The Infosys, Mysore Diaries: "Coffee & Crushes" : #BlogChatterA2Z

 Last night was confusing. Why was Chetan so rude to me? Clearly, he despised me as much as I despised him. Pushing away that thought, I looked across the street. Arjun was on a bicycle - red color this time.

“I managed to find a Hero cycle”, he smiled.

“Finally! Let’s hurry up, we've got a long way to go”, Myra said peddling her Ladybird.

The three of us had successfully managed to find bicycles. The cool Mysore breeze felt nice while going down the slope. 

We parked our bicycles near Arena (food court) and headed to Café Coffee Day. 

“Let’s have cold coffee?”, I suggested, scanning the menu.

In the past, we were never interested in coffee and hardly ever explored the various options in Coffee Day.

“Kaapi Nirvana?”, Myra said dubiously. 

“What?  It sounds like a sexual position!”, I replied. We both started guffawing while Arjun looked away pointedly. Arjun was very “decent” like that, he pretended not to listen. 

Myra and I both ordered one Kaapi Nirvana each and Arjun ordered Devil’s Own. There were other interesting drinks such as Frappes and refreshers too.

The cold coffee had the blended taste of coffee and chocolate; the icing on the top was the yummy vanilla ice cream.

“Can’t imagine we were missing out on Kaapi Nirvana all these days”, I winked after a sip.

“Kaapi Nirvana can make even a depressed person happy”, Myra continued in a poetic tone.

Arjun just smiled at our innuendos. Told you, he was “decent”!

“So, how’s it going Arjun?”, I teased.

“Shall we go out this Saturday, Priya? Just the two of us?”, Arjun said.

Myra choked on her Kaapi Nirvana.

 “Wait a second. What ??”, she said to Arjun.

“Yes”, he replied in a casual tone, “Well?”, he said to me.

 I was taken aback. “Let me think about it”, I replied. My answer surprised me.

Myra looked at the two of us incredulously. 

“What?? Have you gone mad?”, she exclaimed.

When neither of us replied, she laughed out aloud. She did not stop smiling for the rest of the evening. 

"Clearly, a lot can happen over coffee", she said in a sing-song voice, quoting the Cafe Coffee Day tagline.

We reached our hostel and I was just about to go into my room when Myra said,

“Priya, what’s happening? Were you serious when you said you’ll think about it?”, she asked.

“It's so sudden”, I replied, “I didn’t know what to say.”

“Well, think about it. Good night.”, she said after a moment. This is something that I love about Myra, she does not hover. While other friends make a big deal about such things, she gives you space when you need it.

The next day passed on quickly with more sessions. The following day was Friday and the last day of ILI training. 

Myra and I were late again and started jogging to our class. Arjun was sending us “hurry up” messages from the class. He was early to classes because he loved the breakfast spread in Arena and never missed it. We, on the other hand, hogged on corn flakes and milk (made from milk powder using a kettle, Infosys did not have kitchens in the residential blocks). 

“Am planning to go out with Arjun, I’ll tell him today”, I said.

She stopped walking. 

“Are you serious?”, she asked. I nodded.

“Are you guys kidding me? We are friends for 4 years. You don’t want to spoil it.”, she said.

“Let’s talk later”, I resumed walking.

I started thinking about it, this was all unexpected. Over the past, I would overthink and magnify every little aspect related to romance or dating. For some reason, I wanted to simplify things. 

We reached class and I waved to Arjun which for some reason annoyed Myra. 

The ILI session finished in a blur. 

We had lunch at the Magna food court with our college group. Myra ignored the two of us and started talking to others. Somehow, this whole thing made things awkward with her and not Arjun. I did not feel a tad uncomfortable with him, nor did he. 

 

On Saturday morning, I knocked on Myra’s room.

“Do I look okay?”, I asked. I wore a cute green top and jeans.

“So, you’re really doing this!”, she said quietly.

“Sorry if this surprised you. I am confused too. But let me give it a try.”, I said, “We’ll be back by evening. You should be okay by yourselves, right?”

“Of course, maybe I’ll say yes to Amit and go out with him. You two have fun”, she winked. Amit as well??? Her fan list was growing at a quick pace.  I sighed and left her room.

Arjun was already waiting for me at the bicycle stand. I increased my pace. 

“You’re late, we were supposed to leave 10 mins back!”, he said impatiently.

“Sorry, I had to manage her.”, I snapped.

“Big Bazaar is always busy, we have to buy so many things for her birthday.”, he said.

“We’ll manage it within time.”, I replied.

So, the cat’s out of the bag! We were just putting an act together for Myra’s birthday which was 2 weeks away. We’d prepared a list of things to gift her for her first birthday away from home. We chose Big bazaar because it was a one-stop for most of our purchases and we did not trust the local stores somehow. There were no malls at that time.

“Let’s walk fast, no cycles again today”, Arjun said. 

 We started jogging, which we were used to these days. We came out of the campus, took an RTC bus to CBS (Central Bus Station), and then took an auto to Big Bazaar. 

Meanwhile, back in her room, Myra was talking to a friend of hers, “Those idiots are planning something for my birthday. Let’s see how far they take it. I’ll also play along.”, she said. 

-- To be continued

This post is a part of the Blogchatter A2Z Challenge.