Love in an elevator - Vivek Subramanian

(Vivek is presently in his third year of engineering at the national institute of
technology surathkal,karnataka. He listens to rock and classical music and writes a bit.
homepage:http://www.livejournal.com/~safarial)


My watch read seven thirty. I sipped coffee as I glanced through the day's newspaper. It was always the same, some politician had made a huge donation to charity to pick up political mileage, and another accident had killed some more people. By the time I reached the sports section, it was eight - time for my shower and then breakfast. After that I spent the next twenty-eight minutes getting to office. I did have a motorcycle but the rush hour traffic in the morning irritated me and made me grouchy for the rest of the day. I had long since decided that it made more sense for the driver to take the trouble of driving. He was getting paid for it, wasn't he? And I had no desire of seeing my motorcycle adorned with scratches after being parked the whole day in the parking lot.

It was a nice sunny day and the warmth of the sun made me feel better;after all,it's never a nice feeling getting back to work on a Monday morning. The tall and imposing office building never failed to awe me. I pushed the huge glass doors, and stepped through the metal detector as the security guard smiled at me. He was a young chap, newly married. He dreamt of buying a small house someday. I had made it a point of getting to know all the people who worked here.

I made my way across the huge reception,floored with marble. The black granite walls were polished; they were almost like mirrors. The receptionist, fresh out of college, looked at me and winked. She was wearing blue and it suited her. It brought out the colour of her eyes. The morning flirtation was almost a ritual now.I glanced at the mail slots to see if there was anything that needed my attention.

I walked into the elevator. It was one of the best that money could buy. It had glass walls and rode all the way to the top of the building – twenty-six floors. The building being on the top of a hill,the view was marvelous. You could see the whole city beneath,laid out like an architect's model. The floor of the lift was padded with a rich carpet on which you could stand all day without feeling it at all. I ran my finger along the cold gleaming brass rail that ran all around the six-by-four feet box. I hit the button for the tenth floor and the doors slowly began to slide shut...

Moments before they met, a delicate little hand slid into the gap. The doors automatically opened on the most beautiful woman I had ever set my eyes on. Her hair was black as the night, and fell long and silky on her shoulders. The eyes hid a fire within – bright, liquid and deep. She wore a business suit that seemed to be made for her, not one of those off-the-hook creations that shops seem to have in excess. She
said something into her mobile phone and put it back into her handbag. The voice was what I fell in love with immediately. Soft and yet,husky – filled with passion and fire.

And then our eyes met. If there was ever a heaven, I could now see it in her eyes. Suddenly, for a moment, the lift, the building...everything just vanished. I was in a green field below an azure sky. She stood there in front of me, dressed in white, smiling. She started running towards me, her white robes billowing in the wind. I stood there with my arms wide open as she rushed into my arms. I fell backwards, holding her-I never hit the grass.

The stool clattered as I stumbled and found myself sitting on it. She looked at me with an amused smile as I grinned sheepishly.
"Third floor, if you will," she said.
I dusted my uniform, doffed my cap and pressed the button that read 3.

-Vivek
bluebarnacle[at]gmail.com