First Glance
“Brrrrr” The large car’s tires skidded on the dirt road as the car came to a quick stop. It was late and was getting dark. In the darkness and behind the tinted windows the building was pushed back away from the dirt road. If it weren’t for the lights and people entering and leaving the building, it was barely noticeable. Seeing his car, the older man came running to welcome him. “Sameer ji, please come, thank you so much for coming, its an honor to have you here.” Opening the car’s door a tall young man stepped out with a humble smile on his face. People walking into the building stopped and stared, first at the car and then at the man who stepped out of the car. The young man was atleast 6’2″, slim body and a chiseled shaved jawline gave him a very young appearance. His eyes however seemed mature, his dark brown eyes had a shine, they made him seem serious and kind at the same time. Wearing a designer stitched suit, the young man smiled shaking the older gentlemen’s hand before saying “Pleasure’s all mine, I hope coming here to see the building last minute wasn’t too much of an issue, I just really hoped to finish this tonight otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to make it.” “No problem Sameer ji, you came that’s enough for us, please come in” Gesturing for the young man to walk in, the elder man’s assistant nudged him, “who is he and why are you giving him so much respect calling him ji.” “Shut up, do you know who he is? That’s Sameer Raj Sehgal, the son of Sehgal Industries owner. His face is on every 30 under 30 magazine and is by far the most successful businessman of his age. He’s here to look at the building, if he decides to purchase the building I can finally take some money and go live with my son and daughter-in-law in Canada. Not only is he young and successful but has a heart of gold selling the building to him will be easy and quick. Now shut up and lets go”
Sameer walked into the building, he had a quick gait of a solider on a mission. He quickly looked around the building ignoring the lights, music and people around him. There was a man on stage confessing his love for some women but Sameer didn’t bother to look at them let alone acknowledge them. Sameer was a family man but a workaholic, he was the farthest from a romantic person you could imagine, he found love at first site and stories like Romeo Juliet a bit silly. When working, Sameer was immersed and focused on that only. He looked at the ceiling and beams and realized the building was old. The building might be one of the bigger halls for events in town but for Sameer it was a small shack. Sameer never invested in small properties, he only invested his money in properties which were worth investing his time into. If Sameer was going to spend time on something, it had to be worth it and this building was not it. However he had heard that the old gentlemen really wanted to sell it for some reason and since it fell on his way he decided to take a look at it after work. For Sameer buying it might not be a big deal but for the older gentlemen it could mean a lot and so here he was. Looking at the walls and walking around he could see there was some space behind the stage as well. The older gentleman walked to Sameer and handed him the details of the building. Looking over the square footage and build date and roofing materials used Sameer had an idea of the overall property. This building was small and while Sameer would not get involved in it, his manager could fix it up and then most likely he would give it so some charity organization or something. Turning around to the older man he said “This building is old, roofing materials used are not up to safety standards now, comparable to other buildings in the area and calculating per sq feet cost I’ll give you 25 Lakhs for the building.” The gentlemen was shocked and happily agreed, he was only hoping for 20-22 Lakhs. “While the costs on this building is going to be more, I’m not deducting anything and am giving you more than asking price because I understand that at your age selling such an old building could only mean that you have some personal problem. If my buying the building at a few more lakhs could help with that it would make me very happy. If you’d like I can have my attorney draft the sales agreement and have it signed and completed tomorrow. Happy with his offer the older gentlemen was speechless, all he could do was smile with tears in his eyes and fold his hands. Sameer put the older gentlemen’s folded hands down and left after a quick goodbye.
Walking through the small hallway, Sameer took out his phone to call his attorney when suddenly someone bumped into him from behind. The impact caused Sameer to drop his phone and as he looked up for a second he could see a girl visibly upset running away from the event inside. Her face was distraught with tears slowly spilling from her eyes. She was in a zone of her own not realizing she had just bumped into someone and quickly ran outside. While always focused the abrupt meeting had frozen Sameer for a second, he didnt know if it was her big round eyes that despite having tears shined or if it was her slim beautiful face that despite the furrowed brows looked beautiful. Sameer for the first time had seen a girl and wanted to look twice. He quickly grabbed the remnants of his phone and walked outside to see if she was okay. She was clearly troubled and he wanted to see if he could help her. Turning the corner he stopped in his tracks as he saw her sitting on the road holding onto the small wall next to her crying her heart out. Sameer couldn’t see her but seeing her back shake told him she was finally letting her tears out. His car was parked just a few steps away from her, he quickly walked to his car and grabbed the box of tissues and a bottle of water. Turning around he was going to give it to her but stopped. Sameer stood and looked at the girl, she was wearing a blue saree and had some of her hair up in a 90’s style of some sorts, her big eyes were closed shut as she cried, and her face streaked with tears. Sameer could feel his heart ting, he didnt know what it was but figured it was probably because he was seeing a girl cry. It must be empathy he thought, Sameer was a practical, mature man, not some lovestruck college boy who would fall in love at first site with anyone, but the site of seeing a girl cry still made him feel bad. As he was lost in his mind, Sameer caught a glance at the red bangles in her hands and he felt another quick jab, she was married he thought. He slightly bent his head sideways trying to see and could see a glint of jewelry when she brought her head up, mangalsutra, she was definitely married. Sameer, slightly dejected for reasons unknown to himself, looked around and wondered where her husband was, while he never got mad easily Sameer could feel slight anger building up for this girl’s husband, what kind of a pathetic man leaves his wife alone in the middle of the night while she’s crying her heart out. Sameer shook his head trying to get out of his head. He wanted to do something for her but what was he going to say, he knew if she was crying this bad whatever the matter was had to be big. He decided to not intervene and walking around her simply placed the tissues and bottle of water behind her in case she needs them. She wasn’t in a position to do anything herself and clearly didn’t have any loved ones here with her and so he wouldn’t leave her alone. Sameer looked around and walked to a young couple about to enter the building and asked to borrow their phone for a second, they obliged and he called a taxi. He stood waiting behind her as she continued to cry and began to unpin her hair, she started to grab the pins and threw them on the floor next to her. Sameer saw the taxi drive up to the front of the building and walked to the driver. Sameer paid the driver an handsome amount and said “I called this taxi for a women in a blue saree” Sameer stood in front of the window so the driver couldn’t see the girl, he didn’t want the driver to see her like this. “She’ll be here shortly, drop her where she says and don’t bother her with any other questions, my car is right there behind you” he said nodding to the red SUV “I’ll shine my headlights when she’s in the cab and will follow right behind you till she’s home. Again this cab is only for her, if someone else tries to ask for a ride you say no, understood” he asked firmly? Seeing Sameer’s serious look the driver didn’t argue and backed the car to the side of the road waiting for the girl in a blue saree. Sameer stood outside his car as he saw the girl slowly get up and turn around to see the box of tissues and water he had kept for her. She looked around but didnt see Sameer standing across the road, slowly she used the tissues and water to wipe her tears and began walking outside. Seeing her walk outside the building, he quickly got in his car and waited for her to get into the taxi. As he had expected there was no other taxi around and the girl asked the taxi he had called for a ride home. As soon as she sat in the taxi, Sameer shined his headlights, signaling to the driver to begin driving. Sameer decided to follow the taxi to make sure the girl was home safe, after some time he saw them stop outside some house and slowly pulled his car up further as the taxi left, the girl opened the door of the house and walked inside, as the door closed Sameer started his car again, driving away into the night.
As he drove the girls tears streaked face kept troubling Sameer. Sameer was a man of his words and a man of time. There were two things he never compromised with, a promise he had made and his time. While he would do anything for his loved ones but other than that, his time was meant for his family and work only, he had never waited like this for someone or wasted his time like this. He felt stupid imagining himself standing uselessly as he waited for the girl to get herself together. But it was necessary as well he thought, she was alone and heartbroken, leaving her by herself in such a situation would’ve been wrong and so he decided to stop thinking about her and leave her and what happened in the past. Mumbling to god to take care of her, Sameer pushed on the accelerator and drove away until his car’s rear lights slowly blended in with the stars of the sky.