Midnight Gapshap

“Did you enjoy the party?"

“I loved it!”

“I knew you would. Your fretting over this was completely unwarranted.”

“Now, when did I fret!”

“You know you did. Were you afraid they might not like you?”

“Darling, I was afraid I might not like them.”

“This is why I love you.”

I laughed as the handsome man sitting behind the wheel smiled resignedly. Strapping the seat belt across, I admitted, “Well, I was a tad nervous about feeling left out. I mean, this was your college group and I didn’t know anybody initially.”

“But now you do.”

“Yes, and I really like them.”

 Arjun smiled as he replied, “I’m really glad about that. These people are very close to me and what you think of them matters to me more than you can imagine, Radhika.”

Although I tried not to preen in that compliment, I had to admit it had touched me. Arjun and I had been married for about six months and it been an arranged alliance. We had naturally grown much closer to each other after marriage, but there was still so much to learn, notice and like and sometimes, I felt that it would take a lifetime to know Arjun. The fact that he respected my opinion so much meant a lot to me.

“I was seeing everyone after so many years, but it felt the same, you know.”

“I can understand”, I said, squeezing his hand.

“Remembering the good old days”, he remarked nostalgically.

Now that comment reminded me of the question that had been rankling in my mind since the party, courtesy all the famous college ke kisse which Arjun’s friends had generously filled me in with.

After a highly calculated casual pause, I enquired nonchalantly, “So—who is Samaa?”

Arjun frowned as he replied, “Samaa? Mmm…Samaa—I can’t seem to remember sweetheart, though the name does sound familiar.”

I tried again, “Samaa Raghavan?”

This little additional input erased that frown almost instantaneously from Arjun’s forehead. Instead, a huge smile broke across his face as he replied laughingly, “Oh! Sam!  I had totally forgotten that’s not her name.”

Sam.

I tried to digest this anglicised pet name assignment as I remarked casually, “So, you remember Samaa—I mean, Sam?”

With a positively dreamy look in his eyes, my dear husband replied, “To remember someone you’ve got to forget them first—and who can forget Sam!”

Wow, this was even more than I was prepared for.

“Was she a close friend?”

Arjun grinned at me cheekily, “Not as close as I would have liked her to be, but just to cut a long story short, Sam was my one and only college crush which lasted the entire four years; and you never forget that, do you?"

Who said I wanted the long story cut short?

“How—How interesting! So—I didn’t get to meet her at the party.”

“Oh, she didn’t come. Rohit mentioned that she’s holidaying in the States currently.”

“So you’re not in touch? I mean, I know infatuations come and go, but first love is first love.”

Arjun didn’t reply immediately, but after a pause, he said thoughtfully, “Yes, first love is first love.”

As we drove on,  Arjun suddenly looked in my direction and asked mischievously, “So Rohit told you the whole story?”

Whole story! And here was I, thinking it was only a chapter.

I laughed artificially as I commented, “No no, he just gave me a rough picture, you know.”

Arjun continued to look ahead, but after a brief pause, he spoke, and I could sense a definite dash of enjoyment in his voice, “Why do I get the feeling someone’s jealous?”

I immediately exclaimed defensively, “Now why on earth would I be jealous? I was just, well, curious.”

Arjun didn’t seem to convinced so I added, “It’s a long drive back home, so I thought we might as well chat about something fun. Midnight Gapshap, you know.”

Now that's what I call a good comeback.

Arjun laughed as he commented, “Okay, I buy that logic. But where to begin!”

I smiled tightly as I remarked, “Must have been pretty.”

“Uff! Sam was gorgeous! And still is, judging by her Instagram Profile.”

Hmm. So things were Instagram Level.

“Hazel eyes, peachy complexion, dimpled cheeks! And her hair; I have never, ever seen tresses that were so straight naturally.”

And my hair is a mass of curls that require three hours of parlour torture to attain a tamed look.

I decided that I had gained sufficient information about dear Sam’s profile. My imagination was more than helping me out with the remaining minor details. Hence, I sleekly changed the topic.

“So—what does she do now?”

“Surprisingly, she went in for modelling!”

And why am I not surprised?

“Wow. That must mean a lot of travelling.”

“Oh, Sam loves to travel! As far as I know though, she is currently based in Italy.”

And that’s why you like pasta.

I smiled sweetly as I confirmed, “Sam must have had an entourage of admirers.”

“Of course”, said Arjun grinning, and then winking at me impishly, he replied, “But I was first among equals.”

Calm Down Mode On.

I now put on one of my professional level fake smiles and enquired charmingly, “So—why didn’t things work out?”

Arjun continued to look ahead and remarked absently, “What didn’t work out?”

I grimaced inwardly for having to put this so bluntly, “I meant, why didn’t things work out between you and Sam?”

Arjun smiled disarmingly as he replied, “Same old story. It was a one sided thing.”

I smiled quietly and after a pause, asked, “And is it still there?”

Arjun grinned as he replied, “Absolutely, but not in the way you think.”

“Hey! I’m not thinking anything!”

“Darling, your imagination has given you a free tour of the whole of Italy today”, he said smirking.

I decided that my tongue and imagination both needed a break so I cordially ignored that last jab.

After a pause, Arjun spoke, “I never really expressed my feelings at that time because somewhere, I knew that she wasn’t interested back then. And as I mentioned, we were really good friends, so I didn’t want to ruin that.”

I refused to look as I remarked, “You should have kept in touch and  tried proposing after a few years.”

Arjun looked ahead and replied shortly, “There was no need for that.”

“Why?”

“Because she proposed first.”

Wow.

Now curiosity was winning the race against jealousy, so shunning all pretence, I asked, “Then what was the problem?”

Arjun grinned at me and replied, “Wrong timing was the problem, sweetheart.”

“Wrong timing?” I repeated, confused.

Arjun now looked at me and said, “Big time. Because by the time she proposed, I had already met you.”

The AC was on full blast but I could still feel my cheeks turning a flaming shade of crimson. Trying to act as casual as I could, I replied airily, “You could have refused me.”

Arjun replied candidly, “I couldn’t actually.”

“Why?”

Looking at me, he smiled quietly as he replied, “Because infatuations come and go. First love is first love.”

Mini Epilogue

As Arjun was busy unlocking the front door, I leaned against the wall and casually commented, “So—is she married?”

“Honey, you really need to give it a break.”

“That’s not the answer to my question.”

“Yes. A doctor— Siddharth, if I’m not wrong.”

“Italy—doctor—Siddharth—Oh my God, you surely don’t mean Siddharth Mehrotra!”

“That’s the name.”

“We were in the same college!”

“Do you remember him?”

A broad smile broke across my face as I replied sardonically, “To remember someone, you’ve got to forget them first, and who can forget Sid?”

A curt voice replied, “How—How interesting!”