MIRA

43. Dare Date...☕

''Fine..haha...I promise...'' Mira said and gave Vikranth her hand.

Despite the cold breeze on top of the clock-tower, Mira's whole body felt hot. Vikranth held Mira's gaze as he slowly leaned in closer. She watched as his eyes moved to her lips and instinctively she pursed her lips and closed her eyes. 💕Just then, a loud repetitive alarming sound struck Mira's ears as she struggled to make out where it was coming from so she could immediately block off the sound.

***

Mira opened her eyes and found herself reaching for her phone as she made out where she was. It was Saturday morning and the 8:00 a.m. alarm on her phone was finally turned off. Mira realised by now that it was a dream, she was no longer in Boston but was back in Bangalore. She had been having such intimate dreams of Vikranth for the third day in  a row now. The dreams were so clear that they would replay in her head all morning.

A few weeks had passed since Preeti's engagement, and there was still nothing from Vikranth. Mira's desperation to know about Vikranth had reached a new level where she asked her mom on the phone whether she had spoken to Padma aunty (Vikranth's mom) and enquired about Vikranth and Srikranth. Mira casually mentioned Srikanth as well to not come across as unusually concerned. To her disappointment,the last time her mom had heard from Padma aunty was when Vikranth had been promoted.

***

Mira tried not to dwell in thoughts of Vikranth as she spent the weekend doing chores, running errands like grocery shopping, visiting the bank and even helping Preeti with planning her wedding. However, it seemed very difficult. To make matters worse, she saw a story that he had uploaded on Instagram where he was going somewhere, the location tag confirmed that he was in Chicago, maybe on some work-commitment or just visiting Srikanth.

 Fury rose in Mira after she saw the story as she scoffed at how he had time to upload his whereabouts on  Instagram but he couldn't drop her a text. She decided that she should do the same and move on with her life and felt stupid for being unnecessarily worried all the while. Mira spent Sunday night with Preeti screening through profiles of young men on Tinder. 

She always wondered how people found the time to meet new people through dating apps while she was struggling to make time to stay in touch with the existing people in her life. She was skeptical of the whole concept as you could never completely trust those that you meet online. Yet, here she was doing just what most people in her generation where doing. 

Mira realised that the whole process of setting up a Tinder profile was kinda fun, apart from Preeti refusing her choice of profile photo. Mira had suggested her what she thought was her best photo, where she was standing in Boston city in her coat and boots. But Preeti had said,

''Ayy...it's a Tinder profile, not Linkedin! Your profile photo is the first thing guys see yaar! It has to immediately make them swipe right!''

Finally they settled on a close-up candid of Mira during the Diwali bash where she was all dressed up. When she realised that the photo was taken by Vikranth, her mind went spiralling in his thoughts again.

***

Preeti was right about the profile photos being a crucial deciding factor as the girls spent the night going over profiles of prospective dates. 

''He looks a bit too old no?'' Mira asked.

''Too young...swipe left!''

''Ugh...too creepy!'' Preeti would squeal.

''Oh god...looks to violent...left left!''

''Miru! You're too picky yaar...'' Preeti sighed.