Virus is in the air!

"Wait! Wait!", she kept shouting while running to get into the lift. Reached at the nick of the moment of a closing lift to get into the same lift as him. Hurriedly getting into it, she says, "fifth floor", and he is obliged to press it. Without wasting an instant she asks him, "Are you Vishal?" Although she wasn't a girl to start a conversation with a stranger, this guy was different. She have stalked him for days when he sat on the school terrace, which was locked due to the pandemic, every late evening. The school terrace was linearly opposite to her balcony and was clearly viewed from there as it was at the same level. The terrace had an upper section where the tanks are kept and it was connected to the lower terrace through a ladder. It was this non-parapet terrace where Vishal used to spend his lockdown mundane evenings in order to be away from the world. To be isolated from everybody in the current pandemic isolation. She was never a desperate girl who easily falls for guys or who wants to be surrounded by boys seeking their attention, in fact, she likes to be away from any attention as much as possible because being observed always made her conscious, still, she used to glance at him from her balcony whenever possible thinking he would also notice her one day. Though she didn't know if that would be possible logically as he used to sit during late, dark hours.

The reason she used to observe him was in the hopes of climbing the top of that terrace one day. As she felt that was the most adventurous thing to do in these Covid times as otherwise we all were restrained to adventure at this point. So, while observing him through her balcony she always used to fantasied herself to be there with him without thinking of any possibility that he could be a guy with wrong intentions. Her desire to be on that terrace was so much that she didn't want to think otherwise. In her fantasies, he was always a good man. So, in the lift, the reason she confirmed if he was Vishal was that she saw him last ages ago when she was a teenager and he had a very long hair back then. In fact, he used to look scary to her. As it had been so many years since moving out of her parent's house that she couldn't recognise him with the vague memory she had of him. She wasn't even sure if it was Vishal on that terrace. It was her elder sister who told her confidently that it was him and she who takes every suggestion of her sister with a pinch of a salt agreed to her as who would it be other than him on a locked school terrace owned by his grandfather.

She painted her own imagination-of-a-man against his room-lit silhouette. Without a doubt, imaginations are better than realities. Any activity done in her room could be seen from the upper terrace if her balcony door or her room windows were open. Sometimes, she used to intentionally exercise or dance at that hour to grab his attention but was hardly successful at her attempts as he used to sit facing the other side to enjoy the view of the moonlit shimmering, serene lake present adjacent to the school, listening to the soft music playing in his phone. His romantic playlist had also played a role in attracting her towards the terrace. It is true indeed that one can certainly like and explore a person through their playlist.

The reason for her abrupt question in the lift was because she knew that he would get out on the second floor that means she had got a very limited time to talk and she was desperate enough not to miss this one lifetime opportunity as she had been a part of this coincidence only after one and a half month of the lockdown. After he hesitantly said 'yes', confirming that he was Vishal, she didn't waste another instant to throw up her next direct question as the lift had started moving and the clock was ticking. She felt as if she is possessed by the soul of a desperate girl. She asked, "Could I also go with you to the school terrace?" To this, he bewilderedly replied, "sorry, what?" To this she babbled the whole story at a 10x rate that she stays in the same apartment on the 6th floor and she sees him there every evening and she thinks it to be adventurous to be on that non-parapet top terrace and wishes to go there and she has no other intentions, while the lift was waiting on the second floor halted by a partially opened door by him in order to get out of the lift. Though confused by the whole awkwardness of the situation, he did smile on the last "no wrong intentions" statement which she kind of felt as cute. The partially open and halted door hinted her that he is not totally disinterested in the conversation thus she grab opened the door so that they both can come out and let the lift go to its next riders. She knew at the back of her mind that this cute intention of her is turning out to be creepy but she didn't want to stop it in the middle to make it more awkward again and she also knew that if she stops the conversation here then she would feel awkward, embarrassed and void for the rest of her stay. So, as a decent girl, she introduced herself first and while striking a conversation told him everything yet again but calmly and conveyed her interest to go the terrace. Though he was still puzzled by the whole thing, he did say yes to the request, maybe he too wanted a company. So, going in the early morning hours was decided as the terrace was quite opposite to her house, she was afraid to be noticed. Though she told her mom that she will be going as she never hides anything from her mom. Her mom being aware of her madness and stubbornness-of-doing+things-which-she-wants-todo thought it is better to allow her than to stop. As she believes in leaving her children free and to explore the world for themselves by learning from their own experiences and taking responsibilities of it. A mother who has loads of trust in her daughters always does this or also the one who has given up on them. She hoped her mother to be the former.

Finally, the day had arrived and for an extra precaution, she also wrapped her face with her scarf. Wearing a compulsory mask to cover ones face while going out is today's thing but Indian girls used to wear a scarf to cover their face every time they used to go out. It served as a multi-purpose tool to them. To protect them from sunlight, pollution and from hiding their face. Most of the girls will deny it but at least once in their lifetime they have used their scarf to hide their face. So covering her face with scarf acted like a norm today. Just the very idea to sneak through her parent's house around 1 a.m itself gave her the thrill as she had never done this before. Excitedly, she climbed the ladder to get on the top terrace and once reached she took a deep breath. Breath of accomplishment, a breath of fulfilment. It was stimulating.

Both sat on the floor and there was an awkward silence for quite some time. But, the silence also was very pleasurable that none want to break it. Sitting under the moonlit night on height and watching sparkling, calm water in itself is overwhelming. She wished to be there every night. The cool breeze caressing her hair and the light from the moon kissing her face made the whole scene very romantic but she didn't lose herself in that beauty. She wants to relish every minute of this beauty because she knew she might not be able to come here again and it is always better to mindfully enjoy everything what so maybe the reason.

After a good 45 minutes, the silence was broken by the madam-of-direct-questions. Don't know what had got into her to do this as she never did this direct questioning ever and I am sure he might have felt scared to even answer seeing her frankness. She asked, "do you have a girlfriend?" To which he didn't answer instantly. It took him minutes to answer this which clearly showed that he was not comfortable in answering that but still answered. "I had a recent break-up". She could understand his uncomfortableness as she knew how it feels with a broken heart and lockdown just added oil to his misery. At this time, she has realised it through experience that it is always better to recover by oneself, in retrospection, only that makes oneself stronger for future relationships. Rebounds, alcohol or any other escape are just temporary solutions and it may repeat the circumstances yet again. Only dealing with oneself in introspection will ensure a probability of a non-repeat. It will also make the person mentally strong and will make them realise their follies in order to work on it which will help in their next relationship.

It will not make them a perfect partner but will definitely make them a better partner. But, it is not as easy as being alone at this time is too dangerous as the ideal mind is a devil's workshop. It is always better to be with someone at this time. It is always better to keep busy at this time, it is always better to be doing things which you enjoy the most. Pondering in some thought, he just lay down on the floor with his leg dangling from the terrace, gazing at the stars. After a few minutes, she did the same. She always enjoyed being around water and gazing at the sky, this was her ideal moment. And, understanding him, they both spent the night enjoying the silence; after some time they both slept under the blanket of the sky. After some time, she was awakened from a jerk when the lift halted on the second floor.