Earrings are probably the last thing a boy would notice in a girl but somehow I ended up making an exception to this unsaid rule for the “Girl with the pink earring”.
It was a typical Monday at the office. I was still reeling from the after effects of indulging in partying and heavy drinking for last three consecutive nights. Last night had been the worst of all; me and my friends had started drinking at around midnight and drank till 5.30 in the morning. On top of that, I had reported to work at 9.30 in the morning with barely 3 hours of sleep and made sure to eat 2 disprins before stepping inside the office so as not to look too hung over. While on my way to office, I had decided to abstain from alcohol for some time but in my mind I knew that if someone asked me to join them for some drinks over the weekend I would in all probability oblige. Luckily the work load was less today and I could get away with a quick 2 minute nap every now and then by pretending to look at the computer screen reading something important.
However, my manager had no intention of letting my life become so painless and buzzed me on the office messenger. He wanted me to help some other team with their work as they were falling short of time and people. Instantly, my defense mechanism became active and I very subtly told my manager that I was already overloaded with work and also provided him with a list of things I was working on. Trying to sound somewhat supportive, I suggested him the name of a colleague who had some bandwidth available and who could help him on his request.
Just as I was wrapping up the discussion with my manager, my friends buzzed me for lunch. ‘It’s about time’ I thought. I was hoping that a good sumptuous meal can probably cure the hangover that still remained although it was no secret that our cafeteria served some of the most pathetic food that I had ever eaten in my life. Still, I got up from my seat and dragged my feet towards the cafeteria. As I was crossing the aisle to approach the cafeteria looking here and there, my eyes fixed on a girl chatting with someone. I could not see her face as she had her back facing towards me. From where I was standing, I could only see a pink color diamond earring dangling from her right ear. I had always liked dangling earrings over hoops or clip-on earrings on a female which is what probably caused me to take a notice of her earring. As I moved forward, the back of her body came into the full view and I noticed that she was wearing a pink salwar kameez. The kameez came down to the top of her knee and had some kind of flower embroidery done on it with white threads which looked extremely pretty. I somehow felt myself getting curious about her looks and for a moment thought of taking another way just to see her face. But then I saw my friends coming down the aisle and quickly discarded any such thoughts from my mind.
As I sat down for lunch, I found my thoughts going back to the girl with the pink earring. I kept trying to paint a face on her in my mind while having lunch at the same time. Halfway through my lunch, I saw her enter the cafeteria smiling and talking with the same person she was chatting with earlier. She was more beautiful then I had imagined her to be. I was immediately captivated by her smile and kept staring at it until I was shouted at by my friend for not paying attention to his distress story. However, I still kept taking occasional glances at her direction while trying to keep myself focused on the discussion happening at the table. The discussion at the lunch table mostly revolved around either abusing managers in hushed voices or pure gibberish and today was no exception. After taking her food, she and her friend sat two tables away from where we were seating. She was seating diagonally opposite to me and I could see her face clearly. I noticed that she was wearing a visitors badge which probably meant that she was here for an interview and the friend with whom she was having lunch with had had referred her for some opening in the organization. She was just starting her lunch while we were almost through with ours so it was useless to try and reduce my pace of eating just to spend more time looking at her. While we were getting up from our table, I deliberately chose to pass by her table to get a closer look at her face hoping that my friends did not take any notice of it.
Post lunch, we went about our daily routine of having tea at a shop outside our office gate. While we were paying the shopkeeper after finishing our tea, I saw her come out of the main gate. She must have called her driver in advance as he was already at the gate waiting for her holding the back door open. She quickly went inside and the driver shut the door. The driver wasted no time in hitting the accelerator once he was seated and within couple of seconds, her white Toyota went out of sight.
For the next three days, her face and smile kept wandering in and out of mind. Then on Friday I saw her again. While I was going out for Lunch with my friends, I saw her come in and proceed towards the lift lobby. I immediately made an excuse that I had my forgotten my mobile phone at the desk and will have to retrieve it before someone else pockets it. I ran towards the lift lobby and saw her standing there waiting for a lift to arrive. After a few minutes, a lift arrived and we both stepped inside it. Once inside, she pressed the button for 5th floor which ironically was the same floor where I also happened to sit. She was wearing western formals this time and the perfume she was wearing smelled heavenly. I thought of wishing her all the best as it was pretty evident from her visitors badge and the fact that she was wearing western formals on a Friday which happened to be casuals’ day that she was here for an interview but then decided otherwise. Within few seconds, 5th floor arrived and both of us stepped out of the elevator. I saw her open the front door which did not require any identification and approach the security desk behind it. She would probably wait there for a few minutes before someone came in and ushered her in to the conference room for the next round of interview. After that, I quickly ran downstairs using stairs and joined my friends. I had intentionally kept the mobile in my hand to show as if I had hurriedly picked it up from my desk and came down as soon as possible without bothering to keep it in the pocket.
Another week passed after that incident without any sign of her. ‘Maybe she did not clear the interview’ I said to myself. Slowly, I was trying to forget her as I had no hope of seeing her again. Besides, I had resigned from my job three weeks back and only four weeks remained on my stipulated notice period. ‘Who knows we might meet in the new organization I was going to join’ I thought with as much optimism as I could gather. A pat on the shoulder interrupted my thoughts and I turned around to see my manager standing with her. For a few seconds, I just remained seated with my mouth open and did not even bother to get up and greet my manager. As soon as I had regained my composure, I got up from my seat and greeted my manager with a “Hi” and looked at her direction. In reply he said, “Hi Nishant, I want you to meet your replacement …………. “
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