Page 43 of Red Flags and Rishtas
What had just happened? Had they left already? When did they pay the bill?
I pushed my chair back to get up and follow them outside, only to come face to face with Aadar himself. I hadn’t seen him approaching me. He must’ve walked from behind the counter to get to me unnoticed.
‘What the hell are you doing here?’ he asked, placing one hand on his hip.
‘Um, hi,’ I said sheepishly, tucking a stray hair behind my ear.
‘You’re spying on me, aren’t you?’ he asked, his suspicion spread across his clean-shaven face.
‘Pfft.’ I blew a puff of air, then said, ‘I was just in the neighbourhood, helping out a friend with her boutique.’
‘I see,’ he said and crossed his arms. ‘That still doesn’t explain why you’re at the cafe I told you I was going to be at.’
I cleared my throat, feeling my cheeks turn red. There was nothing I could say or do – I’d been caught red-handed. Luckily for me, the waiter showed up again, this time to hand the bill to Aadar.
‘Why did she leave like that?’ I couldn’t help but ask.
Aadar was silent as he retrieved a few five-hundred-rupee notes from his wallet. After the waiter had left, he looked up at me with a curious expression.
‘So youwerewatching us,’ he said.
I blushed again but didn’t deny it. We walked out of the cafe together in silence. Outside, he pulled out a cigarette pack from his pocket and lit one. We stood side by side on the patio, watching people walk up and down the street.
‘She wanted me to meet her boyfriend and explain to him why she was marrying a stranger instead of him,’ he said as he exhaled the smoke, then added, ‘I said no.’
‘Uh …what?’ I exclaimed and burst into a peal of laughter.
‘Yeah,’ he said, shaking his head.
‘She said it was her boyfriend … not her ex?’ I had to clarify.
‘Yeeep. She is still very much dating him,’ he said, his face blank.
I laughed some more, feeling a strange heaviness being lifted from my gut. I wasn’t going to lose the bet. Not today.
‘I hate how much pleasure you’re deriving from this,’ he said, keeping his gaze locked on the street, away from mine.
‘This really is the highlight of my day,’ I said when the laughter had died down.
He took a few more puffs from his cigarette before chucking it into the standing ashtray outside Café Bistro.
‘You know of one of my dating disasters. It’s only fair you tell me one of yours,’ he said, finally turning to face me.
‘I’m not sure if you should be calling this a date … but sure,’ I said, shrugging innocently when he threw me a dirty look.
I knew I didn’t have to, but I decided to narrate the story of my date with Ajay, the Grand Gesture Dude. Why? Aadar looked like he needed a win and for some reason, I wanted to oblige him. And sure enough, his spirits visibly rose as I told him about all the silly, extravagant stunts my date had pulled. When I was done telling him about the a cappella group, he was so stunned he could barely speak.
‘Wow,’ he said. ‘Just wow.’
‘I know.’
‘You know, some girls would die for shit like that,’ he said, trying to sound earnest, but I could sense a tinge of sarcasm in his tone.
‘Well, they’re more than welcome to have at him,’ I said, waving my hand in the air.
He chuckled and asked me something I didn’t quite register, because I was busy looking at a BMW driving past us. To my horror, it stopped a few feet ahead of the cafe and out popped V. She shut the door behind her and began walking towards me. I realised I had five seconds to come up with an airtight excuse for why I wasn’t at Sarojini Nagar. It was far from enough.
‘Annie, what? Are you back already?’ she asked from a distance.
