A Crispy Apology

A CRISPY APOLOGY

“So what do you do?” , she asked me promptly, with a lingering tone of discomfort, carefully caressing the coffee mug , kept on the table.

I was feeling a bit bleakish and could clearly see this relationship not working through. She worked in a software company and how did we end up on date? Well, let’s say the mutual friends made this possible as they thought we both would be great for each other.

“Well, I’m currently with a software company ‘professional’ but can’t really promise how long will I be associated with ‘it’, let’s see.” I tried to introduce “humour” in the sluggishly going conversation as a rescue element to save this effort made by our friends.

She smiled a bit, she knew what I was referring to.
“You know, for a software company ‘professional’, you don’t look so….”
I cut her in between her sentence finishing it with, “well-mannered or professional?”
She smirked and said, “No. I mean you don’t look so qualified.”

“Hah”, I said with a n egoist smile and shot back at her, “So, what kind of person will be eligible for you, ma’am?”
She instantly replied, as if she was waiting for me to ask her this. “You know, someone who is fun, sensible and….. Understanding would be nice.” She replied.

“Well you know, I’m fun and not so sensible and well, definitely not understanding, so, I guess you have boarded the wrong train and I guess I don’t qualify then and yet here I am, out with you, bonding over a cup a coffee and an impolite crowd.”

She smiled, again and said, “Are you trying to flirt with me?”

“Well, now that you asked me about it, I think yeah! We’re out with each other and we don’t know each other that well, so yes, I’m definitely trying to flirt with you and that goes without saying. What did you expect from me?” I replied/asked with a smile.

“You guys are all the same, one smile from our side & you think that we've gone head-over-heels over you but what you don’t accept is that it is the other way round.” She was prompting me to get into a debate.

“No, no, no!!! I completely agree with you and accept what you say but you know I find it my duty to make you feel the same and I guarantee you that, I shall accomplish that.”

Suddenly, what started as a disastrous date was slowly taking its due course of action and somehow felt heartwarming. I was starting to like all of it now.

“So, who spoiled you so much?” she inquired.

“Well, I would like to take this opportunity to blame my mom and dad for it, they have been a real inspiration and….” and just as I said it, I remembered, the only thing that Rohan had asked me not to talk about, you see, her mom and dad were just recently divorced, so I better not have said it but it was too late, she had taken it personally and thus it followed.

“Well you left me in awe there. You are so confident of yourself and so self-engrossed in yourself and your “so called smartness” that you forget to draw out the conclusion that somehow all this over-procrastinated comment is making me feel uncomfortable. Don’t.” and said that she stood up and went away leaving behind the coffee, still warm.

It lasted barely 20-30 mins. and in all that time I somehow managed to ruin everything, I think I liked her but it was just too late and she somehow saw right through me although it was not my fault all-in-all but still it was my fault somehow, just somehow. I didn't go after her, I think I should have.

Well it was all 3 years deep in the past and now, I was waiting for the same girl in the same place under more or less similar conditions and there she walked in, just in the similar way she did 3 years earlier and the only difference was that I was more decent now. She came up to me and landed a peck on my cheek, we were now a couple and today was more or less one of the most important days of my life, that goes unsaid.
“So, what’s up with you?” she asked.
“Well, firstly, I’m sorry about what happened here 3 years back and looking at the present condition, I've been thinking about it for a long time and…” saying so, I bent over my knees and took out a ring from the pocket and completed the question, “….wanted to ask you, ‘Will you marry me’?”

And with an impeccable smile on her face, she abruptly replied, “Yes.”

J   J

NOTE-  Everything that has been narrated is totally a work of fiction, no relevance to actual instance, although the idea has been drawn from a real-life conversation. :)