Meet me near the coffee place @ 4PM - Episode 2

Introduction

Episode 1

Episode 2

Next day.

Priya seemed brisk and nattering with her friends on her way to office. Filled her water bottle and reached her workplace. As usual opened her outlook and checked for emails. There it was. Another email from the same guy..

From: YourFan12345@hotmail.com
Subject: Hi!

Hi Priya,

After I sent the emails I was anxiously waiting for your reply. As I didnt get any email from you, I started thinking that you took all these in wrong way. I also thought that you might judged me as a playful person and played some joke on you. But I am not. May be this is the first time its all happening to me. I dont have any friends here to discuss as I am new to this city. I consulted with my close cousin brother and he said its best to talk to you directly. That's why I emailed you. Last thing I wanted is you taking all these not serious. As I didnt get any reply from you, I cant understand whether you are already engaged or not interested. I know you will come to office today and read this email. Hope I will get some reply from you. At least if you understood that I am not joking, that is a huge step forward for me.

XXX

She stayed frozen. Now she started to take this seriously. She started to think who this might be. She dont want to get up and look around immediately as she dont want to get noticed. Who knows, this person might be someone from her own team. She quickly listed down the guys in her mind. As he mentioned that he is new to this city, it should be somebody who joined the company recently. There were 12 men in the team. 7 were married; 1 was engaged; 1 was already in love and struggling with his parents for their approval; 2 were very close friends so his explanation of not having any friend in the city is ruled out. Final left out 1 was in the company for very long time, he was there before even Priya joined the company. So finally confirming that its nobody from the team, she decided to take this to Gayathri. May be she might have some idea.

Amidst of these confusions, Priya felt a mild breeze of happiness deep inside her mind. This is the first time she is experiencing the feeling when a guy said he liked her. She remembered the time when she was with her 5 other friends and they are discussing everything under the sun. Then the topic arised, "Has a guy proposed you ever?". Every girl had a story to tell, but Priya hasn't. Truly it never happened to her. She heard such kind of stories like a guy giving rose to her friend in a bus, and incidents happened in school, temple etc etc. But such kind of incident never happened to her. Priya pacified herself saying that she is not attractive enough and also never felt bad about that. But since the discussion with the girls she felt that being liked gives some confidence too.

Priya waited for a perfect time to show the email to Gayathri. During lunch time when the whole cubicle is deserted, she pulled Gayathri towards her computer and showed the mails. Gayathri read the emails silently. Lots of questions raised in her mind. She tried to prioritise the questions in her mind and utter the one which took first place,

Are you sure no one is joking?

Not sure Gayathri.

When the girls were trying to find out a reasonable explanation, another mail popped up from the right bottom of the screen.

From: YourFan12345@hotmail.com
Subject: Hi, consider it please!

Hi Priya,

I know you are in office. And I am sure you have read all my emails. I am now 80% confirmed that you think its a joke. I dont want to make this as a game and prolong it. I am a decent guy. I also wanted to show you that I am serious. I now decided to throw all the confusions away and meet you. I will wait near the coffee place in 2nd floor by 4PM today. Hope you will come. I promise I will not talk anything about the email and anything related to that. We will just have a coffee as friends. Even if you not interested, I think ending this way will be good. Hope to see you.

By the way, I am Kumar.

Kumar

Even though the email didnt solve the mystery, the girls were relieved that at least it leads somewhere, and it might end today itself. Deep inside, Priya liked the email. Kumar seemed to be very honest and decent. She felt a little pride facing Gayathri too. Because to the same Gayathri, Priya shared many of her rejection stories from the guys looked her for marriage.

The girls went to lunch. And the discussion started..

What are you planning to do Priya?

Not sure Gayathri... He seemed genuine too.

Even if he genuine, what can you do about that? Your parents are now waiting for the groom's result. In 4-5 days if they come up with positive result, your parents will fix the date then and there. So do you think you need all these confusions now?

You are correct Gayathri. But he seems very decent and honest. What if I meet him and have a coffee? Let him know that I might not be interested in this, but still can stay friends as we are going to work in the same floor?

That will be a good idea. But still deep inside my heart I feel somebody might be joking. So if its a joke, do you think that you can handle the embarrasment?

My God, you are right Gayathri. Thank God I didnt reply to any of these emails.

Yeah... thats the smart thing you did.

But Gayathri, can I say something.. I actually felt very good after seeing the email. I always felt that I am not attractive, good looking etc. This is the first time I experiencing these. It really feels good to be liked by somebody, you know...

Gayathri smiled and replied,

Priya, can I say something and you shouldn't think I am judgemental or something ok?

No No Gayathri, tell me. You are my best friend. I will take your advice always.

Even if all these emails are serious, I think its best that you should not meet him today. Considering all the things you said, if you meet him, its your heart will take the decision, not your mind. You became very emotional and sensitive seeing all these emails and his words. As this is the first experience, there is a high chance that you will fall for it. When emotional sense dominates the common sense, the decision taken will be wrong, always. Its bad timing now. So its better to avoid this now.

You are right Gayathri. But one question, what if he is honest, and I could convince my parents ?? What if he would be the one for me?? God might be giving me a chance to see him, and I am ignoring it?

There is a chance for it too. But before taking any step further you have to think several possibilities. You should know well about this guy before even speaking to your parents. Its been more than a year, your parents were looking for alliance. Is it possible to make them wait till you find about Kumar?? One good thing is at least we know he is a Hindu. So no Religion issue. Oh leave it, I think we are thinking too much..

Hmm... Its 12.45PM. We will speak again at 3PM break. By that time we will have some time to think...

You sound like our manager... haha...

Even there was a compelling urge within Priya to see Kumar, all the other things Gayathri told made sense. She wasn't sixteen anymore. She has enough confusions already and dont want to add one more...

Priya reached her place and checked the outlook for emails. There were no emails. She experienced hard time concentrating in work. She called her mom and spoke with her for sometime. Surprisingly she didnt speak anything about marriage, photos, alliances, horoscope, facials etc. The conversation went very smooth and Priya felt her heart light after the phone conversation.

Its 2.12PM when Gayathri rushed to Priya's place and quietly showed her thumb finger up and nodded her head towards left. This is her common sign language for getting Priya for a coffee break. Priya didnt hesitate and walked with her. After reaching a quiet place she started to speak,

I got an idea.

Oh, what is that?

You dont want to meet him today, at the same time you have to see him. If we go near the coffee place we can see him right?

Gayathri, we dont know him. But he knows me. If I go near the coffee place he will identify me, right?

Yeah, wait and listen till I finish. We are in 3rd floor now. He might have chosen 2nd floor so nobody from this floor can see. I am not sure about that. But it might be the reason as we have a coffee place already in 3rd floor. Now we dont go there by 4PM. We will go there 10 minutes after 4PM. We wont go to coffee place. We will go to Sreesha's place in 2 floor. From her place we can see the coffee place very well. What do you say?

That is a good idea. But you sure he wont see us ??

I am pretty sure. We will sit in her place. Or I will go near the coffee place and look for him. If he is there then I will show you. Ok?

Sounds good.. OK.

By this way we can find out if he is serious or somebody is joking. But either way, you are not speaking with him today. Are you sure in that?

Yes Gayathri I am sure..

Priya went to her place and keep checking the watch. The seconds hand moved unbelivably slow.

Its 4PM. Gayathri called Sreesha and checked whether she is in her place and made sure she will not go anywhere. Priya and Gayathri started from their workplace. Priya's heart was pounding fast. "What if he is still here? What if he is watching me now? What if he had somebody to check and inform him that I left the place? Is it all a good idea?? "

The girls reached Sreesha's place. Priya sat down quickly and tucked her head below the computer. Priya knew this friend of Gayathri, but not very well. Sreesha is Gayathri's college mate. They both share gossips and through Gayathri Priya will know some of them too.

Gayathri now started looking near the coffee place. Its not that crowded as the girls expected. There were 2 or 3 people and immediately Gayathri's eyes fell on a guy with a tucked in formal white shirt with a cup of coffee in his hand, standing alone. Making sure that nobody was around who they could suspect as Kumar, Gayathri confirmed that he must be Kumar. Gayathri was so sure that she seen him in her floor. He couldn't see them from there. Gayathri then turned to Priya and signalled her. Priya slowly stood up and saw towards the direction Gayathri pointed.

There he was. A twenty something guy, who was very handsome than Priya could imagine. She forgot that she was standing amidst a busy project cubicle and Gayathri is watching her. He was curly haired, medium complexion, well dressed chap. Without even Priya's permission a smile hung on her lips. He kept looking at the stairs for Priya's arrival. Priya can't imagine that such a handsome guy loved her and he is waiting for her. She even thought why not go over there and speak to him. But instead, her women intuitive made her to wipe that thought.

Gayathri saw that, patted her shoulders and asked,

So...

Reluctantly, Priya replied,

Gayathri. lets go to the place.

Gayathri noticed her smile faded. She told Priya that she will come later as she had to talk to Sreesha. Priya left the place silently.

Gayathri sensed that Priya liked him. Even Gayathri felt that Priya should consider a chance, but at the same time when thinking about the risk, she stopped suggesting anything.

After Priya left Gayathri turned towards to Sreesha to speak to her. Her eyes immediately got attracted by the few photos left on the table. She started to look them one by one when Sreesha explained the pictures. 4th photo carried image of Sreesha, her husband, and.... Kumar.

Surprised Gayathri asked,

Hey do you know him?

Yes, he is my husband's friend. He just came here, gave the pictures and left.

Oh you know him very well?

No no... Just he is a distance relative of my husband. We both dont know well about him. But he is a nice person. Bit shy, but respectful guy. But I think he is in love.. He wanted to know the name of a girl so I found it for him. You should see him blushing when he asked casually.

Oh, do you know the girl?

Gayathri know its stupid question as she knows the girl already.

Yes, her name is Priya, she is in the same floor as you.

Gayathri sensed something wrong. Just before Priya was here, why didnt Sreesha said its that Priya, why should she say the girl in your floor..? Sreesha continued speaking,

You know that tall girl with long hair and good complexion??

It suddenly hit Gayathri. Yes, she knew her, she is another Priya in the same floor.

Gayathri then excused from Sreesha and rushed to her place. On her way back, she tried to untangle the confusions. "Is Kumar actually interested in Priya-2 and not my friend Priya? Did he confused the email id? Is he that stupid to send these many emails without even confirming?"

After reaching her place, Gayathri checked the Resources directory. Quickly she filtered for the 3rd floor resources and scrolled down the names until she reached the names starting with 'P'. Her friend Priya was the only Priya listed. She knew very well the other girl name is Priya, not Lakshmi Priya or Shanmuga Priya, just Priya. So she should be there. But its not in the list. Bewildered she gazed her eyes around the dialog box and found another link, "Contractors". She clicked the link and whole new list of resource names appeared. She scrolled down to 'P'. There it was. The name "Priya Ramanathan". Now she understood why Kumar sent all the mails to her friend "Priya R". Gayathri was now not at all sure how to tell this to Priya, without offending her. She turned back when she realised Priya coming near to her place. She quickly closed the browsers and looked at her. There was a clarity and confident in her face.

Gayathri, I decided to speak to him. Whatever it is, I am going to just speak to him. He is my first admirer and I am not going to ditch him. I am going to stand up to this guy and tell him the situation all by myself.

Gayathri didnt know what to reply...

(to be continued...)
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thanks iswarya... felt it went bit lengthy... but dont want to split it in between because I promised just 3 episodes... Will come up with the 3rs episode soon...

 

thanks for your comments Andal... you appreciation is very encouraging... the 3rd episode is with me already, rethinking on various parts... I wont make you wait for long... Will come with it soon...

 

Thanks Abi... it wont be too long... see u soon..

 

oh good... thats really good when u said u can visualise the script... thanks for your appreciation..