The awakward silence had stretched long enough that a normal person would have apologized and left, but Radhika was far from normal now, so she sat down across from him.
He looked at the seat she had taken then at her, then briefly at the exit, like he was making a decision.
"You don't have to say anything," she said helpfully. "I'm just going to sit here for a second. There's a man at that table over there who just handed me a printed contract for my own life and I need thirty seconds of not looking at his face."
Arjun said nothing, this was because he had a couple of things he wanted to say and none of them had made it to his mouth yet.
But Radhika took his silence as a deeply compassionate response.
"Exactly," She said as she rested her chin on her hand and looked at him properly. Up close he was even better to look at and the presence around him was just magnetic.
"Bad day?" she asked.
"...Somewhat," Arjun said after a pause that lasted slightly too long.
"Me too." She nodded. "Are those yours?" She pointed at the two untouched glasses of milk.
He looked at them. "One of them."
"Who's the other one for?"
"Nandini," he said in a quiet tone as melancholic look took over his visage.
Radhika's expression softened immediately. "Oh...She's not coming, is she." Radhika said in a soft tone as it wasn't exactly a question... but more like a quite observation.
"No" Arjun said. "She passed."
"I'm so sorry." Radhika's eyes widened as she apologised her whole demeanor shifting to a caring one. "How long were you together?"
Arjun stared at her...A bit too long... "...3 years."
Radhika pressed her hand briefly to her chest. "3 years.....And you're still ordering her a glass of milk."
"She liked—" he started, then stopped. Something in her expression had made continuing feel complicated.
"That's honestly the most romantic and heartbreaking thing I've ever seen in person," Radhika said with complete sincerity.
Arjun opened his mouth then closed it. He had an explanation ready but looking at her face he wasn't sure how to begin it without making things significantly more awkward.
"So," Radhika said and she was looking at him with a kind of warm, sudden determination. The kind that meant she had arrived at a decision. "You're not seeing anyone right ?"
"I—no."
"And you just said you'd thought about getting married."
"I said once or—"
"And you live in Mumbai."
"Yes, but—"
"Great." She stood up, smoothing her saree with both hands and she extended one hand to him. "Come with me. This will take five minutes."
Arjun looked at her hand. "What will?"
"I'll explain on the way." She tilted her head toward Kundan's table. "I just need you to stand next to me and look exactly like you currently look."
He glanced across the café at the man in the expensive suit, then back at her.
"I don't—"
"I know~ " Radhika said warmly. "But I do so come on~ "
Later, Arjun would not be able to adequately explain why he stood up and followed this strange woman who had suddenly barged into his life...
...
Kundan heard them before he looked up.
The café was doing that thing again, that collective recalibration of attention and this time he looked up, because the last time it happened it had been her, and he assumed she'd come back with her answer ready.
And it was her as he had expected...but she wasn't alone.
Kundan's eyes moved from Radhika to the man standing behind her left shoulder.
And the man in question wasn't doing anything and was just standing there, one hand loose at his side, looking around the café with an unhurried expression.
This rubbed Kundan the wrong way as even he couldn't name the exact cause of the irritation he was feeling as he even sat up slightly straighter without meaning to.
"This is Arjun," Radhika said, setting her clutch on the table as she introduced him to Kundan with a bright smile. "We're together~"
Kundan looked at Arjun and Arjun looked at Radhika.
"Since—" Kundan said with a smirk "approximately twenty minutes ago when you walked in alone?"
"We don't like making things public," Radhika said without hesitation as she hugged Arjun's arm intimately which made Kundan's jaw clench unconciously.
Kundan set his tablet down on the table and used a look he was used to using on Board members or business partners, a look that reminded them of exactly where they stood and now he was using it on Arjun.
Arjun who felt his gaze looked at him and held his gaze for a while before turning his gaze to the table in disinterest.
Kundan felt his eyelids twitch a bit in irritation as his hand clenched under the table.
"I see," Kundan said in a calm tone but one could sense the undercurrent of his turbulent emotions. He folded the contract and slid it into his jacket. "Well. That simplifies things. I'll let your father know—" He was unable to finish his words as Radhika cut him off.
"I'd like to keep my father out of this." Radhika said with a bright smile that didn't reach her eyes...
.....