Krish was down to the last sip in his whisky glass, which
according to his own standards were fast and furious ever since he laid his
eyes on her. He was taken in by her
simple elegance and radiance and when she had caught him looking at her, guilt
overcame him and forced him to focus on his drink more than what was required,
resulting in the fast and furious sips at intervals far shorter than what would
have been, had he been calmer.
Krish was of a nervous kind, nice but nervous, more so when he had to
face a girl, or rather when a girl faced him, or rather either. When faced with
the prospect of facing the opposite gender, his brain decides to temporarily
and unilaterally stop functioning and his palpitations tends to border on the
audible drawing concerned glances from cohabiters of that moment.
Sush saw the tall lanky guy in the dark blue jeans and grey
checked shirt checking her out and almost stopped breathing. Unassumingly
attractive would be what she would place him as, with his thin rimmed glasses
and fritters of hair scattered on his forehead in rebellious disarray. She quickly looked away, afraid to return the
attention, and could not bring herself to look in that direction again. She had
agreed to come to Hema’s party, assuming a large crowd, since Hema was the
party person and her parties were always well attended with the party tales
doing the rounds until the next one came about, which was usually sooner than
later. She hoped that then she could easily get lost in the crowd and then slip
out early without being noticed. Contrary to her expectations, only a handful
of Hema’s friends had turned up, exposing her to everybody’s view on the large
terrace of the house.
Krish edged towards the girl, not because he had mustered
the courage to speak to her, but because she was standing next to the bar
counter, and he was standing with an empty glass. It had been only ten minutes since the party
started and he had downed an entire glass of whiskey while there were some, who
were yet to pick up their drink. He had
to quickly get a refill, which could yet pass off as his first drink, and he had
to do it quickly before Hema or his friends had an opportunity to make him
their after party story till the next one.
Sush caught the movement from the corner of her eye and when
she turned her head, he was already quite close to her. It was the same guy who
was checking her out earlier. Panic
gripped her heart, loosening her grip on the glass in her hand, as it slipped
from her fingers and shattered on the floor next to her feet. She looked up in horror and found herself
staring into the eyes of the guy which mirrored her panic, as she heard another
glass shattering near her feet. The guy had dropped his glass too. There was horror on her face, horror on his
face and as they turned around to look at the others, horror on everybody’s
face as well.
Krish recovered first, looked at the panic stricken girl in
front of him and said “Sorry, I wanted to get a drink, and the sound of the
breaking glass unnerved me, and I dropped mine too”. Sush looked at him and as his fears melted
some of hers, replied “No, I am sorry. I
don’t know what came over me, I am really embarrassed, the glass just slipped
from my fingers”. She suddenly smiled,
the situation forcing it out of her and then immediately saw his eyes softening
and his lips forming a quivering line.
She said extending her hand, “I am Sushma, Hema’s friend from her school
days”. He smiled more firmly as he took
her hand gently and said “Hi, I am Krishnakanth, Hema’s colleague at work”
“And I am Hema, the owner of these destroyed properties”
announced Hema as she strode upto them and stood with her hands on her hips in mock
anger. “Next time, I will have a bell
placed on the counter here, which you could ring, rather than shattering my
expensive glassware to announce yourselves”. She then burst into laughter, “I
am so glad that you guys met. I organized this party just for you two lovely
but lonely souls to meet and that is the reason I invited just a few friends,
so that you could not have escaped. I
was planning to formally introduce you both, but you managed it just fine
without my help”.
Hema turned to her friends and announced “Now that the ice
and a couple of my glasses have been broken, let the party begin”.
