Page 17 of You Had Me At Annyeong!
‘That’s Bhaskar’s number!’ Timira exclaims, half laughing and half disappointed.
But Alice is not ready to give up.
‘He must have had to sign somewhere? Can’t you find out his name from there?’
‘Ally, it’s a signature. Most are illegible.’
Alice recalls Timira’s untidy scrawl which changes every few seconds.
‘Please, brother. This is really important.’ Alice looks pleadingly at the young man and pouts.
Obligingly, the man goes back to the form on his computer screen and looks up after a minute.
‘Here, ma’am. Relation to the patient: family. Name: Sky. Signed: Sky.’
Sky? What kind of name is Sky? Can’t even tell which part of the world he’s from. Tch, what a bummer!
Timira looks crestfallen.
‘Look at you, Timmy. I thought you didn’t care, and look at you now. Tell me honestly, you were hoping it’d turn out to be some famous hot guy, no?
It’s now Alice’s turn to tease Timira. Recovering quickly, Timira says to Alice, ‘Chal, chhod na. Drop it. Let’s just go. I’m dying for a smoke. And, your bubster hubster must be done, too. Let’s go, let’s go!’
Alice sneaks in a quick ‘thank you’ at the desk executive as Timira drags her away out of the hospital and into the bright daylight.
They reach a little garden just outside the main hospital building, waiting for Bhaskar, and Timira begins to pester Alice for a cigarette.
‘Medical dramas have lied to us! McDreamy? Doctor Stranger? And, I get McUncleji? Doctor Grandfather? Just my luck!’
They laugh and curse dramas, but Alice can tell that Timira is nervous. She’s biting her plump lower lip and crossing and uncrossing her fingers—telltale signs of anxious Timira. Having known her for over a decade, there is little about her that Alice can miss.
They spot Bhaskar walking towards them, still looking like a teenager in his capri shorts, and wave at him. Just then, a car whizzes past. Open sun-roof, a man at the wheel.
‘Ooh, sweet ride!’ Alice observes. Timira, never having shown much interest in or appreciation for automobiles, glances unenthusiastically and then looks away almost immediately. But, Alice is quite taken in by the swanky Volkswagen T-Roc Cabriolet—she and Bhaskar have been looking at convertibles as an addition to their Nissan GTR—and continues to admire it. As the car catches up to them, she spots the driver and notices a rather striking man at the wheel. But he isn’t looking ahead at the road. Instead, his gaze seems to be focused entirely elsewhere … right on her and Timira, she’s surprised to find.
Does he know us, or one of us? I don’t think I’ve seen him ever; there’s no way I’d forget a face like that!
The car slows down as it approaches them and Alice, now extremely curious, observes that with a hint of a smile on his unusually beautiful face and an expectant look in his eyes, the driver of the VW, wearing a light blue Versace baseball hat and dark wayfarers, is looking to press the brake.
Tim, unbothered, is waving madly at Bhaskar, who has by now almost caught up to them, but stopped at a little distance away to pet a dog.
The car has come to a halt, too.
‘Tim, look to your right, but don’t make it obvious,’ Alice mutters softly, hands covering her mouth, eyes looking down.
Timira, almost immediately, turns sharply and obviously, having heard only half of Alice’s sentence.
‘Argh, I said to not make it obvious!’
‘Sorry, sorry, I didn’t hear you.’
‘See that black SUV? Do you know the guy driving it?’
‘Huh? What car? What guy?’ Timira appears nonplussed.
The Versace guy has now taken his shades off and with a smile is about to open the door.
‘Never seen that car or that man before! Why would I know men in this foreign island? Or, even women, for that matter? How would I know anyone here?’ Timira announces loudly enough for the man to hear and for his face to suddenly lose all colour. ‘Oh, Ally. I hurt my head but you seem to have lost a few marbles, hehehe!’ Timira giggles, tapping Alice on the head with her knuckles.
