The Stranger at the Garden

It was a bright February afternoon. You could feel that winter had packed its bags, but hadn’t left yet. “This is definitely the best time of the year”, Ruhi thought to herself as she sat down for lunch on her favorite bench in the garden opposite her office building. She wasn’t out for a leisurely stroll; in fact, it was quite the opposite. She had had a packed morning at work so far, and the day that lay ahead was more hectic than the day that had passed. If asked, she would have reluctantly admitted that the day had a good chance of extending upto a working night as well.

But right now was her moment; her moment to relax, soak in the fading winter sunlight, her moment to breathe, her moment to feel alive. Staying inside the glass walls of her office for long hours, with bright artificial lights on, and no sign of natural sunlight, made her feel very depressing at times; but this was the moment she used to look forward to everyday, as this was the only bright spot in her otherwise regular, dreary schedule.

Just as she settled down on the bench, and was about to open her packed lunch, she saw him, and her heart skipped a beat.

It wasn’t so that she was not used to seeing handsome men around her, or that this was spectacularly handsome, but there was something about him which was making it impossible for Ruhi to take her eyes off him.

While she was trying to think about what it was, he looked her way, a casual glance kind of a look. There! It made her heart skip a beat again. “What’s wrong with you? Why are you behaving like a love struck school girl?” Ruhi chided herself, and started packing her remaining lunch before she did something more foolish. She rushed back to her office, trying to fill her mind with the thoughts of the upcoming meetings and calls and remaining work. Once back, she got engrossed with her work, and the thoughts of the stranger at garden took a backseat.

While going to bed that night, she thought about him once more, and just when the warm feeling of his look was about to engulf her, her mind shook her back to reality. With a big sigh, she went off to sleep, unaware of what strange events lie ahead.

The next day when Ruhi reached her office, she was pleasantly surprised to see a bouquet of her favorite white roses lying on her desk. She searched for a name card, but there wasn’t any. A thought came to her, “Is it the stranger from the garden?” she wanted to believe it, but she dismissed it as wishful thinking. She had a packed day today as well, and she knew she did not have the time to dwell into frivolous thoughts of strangers. Hence, with better sense prevailing, she dived into work.

But her better sense prevailed only till the lunch time. As the hands of the clock started coming near 1, her heartbeat started increasing. No matter how hard she tried, she just couldn’t stop herself from thinking if she will meet him today as well. She was in a meeting at that time, desperately willing it to end. The moment her meeting ended, she rushed towards her usual spot in the garden.

As soon as she entered the garden, her eyes started searching for him. She was relieved to see that he was there, happily talking to someone on the phone, unaware of her presence or her wildly beating heart. She was quick to take her spot, and spent the whole of her lunch time looking at him. She knew she was acting like a fool, she knew there was hardly any hope this would lead to anything meaningful, she knew that he wasn’t even aware that she existed, leave alone the feelings she was going through; she knew all of this, but she was still unable to control herself.

The next day when she came in, she found her favorite chocolates nicely gift wrapped lying on her desk, again with no name card. She asked the office boy if he knew who had kept them. He said they had arrived via delivery in the morning. This looked strange to her, but she decided to put her doubts on the backburner, devour her favorite chocolates, and deep dive into her work… until lunchtime. Lunchtime had become her favorite time of the day in the last couple of days, and she smiled to herself at the way she was behaving. But then there is nothing wrong with having a crush she thought, and got engrossed with her work.

Ruhi worked with an advertising firm, and currently the project she was working on was for the most ambitious advertisement for the biggest client of her firm. In fact, she was heading this project, and hence the long meetings and calls which filled her days lately. “In a way” she thought “this stranger is doing me good. His thoughts keep my stress away”, and she again smiled to herself.

Lunchtime again saw Ruhi rushing towards the garden, eyes searching the length and the breadth of the garden. The moment she saw him, he looked up towards her, with a tilted smile, “or was that my imagination”, Ruhi thought. She continued to steal glances towards him, but today she felt that their eyes met a lot of times, and she couldn’t stop grinning. She was trying her best to behave like a senior corporate professional, but these days the more she tried, the more she failed at it. “What have you done to me?” she sighed hopelessly and asked the stranger in her mind.

The next day saw one ticket to a play she eagerly wanted to watch lying on her table – again no name card. Seeing the ticket, she was a little perplexed. She couldn’t make up her mind about what to do. On one hand, she wanted to find out who it was, on the other hand she was apprehensive about if this might be a trap. It isn’t the safest of times we are living in, and she was very well aware of it. The continuous flow of gifts proved that someone knew her taste really well, and she finally decided that she wanted to know who it was. She made up her mind to go for the play in the evening.

Evening saw her standing in front of the theater waiting impatiently for the secret admirer. “Ahem! Hi Ruhi!”, she was startled to hear someone call her out from behind, and the moment she turned around, she could not believe her eyes. It was the stranger from the garden. She could not believe her eyes, and pinched herself to check if it was for real. He started laughing and said “Surprised?”. Ruhi tried thinking of a witty answer, but she was completely tongue tied, and managed to only grunt her assent.

“Hi! I am Rohan!”, he said, extending out his hand. Ruhi shook it in a daze. “Shall we go inside?”, he asked, and Ruhi followed him like a lamb, still not able to get over the fact that the stranger from the garden was her secret admirer. She could not believe the twist of events. She had a thousand questions bustling in her head, and was in no mood to wait for the play to end, so that she can get the answers to them. She stopped midway and asked Rohan if they could just skip the play and go out for a cup of coffee. He agreed.

The moment they sat down, she could hold it no longer and blurted, “How do you know me?” He smiled coyly and said “Please don’t get upset, but I have been observing you for about a month now. I saw you last month in the office garden, and trust me I was smitten by you. I tried my best, but I just couldn’t get you out of my head. That’s when I decided that I should try to get to know you. I asked about you to a few friends, and they told me about you, and also that you have your lunch in the garden everyday. I started visiting the garden everyday, but either I would miss you, or you would not look at me. Then I decided to plop myself right below your nose, and that’s how I landed up on the bench near you. And thank God you finally noticed me.” Hearing all this, Ruhi couldn’t help but smile.

They got talking, and then there was no looking back for them. They struck off so well together; Rohan knew about all the likes and dislikes of Ruhi as if he had known her for years. That one coffee date turned into a regular event. They would meet practically everyday, and gradually the coffee meetings turned into dinner dates, and dinner dates turned into nights together. Ruhi had a constant smile on her face these days, and the glow on her face was something which you just could not miss. And then one day things changed for her once more.

Rohan had promised to meet her for lunch, and she was waiting for him at the decided restaurant, but he did not come. She kept waiting and kept calling, but no response. She kept on calling him throughout the day, but he did not pick up. She got worried. It was late at night, but she still did not have any word from him. Her numerous messages to him lay unanswered. All negative thoughts came to her mind, and she was unable to sleep.

Early next morning she decided to drop into Rohan’s office before going to hers. He had told her that he was a project manager with an IT firm in the same building as her office. At 9’0 clock she was standing outside his office. She went upto the receptionist and asked her for Rohan. The receptionist response made her feel more terrible and lost. “We don’t have anyone working here with the name of Rohan”, the receptionist said. Ruhi argued with her that there is some mistake, and she knows Rohan works here. The receptionist stood her ground and stuck to her stance. Ruhi had to leave when the receptionist finally had to threaten her that if she does not leave, she may have to call the security.

The moment she stepped out of his office, Ruhi called Rohan. His phone number was now switched off. No matter how many times she tried, she got the same response. Rohan had not even bothered to answer all the messages she had sent him. “Where are you Rohan”, Ruhi thought to herself desperately.

She reached her office and logged onto her laptop. The moment she opened her mailbox, one mail caught her attention. It was from her super boss. He wanted to meet her the moment she was in. Ruhi walked upto his cabin and knocked. He asked her to come in. His demeanor was very stern, and she was confused to see him like this. Generally, he was very relaxed and cheerful with her.

As soon as she sat down, her super boss asked her how she could do such a blunder.

“What blunder?” Ruhi asked.

“You seriously don’t know!” he said.

“No, I don’t, I am sorry” she responded.

He let out an exasperated laugh and said “Our rival firm has released an exactly same advertisement as the one you were working on for our biggest client. How is that possible?”

Ruhi was shocked to hear this. She thought she will faint. What was happening with her? It all looked like one horrible nightmare, and if it was one she wanted to wake up from it right now.

Seeing her lost in thoughts, her super boss nearly shouted, “What are you thinking Ruhi? How did they get to know of this idea?”

“I am sorry. I don’t know.” replied Ruhi.

“Then please try and find out. Did you ever talk to anyone about it, did you show it to anyone ever? The information has leaked from somewhere, and only you had all the details. Think Ruhi think! I need the answer.” he said.

And then it came to her, she tried to not believe it, but she had no other choice. Her mind was telling her that she was correct, but her heart was trying its best to prove her wrong.

She had shared the details with Rohan. He had shown interest in the work she does, and she had shown him the blueprint so proudly the night before he disappeared. He also seemed to be so proud of her and so impressed by her. She still remembered his words of praises, and nothing had sounded sweeter to her. Remembering all that tears came into her eyes, but she was quick to wipe them off.

She was now determined to find out Rohan’s real identity, and why he had done this to her. She went back to her desk and started searching online, using every possible keyword she could think of. And then she saw one photo. It was of an employee of the same rival organization getting awarded. It was a 2-year-old photograph, and the person in the photograph was Rohan, just that he did not have moustaches like he had now, and his hair style was different. Now she knew why she was attracted to him the first time she saw him, or why he had come to meet her, and then disappeared suddenly.

Somewhere in the back of her mind, she remembered words her mother told her as a child “Never talk to strangers!”.