That window on 26th Floor

While she thought it could not begin, probably it never could end..

“Leave now. My room is 2602”. She deleted the SMS immediately after reading and looked at Sumit. Sumit was busy winning applause with his fan club at the table, chewing 2 meters pizza and sipping beer on which he had another bet.

She slid her phone in her bag and looked at the reveling people. Sumit was already half knocked out. In that moment of commotion around, with a simple question of “to leave or not”, her heart was skipping beats. Small droplets of water were developing on her forehead and neck in the ten degrees set room. Her heart was paralyzed with the thought of ‘leaving’.

She tied her hair in her clutch and adjusted her scarf around her neck. Not a single word of what Tarun’s wife was yelling from the other side of the table was entering her mind. “Ketchup, madam” said the small eyed waitress. “What, oh, yes, ammmm thanks” she said. She played with the Lettuce leaves in her plate while her mind was dicing with the only yes and no on all sides. Her breathing was getting heavy. She gulped the whisky down her throat and felt the burning sensation in her oesophagus.

Picking her bag swifty, she tip toed towards her way to the exit door. She looked back. Sumit was sharing his college story of how he had bullied the Principal in the first year.

With every floor that the lift passed, her heart started to beat faster. And the door automatically opened at the 26^th floor. She stood at the door staring trying to ignore the turmoil in her mind, took a pause and then, knocked.

The room was warm. Cream curtains and yellow bulbs lit up around them. Before she could see more, he caught her from the back and kissed her neck. In the fraction of a second, she forgot who she was and where she came from. One look deep into his eyes, and in no time she surrendered and  melted in his arms, in the expressions of amorous dalliance, as if the tiny little branches of the shrubs shed the snow on their face, upon seeing the Sun after a long cold winter. The time lost count. 

She got up with the noise of the wind howling from the open window, and realized that she probably over slept. She thought of Sumit. She got dressed quickly, opened her vanity box to dab some powder over her steamy face and neck, pinched her eyes to smudge the spoilt kohl, wore her coat and left, and while she waited for the lift in the lobby, she knew she had to burn the bridge she just crossed.

She ran back, opened the door and dropping all shackles knit in the forms of various calculations, kissed him once again. Passionately…so passionately as if that was the last kiss of her life and that she could carry the warmth of his presence in her cold arms. She dropped a tear on his bare shoulders. He pressed her back and clasped her tighter in his arms. The moment of silence seemed to last for long. The kiss answered her all questions and freed her from the guilt gripping her soul for years. 

The Cabbie parked at the edge of the entrance. Sumit was leaning over a table, drooling. The Hotel staff assisted her to take him to the cab.

The cab crossed the Western Street, and waited at the signal. She looked back at the building of ‘The Grand Regent’. The window on 26th floor seemed closed.