That time travel machine called mind..

“It’s only fair for wines to get better with age”, he said gazing into her big brown eyes. She broke into a sheepish laughter. “I am warning you against using that line on anyone else” “But it worked and you look stunning” he said, this time more in awe than trying to rekindle old feelings. She smiled gracefully trying to hide the flutter in her heart. The same flutter she felt more than a decade ago.

“Wait, am I seeing you after 7 years?”, she asked counting years in her mind. “If we would’ve met for the first time now, I would have broken all barriers of formality”, he said with a smirk. “Lord! Will you stop flirting already?” she said feeling genuinely floored and guilty of feeling that emotion. A feeling she attributed to being the teenagers’ territory.

 They took a long walk through the park, rekindling bits and pieces of the past, talking about everything under the sun just like how they did back then. A conversation without the fear of judgment accompanied by the joy of finding solace in each other’s company and a reassuring feeling that made her feel like a bubbling younger self in her early 20s.

Thing didn’t seem to have changed much, the humour was same, the telepathy was same, just a new name attached to the maiden one. She laughed with all her heart, till tears flowed out of her eyes. She laughed like that after many years. The feeling was surreal, overpowering, liberating and calming at the same time. “You haven’t looked at your watch yet so I am assuming you will up for some hot jalebis and samosa?”, a rather rhetorical question, he hardly allowed her the time to process a negative response. She helplessly nodded. Of late, she had taught herself to do little things that made her happy.

“It was great meeting you. Let’s do this again. And I want some good coffee next time, won’t let you go with samosa and jalebi”, she said shaking hands and controlling her urge to give him the warmest hug she could. “You know the answer cannot be a no. Been a long time since a gorgeous woman asked me out for coffee”, he finished. She was stunned at his timing and how he had his way with his practiced skills of flattery. And through the flirtatious outside, she was reminded of that man with high intellect, strong principles and genuine care for people around him. People like him led her into believing why some phrases like “head over heels in love” came into existence.

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She walked in the rain, not minding returning home drenched from head to toe. The fabulous time had come to an end, it was time to slip into the routine mode.

 “Mamma! You are drenched. Were you trying to play in the rain?”, declared the little one greeting her on the door. “(laughs) Move beta, Mamma will catch cold and if she starts sneezing who will finish telling you last night’s bedtime story?” she said, struggling her way inside her sparkling clean house with water dripping from her jeans.

“Good Lord! Where were you? This rain is insane!”, he declared

They drank their tea in silence, listening to the rain drops crashing on the window panes. “Just the perfect amount of ginger for today’s weather” he said, putting the cup on the table. He sure was a man of few words.