A cup of coffee
One shot
A fragile Beauty was lying beneath him, breathing heavily. As He was slowly leaning on her, his intense gaze made her feel shy. His fingers ran over her face, feeling her soft skin. His lips were tracing the outline of her jaw, causing knots in her stomach and finally found their goal, her lips.
With this The screen blurred
“….. And cut it!” The director announced, cut for the last scene of his movie.
“Well done! Swara, Sanskar.” The director said, applauding for them.
They tilted her head in acknowledgment, having a proud feeling in their eyes.
Everyone was staring at the director for the one last command.
“…. And PACK UP!!” The director shouted. Everyone started to congratulate eachother for completing another film successfully. Everyone was celebrating the packup. The two lead stars of the movie, Swara and Sanskar were giving professional smile to all. They were one of the biggest names in the industry, the most loved on-screen couple. Even after working in dozens of movies together nevertheless they were hesitant to talk in person. Both headed towards their vanity van for collecting their items.
“So, congratulations.” Sanskar said while heading towards the vanity van.
“Thanks, congratulations to you too.” She said, forwarding her hand towards him, he shook his hard hand with her flower soft, delicate hand.
Effect of the handshake reflected on his face in the form of a heartwarming smile, a smile for which every girl craves for, a smile which could make anyone fall in love with him.
Swara was standing infront of her vanity van’s door, she turned the knob when Sanskar asked…
“So, if you don’t mind, can we go for coffee?”
She looked at him in amusement. Undoubtedly she was longing for some quality time with him, some time in their normal life. She was overjoyed that she didn’t even answer him.
“Umm… Okay. If you don’t want then no problem. Bye.” He spoke immediately, missunderstanding her silence.
“No! No! No! I wanna go for coffee.” She shouted.
She smiled shyly.
“I will see you within 15 minutes.” Saying this Sanskar moved towards his vanity.
*****
~15 minutes later~
Sanskaar was impatiently waiting for her. He wore a black jean, with white tee shirt and a pink blazer. The moment he saw Swara moving towards him, he set his hair and checked his clothes.
Swara came wearing white jeans, grey balloon top with three fourth sleeves.
Sanskar was mesmerized seeing her in simple yet elegant look. He opened the front door of his car and Swara sat in. He was nervous to drive, but being a man, he was not allowed to show his nervousness when he was taking a girl on a ‘date’.
Both were shy enough to start talking. No one would ever believe that they have worked with eachother in numerous movies.
“So… Are you tired?” Out of nowhere, Sanskar asked this just to start talking.
“Hmmm… Little bit. What about you? Your scenes were more tiring. Nai?” She spoke, stealing his glances.
“Hmmm, they were but most of fight scenes were done by my body double, so it’s not that much!” He said proudly
He looked at Swara who was seeing him, with soft eyes, Sanskar’s eyes met hers but this time the feeling was pure, it was real unlike the one they show in their films. The deapth of her eyes was forcing him to drown into them. Sanskar broke their eyelock the moment he realised that the red light was over and public was honking madly at him.
While entering into the cafe, they met their fans and signed autographs for them.
As both of them were famous names, seeing them together gave raise to gossips, they were by now became habitual of such gossips so, they didn’t feel uncomfortable.
“Order what you like?” Passing a menu to her, he said. She nodded.
“One Espresso!” Both said, at same time.
They exchanged a shy smile. Swara could feel heat reaching to her cheeks.
“So, you also like Espresso? Nice choice.” He said.
“Hmmm, earlier I like black coffee, but since when I have tasted Espresso, I am purely in love with that.” She said with watery expression.
“I don’t like black coffee. I feel that is bitter!” He said.
“Hey! Don’t say anything about my coffee. Espresso is love but black coffee is an addiction. If you ever get time then I will take you to my favourite cafe, I can bet you will forget every cafe after tasting their coffee.” She said warning him for not saying anything about her love, her coffee moreover Sanskar could feel the excitement in her voice, which was calling for another ‘date’.
“I would love to go! We should plan that soon.” He said excitedly, grabbing another opportunity to spend time with her.
She acknowledged by nodding her head. Soon the coffee arrived and again a deadly silence took place between them. This time none of them had any topic to start talking, so they leg their eyes talking. Their eyes kept talking, untill Sanskaar again gathered courage to start talking while returning home.
“So, did you like that coffee?” Sanskar asked her when they were heading towards Swara’s home to drop her.
“hmmm… It was nice but mine would be tastier than this.” She said confidently.
He chuckled “Don’t tempt me by saying this. I don’t wanna spend my night thinking about that.” He said.
“Hahaha… So, in that case I guess we should plan that as soon as possible.” Swara said.
“Alright, so let’s go for another coffee date this weekend. I will pick you up from your home.” Sanskar said, then he realised that he had used the word ‘date’.
“Vo… Ummm… I didn’t mean that date… Ummm… Vo… Actually…” He fumbled.
“It’s okay.” She said while stepping out of the car.
“I will go on a date with you this weekend.” She continued shyly, moving towards the gate of her home.
Sanskar smiled listening to her words. Was it the beginning of a new love story?
*****
Next Day
Swara walked downstairs and found her mother and grandmother starting at her suspeciously. She could feel their suspecious eyes on her.
“What? Why are you staring at me ?” She asked.
“Why did you hide this thing from us?” They asked in their overdramatic tone.
“What did I hide?” She asked in pereplexity.
“You have affair with your co-star, Sanskar!” Sharmishtha, her mother said.
“What rubbish? I don’t have any affair with him.” She retorted, secretly praying that what she was saying would come true one day.
“Achha? You are playing smart with your Nani? Shoru, you may be a big star now. But will always be my little shoru. So, no secrets.” Her Nani said.
“Achha, if it’s untrue then what’s this?”Sharmishtha asked showing her today’s newspaper. The first page contains her and Sanskar’s photograph with heading which says…
“New love birds in town”
“From reel to real. Love story of Swara and Sanskar.”
“Rubbish! Okay. I went with him on a coffee but it was casual. There is nothing between us.” She said feeling her cheeks tinted.
“That we can see!” Both said in unison.
Swara rushed into her room, not being able to blush more. Situation at Sanskar’s home was no different.
“Bhai, I don’t mind calling Swara as bhabhi. But, you should have told us earlier na. Look how excited mom is.” Laksh, his brother said. Pointing towards Annapurna, their mother who was distributing sweets among the family, celebrating affair of her elder son.
“Lucky, Shut up! There is no such thing between me and Swara, atleast for now.” Sanskar murmured the last line, dreaming.
Both, Swara and Sanskar were secretly liking the new rumour about them, still they were hesitant to talk about that.
But, the feeling which was buried in their hearts, was now blossoming.
***
A week later ( second date)
Swara was waiting for Sanskar, sitting on the window plank of her bedroom, staring at the road keenly. She wore blue, undoubtedly his favourite color. She is not a girl who loves makeup, but today she wore makeup, she wore accesories, she made herself presentable for the ‘date’.
As Sanskar’s car stopped infront of her bungalow, her heart started beating fastly. She could feel it pounding against her chest. She took her heels in hand and ran downstairs as fast as she could. She hurriedly wore the heels hearing teasing of her mother.
“Ma, look someone said there is nothing between them, only a casual coffee… Date!” Sharmishtha giggled.
Swara blushed and ran out before Sanskar could knock the door, not giving any scope to her mother and grandmother to tease her.
She hurriedly closed the door and The moment she turned she collided with Sanskar’s toned chest, her hand was on his chest right above his heart, for the first time she was feeling his heartbeat.
Not only Swara but Sanskar could also feel her heartbeat.
“Vo… I am sorry! ” Apologising him, she moved away maintaing a descent distance.
“Hmm… It’s okay! Let’s go.” Saying this his gestured her moving towards the car.
Swara noticed that Sanskar was wearing while and sky-blue, white her favourite color.
“You are looking beautiful.” He complimented her, resulting her turning into flushing red.
“Thank-you, and you too.” She managed to say with tinted cheeks.
“Me? What beautiful?” Sanskar said in disbelief.
“No! No! No! I didn’t mean that. I mean that you are look handsome.” She spoke while blushing. Now, it was Sanskar’s turn to feel some heat on his cheeks.
Sanskar switched on the radio which was playing ‘mann chala teri ore’.
“My favourite song!” Swara beamed.
Sanskaar smiled seeing her, but the very next moment song ended. And she pouted.
“Huh! Nothing can be bad than this.” She spoke sadly.
With her this statement, Sanskar’s car stopped with a jolt.
“Umm… I guess yes, something can be worse than this.” Sanskar said.
Swara looked at him with puppy eyes, and both bursted out laughing.
“Let me see, if I can do something about this.” Saying this Sanskar stepped out of car.
Swara popped her head out of the window and asked him… ” Sanskar, do you even know how to open bonet? I don’t think that a superstar will know such things.”
“For your kind information miss Bose, let me tell you that I am mechanical engineer. So, I know about this little bit atleast.” Sanskar said proudly.
“Okay! Okay! Then fix it.” She said in challenging mode.
“Challenge accepted ma’am.”he said.
Sanskar tried alot, but the problem was beyond repair.
” I guess, I need to call my driver and ask him to take this car for repair.” He said sadly. Disappointment could be clearly seen in his eyes. Swara, felt bad for him. She stepped out and put a hand on his shoulder to console him.
“It’s okay, Sanskar. It’s a small thing, call your driver and let’s go.” She said to cheer him up.
“Go? Where? My car has ruined the whole plan! I am really sorry, Swara.” He said with disappointment.
“Hey! Don’t be a spoilt sport! We can enjoy our… ‘date’, I won’t mind walking back with a handsome man besides me.” She said shyly.
Sanskar’s heart skipped a beat, listening to ‘our date’ from her mouth. He was lost in her bewitching smile.
“Chale? ” She asked holding his hand.
Sanskaar could feel butterflies in his stomach with her touch. He simple nodded.
Both started walking towards Swara’s home, walking on a deserted road with someone ‘special’ for the first time, feels great.
“So, what are your future plans?”. Swara asked hesitantly.
“I have three films lined up, for the upcoming year, after completing that I will take a break! A really long break. I don’t think if I would come back in acting or not.” He said.
“You want to leave the industry? But why?” She asked, not believing what he said.
“Hmmm… Swara, honestly speaking I want to settle down now. I am 31 now, I also want a family, someone who loves me, a better half, a friend, a wife.”he said. The emptiness of his life, that place for someone special was empty. And that could easily be heard in his voice. Swara startled seeing his emotional side, his candid talks.
“And what about you?” He continued.
“I also want to leave this industry, not because I am not happy, but because I have lost the real Swara Bose, I rarely have any personal life, whenever I step out Paparazzi keeps on stalking me, it makes me uncomfortable.” She said tightening her grip on his hand.
“Well, in that case. We both are going to be ‘once upon a time super stars’.” Sanskaar chuckled.
Swara giggled and acknowledged.
“Are you on WhatsApp?” He asked.
“Hmm.” She replied.
“If, you don’t mind… Can I have … Your… Number?” Hesitantly, he asked.
“sure! Tell me yours, I am giving you miss call.” Saying this she took her phone out. Sanskar told his number, Swara’s phone showed that number was already saved as ‘Sanskar’. Sanskaar took his phone out which was flashing ‘Swara calling’.
Both, had eachother’s numbers but just to ask that officially they exchanged their already exchanged numbers.
“Look, your villa.” Sanskar said.
“Hmm… This coffee will be due.” She said with a smile.
“Ofcourse!” He smiled.
“Bye!” She waved her hand.
“Bye!” He too waved his hand.
Sanskar turned back when Swara called him… He turned and asked her in gesture, and she spoke… ” Take my car. You can’t go your home on foot.”
Sanskar nodded and took the key from her.
*****
Days were passing, with each passing day Swara and Sanskar’s bond was getting stronger. They use to chat on WhatsApp for hours but still were shy enough to talk in person. The rumours of them being in love became talk of the town, some called that a publicity stunt as the release date of their film was near.
*****
SPECIAL SCREENING OF FILM
Swara and Sanskar went together for the special screening of their film before it’s release, adding more fuel in the rumours.
Everyone praised them for their flawless acting. So, they decided to celebrate their happiness.
“So, let’s enjoy this happiness. What say?” Swara asked happily.
“Do I need to say yes?” He smiled.
“Ummm, no.” She said with flushed cheeks and grabbed his hand and took him towards her car.
“I will drive this time!” Saying this she jumped onto the driving seat.
Sanskar didn’t say anything but smiled, adoring her.
“Swara!” He spoke.
“Haan?” She smiled.
“Ummm… Nothing!” He said scratching his head.
Swara drove car towards the outskirts of the city. She stopped the car near a tea stall and asked Sanskar to step out.
“So, is this your favourite cafe?” He asked in disbelief.
She nodded.
“Cm’on! I am not going to drink anything for this road side stall, it won’t be hygienic.” He resisted.
“Just taste it once, I can bet you will love his coffee.” She insisted him.
“Coffee at a tea stall?” He asked in amazement.
“Kaka, don kap kaphi!(kaka, two cup coffee!)” Swara orderd.
Sanskar was amazed seeing her speaking Marathi.
“Vva! Bengali mulgi ane marthi, vait nahi. (Wow! Bengali girl and marati,not bad)” Sanskar said praising her.
Swara smiled proudly. The vendor gave them two cups of coffee. Swara was watching Sanskar impatiently as he was sipping the coffee. As the hot coffee was drenching his throat his eyes shone with sparkle.
“I loved it!!” He shouted.
“I told you! I told you that you will love this!!” Swara beamed.
“But, I love you more.” He managed to say.
Heat reached to her cheeks, she sipped the coffee and finally managed to say.
“I love you too, but I love coffee more.” She blushed
*****
A year later
@Flim Awards
“And the best Jodi award goes to… None other than, Swara and Sanskar for zehnaseeb!” The anchor announced.
Swara jumped in happiness and hugged Sanskar tightly. The hall was buzzing with the noise of clapping.
Both, received the award and now the time was for thanking speach. Sanskar took the Mike and started addressing the audience.
“Firstly, I would like to thank the jury for giving us such a big honour, it really means alot to us. We can’t express our gratitude within few words. We are really thankful, that you all gave us so much love during our journey in this industry.”
“And now, we want to announce something and there could be no place better than this stage.” Swara continued.
“Me and Swara are WE now! Yes, you all heard it right, we are engaged and soon going to marry.” Sanskar said while hugging Swara sideways.
“With this good news I have a bad news also, we have decided that, after completing our current film ‘one cup coffee’ we both will bid bye to this lovely industry. I know you all will be sad because of our this descision but, it was needed. And the love which you all gave us in these years will be enough for our whole life.” Swara completed the speach. And both walked down, with a smile on their faces.
****
Swara was standing in the balcony of her 18th floor’s appartment, sipping hot coffee in the cold whether of Canada, when she felt two warm hands on her waist.
“Sanskar!” She spoke.
“Yes, princess!” Setting her hair on her left shoulder, Sanskar said placing his chin on her right shoulder.
“I love you!” She said
“I love you too, you know I wonder I if wouldn’t have asked you out for a coffee date that day then, we would still be struggling to talk to eachother.” He said
“It’s so good na, my coffee became way to our love.” She said lovingly.
“Ya, that’s why our love story is titled as ‘one cup coffee!'” Sanskar smiled, seeing the poster if their last film shining on one of the biggest advertisement sceens in the city.
THE END
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Guyzzz I got to know that you are waiting for my other works as well, I was super happy after knowing that.
I will try to post but my exams are going to start from next week and will end on 27, almost whole month. Still I will try.
Love you all