Another day had gone by and Nia realised she had to stop. She was overworked and under slept. Nia hung her head back and rubbed the ridge of her nose. She needed more coffee – maybe her third in only the last hour.
She raised her hand to call someone. “So how is the new business?” Rishu aunty as usual smelt of coffee and cake. She was wearing her brown apron and a few strands of her hair were playing around her forehead.
“It’s as good as a Sajid Khan movie” Nia smiled.
“Honey, remember this – you can have a lot of troubles in life, but nothing can be as bad as a Sajid Khan movie. Trust me on that!” Nia smiled again.
“Can I get you anything?”
“Another Coffee”
“You know when you are in a terrorist attack and God forbid they shoot you, you will bleed caffeine” Rishu aunty walked to the counter as she spoke.
“At least something would make me famous – this business is hardly going to do that for me” Nia closed the flap of her laptop.
“You have just started it, give it some time honey!” Rishu aunty kept the large mug of Nia’s coffee on the table and pulled a chair for herself.
“Well , I hope that …” Their conversation was interrupted by Nia’s ringing phone.
“Nia Sharma, yes .. No,sorry, what?.... A holiday? …. I have not booked for any holiday…. All expense paid trip ….with who? Surprise? By who? … see I think you have the wrong person …. Yes, I am Nia Sharma but … who is this person ….Mail … yes ..ok … Thank you ?” Nia stared at the emptiness above her coffee table, confused.
“Some one is sending me to Shillong … on an all expense paid trip” Nia’s eyes were wandering as she spoke.
Rishu auny frowned. “Who?”
“I don’t know … I don’t understand .. there must be a mix up. They would have me confused with some other Nia.
“Oooh a secret admirer , you don’t say?” Rishu aunty cocked her head to the side and smiled with a twinkle in her eye.
“Oh right! The last time I had a secret admirer; Bhagat Singh was planning to raid the train in Kakori!”
“Du -uh” Rishu aunty rolled her eyes.
“Du-uh to you back” Nia smiled. “I’ll head back home… Can I have the bill please?”
“Sure “ Rishu aunty got up.
Nia was glad the day Rishu aunty had bought the neighbourhood property and turned it into a Library plus café. Since then, most of her weekends were spent there, reading a book and sipping cups and cups of coffee. Now that she had decided to open her own business venture, Café Perk up was almost her place. She could remain alone here without being alone. She would sit there with her team, deciding about ideas, marketing plans and everything else in between. In her free time, she could look at people coming in and out and cook up their live stories in her head.
Alright, the blogger has turned in her write up and the developer is working on the fixes... I still need to talk to the designers.. It wasn’t a bad day today. Nia went through her day as she fished for her keys in the bag and opened the door to her flat.
The phone call still bummed her. Can it really be a secret admirer? Shashank? No he is married and besides he was never so romantic … Ashish ? Oh no he stopped calling me as soon as I turned down his proposal … so no and he was not so romantic either.. No one is that romantic.
“Lucky girl you other Nia” She mumbled to herself as she changed into her shorts and slipped into the bed.
That night Nia dreamed of a hill station she had never been to. She saw clouds kissing the mountain tops and long road twisting like a flexible dancer. She was not sure in her dream but it could have been Shillong.
