Page 193 of 12 Years
‘Looking forward to going back to Mumbai?’ I said.
‘Mentally prepared to go back would be the right term,’ she said. ‘I knew the day was coming. I enjoyed my time in Dubai …’
‘I liked spending time with you, whatever little time we did,’ I said.
‘Yes, same here,’ she said. ‘And I’m glad we’re spending my last evening here together.’
‘I don’t know when I’ll see you next,’ I said.
‘You’ll be coming to Mumbai, right? For the deal-closing dinner?’
‘Oh gosh, yes. I don’t know how I got pulled into that,’ I said.
‘Come on, it’ll be fun. Mudit’s idea of doing it at the Crayon Club is great. Otherwise, Blackwater events are either at the Oberoi or the Taj. Luxurious and perfect, but boring.’
I laughed.
‘You’ll do a small stand-up set, right?’ Payal said, pouring herself another glass of wine. I’d barely had two sips of mine.
‘No, no,’ I said, waving my hand. ‘I can’t do that. I haven’t performed on stage in years. And you know it doesn’t work like that. One must prepare.’
‘So, prepare. You have almost a month to write and practise.’
‘I don’t know if I’ll be able to.’
‘Of course, you will.’
I shook my head.
‘It’ll be such a blast, Saket. Imagine, a unicorn founder who doesn’t take himself so seriously. Does a stand-up set at his deal-closing dinner. It’ll become the talk of the town. It’ll go viral.’
I smiled. ‘I don’t know, Payal. I could also end up making a total ass of myself.’
‘No, you won’t. Plus, that’s what’s special about you. You don’t take yourself so seriously. You take risks. And when you focus on something, you just go get it.’
I realized why I had fallen so hard for this girl. When she spoke like this, it cast a kind of magic on me. Tania, Paulina and a dozen other Ukrainian models with their perfect bodies couldn’t cast an inch of that magic spell. Payal didn’t look like those girls. She had a wrinkle or two at the corners of her eyes now. A few strands of grey hair too. Her face was fuller, and her body was slightly less slim than before. And yet, when she spoke like this, she did something to me that could only be described in one word—magic.
‘Are you even listening to me, Mr Saket Khurana?’ Payal snapped her fingers in front of my face.
‘Sorry, what?’
‘I said you should totally do a set at the dinner. Not just that, you should also get back to doing stand-up more regularly,’ she said.
‘Get back to stand-up?’ I smirked. ‘No way. That was the old me. That’s all gone.’
‘Didn’t you just say that you’re still the same person?’ she said. Our eyes locked.
‘Just because I’m drinking doesn’t mean I’m not listening,’ Payal said and poured herself a third glass of wine.
What’s happening to this girl tonight?
‘Why would I go back to comedy?’ I said.
‘Well, I saw you when you were doing comedy. How absorbed you were while writing your set. How in the moment you were when you got on stage. How exhilarated you felt when you killed it with the audience. You do important work now, I know. But back then you just seemed … more alive.’
‘I was younger. And carefree … unaware of the realities of life.’
‘Well, maybe it’s better to remain unaware then,’ Payal said, the wine giving her extra courage to speak her mind. ‘And anyway, what do you have to worry about now? I know how much money you got paid. A gazillion billion dollars.’
