The Last Love Letter

Chapter 18

Subah disconnected the call and sat behind the wheel for a long time, memories of her meetings with the father and daughter flashing through her mind. Half an hour later, she knew what she had to do. She needed to say sorry to Akash. She had not just been rude but very unkind to the man. But would he forgive her?
The phone rang again.

'Hi, Subah. It's me again, Rohit. You sure you're okay? I mean, I've been worried since you abruptly hung up, but I didn't want to call back immediately. I wanted to give you some time. What's the matter?'

'Nothing.' Subah didn't want to say anything about Akash or his family. To make sure Rohit didn't return to the same subject, she took the initiative. 'I'm fine, really. It's just work.'

'Your NGO?'

'Precisely.'

'Okay. Would you like to meet and tell me more about the NGO? I'm curious.'

'Well...' It didn't seem right to say no straightaway, but she had no idea how to deflect his request. Rohit was a nice guy, after all. What was the harm if she met him?

'I mean, it's okay if you're busy.'

'No, I'm fine.'

'Look, today is my day off.'

'Today is good.'

'Great, say around 7 at Zeros? It's a nice little place in Khan Market.'

'Sure, see you there.'

What just happened? What was this? A date? Of course it was a date. And then she realized why she had agreed. She wanted to find out more about Akash's wife.

But why? About that, she had no clue.

Later, at home, she sat in front of the mirror and combed her hair. It was 6 in the evening. She had chosen a simple full-length skirt and a conservative high-neck top. No make-up, just a touch of lip gloss.

When she reached Zeros an hour later, Rohit met her with a bouquet of roses and his best smile. Unlike her, he had dressed up for the occasion. It was a bad start. She didn't want Rohit to waste his time, money or efforts on someone like her, who had no interest in men.

Perhaps I should have turned him down. Damn!

As she sat opposite him and smiled, she reminded herself of her real purpose. It made the ordeal bearable.

They ordered food, and the white wine that Rohit insisted paired well with the dishes they'd chosen. Rohit had decided on herb-rubbed tiger prawns, while she had chosen chicken florentine. They decided to share a cottage cheese and pomegranate salad that Rohit said would go well with it too.
He seemed to be in control of the evening, very sure that it was going in the right direction, and as soon as they had finished eating, he started on the story of his life. No woman had ever interested him. But that was all going to change, as he had found the perfect person. She smiled through it all, not sure how best to start on her purpose. Was she being selfish, having an agenda? But didn't he have one?

When they had chosen rasmalai for dessert, she took advantage of the pause. 'It made me immensely sad to hear that Sara has lost her mother and that there's no one to take care of her.'

He replied immediately. 'Yeah, really sad. And whenever I think of my best friend, Akash, I feel a crushing pain. He was so much in love with his wife.'

Something stirred in her stomach. 'Really?'

'Yes, and now he is alone fighting a war they'd promised they would fight together.'

'I know what it's like when someone you love dies.'

There was silence for a few seconds, which prolonged the moment, the words hanging between them.

Rohit leant closer and asked, 'Did you...'

Subah cursed herself silently for the inadvertent slip and interrupted him, saying, 'Never mind.' But her composure had broken and she needed to get it back. 'Will you please excuse me?'

'Sure.'

She got to her feet and walked to the ladies' room. Once inside, she took a deep breath and wondered how similar her situation and Akash's were.
Akash had lost the woman he was in love with, while Subah had lost faith in the emotion called love itself. Either way, they were people whose dreams had been shattered through no fault of their own.

Now Akash had Sara, and Subah had hundreds of women she had nourished with her time, money and sacrifices. And even though those women were all adults, to Subah, they were like children she had given rebirth to.

After a few minutes, when she was sure she had regained her composure, she returned to the table and gave Rohit a bright smile.

But the meeting-or the date, which Rohit was treating it as, and she'd been playing along-had to end. And abruptly. So there would be no 'would you like to come in for a cup of coffee' opportunity. She was sure he would insist on that if he dropped her home in his car.
Subah bid him goodbye while still at the restaurant, and before he could muster the courage to say anything, she turned and left. It was rude, she knew. And Rohit, a gentleman, didn't deserve to be treated so shabbily, so Subah turned at the door, smiled again and said, 'I quite enjoyed the dinner. Thank you very much, Rohit.'

Then, as she saw his hand rise to acknowledge that, she left.