“I am so, so tired of these trees and graphs in Sujeet Saxena’s class. Does he never tire of parent nodes, left child, right child?” Rupali and his friends were gathered together for the hostel day celebration.

“Oye, haven’t you heard of this? Sujeet Saxena has two children. What are their names?”

“Huh?”

“Think logically.”

“There is a logical way of naming children?”

“With Sujeet Saxena, there is. His children are called LC Saxena and RC Saxena.”

“What are you talking about?” Rupali had been reticent, but this drew her into the conversation.

“Rupali – the genius! It’s Left Child Saxena and Right Child Saxena.”

Everyone burst out laughing. Rupali also smiled, but she wasn’t exactly feeling jovial. She quietly slipped away after a while.

—

“Hi!” Ajay Bhardwaj came and sat beside her on the bench. He was also a Ph. D. student in the department. He worked with Dr. Sujeet Saxena.

“Hi. What’s up?”

“Nothing. Why did you come away? Are you unwell?”

“No.I am fine. I just sometimes feel out of place is large gatherings and noisy places.”

“Right. How about a really small gathering? Tomorrow is Saturday. Would you like to go out of the campus with me, perhaps for a coffee?”

Rupali looked surprised at his proposal. Then asked, “Coffee as in coffee? Or coffee as in a date?”

Her direct question made Ajay laugh despite his nervousness, “I meant the latter. But…”

“I like good coffee. I am sorry about the date.”

Ajay handled his disappointment gracefully, “Can I ask why?”

“I will try to answer, but I am not very good at these things. So, try not to get me wrong. It’s not about you. It’s just not on my priority. Or even in my comfort zone.”

“It’s okay, Rupali.”

“Thanks for understanding, Ajay.”

“I don’t understand, to be honest. But I respect you.”

“That deserves a thanks too.”

“Can we go for a coffee as in coffee though? No trick. Seriously.”

Rupali hesitated, but then smiled, “Sure.”

—

He was seated slightly far from Rupali and Ajay’s table in the coffee shop. But Rupali would have recognized Paritosh’ voice from miles away. “An Espresso, please,” he requested the waiter in his usual gentle manner. She was taken aback. He wasn’t expected to be back until Monday. She resisted the urge to confront him immediately, because he was sitting with an elderly gentleman and they seemed to be discussing something important.

Ajay hadn’t noticed Paritosh, but he could see that Rupali was distracted.

“Everything all right?” he asked.

“Yes. Of course.”

After few minutes the elderly man left while Paritosh waited behind to pay the bill. By shifting her chair slighly, Rupali could keep Paritosh in her peripheral vision.

“I will be back in a minute,” she told Ajay when Paritosh left the shop after paying the bill. She went out hoping to catch him before he disappeared. But Paritosh had long strides and she had to run to catch him in the parking lot.

“Dr. Khanna!”

He didn’t need to even turn back to know who it was. Only she called him “Dr. Khanna” like that. It had felt strange in the beginning. The undergraduate students called him “Sir”, but he always insisted that his graduate students called him by name. Everyone else complied, but Rupali continued calling him Dr. Khanna as she used to do before she had joined Ph. D.

“Rupali. What’s up?”

“I thought you were coming back on Monday.”

“Yes. But one of my Uncles had some work to get done in the city and he wanted my help. So, I came back earlier with him.”

“When did you come back?”

“Yesterday.”

“You didn’t tell me?”

Paritosh replied with a smile, “I thought I would let you have a break. You weren’t expecting to be bothered about work till Monday. So–”

“You could have attended the hostel day celebration.”

“Oh!”

“You didn’t even remember? That’s so unfair,” Rupali was agitated and she didn’t realize how loud she was.

“Rupali!”

“I will never talk to you.”

“Stop it, Rupali,” Paritosh was finding the exchange embarrassing in the parking lot. Others had started staring at them, “I am sorry. All right? But don’t behave like a brat. Not here in public, at least.”

His admonishment brought her back to her senses, “I… I am sorry. Just that I saw you in the coffee shop. And–”

“I saw you too,” Paritosh was still curt, “But you had company. So, I didn’t–”

“Company? You mean… No… He is not my boyfriend.”

“Nor am I. I must leave now. I will see you on Monday, at work.” Paritosh turned away and climbed into his car. Rupali walked back listlessly and ran into Ajay.

“What are you doing here?” she asked, trying to hide how dejected she was.

“You left like it was a question of life and death. I got worried.”

“I am all right. We can go back.”

“I paid the bill. I think you want to go back to the campus.”

She did and she was thankful to him for understanding that, “How much was the bill? We should split.”

“I know it was not a date. But paying for your coffee is not going to make me bankrupt. You can pay some other time. Let’s go now.” Ajay was not curt or rude, but he didn’t sound happy either.

—

“Dr. Khanna is a happily married man,” Ajay said on their way back.

“I know very well that he is married. Whether or not happily is something neither me, nor you would know. But either way, why are we talking about it?”

“I’m not the only one you have refused, Rupali, right? Ever wondered why you do that? You are not a traditional, obedient India girl saving yourself for your the guy your parents find for you, are you?”

“I have told you that relationships are not on my priority right now.”

“I’m afraid, it’s more an alibi than a reason.”

“What do you want to say?”

“I think, after today, I just agree to what everyone already says.”

“And what is that?”

“That you are hopelessly stuck on Dr. Khanna.”

“So I have heard too. He is my role-model, Ajay. It isn’t the same thing as–”

“For your sake, I hope you are right.”

—

To be Continued