A.w.K.w.A.r.D e.N.c.O.u.N.t.E.r

Ghee infused dosa served with garlic chutney, coconut chutney and mint chutney along with a crispy yet soft vada and a strong cup of filter coffee. 

Couple of hours back, this was my business. And I was very much invested in it. I even cancelled a long-planned meeting with a friend just because I was craving for food. I was convinced my decision was right till the moment, I saw him. The GUY. Now hold your horses and do not jump to conclusions! Let me explain. So, this GUY was my classmate in school and the one guy that I kept contact with after we passed out. Somehow, an unexpected friendship did roll out between us. Friendship might be taking it a bit over the top, but we were definitely not just strangers. And now you might be wondering, if this was someone with whom I have a cordial relation why was I hesitant to talk to him because drumroll that's who I am. An awkwardly serious girl who sometimes show symptoms of multiple personality disorder. Now do I have one. Absolutely not. It is just one of the fancy names I learnt during my graduation years. 

Okay coming back to what happened. As the train of thoughts was taking an all-India tour in my head, I didn't realize the fact that I have been staring at him, for a solid three minutes. Good enough for an outsider to label me as a crazy stalker. I also didn't realize that he had turned his head towards my direction, recognized me, smiled at me and was walking towards my table. While my mind was taking a detour to the land of awkwardness making me look like a stupefied idiot. 

I guess he wasn't used to being awkward in life. Or the awkwardness in that situation was too much to handle. Because after some time I realized, his mouth was moving trying to talk while there was a look of helplessness mixed with 'what the hell is happening' in his eyes. Once my mind finally came to its senses, I started talking and we actually had a pleasant chat. The awkwardness did not crawl in, and I was at ease honestly. Till the point he mentioned about how he joined this theatre group called 'THE STAGE' recently and was going to direct a production very soon.

'Wait isn't that the one you are a part of. The one where you were supposed to direct or something, but they kicked you of because you were not bringing anything new to the table? Asked Sofia who was fulfilling the duty of being a listener while trying to finish the final cooking prep for tonight's party.

"Yeah," I replied with a sigh, trying to mix the salads that seemed to have a much more colorful life than mine.

"Then what happened," Sofia asked, concentrating on perfecting the chocolate swirl on the desserts.

"Nothing really. He doesn't know that he had replaced me. I didn't bother telling him. Once production starts, he will figure it out somehow and I am anyways taking a break from theatre. So basically, I just have to respond to some awkward texts from his side that is going to come up like after 5 months or something. Until then I'm good. it's just I did curse this GUY a lot when I found out I was replaced. I hope it doesn't have any effect the poor guy." I replied finishing the salads.

" Well, you do curse badly but since he is alive and you just spoke to him like what a couple of hours back, I can confidently say the curse didn't work," Sofia replied clearing up the final mess in her spotless kitchen. Knowing I didn't have much more to do, I went upstairs and decided to get ready for the party. Sofia being the perfect host had already arranged everything for me and all I had to do was appear decent enough when her friends arrive. The party was to celebrate Sofia getting her dream job and she invited me to be there as apparently; I'm the only family member that seems to have accepted her new modern ways of living. Honestly, I just kept quiet. never really gave an opinion of it. And she was my cousin after all; I had some free time. I didn't find any reason to not travel from home all the way to Kochi and spent a few days with her.

Her friends were like 15 minutes late and came around 9:05 or so. I knew once the party started, I would be bored as hell. But since Sofia is an amazing chef, I knew food would be my best company till the party got over. And that's what I was doing, trying to eat the chocolate mousse in a lady like manner when God decided to throw me a surprise for fun. The GUY turned up at the door, with his usual cheerful smile. I saw Sophia welcoming him inside and my mind was confused as hell. Even the GUY was confused when he saw me. Seeing our confusion even Sofia was confused as well.

Maybe because I had a lot of good food, I came to my senses much earlier than I expected and asked what the GUY was doing over here. The GUY also asked me the same question through his eyes while Sophia was still in her state of confusion.

" Okay Fazil, this is Neha. She is my cousin, and she lives in Trivandrum. She has come to stay with us for a few days. Neha this is my boyfriend Fazil, we have been in a live in for 3 months now." Sophia stated and just disappeared all of a sudden.

The GUY chucked realizing about the newfound connection we shared while my mind radiating in pure awkwardness since I was the only one who knew the full story and if he is living here, it means I have to see him till my stay is over and my mind will remind me every day of how pathetic my life has become because I was replaced by a stranger in something that I was good at. NO NO NO! This can't be happening. I gave an awkward smile and tried to check the next possible ticket back home and as if God didn't want to disappoint me any further, I found that all the trains have been fully booked for the next couple of days.

 Great! Why does my life have to be so awkward every day?!

 I need some more foooddddd.