31st of march. The final release is in three days. Its not unusual to work late nights at this stage of the project. Most of the bugs had either been marked not reproducible or invalid and only few cosmetic issues remained. It was 11pm, and the team decided to disperse. We called up the main-gate, and found that there wouldn’t be any cabs till 11.30. I had taken my car that day, but decided to go by cab since I was tired.
I was already prepared to leave at 11, so decided to go the cabs’ parking area and wait there. This accounts lady was also waiting for the cab there. She was in a hurry to leave, so when I told her I had brought my car, she profusely requested me to take her home. I relented. We left at 10 minutes past 11. She insisted on driving. I dint like her audacity, but gave in, as I don’t have to tolerate her all the time, and may be the fact that she’s my manager’s wife was there at some remote corner of my mind.
We took the NICE road and then reached some deserted roads a few kilometers before bannerghatta road. I was half asleep by this time. During all this time we rarely talked. She swiftly turned to the left. As I opened my eyes I saw that we were in the middle of an empty street. There were no houses in the road. Either side of the road had bushes to the height of one’s chest. The only source of light there was car’s head lamps. It was absolutely dark and I could not see either ends of the road. The car slowed down and then came to a halt. The car’s lights went off and it blacked out completely.
There was complete silence and the only sound audible was the sound of our own breath. Slowly when my eyes adapted to the dark, I could see that she had a menacing smile on her face. She was confident and hence seemed to have some plan in her mind. I had a big question mark on my face. Either the voice had shrunk out of slight fear or it dint come out since it was obvious that she needed to explain why we are in the middle of no-where.
“Just thought today night is so beautiful, why not take a stroll”
“At this hour? Are you crazy? Let’s go.”
“Relax kid, tomorrow is Saturday’
“I think this is a conspiracy to defame me in front of my manager :)”
“I am not living with him anymore. We divorced few weeks back”
“Oh sorry”
“No Sorries, I am happy it happened. Now are you going to come out not” She opened the door and pulled me out.
I admire adamant girls. But I don’t think I would like to live with them. Sometimes being dominated, being led by a beautiful girl is good. But only sometimes :)
She seemed very naïve and innocent, but guys like innocent and sometimes stupid :) girls.
We walked for some distance, and then, she said she felt like smoking, she wanted to take cigarettes from her hand bag and started to walk back. I went and sat in the rain water drain. Her T-shirt fluttered in the breeze and hugged her body. A silhouette of her bosoms could be seen. Few seconds later it struck me that i could see the silhouette because of a faint light in the background. as i turned to my left, I could see a bike coming in our direction. I impulsively ran towards the car, grabbed the car key and sat in the driver’s seat. There was a confused look on her face, may be she didn’t notice the bike coming behind us. There were actually 2 bikes, which came and parked right behind our car. I locked the car from inside. She bent her head down and to hide her I put my jerkin and bag on her.
The car had the cooling papers on the window screens, so nothing could be seen from behind. There were 3 guys in all on the two bikes. One guy, talking on his cell phone came to the front of the car. But apparently he could see nothing. Another guy came and pressed his nose of the driver’s side window to see what’s there inside. All this while she had been hidden below the jerkin and bag. My heart was pounding. The look on their face, their drunken body language suggested they here hooligans. The guy on my side began to light a match stick.
Well that was it, I started the car and we were off. One of the two bikes chased us. I dint know where to go, but had to just keep going. I took a quick right turn and then right again. I revved up and we were in the main road. From there we drove the familiar roads for a few minutes and reached a place where a few shops were still open. At this point, the hooligans gave up the chase. I breathed easy and asked her to get up. She was too afraid to talk. I tried to pacify her and perhaps myself, by saying nothing had happened. But I realized my hands and legs were still trembling. We had escaped by whisker from being in what could have been a very dangerous situation. We stopped the car to relax.
My mind was still working at a brisk pace to analyze the situation, to make sense of whatever had happened in the last few minutes. I wondered what prompted them to come and stop behind our car in the first place, and then chase us. Did they want to rob us of the car? May be. It’s a lonely place, it could have been their meeting place to discuss who to kill, how to kill or how to rob or whatever they want to do. And today we were in their own nest, and would have been easy prey to them. She interrupted the train of thoughts with a stupid “I’m going to have ice-cream. Do you like to have?”
“Will you just shut up and be here for some time. Don’t you have any seriousness?”
Before I could complete my words, she slammed the door and went towards the ice-cream shop. This infuriated me; it was she who was responsible for this, and now this childishness. I sulked in defeat as she enjoyed her ice-cream.
I checked my watch. It was 5 minutes past 12. I saw the Tata sumo come from front and as it neared I recognized that it was our company’s vehicle. It came and slowed down beside me. I lowered my window. 3-4 guys shouted “April Fool!!!”
“What!? Was this all planned?” I shouted back
“Yes” came the reply
The joke had gone too far. My blood boiled. Felt like punching her on her face. It all happened like in a movie. She came and sat and consciously put the door lightly lest it attract my attention. The atmosphere was filled with sullen silence. I avoided looking at her as I knew I wouldn’t hold myself back if she said a single word.
I drove her to her house. She was reluctant to get down. I signaled her to get down.
“Why don’t you just come in? You can have some coffee”
I smiled indifferently, “So it’s not over yet! :)”
“Hey I am sorry. If you come over, I would like to explain you everything”
I nodded in disagreement and was about to start the car. As if to ameliorate my situation, she put her hand on my shoulder and whispered “Listen buddy, I am really sorry. But unlike what you are thinking, I dint plan all this, it was your friends who had planned this. The plan was to take you to the lonely road and leave you there. And the office cab was to come after 12 and pick you up. I walked to the car on the pretext of taking cigarettes, but I actually wanted to take the car away. Those hooligans were not a part of the plan. Trust me”
That didn’t make my mood any better, but I could just forgive her. I returned a fake smile to her. “I am sorry the joke went too far. Tell me if there is anything that I could do to make you feel better”. I smiled back and patted on her back. She got down, came and stood beside my window. She held my hand with both her hands, with gleam in her eyes, she said “Thanks a lot for your presence of mind. I don’t know what would have happened, if you didn’t act so quickly” and disappeared.
