Zemblanity.

The car screeched to a halt, and just as soon as he pulled the windows down, the windy breeze along the beach road ran a chill down his spine. The radio was playing the song he loved listening to with her, because he loved the way her eyes lit up as he narrated his share of the lines in a mechanical manner. He had been wanting to see once before she left, and just before she could board the taxi that was waiting for her, Zaid rushed out of the car and yelled ‘Zara, wait up!’ and as he ran towards her, a streak of thunder tore through the midnight sky, and the streetlights all burst shut. In the pitch darkness, as he extended his hand, moonlight shone bright off his ring and just as he held her hand, savage waves tore through the land and washed him all the way up to the streetlights and he fell down to a fall that knocked him out cold. His chest felt hollow, and tears ran down his cheeks as he felt helpless, he wanted to turn and look for her, but his body wouldn’t respond. He wanted to tell her he did love her, and not because of reasons that she already knew, but because he always did, and never knew how to tell her how much he did. His head was dizzying up, and he couldn’t help but shut his eyes slowly, and just as he did, he could hear loud abuses being hurled at him, ‘Something’s not right!’ Zaid thought to himself as he opened his eyes to see his mother yelling at him.

‘Zaid you imbecile! Get up! Look at all the mess you’ve created. Let your father come back, I shall show him how much of a havoc you’ve become. Who even rolls over and fall on the floor and topple everything over and sleeps in the puddle. You’re an absolute idiot. What have you done…’ the rants went on and on, as Zaid heaved a sigh of relief. The realization that what he had just gone through was a nightmare, made him feel like he got another shot at life. ‘Ammi, I leave for office at nine, please pack my lunch. Love you too.’ He smiled as he requested her to calm down and let him get ready for office. Zaid had gotten used to living alone, three years in a busy town like Mumbai had left him very little time to make friends outside his office, all whilst staying far away from home and relatives. If it had not been for Zara, Zaid wouldn’t have even bothered to dress up properly. Zaid worked at a corporate office that tracked and created surveys to help predict results of multiple events, and while he worked behind the hood of this technology, Zara worked on packaging this technology better and help scout for clients. There were only a handful of occasions in which he ever managed to even get into the same room as her for a meeting, and while his heart wanted more, his will always let go when it mattered, and he never spoke to her. Yet, he hoped she would speak to him someday, and dressed up, worked out, and ate well, all to make sure she’d see the best of him if she ever even glanced in his direction. Zaid had fallen sick for a while, and his parents had come over to stay with him till he recovered. ‘Here you go, your lunch is ready, just as you wanted it. Take care of your health better, it won’t be possible for us to keep dropping by like this you know?’ she said, trying very hard to sound like she didn’t care, but she was every bit of a doting mother that she was trying to not look like. ‘Don’t worry too much. I’ll be fine. Tell Abu I’ll be back early tonight, and one last thing, do dreams we have in the morning come true?’ he looked a little worried, but his mother just nodded and said, ‘If you want them to, they’ll come true.’ To which he just smiled and left for his office.

Travelling in the local trains was taxing on his already tight schedule, but after his accident, he wasn’t left with much of a choice either. Zaid was no hero, but he had chosen to stand up to the title when he drove straight into traffic to prevent a newborn from being crushed under the relentless traffic. His insurance ensured he didn’t lose any money, but he believed the price for being bedridden for weeks was the smile on the face of the baby’s mother. He was in no condition to drive yet, and taxis meant having to sit through traffic, so he chose to travel the less comfortable and yet less time consuming way. As he stood there, being swung in either direction due to the boarding and leaving waves of commuters, a familiar face walked into the compartment, and somehow everything felt like an elaborate plot of fate. Zaid was no good at making small talk, and he was far too shy to even make eye contact, yet he couldn’t just stand there and waste the precious opportunity that had presented itself. He snuck through the clogged mess of a compartment and somehow managed to squeak, ‘Zara right? From PR? I work for the Development Team.’ And a visibly shaken Zara just smiled and let it be. He thought she didn’t bother answering back, but little did he know that she had earphones on, and he just snuck back away and got off at his station. He adjusted his tie, wore his glasses, tied his hair back and started walking towards his office humming his favorite song when he felt a slight nudge and heard, ‘That’s my favorite song, didn’t know too many people who even knew of the song. Not bad!’ had she not been around, Zaid would’ve definitely pinched himself all the way to hell. ‘Um. If you knew me, why would you not respond on the train?’ he spoke with a face that was bemused, to which she responded with a laugh. Zaid couldn’t make head or tail of the conversation that had just taken place while he didn’t try too hard either, who’d want to end the conversation they’d imagined in their head so many times? ‘I was listening to music. Earphones!’ she said pointing towards her hand, ‘You look like you’re fit again, they speak very highly of you in the office you know?’ she smiled as she walked. ‘It was nothing but a reflex really, was no hero, will never be one.’ He said, getting into the elevator. ‘You’re handsome, and modest, not too bad.’ She said, whilst getting off, to which he replied ‘See you later the…’ as the elevator doors shut in.

‘Welcome back Zaid! It’s nice to have you back. Let me get you back on track as to what we…’, his boss greeted him and at that moment Zaid felt like a huge burden was lifted off his chest. Lazing in the bed had been way too boring for a mind that loved to take on challenges. While he was lost onto his imagination, his boss had already taken him around to the new conference room and a team was ready there for a briefing. ‘So here you go Zaid, this is the team I’d like you to work with. They’ve already got everything they need, but they need someone to help design the interface to be accessible to our customers.’ While it might sound like jargon to the untrained mind, but all Zaid knew was that, anything that has to do with customer interaction meant Zara. His eyes scoured the room to find her, and they did, she was seated towards the far east of the room, and he managed to smile back at her whilst still talking to the boss. Work had to be completed soon, and that meant overtime duties, and Zaid had already told his mother that he’d be back home soon to meet his father. He rushed through everything as soon as he could, taking notes from Zara’s team and creating work-plans for his team to follow, all whilst managing to soak in the fact that he was having the day of his dreams. ‘All right team, let’s get back here in thirty, and then go at it again.’ He ordered them off for lunch, and while most of them streamed out of the room for the canteen, Zaid slowly opened the lunch his mother had packed for him. ‘Smells good, you made it?’, he didn’t have to look to see who it was, he just knew. ‘Well, this supposed hero, can’t really cook. His mother on the other hand, is the most graceful cook to have existed. Care to taste some?’ he offered her the food while trying to not freak out. ‘Would it be very graceful of me if I refused the kind offer? I don’t really care, but the food looks tasty, so I’ll just have a bite.’  He left early that day, leaving behind a very heavy heart, and a head full of dreams.

That fateful day had started off a series of events that Zaid would only best describe as surreal. They spoke everyday on the way to the office, in the locals. He managed to get her number, and would spend a few hours of the night making small talk with her, he hated it, but never let that stop him from trying to get to know her better. She’d get him lunch sometimes, and he’d buy her food sometimes, he loved her company, she loved watching him fumble trying to impress her. He thought she’d never notice how he looked at her, with careful intent, and yet so childlike, so pure, she’d disguise her blushing with forced laughter at his lame jokes. While Zaid believed this was all a stroke of fate, little did he know that it was all Zara’s doing. Back in the day when Zaid believed she was never watching and used to stare at her, she knew he was staring. Even when he had saved the child, he had passed out upon the impact, had he stayed conscious he’d have known that it was her who dialed the ambulance. If anyone hadn’t known any better, they’d believe it was some crude form of hide and seek these two were playing with each other. Zara had ensured that Zaid would be the one who’d lead the software end of the team, and everything just fell into place like clockwork. Zaid, not knowing anything about what was happening, was being sucked into the web she had placed so carefully. It was going fine, till the deadline was suddenly pushed ahead of time, and Zaid started driving to work again to reach early, and he’d stay back late in office to make up for the lost time, but lost out on talking with her due to this. Zara was used to her share of admirers, but she felt different around Zaid. There was a sense of comfort and security that she wouldn’t loosely associate with any other person. ‘Staying back today too then? Get some sleep mister, you’ll run yourself into the ground if you work too hard!’ she told him, hugged him before leaving. While it felt normal in her head, it was the first time she had hugged him, and Zaid’s face had gone all peachy from blushing too hard. ‘Sure. Will do.’ He muttered out, gasping for breath. It was only on the train back that she realized that she had just hugged him for the first time, ‘Zara you idiot. What have you done. That idiot must be dying right now.’ She chided herself, while a new message on her phone read, ‘Reader’s Cove, Saturday, at 9?’ Zaid had finally asked her out.

The deadline for the project was Saturday too, so Zaid was mentally fixated on finishing the project on Friday itself so that he could take his own sweet time getting ready and reaching the place on time. ‘Team! I’m no leader, never was, but it’s been a great joy working with all of you on this project. Most people save their victory speeches for when they succeed, but I chose to use mine now, to prove my confidence in our work. We’ll touch many lives with this project. With our new project, automated messages will be sent to all those living in the vicinity of a possible natural calamity. Giving them enough time to vacate. If all information systems work correctly, we’ll be living gods. Stalling destruction as it ravages through.’ The room tore open with applause, it was just about enough inspiration they needed to finish the final tests on the project. ‘Not too bad Mr. Zaid, Zara is impressed.’ She patted his back as she left for lunch.  He stayed back along with the rest of the testing team to finish up the work. It took them hours, but it was finally done. Zara had stayed back to watch Zaid when the results of the test came out. ‘Begin simulation, test satellite signals, and we’re good to go.’ Zara read out the script Zaid had handed to her. He smiled cheekily at her, and she couldn’t help but blush. ‘All systems go.’ He said and as he stood up in anticipation, he didn’t realize it yet, but he ended up holding her in his arms, and neither did she. The meter on the screen filled up, numbers were crunching on the screen, and all the phones in the room started buzzing, messages to evacuate started flashing on their screens, and a simulation of an earthquake galloped the virtual model of the office. Everyone started hooting, and tears ran down Zaid’s cheeks as a now aware Zara hugged him tightly. ‘You don’t look like it, but you’re too strong, could you loosen the hold please, I might choke.’ Zaid told her, trying not to look like he was in pain. Celebrations had started in the office, and while everyone was heading towards the terrace for the party, Zaid stayed back to run the numbers again. Needless to say, Zara stayed back too and she didn’t like the face Zaid made when he was done. ‘The good news is, the project works, the bad news is, the satellite signal strength varies with time and we may not have created enough time to evacuate. I won, and yet I failed.’ He said, whilst crashing to his knees. Zara consoled him, and in the heat of the moment, Zaid pushed her away in despair, and she hurt herself. ‘I’m extremely sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you, It’s just that I’m not used to letting anyone see me cry.’ He said, trying to make sure she was alright. ‘I’m fine, but it looks like you might have to drive me home today!’ she was in pain, but she didn’t want to make a fuss about it. Zaid didn’t want to ruin the mood of the team, so he just left with Zara for the night. And when they reached her house, he got off to give her a hug, and ended up just holding her and not talking for a while. ‘How appropriate do you think it is to kiss someone before their first date?’ she asked, and he simply replied by saying, ‘I don’t know, you can apologize and make up for it later?’ and kissed her. She just said, ‘I’ll see you tomorrow!’ and ran away, while Zaid kept pinching himself to make sure it was real.

Come Saturday, and the team was informed about the mismatch in timings, and they started working on it, and rectified it to a great extent. The client was mighty pleased by the results, and requested that a beta application be released. After finishing all the formalities for the day, Zaid and Zara rushed for their own respective houses. They hadn’t planned for it, but they ended up wearing matching clothes. They had a great dinner at the beachside restaurant, and Zaid read out his favorite verses from a Rumi Collection, and Zara just listened to him intently. They were just about to leave, when Zara asked to be excused for a minute. ‘Wait okay? I can’t do this in person, so I’ll just be standing outside the restaurant, tell me what you feel about it.’ She said, and left. ‘Sure?’ He was as confused as he could get, and started fidgeting with the application, waiting for her message. While he was at it, he realized there was a bug, and he tried to see the extent of its effect and was going through the application, unknowing he replied back with his standard preset message of ‘Thanks for reaching out to me, I shall get back to you later.’ He realized what he just did, and tried to stop the message from being sent, but it was too late. He stood up and read her message, ‘Hello Zaid. I know you’re too feeble a guy to do this first, so I just thought I’ll do it. I like you, maybe love you too, but yeah, I want you to know it. Would you want to be my boyfriend?’ his tears dripped onto the screen as he ran out looking for her. But she had already left. He picked his car keys up from the Valet, and zoomed right across the streets. He knew she’d go to the Church she said she loved to go to and watch the beach when she felt depressed. Multiple signals and traffic jams later, he almost reached the Church. His favorite song started playing on the radio, and he just felt like an idiot for having done something so stupid. He wanted to tell her loved her too, but her phone was switched off, and his phone was stuck with that app being open. He saw her on the other side of the road and he managed to turn his car around really quickly. His phone started buzzing as he stepped out, and he just threw it into the car and called out her name. And just as she turned, a thunderbolt tore through the skies, and the streetlights burst off. He looked at his palm and he realized he was wearing the ring his mother had given him the morning. His legs fell weak, and tears rolled down, as waves tore through the land, and his phone read, ‘Evacuate.’

May your dreams come true.