Red Rose : The Beginning

"Not again!" sighed Ayan, looking at the rain outside the window of his 15th-floor office.

It was mid-July, and Ayan, to no one's amazement, could be found working endlessly in his office. That was one of the many charms of Ayan Shekhawat, Head of the Sales Department at ERA Corporation. In the past 5 years, ERA Corp. had become a famous gaming company in the country.

Equally famous was Ayan within the company, not only for his outstanding business acumen but also for being a 32-year-old, tall, smart, and handsome bachelor.

"Sir, you should leave now. The roads can get blocked," informed the security guard. "Everyone else is leaving."

Ayan never minded a heavy downpour; in fact, he liked it. Nevertheless, he decided to call it a day.

On the way to the parking lot, he realized he was too tired to drive. Thinking that a bus ride would be better, he left the company building for the nearest bus stop.

The next bus was going to arrive in 15 minutes. He stood there, waiting for the bus, when his eyes fell upon something on the bus stop bench.

He moved closer. It was a flower, a red rose. Memories started flooding his mind - memories, a lot of them, beautiful and sad, not forgotten but securely hidden in some corner of his mind.

It was how it had started, with the rain.

Five years back, on a Saturday night while returning from the library, it had suddenly begun to rain. He was running to find cover and reached a bus stop. Looking around, he saw that he was not the only one there; there was a woman in her mid-twenties trying to dry her hair with a thin scarf. She was wet but not as wet as he was. He sat down, waiting for the rain to stop, scrolling through his phone.

After 30 minutes of continuous tip-tapping on the roof, he exhaled. The rain just wouldn't stop.

"You don't like rain, do you?" asked the girl. Ayan was so busy scrolling on his phone he hadn't noticed the girl sitting beside him. He got startled at the sudden question.

"Uhh... No. It's just that I have to go home," Ayan replied, concluding the conversation. He was not good with small talk.

"Hmm... You do study a lot, don't you?" said the girl. She gave him a knowing smile and returned to humming to herself. Ayan stared at her, looking confused.

"Why is she talking as if she knows me? Do I know her?" "I don't think so," he concluded.

After another 15 minutes, the rain finally stopped. Ayan was getting up to leave when the girl suddenly said, "See you next time then." Before he could think of anything to say, she had left. He stared after her.

*That night*

Ayan loved the coolness of the night air. While lying on his hostel bed that night, about to go to sleep, he realized that the night air seemed a bit sweet. Perhaps it had picked up the fragrance of the flowers from the nearby rose garden. He slept that night dreaming about roses.

*Next day*

Ayan was sitting in the college library, going through his books when suddenly someone said, "Hi." He raised his head to see who it was. His eyes widened with realization. It was the girl from the bus stop.

"What are you doing here?" he asked in surprise.

"I suppose, studying, like everyone else here," she said with a roll of her eyes. "Don't be so shocked. I am also a student here, and I too have been studying at this very table for the last six months. Only you always had your nose between the pages of your book to notice," she said with what sounded like a hint of indignation.

"I have never seen you in any classes. You are not from my department, are you?" Ayan said, regaining himself from what he had just heard.

"Of course not. I am from the Arts department," she said with a small chuckle and sat down on the opposite end of the table. Without even another glance at him, she immersed herself in her books.

Ayan watched her for a while, feeling really naive. He didn't know why.

After what felt like an hour, she got up to leave, turned back, and said, "I am Disha, by the way. Disha Mehra."