Murphy's law.

She had always hated the phrase. But today made her want to whack the damn thing as hard as she possibly could, if she could actually do something like that.

There sitting in the cab, she kept wondering how this had happened. And that's when her phone rang again.

10 hours ago...

"I'm going to tell him today."

Mads sighed with relief as she said into the phone, "Finally! I know why it took this long but seriously, way to push it."

Aditi laughed. She flung open the cupboard and looked inside. She then asked her friend, "What do you think I should wear?"

Mads responded, "Black."

Aditi nodded and pulled out a dress she had bought a couple of years back. It fit her snugly and had a slit up one side. Before she could say anything, Mads said, "How about the black one with the slit?"

Aditi giggled and replied, "I just pulled that out!"

"Well then it's meant to be!"

Aditi said, "Okay I'm going to call him now."

Mads said, "Well, hurry up! You know he's..."

Aditi cut her off and said, "Yeah yeah I know. I'm calling. Bye, love you!"

"Love you too!"

She smiled and looked at the screen again. She pulled up her contacts, scrolled down to Aditya's name and felt a big grin lighting up her face. Heart beating faster, she hit dial and pressed the phone to her ear, whilst pacing around the room.

Huh. Not picking up. Must be working again. She kept the phone down and went to take a shower. She came out a little while later, wore her usual work clothes, packed the black dress in a garment bag and checked her phone again. No response. Gah!

She opened up a message box instead and typed, "Hey! I wanted to talk to you."

A few minutes later, her phone buzzed. She read, "About?"

She smiled. Same old Adi trying to get the witty banter going again. She shook her head smilingly and wrote back, "Like I'd tell you that over a message."

"And how are we to fix this situation?"

She typed, "Meet me?"

"Um okay. Where?"

She frowned at the less than enthusiastic response but shrugged it off. She typed, "How about the restaurant next to my place? It's pretty nice."

"Alright. 6 is good?"

"Can't wait!" she typed. She really couldn't wait.

6 hours ago...

She was going to leave work really early today. She looked at herself in the bathroom mirror and took a deep breath. She looked good, she hoped. She dusted off the imaginary lint from the dress, leaned closer into the mirror and broke into a grin. Yes, she did look good. She walked out of the bathroom and hailed a cab to go to the restaurant.

5 hours ago...

Blink

Blink

Blink

Nope. No amount of blinking would change the scene in front of her. She watched, dumbstruck from a few feet away as Purab perused the menu while sitting at the table she had booked. She walked over slowly and stood in front of him. He looked up and smiled pleasantly. Then he took in her expression and asked concernedly, "Hey what's wrong? Is everything okay?"

She tried to school her expressions as she tried to comprehend the situation. What on earth had happened? How had she made such a grave mistake? Had she dialled the wrong number? She couldn't get through to him, could she? No, wait she had sent a message. That's right. She then broke into a small smile and said, "I just remembered a work thing I was supposed to do."

Purab nodded and asked, "Do you need to go?"

She shook her head and said, "No no. It can wait. Um, do you mind, if I visit the ladies room first?"

"Of course not."

She smiled and walked over to the restroom and shut the door. She dug around her bag for her phone to see who she had sent a message to. No phone. Where was it? She pulled out all the contents from her bag and set it on the counter. Nope. Still no phone. She blinked and remembered that she'd left it on her office desk instead. Brilliant. Today of all days.

She tried to recollect the contact she had sent the message to. It was Aditya. She could have sworn that's the name she had tapped on her phone screen. Then how could this have happened? How could she have called a totally different person for a date? And Purab of all people! What kind of luck did she possess for having committed such a goofball error? She bit her lip as she tried to remember all the times she had spoken to Adi without making such a glitch? It was so smooth. That was Adi for sure. Only he called her Turtle. Then how did this happen?

Of course!

It was because she had almost always spoken to Adi from Mads' phone! Did she even have Aditya's number? Yes, she did! It was saved, wasn't it? And then, the last piece fell into place.

The scavenger hunt. The gifts. The cookie bouquet, the Pringles and the fedora. She had thought they were from Adi because of the favour she had done for him by bailing him out of that arranged proposal. She had dumbly saved the number under his name. She looked at her reflection in the mirror.

She had saved Purab's number under Adi's name. She had called the guy who she had just told she couldn't be with. She covered her eyes miserably and stood quietly for a minute. She then walked out of the ladies room and strode over to Purab.

Purab looked up and smiled again. Aditi pulled up the chair opposite him and said, "Hi!"

Purab closed the menu and handed it to her to say, "So what did you want to talk about?"

3 hours ago...

She hadn't left. She knew what was at stake but she couldn't leave. She knew she would never be able to live with herself hurting someone to go talk to someone else. So she sat with Purab and kept her fears and worries aside for a little while. He was so easy to be with. He spoke about his work and didn't poke her about Adi or her decision. He told her funny, little anecdotes from his travels that made her laugh and wish she could travel as well. In those 2 hours, she realized she'd probably always looked at him this way. As a friend. A great friend like Anand.

As he bade goodbye to her, she said, "Thank you."

Purab smiled and said, "So did you tell him?"

Aditi slowly shook her head. He asked quickly, "Why not?"

"I will."

He surveyed her closely and said, "Okay. Good luck." With that, he slowly leaned in and hugged her, placing his head over hers. She smiled and hugged back.

In the hug, she mumbled, "Thanks Purab."

2 hours ago...

She reached her work place after wading through crazy traffic and rushed up the stairs. She reached the desk and saw her phone blinking with Mads' face. She hurriedly pressed the phone to her ear and said, "Mads!"

"Where...ages...seriously..."

She walked out of her office and rushed down the stairs again to get signal. She opened the door and said, "What? I didn't get any of that. I left my phone at work like an idiot. I made such a stupid mistake! You won't believe it."

Mads cut across to say, Aditi, you said you were going to meet Aditya today. What happened? He called me to ask where you were."

Aditi replied, "That's what I'm telling you! So..."

She relayed the whole story to Mads in a very quick summarized manner. Mads replied horrified, "What??? Oh my God! Aditi, my brother leaves today! In fact, I think he's already left for the airport!"

Aditi closed her eyes for a moment and pictured the mess she had put herself in. Adi had asked her to call him. And she had called Purab instead. In a chase to do things right, she had messed up everything. She took a deep breath and said, "Mads, can you please send Adi's actual number?"

"You're going to tell him over the phone?"

Aditi gestured for the cab driver to stop and said, "Bhaiya, International airport?"

Mads with a smile replied, "That's my girl!"

Author's Note: Say whaaaaaaaa? I know right? Total plot twist! What did you guys think??? - S