The more she thought about it, the more she could feel her will to marry him break. She had told him that she could work with it, but it all snapped when she imagined a wide angle zoom of his buck tooth come close to kiss her. It was only natural that it would follow their wedding. Yes she could make up reasons, but how long can one stall the inevitable? Something broke her, as her body grew cold. Chennai did not experience winter, not ever, but today she felt she was freezing up from her toes as another zoom of slick oil dripping down the side of his forehead came into focus...and the 5 pens in his shirt pocket. She had had her doubts; she seriously wanted to believe it was only a ploy he had played, but what if...what if by some remote chance that he had indeed been his natural self. That had done it and as the nervousness knotted the muscles in her neck...the nausea rose up her tract...
"Niruthunga... (Stop)" She yelled at the driver jerking him in his seat. Maan panicked as he moved closer to her. She was rocked back and forth as the auto came to a screeching halt.
"Ennama achu? (What happened?)" The driver was concerned too, but next to the worry in Maan's eyes, it was nothing.
Geet got out in a jiffy and puked her heart out by the side of the road. He came out and stood close to her. Wanting to hold her head, he hesitantly moved ahead, but she had stopped retching and gestured for water.
He ran to the nearby roadside shop and grabbed a bottle of water and soda. As he walked towards her, he noticed the big blobs of tears that were falling to the ground as raindrops from storm clouds. She really was caught in the eye of a hurricane, he thought.
He offered her his kerchief and the water. After having rinsed her mouth, she sneezed into his hanky, making it quite non-returnable to him.
"Are you sure you can handle it? I mean what's with all the sudden burst of nausea" He asked in a troubled tone, as she wobbled with her sobs.
"You know what...I think I should come with you...where were you planning to go by the way?" she asked throwing Maan into a fit...well that was a curve ball he never did see coming.
"Wait calm down...what happened now, a moment ago you were ok to marry this guy" he asked as they got back into the auto. The driver was about to ask something to Maan, when he interrupted and asked him to continue to the airport as per the initial plan.
"Can I tell you something frankly...like I mean for real frank?" she asked, giving away to Maan she was miserable.
"Hey I know frank...I have dealt with worse...so go on"
"You know why I puked...I imagined him kissing me with his bucktooth..." she said; her tears still streaming down her cheeks. The word had instantly caught the driver's attention and he stared back at Maan, once again. To the onlooker from the driver seat, it all seemed strangeness at its heights. Didn't he say he was getting married? He thought. Maan at once lowered his eyes and turned to Geet. He wanted to hold her hand, but felt that was just pushing his luck and so he laced his fingers on his lap, while he listened with earnest.
"But I thought you can make it work no? Hmmm what did you say...that it was a life long process" he wore a smirk on his face.
"Yes...you can put the nerd into a man...but can you really ever take the geek out him?" she asked as she wept continuously.
"True indeed" he commiserated with her. For starters he knew that first hand, and a whole campus that could stand proof for it.
"Geez...you are smart" he said with all the pun intended.
"I know...thank you" she wiped her tears, careful not to smudge her kohl eyes.
"My dad...I have never seen him be romantic or say anything even remotely mushy... or be adventurous...I shouldn't say this being his daughter...but I can already see Junior bucktooth with the same characteristics...God I don't want to die a..."
"Oops" she held her mouth as she realized what she was about to utter the word virgin to a complete stranger.
"You mean die a virgin" Maan asked curiously and carelessly with no ounce of shame, when the driver looked up from the road to peer at the couple in his backseat. It really was the weirdest drive, the driver thought.
She ignored his sentence completion and looked away as a blush crept up her cheeks. Maan noticed the pink hue that now colored her cheek bones, but he turned the other side as he fought the strongest urge to kiss her senseless. How long can a man resist his fianc?
"You know you are a classist...not all geeks or nerds are apathetic.... Ok...you are discussing two different things here" He asked her piquing her interest further. She shook her head vertically, asking what he meant.
"See we clearly know that a geek who can't charm your socks off is out...but would you deal with someone who is a nerd, as you call him buck tooth, and romantic?...You know does looks still matter if he is what you want...minus the handsomeness" He asked not knowing if the answered mattered to him. He knew he was not Mr. bucktooth, but he just wanted to know if she was shallow. But it was only a fair expectation, the reasonable side of him screamed, and yet he bent forward like her answer counted towards their marriage.
She thought about it a while, without realizing she had been boring into his eyes. The pale light did not show what he was going through, but his dark eyes seemed alluring like that of a black sun...she always liked when such oxymoron's crept inside her mind. The darker side of things, she knew, always only came with a great deal of ecstasy and sacrifices. It was perhaps him, but she didn't know why she saw a wisp of whirling white smoke, rise inside her, that teased her as it swayed gently. Just then she had felt it all looked familiar to her, like it was no coincidence she had cozied up to this stranger and was discussing the single most decision of her life. The warmth inside her shook her back into reality. Or so she thought, but it really was him calling out to her.
"Hey...you there?"
"Yes I think I can work with that...As I said a couple of trips to City center, will take care of it" she said as she continued to feel the smoke dissipate inside her. It was all confusing why she had felt the same will, grow stronger in her.
"Then trust me it's all good and don't you think its too early to judge anyways? Just go back home...like you said you can handle it" he said as he placed his hand on her as assurance. And strangely the resolve inside her, to gamble her life with the unsightly man, got sturdy.
Now that all had some closure, and taking her silence for her acceptance, Maan took it for granted as he asked the driver to turn back to the campus.
"But I really am going to the airport..." she said worried.
"What? I thought we settled that you are getting married and don't want to run away" He asked as her words launched a new confusion.
"Yes but what does that got to do with my going to the airport" Lord, this was the classic case of a loop, he thought. No doubt she was related to Adhi. But before they could sort out the details, they had reached the airport entrance. As she was about to get down, he could not help but tug her by her wrist, which drove panic insider her and the driver.
"Ai...ennapa kaiya pudichi ezukura? (Oi, why are you dragging her by her hand?)" The driver reacted at his outrageous act.
That was his bride for heaven's sake and he was stubborn as hell, just to come out with the truth and tell her so. But the answer to his question came in the form of a shout. Not from her, but from a stout lady, dressed in a silk sari, who came out the arrivals gate and waved enthusiastically at them.
"Geetu...inga (Geetu here)" she had yelled her lungs off to which, Geet had coordinated her response.
"Susheela aunty...finally...appa will be surprised" she ran as he let go of her.
Huh! So she was not running away? He took a moment to make sense. Shit! She really had told him the truth when she had gotten into the auto that she was picking up someone from the airport. That meant he had to call Adhi, before he woke up the whole world and so he did as he watched the aunt and niece hug and embrace. The lady could literally crush her, if she were to hug his Geet any tighter, he uttered mentally. Wow, where did that come from "His Geet"? He was amazed at his own mind's networking speed, for it had mapped her rightly to him.
He sighed as he realized, all the rush and the adrenalin were for nothing. Well he never complained about a natural high.
Geet came back with 2 large suitcases and an extra baggage of an aunt to find the stranger missing in the auto.
"Avar enga? (Where is he?)" She asked the driver. He quietly gestured that he had left and handed her a card. Who leaves unannounced after an intimate conversation? The man had only just helped her settle with the most woeful indecisiveness she had been fighting? She wanted to thank him and even convince him to go back instead of running away. She raised the card to her line of view and it read "[email protected]". That was too much mystery behind that mask for one night, she thought. And she went on to read the second line, which was way too cryptic even for her. It had the lower case phi and had the number 1.61803399 written right next to it. It didn't take her long to recognize the golden ratio symbol and the equivalent numerical constant. Instantly her mind raced to the instant he had screamed the definition of the golden ratio from the auto...and then...
She was palpitating as it slowly came back to her, her eyes shot out in all directions to see if she could spot the grey T-shirt, jean and a black winter cap. She twirled once again in the opposite direction as her aunt watched her puzzled. Dropping the suitcases, she walked hurriedly towards the other autos. Goose bumps were creeping up her skin as a cold sweat traced her brow.
"Geetu...polama? (Geetu Shall we leave?)" Her aunt called out to her. She came back to the auto with a sullen look on her face. They boarded the vehicle and left for the quarters, while she sat calmly and an overwhelming silence took over her.
It took a good 40 mts by the time they entered the campus and the auto left them by the entrance and returned without taking any payment from her. He had paid extra.
As she turned to take the stairs, she swore she heard another auto sputter around at some distance.
She smiled as she scaled the steps. Leaving her aunt at the living room, who had surprised every soul that had lodged in their tiny house for her marriage, she hurried to her room. Before anyone could yank her out for the boldness she had displayed upon stepping out at midnight, she opened her iron trunk and pulled out a bundle of yellowed papers. She turned to the 33rd booklet and looked at the ending note.
It read lower case phi and the same numerical constant.
Of all the autos that roamed Chennai, she had boarded the one, which had the answer to her mystery man...the one who had haunted her fervent dreams many a night.
