Stories-1

She sat with an arm in a sling. Pouting, glaring, wondering when Uday would come back. He had been gone 20 minutes , having told her that he was going to get them both some coffee. She was exhausted - first the accident, then the endless visits to the doctors and then getting to those doctors required traveling to the cities they ran their specialties in. Her arm felt alright and looked alright but it was barely functional and she could not fathom why. Many visits to many doctors had started to indicate some nerve damage. Nerves were what she experienced since then. She had become dependent on Uday. She needed him every second of every agony she had felt during these months. 

Coffee shop had some promise because it looked suitably hipster but emanated smells that spelled quality. His eyes wandered over to the espresso labels. That is what he would need. No that is what he wanted and craved right now. Her pout made him lose his mind but he could not take one more second of her chaotic nerves without dousing his food pipes with some espresso first. The line was long and he could wait. Ten more minutes would not make her cry in helplessness, twenty might.

There she was,  4 people in front of him. Checking the amount of change she had in one of her denim pants while her hair decided to mess with the strap of her bag and then what ensued was something Uday could never have imagined. She saw him and he saw her and he knew he could not pretend that he did not. So he inched closer to help her with the bag and the change and the hair and herself. She thought that he had aged quite a bit, but in an elegant way. The lines were all there as an evidence of a messy life but in the places that added definition to him. The smile though, was still the same. Lopsided in one corner. Stop! What the hell is he doing here.

"Oh Thank you! Is it you? Uday? How are you? What are you doing here! Long time". He said he was getting some coffee while waiting for a connecting flight. He did not offer more. Maybe he should have.