Beep Beep

The door was opened by Suzy. Alex came back home very late, as the evening flight from Chennai was delayed, as usual, due to technical reasons. And it was way past midnight on Sunday, when they finally retired to bed.

Beep-beep.. Beep-beep.. Beep-beep..

The alarm sound jostled Alex, who then sleepily tapped off the top of alarm clock on their bed side table. But it had no effect. The sound still shrieked in their apartment.
Suzy was awake now waiting for her husband to turn it off before she could doze off for few more minutes.

Alex got up and fiddled with the clock. He turned to Suzy.
“The sound is not from this clock..”
Half-awake now, she suggested, “Mobile phone?.. Had you kept any alarm…?”

Alex put on the lights and moved to the living room.
Now where is my phone. Where did I kept it last? Jeans? Office bag?
But wait, the sound is coming from his luggage bag. When did I put my phone into it..

He stumbled with the zipper to unlock his luggage, and found the sound staring at him.

He slammed the top of the strange-looking alarm clock in his bag. The sound changed to a different tone now,
“Enter the password”.

Password?? What password!!

Suzy had by now, came in her satin bedrobe, and stood next to him.
“Had you got it from Chennai?”
“No, I did not buy it. Not sure how it came here. And now its asking for password?”
“Enter the password”
They stared at each other…

Alex tried pulling off the battery of the alarm clock to shut it off. He was taking too long.
Suzy was getting restless. What if the neighbours get “alarmed”?

“Try saying something to it..”
“What to say. I don’t know any password.”
“Just try some… Aren’t you a geek?!”
“Okay..”

Alex attempted,
“I got up..”
“I am awake..”
“Stop..”
“Please..”
His voice got louder,
“Alex is awake..”
“Today is Monday..”
“F*** off..”
“Grrr..”

Suzy started giggling, “hahaha..”
“Why are you laughing.. You try then”. Alex was clearly irritated by now.

She smiled and hugged him from behind, “I just love it when you have this kind of look on your face, you know.. You look so cute.. I so love you now..” She played slowly with his ears.

He sulked, “Ya ya, pass the comments now..”
He then turned back and smiled, “I love you too…”

The alarm now stopped. The realization dawned upon them.
They looked again back and forth at each other and at the alarm clock.

Alex stated, “It seems that someone deliberately placed it to remind that we need to take time out for love”.
Suzy mocked, ” Ah ha, what do you mean by take time out!”
“Hmm.. Let me explain…”
And he kissed onto her lips…
***

The battery finally came off, and the alarm stopped.
In a relief, Alex threw all the pieces to his luggage bag,
“Phew… Guess the airline staff used my bag to parcel for their own use..
Damn, I wonder whether I would be late now. Have an early morning meeting today…”

He went away to get ready to office..

In a slow resigned motion, Suzy discarded the alarm clock from his bag.
She then also destroyed the receipt bills she got along with it, the day before.