Kalaya

April A-Z Challenge - K is for Kalaya - Beautiful Lady (Origin : Thai)

Theme: Short stories highlighting the lives of 26 fictional characters 

Amit waited in the lobby of his favorite restaurant for a table of his choice. He peeped inside to see if he could spot Kalaya, but he could not see her from where he was. He sat there deep in thought, life had been kind to him, he had everything a man could ask for, a soaring career, a loving family, a beautiful home and a secured future. There was nothing more he could have asked for, and he owed it all to one person!

As he was ushered in to be seated at the table, he spotted Kalaya close by, standing behind the register with her usual smile that lit up the whole room. He sat down and opened his laptop and looked up eagerly to see if Kalaya had noticed him, but she had been busy with the customers. 

As soon as the waitress approached him, he said,  "Drunken Noodles with vegetables please,"  without opening the menu card.

"No fish sauce for him" added Kalaya from behind the register.

Amit looked up at her with a smile and nodded, and for a brief moment their eyes met. It was but natural she knew how he liked his food, he had been coming to this restaurant for nine years now.

He had been in college when he first visited the restaurant with his friends. It was a new family owned restaurant and a beautiful lady had welcomed them and seated them at a table. Her smile had felt like warm sunshine on that cold dreary day. Amit could not take his eyes off her and felt like he was enthralled in a spell, he could not help but feel a positive energy in her presence. Just as she was taking his order, he received a call to say he had been selected for a scholarship for his Masters program. Amit had waited for this for so long, he could not believe his luck!

He had soon returned several times, and undoubtedly every time he was in there, something good had happened to him. He made sure he went in there on big days, the day of his job interview,  the day he proposed to his girlfriend, the day he started his company. He had been convinced it was something to do with Kalaya. It soon turned into an obsession, he was there for smaller things too. He soon took his work to the restaurant, when he had to send emails for important transactions. The good luck had worked like a charm, every single time.

Just as he was done sending that important email to a promising client, his plate of drunken noodles arrived. He was about to dig into it hungrily, when he noticed a letter placed beneath the plate. 

He opened it and saw, written in bold red was a message:

"We ran out of luck, so closing soon and moving back home.   -- Kalaya"