Sun and Sea

Sun and Sea: Mending what is mine but broken!

Narrator: Kitoo

Rohit Uncle was smiling as if he was there on that spot again, reliving that night but not the bad parts, the good ones. We left the coffee shop and took a cab to Marine Lines, sat there watching the sea and the sun, together but still apart.

"My first date with Anu was unreal, he was so good looking but always nervous. I didn't tell him but it was my 19th birthday. I knew he would run away if I told him that it was a special day for me. But that idiot didn't know, him being there with me made the day special and not my birthday." He smiled looking at each of us and continued his love story.

Narrator: Rohit

We spoke for hours every day the following week, sitting in the deserted driveway to the street leading to our houses, bundled up in the cold, just our shoulders and knees touching. I still can't figure out why I wasn't washed away with his sorrow and the sadness of his past. Whatever he was, however broken, tormented, angry or unable to love, I wanted him, the full package. I didn't want to fix him or help him or anything, I just wanted him in my life as he was. I realised if he goes bald and cuts off his lashes, I will still want him, disappointed but undeterred. Nothing about him was off putting for me, I was happy with him being around me, that's it, no expectation.

I wanted to make him like his life one moment at a time, not plan a future with me in it or anything, just be there in the now with me, try and be happy.

He talked himself into a bad mood on Friday night, going on and on about how I should stay away from him, actually going in circles and making absolutely no sense. Finally I got up and stood before him and grabbed his shoulders, "Look Anu! I am here and not going anywhere and I will be waiting for you tomorrow. Please bring on all your baggage Anu, I have been powerlifting all my life."

So all his efforts to push me away through the week when he had talked himself out of his happy mood was just a waste of time and he was soon going to find out how cemented we had become with just words and a handshake.

He didn't want me to come and pick him up. He walked through a really cold foggy morning to my place but didn't come in, just stood nervously next to the car not looking anywhere in particular, lost in his thoughts. I saw him from my window looking unbelievable in his blue jeans and sneakers, his blue and black check shirt showing under the black jacket collar, his hair combed back from his face. He just stood there in the cold with his hands in his jacket pockets waiting, not even expecting me to come out as he didn't tell me he had reached my place almost an hour early, he was ready to wait for as long as it takes.

"So much for someone who wanted to keep me away." I smiled and cheered loudly, punching the air as I jumped. Pa looked up from his breakfast "He is here?" "Yes, Pa and an hour early. What do you make of that?"

"After what you told me about his life in the past years, I am happy he trusts you, but don't be too hard on his parents either, everyone is not as lucky as you." he said, cutting his toast into bite size pieces in his weird breakfast ritual.

"Yes, I know Pa and I have inherited your modest genes." He threw a piece of toast at me and I ducked. "Hey, no hitting me with food on my birthday and before my first date."

I went to him, hugged him from behind with him sitting at the dinner table, gave him a quick peck on his cheek and left carrying extra gloves and a skull cap for the idiot waiting for me outside.

As soon as I shut the door behind me, Anu looked up confused, his large green eyes wide like he wasn't expecting me to come at all, much less an hour early like him.

I walked up to him and hugged him, bending a bit to touch my head to his shoulders.

I straightened up and held him at my arm's length looking at him. "I am glad you like boys, otherwise I would have made friends with Bhumi to stay around you." I said shamelessly.

He looked at me with those big green eyes, tried saying something and then closed his mouth and then cleared his throat and said "You have no filter, like you say what you want, whatever comes to your mind."

"You sound impressed, which is a good start to our date."

"Who said it's a date! It's a scout out for a possible suicide spot."

"Joke as much as you want doll lips, you like me and have come an hour early for this and dressed up nice for me." I pointed at myself with 2 thumbs and leaned in and gave him a kiss on his cheek.

"Dude! What's wrong with you?" He looked from one side to another, "Someone will see you with me, you really need to take care of your reputation and what about your dad?" he pointed towards my house.

"So you liked it, just worried about people, don't worry about them, it's a loss making scheme, worry about me and you will get a lot in return, this man here is pure gold."

"Are you going to be like this all day?"

"Yes sweetie! I promise." he didn't respond but got in the car, the ghost of a smile crossing his lips.

We drove towards the hill side of Naina Peak, parked and hiked for some time to the café run by my childhood nanny, Fatima Khazi, whom I called Mumaani, which means maternal uncle's wife in Urdu.

She took care of me while Ma got cancer when I was 6 years old and after she died fighting the sickness for almost 4 years. Every day I would sit next to Ma and she would tell me stories from our ancient texts and made me promise to stay happy and try to make everyone around me cheerful and that's how she would want to see me. After she passed away Mumaani continued our tradition, never letting me drown in that grief, helping me build my own support system with laughter and love.

The day next to when I met Anu for the first time, I told Pa and called Mumaani. I told her to not think less of me because of any religious bias. She said, "Love is a religion by itself and doesn't listen to anyone but the Almighty. You will find a religion of your own and a God that loves you when you will find someone to love you too and I hope this boy is the one".

I promised her I will bring him to meet her on Saturday since she came to Café Noor only on weekends now that her sons took care of it.

I walked into the café and shouted "MUMAANI" like I owned the place and she came to greet me with a hug and kiss on my forehead. She read a small blessing under her breath and blew air on my eyes. I touched her feet and hugged her back.

Arnesh was standing behind me unsure what to do, his hands behind his back.

"Is he the one?" she asked, "Mashallah! You are so good looking. Look at his eyes". She hugged him and kissed his forehead and blessed him too. She kept holding his hand. "What's your name child?"

"Arnesh." he said, overcome with emotions, his voice cracking.

"What does it mean?" she enquired, I looked at him, wanting to know myself.

"Sea." he said again in monosyllable

"You are Sea and this one here is Sun. This is so nice, makes me really happy. Sit... sit let me bring you boys coffee and something to eat. Rohit, this one needs to eat, we will put stones in his pocket or the Nainital winds will blow him away, hold on to him when you guys go to the point. Sit, you sit.... Ahhh..." finding it difficult to pronounce his name. "You can call me Anu, Mumaani, ahh.. Can I also call you Mumaani?"

"Of course, Anu, I am Rohit's Mumaani so I am your Mumaani too, you sit, Rohit came with me, today Hussain and Khursid are not here, drove to town for supplies and that Gafur is a lazy bum. I have been toiling since morning here and do you see him... nope never here, smoking somewhere I suppose, come with me... Anu I will send him back with the food and coffee, you sit here." She gestured to the table next to the balcony.

"Can I help? I want to help, and I know the restaurant business." He asked expectantly, looking happy and smiling.

"Oh God, you are like my Rohit aren't you, wanting to help your old Mumaani. How nice, good check what people want and I will send that Gafur to clean up. It will be great for the patrons to talk to someone who looks like a movie star. Nice... very nice for business. Where did you find Rohit, this one is a keeper." She kept talking as she took me behind the counter.

Our date plan was changed completely, we didn't go anywhere, because of the rain and cold. The café saw a phenomenal foot fall, and everyone wanted to have a hot beverage and some food. They stayed longer to get away from the rain and ordered more.

We fell into a rhythm like we were running this restaurant together forever. Anu at the tables, me behind the counter making the beverages running the complicated machines. Mumani in the kitchen preparing the food, Gafur after an earful from her, bringing food and cleaning. There were two more helpers in the kitchen, one at the stove and other at the sink.

Anu was a vision to behold and while preparing various orders, I couldn't take my eyes off him. He was smiling and talking and batting those long lashes. He would come and give me the slips and talk excitedly, our fingers touching constantly taking slips and handing over the beverages. We had our coffee, sandwiches and homemade biscuits at the counter laughing and discussing various couples and gossiping about who is talking about what. He was laughing, showing off his dimples and smiling, his eyes crinkling, he had gone red from running around, his hair a mess as he kept pushing his fingers through it. I made a mental note of what I want to do with them when we reach that stage but today I was happy looking at him, he was so full of joy.

At around 6 pm, Mumaani, Gafur and the two staff members brought out a birthday cake with a candle on it and kept it on the counter in front of me. They started to sing the birthday song and all the patrons joined in, clapping and singing. From across the restaurant Anu kept staring at me, with a masked blank expression.

I cut my birthday cake and fed it to Mumaani, then took a small piece and walked to Anu and put it in his mouth. He didn't say anything, just kept looking at me, his large eyes shining, and his face redder than it was.

We closed the restaurant at 9 pm, me and Anu politely telling people we were closed for almost 10 minutes. Gafur got the car out to drop Mumaani. She hugged, kissed and blessed us both and presented me with a small silver pendant that she had gotten blessed from her mosque. I put it in my gold neck chain. She gave some money to Anu, who refused to take it but she explained since he was meeting her for the first time, it was his treat to get gifts for her. He pocketed it without saying another word or even seeing how much she gifted him.

We promised to come back on Saturday to help out with the restaurant and waited till she drove away in the dark cloudy night badly illuminated with a small lamp post. The driveway was now completely empty and it was extremely cold outside but it had stopped raining.

I turned around to face him and put the skull cap on his head, pushing it down to cover his ears. I handed over the gloves to him and started adjusting my skull cap when he suddenly hugged me. I stopped what I was doing and held him tightly, my cap lopsided with hair sticking out.

He looked up, his green eyes swimming and said slowly "Happy Birthday Rohit and thank you so much for this wonderful day." and he kissed me, my first kiss ever. I pulled him closer to me and kissed him back like I had seen in movies. He kept kissing me, matching my passion. I removed the cap I had put on him and laced my fingers through his hair, my other hand on the small of his back. He wrapped his hands around my neck and kissed me, getting closer pressing him to me. I picked him off the ground after some time to give my neck some rest but not wanting to stop kissing him, he got on his tip toes but didn't break our lip lock. We must have kissed standing there getting our asses frozen for at least an hour.

I readjusted his cap, unnecessarily helped him wear his gloves and he did the same to me, again tip-toeing to reach my head. I kissed his exposed neck holding his waist while he did it and asked "So should we consider this a date?"

"The jury is still out" He smiled fully now, dimples deepening on his face.

We drove home, Anu talking non-stop about the day and Mumaani but never discussing our first make out. I dropped him a little away from home on the driveway, now our spot and got down. He stood there not wanting this day to get over. "I want to do this again if you want to, like if you are okay with it." He faltered.

I kissed him on his lips boldly, not scared of getting caught, Hell! I wanted to show him off to everyone, he was a bloody catch and wanted everyone to back off from him now. He panicked and lightly pushed me away. "Please Rohit! Not here, please, I am sorry but please. Not you, I don't want to tamper with you please. I know you don't care but I do, I really don't want you to get a bad name because of me."

"Look Sweetie, I am proud to be with you and my Pa and Mumaani like you, I care a flying rat's ass about everyone else. But if you are not comfortable, I will wait for you. And yes I will like to make out with you whenever you want."

"No Stupid!" but I could see him go red under the muted street light in the foggy cold night. "I meant date".

"Ohhh! Now someone admits it was a date." I smiled, showing off my teeth.

"It was your birthday and you wasted it on me, but this was by far the best day of my life and I loved Mumaani."

"What about the birthday boy, what does he get, no love for him?"

"We'll see how well you fare without so much help you got today to organise another successful date before I pass the verdict."

"Don't wear shoes this Wednesday for our second date." I was warned.

"Why? Because you will knock my socks off... you are so corny Dude!"

"And you are a joke buster, I shall come prepared with new ones, Come home on Wednesday before lunch, 10 works?"

"No work or school on Wednesday?"

"Nope, it's a public holiday but we will go to a secret spot, so it will be quite private. You are okay with that, being alone with this stud. I don't want you to jump my bones and take my virginity. I have heard you are a sexual predator."

"Get loaded sexy, this beast is coming for you!" He giggled and then hugged me, "Thank you Rohit, thank you for hearing me out, accepting my broken pieces and not listening to me pushing you away."

"All of this comes naturally to me Sweetie and so do you, I don't know how you feel but you and me are like organic, this for me feels natural, meant to be. Let's give it a go with everything we have one day at a time. So we will meet here tomorrow and talk?" I arched an eyebrow.

"Give me your pager number and I will text you from the pay phone next to my place. Then we can meet up someplace else and... talk." He blushed.

"Only if you promise to kiss." I said brazenly.

"If you promise to kiss and not tell." He was blushing but kept looking at me.

"I will tell everyone that we are together the day you are okay with it, I am lucky to have found you and I will shout it from the top of those mountains but I will wait." I took his hands in mine.

"Cool, before I forget what I told you and attack your lips, I should go." He said half smiling and half something else, his eyes smouldering at me but not leaving my hands.

"Then attack me, I am attack worthy, wait till I show you my pecs and 6 packs." I pulled him closer.

"Shut up! You are so vain, if you show me your six pack abs, I will show you my 6 pair ribs." He placed our clasped hands on his flat stomach.

"Promise?" Now my voice went from fun to sexy, I was painfully hard from the image and the touch burning through layers of clothing.

He didn't say anything and looked down, unable to match my gaze.

"I need you to go now Anu! Or I don't know what I will do, I am very impulsive and you make me crazy and I am like really turned on by you, so I am like a bad mix of something explosive right now, so you better go." I let go of his hands.

He looked up and smiled, "No filters, I love that about you." He didn't step back.

"Shit! I need to go home now, and don't tell me to not kiss you and then say how you love things about me and make me touch you, get out of here or I will push you in my car." I cleared my throat and took that much needed first step back.

"Promise?" He smiled and raised his hand as a good bye, "Happy Birthday Stud!" Anu turned around and started walking towards his home.

I stood there looking at him, as he continued to turn and look at me every few steps. I stood there with an erection that I had never experienced before, it was more than when we were kissing, just the way he took our hands and placed it on him, the scene running in my head as the blood drained downwards. I touched myself over my pants, adjusted myself and jiggled my head like a dog to clear it when he was out of sight and walked to my car.

"So after closing the restaurant, you guys drove home and you just dropped him and left?" Myra asked. "You guys are so boring Ya!!"

"Yes.", Uncle Rohit smiled with a faraway look on his face, giving away the fact that he was not telling us everything.