First impression

Meena turned her eyes towards Gayatri  in disbelief and froze for a fraction of a second. Her phone two inches away from her ear, still on call, the campus was silent.

“where are you ?”,she broke the silence

“swan cafe”, came the reply

And then the call was disconnected from the other side.

Gayatri gazed at Meena with the questioning eyes.

“Visit the campus. Have a good time.” ,said Meena

“Is this what he said. Unbelievable. I am not concerned about myself but u  know him for a pretty good time now. This was a pathetic response. ”

“No need to call him back.” , ordered frustrated Gayatri.

Lost in their thoughts; walking seemed easier than talking about the insult just happened. None spoke. They simply followed the way, unaware of the destination.

Meena was thinking of the Facebook chat happened a few days ago. She had expressed her desire to visit his campus and he replied “anytime dear. I will show you the campus well. Just inform me once before leaving.”

She  had met him just once before on a formal occasion and that " first impression" streched the time by three months. She had developed a fondness for him in these three months. She adored his creativity. He was a painter.

And suddenly  , all this seemed like a bad dream. Deep inside , she was expecting him to call back and apologise but wanted to keep the thought away. It was not as if they could not visit this place themselves but Meena had especially come to meet him. It is not the idea of visiting the place that make your day beautiful but the company you have.

“Do you need a Guide  ?” the voice came from behind

They turned back to see a young boy standing in a cool pose  with a camera in hand. Gayatri wanted to say no .  meanwhile Meena recalled a quote “the best revenge is a life well lived.”  She didn’t remember the name of the person who said this. The word “revenge” was not fitting well in this situation but it was okay.

“but how do you know we are here to see the campus ”,asked Gayatri

“you both have been walking around this statue for the last five minutes. And…..”

A quick circumspection made  Meena aware of the blunder they were doing. She interrupted him to avoid further embarrassment  “yeah !! sure.”

“Idiots, that’s what  we are,” thought meena

“They say it right: sometimes girls don’t THINK.”

The next two hours passed  quite smoothly. They could not have hoped for a better end of this day. The young photographer’s company was a delight. His every third sentence followed good humour. And undoubtedly, girls like boys with good sense of humour.  They did not exchange numbers. Nothing was expected from any side. It was an accidental meeting borne out of betrayal which turned out to be really good.

On their way back to the hostel, Meena’s eyes glued to an advertisement poster which read “first impression is not always the last impression.”