After a frantic chase at the metro station, breathless and slightly disheveled Hema took a moment to collect herself. She hailed an auto, and the 20-minute ride to her office became a surreal escape. The city blurred around her, but her heart felt full like it was holding something warm and quiet. A soft smile played on her lips, a subtle reminder of the mysterious laugh that had captivated her, The auto's gentle sways and the raindrop-kissed breeze danced across her face, invigorating her senses. Time seemed to slow, and for a fleeting moment, the world felt full of possibility. As she stepped out of the auto and into her office building, the spell was gently broken.
She stepped into the office building ten minutes late. Usually, she would have rushed straight to the elevator, obsessively checking the time, already calculating how to make up for the delay. But today? She didn’t care. She took the stairs. When she entered her cabin on the second floor the cool blast of air conditioning stung her skin, a welcome shock after a humid rain. As she reached her floor, the familiar buzz of keyboards and low conversations greeted her. Desks arranged in neat rows, the soft glow of monitors, and the scent of strong machine coffee filled the air. Sliding into her chair, she opened her laptop and stared at the blinking cursor on her screen. It blinked. She blinked back. Her fingers hovered over the keyboard, her mind elsewhere as she stared blankly at the task list. There were files to debug, bugs to log, and numbers to chase. But all she could think about was how a stranger’s laugh lit a sudden spark inside her chest like someone had switched on the lights. She smiled to herself.
“Why are you late and what’s with the face?” Akila asked as she passed by, Akila—Hema’s close friend, teammate, coffee mate, shopping mate, and everything
“Which face?” Hema asked,
“The one where you look like you just met Shah Rukh Khan,” Akila said
Both laughed!!!
“Nothing,” she replied
Back to work ,the cursor continued its steady blink,and her inbox pinged with new messages. but Hema’s attention remained elsewhere, That laugh. she couldn’t hear that laugh anymore ,A memory resonated deep within her.
Reality pulled her back—softly. The day moved on. Calls came and went. Deadlines loomed. Her boss frowned. The system crashed once. Lunch was cold. And yet—everything felt... bearable. Even beautiful.
.That evening She went back home took her notebook and wrote “Sometimes, it only takes a laugh. Not words. Not names.Not face. Just a curve on the lips.”
The next morning, Hema woke up exactly at 7:00 am alarm, with an unusual excitement attached to her activities, her face glowed extra that day, She was on time to the saidapet metro station, by 9:00 am Hema stood by the same metro door. Earbuds in. Same playlist. Same crowd.
But this time, her eyes searched. Casually at first—a glance toward the platform, a scan of compartments as the train rolled in. Then more deliberately, as if her gaze could tug him out of the crowd. But no sign of him, She was disappointed, but tried to hold on, back to the office, back to bugs ..but her thoughts wandered over metro compartments
Day two: she boarded earlier, hoping maybe he was an early commuter.Still no laugh.
Day three: she switched compartments.Nothing.
It became a quiet routine, part of her mornings. Her music played on. Her stops remained the same. But her thoughts walked ten steps ahead, always chasing that flicker of a moment.
Even when she wasn’t looking, her ears perked up for that laugh. She memorized the rhythm of his voice—not the words, just the melody. It played over and over in her, like a melody she couldn’t turn off. One morning, as the train pulled into her station, she caught herself checking reflections in the glass, watching people instead of her screen.
Was it silly? Maybe.
But she liked the way it made her feel—like life had become a little more cinematic.
Still… five days passed.No laugh. No boy.
Just the usual grind. Coffee. Code. Commute.
And yet, somewhere between disappointment and longing, something inside her stretched open. Hope, maybe.A strange, quiet hope.
As days went by, something inside Hema grew unusually quiet. Not sad—just still. For the next few days, she stopped looking more scanning compartments. No more rushing through metro doors. No more half-written sticky notes about mysterious boys and magical laughs. Life returned to its grid—alarm at 7:00 am, train at 9, office by 10. But everything felt... pale. Not grey. Not dark. Just like colors faded at the edges. Her fingers still danced over the keyboard. She met deadlines, answered emails, and even finished that overdue documentation task her manager kept pinging about. But there was a softness to her lately. The kind of softness that comes after a dream drifts too far to chase.
Akila noticed. The half-hearted jokes. The drifting gaze. The way Hema smiled with her mouth but not her eyes.
During lunch one day, Akila finally asked, “Okay, what’s going on with you?”Hema looked up from her curd rice, blinked like she hadn’t heard, then shrugged too quickly
.“Nothing. Just tired, I guess.”
Akila didn’t buy it. She tilted her head, unimpressed.“You’ve been walking around like a soft-focus filter for two weeks. Spill.
”Hema hesitated, then smiled—smiled—for the first time in days.“it's a long story,” she said. “I’ll tell you everything. Promise, evening 7:00 pm usual coffee shop.”
Akila grinned.“You’re buying.”
evening 7:00 pm coffee shop
That evening, the café hummed with its usual magic—fairy lights tangled in ivy, soft music melting into the clatter of coffee cups.that beautiful aroma of filtered coffee turn that shop into a coffee wonderland, Their favorite corner waited like it knew they’d show up. Akila stirred her iced latte lazily. Hema sat across from her, fingers curled around her cappuccino cup, untouched.
“So,” Akila prompted gently, “what’s with the quiet Hema these days?”
Hema let out a barely audible sigh.“It’s stupid.”
Akila raised an eyebrow.“You know that never stops you.”
Hema gave a faint laugh.“Fair.”She leaned back in her chair, bracing herself.
“I saw a boy. No, no—I heard a laugh. That’s the reason. I want to hear it again.”
She ranted about the metro chase failure.
Akila nodded.
“You’re talking about the guy who was just a blur—but kept haunting your thoughts?”
Hema nodded sheepishly.“Yeah... that.
For a few days, I was obsessed. Not like a stalker —just... hopeful.
” what’s your hope?
“I don’t know,” Hema admitted.
It was how I felt hearing that laugh. Like my whole day flipped. It was alive. Unfiltered. The kind of thing that doesn’t belong in a routine life.”Akila listened, letting her speak without interruption
.“I kept trying to find it again. Him. That laugh. I looked around every morning like some hopeless romantic in a movie montage. But nothing. After a while, it felt ridiculous.
So I...”
And then—A sound—familiar, unmistakable—rippled through the café.
A laugh.That laugh.Bright. Unapologetic. Just like before. Her cup froze halfway to her lips
.“Hema?” Akila blinked, sensing the shift.
But Hema’s eyes had already scanned the café—darting from table to table, breath caught in her throat. Her chair scraped back as she stood abruptly, sending the spoon clattering against the saucer.
“I heard it,” she whispered.
“What—?”
“I heard him.”
She moved. Past the counter, the couple sharing headphones, the group of interns laughing over fries. The laugh wasn’t inside. She pushed through the café doors, warm afternoon air hitting her like a jolt.
There he was.
Near a parked car, chatting with someone—half-turned, animated, carefree. Same posture. Same wild hand gestures. He hadn’t changed. Her heart sped.
He turned his head slightly, but not toward her.
The car door opened. He slipped in. The door shut
.“No—wait!
“Wait, stop! Don’t go! She called out, her voice rising above the traffic
“She took a few steps, hands half-raised, caught between waving and reaching out.
But the car merged into traffic.
She stood at the edge of the road, breathless, blinking against the swirl of dust and noise.
Behind her, the café door creaked open again. Akila stepped out, Worry lined her face.
“Hema?”
No response.
She was still staring at the road like her eyes could rewind the last thirty seconds.
Akila came to her side.
“What was that?”
Hema’s lips curled into a soft, smile as she let out a laugh, her hand drifting to her forehead in a gesture of gentle dismay as if slowly coming back to reality.
“That was him.”
Akila followed her gaze.
“The laugh guy?”
She nodded.
“Yeah. That was him.”
“Oh god, are we living in a Manirathnam movie? Did you talk to him?”
“No.” Hema smiled,
“He didn’t hear me. Too much traffic. Too many cars. He just... left.”
Surrounded by the city’s heartbeat, they stood without a word.
“I was so close.”
Akila gave her a small, comforting smile “So what now? You going to chase him forever, or...?”
Hema shook her head softly, a faint smile breaking through the lingering frustration.
“No. Maybe not forever. But for now... I’m just going to hold on to that laugh.”
Akila nudged her gently.
“This is cinematic, Hema—you don’t even know his name, you don’t know who he is?”
Hema drifted into thought.
“Yesss... but Akila, you’re my friend. Like in those Tamil movies—why don’t you find all the details about him tomorrow? Like in Alaipayuthey, when Madhavan met Shalini on the electric train, and Vivek found all the details the next day?”
Both laughed quietly, the tension easing from her shoulders.
“Hahaha.”
“Oho, okay Shalini madam...” Akila teased with a grin.
They lingered momentarily, soaking in the warm café light and the soft hum of other patrons around them.
“Well,” Akila said, picking up her empty glass, “we’ve finished our food, and I think our mission here is accomplished—mystery laugh guy identified and promptly missed.”
Hema grinned, standing up and gathering her things.
“Mission... ongoing,” she teased.
They stepped outside into the cooling evening air, the city lights beginning to flicker on.
Walking side by side, Akila bumped Hema’s shoulder lightly.
“Come on, dreamer. Let’s go home. Tomorrow’s another day to find that laugh. Who knows? Maybe he’ll come again, or tomorrow I’ll come with you on the metro and we’ll look for him in all the compartments. I'll do my Vivek role perfectly”
Hema’s smile was quiet but certain.
“Tomorrow. Deal!”
And with that, they disappeared into the bustling city night, the echo of a laugh still softly lingering between them.
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