11 Hours

by Daniel Paul Singh

  “Should we get a cab?” she asked, very well knowing it wouldn’t be needed.

  “Wait. Get down. I will remove my coolers, and then we can drive.” I told.

  She got down. The bridge was empty, the road, as long as I could see, had no one on it, the drizzle was picking up. I put the side stand on my bike and turned towards her.

  “You want me to help wi...”

  Before she could finish her sentence our lips locked. They fit in each other in the best possible way as if they were made for each other. She didn’t resist. I didn’t force. She cried. I smiled.

  I gave her a passionate hug and looked right into her eyes. The first liplock couldn’t have been more dramatic or romantic than that.

  We resumed our journey again. The rain stopped after a few minutes. We decided to eat in a nearby restaurant and spent an hour there. Then, I headed towards her home when she placed her hand on my shoulder.

  “Where are you headed?” she asked softly.

  “To your home of course.”

  “Oh! I thought we are going to Thiruvanmiyur.”

  “Oh my! You really want me to?”

  “Nah... I was kidding. Drop me home” she smiled.

  I dropped her home in 15 minutes and drove towards my room, soaking up in her memory and replaying that beautiful kiss the whole way back.

  “That was wonderful. Never expected that and it felt magical” I texted her when I reached home.

  “I wanted to say the same. It was pure bliss” she replied back.

  “I have seen such stuff only in movies. How did it feel?” I continued the conversation.

  “Doesn’t really matter Rob” she sent an eye winking smiley.

  “I get it. Okay, tell me something. That day you told me you watched porn, right. What did you watch exactly? Why did you detest it so much?”

  “Why asking now?” she retorted

  “Thought I might get a response now as you are in the right mood”

  “Okay! Good assumption. But no, I am not going to tell you”

  “Come on Diana!”

  “I can’t come. Maybe you can watch porn and cum”

  “Sick joke” I responded.

  “Imagine how sick it would be with you practicing it regularly”

  “Can we talk something else other than porn?”

  “Did I start it Rob?”

  “Okay, my mistake. What’s the plan for tomorrow?”

  “Shopping. Our wedding shopping! Have you forgotten? At T Nagar. Be on time. Don’t get delayed and make that puppy face at me.”

  “Being on time and me? We are just the polar opposite’s baby” I replied back.

  “And you will lose your mind if someone else comes late, right? But you will always come late… fine Rob”

  “You haven’t forgotten what happened in Skywalk, have you. Wait, I always thought girls liked guys who come late” I sent a devilish smiley.

  “Sick joke!”

  “Tit for tat” I replied.

  “Tit, huh?”

  “Enough!”

  “Alright Rob, tell me, what is that one thing in life, that you want to achieve”

  “Me? Like one great ambition in life? Well, I want to become a successful writer. A famous writer. Best-selling Indian author. Someday, someday I hope I can and I will”

  “That’s nice to hear. Can you send me your stories? I will read them and see if you have got it in you to become the man you want to be. I hope they are all not similar to the one you recited a few days ago. If in case they are, then sorry mate, you don’t stand a chance”

  “Come on Diana. Reciting is totally different from writing. What’s your gmail ID? I will email one story now. Read it and let me know how it is. What genre do you like?”

  “Anything other than imaginary romance please. What genre do you write?”

  “I write all genres, tell me your favorite”

  “I like Fantasy. If you have one on it, send it to me now”

  I agreed to her request and immediately sent her my fantasy novella “Kila the Warrior”. I was quite curious to hear her opinion. She read it within a few hours and then texted me as,

  “Check your mail box”

  I anticipated a full-page review and opened my inbox with excitement, when I found a cover design for the novella. It was designed in the most elegant way possible. It had a girl holding a sword, clad in a Viking style attire, wearing a crown of roses and being ready for war. There were two swords placed on either side of her with roses filling in the rest of the available space. It was perfect for the fantasy comedy I had written. The girl looked exactly like I had imagined my heroine to be.

  I called Diana immediately.

  “This is so good. It’s hard to believe you designed it so soon. Did you like the story?”

  “I loved the story Rob, and the cover design is my way of giving feedback for the story”

  “I am elated with the design. Some day when I publish this novella, this will be my cover page.”

  “Sure darling. I hope that someday comes very soon. Have you posted it somewhere?”

  “Yes, I have posted it in my internal blog, in our company, Diana”

  “Oh internal blog!?” she enquired.

  “Yes, there are host of other stories that I have posted there, around 200 of them”

  “Oh my God. So, how do I access them? Mailing 200 stories isn’t a good idea, I suppose”

  “You can’t access it, it’s our internal portal.”

  “Then you better start an external blog and post it all there”

  “Oh, like really?”

  “Yes. haven’t you thought about it so far? Come on it’s the basic thing for an author”

  “No, never, not until now. I had never felt the need to start one”

  “Then do it today, right now. Go ahead. Take your laptop, create a blog page and start posting your stories. And once you create it, let me know. Will change the look and feel of it”

  “You sure?”

  “Do it now. You have an hour’s time. Do it and then call me” she insisted and cut the call.

  I had never been this encouraged to take up my writing seriously. I wrote for fun and wrote only on internal company blogs, but Diana changed it all and that very day, I created my first blog and uploaded, Kila the Warrior, her favorite story in it as the first entry. I then called her and informed, she got the log in credentials from me and updated the cover page, the way she wanted it to look and asked me to promote the stories in Facebook as well. I agreed to everything she said.

  “Thanks a lot baby. This is like, you know, a major step in doing what I am passionate about” I texted her.

  “And didn’t do it all these days and needed me to guide you. Rob, listen, I will be with you in this. Always. We will publish your books together and I will design the cover pages. You will become a successful writer one day, Rob. I wish so and I pray so” she assured.

  “Love you sweet heart. You inspire me. I am lucky to have you”

  “Yes, indeed lucky to have a free designer too :P” she replied back.

  “Ha ha ha. My gubbly you are. Fine then, we will meet tomorrow for shopping as planned. Kisses and hugs”

  “Kisses and hugs bubbly. Do come on time” she insisted again.

  We both complimented each other well and I loved it.

  The next day, we were supposed to go shopping for our wedding dresses. I was all prepared and headed to T Nagar, where I was welcomed by Diana’s parents and Diana who had already reached. I was late as usual. We started our purchase at Kumaran Silks. Every time I saw Diana I felt her lips were inviting me to taste them. I resisted temptation, but I knew I couldn’t do that for long. I kept admiring her reflection in one of the mirrors as she was trying out a saree, when I heard her dad talking over phone.

  “Yes, Angel! Where are you? We are at Kumaran Silks. Please come soon.”

  He then turned towards his wife and said, “Angel is on the way, will be here
in a few minutes.”

  “Uncle, we will go to some other shop” I told him shaking my head in disappointment as I wasn’t convinced with the saree varieties.

  “Wait, Son! We will go after Angel comes.” He said.

  Angel... The name brought about livid and vivid thoughts in my mind. I tried to hide my excitement and put up a straight face.

  “Fine, Uncle. We will just wait.” I pretended to skim through a few sarees on display.

  After a few minutes, I heard my father-in-law saying, “Angel is here”.

  I immediately turned towards the entrance of the shop and saw a good looking, wheat-complexioned lady in a saree walking towards us. My heartbeat increased gradually. MILFs had their unique way of teasing young boys. They needn’t do anything, them just being themselves was enough.

  I felt butterflies twitching in my belly as she approached us.

  While I was admiring her, I was interrupted by a voice, “Son, this is Angel.”

  To my horror, my father–in-law introduced a stout, bald man in his mid-30s to me.

  “Wait! Is this Angel?”

  “Yes! His name is Angel… Angel Sam. Didn’t Diana tell you about him?”

  “Why didn’t you tell it’s a ‘him’ in the first place?” I wanted to ask.

  “Diana... Well... she might have forgotten, Uncle! Hi bro!” I gave a customary handshake to him as he smiled at me and accompanied us for the rest of the shopping.

  My day dreams were shattered, one more time in a span of two days.

  Not being satisfied with suits or party wear designs in five more shops, I finally chose my Wedding attire at Raymonds. We didn’t have time to shop for Diana that day. We decided to come again to T. Nagar the following week.

  The following week, Diana was accompanied by her mom and aunt and the four of us took the pain of visiting and checking every shop in T. Nagar for Diana’s Wedding Saree. Choosing the wedding saree was one of the most cumbersome tasks I had to endure as part of the wedding process. There was no single instance where all four of us liked one particular saree. I cursed the Almighty for creating so many different people with so many different tastes as I grew more and more impatient.

  We visited several shops and had seen almost all the sarees in them and had brought their whole warehouse down too! However, Diana was still not convinced with any of the designs. And when rarely she was convinced, I wasn’t, and when I was convinced, their entire family wasn’t.

  Her aunt gave up and left midway, and then, it was just the three of us who continued shopping. We got tired and decided to have lunch at Balaji Bhavan in Pondy Bazar. I ordered full meals, while Diana ordered Chapathi.

  “Chapatis for lunch?” I pulled her leg.

  “I like it.” she replied in her usual soft voice.

  “Don’t tell me you are dieting.” I said rhetorically.

  “I am not, and I wouldn’t do that for you, ever... and even if I do, that would be for the wedding photographer.” she said subtly which only I could hear. I giggled and her mom immediately asked what transpired between us. I had to convince her that nothing funny happened, but just that I got reminded of an old irrelevant joke. She didn’t believe and looked at her daughter. Moms and daughters have their own code language and talked through their eyes. Since I couldn’t understand an iota of it, I continued with my lunch. We had a sumptuous meal. Her mom paid the bill refusing my offer to pay for it.

  As we came down confused whether to continue our pursuit or to retire for the day, I got a call from my mom who was in Trichy.

  “Where are you?” she asked perturbed.

  “Shopping at T. Nagar, Mom. Why?”

  “Stop everything at once and rush back home immediately.” she urged and her voice sounded quite alarmed.

  ₪ ₪ ₪

  Chapter 7 Gone Girl I knew the alarm would go off if I broke the emergency exit box, but I had no other choice. I went close to it and was about to hit it open with my bare hands, when I heard a beep sound. I stopped abruptly and looked at the glass door ahead. It opened and a tall, rugged man, wearing shorts, with uncombed hair and large thick glasses came out. I thought of trespassing, but decided against it. The security guard came running from his desk to catch hold of me, as the man who came out of the door glared at me.

  “Listen Mr., whoever you are... Do you know a particular Diana working here?” I almost threatened the guy who came out.

  “Diana? I am not so sure. I am new here. What’s with her now?” he asked bewildered.

  “Dude… I am her husband. She works in the 2 to 10 shift in this very office, in this very cubicle. It is 11.30 PM now, and she has still not reached home. Her mobile is not reachable. It is, in fact, switched off. She was last seen on Whatsapp at 8 PM tonight. Could you just check if she is in?” I ranted continuously.

  “I don’t even know who she...”

  I grabbed him by his collar before he could finish and then let go of him.

  “If not you, someone else might surely be knowing her whereabouts. Just go in and check, now!” I almost ordered him. He was visibly shaken and took some time to compose himself and adjusted his collar. He agreed to go in and check and I went along with him.

  The security guard now understood the gravity of the situation and didn’t prevent me from entering through the door. I looked back at him and thanked him with a nod.

  The rugged guy ran straight to his TL and asked him if he knew Diana.

  “Diana? Small? Short hair? Fair?” replied the TL who was a tall stout man wearing a headband.

  “Yes! Do you know her?” he continued.

  “I do.” replied the TL.

  “Do you know where she sits?” I intervened.

  He gave me an unconvincing look that meant, “Who the hell are you” and replied saying,

  “She usually sits there” pointing to a seat three rows away in that large cubicle and continued “May I know who you are”. I didn’t respond to him and ran towards her desk, but to my disappointment, found a guy sitting and working there.

  “Diana? Does she sit here? Who are you?” I gasped.

  “She usually leaves before I come. We both share this system and I didn’t see her today” he replied not knowing why I sounded so desperate. I was losing it completely. I wondered how she could have magically disappeared without a trace. I couldn’t take it anymore.

  “Have any of you fucking seen her today?” I screamed at the top of my voice.

  There was dead silence. Everyone in the office stopped working for a second and looked at me, stunned. I was furious like a crouching tiger with an itch. The TL came towards me and spoke in a soft tone. Everyone’s eyes were on the two of us. He tried to console me.

  I explained my situation to him. He immediately dialed to Shiva, the coach who worked in the 2 PM to 10 PM shift. Shiva picked the call after four rings. The TL put the phone on speaker.

  “Hello, tell me Thomas.” Shiva said from the other end.

  “Shiva! What time did Diana leave office today?” Thomas enquired.

  “I am not sure of the exact time, but she left early, I am sure of that.” Came the reply.

  “Early as in? What time?” Thomas continued.

  “Early as in, err... after dinner, I think. She left for dinner and that was the last I saw her for the day.” Shiva dropped the bomb.

  “What time?” I pitched in and reiterated the question, as every word of his sent shivers down my spine.

  “It should be around 8 PM. Why, any problem? And who is this, by the way?” he enquired on hearing my voice.

  “Nothing, Shiva. No one. You get back to sleep.” Thomas said and cut the call.

  I felt like the spinning world suddenly came to a screeching halt under my feet. I couldn’t stand properly. I was weak in my knees, lost my balance, slipped and fell down. A few people ran towards me, sprinkled water on my face, gave me some water to drink and sat around me. I was shivering and was on the verge of crying. I felt a surge of pain at the b
ack of my head, where I was operated for concussion.

  “Any one of you know what could have happened to her?” I asked the people surrounding me in a pleading tone. Unfortunately, everyone shook their head. The TL called a few of Diana’s colleagues and checked with them. They all gave the same unanimous answer that she had left at 8 PM. Where did she go?

  “Thomas, can you check with folks she had dinner with? She usually has it with a girl called” I tried hard to remember and then got her name “Harsha, yes. Harsha.”

  Thomas didn’t have Harsha’s number. Luckily, one of the other colleagues had and Thomas dialed her number. To add to my frustration, Harsha didn’t pick the call. We kept on calling until she picked up.

  Finally, we heard her, “Hello, Harsha here”

  “Harsha, Thomas here. Sorry for disturbing, but did you have dinner with Diana today?” he was straight to the point.

  “No, Thomas! She went with some other friend…But why are you asking at the middle of the night? It’s almost 12 now” she had her own concerns.

  “Some other friend? Do you know who that is?”

  “No I don’t know him. I have never seen him before.” Harsha gave me the second shocker. Diana had left office at 8 PM and she had supposedly had dinner with a stranger. I hoped against hope that everything should be alright with Diana.

  “Ok, fine.” Thomas replied to her.

  “Any problem, Thomas?” Harsha was worried.

  “Well, yes. She is missing since 8 PM” Thomas finished.

  “Whaaaat? Oh, shit!” I could hear her scream. It clearly showed that her sleep vanished with a poof!

  I stood up and looked all around. Thomas and the guy in shorts helped me up and supported me to walk. I looked at Diana’s place again. Her red bag was still placed there. I was even more doubtful then and pleaded everyone around.

  “Her bag is still here. She wouldn’t have left without her bag. Can someone please check if she is around? Maybe, in the rest room, or canteen, or somewhere? Could any of you girls please check if anyone has fainted in the WC?”

  A few girls immediately rushed to check in the rest room. I felt guilty to trouble them during their office hours. But, I felt that work could wait as it was a life or death situation for me. I waited desperately for them to return with a good news. Meanwhile, a few others ran to the canteen downstairs to check.