I nodded and glaced away totally baffled.
I should have panicked but I didn't. No pounding heart, no sweaty palms. A sense of serenity surrounded me instead . The aroma of his cologne added to my selcouth state.
" I must be imagining things", I thought to myself. May be he's just a random person who's going home. I then decided to turn a blind eye to him and stared out of the window. I checked my phone to see if Ronan had called but there was nothing. I felt sorry for myself.
"What's the time?", he asked. My eyes naturally fell on his expensive looking wristwatch. I lost my cool. "You'll get lots of working watches if you sell this", I responded irately pointing at his wrist. He
laughed wholeheartedly. Holycrap! how could anybody be so alluring. Anyone would go weak at knees watching him laugh. I could feel collywobbles in my belly.
"Just wanted to know if your's work Vanya" he replied with a silly grin. He left me mystified once again.
My busstop had arrived. I excused myself and got down the vehicle."Why did he call me Vaanya?" He looked too sober to be drunk", I said to myself. I hurried down the road with out turning back. But I could hear somebody running to catch my pace.
" Hey, wait! I didn't mean to scare you but I need a favor", he said in a raspy voice.
" I knew you were following me" I said turning back.
He was standing a few meters away with a huge camera hung around his neck. He didn't have it before or may be I paid no heed earlier. "What do you want?" I shouted throwing my hands up in the air.
"Can I take your picture Vaanya", he pleaded.
"What did you say? And who is Vaanya?", I asked utterly bewildered.
"A photo", he replied sheepishly
" Do I look like a celebrity to you?" I asked but regretted it immediately because there was nothing "celebrity like" in me.
He thought for a while and asked me if we could talk about it. I had started to feel dizzy. In the middle of road I was talking to a stranger and none of it made sense. "You don't know me, I don't know you, end of story. If you follow me, I'll call the cops", I told him off.
"Vaanya's the title and protagonist of my novel. It's a love story I'm writing. You are exactly the Vaanya I've imagined in my head, so I wanted your picture to be in the cover page of my book. I promise I won't misuse your picture. If you have doubts, you could read the draft of the novel", he said with a sigh.
The word "Love" reminded me of my failed date. "I don't believe in Love Stories, not at all", I yelled more to myself than him and ran.
