Nice to Meet You Again

Zara Si Dil Mein De Jagah Tu

"A cup of tea please!"

Parmita had been waiting for half an hour in the restaurant. Once again she was questioning her decision to go for an outing with her best friend Ritu from school days. After Dev was gone, Parmita had stopped picking up phone calls even from her best friend who lived in a different city. She didn't even attend Ritu's wedding. So when yesterday Ritu's phone came and she told her she was in the city, Parmita at once agreed to meet her at this restaurant. Only for Parmita to keep waiting since half an hour and Ritu not even picking her call. Parmita was getting irritated at the cheesy love songs playing in the restaurant and those stupid heart balloons. She wanted to stomp on each of those idiotic balloons and shout out to the world, "Look now! This is the reality of love! Only ruin and pain."

Suddenly a tall man pulled the chair in front of her table and sat down. He was wearing a mask.

"Excuse Me!" Parmita said, "Actually... actually my friend will come and sit here." Parmita always felt awkward when asserting herself. She hated confrontations, and after Dev's death, she began dreading them.

"No problem," the man said, extending his hand towards Parmita, "I'm Jay and I already have a girlfriend."

"What?" Parmita blurted out. Yet reflexively she shook the man's hand.

"I mean I'm on a date with my girlfriend. Actually not my girlfriend," the man lowered his voice to a whisper, "She used to be my friend. I'm going to propose her today. Today is propose day, no? I'll leave when either your friend or my girlfriend comes."

Parmita gave a tight-lipped smile to the man. Gosh! He was so irritating. Why it was taking so long for Ritu to arrive? Parmita started tapping her foot.

"You have come for an outing after so long," the man stated.

Parmita was surprised, "How did you know?"

"You are repeatedly tapping your feet that means you are nervous, and oh! What a shame! You are drinking tea in midst of anxiety. Very bad! Caffeine aggravates anxiety." Before Parmita could say anything, the man lifted the teacup and turned behind and chugged entire tea in one big gulp. Before Parmita could see his face, he again pulled the mask up his face.

The man pulled up a notebook and started reading from it, "I love you Paro! You are..."

"Paro? Paro who?" Parmita drank a whole glass of water to hide her shock.

"The girl I'm going to propose is a Bengali and a big fan of Sharat Chandra Chattopadhyay. Devdas is her favourite book and Paro is her favourite character. That's why I love you Paro. Understood?"

Paro unwillingly nodded. She couldn't sit anymore. It was getting weirder and weirder. She got up. Let Ritu come now! Parmita has already waited so long!

"Wait! Wait! Wait!" The man said, "I have no one to practise my proposal with. I don't want to mess it up! This is very important for me!"

Something in the man's eyes stopped Parmita in the tracks. It indeed was very important for him.

"Fine! Practice!" Parmita said.

The man got up and kneeling in front of Parmita, he gazed directly into Parmita's eyes, and said, "I love you Paro. When we met after so many years, you didn't even recognise me. But I recognised you at the first glance itself. You are so wrapped up in grief, that you don't even want to open your eyes. And your eyes are so beautiful, Paro madam. So you are indeed doing the world a big disservice by robbing it of the beauty being seen by you. I want to protect you Paro, I want to give you everything you deserve. I want to lay every good thing in the world at your feet. I can't tolerate a single tear in your eye. I'm always in front of you, yet you never even recognise me. Am I so forgettable to you, Paro? You said I was so arro..."The man gulped and left the sentence incomplete, "Maybe I am as bad as you think me to be. Maybe I'm even worse but even at my worst, I'll always love you. Even if I'm a monster, if you ask just once, I'll lay my life at your feet."

The man's voice was hoarse and Paro felt as if some dust particle entered in her eye.

"I don't think she'll come," the man said and got up dusting his knees.

Parmita didn't know what came over her when she said, "I'm so sorry your crush didn't come. But will you...I mean will you have a dance with me?"

Paro started walking towards the man, extending her hand, and tripped over a wire. The man said, his hand extended to catch Paro, "Paro, be careful." Then realising his mistake, he said, "I'm sorry. I called you by her name."

"It's alright," Parmita said softly.

The song Zara Si Dil Me De Jagah Tu started playing. The man held Parmita by her waist. He was a stranger, but his eyes were so familiar. Parmita and the man started dancing on the song.

"Are you alright?" The man whispered in Parmita's ear, "You were not feeling well earlier."

"Yeah," Parmita whispered, "And you?"

"She didn't say Yes," the man chuckled, "But at least I got to dance with a beautiful woman like you."

Parmita didn't know till when she kept dancing and when the man disappeared at the stroke of eight.

"Cinderella man!" Parmita chuckled. After such a long time, her heart felt light as a feather. She was feeling bad for the man yet she was grateful. For what? She didn't know yet.

So this was Propose Day Special ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️Please give the feedback for this chapter. It's the most valuable gift for me.