He kick started his bike. The road was wet as it had rained a while back. The late hour also meant there were very few vehicles on the road. He rode the bike slowly. His jacket & gloves kept him warm in that chilly environment. He took a U Turn & approached the spot again.
There were a few people still there. Most of them were huddled together in groups of twos or threes. Drivers waited in their Hondas & Toyotas waiting for their owners to turn up so they could drop them home & retire for the night. Somewhere in this scene a girl sat on the step leading to the theatre. She had been there for a while. She was furiously typing a message on her mobile.
She wiped a tear & got up. She just walked. She seemed disturbed. She didn’t seem to bother about what was happening around her. Somebody had tried to approach her & say a hello may be but didn’t pursue it because she looked like she was in a foul mood. She walked in the front, would stop, then turn around & walk to the step she was sitting on. This she did a few times. Then she started to walk again, this time around though she kept walking. She walked & slowly but surely was getting away from the small crowd of theatre goers.
That is when he spotted her. He was on his bike when he noticed that a girl wearing a black skirt & a black jacket walking away from the theatre. He rode behind her. He had already slowed down a bit. In some time he crossed her. He turned a bit to look at her. She was wiping a tear with the back of her hand. However he felt he had seen her somewhere.
The girl continued to walk not aware at all of being watched. He had slowed down the bike to almost her walking pace, which by the way was a bit fast. He was surprised that she was managing that fast pace in a long heel & on a wet & uneven surface. He turned again to look at her. He had sure seen her somewhere her face looked very familiar. Could she be someone from TV? He had identified a few others from TV in the theatre a while back when he was there. But he couldn’t place her anywhere.
Just then the girl realized a guy on a bike was constantly staring at her. She looked up cautiously at him & started to walk faster. The guy on the bike didn’t catch up with her. But she couldn’t continue with her pace for long & when she had slowed down again he was able again riding the bike along side her.
“What do you want?” she asked him in a firm tone
It seemed to startle the guy a bit. He didn’t know what to say. But he stopped the bike. The girl stopped walking too.
“What do you want?” she repeated and continued “why are you following me?”
“I am not following you” he replied very calmly.
“What is this called then….YOU…..YOU…..what is this called following a girl on a bike… what do you call this…..”, she was losing it for sure.
He went on to reply, “I think I have seen you somewhere, I was just trying to figure out where I have seen you”
“what are you going to do if you figure it out” she queried
“Nothing I guess, but just felt I have seen you somewhere”
“God, I cant believe this is happening to me, first I get ditched then I get stalked”
“Ditched…..Stalked……what are you talking about….” Wondered the boy innocently.
“Look, just do me a favor OK….Stop this right now….alright….If you think you can get away with this, you are wrong…..You have no idea what this means to you…..I am going to walk again now and if I see you following me again, I’ll yell first & then call the police…..”
She didn’t wait for a response. He didn’t give any either. She began to walk. He just stood there & saw her walking away. After some distance she turned right on to a lane & went out of sight. The boy who had continued to sit on his bike, decided to start riding again. When he had gone some distance he noticed that the same girl running back on to the road from the small lane she had taken a while back. After a while he could see two dogs running behind her. He stopped the bike there.
She continued to run as fast as her heels could make her run. But she realized that it would be futile against the dogs. She stopped & noticed that the boy on the bike was still there. She resumed her run towards him. Once she reached him huffing & puffing she told him….
“Could you drop me at the circle further down, I’ll take an auto from there”
He nodded. She hopped on to the bike.
The boy rode away & not a word was spoken till they reached the circle. At the circle they both noticed that there was no auto available. He stopped in one corner. She got off from the bike.
“Thanks. I think I’ll wait & take an auto. You can carry on…” she said to him.
“Are you sure?” he asked her genuinely concerned.
“Yeah, I’ll be fine. There are no dogs also here. You go please”
“Where do you have to go? I can drop you there. God knows when you will get an auto here”
“Look boss. Thanks OK. I am fine. I’ll go from here. You leave”
He rode off from there after saying an OK & again asking her to reconsider which was only received by a firm “No thanks” from the girl.
The girl stood there. There was no auto in sight. There were a few cars that went past. When ever it did she would turn away from the road & look somewhere else. After a few more minutes of waiting, an auto came into sight. She flagged it down. Told the auto driver where she wanted to go & got into it. The auto sped away.
When they went some distance the girl noticed that the bike boy had stopped at a corner and was talking on his mobile. She peeped out of the auto to see if it was the same guy. This act seemed to alert the boy too and he noticed the girl looking at him from the auto.
“I’ll call you back in a while” he said & cut the call. Hurriedly he put the phone in his pocket & started to follow the auto.
