The Indomitable Heart - S1 E5
FLAME
by Himayath Khan
5 min read
Priyanka became a familiar presence on the floor, often engaging in conversations with the Team Leader or one of the service representatives. However, her interactions with Arhan were the most frequent, occurring about three or four times a week. The conversation and body language were a successful pretence of receiving feedback for others to see. However, their interactions were less about work and more about sharing friendly chats. At the same time, Arhan's receiver stayed in quality control mode.
"Machaṅ, want to come for a smoke?" Avaneesh asked, strolling over to Arhan's desk in the bustling office.
It was hard to tell by Avaneesh when Priyanka looked up, as she was visibly disturbed by his appearance from what may have been a deep heart-to-heart or pointers on improving call quality.
"Priyanka, I'd like you to meet Avaneesh. Avaneesh, this is Priyanka," Arhan introduced, sitting up from his Formula 1 chair position, signalling the start of a new connection.
"Hello!" Priyanka shook her head, acknowledging him.
"Hi, Priyanka, er, aren't you Shree's sister?" asked Avaneesh.
"Yes, I am," she replied with widened eyes.
"Shree?" asked Arhan.
"Yes, Shree. Er, my brother. He's a T L in the tech wing here," Priyanka added.
"How did you know that, Avi?" Arhan inquired.
"Shree and I used to get picked up by the same van while in training, Machaṅ. You should meet him someday.– a nice, soft-spoken guy," he said.
"Anyways, are you coming?" he said, "And…" looking at Priyanka, "it was nice to meet you, Priyanka," he added, walking away towards the floor's exit.
Arhan looked at Priyanka, bending his head to his side–
"We don't need a puppy dog look for such silly reasons," she said. "Go! Go before I change my mind."
"Thank you, my sweetest Q A," Arhan replied, swiftly hitting the break button on his Avaya telephone set and hastening to join Avaneesh, his footsteps softly thumping over the floor's carpet.
Priyanka continued to remain seated, staring at Arhan's empty chair.
Arhan took a long deep drag off his cigarette, standing by the tiny window in the company's top-floor stairwell, littered with cigarette butts reflecting its uncared-for state. Avaneesh joined him, holding two paper cups of piping hot but watery milk tea from the vending machine. He handed one over to Arhan.
"What Machaṅ? Full silent you are!"
"Avi, man." Arhan paused as he blew smoke out from his nose. "She has a boyfriend, but…"
"Machaṅ, but-a. But what ra?" Avaneesh asked, leaning in.
"She mentioned that she isn't happy with him."
"Eh-hmm.. But? Tell me more about the "but." Avaneesh pushed.
"But, I... Er, but I like her," he paused. "Like, I like her a lot!" He added.
"God! Kadvale! Kapathhu appa!"
"Avi, I'm serious."
"I know, Machaṅ, I know."
"My voice might sound histrionic, but I'm only asking God for help." He added.
"So, what do I do?" Arhan pressed on.
Avaneesh took the cigarette off Arhan's hand and took a long puff.
"See Machaṅ, as I see it, there's only one way out of this– You have to tell her how you feel about her." He blew out smoke. And in an almost raspy voice– "It is up to her to decide her life forward." He continued. "Does she want to leave Pradeep or not? Does she want to go around with you or not?"
He softly crushed the tea cup and threw it toward a corner.
"All you have to do is be truthful to her. And pray."
"You think I should tell her how I feel?" Arhan said, looking towards the ceiling.
Avaneesh, putting his arm over Arhan's shoulder, said, "I know you should tell her. This will show her that she has someone else waiting should she decide to leave Pradeep."
He began to pull Arhan towards the steps.
"Breaks over, da. Don't overthink all this "Lou" and "dau" matter. It will happen if it's meant to, or else– the calendar changes dates; people change people, and people eventually change themselves, Machaṅ. Come, Come."
Arhan followed him in.
Arhan nervously dialled Priyanka's home phone number. His parents were seated outside in their terrace apartment, drinking their early evening tea.
"Hello!" Priyanka answered the call.
"It's me, Arhan."
"Hey, Jake." He could hear her smile.
"I was about to leave home. I'm going to the temple."
"I won't take long. Er, I wanted to meet you."
"Meet! Why? Don't we meet in the office daily?" she asked, still smiling.
"No, I mean I want to meet you outside the office. Er, let's have a coffee?" Arhan asked.
"Hmm, where?" she said.
"How about Brigades? Coffee Day?"
"Hmm… it's a little far… but okay. Time?" she said.
"Six?" Arhan said nervously as he looked through the sitting room's window to check on his parents.
"Hmm, okay. Six. I'll be there."
"Okay, great."
"Okay, I'm going now, okay?" she checked with him.
"Er, Ya, yes, yes. Okay. I'll see you at six," Arhan confirmed.
Arhan was riding a black Kinetic Honda borrowed from a friend in his neighbourhood. He arrived on Brigade Road well before six. Parking it, he paced into Coffee Day and chose the most secluded table he could find.
"A cappuccino, please," he told the waiter, nervously checking his wristwatch for the time. As he waited, he pulled at some tissues kept on the table and began doodling to pass the time.
PRIYANKA. Arhan wrote this name two times. Capitalised. He wrote ARHAN under the first PRIYANKA. Capitalised. He then wrote PRADEEP under the second. This name, too, was capitalised. He then wrote F—friendship, L—love, A—affection, M—marriage, and E—enemy on the following line.
He finally wrote F L A M E two times at the bottom. Both were capitalised. After crossing out the common letters in both sets of names, Arhan ended up with five letters in the first set and nine in the second.
He began counting F as one, L as two, and A as three until he reached E as five. He crossed out E. He started again—F as one, L as two, A as three, M as four, and back to F as five. He crossed out F. He continued doing this till he arrived at M for Marriage in his final count.
He paused to smile. Arhan rechecked his watch. It showed 6:25 pm. He glanced over to check the cafe's entrance. He caught Priyanka walking in. She paused by the door to check behind her. After a moment, she turned around and tried to locate Arhan in the cafe. He waved at her, standing up as he did.
If you liked what you read, please consider buying me a coffee. :)
SCAN or CLICK
Subscribe to the newsletter
Work
Join our quarterly newsletter community to stay updated on the latest news, exclusive content, and upcoming Himayath Khan and Khanate Publishing events.
© Copyright 2023, Himayath Khan for Khanate Publishing. All rights reserved.