Our party of five occupied a large, circular table at the Matchbox Lounge. I was flanked by Meher on my right and Vidhi on the left side. Kavya was seated directly opposite to me, with Zafar placed in between her and Vidhi. The evening's celebrations were kick-started with a round of drinks from the bar. We merrily drank to our collective success and raised a toast for all the good times yet to come. As is often characteristic of such gatherings, conversations soon shift from the present to reminiscences of the past. Naturally, the subject-matter of our discussion had also started to steer towards memories of the early days - from how we all met and became fast friends to all the planning, dreams, struggles, failures, fights and embarrassments that tagged along. In ten years, we had formed quite the treasure trove of memories and experiences, all of which were recollected one-by-one.
A little over half-an-hour into the night, however, all the chattering and laughter began to get on our nerves as various unsettling sections of the treasure trove were also encroached upon, some intentionally and some by accident. For instance, Vidhi grimaced when her memory was refreshed about the time she had left us all in a lurch by threatening to quit the firm and leave us all behind. That had been one of the biggest setbacks we had faced so far and took a lot of sacrifices to reverse. Another uneasy flashback, for me at least, was when I had suffered from a series of brain fades which led to such glaring errors that we all had to bear the grunt of public disgrace and the firm became a laughingstock within the legal circles. Enough of that! Perhaps it was because of all the drinking, but our comments had started to take an unsavoury tone and the mood of the night was turning a little hostile. It honestly isn't so difficult to imagine that a group of friends-cum-colleagues would be carrying a heavy baggage of old corpses awaiting their proper burial.
The intensity in the atmosphere was gradually building up, inching towards the inflection point. Until then, it was a simple matter of riding out the calm before the big storm. We all knew where this was heading and it was precisely why we no longer got together so often. Of course we shared office space and routinely ran into each other every other day, but that was in a totally different environment. It's surprising how the overarching effect of a workplace can even make friends be so plain and formal to each other. This is definitely not what we had envisaged working together to be like all those years ago. Or maybe it was just that we needed to tackle that storm once and for all rather than trying to avoid or push-back confrontation. Anger, resentment and helplessness had been stacking up in our minds for so long that it was bound to burst at the seams any day. Those feelings of frustration required an outlet after all.
Amidst all these thoughts swimming around in my mind, I could feel something creep up my leg. I smiled devilishly, imagining it to be Meher who was sliding her feet slyly up my trousers, signalling her intent and disposition towards wrapping up the dinner and embarking upon a far more private adventure. Meher had these clever, little symbols, so to say, of romance that would transport us both into a frenzy of outpouring love. Sometimes it was a bouquet of flowers or a surprise outing away from the city... it's tough to explain how, but our minds just clicked together on the same frequency at times with these signals. Often, I would try desperately to steal a glance or two towards her when she curled strands of hair in her fingers and tucked it behind the ears, all the while drowned in work. At such moments, I felt an irresistible urge to set everything aside, become oblivious to the happenings of the outside world, and do nothing but look into her eyes and kiss. There was nothing more worthwhile.
Back to the present, when I realised that there was something creeping up my leg, my eyes darted quickly to Meher, supposing this to be one of her quirky moves. Alas, to my deep anguish, this was not so for Meher was sitting there, head perched on her elbows with an expressionless, blank face that meant she was bored out of her wits and was bordering on drowsiness. If those creepy crawlies on my leg weren't Meher's, well, whose were they? There was only one more person who would dare at such intimacy, Kavya! As I agonisingly turned to face Kavya, she gave me a furtive wink which only strengthened my convictions regarding her ulterior motives.
Stay tuned..
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