The Proposal: Part 2 of 4

Women and time possibly had an agreement to never get along, Rahul thought to himself as he dialled Zara’s number for seemingly the hundredth time. Zara should have been at the airport at least thirty minutes ago. How can one always estimate time wrong?

He had given her a wake-up call at 4 am. Even then, he had to call her seven times till she actually picked the phone. She better show up in the next fifteen minutes else they were going to miss the flight.

Just as he was about to dial Naima, his phone beeped. So she was stuck in traffic. As real as the reason may be, it is a convenient excuse for those having difficulty with punctuality.

Breathe in, breathe out. We are headed to a holiday. And not just any holiday – he had been waiting for this since six weeks now. The six weeks since he had realized that he was in love with Zara. The trip just wasn't going the way he had thought it would. 

With his patience in short supply, Rahul decided that the situation warranted a call to his agony uncle - his self proclaimed ‘worldly wise’ friend.

‘She is late. Again’

‘It is your mistake to expect anything different. If you had started out expecting a delay, you would be a happier soul my child’

‘Don’t make me regret calling you man. I need some pep talk before she shows up. I was counting on the journey together giving us some time alone. In my current state of mind, the lone journey won’t do me any good. If I don’t scream at her, I think I would label it achievement of the day’

‘In the interest of humanity, I shall try my level best to show you the silver lining. There is plenty of liquor here and some really interesting looking people in case Zara turns you down’

After a few lines of encouragement from Gaurav, Rahul hung up. As Rahul pondered over the last few weeks, he realized that Gaurav could possibly write a book on the things he had done to make an impression on Zara.

‘I have informed the staff of our little situation. The lady at the counter seemed to completely understand our predicament’, Ashish said as he walked up with Naima in tow.

As they waited for Zara to turn up, Rahul couldn't believe this trip had finally begun. Considering how fast the last few months had flown, the last six weeks had been a drag.

Naima, Ashish and Rahul were from the same college. Ashish and Naima had met at the makeshift bar at the freshers welcome party. What started out as idle chat, lasted the entire duration of the party. Their friendship had naturally evolved into a relationship despite the three years that separated them. 

Rahul was the brother Ashish never had. Rahul had met Zara at Naima's graduation party a few months back. He could not recall a time before he met her. It seemed like he had known her forever. All mushy romantic songs suddenly began to make sense. His ipod was a testament to his emotional state - Richard Marx to Atif Aslam, all crooned to him, sometimes more than multiple times a day.

Luckily for them, a profusely apologetic Zara showed up under the next ten minutes. As they rushed through security, Rahul tried to remember why he was pissed at Zara. One smile was all it took to wipe his emotional plate clean of the distressed forty five odd minutes.

As they were headed to the boarding queue, he saw Naima turn and give him a wink. It had been abundantly clear to Naima since the day they had first met, that he was taken by her sister. Over the next few meets, even Ashish realized just how smitten a kitten he was. They had teased him quite mercilessly about it. 

They were also aware that he was going to ask Zara out tonight. 

After security, Naima and Ashish were to conveniently disappear in a coffee shop. Zara hated coffee. So did Rahul. That would have left Zara and him alone. As a rehearsal, he had even tried his speech on Ashish...! 

With her delayed arrival, all their planning had gone awry. 

It would be fine, Rahul consoled himself, just as long as this trip doesn’t have any more surprises.

To be continued...