Encounter

4. Relics of the Past

I was awake already, and just looking outside the window. I didn't disturb Smriti, her head was on my shoulder.

I first met Smriti in the office when I was going Canteen, She ran from behind cause the door was about to shut and she didn't bring her Card with her. I was with Nimesh, he was on my team and he was 2 years senior to me in the office. We both looked back and saw her in a rush. It was all normal then. After 2 months, there was a grant event in our office, our annual day function. She came in a very beautiful blue color one piece. Everyone was talking about her. I also gave a glance. I loved her dress but I don't know why I didn't have any affection there.

One day suddenly, I got a message in the office from Smriti, it was about the bug I caused and it was affecting their module too. It wasn't a small bug, so we had to communicate very frequently. We had to communicate through voice calls very often. So it made us comfortable with time and we became friends. She used to talk about her, how she got hired, and the struggle she had to get here and all. After that, we started having lunch together, our department was the same but the team was different. Usually, she traveled through the office van but sometimes I would drop her. Roshan, Vandy, and Kshitij also started to talk with her. And, all of us became very close friends. Smriti was very friendly with us but she wasn't that open and I never thought of opening her to talk. She was a shy person. If it wasn't for the office's communication, we would have never talked but she was more comfortable around us. Since we 5 joined the office around the same month, this trip was from the Office for completing 2 years.

Vandy stopped the Car in front of a roadside motel. Roshan was already awake, he winked at me for a few times seeing Smriti napping on my shoulder. Kshitij and Smriti also woke up and she was a bit uncomfortable and in guilt after finding her head on me. She adjusted her hair and we all went to have snacks. Kshitij ordered chowmin and coke for everyone but she asked for Fanta.

Kshitij made a joke there, "You don't like coke?"

After a pause, he again said, "Sorry Roshan, she might not like you too."

We all laughed. Kshitij would pull Roshan's leg and Vandy would add some punch there. After having snacks they sat there joking around, while I went outside and stood on the side of the car, holding a Coke in one hand and a cigarette on the other, and one leg against the car. I was scared, I saw Smriti approaching me and threw the cigarette asap and blew the smoke out of my mouth quickly.

She asked me, "Why did you throw that? I know you smoke."

"Sorry, but I feel uncomfortable smoking in front of you. I mean people."

"Haha! Don't have to hide from me. You know as a child I used to think, that people who smoke are bad and they all are goons."

"I used to think the same."

"How long have you been smoking?"

"It's like asking a girl an age."

"If I tell you my age, will you tell me that?"

"Just a year"

"But I saw you smoking in the early days of my office."

"I used to back then but I stopped, tried controlling, and back then I had been smoking only for 4 months."

"What made you smoke again?"

"Now I don't smoke more often, only 2 sticks a day on average."

"But I asked, what made you start again."

"It was the same reason, I started back then."