Chapter 2
'Don't worry. Let's try. This is gonna be fun!' said Abhijeet excitedly.
'Abhijeet this is not funny', said Daya angrily.
'Okay. Okay. Sorry' said Abhijeet smiling.
'It could be youdontlovemeanymore or dontforgettogetthegrocery' said Daya.
'Nope. That's too lame. Try this Ihateyoudaya or even better dayayouareanass or fuckoffdaya'
said Abhijeet sniggering.
'Shut up' said Daya through gritted teeth. Nevertheless, he tried those. Still he continued getting 'INCORRECT PASSWORD' error.
After half an hour ACP Pradyuman walked into the CID bureau.
'Daya are you done? Shall we call it a day?' asked ACP Pradyuman.
Abhijeet had to stuff his fist in the mouth to stop himself from laughing.
Daya kicked him hard under the table.
'S - sir actually there is a problem' he said stammering.
'What problem?' asked ACP Pradyuman.
'Sir I f - forgot the password of my laptop. And without password it won't start up' said Daya.
ACP Pradyuman's eyes went as wide as saucers.
'What? How can you forget your password? How can you be so irresponsible?' he asked angrily.
'Sir I am trying' said Daya not meeting his eye.
'Trying?! Exactly how much more time are you going to require? And Abhijeet why are you smirking?' asked ACP Pradyuman irritably.
'No sir I am not! Sir we will do it. We are quite close. Just give us few more minutes' said Abhijeet hastily.
For the next half an hour, they kept trying out stupid passwords hoping one of them would work. Daya even tried putting names of grocery items which Shreya had listed on the note.
And to add to that, they had to endure ACP Pradyuman's angry glares and impatient 'tut's.
Now ACP Pradyuman had had enough. He slammed his fist on the table in anger.
'I don't believe this! Two senior officers can't crack a simple password! Ridiculous! Daya I had expected better of you! The thing that you can't guess the password of your own laptop is unbelievable!' he said.
'Sir please we are close -' said Abhijeet but ACP Pradyuman's angry voice drowned his words.
'No! I will not tolerate this nonsense for another minute! Do you realise you are costing me precious minutes here? Do you have a backup of this? Or have you made a copy?' asked ACP Pradyuman.
'Sir I don't think so' said Daya in a low voice.
'Daya -' ACP Pradyuman began angrily.
'Sir I have a better idea. Shreya might know the password. But right now her cell phone is out of reach. So I think we all should leave now. Once Daya gets the password, he will be able to email you the files by night' said Abhijeet calmly.
ACP Pradyuman thought for a moment and then said, 'Yeah I guess that will be fine with me'
'Thank you sir' said Daya gratefully.
'It's okay Daya it happens. Let's get going. I have to attend a party in the evening' said ACP Pradyuman merrily and walked out of the bureau.
Daya kept staring open mouthed at him.
'What?' Abhijeet asked with a confused look.
'What kind of a person is he? After making us work like donkeys throughout the afternoon, all he says is it happens? What was the point of wasting half an hour here?' asked Daya.
'Calm down Daya' said Abhijeet slapping him on the back.
'This is all Shreya's fault! Let her come back home! I am never going to forgive her for what she did today!' said Daya seething in anger.
'Daya I think this is a bad idea! It would lead to fights and serve nothing. Instead I would suggest you do something that will subdue her anger' said Abhijeet.
'Like what?' asked Daya.
'Like buying the grocery and cleaning the house?' suggested Abhijeet.
'What?! You are siding with her! I hope you haven't forgotten that you are my friend before her!' said Daya.
'I am not taking her side. And I haven't forgotten anything. It's a suggestion for your own good. No use stretching the silly argument for this long' said Abhijeet.
'Okay fine' agreed Daya quite half heartedly.
O-o-o-o
It was raining quite heavily and Daya could barely see two feet in front of him.
He then stopped at the supermarket and got cereal, veggies and some other stuff which Shreya had listed in the grocery shopping list.
When he reached home, he placed the shopping bags on the kitchen counter. He unwrapped the energy bar and placed it into his mouth.
He looked around the house. It indeed looked like a pig sty. He decided he would tidy it a bit.
He crunched the energy bar wrapper in his hand. Normally he would have shoved it into his jeans pocket but today he headed straight towards the trashcan. He picked up the books, newspapers and magazines strewn across the floor and placed them neatly on the shelf. He put the grocery and the veggies in their right place. He made the bed and neatly placed the cushions on it, occasionally eliminating the unnecessary trash.
After an hour of rearranging and putting things back to where they belonged, the house looked a bit cleaner and tidier. He looked around the house and let out a low whistle. He was feeling quite satisfied with his work.
He ordered some Pizza for dinner as he sat flicking through random TV channels.
He saw a pile of freshly washed clothes lying around. He turned on the radio which blasted out his favourite music. Daya liked ironing clothes. It had been his favourite pastime. True it was a very housewife - ey thing to do but he couldn't help it.
He noticed that Shreya had washed her new dress which he had gifted her on their anniversary. He began ironing it. But half way through his ironing process he was plunged into total darkness.
'Bloody power cuts!' Daya muttered.
Without turning off the electric iron, Daya went back to the living room leaving his ironing half finished.
The rain continued hammering outside.
He saw that the clock had struck 10 pm. He tried calling Shreya but her cell phone was out of reach. He was starting to get a little worried now. It was pretty late. Anger rose inside him once again. What the hell was she thinking? There was no need to make such a fuss about it.
He sat in the chair, his eyes closed, in the flickering light of the candle. He decided he would wait some more time for her to arrive.
A few minutes later he heard the lock turn and much to his relief Shreya stepped into the house, the keys jangling from her hand.
She was slightly drenched and out of breath.
'Daya I -' she spoke at once but seeing the angry look on Daya's face, she fell silent.
'Where the hell were you?' he shouted.
'I was -' she spoke but once again Daya silenced her.
'Now don't tell me that you are a CID officer and that you can take care of yourself. I was so worried for you! It's raining outside. Your cell phone is out of coverage! How do I know whether you are safe or not? You are so stubborn you know! Was there any need to make such a big fuss about the stupid argument?' Daya yelled.
Shreya opened her mouth to speak but Daya shouted once again, 'No! I am not done yet! And you will not speak till I am finished! Did you even check your cell phone? I called you almost hundred times. You didn't bother to answer or call back! You didn't even answer Abhijeet's calls! What if I had to give you some urgent message? What if there was some emergency?'
Shreya felt extremely guilty and she couldn't stop tears striding down her cheeks.
She couldn't bear it anymore. A moment later she was hugging him tightly crying her heart out into his chest.
'Daya I am sorry! Let me explain please! I wanted to talk to you since afternoon. But then I was stuck in rain and my mobile got drenched and I couldn't switch it on...' she said sobbing.
He snaked a single arm around her waist and hugged her back.
'Where were you?' he asked in a soft voice.
'I was with Aisha' said Shreya.
'What? Next door?' asked Daya shocked.
'No! No! We went shopping and then after lunch we went to her farmhouse. It's not too far. In all the hurry Aisha forgot her phone at home. I saw your missed calls at around 1 pm when we were having lunch. But that time I was really angry with you. Later I realised I was being stupid and there might be some emergency. I had left my phone near the window and it got wet in the rain and then it stopped functioning completely. Believe me this is exactly what happened' said Shreya breathlessly.
'I know Shreya. So how did you manage to come here? It's raining cats and dogs!' said Daya.
'I was getting impatient. Initially Aisha and I had planned staying at the farmhouse tonight. But I couldn't! I couldn't stay there without talking to you tonight! So I made up some story that I had to go for work urgently. I hailed a cab and came here right away.' she said.
'Good you came. I was missing you already' said Daya.
'I am sorry. I really am.' said Shreya.
'No. I am sorry for yelling at you. I didn't mean a word of what I said.' said Daya.
'Let's just forget all about it now' said Shreya.
'You know this Sunday has turned out to be really amazing' said Daya pulling her close.
She smiled.
'Oh wow' said Shreya scanning the room in shock.
Daya smiled watching her expressions.
'So? What do you think?' he asked eyeing her.
'Oh my god! I don't believe this!' Shreya exclaimed as she scanned the living room and walked into the kitchen to find the grocery stocked up neatly and everything else in its proper place.
'I really love you for this!' said Shreya happily.
'My pleasure love. Now why don't you freshen up a bit? Till then I will brew us some strong coffee!' said Daya.
'I was planning to take a warm shower! Urgh! I hate power cuts!' she muttered.
Few minutes later the house was filled with strong aroma of Brazilian coffee.
Daya went back to their bedroom carrying two mugs of coffee. Shreya had already lit the candles. The flickering flames danced along with the wind casting shadows all around them.
'Why were you calling me in the afternoon?' she asked.
'Ah! That's another story!' said Daya sighing.
'For the first time, I couldn't crack our laptop password!' said Daya.
'What?' asked Shreya laughing hard.
'No wait! The worst is yet to come! While I and Abhijeet were trying to work out the password, ACP sir was attacking us with his annoying looks. It almost felt like a dragon breathing fire down our necks' he said.
Shreya burst into a fit of giggles.
'I swear I had never felt stupider in my entire life!' said Daya.
As Shreya scanned their room, she saw the dirty laundry beside the table, still untouched.
Daya saw her eying the dirty laundry and said looking aghast, 'Shreya! Please don't tell me you are going to argue with me because I didn't do the laundry! It wasn't in your list! And look at the other extra things I have done!'
'No. Not at all. You are quite mistaken. I was just thinking no wonder you couldn't guess the password this time' she said still eyeing the dirty laundry.
'What? What do you mean?' asked quite confused.
'You said it just now! That the laundry wasn't mentioned in the list!' said Shreya smiling widely.
'Oh wait! Don't tell me! The password wasn't Iforgotomentionthedirtylaundry, was it?' asked Daya.
'Well done husband!' said Shreya proudly.
'But wife that's cheating!' said Daya accusingly.
'It's not cheating!' said Shreya.
'It is! How am I supposed to know about the laundry?' asked Daya.
'It was lying here since a week! You could have easily guessed it.' said Shreya.
'That's unfair!' said Daya.
'So you lose the game!' said Shreya.
'Excuse me? How is that?' asked Daya.
'You could guess the password after I gave you the hint!' said Shreya.
'Hints are allowed! And you know what? I have known it all along. I was deliberately acting dumb!' said Daya.
'Oh really?' enquired Shreya.
'Yeah. You know what? Now days you don't put any effort into your passwords! They are too easy for me to guess!' said Daya.
'You just wait! Next time you will regret saying this sentence!' said Shreya.
Their playful banter continued for some more time. At about 11 pm, the power was back.
'Now that I know the password, I'll email the files to ACP sir' said Daya.
A minute later he got a call from Abhijeet.
'All good Daya?' asked Abhijeet.
'Oh yes! More than good actually! Al izz wel!' said Daya.
Then he told him all about the happenings of the evening. Shreya emerged from the bathroom ready for bed rubbing the moisturiser along her arms. She saw that Daya was already in bed, propped up against the headboard, talking on Cell phone with Abhijeet.
A moment later she sniffed her nose.
'Can you smell something burning?' she asked.
'Abhijeet can I put you hold for a minute? Yes actually... But what could possibly be burning inside the house?' Daya asked her.
'I don't know. I'll just go and check it out' said Shreya.
'What happened?' asked Abhijeet.
'Nothing. There's a burning smell in the house. Dunno from where it is coming from - Fuck! I think I know!' exclaimed Daya suddenly.
'Where?' asked Abhijeet.
'I was ironing one of Shreya's favourite dresses. There was a power cut and I left it that way and eventually forgot about it. The power came back ten minutes ago! Oh my god! It must have burnt a hole in her dress' said Daya in horror.
'What?! Daya I think you are going to be kicked out of the house soon!' said Abhijeet laughing hard.
At the precise moment, Daya heard a shrill yell from Shreya.
'Uh - oh. I am dead. I'll just call you back' said Daya.
Abhijeet sniggered.
'Sure. No problem buddy. Just tell me one thing what's the new password gonna be now?' he asked.
'YouraredeaddayaandnowIamgonnaburnyourarse maybe?' said Daya and both of them burst out laughing.
*** THE END ***