A ROMANTIC TRYST

Valentine’s Day came after the world stood still because of the Corona pandemic. It was midnight on February 13, 2022. I and my belle were on the phone talking about having a romantic tryst, and to my surprise, her father permitted her to use his car. I didn't ask how she persuaded him to give permission. It was our first Valentine’s Day after falling in love.

Shikha is a post-graduate in Civil Engineering from a renowned college in Kerala. She is an average-build girl with medium-length curly hair. We met at an architectural firm where we did our internship and entered into a relationship in August 2021. We planned to meet at our regular meeting place-a tea shop opposite the traffic signal, 1 km from her home. I was wearing a blue shirt and white jeans and arrived on my bike at around 9 am. Most of the time, I preferred to travel by bike. I saw her coming in a Tata-Indica car with an L Board affixed to the front windshield glass. As I entered the car, I saw her wearing a blue and white kurti, a round red bindi on her forehead, and her hair tied up with a black hairband. She wore a matching blue mask too. We exchanged romantic looks and undressed our faces. Oh, I mean, removed our masks. As a result, her rose lips (the power of lipstick) and a brand-new nose ring got revealed.  We started our journey to the remote place she had discovered to celebrate this day. Although this was supposed to be a romantic rendezvous, we pre-planned all the events as if they were being done for a college youth festival: cake cutting, exchanging gifts, a two-minute speech on this relationship, and finally, our first kiss.

She was a naïve rider. It looked like she was driving a truck; I worried she would pull out the lever. I just checked the speedometer and saw the fuel indicator blinking.

'Arrey, It’s time to refill your tank. Let’s get some petrol’. She parked the car along the roadside, and I asked her to get a bottle. I was born in a nation where littering is prevalent. Regardless of how many steps or initiatives the government takes, the public's attitude will not change, and hence finding a bottle was too easy. She took one bottle, brought it near her nose and took a deep breath.

‘Someone drank alcohol in this bottle’ she said with disgust.

‘No problem, dear. Anyway, it’s empty. ’

'What will happen if we use this bottle to fill petrol? The car will move like a snake’ She laughed out loud at her lame joke.

I said nothing. I just looked upwards, wondering what sin I had committed to hearing all this. I took another bottle, and we walked to the nearest petrol pump. We were wasting our precious time. Using that bottle, we collected petrol, which enabled us to reach the pump. After filling the tank, we resumed our journey.

I kept my eyes closed, or I might have fainted after seeing the car escaping from being hit by buses and trucks. Her father might have sneezed incessantly.

After 15 minutes, the car came to a halt, and I opened my eyes.

'Thank God, we reached safely,' I told myself.

During the journey, she kept blabbering about how she had convinced her father to use his car, half of which I paid no heed to as I was busy praying for the lives of people walking on the footpath and crossing the roads. Though this is a secluded place, I could see some vehicles parked here and there.

‘How did you find this place?’

‘Well, I needed this day to be special, so I traversed across the city to find a suitable spot, and this is it—just how Columbus discovered America. ’ She said with pride. And our excitement was so high that we reversed the order of the arranged programs. We began with a kiss, and it happened- Our lips finally met.

Why has she coated her lips with a layer of lipstick? She knew that today was supposed to be kiss day. We fell into a state of oblivion that we awoke to a tic-tic sound coming from the window. There I saw a police officer rolling his eyes to get a clear view of what was happening inside.

I nearly fainted when I saw his thick moustache. I asked Shikha to lower the window glass, but she refused out of fear. She kept staring at me, unsure of what to do next. He signalled us to step aside, and finding no other way, I stepped outside and was stunned to see the board: This area is under CCTV surveillance.

‘What were you doing inside the car?’

"Sir...I...We..." I struggled to find the right words.

‘Ask her to come out, or else I’ll take you to the police station. It’s just 50m away. ’

What? The station is just 50m away. After traversing the entire city, Lady Columbus found an area under camera surveillance near a police station. She stepped outside, wearing a mask to conceal her trembling lips. I still can’t fathom how foolish a person can become when panicked. She greeted him with a Namaste followed by ‘Happy Valentine’s Day.’; and added that she was not celebrating this day, showing respect to the soldiers who had lost their lives in the Pulwama attack.

Will she say that we were not kissing too?

Before the situation got out of hand, I took the lead.

‘Sir, I'm Sekhar, a civil engineer by profession, and she is my sister Shikha.’

By the way, Shekhar is her real brother.

‘What were you doing inside the car?’

She said, "Sir, we were mourning for the martyred soldiers. We have even bought cakes, sorry, candles. You can check. It's inside the car."

The police officer was perplexed. I signalled to her to shut her mouth for a while.

‘Sir, she is lying out of fear. I was consoling her. Her close friend tested positive for covid three days ago. She is afraid that she might be positive since they attended a birthday celebration last week. She fears undergoing COVID tests, and I was comforting her. Perhaps you mistook us, sir.'

From his expression, I understood it worked. He took his phone and dialled someone. A police jeep arrived in a few seconds.

'Come, children. Sorry for being judgemental. Let’s go to the nearby hospital and have it tested. Wear your masks.’

Her romantic expression had vanished. She touched her nose and snarled. But a stern look from the police was enough to change her mind. I could feel a slap on my face from the way she looked at me. She sat in the driving seat, with me as a silent co-passenger. In contrast to the morning, it was dead silent. The police escorted me for the first time in my life.

We finally reached the hospital. As I waited inside the car, the officers took her inside, maintaining social distance, and they returned after 30 minutes.

‘Sir, where’s Shikha?’

"The antigen test result is positive.”

My heartbeat ramped up. He continued:

‘Don’t worry, she got admitted here only. Since you are her primary contact, you must observe room quarantine for the next 7 days. We have informed your parents, they will be here soon. ’

'Oh, no! That’s so kind of you.' Somehow, I thanked him. 'Could you get me some water?'

I knew I had to get out of here before her parents arrived. As soon as the police headed to the nearest shop to buy bottled water, I left the key in the car and ran all the way home. I took my phone from my pocket and found 17 missed calls and a message from Shikha: HAPPY QUARANTINES DAY.

I immediately switched off the phone. Seven days had passed, and I could go outside. Now the next big task is confrontation. I switched on my phone and dialled her number.

‘Hai Shikha, how is your health.’

‘You son of a @#$%#!@’