It was raining heavily since 5 pm this evening. However he insisted on carrying on with our prior plans of an evening at my favourite Japanese restaurant - Shiro’s. I never understood the reason for his insistence. After all, we could have just ordered in.
It wasn’t a special occasion either. I tried to recollect. Nope - not our first date/meet/move-in anniversary. Neither his nor my birthday. I have been jobless for 8 months now and i do not think he has received a promotion or bonus of-late. At least i would like to believe so as i don’t think his manager would have a heart so succulent to give him a worthy raise in these turbulent pandemic times.
Since he insisted, i dressed up in the best of my attires! A soft velvety red bodycon dress with flamboyant black heels and a red pout to complete the look. He chose to stick to his crisp black tuxedo paired with freshly polished leather shoes and a scent of musk sprayed on his cufflinks.
Since this was the first time in eight months that we’ve dressed up to this extent, the entire chore seemed an exciting activity. I took at least 3 trips to my closet trying to dress, undress and craft a look together - just like how i would in the initial days of our courtship.
He told me we had a table booked for 8 pm. I checked my watch, it was 7.30 already. I looked out of my window and saw a part of the road in front of our apartment flooded. I shifted my gaze to him & found him giggling over some banter with his friends on WhatsApp. I really did not have the heart to emphasise the need to rethink this outing and decided to nudge him to get up instead.
Tip-toeing from our apartment with my heels in one hand and the smartphone in the other, we made it to our car. He chose to just lift his pants an inch higher, not caring much if his shoes will remain in a useable state after tonight. And so, we began with our drive to the restaurant.
“We should be there in 20 minutes” is what i was told. The first 10 minutes were easy until we got ourselves embroiled in a traffic jam. The water logging situation worsened as we hit M.G Road. I quickly loaded Google Maps to check the situation. The entire route showed red & an ETA of an hour to the restaurant! I threw a tantrum and sunk into my seat, kicking off my heals to the backseat & tying my shoulder length hair into a comfortable bun.
I took a moment to admire the “tip tip”of the drizzle in the shallow puddle by the roadside, the race of the droplets against my window to the finish line and the road lit with red brake lights of all the vehicles stuck with us. I turned to look at him and I could see a trickle of sweat against his forehead. He turned up the AC. I tried to pacify him that it was ok, i had already moved the booking slot an hour ahead. That did not seem to help much. He just flashed a nervous smile at me and shifted his focus to the drive.
An hour quickly turned to two. We were barely moving inches ahead. The radio jockey took it upon himself to provide traffic updates regarding all the important junctions in Bangalore. After receiving a holistic view of the situation, we thought it was best we take a u-turn to head to our apartment. But here’s the catch. The next round about exit was a kilometre away!
Just when nothing could get worse, the water levels on our road begin to rise. We were flanked by two SUVs on either side and this wasn’t much of a concern to them but I wasn’t so sure that our humble hatchback would make the cut. As we contemplated and prayed that we make it through, our car rumbled and came to an abrupt halt. Damn, the water did get into the exhaust pipe! Now there was no way out. Attempts to restart the car were futile. We panicked, the cars behind us honked but there was nothing we could do.
We shifted gears into neutral, got off and requested a couple of people to help us push the car to the footpath so that it ceases to be an impediment to other drivers. We desperately contacted the customer support to avail assistance but helplines, you know the ordeal.
After multiple attempts we finally managed to contact a representative who assured us that help is on the way with no fixed ETA though - courtesy the traffic.
How long would we wait onto the pavement in an aimless manner? It was MG road after all. Hence we decided to window shop for a change. Walking along the various upmarket showrooms and curiously peering inside through each window pane. We crossed Neeta Lulla’s designer boutique and i letched at the exquisite lehenga on display, wondering how amazing it would have looked on my body. We also walked by Tanishq which had an elegant ruby- diamond choker set on display. I sighed and looked at him. He looked in the opposite direction to avoid the obvious request. Both of us continued our walk in silence which was more like a walk of disappointment. He had taken off his jacket and loosened his tie with not an iota of hope left of making it to the restaurant.
As the shops continued to block my attention, i noticed he had stopped in front of a Swarovski gems franchise and was admiring a limited edition of love bands in awe. This seemed unusual and i moved forward to question him. I called out to him but he did not respond. I leaned to gently tap his shoulder. He suddenly turned to look at me with a wide smile plastered on his face.
This was unusual i thought and nervously returned his smile with an awkward giggle. Of what i saw, he fetched something from his right pocket and swooshed both his hand in a criss-cross fashion in an attempt to confuse me as if he was trying to emulate a magic trick of some sorts.
As i tried to comprehend his moves, i noticed he was already on a bent knee. My heart skipped a beat! This couldn’t be happening!
This was not the way i had imagined it. Certainly not in the middle of a footpath with crappy hair, washed out make-up and a soggy dress!
But this was it, the moment was here which i could not evade. As i gasped for breath, he seemed confused. “Are you ok? Why are u short of breath? I hope it is not Corona!”
“No no” i screamed in excitement! “No you idiot!”
He smirked at me and whispered those words which sounded like a lullaby to me.
“Will you marry me?”
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