Epiphany of Ana
Shuffling of paper, clicking of the keys, murmuring of her employees, nothing seems to bring Ana outside of her train of thought. Not even the drizzling rain is usually the only thing that brings her calm in the busy life of living in Mumbai. Sitting in a picturesque glass office, events of last week kept her awake at night and occupied her mind in daylight. She kept dialing a number on her phone but was unsuccessful in connecting the call. She kept aside her phone and glanced at the city outside her window. The place that helped her reach the sky but at the same time took away the ground beneath her feet. She didn’t particularly enjoy being around people, parties, gossip, or gatherings. She believed finding peace in solitude was her strength even when she was a young girl living with her mother back at home in Ooty. But ever since she shifted to Mumbai for better opportunities, leaving behind her friends, she feels lonely and most importantly empty.
“Ana Mir, emerging fashion designer in the industry has made a name for herself for being the most gifted young minds the fashion industry of the country has to offer. The 28-year-old has only been in Mumbai, the fashion hub of the country, for 8 years, and has become the most sought-after name for people who look for sheer elegance and classy couture in the fashion space. Surprisingly, Ms. Ana Mir, despite having been the creative force behind various party looks of celebrities in grandeur events, has avoided being spotted at any social events. Ms. Ana seems to be a private person who separates her professional life from the private one—which only seems to add to her mystery”-The VOGUE India, issue 233 read.
Ana had made a life for herself, one that she always dreamed about growing up in the small town of Ooty. Being a child of a single mother, who only seemed to care about her social life and often left Ana under the care of her nanny for days at a time. Ana loved the idea of being successful at everything she did, be it a drawing competition or getting good marks on a test. She wanted to be the best because only during those moments her mother would spare her a look of appreciation and affection. She didn’t have many friends growing up and once she did have, left her gradually because of how ‘ambitious’ she was. Everyone left her except one. The one who was proud of her.
Last week
“Natasha, next month, the Paris Fashion Week is starting, and I need to check the final lineup before that. Please arrange a meeting with the team by the end of this week. Make sure everything is in order. Alright?” Ana solicited her secretary as she packed her bag and got done for the day.
“I will see to it, ma’am. And I am sorry to inform you ma’am, but your driver called, and he won’t be able to pick you up on time, he is stuck in traffic due to torrential weather”, Nat informed her boss.
“It’s ok Nat, I can always book a taxi”, Ana hurriedly packed her things,
“Ma’am, would you like to join us for the annual staff party as you wait for your chauffeur? I am sure he will be here as soon as the traffic is cleared. I don’t think it’s advisable to step outside right now.”
“Sorry Nat, I won’t be able to join you guys today, I am feeling a little anxious right now and just want to go home. Please arrange the meeting for next week”, Ana said as she stepped out of her office.
“Ok ma’am, take care,” Nat voiced out from behind.
As Ana came outside her office building a soft whiff of reminiscence hit her or maybe it was a windstorm. Suddenly she felt very empty, years of hardships, constant deadlines and the adrenaline rush of being the most efficient at her job seemed almost silly. Because in hindsight she was just a girl who was soaking alone in the rain with no one waiting at home for her.
Waking up from her thoughts she looked around for a taxi, but due to torrential weather, no taxi driver was willing to drop her off when suddenly a car more specifically an Acura NSX stopped right by her. A head peeped outside the passenger window and in a cheerful voice uttered.
“Can I drop you somewhere, Ms. Ana Mir?’’
Ana’s whole world suddenly came to a pause, something like this only happened to her twice in life and this was the first moment of those two. Her whole childhood seemed to pass through her eyes in the form of a reel. The happy moments, the heartbreak but mostly the happy moments because the person with whom she made those memories was sitting in the car right across her eyes.
“Amaan…?”, was all she could vocalize at that moment.
“Come inside, you are soaking”, said Amaan, the only person who was dear to Ana, her childhood best friend.
A lot of questions were on the tip of her tongue, but she didn’t dare to ask so she asked the one that seemed most appropriate.
“What are you doing here?”
“Here to meet you”- said as he drove away.
“I have so many questions”- Ana whispered.
“Ask away, but not sure if I can answer all those since your house is not that far, and heads up I am not a stalker, I just happened to know where my formerly best friend and now the country’s best designer is living.” -Amaan chuckled like it was the first time they are meeting after almost a decade.
“I gave you my number, my aunt's number, and the address to the place I was living in the starting, but I guess it didn’t seem pertinent for you to check up on me. I couldn't reach you because conveniently you never believed in keeping a cell phone, your friends didn’t pick up my call, and you guys shifted from Ooty to God knows where just after I came to Mumbai. So, I just wanted to ask you why. Why did the only person I called ‘my person’ not even think it was important enough to check on me for years and now is behaving like we were just some random associate or classmate?”, Ana uttered with a voice that seemed to only indicate that she missed at the same time hated the person sitting right across her.
“That was a long speech Ana bear”-Amaan chuckled lightly.
“Why…Amaan?’’, Ana whispered on the verge of crying.
“Ana, I don’t want to talk about the past right now but keep in mind that you always have been and always will be the most important in my life. It’s Amaan’s Ana, right?”
“Then where were you all these years?’’- Ana managed to utter amidst being in an overwhelming state.
“You’ll get all those boring answers tomorrow, but today I just want to say that I am proud of you my Ana”-Amaan said with a content smile plastered across his youthful face.
“I am proud of me too”, Ana remarked smartly.
“No…you are not but I want you to be, this was your dream, and you achieved it.” Amaan declared.
“Well, I wanted my friend to be beside me while I was achieving these dreams, but he was busy doing god knows what”
“well I was beside you, you just didn’t see it, I kept up with everything you were up to Ana, everything, though I would have liked to see you more on the social parties mingling with people, remember when you said when you grew up you will finally make more friends apart from me, I would like you to implement that promise but overall I am Proud of you, Ana Bear ”, Amaan said contently.
“Thank you, Amaan,” Ana smiled contently.
“And with that, your destination is here”-Amaan declared as he stopped the car in front of Ana’s mansion.
“Wait, come inside and have some coffee, we have so much catching up to do”-Ana said hurriedly as she didn’t want this meeting to end this soon.
“I have talked myself for the day, maybe tomorrow, take this number”, -Amaan said as he handed Ana a piece of paper with numbers scribbled on it.
“Finally decided that you can't protect the bees alone, you got a phone?” Ana chuckled as she examined the paper.
“I believe it’s a landline”, Aman said with a smirk.
Ana laughed out loud, it’s been a while since she laughed like this on something random, she realized.
“One more thing, how come, uncle, let you borrow his ‘expensive’, ‘showstopper car’ ‘one of a kind’
Car? He never let anyone ever touch it” said Ana as she examined the car.
“I stole it” Amaan declared with a straight face but quickly broke out laughing as Ana joined.
“Ana remember when we used to sit on that porch swing and used to stare at the sky for hours?” Amaan suddenly said.
“Yeah…. why?”
“No reason…I just wanted you to think about that” Amaan said as he drove away.
Present day
A sudden ring from her phone brought Ana back to reality. She quickly picked it up expecting to hear Amaan’s voice from the other end.
“Who is it?” said a female voice, which Ana quickly identified to be Aman’s Mother.
“Aunty, it's Ana, how are you?” Ana exclaimed cheerfully.
“What do you want?” Amaan’s mother said in an unwelcoming voice.
Taken aback Ana said, “Aunt may I please speak to Amaan.”
“Where did you get the number from girl”, said Aunty angrily.
“Aman gave it to me”, said Ana meekly.
“How dare you joke about something like this”, shouted Aman’s mother.
“Aunty, what happened? Why are you behaving like this”, Ana asked surprised.
“Well, I will tell you what happened. A shameless girl dared to call me, the same girl who was responsible for taking my beautiful boy away from me. Eight years ago, my boy fought with us because he wanted to go join this girl in Mumbai, took off from our home with his father’s car and got into an accident, dead on the spot in that wretched rain all alone while this girl went on to live...calls me and says that my dead son gave her my number after all these years?”
The phone slipped away from Ana’s hand, and she stared lifelessly into the sky praying to wake up from this horrible dream.