Page 47 of Red Flags and Rishtas
Next to me, someone cleared their throat. It was the man from before.
‘You look like you could use another drink,’ he said, pointing to my empty beer mug.
‘My date stood me up … so yeah, something like that,’ I said, sighing loudly.
He raised his eyebrows as he leaned his right elbow on the counter, ‘Oh, Pranav? Yeah, he couldn’t make it,’ he said, then added, ‘but he sent me in his place.’
A smile found its way onto my face. ‘Well, you’re awfully late.’
His shoulders relaxed further at that. ‘I fully plan on making it up to you. Shall I start by buying you another beer?’
I considered this man’s offer. Sure, he wasn’t the guy I’d swiped right on. But hewaskind of cute. Besides, I couldn’t help but admire his guts. I could never approach people at bars. I preferred hiding behind the comfort of dating apps. That way, I could meet five times as many people, and if they hit me with a terrible pick-up line, I could hit the unmatch button. It was safe, secure and easy-peasy.
This, on the other hand, was new. I hadn’t chatted up a non-virtual stranger in ages, probably since college.
‘Aren’t you here with someone, though?’ I asked, turning around to find a short, muscular man seated at their table.
‘Oh, he’s a big man. He’ll be all right,’ he said, smiling reassuringly at me.
He pulled the bar stool next to mine and propped himself up on it. I usually didn’t like beards on men, but it suited his long-ish face. I could see a hint of chub hiding behind the facial hair, but his broad chest and big arms drew my attention away from it. He was on the taller side, probably five feet eleven. His knees touched mine from where he was sitting.
‘So what kind of a fool abandons a pretty girl like you? Boyfriend?’ he asked, clearly hoping I wouldn’t answer in the affirmative.
I shook my head and said, ‘No one we need to talk about.’
He flashed me a dazzling smile. I couldn’t help but notice how magnificent his teeth were – even, perfectly aligned and blindingly white.
‘I’m Madhav, by the way,’ he said, extending a hand towards me.
‘Oh, you’re a shaker,’ I said, lightly shaking his hand. ‘I’m Ananya.’
His friend joined us a few minutes later. I suggested we could all go sit at their table, but Madhav bore his gaze into his friend until he told us he had to leave.
‘Nice friend,’ I said after he’d left. ‘Colleague?’
‘He’s technically my boss,’ he said, then added when he saw the surprise on my face, ‘We were in the same college before I joined his company, so it’s all chill between us.’
‘That’s pretty cool. I can’t imagine what it’d be like to be friends with my boss,’ I said, greedily sipping the beer that had just been placed in front of me by the bartender.
‘What do you do?’ he asked, stirring his G&T idly.
I was about to tell him when he interrupted, ‘Wait, can I guess?’
‘Go for it.’
‘You seem like the creative type. But I can tell you’re also fairly left-brained,’ he said, making a big show of doing some mental calculations before concluding, ‘You’re probably in marketing.’
‘Close, but no. I work in events,’ I said, offering him a consolatory pat on the shoulder.
‘Ah, damn,’ he said.
I listened to him talk about his work. I could tell that he really enjoyed it. He was a management consultant with a popular international firm. My brain automatically began computing the information he was providing me. He worked ten to twelve hours every day, six days a week. Even today, on a Sunday, he’d just returned from an afternoon meeting.
‘Your job must leave you with no time for anything else,’ I said tentatively.
‘Well,’ he said, taking a sip of his drink, ‘it’s been a few years since I found something worthy of making time for.’
Men will say pretty much anything to get into a woman’s pants. I wanted to give this guy the benefit of the doubt, but my past experiences told me he’d be no different from all the other MBAs I’d dated – busy, busy and always busy.
