Korean Cafe

— Pratik

I was sitting in front of my computer, earphones plugged in, listening to old songs from Hindi serials because why not, and reading some literature review. I had at least five windows open: one for ChatGPT, where I was dumping paragraphs from the research paper and asking it to explain them like I was five; one for the paper; one for my code that had been stuck for the last 10 minutes, though I was hoping it was just a logging issue; one for songs; and a few emails. So basically, drenched in work. I had to lock in.

That's when I got a notification on my phone. My notifications are very selective, so it had to be someone I wanted to respond to. I looked, and I saw the text: 🌸 "क्या कर रहे हो?"

I played cool. "कुछ नहीं, बताओ?"

"मैं थोड़ी परेशान हो रही हूँ। कहीं घूमने चलें?"

I looked up at all my open windows. I stared at them for a few seconds before I replied. "चलो।"

"इतनी जल्दी कैसे मान गए तुम? मुझे लगा मना कर दोगे, फिर मैं तुमसे गुस्सा हो जाऊँगी।"

I smiled and shook my head in amazement.

"किसी और चीज़ पर लड़ लेना, शाम लंबी है। जाओ जाओ, तैयार हो जाओ। आधे घंटे में निकलते हैं। Okay?!"

"Okayyyy!"

She was happy. I could sense it just from her "Okay."

I smiled, turned off the screen, stretched, took my helmet, and left.

I got "ready," as in washed my face, fixed my hair, and called it putting in effort. It was winter anyway; I was buried in my puffer jacket. It looked like it could rain! I couldn't smell anything because winter air in Delhi chokes me. The way I choked when she came walking toward me. She looked pretty in her green sweater, puffer jacket, and beanie. She was prepared for the winter, and I was not prepared for her.

She hopped on my Bullet, and we left. We chit-chatted about random things while I drove. Whenever I stopped, I rested my hand on her knees. She complained about her stuff, I complained about mine. I didn't get angry when her shoddy spatial-navigation brain made us miss a shortcut. What's the use of a shortcut if I get to spend extra time with her? I was happy! I kept mumbling under my breath, "I'll get her home safely." I'd read somewhere that repeated words become reality, so I kept saying it like a prayer. It works, you know.

In half an hour, we reached our destination: a cute "Korean Cafe," run by people from Nagaland. We said hi, went upstairs, and sat there.

"कुछ नया ट्राई करें?"

I grinned and said, "मेरे अलावा कुछ भी नया ट्राई कर लो, चलेगा।"

She looked at me the way people abandon broken projects.

She picked two or three fancy-sounding dishes; I picked my trusted Coca-Cola can.

We kept talking about her home, my work, her work, her beautiful eyes, and her smile.

"बस बस।" She stopped me. I never figured out whether she didn't like it when I said she looked absolutely gorgeous, or how pretty her eyes were. Granted, I did make fun of her eyes.

The food came, we clicked pictures, thanked the Gods for the delicious food, and dug in.

I kept humming a song from time to time. She didn't know it. Strange. She knows all the songs by heart; I'm the one who fumbles.

It's from that old serial, I guess my Maa used to watch this serial, and it has lived in me forever.

"टूटे दिल की मत कर
तू फिक्र मेरे हमनवा
प्यार दूँ तुझको इस कदर
रह जाए मेरे निशान"

She just hummed it back. Her voice is literally the most melodious.

When we were done, the cafe gave us a complimentary cake. They thought we were cute.

We gladly accepted!

It had started raining. After roaming here and there, we sat at a chai stall. She absolutely loved chai; I loved her chai-coloured skin! I brought piping hot chai, and we sat there, looking at the rain and sipping chai. I didn't want the evening to end. I wanted it to stay exactly as it was. I wanted this to be my groundhog day. With her. Sipping chai, looking at the rain, and listening to her hum a song.

— Pratik