Slapping and closure

His head was pounding, his body aching, his senses slow in responding. He had a very bad hangover and all he could think of at that moment was about his cell phone. But his body did not want to move. He was still wondering how he got back home and guessed it would have been hunter but again was not sure as to how hunter himself managed to get back home. With a steely resolve he overcame the resistance not to move and set out on his quest to find his cell phone. To his luck it was beeping so it was not that difficult to locate. He checked it to find 25 unread messages and 27 missed calls. Not second guessing who would have sent them he opened his message inbox to find Aura and Hunter having sent him messages. He ignored Hunter this time and wanted to see how badly Aura was pissed off with him. He decided to start from the bottom to see how it all developed over night so to scrolled to the first unread message and read in that order. They read:

1) Get Lost
2) Get lost - dont talk to me anymore
3) ?
4) ??
5) Where the hell are you?
6) Why are you not answering my calls?
7) ?
8) ??
9) #"??##
10) :(
11) I called you 5 times already
12) Been 3 hrs and no call or message
13) Are you alive?
14) Get lost
15) Now even if you call me I wont respond
16) ?
17) ??
18) Rituuuuuu
19) Idiot.....
20) 10 calls now and no response
21) 24 calls now
23) Pls call back immediately - I am worried now.

2 messages were from Hunter. He ignored them.

He could not help but smile. All the anger and disappointment she initially had, had finally turned into concern. He dialed her number and wanted to hear her reaction. This time she did not pick up. He tried again but same result. Before he could try again, someone rang his door bell. He opened the door to find Aura there. Her eyes were red suggesting that either she cried a lot or lacked sleep. She looked tired too so he figured it could have been the lack of sleep though he could not be certain. As he was trying to figure out he felt a tight slap right across his cheek. It was so hard that he got knocked back into his senses. Hangover did not seem to exist that very moment, but his head started pounding even more. And before he could say something one more slap on the other cheek. This one was harder. May be he was wrong about her being tired - such vigor in slapping was something he could not have imagined.

"You idiot, I was concerned about you. Could not sleep the whole night. You could have sent one message at least" is all that Aura said, and turned and walked away. Though the thought of stopping her and apologizing seemed tempting he thought better not to. He wanted his hangover to recede, regain his senses and then do what needs to be done.

It took him about 4 hours and a lot of struggle to get back to normalcy. He did not return to complete normalcy but a workable state wherein he could think straight. After taking a shower and getting ready he headed for Aura's place. He ordered a cab as he was in no mood to drive and public transport was a pain. Drive and hangover do not go well together, it makes you all the more queasy. He did not have time or patience to self-sympathize though. It took about 30 minutes to reach her place but in reality it seemed a lot longer but finally he was at her place.

He rang the bell and Aura took a good minute or so to open the door. She opened the door, saw him and shut it on his face. He tried the second time, and same result. Third time and before she slammed the door he pushed against it and said "Aura, please let me in so that we can talk. I beg of you". She stepped aside to let him in and then shut the door.

She was still staring at him angrily as he seated himself on the couch. He asked her to sit near him. She went closer but did not sit. She had her hands folded but the angry stare was constant. It was as if some elder was pissed off with a mischief done by a kid, but he could not say it out loud, matters were worse already. He started explaining how he thought he had his cell phone in his pocket but did not realize that he had dropped it in Hunters car. Because it was not beeping he did not bother checking as he thought Aura did not want to respond. And then he told her how a couple of drinks turned into a a lot more and how his day began today.

Aura was listening all the while, he noticed that she hadnt spoken a single word since he came. He then started apologizing but her expression of anger did not change. He kept saying sorry but she did not respond. Finally he got up from the couch, went a little closer to her and said sorry and asked her to speak or shout at him. She did not. Then he started pleading but nothing changed. Finally after about 15 minutes of pleading the only change he saw was that she shook her head as if say to no. He saw that as a positive signal and started pleading even more. Now the head shake became a little more frenetic. He moved a little closer, the pleading continued and so did the head shake. He asked her to speak, she would not and just shake her head even more. He was not sure what madness got hold of him, but he put his hand around her waist, drew her closer and planted his lips on hers. That was the first time her lips parted. They remained that way for about 30 seconds or more, he could not tell, but he liked every bit of it. She seemed to gain senses and realize what happened and pushed him away and slapped him - once, twice,thrice and before she could the fourth time he caught her hand drew her close again and this time hugged her tight. She was still in rebellion but after a few seconds gave in and hugged him too. He whispered into her ear this time and told her how sorry he was but did not hear anything back, instead could feel droplets of tears on his shoulders. For some reason he could not tell he began to cry too........

Hunter is back!!

He was ready to step out  of the house when the phone rang. He did not even bother to see who was calling. He answered "Aura, I am just stepping out. Please be patient na"  He got startled to hear a male voice at the other end "Dude, is that the only person who calls you?"
"Hunter saale, where are you?"
"Perth, where else."
"When did you get back? Why did you not tell me that you have come?"
"I wanted to surprise you, but guess you have other plans"
"Enough saale, tell me when are we meeting?"
"Could be now, I am just outside your place. But looks like you have much more important meetings with much more important people"
"Stop pulling my leg now. Its been long, more than three months. Lets meet now and go for lunch"
"I don't want to ruin your plans, you have your priorities"
"Dont worry, I ll manage. Right now you are my priority."
"Ok then, come out. I am just outside. Lets kill it today"
"Alright, in a second"

Hunter had to go to Singapore for a project for 3 months and things had changed a lot during this period. The biggest of course was that Ritvesh met Aura. Hunter was worried as to how Ritvesh would survive. He made him promise that he would work on this drinking issues, which he conveniently ignored. He was lifeless back then, and how things turned around. Hunter knew that Ritvesh was much happier but he could not gauge the extent to which he was.

Ritvesh, meanwhile was trying to call Aura and give her the disappointing news but she would not pick up. He tried thrice but to no avail. It was bothering him that she did not answer but he had not choice than to meet Hunter now. He saw Hunter waiting for him outside. He tried one last time to reach Aura but she would not pick up. Both buddies decided to go for a lunch and a few drinks thereafter.

As soon as Ritvesh got into the car, his phone started buzzing. He got a text from Aura apologizing for not having answered his calls and asking if anything urgent and also if he was on his way. He was unsure as to how to respond to that. Whichever way he tried to put it, Aura would be angry, sad, frustrated and disappointed: all at once. She was not a typical girl who would cry. But you never know with girls, they are like weather - you can forecast all you want about rains, but more often than not you are wrong. Hunter saw him turn pensive and asked him if everything was fine. Of course Ritvesh would not say anything. He just nodded and started replying to Aura that he wont be able to make it as he had a surprise visit and the rest of message filled with "Sorrys" sent it and then started waiting for the response. For the next few minutes he received nothing which made him all the more worried. He quickly realized that he is going to make two people very unhappy - Aura by not being with her and Hunter by being with him only physically. He kicked himself for having gotten into such a situation and decided to fix at least one. He put his phone away and started chatting with Hunter about his Singapore trip.

Hunter being Hunter had a great time in Singapore. He shared his fun moments with Ritvesh and there were many of them. Ritvesh too got into the flow and forgot all about his mobile and Aura. After lunch they decided to go for a couple of beers. Couple turned to 5 which soon turned to a lot more, Ritvesh lost count after 6....