Hangovers were vicious.
The splitting headache, the desert-like dry throat, the way-too bright and loud surroundings.
Vicious indeed.
I had no idea about what time of the day it was. Just a vague recollection that it was supposed to be the weekend. Thank goodness for that!
I laid still with closed eyes, wherever I was lying, for some more time after sleep left me. I needed to get a hold on myself before I decided it was a good enough idea to open my eyes.
All the while, I tried to recall the reason behind my bitchy hangover. Of course, it was alcohol. However, usually I didn’t drink so much that I would end up with a hangover as bad as this one here, hanging over my head, body and mind and casting its shadows on my memory. So yes, it was unusual.
The first thing I could successfully recall was my chance encounter with Naira. That bit of recollection led to a rather vague memory of her dragging me inside a club. That was followed by a whirlwind of memories of us downing shots after shots without a care in the world, jumping to the loud music inside the club, followed by drinking some more and then jumping some more too. The other people around us, the ones Naira had introduced to me, were just blurs.
Unable to remember much beyond the drinking and jumping, I decided that I could just laze around a bit more and I rolled around on the bed, eyes still closed.
Even so, I kept feeling as if I was missing something. A nagging feeling in the back of my mind.
Was there anything I had to get done this weekend? Or was there something I had to do this morning? Did I have to do something last night? Not able to remember anything, I concluded that I should probably ask Hardik about it. That thought reminded me of his date the previous night and made me wonder how it had proceeded.
I frowned then. I could not recall meeting Hardik after his date. Didn’t he come back home? Maybe he came home after I-
Hold on! When did I get home? More importantly, how did I get home? Did someone help me?
I tried once again to focus and remember that particular piece of memory but came up blank.
Panic rushed through my body all of a sudden and I sat up on the bed causing the room to spin for a few seconds and an involuntary groan made its way past my lips.
Though I opened my mouth to curse at myself for drinking too much, no sound left my throat. Instead, my mouth hung open, my eyes wide, taking in the room I was in.
It was… for lack of a better word, a simple room. Not plain as mine, considering mine was rented and we weren’t allowed to do much to the walls and all.
No. This room was simple and cozy. Warm and homely.
With beige walls and light brown curtains that covered 2 sets of huge windows on adjacent walls, the room definitely looked warm and cozy. The closet as well as the frame of the full-length mirror which stood against the wall next to the closet, matched the curtains in their colour. Light brown.
The wall against which the bed was placed had a huge white dreamcatcher, with white feathers hanging off of the brownish ring.
Next to the foot of the bed was a door, most likely leading out of the room.
The bedsheet and covers were all white as well. The room was otherwise bare.
I didn’t get any indication of whose room it could be. But I was sure of one thing.
It was neither my room, nor Hardik’s.
Leaving the bed felt like a huge task. But it had to be done, even if only for the sake of knowing whose place this was.
Making my way out of the room, I immediately noticed a L-shaped grey sofa with a number of white, pale blue and dark blue coloured cushions placed on it haphazardly. In front of it, on a white and dark blue rug was placed a rectangular glass-top coffee table.
The wall facing the sofa was painted white and had a television and a grey-coloured chest of 3 drawers installed on the wall right below the television.
Beside the sofa, light grey full-length thick curtains fluttered while partially covering a set of floor to ceiling sliding glass doors. Beyond the doors was a small balcony littered with a number of pots housing various plants. Inside the room, beside the sofa, stood another white pot housing a bunch of lucky bamboos which had grown quite big. Truth be told, I had never seen those things get this big. It reminded me of my early teens when my mother had tried to keep almost 3-4 sets of those bamboos alive. All in vain.
The wall behind the sofa was painted pale blue, complimenting the cushions and the rug. Or maybe, it was the other way around. Five black-and-white photographs with broad white borders and black frames were hung on the wall.
One of the photographs was of raindrops falling on an already wet road. Another was of the city from a very high vantage point. Another was of a single white flower against a dark background. Yet another was a low-angle shot of tall trees in a forest with only a small glimpse of the sky allowed by the branches and leaves. Another was of a cloudy sky with rays of sunlight peeking from beyond the clouds and spreading downwards.
So lost I was in the mesmerising photographs, that I did not feel the presence of another.
“Oh hey!” The voice made me jump, with my heart beating 100 times a minute while I risked getting a whiplash with how fast I whipped my head around to face the direction from where the familiar voice came.
The smile that greeted me reminded me of how the same face had smiled at me the previous evening and called me… cute? Did that really happen? Or was it the hangover playing with my mind?
“You look cute when you are confused too, Ishaan.” Naira smiled and walked towards me.
“What are you doing here?” I had blurted out, even before I could think clearly.
The statement made her pause for a moment. After what seemed to be a very long time, she blinked. Then blinked once again, before finally parting her lips.
“Do you remember anything from last night, Ishaan? Or should we go to a doctor?”
“N-no, I, uh…” I trailed off. My eyes drifted towards the sofa.
The sofa seemed to trigger another memory. “You brought me to your place last night.” I muttered. In reply, Naira just hummed.
Quite unexpectedly, a thought jumped up in my mind. “Where did you sleep?” There was only one bed in the room. Did she sleep on the sofa?
Before I could ponder on that, her words made me choke on air. “In my bed, of course.”
“Wh-what? You could have just left me on the sofa!” I was hyperventilating. And hoping that I didn’t do anything inappropriate!
She raised one of her eyebrows, then bent down to place a mug she had in her hand and walked towards me. Taking a hold of my shoulders with both her hands, she turned me around to face the direction from which I had entered the living room. A slight smile playing on her lips the entire time.
“That is my bedroom, Ishaan.” She said, a smile evident in her voice.
Right across the hall, from the door I had exited, was another door. And another one, further down the hall. She was pointing at the third door.
“Oh.” Was all I could mutter.
Letting go of my shoulder, she walked towards the direction she had come from earlier. “Would you like some tea? Or coffee?”
Feeling embarrassed of my own stupidity, I turned to follow her. “Some black coffee would be fine.” I said, as she entered the open kitchen.
As embarrassed as I was, I still could not help but follow each and every movement of Naira with my eyes.
More so, because of how simple she looked.
She was dressed in light grey ‘One In A Minion’ printed boxy t-shirt paired with dark blue shorts. She had removed the rings with chains from her 4th and 5th piercings while the other 3 pairs stayed where I had seen them the previous night. Her nose piercing also remained unchanged. Her hair highlights were more prominent in the broad daylight.
When she turned towards me to give me the mug of coffee, I noticed how bright her eyes looked even without any eye-makeup.
And when she handed me the mug with a quiet “here”, I noticed something else too.
The small ring I had seen on her lower lip was missing. What threw me on a loop was that the skin looked unmarred and untouched by any needle. I definitely saw a piercing there last night. Or was I imagining that. A fake then?
A moment later, she announced, “That was a fake.”
That broke my stare and my eyes jumped up to meet hers. She must have noticed my unwarranted stare. But she looked back at me with a smile, before she started walking towards the sofa. I followed suit.
“I could not decide between a nose piercing or a belly button piercing. So I thought I would use fake ones to see which would look better.” She explained.
Her statement brought up yet another memory of the previous night. At some point of the night, I seem to have caught a glimpse of the said fake belly button piercing. Two flawlessly shining stones, one a bit smaller than the other, had sparkled in the colourful lights of the club.
Shaking my head, as if to shake the image off, I looked at her. She had taken a seat on the sofa, a laptop perched on her lap as she sat in a criss-crossed legs position. The presence of a pair of spectacles on her face surprised me. But I gathered myself before I could have continued to stare at her once again.
I went up to stand in front of her across the table. “I am sorry.” I uttered.
She seemed a little surprised. “What for?” She asked.
“For staring, back there. And for troubling you last night.” I uttered again, my head bowed, unable to meet her eyes.
I had been embarrassing myself again and again, just like the first time we met. How could I even stand in front of her without feeling any shame, I did not know.
The sound of her chuckle reached my ears. “Come sit here, Ishaan. You must be having a hangover. Even if you don't have one, you should drink that while it's still warm. You will feel better.” She pointed to the mug I had cupped between my palms.
Like an obedient child, I sat down beside her. She diverted her attention towards her laptop.
While she continued working on her laptop, the thought of peeping to see what she was doing ran through my mind. But that would not be a good thing to do. At the same time I also realised that I didn’t know what she did for a living.
“Um- Naira?”
It surprised me when she stopped what she was doing and turned to me, giving me her full attention. When was the last time someone had given me their entire attention, just to listen to what I had to say to them? I could not remember.
“Oh! Uh- I just, um- what are you doing?” I finished awkwardly.
“This? Just working on a design. Let me tell you Ishaan, being an Interior Designer is such a pain in the ass. Some clients just get on the nerves, I tell you. They just can’t make up their mind and make me do the entire design at least 4 to 5 times before agreeing to something. And some clients are just…” She rambled on.
I was content with listening to her. I also found it intriguing. Meeting new people everyday, getting to know them, their thoughts and tastes, getting to do something different every time. It all sounded very interesting. Being a Data Analyst was stressful as it is. Sitting in front of the desktop for the whole day was anything but interesting anyway.
“What about those photographs?” I asked once Naira was done with her ranting.
“Those are me being a terrific photographer.” Naira grinned. I was impressed to say the least.
Done with the coffee, I stood up from the sofa and turned to once again look at the photographs. “They are very beautiful.” I said truthfully.
“So I have heard.” Naira laughed. I could not help but smile at her.
Was it just me, or was Naira's smile and laughter really contagious? I did not know.
A few seconds of silence passed before it was broken by Naira, with an unexpected question.
“Do you have any plans tonight, Ishaan?”
I shook my head in negation. I seldom had any plans.
“That’s great! Let’s hang out tonight.”
“What?”
*****
