Coffee Confusion

The weekend getaway trip had been fun. However, it also came with the baggage of hangover, sleep deprivation & a tiresome body. Getting out of bed seemed like a herculean task & reaching the office on time had been no less than a miracle. The unpacked bag contributed to the morning chaos. Amidst the morning rush, breakfast wasn't even on the list. Around noon, the tired body urged the stomach to grumble. He clutched his belly & strolled towards the food court. On his short walk, he wondered when the cafeteria be functional in the recently constructed office building?

The food court reflected a workday after a long weekend. People from across the buildings in the business park seemed to have all conveniently or forcefully skipped breakfast & rushed for lunch. The ones who had the luxury of time to get back to the desk or had managed to grab breakfast walked from one counter to another, reading the menu & contemplating what to eat. In contrast, he systematically walked toward his regular stall with a lunch menu on his mind. The aroma of food, forks & spoons clacking made his stomach grumble. He checked the wristwatch on his right hand, looked at the long queue & sighed.

Amidst the rackety massive exhaust fans at each counter, people's chatter, the housekeeping staff clearing tables & automated token announcements, he heard a laugh. He wondered what was so funny for someone to laugh this loud? He looked around for the source of laughter. He zeroed at a table filled with a large group. He peeped to look at the woman's face but only sighted the back of a woman's dense curls that bobbed with the laugh. Something about the laugh intrigued him & he craned his neck to get a better view. He heard a voice from behind, "Excuse me." He irritatedly turned around. The lady behind him gestured, "Would you mind?" He darted at the lady with an apologetic smile & stepped forward. When he looked at the recently vacated table, his eager eyes searched for her. Alas, there was no sight of her. He grunted, "Damn."

The following customary visits to the food court twice a day had another purpose. His eyes & ears searched for the dense curls with a loud laugh. After a few weeks, the lookout turned monotonous & certainty of not finding her set in. No sooner did he give up looking for her than he spotted her from a distance. He wasn't sure if it was her, but his gut feeling said otherwise. He sat at the table as she passed with her gang of lunch buddies. He caught a glimpse of her & looked at her neck. He scowled, 'What was he going to do now?' His friends' laughter at a comment disturbed his train of thoughts. He joined the laugh while his gaze followed her & then his eyes lit up.

The identity card tag usually worn at the neck was in her hand. The tag colour & logo on it denoted she worked at his organisation. There were no bounds to his happiness, yet he suppressed it. He had no intention of feeding his friends with ammunition to rag him. His heart beat faster, 'She is from the same office!' How he wished the cafeteria at this office was operational. It would have been easier to bump into her frequently & then talk to her at some point. That same day the office administration sent out a notification that the cafeteria would be operational next quarter. The mail met his grinding teeth, "Just my luck."

His hawk eyes scrutinised the common areas in the office, lobby, administration office, mailroom, library & elevators in her search. Somehow he saw her frequently in far off corners at the food court & not once in the office. He concluded she worked in an ODC (offshore development center). There was no way he would be able to enter the restricted premises within the building. While he came up with several plots to 'accidentally' bump into her & talk to her, all seemed filmy & tacky. Neither could he share it with anyone nor be able to do something about it. The frustration only built day by day with no breakthrough. He did not even know her name to search on the office communication application. Days turned to a few weeks & he stood at a status quo.

A few weeks later, on a chilly morning, he ordered coffee at the beverage stall in the food court. As he waited for coffee, he checked the mailbox on his mobile phone. When he raised his head, a styrofoam coffee cup was on the counter with the initials A.D. He slid the phone into a beige khaki pant pocket. As he walked towards the counter new tan shoes squeaked on the freshly mopped floor. He reached for the coffee cup, only to witness another hand at the same cup. A left hand with French manicured nails & a silver strapped wristwatch adorned with Swarovski diamonds held half the cup. His gaze moved towards her sun-kissed chubby-cheeked face with a few fading acne scars. His eyes met her wide brown eyes enhanced by cyan eyeliner & her small mouth adorned with pale pink lipgloss. A pinch clip held her long curls though a few had managed to escape & cupped her face. He couldn't believe his eyes, 'It was her!'

Meanwhile, she observed the person whose right hand was on the cup. An Armani watch peeped through the full-sleeved pale purple shirt. Her eyes moved towards the light that bounced off the blue aviator neatly set like a tiara on his silky straight & slightly long mane. Her eyes lowered to meet pitch-black eyes accompanied by naturally shaped thick eyebrows. She glimpsed at an old scar of faded sutures that ran from his right temple, along the cheek & disappeared into a neatly maintained stubble. The couple stood still, hands on the cups with intense eye contact. A thousand thoughts crossed his mind, but none of them formed into words & left his lips. She cleared her throat, perfectly shaped eyebrows arched in a questionable look & remarked, "Excuse me." He snapped out of his star gazing & uttered, "Huh." She declared, "It is my coffee." He grinned, "Nope, it's mine. It has my initials." She glared, "That's my initials!" The possible argument was nipped at the bud by a third hand reaching to the cup.

The cup holders turned towards the new person. He was an elderly person who articulated, "Actually, it's my chai. You can see the chai option ticked on the cup." The duo realised their mistake, released the hold & stepped back. The man thanked them & left with the chai cup. No sooner did that man leave than the waitperson placed two cups of coffee, both with the initials A.D. The duo smiled awkwardly at each other & picked up their cups. He watched until he lost sight of her red shirt paired with a black-formal skirt disappeared & her black stilettos clicking on the floor was not audible.

Finally, luck seemed to have some mercy on him. Regardless, he cursed for not being articulate at the time. He kicked himself for scheming yet not articulating at the golden opportunity. All-day, he re-ran the morning coffee scenario in his mind. He imagined each time he uttered an awkward hello, which materialised into a conversation. He chewed the left cheek, 'Why couldn't she wear the identification tag around her neck? I could have seen her name or employee number. All I know is she has the same initials as me & there could be a hundred women employees with the same initials.'

The morning's pleasant mood had transformed into a foul one. As a pile on, an escalation mail made its way into his mailbox. He groaned at the mail, rubbed the nape of his neck with his right hand & dived into it. Nevertheless, his efforts were nowhere near a feasible explanation or resolution. He checked the time at the corner of the monitor. He set a target, 'If I do not crack this in the next 30 minutes, I'm going to the food court for an Expresso.' The thought of coffee made his heart sink a little deeper. As he watched his time run out, the office messaging application blinked & he opened it half-heartedly. His eyebrows knotted at the message content. He enlarged the message box to check the name & photo of the personnel. He bit his lower lip, shook his head & laughed at the simple message of an image of a hot coffee cup & a question mark from her.

Take Away: A lot can happen over coffee.