The Old Bullmastiff (Ch-4)

 What he entered was an average-looking 1BHk flat on a silent street. He was warmly welcomed by an oldish-looking fellow who looked thirsty but continued to wag his tail. “Yeh my boy, I am back. Did you have anything yet?” He asked, checking his bowl, which was clean as new. It seemed that his friend really enjoyed his lunch.

As he entered, he saw a photo lying on his desk. Thick black hair with capturing eyes. Anyone who saw him looking at the photo could have noticed the look of sadness and affection. But this looked like a daily routine as he quickly got back to his chores, and went to take a bath. Having said that, his face still had that look as if something important was missing from his life. He came back, changed and sat on the couch after making some tea. He has had a long day, thought the untouched cup of tea, as he slept peacefully on the couch. 

The next day he woke up to the pleasant smell of green tea with honey and lemon. “Oh, you are up! I made you some tea as you slept last night complaining about a headache. This should make you feel better.” She had been a good host to him, for obvious reasons. “Ah, thank you. Sorry, I have been a terrible guest, troubling you so much.” “It is totally fine. By the way, how is your work going these days? I heard your last story came to be quite popular.”

“You have been following?” He responded, more excited than surprised. “It was just average, to be honest. Working on a new one these days. Can’t share many details but it is about an average engineer living with his dog, stressed about work and life. Let’s see where it goes. I am as well looking forward to it”

“So your interest towards engineering never dropped.”

“Never easy to forget what you once loved.”

This was followed by a brief silence. This time it wasn’t awkward. “Oh, she was sitting beside you the whole night, she seems to like you a lot.” She spoke as the cat sat next to him. The silence was finally broken. Looks like the cat was paid heavily by the author to have the story running. “She is such a good girl. For the first time, I have seen a cat like me so much. How about you though?” 

“How’s your work going?” He followed quickly as if trying to avoid any confusion. 

“Oh yeah, that, that’s fine. I have decreased my working hours and stopped working on weekends to focus on my health and well-being.” “I see. Being a psychiatrist is never easy as one would wonder. You might have to deal with a lot every day. Good that you are finally taking time out for yourself.” “It is not that bad, at least usually, but quite recently we got a difficult yet very interesting case. Anyways, we’ve met after such a long time, let’s leave work-related stuff aside and discuss something else.”

“True that. Do you still dance by the way? You were such a fabulous dancer back in school. Your dance surely made a lot of guys dance to your tunes in those days”

“Stop dramatizing it, I was almost no good. I still practice, at times, but it is difficult to find time these days. It is more like something that I do just to keep connected to me now.”

“Aah! It’s 8:00 again, I just hate it now!”