THE TINDER DATE
“Wow, this is confusing.”
“How am I supposed to know the difference between cherry red and silence red. She has a lot of stuff in her makeup kit!”
She knew her first “The Makeup Look” was falling apart. She managed to get the right foundation and a tint of silent red to her lips. Least did she know she never needed any of those, for she was imperfectly perfect.
She wore her specs securing the wavy hair behind her ears. Her single stoned nose pin added an extra glow to her face. But the glow was soon about to be let down.
“Janki! Your cab is here”, Neha, her friend shouted from the other room.
She was startled. She took her sling and ran into Neha. Neha was shocked. “Did you get dressed up and all? Wait… Are you going on a date?”
“It is not strange for Neha to be shocked on seeing me getting dressed for a date”, she thought.
Janki was known as a nerdy and serious girl, who was interested only in books and nothing else. ‘For a girl like her’, going on a date seems like some farfetched idea.
She watched the surroundings pass by her through the car window. She had absolutely no clue who she was gonna meet, except for a name that she knows from Tinder — Stephen and that he would be in black.
It was out of peer pressure at first that she thought she needs to socialise which landed her in a dating app. But sooner or later, she had to get convinced of moving on in life, which pushed her the extra mile of meeting someone in real.
It was during her college days that she had met her first and only love. It was not a love at first sight. She fell for him each time he helped her with her clumsy nature and awkward situations. He didn’t distance her like others for being into books and being nerdy. She knew she was falling hard and deep for him each time she thought about him.
“You will reach your destination in 300ms”, the GMaps lady told shattering her train of thoughts.
Janki clenched onto her sling. She was getting really nervous. Her first date and she had literally no clue what to do.
She adjusted her hair and checked her face. She was confused to wear the specs or not. She wore em. Pulling close her shrugs, she walked into the cafe they had agreed to meet. She looked at her watch. She was 15 minutes late. “Is it okay to be late on a date? Well, it is not okay for a lecture! Have I screwed it up already?” Janki, being a habitual overthinker couldn’t tie knots to her thoughts as it kept travelling long.
She saw a man in a black shirt sitting at the corner of the room, facing the wall. Yes, she has focused on the target and is walking close to it.
“Hi.”, Janki said in a trembling voice.
“Hi.” He took his eyes away from his phone and looked at her. Janki saw a strong and young face with a neat and trimmed beard smiling at her.
“Can I?” Janki didn’t wait for the etiquette routine, she pulled the chair and sat down in front of him. “Sorry, I know I am a bit late. Did you order something?”
“No….. I didn’t”.
“Maybe we can order something together.” She said.
They both ordered a cappuccino and she insisted on having fries as it was her favourite place.
“So do you come here often?” He asked.
“Yeah! This is my happy place. I come here whenever I am happy and sad. I find myself comfortable here even when I am alone.” She lose her nervousness talking about her favourite place.
“Oh, I see you are a person of sadness and loneliness at times. Quick question. When was the last time you became sad?” he was curious and wanted to listen to her more.
“Oh! That would explain the whole story behind this bind date actually. Hehe.
I loved someone.
I loved someone but never told him. I was not strong enough to do that. I know, you must be feeling pity about a girl who didn’t have the courage to open her mind to the man she had fallen head over heels for the past 4 years.”
“But why?” He seemed pretty serious.
“He loved someone else. It was a dirty triangle, and I chose to remain silent, knowing it will never make a change in anyone.
But least did I know, that it was gonna affect me in the ways that I never thought it will. I started falling into depression, with no friends and no one to console”
Her voice gained seriousness, but he noticed that she was not crying.
They talked a bit more, sipped their coffee and ordered extra fries.
“Well, first of all, I appreciate your courage in deciding to move on. Not everyone does that. You managed yourselves to come out for a blind date, not knowing what was waiting for you. You are amazing. You will make a great girlfriend. But, maybe, not for me.” He said looking on her cold frozen and embarrassed face.
The silence had to be broken. “Yeah…. Yeah. I must have already thought about that. I am no close to what you are expecting in your life. I.. I am sorry. Sorry, I don’t know how to handle these situations... I know its awkward….” She kept finding words to put an end to the fiddly situation at the table.
She knew she should let this go and not get it close to her heart.
She cared about what was left in her heart. She didn’t want anyone else to mess with what’s left there. She knew he was not the first one who did that.
“Hey, stop. You are strong. But, I was not your date. I am not Stephen. I was referring to him when I said you were not for me. I am just a random customer here. And before I knew I had to introduce myself, I was keen on your story. Sorry”
Janki went blank and sat there with a hopeless face. “I think I must leave.” She took out her phone, getting her cab ready.
He also took the leave, walking past the doorbell that said: “Ring if you are happy!”
He looked back, saw her in tears. He didn’t go back to comfort her. He rang the bell twice and left the coffee shop.
“Oh! Daddy, you should have said sorry to mom. She would have felt so bad then” the six-year-old child said while playing with his dad’s beard.
“No. I didn’t have to, cuz I knew that we would be celebrating more of our anniversaries at the same place in the coming years”. He said.
He looked at her. She was smiling, with silent red lips and the one stoned nose pin, the same way they had met at first at her happy place.
