pressure cooker was blown and she ran into the kitchen to switch off the gas.

He aimlessly walked on the footpath alongside the road. The lush green trees which he saw from his balcony everyday were now yellow colour. The footpath was strewn with dry, dead leaves signalling the end of monsoons and arrival of autumn. It seemed like it was just yesterday when he had taken this road to his office. The never-ending traffic had got him frustrated and how he had prayed for a miracle which would get him out of this mundane frustrating activity.

He stopped walking and looked up at the Starbucks Coffee Shop Logo. How prestigious it made him feel. He looked inside the café to notice that it was bustling with activity making it highly impervious that a pandemic was in progress. Cut across to the other side of the road and he could see his usual hangout place – Café Coffee Day. A place which was considered to be highly expensive for a cup of coffee earlier was now known to be a regular hang out to browse through the net with their free wifi. How he hated the smell of roasted coffee which emanated when he entered it. The crunch of the half flaked leather couch when he sat on it. Uggh! He shook his head in disapproval and pushed the door to enter his gateway to paradise.

He found himself a corner and placed his laptop bag on the table, wiping off the sweat from his brows and loosening his tie. He unbuttoned his sleeves and rolled them up, gazing at the ambience as he got himself acquainted. He saw a girl across his table comfortably entrenched on a high chair poring across her work. She had a pair of headphones plugged into her ears and she leaned against the table with a pencil in her hand. A bunch of hair strands kept falling on her work when she leaned. However, that seemed to not bother her. He saw a plate of an unfinished scrumptious cake slice by her side which reminded him that he was hungry. He walked up to the counter to place his order.

“Four hundred for a piece of cake??? I cannot afford this for every single day!” is what he thought. Nonetheless, he pulled out his wallet from his back pocket and paid the bill. He waited patiently to collect his order until he was signalled by the attendant to take a seat and await his name to be called. He went back to his table and sat down making himself comfortable. The girl caught his fancy and he couldn’t stop looking at her. She sensed that she was being watched and she quickly lifted her gaze to look at him. Their eyes met for a split second but he averted his gaze by looking outside the window. “Wierdo!” she repeated to herself and got back to her work. The cake & coffee arrived at his table, he had his brekkie and opened his bag to retrieve his laptop.

He opened his mailbox to see a line of Apology mails waiting for him. These were from some of the most prestigious software companies for which he had been interviewed in the past few days all of which rejected him sighting a money crunch, high client expectations or inability to provide a position worthy of his candidature. He was used to this pattern by now.

Apply for jobs ->Follow up with HRs -> Give the interview -> Get rejected.

He had a family to feed and with depleting reserves of savings, finding a job was imperative. He needed to keep going is what he convinced himself. His wife although need not be a part of the ordeal is what he also told himself. After all it had been just two years since they were married.

Morning turned to afternoon and he realised it was time for lunch. The café was almost empty by now with the two of them being the sole occupants. He looked at her again hoping to strike a conversation this time. She seemed least interested. However, she was increasingly aware of his presence. Slowly, they started playing a game of hide and seek with respect to their gazes. He looked at her when she did not and she did the same vice versa.

By evening the tension was evident but neither of them took the first step to talk. The café attendants too gave up on hopes of having any sparks flying between the two of them having attentively noticed them avert their gazes since morning. Do not judge them though. After all we all need some drama to break the cycle of monotony in our work.

He picked up the cup of coffee and glanced across at hers. “Alia” was written across her cup. He wondered how on earth would he look her up on FB with just her first name. If only Starbucks would introduce the concept of adding the second name as well. Considering the amount they charged for a cup of coffee the suggestion seemed not so laborious anyways. He sighed and went to his table.

“Ping!” the laptop beeped. It was the familiar mail received alert from Gmail.

“Congratulations! We are proud to extend an Offer” is what the heading read.

His happiness knew no bounds. Was this even possible? He jumped up with a sense of joy!

The first thing he did was to look out for her. To tell her that his ordeal was over. He could finally go home, stop lying to his wife and return to the new normal of working safely from the confines of his living room.

He scanned the café quickly but she was no where to be seen. The table that she occupied all day was now empty. The Women’s restroom too seemed unoccupied. All of which happened in a frenzy which he was now unable to withstand. He gave up and fell back into his chair.

His sense of happiness was immediately replaced with disappointment – making it evident that happiness always lasts for a short amount of time.

The trickle of the bell above the entrance door caught his attention. He looked across with a sense of tiredness strewn across his face to see her at the door effervescently smiling at him. A rolled chart of paper peeked from the jhola which was hanging from her shoulder – the very piece of paper that she worked on all day. She waved out to him and closed the door and continued to walk towards a cab not bothering to glance at him again.

He hunched back into his chair, stretched his legs and waved in a half-hearted manner which seemed less of a bye to her and more of a goodbye to himself – to his days of unemployment, to his anxiousness of uncertainty, to his thoughts of what could have been.

With that thought he closed his laptop and packed it into his bag. He lifted it up and glanced across the café one last time and exited from the entrance door.