Viren was your quintessential Late Lateef.
Late for appointments, late for work, late for everything. Why he was even born two days AFTER the due date given to his mother for her delivery! It was a long-standing joke among friends that Viren would even be late for his own wedding and funeral.
Well, at the wedding he did prove them right, by arriving a full two hours late!
He was welcomed by a bunch of laughing buddies wearing identical ”we-told-you-so” expressions on their faces and his fuming….not blushing, bride Neha, who muttered under her breath “You better have a damn good explanation THIS time!”
The explanation was good enough. He had overslept. On his wedding day. If anyone could do this, it had to be Viren.
Arriving late had become a habit and try as he might he just couldn’t mend it. Sometimes he even secretly prided himself for it. The thrill of arriving after keeping everyone waiting gave him a perverse sort of pleasure.
He did feel guilty about it, yes, but sometimes, just sometimes, he reveled in it too.
Neha’s constant refrain to him was “The day you arrive on time for anything, will be my biggest present” and on their first anniversary, he decided that that was what she would get.
He ordered her favorite flowers, got her the earrings he knew she had been eyeing for some time, and decided he would surprise her. He took a half-day off work and set about collecting all her gifts and headed home.
There was a smile on his face and a spring in his step as he imagined the look of surprise on Neha’s face. He wondered what would shock her more. His ‘timely’ arrival or his extravagant gift.
He reached home and silently slid his key into the lock and as quietly as possible opened the door, to a shocked Neha, intimately embracing an unknown man.
And for once in his life, Viren wished he had been, late.
This post is a part of Blogchatter Half Marathon.
My theme for the same is Navras – The Nine Emotions of Life. I will be writing Fiction for this theme.
This story is written for Adbhut, which means Surprise or Wonder.
Read my story for Karuna here
Read my story for Hasya here
Read my story for Bibhatsa here
I do feel for Viren! What a brilliant write up Mayuri !! Take a bow. The ending was the best! Love this series of yours
Brilliant ending Mayuri. I wonder if Viren will go back to being late for everything after this experience.
Thank you, Leha.
Oops. What an anniversary gift the two of them received. I wonder how being late factored in this. Lack of respect, perhaps?
Ah..that hurts for Viren, wish he was late here too. Great writeup Mayuri and the ending was brilliant.