HER POV
"Hi, where are you? I've reached the mart." My eyes searched for him while I was on the call.
"Just five minutes, I'll be there. By the way, what are you bringing with you?"
"Just some cakes and brownies. What about you?"
"Woww… I'm not bringing anything edible. Just some gifts."
"Which gifts?"
"You'll know." He laughed.
What is his surprise gift? Chocolates? But that's edible. I'll just find out when the time comes.
Oh! There he is.
"Wow! You cleaned your car. It's shining."
"Yes. We're having a school reunion. We have to look presentable."
"Presentable?" I scoffed. "With this dry horse hair?"
"What's wrong with my hair? It's fine." He opened his camera. "Oh no. I look like Sleeping Beauty who just woke up," he cried.
"Sleeping beast," I corrected.
We burst into laughter and entered the car.
"How much time will the ride take?" I asked while scrolling through my phone.
"Maximum twenty minutes."
"Woww. I have twenty minutes to sleep."
"You don't miss even a single moment to sleep."
"Did you sleep late last night?"
"Yes. Why?"
"You have dark circles."
"I slept at 4 a.m. I was finding something."
"What were you finding?"
"Nothing important."
"Woww! You almost didn't sleep the whole night to find something not important."
"I was doing project research. That's necessary but not important, right?"
I'm sleepy but can't sleep. My eyes want to close, but my mind isn't cooperating.
All the shops are open today. And—sandwiches.
"What happened, Tara?" He looked at me. "Do you want to eat sandwiches?"
"I don't know. I was just looking outside and saw that old sandwich shop which I thought was closed. I haven't eaten their sandwiches since—"
I couldn't even finish my sentence before he turned the car back toward the shop.
"I'm not hungry, and we're also getting late. We can eat them some other day."
"Let's eat them. A minute or two won't matter that much."
Oh my God. Mr. Lost being a gentleman.
He rolled down the car window, leaned out, and ordered two sandwiches.
I started checking my purse for money, but suddenly his hand stopped mine.
"I'll pay."
"It's okay, I can. I have money."
"I said I'll pay. Just chill."
"Here are your sandwiches. How have you been doing?" the uncle asked.
"I'm fine. What about you? Is aunty alright now?"
"Yes, yes. Her treatment was done a few months back."
"Nice. Tell her I was asking about her."
"Come home someday and meet her yourself."
"Sure, uncle."
"Who is he? Is he that fool who troubled you back then?"
"Yes, uncle. He's my best friend," I laughed, catching him staring at us, clueless.
"And yes, did you find anything till now?"
Why did he mention it in front of him?
"No—no, uncle," I almost stammered. "Okay, uncle, we'll leave."
We left, and then he began.
"Who was he? What were you supposed to find? And why did he call me a fool? Wait! When did I trouble you?"
"Waittttttt!!!!!" I screamed.
"You just threw a bag full of questions at me. Let me speak—then only I can tell you."
"Oh, sorry. Tell me now."
"I've been coming to his shop for years, and since I was a regular, he knows me. I lost something very precious, so I was finding it all over the place. And about you—you remember we had a very big fight last year?"
"Yes. We even stopped contacting each other for a month."
"So I came to his shop, and while eating sandwiches, I started crying continuously and then bad-mouthed you a lot."
"You bad-mouthed meee?"
"Yes. Because you made me cry so much."
"Sorry."
"You should be."
"And what were you finding exactly? You didn't tell that."
"I'll tell you some other day."
"Why? Tell me now, please. Otherwise, I'll keep thinking about it."
"Because we have arrived, and you were supposed to stop at that café behind."
"Okay, but promise you'll tell me about it. I'll help you."
"Promise."