One:
“Did you observe that we call it ‘Maggi’ even if the noodles is ‘Top Ramen’”, she asked with a smile.
Her smile reminded him of a peacock fanning its feathers just before it rains. “Have you observed that peacock, a male, is used to describe beauty of females?”
She didn’t have to ask him where this remark came from. There was just a glint in her eyes.
They often come to this light house terrace just to speak ‘nothings’ and have coffee. He did think of having a couple ‘coffee mug’ for these special occasions, but knew that she’d call it ‘Not our style’.
They climbed down as it started raining, “Do you remember when we came here the first time?” he asked.
“Yeah, it was the first school trip dad allowed me, only since it was nearby. We weren’t even friends then.” she chirped
“Ever wonder where we’d be without this lighthouse?”
Two:
“Hello!!!” she shook him.
He took some time to gather where he was. There was a distant growl, and he could distinctly hear a hyena laughing. “What?”
“Would you like to feed crumbs for the peacock?”
“Sure” he got up trying to recollect. It seemed like they were coming down the lighthouse just seconds ago.
“Have you observed that peacock, a male, is used to describe beauty of females?”
“I have, since the first day we met in this zoo” he said
“Liar, you were too afraid to even go near the peacock.” she countered, despite knowing he wasn’t speaking about the peacock.
“Ever wonder where we’d be without this zoo?”
Three:
“Hello!!!” she shook him.
The rich aroma signaled him that they were in a café. “What?” he asked, recovering faster this time.
“Espresso or Capuccino?”
“You know I don’t have coffee, am just here for the company” he replied.
“This cheesy one-liner might have worked the first time we met.” She said
“Having you here after so many years, it seems to have worked enough” he said.
“It’s a miracle, considering we have little else in common”
“Ever wonder where we’d be without this cafe?”
Four:
“Hello!!!” she shook him.
“What?”
“Chilli Maggi, or Cheese Maggi”? she asked
“Did you observe that we call it ‘Maggi’ when it’s actually ‘Ramen’?”
“Enough with your aphorisms. Am buying the usual” she slammed.
“Whatever. As one famous poet said, ‘It’s not the Maggi, it’s the Margaret that matters” he quipped.
She just smiled with her eyes, not wanting to correct his creative vocabulary.
“Ever wonder where we’d be without this noodle walk?” he asked
Last:
He woke up to darkness. She wasn’t nearby.
“There are only four things we have in common, without them we won’t even be together”, he remembered her screaming during their fight.
He vaguely remembered lamenting to a mysterious fakir in the bar. “Four things? I don’t want anything common with her”
“Did the wish erase the love of my life from my reality?” he panicked.
He took out his phone, but couldn’t even remember her name to dial. He slipped, fell head down into a pool. “Do I know to swim?” he tried to recollect.
At-last:
He woke up to his furious wife with a glass in her hand “How many times did I tell you not to get sloshed?”
He fathomed it was all just a dream.
He ran and hugged her
“Hello!!!” she shook him.
“I always wonder where I’d be without you” he just surrendered, oblivious to the fakir with an inscrutable smile outside their window.
