Characters: Maya Sharma & Arjun Malhotra
Setting: Mumbai - Bandra-Worli Sea Link exit junction
The collision happens at 6:47 PM on a Tuesday.
Maya's rushing, phone in one hand, coffee in the other, when she slams into something solid. The coffee doesn't spill—miracle—but she stumbles back, and strong hands steady her shoulders.
"Shit, I'm so—"
Their eyes meet.
Everything stops. The honking fades. The crowd blurs. There's just this stranger with dark eyes and an expression that mirrors her own—startled, curious, caught.
"Hi," he says, almost breathless.
"Hi," she echoes.
A beat. Two.
"I'm Arjun."
"Maya." Her voice sounds far away to her own ears.
They're still standing too close, his hands still hovering near her arms. Neither moves. The comfort is unsettling—how easy it feels, how right, when she doesn't even know this person.
Arjun opens his mouth. Closes it. Tries again. "So... that was—"
"Yeah."
"Do you always—"
"No, I—" She laughs, nervous. He smiles, and it does something dangerous to her heart.
The silence stretches, but it's not uncomfortable. It's loaded. Electric. Like standing on the edge of something.
Then her phone screams to life.
They both jolt, reality crashing back. Maya glances at the screen—her boss—and suddenly remembers she's supposed to be somewhere ten minutes ago.
"I gotta go," she blurts, already stepping back. The words come out easy, familiar, like she's said them to him a thousand times before.
"Oh. Yeah. Of course."
She's walking away, answering the call, and doesn't look back because if she does, she might not leave.
It hits her three blocks later, mid-conversation about quarterly reports.
His number. I didn't get his number.
"Maya? Are you listening?"
"Sorry, what?"
Arjun. Just Arjun. No last name. No Instagram. No way to find him in a city of twenty million people.
"Fuck," she whispers.
Arjun realizes immediately.
The moment she disappears into the crowd, his brain catches up. He lunges forward, pushing through the evening rush, scanning for that blue kurta, that messy bun, those eyes that looked at him like she knew him.
But Mumbai swallows people whole.
He stands there, spinning in circles like an idiot, until he accepts the truth: she's gone.
Day 3:
Maya takes her lunch break at the junction. Pretends she's not looking for him. She is.
Day 5:
Arjun leaves work early, catches the 6:30 train instead of his usual 7:15. Walks past the spot where they met. No blue kurta. No Maya.
Day 7:
She dreams about him again. Those dark eyes. The way he said her name like it meant something.
She wakes up annoyed at herself.
Day 8:
Arjun tries to sketch her face from memory during a meeting. His colleague asks if he's okay. He lies and says yes.
Day 9:
Maya goes back to the junction at 6:47 PM exactly.
Arjun is stuck in a client call until 7:30.
They miss each other by forty-three minutes.
The city moves on. They don't.
