Dare To Dream

“Hi i see you are eating alone. Mind if i join you?”
She hasn’t replied. I think she is scared of ppl coming upto her at restuarants.
“my name is vivek. I usually have dinner here alone. Saw you alone so thought you might need someone to talk to while you eat. Dont worry i wont eat you, i am a vegeterian”
Now why did i say that. Its so stupid. I cant believe she smiled. So i will have company for dinner after all.
“hi my name is rashmi. My roommates have gone out of town and i had no mode to cook so i came here to eat”
” good for me. When are you roommates coming back”
“why?”
” hopefully till they come back u wont have mood to cook and meet me here.”
I never met her at the restaurant again.
“this place is far from my house. Had come here for some work. So are there other place where you go alone ?”
That brought a smile to my face. ” i am going to this movie tomorrow at 7.
” oh k. May be you will find some company there too.”
Next day i waited outside the theatre till 7 30. I was feeling so lonely. Just as i was abt to leave i saw an auto stopping near the gate and rashmi coming out of it. I couldn’t help but smile.
” hey how did you know i would be here!”
For the next one month i went to movies, restuarant and trips alone and luckily found rashmi to give me company.
it was getting serious and we used to spend the evenings together. I wanted to pop the question but i didnt know how to. Near the beach, in my house with roses everywhere, surprise visits oh i had lot of ideas. And then it happened. I told her we can go to the restuarant where we first met. We drove upto the place. The place seemed closed. I told her to check while i park the car. She entered the restuarant but it was dark. As soon as she entered the lights came on. The entire place was empty except me standing near the corner table with roses in my hand. She was shocked. She took the roses but didnt say anything. She was quiet the entire evening. Then she told me she wants to leave. Without asking her anything i dropped her home.

I cant believe i am back in the same restuarant. Same table, same dish and the same stupid empty chair.
” hi i see you eating alone. Mind if i join you?”
“sure. I hate eating alone. My name is vivek.”
“i m preeti. I hope you dont it the wrong way. I am not used to eating alone.”
“not at all. You dont have to worry about me drooling over you. Guess where i met my wife first time…”

” Hi do u remember me? We met in the restuarant yesterday. Dont worry i am not here to bother you again. ”

” No thats okay. So u like eating out a lot huh.. Give me a minute…” she stood up and left. I waited for an hour but she never came back.
Was she trying to run away from me. I hoped i would never see her again. It was so embarassing. Next few days i was quite busy with my work. I had forgotten all about the fiasco. It was my colleagues bday so we decided to go for lunch close to office. As i entered the small fast food joint i was shocked to see her sitting near the window with a couple of her friends. Before i could realise i was standing next to her.

She looked at me and said “Are u following me?”

Everyone kept looking at me. I was so embarrassed. I was just hoping the roof would fall over.

“Girls this is friend Vivek”

I was shocked she remembered my name. I wanted to talk to her but i had come with my office friends. I couldnt just forget about them. Though they are not like my best friends. No its rude. So i told her i had to go and that we could catch up sometime. She didnt say anything. So i went back to my table. All through out the lunch i kept looking at her. She didnt look back even once. All my feelings for her were back. I decided to talk to her after everybody had left.

Finally my friends started walking out of the restaurant. I turned to walk towards her table but she was gone. I didn’t know what to do. So i walked out of the restaurant.

After reaching office i kept thinking of how to contact her. I just knew her first name. The only thing i could do was to go the 3 places i met her and hope she is there too. There has to be some reason why i see her everywhere i go. Okay i will go to the restaurant tonight where i first met her.

I entered the restaurant and carefully looked at each table. Unfortunately she was not to be seen anywhere. Okay let me have my dinner and hope she shows up. I sat at my favorite table in the corner. Before i could say anything the waiter asked if i would have the usual. I was not interested in the food. I was just waiting for Rashmi.

The food was on the table. Without looking at the food much i started eating. The food was so good that i forgot about her for sometime. And then everything came back to me.

“Hey Chef someone wants to compliment your cooking.”

“Finally!”

“Hi Rashmi.”

“Hello Sir. So i was told you liked my dish.”

“I always liked your cooking. Even when you were 7 and had just started cooking. But i never knew you would become a chef in a big restaurant. I am sorry I didn’t recognize you. I knew there was a reason why we met everywhere, why i liked that dish so much.”

“But you took a lot of time Sir. I thought for a while that you don’t remember your friend. You have always been slow. Never knew how to cease the moment.”

“But i will not be slow this time. Rashmi I could never find a friend like you. Will you be my friend forever and to make sure you don’t leave me this time will you marry me?”

“Why do you think i followed you everywhere!”

“So does this mean i can have that dish for free at home.”

No matter how much i begged her, Rashmi never made that dish at home.