It was Friday before the long weekend, she was feeling tired and wanted to leave a little early. She had worked late nights the entire week and wanted to have a peaceful Friday evening.
While still pondering over leaving early or not, his name flashed on her mobile. Her heart missed a beat, he doesn’t call at this time mostly. She swiped the call button to the right and said “Hello”.
“Hi, what time are you planning to leave?”, he asked. She knew him well enough, to not expect any formal courtesies, and they actually didn’t need any. Still indecisive about her plan, she said, “the usual time”. She knew he would understand.
“Hmm….shall we meet for coffee…I will come to the coffee shop near your office?”, he said in a lost voice. The coffee shop, their favorite shop, they loved to sneak in there to get a private moment or a heart to heart chat. She smiled, it was a good opportunity, she still had an hour to leave for home, and meeting him would be good. It felt like their first date, just that it wasn’t really the first.
She said, “ok, I will leave for home from there…call me when you reach”. Their dates had reduced over the time but had not stopped. They couldn’t be stopped from meeting each other. Sometimes she wondered that she was happily married with a perfect family then what did she still want to meet him. She got lost down the memory lane. It had started 10 years back, before marriage, kids, family and all. They used to meet every-day after office in the coffee shop, it was a new joint that time and after a few dates, even the staff waited for them. She wondered, if the staff had already guessed about their attraction for each other. They were always together, whenever they could, be it weekdays or weekends. Everyone around them knew about the “affair”. They loved being together, just chatting, sipping their coffee, exploring the bookshops, watching movies, their secret dates were no longer secret.
Holding hands in auto rickshaw used to be their moment.
It felt like old times today, but with a difference…they were parted by traditions of marriage, kids, parents and society. But it was impossible for them to stay apart, they didn’t want to hurt anyone, but could not live without each other. So in spite of pressures from society, work responsibilities, and love for family, the coffee shop remained, the venue of their regular dates earlier, became a secret get-away venue.
“bzzzzzzzzzz”, her phone rang and his name flashed. She preferred keeping her phone in silent mode as it was a great disturbance according to her but this was no such call. She was waiting for it. She answered and said, “I am coming” and hung up, packed her bag hurriedly and wished “happy weekend” to a few colleagues still in office. Office looked so empty on the eve of long weekends. Everyone was off for a holiday, this was going to be her precious break.
She rushed to her car and drove off towards the coffee shop. She parked on the other side. As she walked towards the entrance, his reflection appeared in the mirror on the door. A smile appeared on her face.
He looked up and smiled. As she entered, one from the staff pulled a chair for her, she thought, “do they still remember us…very unlikely, so many people have come and gone in these years”.
So she sat, “hi…”.
“Hi, coffee? Do you want something to eat?”.
“ya ok”.
He placed the order…and the guy disappeared somewhere in behind the restricted entry door.
“So?”.
“Just thought of having coffee with you, it’s been a while”.
“Hmm…yes”.
After some initial hesitation, it started, they were back, 10 years back. They chatted, discussed, laughed and had coffee. It was the most wonderful 30 minutes of the day for them.
Her eyes took a quick look at the watch and she panicked…”I think we should leave now…”. He looked down at his watch and said in a low voice, “ok..”.
As they came out of the shop, he gazed at the neighboring book shop…another 10-15 minutes will not harm anyone…”let’s go…”, he took her hand. She couldn’t resist or pull away, yes, another 10 minutes will not harm anyone or raise any questions.
10 minutes soon turned into half an hour. She recalled their secret dates few years earlier. Their offices were quite nearby so it was easy to meet for a quick bite during the lunch hour. And then his office moved to the other part of the city and it became very difficult to meet. “Why am I pondering over the past? Let me enjoy this moment, let me make a memory of this date…to think of in future, when there will no dates”…she shivered at the mere thought, “no dates with him?”…she didn’t even want to think about it.
They bought some books…their choice was so different, none the less, they loved reading. They looked at the DVD section for a moment and then decided against buying…the time when they used to lie down on the couch and enjoy movies was long gone…may be some day again…not now.
Then they moved towards the toys section…they couldn’t forget their families even when they were on a date…it was a conscious and mutual decision that they had taken. Other shoppers looked at them...making their own guesses and forming their own theories.
Finally it was time to go….both took out their car keys, and started discussing about the route they would take…they had parked on opposite sides, well opposites always attract. Even though the date was over, they still wanted to drive together, at least on the same route, if not holding the hands.
After a futile try, they realized that it was not going to be the same route as they had parked on different sides. It was time to get into their cars…so he sighed and said, “ok then…see you at home”.
She said, “Yup…” and she turned.
Their kids, their family, their home awaited them, and so did they…they might be driving different cars, taking different routes but it didn’t matter as long as the destination was same, their home, as long as the dates continued, as long as this affair lasted, as long as they were together.
She and her husband had managed to keep their affair alive along with all the responsibilities. Some might think that its selfish on their part to think of their families and kids as a responsibility, some consider such dates as useless. But somewhere in between, marital responsibilities, love for our family and dedication for our work, we tend to forget the very first link of the chain, our partner…with whom we start our new life, dream of a family, a home, a car, vacations and with whom we start our first extra-marital affair much before these dreams come true. And she had no intentions to end this affair.
