A (somewhat) Happy/ unhappy love story......first meeting....first date....!

....Part 4...contd....from Aug 14th post

Love recognizes no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at its destination, full of hope. I second that. Because in my case, I crossed international waters.......I mean, literally...to meet the man I was in love with.

When love transcends across borders, you don't need to be in Paris, Venice or Santorini. I guess any place where you can be free to get to know your love interest becomes 'romantically iconic'. Dubai, although my home by birth, suddenly seemed so different ...like I was envisioning it in a different light....almost like a place of foreseeable hope ....love. I mean, is this what being in love feels like?? Being so lost in my thoughts and pondering over my imagination of endless possibilities of my meeting with Mr A, I barely remembered my flight descend at Dubai International airport that afternoon.

When I felt the ground rumble under my feet from the plane's wheels touching the runway, did I realize that I was at my destination. At which moment, I felt my heart skip a thousand beats per minute. The next 45 minutes was an irritated blur-of-sorts. Disembarking, walking through the ramp, racing past people trying to get to the immigration counters sooner, as if I was headed into a 'do-or-die' situation. While I had always enjoyed my casual exploration of the branded stores and Duty-free of the ever exorbitantly luxurious Dubai International Airport, during my frequent travels in the past, if there was one time I hated the long walks from point A to point B at that airport, it was 'that' day! The walk to Immigration and Baggage claim seemed to take FOREVER.

Outside the airport, I saw my dad headed towards me. What a relief. It was the beginning of summer and I had forgotten what Dubai summer heat felt like. 100-degree weather days were the 'norm'. And that day, the weather was about 90-something degrees or so. The drive home was fine. My father barely says much, but even if he did during the car ride home, I don't think I quite heard him. All I could think about was getting home and calling Mr A to let him know I was 'in town'.

Once home, I unpacked and my father hit the showers. Dad reminded me that Lunch was leftover curries he had whipped up. No sweat! Honestly, food was the last thing on my mind. Since my dad was in the shower, I figured that this was my chance to get on the phone and call Mr A. I dialed his number. While usually, I'm not quite good at remembering cellphone numbers offhand, Mr. A's number seemed to be an exception. Surprising myself, I had somehow managed to memorize his number. Anyway, on the second ring, his familiar voice came on the other line ....the very same voice that caused my heart to slip 2 months ago.

"Hello", he said.

I answered "Hiii!"

Two seconds. Silence. Boy, do I love giving good surprises, I thought.

And the next thing that came out of Mr A's mouth made me chuckle in delight.

"Janet?? Where were you? I have been calling and texting. Wait...where are you calling from?" I chuckled more.

"Take a wild guess!!!" I said.

Again, a 2 second silence. ”Wait, are you in Dubai?” he asked, still unsure or rather surprised.

”Yes!!!", I said. "Where else would I be, ya?" I added on.

"Oh...Wow. But I thought....but you were.....when....Never mind!!!", he said.

I laughed and heard his sharp voice transcend to a soft laugh on the other end too.

Before I could even think further, out came the impending question from Mr A, "Soooo, now that you're here, we're meeting today, right?"

I honestly went into silent-shock mode. Because I had just realized, that even though I had always waited for this moment to arrive, I don't think I consciously contemplated, if I was mentally ready for 'that first meeting'. Let alone our 'first date'!!

"Are you sure??" I asked, partially wishing that he had an excuse to put off meeting that day. Talk about my sense of confusion...or was it nervousness?

I added on to say "I know this was a last-minute surprise, but if you have other plans.....".

He cut me off before I could even finish and said confidently, "Oh you don't worry about that. I'll work my schedule around”. I smiled. I guess, more so out of relief, realizing that he was just as excited to meet me, as I was him.

We exchanged a few other pleasantries, before we finally agreed to meet later that evening in Karama, in the park opposite the Lulu grocery store. That was a landmark store in those days in Dubai, so it was hard to miss for most people. He said he would pick me up and we could do dinner, if I was okay with that. I said "Sure."

OMG my first real date!!!!

What do I do?

What do I wear?

What do people do on first dates?

Too many questions. Honestly I had never even given much thought to dating before Mr A. In truth, I was always hyper-aware of romantic love all around me. Couples holding hands as they walked. Friends giddily sharing stories about their boyfriends and partners. My parents, older cousins continuing their decades-long marriage. I've wanted badly what they all had. But now that I'm on the brink of my first real romantic relationship, I suddenly found myself in a realm of a lot of unknowns. I mean how does one navigate through this??

As I got off the phone, twiddling through my already-nervous feelings, another impending issue starting looming in my head, that I had not quite thought about. What do I tell my father??? How do I explain to him about meeting a guy I had barely known for 2 months? Until then, no one...at least no one in my immediate family I knew of, had actually 'dated' anyone or their future partners. Most marriages in my immediate family were a result of a formal arrangement decided by 'the family'. In other words, "arranged". And here I was, breaking through all my family-barriers and rules. Just because I had dared to fall in love with someone I had chosen FIRST, before my family chose 'em. And I had to come up with creative ways and reasons to meet with him over the next 2 months. How was I supposed to do this? Uuuughh....Well, first things, first! Let me get through the first date and then we'll think through the rest, I decided.

I was quite deep in thought about this, and I hadn't realized my father had stepped out of the shower, until I heard him peak over into the living room and ask, "Who was on the phone?".

I instantaneously lied through my teeth, without blinking "Oh! it was Moon." Without thinking, I further lied to my dad saying, "Moon and I are meeting this evening and we'll have dinner together before she leaves for India."

Just so you know, I hate lying to my father AT ALL. I hated it back then, but I could not think of anything else that would cause my sweet ol' father to allow me to stay out late. By the way, 'staying out late' meant 9 pm. Yes. That was my curfew for a 24 yr old.

Not that my father couldn't trust me. But it is Dubai, an Arab city. No matter how liberal Dubai was in comparison to other Gulf regions, it still had its core culture that one is expected to respect, regardless. It is understood by default, that young women are expected to be cautious and avoid being alone after nightfall. At the end of the day, since my dad was still a Dubai Resident back then and that too, a known respectable personality in our local Malayalee-Catholic community, he was ultimately responsible for me. And I was well aware of that. And I had no intention of breaking that trust. And I hope to my Lord, that I have NOT broken that trust, till date.

(By the way, for readers, Moon is my bestie.

@ Moon - if you're reading this, NOW you know that you were obvious bait in this matter, although you were a million miles away at school in the US...hahaha).

I quickly washed up. We had lunch. My dad reminded me that my internship was to start in two days, so if I needed to get my documents in order for my first day, I needed to do so. I agreed. I watched TV for awhile that afternoon, while my dad took his afternoon nap. And when 4 pm came around, I started to dress up, so that I could hitch a ride with my father to his office. I figured I'd stop by his office to meet some of his employees who have known me since I was a kid and watched me grow up over the years. It would be a nice gesture to just say Hello, I thought.

After rummaging through my outfits endlessly, I settled for an Indo-Western fusion outfit i.e long cotton light- pink tunic and black palazzo pants. If I felt anything needed work about myself back then, it was my choice of outfits. I don't know what I was thinking, but being caught up on the imaginary road of Mr A's and my impending meeting, I had not planned my outfits for this trip at all.

What a bummer. Rather what an idiot, I thought of myself.

Anyway, I figured the pink-and-black combination looked nice. This will have to do for now. Plus, I was comfortable in it.

I quickly dabbed on some bare minimum make up and headed out the door with my dad. As I was walking to the car, my dad handed me a mobile sim card for my cell-phone, to use during my short time in Dubai. And of course to stay connected. Perfect! There was only one person I could think of to share this number with and I was about to meet him in 2 hours.

In truth, I had forgotten that I had left my mom & my brother, let alone, my friends and college buddies back in India. They were probably expecting me to keep in touch, but I honestly looked forward to not being connected with them at all, while I was in Dubai. I know, it sounds selfish!! After all, their curiosity & drama is what got me this far....hahaha. Not that I wasn't thankful for all the drama that they steered or that I didn't care enough about them, but this is Mr A's and my time. And I really wanted to spend every waking moment, I possibly could, with him.

The car ride to my father's office was a quick 5 minutes, since it was in Karama itself. I went up to the office and met with with everyone I knew. It was nice to see all the folks who've watched me grow up over the years and now to see me after a 4-year gap and vice-versa, was some sort of nostalgia, I guess. I said my 'Hellos', exchanged small conversations with most of them.

But then, right there...the butterflies were back!.Woah!!

I had to take deep breaths. I could feel my heart pounding in my chest. The closer the time got to 6 pm, the butterflies in the pit of my belly compounded. Stay calm, Janet. I kept telling myself.

When the clock on my wrist-watch hit 5:50 pm, I quickly said 'Bye' to my dad and raced to the park where Mr A and I had agreed to meet. The park was opposite to my father's office building, on the inverse side. But I wasn't worried about being seen by anyone. Honestly, it was the last thing on my mind.

I looked down at my watch. 5:55 pm....

I waited at a park bench.

Nervous.

Twiddling my fingers, feeling the pinch at my lower lip as I bit on it ever so slightly.

I texted Mr A earlier, sharing my number with him. So that he knew how to reach me.

5:57 pm. Still waiting.

Mr A texted to let me know he was 3 min away. I texted back saying 'Okay'.

Within 30 seconds, I felt the familiar vibration from my phone buzzing....Mr A was calling.... Uh oh, I thought. I hope everything is okay.

As I answered, he said he wanted to check on which side of the park I was at, so that he would know where to pull into. I gave him directions and he said he was 1 minute away. I said "Great", nervously. I knew which direction he would be pulling in from. I was in clear vicinity of anyone who would be passing by or pulling into the park. And for every car that passed by, I kept wondering if that was it. Until....

A light champagne-colored Toyota car pulled into the parking lot. I felt my phone vibrating again in a split second after that. It was a text from Mr A asking, "Is that you, on the park bench?" I said, nervously, "Yes!"

Might I remind you, that by this time, I had stopped caring enough to wonder what Mr A looked like. Pictures...mmm... kinda gives you an idea, but most times, as they say, pictures can be deceiving too, especially if you have not physically met the person at all. Mr A and I had shared quite a few pictures by then, but I couldn't quite visualize what Mr A looked like, overall. If I had to be honest with myself, I didn't care anymore. In fact, I never quite gave much thought to a guys' looks, as long as he's a decent guy. Rather, I found myself thinking that, had Mr A turned out to be stout, short, 5 '5 inch guy, I would have still accepted him in a heartbeat. Because my heart was no longer mine alone. It was honestly mind-boggling how my mind was racing through these thoughts in those last few seconds.

Time froze for a second when I looked up. Because the person that walked out of that car at that moment, was far from my imagination.

Tall. Dark. Handsome

Trust me, whenever my fellow girlfriends had one of our gossip seshs' and the topic was on 'Men', they always made it sound like the ideal man had to fit, somewhat, somewhere within the T-D-H description. I honestly NEVER knew what that meant in my 24 year life-span. Until that moment... when Mr A walked out of his car.

Because if I had to guess as much, this guy fit the bill, perfectly. Not that I asked for the add-on package of Tall-Dark-Handsome in my prayers. But hey, if this is what I'm getting, heck ya, I'll take it.

To be more specific, walking towards me was a 6 '2 inch Tall, extremely good looking, crew-cut hairstyle, good physique, but not overly-macho-kind-of gentleman.

He was a bit chubby-faced, but it fit him perfectly with the die-hard smile that he had just flashed on. And he was wearing a peach-ish T-shirt, dark jeans (reasonably snug at all the right spots) and dark shades to cover his eyes from the late afternoon sun.

I found myself gawking at him, before we slowly walked towards the other and finally stood within few inches away from each other. He removed his shades.

For a few seconds, we found ourselves just smiling and staring at each other. I noticed his eyes instantaneously and they were deep, just like in the picture I had seen of him, that first day on my computer.

A few moments passed. He said, "Hi."

I said, "Hi' and we exchanged handshakes. Smiling at each other. Cheek-to-cheek.

I don't think either of us were sure at that moment, if we wanted to close the distance and jump right into giving each other a hug. Later I was to find out that we both wanted to, but neither of us wanted to ruin the 'moment'.

We talked for a few more seconds, before he asked, "Ready?"

I shyly said, "Yes."

We got into his car and drove out to the Dubai creek. ( For readers ....Dubai Creek is a small stretch of water, larger than a lake, but less than the size of a river, which one could cross over onto the other side by a special boat called the Abra.)

We parked out there by the water and talked the whole time.

The conversations and its pace flowed naturally once we got past those first awkward moments. And it just flowed one after the other. I don't quite remember what we talked about, but I remember us being extremely comfortable with each other, right from the get-go. We didn't have to force ourselves....it just felt distinctly right and natural to converse. For the most part, I remember doing quite a bit of talking. And he just kept looking .... staring at me rather.....smiling. Almost like, he was taking me in....every feature on my face and my every word, with his eyes. Gosh, they were so deep! I could die and get lost in them. I was curious to ask what he kept staring at, but I was nervous too at the same time. So I decided not to ask ....just because I didn't want to stop a good 'thing' going.....rather I didn't want him to stop staring at me.

Had any random person walked by in that moment, it would have been obvious to them that there was a clear-cut attraction between Mr A and I. But more importantly, it was that 'tingling' feeling that I remember having all over my body… it was like....... “sparks flying.”

You don’t need to be twinsies, but when you have chemistry with someone, you sort of naturally “know” and can decipher how much warmth and touch the person exhibits and wants, and when. Mr A NEVER EVER touched me awkwardly. He was rather a perfect gentleman. But at one point, as we talked, he gestured his hand out to me and smiled, almost like when a guy asks a girl to a dance. I smiled back. He didn't have to say anything and yet, I knew what he was asking. I gave him my hand and we held hands for quite awhile that evening.

Time flew by and we didn't realize it, till it was after dark. Conversations, laughs, giggles, smiles were the helm of our first date. The original plan was that we'd spend some time at the Creek and then head to dinner. No particular cuisine or restaurant in mind. We both liked the same kind of food. So a hole-in-the-wall kind of place would have sufficed too.

It was almost 8:30 pm. And neither of us were that hungry, quite honestly. And I had to be home by 9 pm. So to rid himself of the guilt of dropping me home without buying me dinner, I convinced him that we'll just grab sandwiches at the local Burger King, which was about 3 minutes away from the Creek. He agreed. We got our food, sat in the car, talked some more, while eating through our sandwiches. And then it was time for me to head back home.

We drove back in silence. But it was a beautiful silence. Almost like our minds were talking to each other. But no words were said. How 3 hours passed us by, I have no idea.

My home was a 10-minute, maybe less, of a drive from the Creek. Interestingly, Mr A also stayed quite close to me, right there in Karama. We were at a 15-minute walking distance of each other's apartment complexes and maybe a 5-minute car-ride. So he didn't have a long drive getting back home, for me to worry about. As Mr A stopped by my apartment, we sat in silence for a few more moments, looked at each other. Smiled. I didn't want this night to end. I sensed he felt the same way. I didn't expect Mr A to kiss me on our first date. But had he attempted, I wouldn't have hesitated one bit, to resist him. Like I said, he was a perfect gentleman that night.

Much later into our relationship, Mr A admitted that he had to REALLY fight to hold himself back, from kissing me that night on our first date. Hahaha. I guess good things are always worth the wait.

We said goodbye, agreeing to meet the next day. Time and place, was a matter of a text conversation, we decided. It was no big deal. He waited for me to get inside my apartment building before he drove off.

Not bad for a first date, I thought, as I walked to my apartment.

It was simple; not over the top, but it was just PERFECT!

It was blissful.

And it kept me smiling the rest of the evening, even after I got home.

AND..... it was the beginning to our 72 date nights after that.

Yes! Since then, we went out on a date. Every. Single. Night. For the next 72 days of my stay in Dubai. And that was worth it .....and a conversation to be continued.....

#openlife

#real-lifelove

#treasuretheoneyoulove

..............Part 5....contd in the next post.... .