A serene sunset by the beach

You Awake?

Mithun reached back home pretty late that night. Too many impromptu plans today, Mithun thought to himself, as he was opening the door to his apartment. Mithun, an engineer from Trivandrum area of Kerala, was working for a reputed IT firm in Mumbai. He stayed alone in an apartment in the suburbs of Mumbai and was finally independent. He could be himself, away from his conservative but caring and loving family back home. Mumbai for him had become more than his home because it finally gave him the space to be himself and he didn’t need anyone’s approval to live life the way he wanted to, atleast for the time being.

He opened the door, removed his shoes and went straight to freshen up. He then headed to the kitchen to make some hot tea, poured a glass for hinself and went over to the balcony and sat on the swing chair there, staring at the night’s expanse.

He took his mobile out, after a really long day of not looking into it. His friends had barred him from attending any calls or messages today. It was a farewell party for one of the guy in his group who was going abroad on-site. Lucky Bastard! Mithun thought to himself and smiled.

He returned to checking his phone. There was a message from his sister asking if everything was okay and that she missed fighting with him. A smile crossed his lips again.

He and his sister were nick named Tom and Jerry of their house, Mithun being the Tom and his sister, Advaita, being the Jerry. They would fight at the drop of a hat but they loved each other more than anyone else in the house. He replied back to her saying that she could fight with him as much as she wants when he visits home for Onam which was to come in 2 months.

Scrolling through the other messages he had received, he saw the last message that he had received from Krishna. Is it too late to message him? he thought as he glanced over the messaging app to check the time on his phone. It was quarter past 11.

Meanwhile, Krishna had just walked into his room and had decided to call it a day. He put on his headset, went straight to his bedtime playlist and hit Play. He readied his bed and crashed on it. Mithun did not message yet. Should I text him asking if everything was okay or maybe just a good night message…, Krishna’s mind wandered thinking about Mithun.

Krishna was born and brought up in Mumbai and his parents both worked in government firms. Krishna had been the only child and had sort of become a recluse except for his mom. He loved his mom to bits and so did she.

His last relationship was with a guy in the neighbourhood, they went to the same tuition ages ago. They started dating after accidentally chatting on the very same gay chat site where he met Mithun. It was easy for Krishna to date him as he knew the guy but it ended on a very bad note when Krishna found out that the guy was cheating on him with multiple other guys. Krishna, for him, was just a nearby acquaintance, someone to hookup with when he is in the mood and is bored to travel far.

His past experience, although singular, had made him even more wary to chat with the guys he met on the chat site. However something about Mithun put him at ease. He practically did not even know the guy but he felt a strange sense of security and warmth. He was confused but strangely happy at the same time. A good night message won’t do any harm, he thought to himself and went ahead and messaged him.

The time when he hit the send button was 11.16pm.

Mithun had just typed a message to Krishna when he received his message, a simple good night image with the moon shining high and bright on a vast dark sky.

He felt the same strange feeling of knowing this person for ages. Strange, he thought to himself.

He went ahead and sent the message that he had already typed.

“You awake?”