Song: Bairi Piya

I'm one of those weird people who drinks coffee for fun. Yes, part of my reason for loving coffee is the caffeine boost it gives me during my 12 hour shifts. But it's almost like a craft. You add a little bit more time, and you can go from something bright and acidic to intense and toasty. I love my coffee break times, and until my meeting with Manish, I never thought I'd dread coffee so badly.

For the first time in a long time - longer than my medical exams- I make sure I look like someone didn't take life and nearly beat me to death with it. My hair is brushed out smooth and falls naturally right below my shoulders. My eyelids are rimmed with a thin smoking of kajal, while a nude gloss lacquers my lips. I tug the lavender colored coat over my body a little bit so that I can retain some heat, while my eyes dart over at the clock to make sure that I'm not running late. "1:45," the clock reads. Perfect, I think to myself. 

Along with being weird enough to drink coffee for enjoyment, I'm one of the few people who doesn't run on Indian standard time. In other words, I don't show up two hours late to every single event. So when I see that I'm right where I want to be in terms of time, I can't help but give myself a mental high five.

*****

The cool dew of my usual order dampens my fingertips as I anxiously wait for Manish. My watch beeps with the notification that 2:00 has finally come. So many thoughts are having a sworded duel in my mind. "Is he actually going to come? Did he decide to not come? Is he just bored and he just decided 'Fuck it, I'm not doing this shit?' Is he running late?"  

I try to swallow those back and instead focus on my cold brew and try to allow the vanilla syrup pumped in it to sweeten my thoughts and expectations. I don't have to focus much more when I see Manish making his way inside the cafe. 

His eyes dart around the cafe in an attempt to find me. To make things easier, I raise my hand. When his eyes shoot towards the table I'm sitting towards, I wave a little bit. His face immediately explodes into a smile, and he starts making his way over. I get up from the chair, and I see his arms extend in the expectation of another hug. He can never get enough, I thought, with no complaints egging it. 

"Good to see you again, Jaya!" he greets joyously, as his arms loosely wrap around me. I reciprocate the hug tightly and snake my arms around him. 

"You too, Manish." A little wave of relief washes over me, as all the previous fears of him ditching me dissolve into nothing. The cold frozen at my fingertips due to the drink melts away when I feel his arms around me. We don't stay in that position for very long, and he disconnects so that he can pull out his wallet. 

"You can go sit. I don't want you to lose your spot. I'll order." 

I nod, and make my way back to the table so that I can sit down and continue to enjoy my coffee. During that small amount of time, the thoughts of what has changed plague my mind. Manish, to me, is still the Manish I knew 9 years ago. The same man who almost never had nothing but a radiant smile on his face. The same man who almost never treated me with animosity and disrespect since the first time we talked in my freshman physics class. And he's still the same man who never hesitated to tell me how much he appreciated me in his life. 

But, what happened? Despite the facial hair and more manly appearance, he almost never changed. I still feel so close to him, but we're so far apart. And it's driving me crazy like someone's driving a motorcycle while drunk. 

Manish eventually comes back with his coffee order, to which the toasty smell of coffee and caramel blesses my nostrils. He blows on it a little bit, and sits down to start talking. "So, Doctor Balakrishnan? Man, I was away for too long. Congrats on being a doctor!" 

I chuckle a little bit, as it finally kicks me in the face on how long it had been. It had been almost 9 years since I last saw him. Things change. We find new people, lose old people, make new memories and let go of past ones. With my curiosity spiked, I attempt to keep the conversation flowing smoothly. "Thanks, Manish. It wasn't easy. Medical school, then my residency, then the fellowship, and here I am! What about you? How was Seattle?" 

Manish sets his drink down, as he grabs a napkin to wipe off the little bit of whipped cream staining his upper lip. Guess that never changed, I think to myself, while I silently giggle about all the times he had ice cream staining his upper lip. "Amazing. Easily some of the best times of my life. But, I found a better opportunity here, and I missed the Bay Area. I decided to come back home." 

I nod, and then finally bring up the question that has been burning in the pits of my stomach. "Did you bring your significant other along?"

 Manish shakes his head. "Oh no. I'm single, and was single before coming back to the Bay Area." 

A cool breeze of relief calms the hot tension that is knotted in the pits of my stomach. My shoulders sag with the weight lifted off my shoulders, and I take a sip of my drink to conceal the slight smile curling at my lips. "Hey, nothing wrong with that. You always mentioned that you'd be happy with just you and your yellow labrador retriever chasing birds across the front yard." 

Manish nods happily, as the thought of dogs causes a small smile to sparkle in his warm brown eyes. "Absolutely. And that would be amazing. I still haven't fulfilled that dream, but I would like to one day." 

After that statement, it's almost like our conversation has been cut off. Like someone has suddenly built a dam in between our flowing river of words. In an attempt to keep things going, and partially out of my own curiosity, I ask, "How's everything else back at home? Are your parents doing well?" 

Manish gives me an affirmative nod, which causes an unmistakable spark of joy to ignite inside of me. Considering how wonderful his parents were to me growing up and how they treated me as another daughter, an affirmative nod was the only thing I wanted in a question like this. "They're doing awesome. They're actually coming back from Shimla tomorrow. Isha is doing fine too. You know she has a son now?" 

In that instant, I almost choke on my coffee. The thought of Manish's sister, and my childhood bully, having kids was too ginormous of an idea for me to wrap my head around. Thousands of questions start to buzz around in my mind like little bees. Isha has kids? Since when? And who's the poor soul who decided to settle for her? I clear out those questions and finally bring together a cohesive one to ask. "Does she really? Since when?" 

Manish nods, but deep inside his warm eyes, I see the smallest bit of pain frosting. "She got married a few years ago to her husband, Puneet. Nishant was born about 3 years ago. Puneet died one and a half years ago, unfortunately. He was a firefighter and he died in his line of service." 

My curiosity is wilted into a pool of pity. Even though I have my own grudges against Isha for making the days leading up to Manish's departure absolute hell for me, I can't help but feel a little bit bad for her. Nobody deserves to lose their husband like that. "I'm really sorry, Manish. I didn't know." 

Manish shakes his head, as the icy grief and sadness continues to freeze in his warm eyes. "It's not your fault. Puneet died doing his job and saving the lives of others. Isha still kind of misses him, but I like to remind her that because she has Nishant, it's like Puneet never left." 

A small smile curls at my lips. Somehow, the thought that she has Nishant makes me feel a little bit better. Manish shakes off the little bit of grief that I can see and gets back to the conversation. "Are your parents doing well? Ananth too?" 

I nod. "They're all fine. Nothing special. They're just enjoying life." 

Manish gives me another reassuring nod, and goes back to sipping his drink. Again, the conversation that was idly rolling on has screeched to a halt. At that point, I'm at a loss on how to continue. A part of me buried deep inside wants to keep this going and not stop. Suddenly, in a total lightbulb moment, an idea pops in my mind on how to keep this going. I clear my throat a little bit to prepare this. "Manish, can you solve this joke?" Manish immediately perks up, and gets ready to answer. "You know me. Shoot." A devilish smile spawns on my face, and I lean in to get cracking. "So, what do you call someone who has an awful sense of revenge?" Manish thinks for a little bit, and then, I can see it pop in his head. "Badla-poor!" Slight snickers escape out of my throat, and at that moment, it's like everything turns around. It's at that moment that I know this conversation will turn into a memorable one.

****

Despite the fact that I've been constantly drinking coffee, my throat still feels a little bit hoarse from all the continuous talking that we've done. My cheeks sting because I've been smiling at his jokes and laughing at his corny puns. Euphoria is pumping through my veins, making me feel like I'm sky high and like I did a few lines of cocaine to get to this level. Darkness looms over the Bay due to the sun setting, with a few notes of pink and orange streaked in the sky. 

And yet, it feels like no time has passed. It feels like I just sat down and time came to a screeching halt for us to talk. And I'm grateful for that. And the way Manish is absolutely laughing his ass off is reassuring me of that too. 

"So, wait, you're telling me your ex actually LIKED Cats?" 

Manish nods, as a displeased look starts to bloom on his face. "Unfortunately. When I asked Karishma, my ex, as to why, she said, 'It's so bad that it's good.'" 

My eyes bug out of my head, like someone pushed them out from behind. My jaw drops, and the only thing that I manage to squeak out is, "Please tell me that's the reason she's your ex." 

Manish starts chuckling again, as he shakes his head. "No, no, we broke up for other reasons. But she wasn't that bad. But honestly that alone was a giant red flag." We both start giggling again, as we both know it's true. Anyone who likes that movie needs to get both their head and taste checked. 

Manish lifts up his watch to see what the time is, and his eyes pop out with shock. "Oh shit, it's 7:20? Man, we really have been talking for a while! Sorry, Jaya, I have to cut this short. I have to pick up my parents early from the airport tomorrow and I have to deal with some insurance garbage." 

I snicker a little bit more, as I can vouch for how annoying dealing with insurance is. Especially when it comes to health insurance in the ICU. Manish gets up from his seat, and I follow suit. 

Almost like our minds are connected, our arms spread out and we entangle each other in a warm hug. An unmistakable smile spreads across my face, while the euphoria pumping through my veins is amplified. I can feel Manish turn his head and whisper, "We have to do this again." 

I nod my head vigorously, as we let go of each other. "You're right. Let's plan. Your place or mine? And more coffee?" Manish whips out his smile to take notes so we can make a legit plan. "My place for sure, and more coffee is a must. I've been investing in some good beans." 

I continue to smile, as I can almost predict how awesome our next meetup is going to be. With the coffee and chit chat combined, how can it not put a smile on someone's face? 

But, I know deep down the coffee and chit chat isn't the primary reason why I've been smiling throughout this day. 

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Looks like their meetup went very well! How do you think their friendship will develop as the book unfolds? Let me know in the comments!

Hey everyone! So sorry that I didn't get this out sooner. I was on vacation and editing the chapter would've been a nightmare on my phone. Anyways, I hope this didn't disappoint!

Oh also, if you need explaining on the pun: Badlapur is the name of a Bollywood movie. "Badla" means revenge. So badla-poor (revenge-poor. Like their revenge sucks) 

As always, please vote/comment/share/follow/message, both here and on my Instagram (svts.writes) if you like my work! See you in the next chapter!

Love you guys, 

Shree