The New Dawn

I entered the Café Coffee Day outlet at Barakhambha Road in Delhi. This is a quiet place despite being situated at one of the busiest roads of Delhi. The first thing I noticed; as soon as I entered the shop; that it was having nicely maintained room temperature which was extremely comforting during an afternoon of May. As soon as the glass door of the outlet shut hydraulically, the outlet became free from outside noise. It was a nicely decorated outlet with pictures and posters depicting the theme – ‘History of coffee’ on the wall. The outlet is more in length than in width which is spaciously decorated with small round tables with three to four chairs around each table to accommodate the patrons. On the right hand side were two three seater sofas with rectangular tables and on the other side of the table were two chairs each for accommodating a larger group. During this time, the outlet is relatively having very few patrons inside and I noticed Nisha sitting at one of the right hand side sofas.

“Hi! Is everything good with you? I am just worried. Why have you called me here?” So many questions I hurled at her before I could sit on the chair in front of her.

“What would you have?” She asked me directly.

I gazed at her in surprise “What happened? You are sounding cold.”

She kept silent so I just went to the counter and ordered a Latte for myself.

“Today one year is over,” She plainly said.

“One year! One year of what?” I exclaimed in surprise. 

“So you forgot and this is what I was expecting” she said in a firm voice and continued “I have to hear from you what you have decided about our relationship. We had decided to talk about it after one year and so today is that date.”

I was wondering how meticulous females are in remembering the dates.

“Nisha! You know my family background. I need to settle down in my life first and then only I can marry. Can’t you wait till that time?”

“Define your notion of settlement and how long is this going to take?”

I was answerless.

“Amaay! I can’t keep on waiting for an undefined time. I also have a family and a background. I waited for your answer for one year after having discussions with you and you forgot that discussion also. I have been with you from past five years and you have still not made up your mind! We both have job offers and our convocation is due next month. What else can make you feel settled?”

“Nisha! I just need some more time. That’s all I am asking for.”

“A year before you had to say this only Amaay”

“I need time, Nisha”

“I don’t have, Amaay”

There is a deep silence.

“Amaay! I can’t give it more time. Let us move on.” She said tearfully in broken voice and stood up.

“Please don’t go …….. “ I said in a husky voice.

 We left separately with tears in our eyes. 

(To Be Continued)

Utpal Kant Mishra

Mumbai

P.S: This write is linked to Half Marathon 2016 by Blog Chatter. This is the first part of the story and the story will continue. This story has been written on the prompt of another author and it is a work of Fiction. Day 9 #DailyChatter