NOT EXACTLY A LOVE STORY-II
He couldn’t do it a year back. He
just could not. May be it was not the right time, maybe he was not yet ready or
maybe it was just not meant to be.
It was February 14th-
the day when the whole world celebrates love. The day before, he was all over
his phone trying to prevent his friends from spilling beans over his crush on
her. It was a rough day for him, the only solace being, the secret remained.
But now, he had changed his mind. He wanted to give her a red rose on the
Valentine’s Day, not because she had demanded it quite nonchalantly from him
numerous times, not because each one of his friends had tried to “motivate” him
to propose with the red rose, but because it was his heart’s calling.
He went to eight florists to buy a
single red rose. Few shops were rejected because he found out that his mom knew
the florist and rest did not have any more red roses left at 8 in the night. He
had to give a rose, he had to do it. She was on her melodramatic best that day,
“come on!!! Can’t you do this much for me?? I’m just asking for a rose, that’s
it. You know I could have asked for the moons and the stars, but I would settle
just for a rose.” She said all this with a broad mischievous smile and ended it
with a naughty wink. Girls always have this bad habit of confusing guys with
their expressions!!!! Was she serious or was she just kidding??? She had
already got more than a dozen roses. But she just desired for one, a rose from
her guy, or so she pretended.
So, on a cool valentine’s day
evening the guy somehow managed to procure a red rose by a certain herculean
effort and finally got down to the girl’s house. The next half an hour was
probably the longest time of his life. He wasn’t that nervous even during his
board exam results. Getting a rose after searching the whole city was easier
than this. What would he say?? How will she react?? So, there he was, all
dressed up in a white shirt and an elbow-sleeved blue blazer and jeans. He had
kept the rose in his inside blazer pocket. His bike was parked in front of her
house and he was just doing rounds around his bike, mumbling words to himself.
His eyes were shut as if he was meditating but with frowned eyebrows and both
his hands were on his ears. Just then he felt a slight tap on his shoulder. He
turned around and there she was, dressed in a white T-shirt and short capris.
She had this worrying and confused look on her face. She was saying something.
The guy had no idea what her words were. All he heard was a loud “dhak dhak”, which
grew louder with every passing moment. It was as if the bright moon suddenly
seemed faded, as if the crickets and the tree leaves were playing music, as if
everything else in this world had vanished, there were just two souls, just two
hearts…beating for each other probably. When his moment of trance finally came
to an end, he heard what the girl was saying. “Dude, are you alright?? You are
all dressed up and you’re here at this time?? Were you on a date with
someone??” Her voice had a hint of jealousy, the kind of jealousy a girlfriend
would feel if her boyfriend went on a date with some other girl, that too on
Valentine’s Day!! “ummmm…..errr….no no no!!! I came here to see you. Umm… Can
we go out somewhere?? a food joint or something??” “Now?? All of a sudden??
Okay, let me check with my mom.” She made a call and then they were off to a
food joint in the locality.
As usual, she kept blabbering and
he kept listening and nodding. that day, he didn’t actually listen to anything.
He was authoring a book titled “1001 rejected ways of giving a red rose on
Valentine’s Day”!! “I’m full and it’s 10, let’s get back.” They were back in
front of her house. The guy still hadn’t given her the rose.
Girl-so, see you tomorrow.
Guy-Hey. Wait. You look beautiful
today.
Girl- awww, thank you!!!! She said that with a glint in her eyes
Guy- so…….
Girl- so…..??
The conversation had hit a dead
end. It was the perfect time!!! He just had to take the rose out of his pocket,
maybe should have gone down on his knees and just given it!!!
Guy- nothing. See you tomorrow.
Happy Valentine’s Day sweetheart.
The girl managed a fake smile
replied with “same to you”, turned back and went. He stood there, took out the
rose, extended his hand as if she was present in front of him and stood like
that for a few seconds. He did not, he could not, somehow!!! He slapped the
back of his head, ruffled his own hair, started the bike and went to his home.
He couldn’t sleep that day, kept
looking at the rose for quite some time. It was meant to be his red letter day.
He was meant to declare his love to the world, to her. But he could not. When
all this finally sunk in, he bought his diary and kept the rose between the
pages with a thought that he would give her this very rose the next year on
this very day.
for those who have not read the part-i of the story (both these posts are not connected in any sense except that the characters are same), here's the link- http://psrmidnightblogger.blogspot.in/2013/08/not-exactly-love-story_11.html
