Embrace of Rohit and Anjali
Rohit is standing in the middle of the street, lost his way to find Anjali's home. It's scorching summer outside, and that too in a coastal area like Kakinada, you could imagine the scale of the dire situation here.
Anjali and Rohit have been in a relationship for four years now, and they have known each other since childhood as both their fathers share the same workplace and their families used to spend time in beach restaurants on cosy weekend evenings. Although there is no moment where they pause and propose, they always know they are meant to be for each other. Love is in their locked memories.
Rohit moved out of town for work, and it's been more than a year since they both met, and it felt like forever to them. Staying beside your loved ones and cuddling up while the world goes through the pandemic is what Rohit always reads in fiction novels, but things turned out to be different for them, he thought.
Rohit had to visit the town to collect his certificates, and his parents were away. So this must be a great chance to invite him for lunch and finally get to see him, though Anjali.
Anjali and her family recently shifted to a new house, so she sent the nearest location to Rohit and went offline as she had a virtual meeting to attend, which is scheduled for half an hour. But the meeting went on beyond the planned slot, and she started to worry, helpless as she could not pick up the phone in the middle of the meeting.
Meanwhile, Rohit wandered lost, unable to reach her phone, and she only mentioned the Landmark but not the same house. There were too many apartments around, and people started to look at him suspiciously. It was mid-afternoon. He looked roasted in this scorching heat and wearing a mask and a hat, like a fully covered Pandemic clown. He wondered what other impression would make him other than a Child Kidnapper.
He was utterly exhausted by now, but he felt uplifted as he received her call back. Her call always puts a smile on him, no matter what. He acted like he was infuriated and said, "okay, I'm leaving back, seems like you are busy, will meet some other time ".
"No, I'm sorry, I was in a meeting, so I wasn't able to respond to your call", she said apologetically, almost on the verge of crying.
"Okay, anyways, let your work be a priority", he fired back while enjoying his acting skills.
She started crying
Hey, I was just kidding. I understand, now stop the drama and say the damn address. I'm hungry, he said, laughing.
Haha, I was acting too, she said with a devilish smile, directing him towards her home and welcoming him at the doorstep.
She was elated and thought of hugging him, but she knew she was at home and tried to calm herself, hesitating.
Her mom interrupted her thoughts and said, "will you invite him in or just stay there and watch your mouth open".
She smiled and looked embarrassingly at her mother and invited him inside. Her mother gave him a glass of ice-cooled buttermilk, which felt much needed for the hour, and he showed visual relief as he devoured it. Then, her mom started to ask how he was and how his work life was going.
"Okay, mom, enough questions. He must be tired and hungry. Let's prepare lunch," interrupted Anjali.
Her mom left for the kitchen to make the arrangements, and Anjali asked him if he needed the Wifi password, and she knew how tech enthusiastic Rohit was.
"Yeah, I would love to, but before that, here is something I got for you", said Rohit and reached out to his bag. "Here are your chocolates and a letter, since you've received your first salary today and I have a few words for you and a little sketch of you". He said and handed it over to her.
"That's so sweet of you," she said elatedly and started to open the letter enthusiastically- She always loves these sweet little things.
"Madam, please hold on to your horses. You can read it after I leave, first spend the time with a person who wrote it and is in front of you right now ", he mocked.
"Okay fine ...fine..sir", she said and folded the letter and placed it on the desk.
"So how is your Trump Michell doing ". They kept the nickname for her team lead and mocked him in their late-night phone conversations.
"Yeah, he is doing fine, finding ways to load me with work," she said, sighing with frustration.
"BTW, give me a home tour and your WFH setup".
"Haha, hop on", she said and picked up her phone and switched to front cam and acted like one of those Youtuber Vloggers.
They both laughed and entered her room, and she showed her work set up in the corner.
"Oh, that's exactly how I imagined in my sketch. I'm an imaginer-if at all that term exists," he said proudly.
"Haha, yes, you are", she said, and both started to laugh and looked at each other in their eyes and felt a sense of feeling that they missed all these days and how they missed being this close to each other.
She came closer to him and hugged him tightly without ever fearing her mom would come at any moment. She is just lost in this moment.
I miss you and wish this moment lasts forever, he said and hugged her more closely so they could feel the warmth of their breath, and it felt like love was in the air.
That brief moment felt like an eternity to her, and as they got lost in this beautiful moment, her mom announced that lunch was ready from the kitchen, and they quickly snapped out.
"Yeah, mom coming. Rohit is looking for Virus on my Laptop", she lied.
Haha, that was quite spontaneous, he whispered to her as they reached the dining table. Her mom made arrangements for the lunch and was impressed by his dining etiquette. She shared the childhood memories, how he splurged rice all over the plate back in those days. They laughed and enjoyed their meal.
As they finished lunch, Anjali knew that Rohit had to leave immediately, and that thought bothered her, but that's the reality she had to face for now, and she couldn't wait for that moment to spend the rest of her life with him.
She waved a hard goodbye as Rohit left.
Anjali Anjali Anjali. Nadiche navvula poovula jaabili
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