Candid Flirtations

One fine evening, Abhijeet tiptoed inside the forensic lab. He was happy to find Tarika working alone. Dr. Salunkhe was nowhere to be seen.

Abhijeet crept up noiselessly behind her and whispered in her ear, 'TARIKAAAA!'

Tarika jumped. She didn't want to but she did. He had been successful in scaring her.

'GOTCHA! You are too easy to scare Tarika!' said Abhijeet laughing.

Tarika rolled her eyes. She hoped he wouldn't hear the thudding of her heart.

'Oh no! You didn't scare me at all Abhijeet! I knew you were standing right behind me' she said pretending to be bored.

'Oh really?! That's an outright lie Tarika! Why did you jump then? And besides that, I saw your scared face!' said Abhijeet sniggering.

'I wasn't scared Abhijeet!' said Tarika.

'So what's your plan for Valentine's day tomorrow?' he asked.

Before Tarika could reply, the lights flickered and were eventually extinguished. They were plunged into total darkness.

'Oh no! Not now! I hate power cuts! I was working on a very important clue' she groaned.

There was no reply from Abhijeet. The forensic lab appeared eerily dark and silent.

'Abhijeet?' Tarika called out.

Again she was met by a stony silence.

'Abhijeet this is not funny!' she said in a high pitched voice.

There was no sign of movement or reply from Abhijeet.

'Not scared of ghosts, are you?' came a voice right next to her.

Tarika shrieked loudly.

Abhijeet let out a snort of laughter.

'My god! That was too good! I knew power cuts freak you out!' he said guffawing.

'Abhijeet! I am going to murder you! Just wait! I will get back to you!' she said angrily.

'Oh I just love blackouts! Because that is when candles come in handy. They help you bond over those romantic candlelight dinners. So how about having one with me on Valentine's day?' he asked.

'What?! You flirt!' said Tarika flushing.

'Flirt and me? Never!' said Abhijeet.

'Oh don't be ridiculous! You just asked me out for a dinner date!' said Tarika.

'Well that's not called flirting' said Abhijeet.

'It is Abhijeet!' spoke a voice in his ear.

Now it was Abhijeet's turn to get scared.

'Kaun hai?' Abhijeet called out in alarm.

A strike of a matchstick and Dr Salunkhe came into view. He was holding a candle.

The look on his face startled Abhijeet. It felt as if he was spying on both of them in the darkness.

The crazy, eccentric forensic doctor had certainly freaked Abhijeet out.

Tarika's eyes were swimming with tears of laughter.

'Rather than ghosts, crazy people are scarier!' he muttered under his breath.

'What? What did you just say?' asked Dr Salunkhe.

'Ah! Nothing at all sir' said Abhijeet smiling.

'You were definitely flirting with her right now! And since when did you start getting scared of dark?' asked Dr Salunkhe.

'I am not frightened of the dark sir! It's just that I wasn't expecting you right now in the forensic lab! So it came as a shock that's all!' said Abhijeet.

'Oh really?' asked Dr Salunkhe.

'Yes. And about me flirting with Tarika which you mentioned, well, I was alone in this darkened room with a beautiful, intelligent girl who is single. You can't blame me for trying!' said Abhijeet.

'Oh I see' said Dr Salunkhe.

The room was suddenly illuminated as the power came back.

Abhijeet looked over at Tarika who smiled at him and made a deep eye contact.

'Ahem! The electricity is back Abhijeet! So should we get back to work? Or do you feel you need to impress Dr Tarika a bit more?' asked Dr Salunkhe.

'Well I think Tarika would be able to answer that question better than me. Well, are you impressed with me Dr Tarika?' asked Abhijeet in a flirty tone.

She was bending over the table scribbling something with pencil on small square paper like something.

'Well I really need to think a bit more about your offer.' said Tarika giggling.

'Okay! Time for me to go!' said Abhijeet smiling.

As Abhijeet reached towards the door, Tarika called out, 'Abhijeet you left your card here'

He went back and took his business card. He turned it around looking at it confusedly.

Then he spotted it. On the reverse side of the card, Tarika had written in lucid handwriting: Looking forward to that candlelight dinner with you :)

*** THE END ***

A/N - Recycle. Reduce. Review ^_^