Chapter Sixteen #4
‘Wait, wait, wait, hang on! This note, it looks like my handwriting, for sure. Where did you find it? I have no recollection!’
‘Well, I was in Mumbai for a conference and having drinks with a client.’
‘You’ve been to Bombay before?’ Timira interrupts.
‘Yes. Like I mentioned. For a conference, for just a day.’
Haaye, other Bombay girls must’ve laid eyes on him. Thank God kisi ne utha nahin liya ise. Thank you, Bhaggu! Timira is looking up at the sky, hands folded in reverence.
‘Timira, focus. I was in the middle of something. Can I finish?’
‘Oh, haan, haan . Sorry, sorry. Irshad , I mean continue.’ Timira giggles like a silly schoolgirl.
‘I was having a drink with a colleague when somebody seated at the bar threw their phone away and it landed close to my feet. So I had it sent to its owner by one of the servers. They brought me back this note.’
‘NO FREAKING WAY! WHAT? That was YOU? How on earth?’
Haneul pats her head and speaks haltingly in broken Hindi, ‘ Badi badi deshon mein chhoti chhoti baatein hoti rehti hain, Senorita !’
‘You are learning Hindi?’ Timira cannot handle the thrill of it anymore. She is now almost yelling.
‘As much as I love you and as much as I want to say that I am, I am not. I just saw the movie on the flight here. Hanee had recommended it, saying it’s one of your favourites.’
Oh, my darling Honey. Why couldn’t Haneul pack her in his luggage and bring her here? Haneul, I, Ally, Bhaskar and Honey. Chhota parivaar, sukhi parivaar!
‘I still can’t believe it. Who’s going to believe it, tell me? It all sounds too serendipitous. You’ve been here before? To Bombay? How come you never told me?’
‘You never asked, and it never came up in conversation. And honestly, I didn’t know it was you until Hanee gave me your little poem!’
‘Just call it a letter. Or note. Whatever. Not poetry. I know I’m not a poet.’ Timira rolls her eyes and sticks her tongue out at no one.
Haneul affectionately ruffles her hair and laughs.
‘How did my visiting card make its way to you? Did Ryan share it?’ Timira asks, remembering that it was Bhaskar’s buddy Ryan who had hooked her up with the SecondSkin gig.
‘Disclaimer: I wasn’t trying to stalk you or anything. And how we met at the beach was entirely coincidental. But we were actually staying at the same hotel. We nearly bumped into each other outside the lift and I found a bunch of your stuff lying on the ground …’
‘Yes, yes, yes! I had lost my wallet, too. I’d been in a real hurry to get to the spa. Alice would’ve killed me … but, wait …
I bumped into you ?’
No way I’d forget your beautiful face if I bumped into you!
‘No, you silly goose. You did not. I said nearly bumped. You would most definitely have had I not dodged you in the nick of time. You were rushing, like I said, carrying a big bag that was swinging wildly …’
Haneul and Timira are both quiet for a few seconds before Timira goes back to her questionnaire.
‘So you kept the card just like that?’
‘I guess I liked what I saw …’
‘What is that supposed to mean, mister?’
‘I mean, I liked your name and the font it was written in, I guess.’
Fond of the font , Timira giggles in her mind.
‘You looked familiar the minute you fell into my arms at the beach. Of course, I couldn’t be a hundred per cent certain because I had only caught a glimpse of you back at the hotel.
But my heart knew it was you. And then when you told me your name, I thought a thousand stars had suddenly lit up the sky.
Like the ground beneath my feet had shifted.
It was like gravity, but it wasn’t pulling me down. Instead, I was floating. Flying …’
And they say I have a way with words, but bhaisahab is giving me kadi takkar! Timira is marvelling at Haneul’s knack for storytelling and blushing hard at the same time.
Timira clears her throat and resumes her interrogation.
‘You weren’t at the hospital when I came to. Why didn’t I see you at the hotel either after I was discharged? You could’ve met me. You just vanished …’
‘You saw in Seoul what I was up against. You think I didn’t want to? Every inch of me wished to see you. But that wouldn’t have been fair to any of us. And, hey, you didn’t even remember me for the longest time!’
‘Blame my brain. It malfunctioned. I had nothing to do with it. I eat walnuts religiously!’
How could I forget this beautiful face? Tch, shame on me!
‘Anyway, I had to fly back to Seoul that afternoon so even if we had met, it would’ve been brief. Not to mention awkward, don’t you think?’
Timira nods in agreement.
But still, would’ve been nice to know such a handsome man was my saviour. I kept thinking I had spent the evening with some creep. Khair, koi nahin. The handsome man is mine now, yay!
‘And the note. Why did you even save the note from Bombay? Are you some sort of a freak?’
‘I didn’t even know I still had it on me until very recently. I saw it only when one of our housekeepers found a bunch of stuff inside a satchel that he intended to send to the cleaners. I hadn’t used it since my trip to Mumbai and it had just been lying around.’
‘Why did you even take it back with you? I mean, who does that?!’
‘Wouldn’t you have? It was my first time receiving a thank-you note on a napkin. Previously, I’d only been sent phone numbers!’
Timira rolls her eyes.
‘Yeah, whatever, Mr Casanova!’
Haneul laughs and touches Timira’s hair again.
Timira pushes his hand away in mock annoyance.
‘Don’t try to pet me! I’m not a pup. Anyway, now tell me how I got hired. How did you get Ryan in on it?’
‘Okay, I’ll tell you exactly as it was and you are going to have to take my word for it.
At SecondSkin, we were looking for someone great at communication with international-level proficiency in English.
So hiring a foreigner was the most obvious choice.
And Ryan being one of our foreign vendors, I naturally spoke with him about it.
He shared your résumé with us, and everybody loved it! ’
‘That’s it? That’s the story?’
‘Yeah. Yup. Yes.’ Haneul looks away as if reluctant to let Timira look into his eyes.
‘Haneul, what are you hiding?’
‘Hiding? Me? Nothing at all!’
‘Out with it! You said you will answer all my questions honestly. You promised!’
‘Okay, okay, fine. I might’ve looked up your profile on LinkedWin and noticed that Ryan was a common connection. So I took a chance. I didn’t know it was going to pay off!’
‘So Ryan knew about this?’
‘Oh, no, no, no. Poor guy has no idea. He shared your CV with all seriousness. Very professional and thorough, that guy!’ He makes a thumbs-up sign to show his approval of Ryan.
‘So I got hired because you liked me. Nice!’
‘What? No! You got hired because of your insanely good résumé. Why do you doubt yourself? Don’t you know how terrific you are at what you do?’
Timira is enjoying this. Smiling self-indulgently, she cocks an eyebrow and turns towards Haneul with a smirk.
‘If nepo babies can have doors, windows, careers opened for them, then I sure can live with this,’ she winks.
Uff, Haneul was my husn ka deewana! Nepo girlfriend and proud. Ooooh, girlfriend, teehee!
‘I don’t care if nepotism got me in. I kissed my way in, okay. So be it!’
‘You know you are amazing? How do you not fail to surprise me at every turn?’
‘Because I’m your everyday Santa Claus. Here to fill your stockings and life with surprises every day. Ho ho ho!’
Even her jokes are silly and childlike, just like her.
Haneul laughs like an indulgent parent and pulls her in for a hug. He laughs throatily as Timira smiles coyly.
What a nutter. What a cutie. May that smile never dim. May I be the reason for that smile forever and after.
Still engulfed in the hug, safe in Haneul’s arms, Timira sighs.
‘Oh, Haneul. Ours is an entirely impossible story. Who’s going to believe any of this? I can barely believe it myself. It’ll take a while to sink in!’
‘Well, you better believe it, kiddo!’
‘Kiddo? Who? Me? Excuse me, I’m older than you by a whole year and then some. YOU are a kiddo. I’m your Noona !’
‘Yeah, sure. Have you seen yourself? Have you looked inside your head? Your heart? You aren’t a day older than twenty!’
‘If I’m twenty, that would make you a creepy ahjussi. Ahjussi, are you sure you haven’t made everything up?’ Timira teases.
Haneul replies in a serious voice. ‘Tim, you think I can be that creatively creepy? And why would I? Even without these odd circumstances, I’d still have fallen in love with you!’
He did not just bring out his big boy voice! How sexy!
Feeling giddy, Timira blushes. Her mind has been blown. And, she cannot hide it. Lifting her head, she leans in towards Haneul’s face. But Haneul moves his arms off of her with a slight look of worry on his flawless face.
‘How much PDA is too much in India?’ he asks innocently.
‘Well, you see, it’s tough for me to define how much is too much. I could demonstrate, should you like.’
‘Ah, yes, if you’d be so kind …’
She kisses his left cheek. ‘Not too much.’
Right cheek. ‘Not too much.’
Nose. ‘Definitely not too much.’
Forehead. ‘Not too much either.’
Ears. ‘Again, not too much.’
She proceeds to kiss his neck, but before she can speak, he has planted his mouth on hers. Only after satisfactory examination of the plumpness of her lower lip, the bite in her bunny teeth and the dexterity of her tongue, he releases his grip on her neck.
‘Was this too much?’ Haneul enquires innocently.
‘Hmm, ummm, what? Sorry, I am a little dizzy.’
With that, she buries her face in his shoulder and rests inside the warmth of his strong arms around her even as clouds gather around them and shower over them in a rush. The heavens shower their blessings as a beautiful Bamhaneul is born.
The dark of the night has finally met the sky.
Timira has finally met her Haneul.