The love game

 

Like the tides have slowed,

And the storm has passed,

She kept looking in the mirror glass asking,

“Is he the one or not?"

She wouldn’t know, maybe it was just another love game of sorts

It was 10:30 am. Time to go online. Bracing herself with the fiercest excitement, she went online on Whatsapp. He was there. She wished him a great morning in her head and thought innocently he did too. A moment passed staring at his online status and then she went offline only to return in a mille second to see if he was still online. He wasn’t. She leaped from the bed and sauntered her way satisfactorily to the kitchen where her mum was cooking her favorite breakfast- Aloo puri!

She was in high spirits and the start of the day looked promising. She quickly got her laptop out and went through her work mails. Her editor had requested an exclusive piece on ‘What makes travelling an experience.’ Half resenting her editor to send her to research on this piece for a week until she would write the story, she still smiled because it was 1pm and their time to meet online again. And …He was there.

In the middle of switching between her research and whatsapp, her mother called her to the living room where unknown creatures like a family had assembled in a queue on her favorite slouchy couch as she called it. She was only in her T-shirt and shorts, hair all bunned up ready to be an army nurse, well she was busy researching after all.

A young man named Sahil stood out from the crowd in the room and stretched his hand out to introduce himself to her. With a sinking feeling she shook his hand because she knew her parents had played cupid again to set her up for marriage; the third time that year. How could she ever tell them that she was in a platonic relationship with a man she had only spoken to once?! No she couldn’t. They would call her crazy. So she played along like always. However, this Sahil guy looked quite good and she heard her mum promoting him saying, “So Jahnvi, you must know, Sahil is an MBA, has a well paying job and travels frequently. He also plans to move to US in the future just like you want to.”

Her mom woes! Anyway, so she smiled and gave Sahil a cursory nod from across the room. Sahil got the defensive body language and turned to face her dad at once. The chat charade of small talk went on for some time and finally, like always, her mum asked Jahnvi to show Sahil around the house and her room, especially. Jahnvi had to obviously oblige!

Oh God! she thought it was going to be 6pm in five minutes, their time to meet online. She’d have to miss it because she had to show Sahil around the house!!She thought, “Sorry babe, domestic duties for the mother. 8 pm to wish you happy dinner definitely.” So she and Sahil strolled around the house from kitchen to her parents’ room to study and finally they arrived in her room.

As Sahil stepped in with Jahnvi, she felt the faintest click of a heartbeat that disappeared in an instant and she angrily ignored the spark. Sahil was quiet the whole time just listening to Jahnvi describe the house throwing in a few tour guide kind of memories here and there. When she was about to start saying something monotonous about her room he quickly chimed in looking at her favorite childhood picture with her sister and said, “Wait, is that you fighting for an ice cream?” At that, they both laughed and Jahnvi instinctively liked him. At ease, she told him how she missed her sister ever more so now that she was married off in Bangalore. She said, “Two years apart, my sister the elder one, we both share the greatest sister bond ever.” Sahil smiled. A smile that reached his eyes and Jahnvi kept looking at him blankly as if registering something familiar about him. A feeling, a liking, she didn’t know and she couldn’t afford to fall prey to her mother’s fishing for her.

They actually happily exchanged life anecdotes for half an hour about how each of them got to be a writer and an MBA grad respectively and how their lives were at 31 years! WTF!! She found out he was the same age as her! She always wanted her husband to be her age! He was about to start another conversation when she quipped in and suggested they go back outside to sit with the rest. She noticed his smile disappeared, but he asked her for her number. Jahnvi wasn’t sure about that but she couldn’t tell him no out rightly, lest her mother would blast her for an entire week after that, so she gave it to him.

The guests left soon after Jahnvi and Sahil returned to the living room. She saw him smiling a wicked smile at her mother but she thought she was dreaming and she couldn’t focus more on this Sahil guy. She had to get back on Whatsapp, it was going to be 8pm in like another minute.

That night, Jahnvi couldn’t sleep despite saying goodnight to her platonic boyfriend, in her head, for the hundredth time that night at 12 am. She had too many things to worry. For starters what her editor would react like in the morning when he would find out she hadn’t even begun her level 2 research on Europe and it was already Wednesday! Where was she leading with Prantik (her platonic boyfriend)? She wondered if he was even interested in her because he never really messaged her or anything. He could be online for so many more reasons than to see her online! Well her amygdala (emotional part of the brain) took over her neocortex (her thinking brain). She emotionally concluded that their love was a dream come true and Whatsapp was indeed a messiah.

She was about to sleep when she received a message from Sahil. She actually smiled despite herself. He sent her a writer’s gif that made her laugh. She messaged him saying, “I have more mom woes than writer woes Sahil. Goodnight.” Don’t know why but she had to admit that she liked the fact that Sahil had messaged her. Then the age old phrase, “When a guy is interested in you, he will message or talk to you” popped in her head. Again that alarm bell about Prantik rang loudly in her head, but stubborn as she was she ignored it and slept off.

The next morning was vague and slightly unsettling. Firstly, she had to get the research out of the way but she couldn’t help thinking about her relationship status with Prantik. She walked back memory lane from a year ago when she was introduced to Prantik by a common friend at a club. He was smart, funny and she got along well with him. At first, she didn’t think much about him but once she was online for some work, quarrelling with her sister as usual, when she went on his profile and saw him online. She wanted to message him a greeting but she stopped herself.  She went offline and went online again in a split second and he was gone too. That’s when their online love game began. She was single and he was too or so she thought and this was fun. She had obviously expected him to message her after six months of their platonic affair but he hadn’t. Till today, she kept dreaming of the day he’d message saying, “I love you Jahnvi.” But he hadn’t and now it was going to be a whole year without a word from him. She thought to herself, “Was this love game even real? Was he even the one in the first place? Or was this just another love drop after all?” She was filled with anguish and researching on Europe was the last thing on her mind.

Jahnvi got dressed in her tracks and top and ran out the door to sprint walk the streets of her beloved Mumbai to clear her mind. She was halfway in an argument with the watermelon seller to give her the fruit for 30 bucks less when she saw Sahil waving at her from across the road.

She found herself to light up at the sight of him. Don’t know but she was relieved to see him somehow. He approached her and asked why she was fighting with the poor seller. She said, “You see this watermelon is worth 100 bucks but he wants to sell it for 150!” He just smiled and gave some secret “gyaan” to the seller after which he gave it to her for 100 bucks. She asked him how he convinced the seller so he simply said, “Guy talk, mutual understanding. It’s late, let’s walk you home?” Jahnvi walked home with him and they talked about everything under the sun and she felt like he was such an easy going guy. No hang ups. Unlike Prantik, who was clearly not here instead of him.

Jahnvi went to bed that night and saw Prantik online. He was there but it didn’t affect her somehow. She typed a thank you text to Sahil instead and he replied saying, “It’s all good.”

The next morning, she finished her  research and sent like a concise report of the research to her editor, got dressed and asked Sahil out for lunch.

It’s been a year now since Sahil and Jahnvi’s engagement and she is glad her parents fixed her with Sahil. As for Prantik, she found out from her common friend that he liked her but wasn’t sure. At that Jahnvi just smiled like Sahil and spoke out loud, “I’d rather be with a guy who wants to be a part of my life than wait for a guy who isn’t sure about me!"