It all began with a dream.....

This one is for You.....

“Can I have a bunch of red roses please?” A boy in his early twenties asked a vendor who was selling flowers on his cart.

“Ya sure, which ones do you want? Long stemmed ones will be expensive! Or you can just have few these ordinary red roses in full bloom!” The vendor suggested the boy.

(“)No, no! I want the rose buds!” The boy appeared to have a firm choice.

“My boy, those are expensive, especially for the occasion! You can buy the full bloomed ones at a cheaper rate and they are beautiful too!” The vendor tried to sell the full bloomed roses that no one was buying. Everyone was buying the rose bud, the symbol of today; Valentine’s day.

“No matter how much the rose buds may cost, I’m having those!” the boy protested.

“Fine then!” the vendor said grumpily and brought out a bunch of beautiful rosebuds.

“This is the last ones left,” the vendor said, “and it’s only 10 o’ clock in the morning! What I’m going to do the rest of the day?”

As the vendor charged 200 bucks for that bunch. The boy frisked his wallet to look for the amount, when a girl shouted, “Stop! I will take it!”

Both the vendor and the boy looked in the direction from which the shout came to see a girl out of breath and running to the cart.

“I will take one too!” She said breathlessly to the vendor.

“Sorry, but I’m out of red rose bud bunches!”

The girl wailed loudly. “No, I looked everywhere for them! This is the last place I had hoped to find them!”

“Well, I just bought the last bunch!” The boy said to the girl who just bought the last bunch and instantly he was feeling very lucky.

The girl turned to him. “Let me buy it for you. I will give whatever you paid! But please, I must have that bunch!”

“Well, now it is your problem.” Said the vendor. “Unless you would prefer the bloomed roses?” The vendor suggested to the girl, but he thought that he already knew the answer.

“No!” The girl almost shouted. “I only want these!” Pointing to the beautiful bunch of rosebuds in the boy’s hands.

“Fine then!” Said the vendor grumpily and pushed his cart away from the boy and the girl.

The boy started to walk away.

“Wait!” The girl stopped the boy.

“Yes?” The boy asked.

The girl appeared to be really desperate. “Please let me buy that bunch from you. I promise I won’t bargain. But please, this is very important.” And the girl flushed deep as the boy frowned. “Please,” she added.

The boy looked at the girl more closely now. She appeared to be to be in her late teens, because she seemed younger than him. But as he caught her eyes, she found something that he had seen very recently in someone’s eyes too. Someone, who was very special to him, someone, who meant the world to him. And then he seemed to reconsider his decision. “Are you about to propose?” the boy asked the girl.

The girl flushed again as she met the boy’s stare and nodded shyly. The boy smiled. “But I’m afraid that I need these too” – He indicated the lovely flowers in his grasp – “today as well. It is very important. I really want my girlfriend to know that I love her truly and I made her a promise that I will turn up today at the CCD (Cafe Coffee Day) with a bunch of roses. So I’m afraid that I can’t give these to you.” And then started to walk away again. But the girl stopped him yet again.

Her desperation was becoming apparent and she was being a bit restless too. “Hey! Then you have already proposed! I am going to propose to the guy whom I have loved all my life! I had promised him I'd be at the CCD as well! I was planning that the bunch of rosebuds would express my feelings better that I would verbally do! So please, give them to me! Please!” She was pleading.

The boy was perplexed. Then extended his hand towards her and said, “Hello, I’m Amit.”

Uncertain about the boy’s sudden friendliness, the girl shook it saying, “Hello, my name is Rachna”. The boy smiled, releasing her hand.

“Well, now I’m heading towards the CCD, but I would like to hear your story. I will then tell you mine. And if you do so you will also get the roses. Deal?” The boy laid a proposition before the girl.

Rachna readily agreed. Amit handed the bunch of roses to Rachna as she started to speak.

“Well, Raghav has been my childhood friend since the 3rd grade. We did a lot of things together. We studied and played together, ate together, sometimes at his place and sometimes mine. We were a kind of team. But as we grew up, my feelings towards Raghav started to change. I didn’t want Raghav just as my friend forever! I wanted him for life. But sadly, I was too late. Raghav already had a girlfriend. I always have hinted to him that I really like him, but I don’t think that he understands. So I invited him today as his girlfriend was out of town. I told him that I just want to bunk my classes and wanted company, but I plan to propose to him with these roses.” And with that, Rachna finally managed to smile as a dreamy look covered her full face.

Amit looked at her thoughtfully. “And what do you plan to tell you Raghav?”

“Well I will just say that I truly love him! What else there is to say?”

“Well that may be the idea in the center, but I suggest a different way will make a greater impact. What do you say?” And Amit whispered into Rachna’s ear.

Rachna looked impressed and awed. “Well that is a great idea! But do you think that it will work?”

“Sure!” Amit exclaimed.

“Thank you so much Amit! You know, my parents say that if you want something really bad, God sends his angels to help you! Today I came to know that it is indeed true. Thank you Amit, for being my angel!”

Amit looked flattered. “Ah! I’m not one. I’m just glad that I could help you. Bye.”

Saying thus, Amit started to walk away.

“Wait!” Rachna stopped her again.

“You didn’t tell me your story!”

Turning back, Amit asked, “Do you really want to listen to my story?”

“Sure!” Rachna said.

“Okay then, let’s have a seat. And they sat on the stairs of a temple they were passing by. Rachna carefully put her precious bunch in a basket she had been carrying and sat down with Amit to listen to his story.

“It all began with a dream. I thought that I entered into a blissful dream when I first saw Amita. Yes, I know, her name has just one ‘a’ more than mine. She’s not very beautiful, as you are, but she has a heart of gold. I came to know her by the help of one of my friends who was also a friend of hers. I talked to her and God, those moments, I will never forget. I never knew about her feelings about me. This started in the summer of 2006. And without ever knowing her feelings to me, I confessed my feelings. She was shocked. Actually that is no fault of her. She barely knew me then. But she was very polite and said that she needed time to think. She said that she will meet me next week.

“I listlessly waited for the week to pass. During the whole week, would you believe that I never slept a wink but never got tired? I had an expression on my face just like you had on your face earlier. I spent every second of that week speculating of what would happen in the next week. All the while having a broad smile on my face. And rightly so; seeing that this was my first love!

“I never had a relationship in the past 20 years. I had been single all the while, just watching jealously all the couples who were in love and speculating when this beautiful thing will happen with me. I’m lot experienced in life, you know. Seen a lot of things that a normal person of my age would not have seen. But I have seen people younger than me in deep love. I play cupid for most of my friends’ whose love was in jeopardy. But all the while I wondered when love will happen with me.

“When finally I met Amita. I thought that I had met the woman who had been missing in my life for so long. I was impatient for Monday to arrive. When it did, I groomed myself in a way that I had never groomed before. I took special care to wear clothes; usually I don’t give a damn about dressing properly. But that evening I did. I shaved and wore cologne too. There were many people around, many of my friends; some of them had come with their girlfriends. They wanted to hear the end of my story first hand as I had helped them a lot. And they did get to hear the end of my story. A flat and straight ‘No’ was thrown right on my face wrapped with few absurd and ridiculous excuses for hurling a stone at my heart with no mercy at all. But my smile was still on my face, as if it had froze. I quietly walked away from the spot, turning away from my dead end. I went to my friends’ place and cried a lot. I cried all the while during that week. My father noticed that I had been staying depressed all the time and decided to send me away from my hometown. I offered no arguments or resistance to his decisions and quietly packed my bag and left the place.

“After three months, I returned. I started my normal daily routine once again. I lived on for a month more when a sister of mine told me that Amita wanted to see her in the morning after her coaching. She told me the time of when to meet her. She also told me what mistakes I had made when I first confessed to her of my feelings. She told me not to repeat that again. But I wasn’t really listening.

“This time, I didn’t bother myself for the occasion. I went with just my t-shirt and Bermudas on, with an out of bed hair and wearing sport shoes. But my breath froze as I saw her again after such a long time. Anyway, I gulped and managed to resume breathing and approached her.

“I wished her a good morning and asked straight away, ‘Poly said that you wanted to see me. Is that right?’ ‘Yes. I told her to tell you. And thank God you came.’ She went on to say that how seriously sorry she was for her rudeness for the day that surpassed me 4 months ago. She said that she didn’t want it to sound that way and she wanted to apologize. I said that it is okay and then proceeded to tell her that maybe I was wrong to express my feeling to you. She said that that must have been the case.

We walked for quite some time. In the end, she said that she may not be ready for a relationship just now, but she said that we could be friends. That day, I walked away from her, with feelings that were exactly contrary to the feelings that I had walked away from her on the previous occasion when we met. It put a new hope in me.

The year rolled around. 2007 came. And with it her exams too. I was very anxiously for her. Meanwhile, I got a job. I used to work for a private firm as a Public Relations Officer and was earning quite some bucks. But in May, her results came out and she didn’t fare very well. Though I was upset, I thought that maybe it is time that I give myself another time. After all, we had been good friends for a while and I had filled her diary confessing all the feelings that I had for her. But I don’t think that she had opened them ever, coz we still talked as we used to. Anyway, in mid September, I confessed about my feelings about her yet again, this time being accurate and telling what exactly I had in my mind. The delivery of my lines had been pretty good considering last time. But she turned me down yet again for a relationship.

“I gave up hope. I controlled my disappointment this time, trying hard to console my heart. It was very hard. I never really got over her even when this year came by. But January, along with a new year, brought news that turned my life.

“I was in my office as usual. In the afternoon, a call came in from my sister, Poly. ‘Dada, dada, I got a great news for you!’ and she couldn’t control her excitement. When she finally managed to calm down, she said, ‘dada, you know, it’s unbelievable, but Amita today confessed to me that she has been having constant dreams about you! Though it is silly, but it still is a dream!’ and she started breathe in excitement again. She said that she was having the same dream for three nights now; a dream which showed her in a colorful dress and me standing on the opposite end of a road and after exchanging hellos she tells me that she’s learning guitar. The me in her dream say that Wow! That’s great! So we are a team now!

“After my sister hung up the phone, I sat there at my desk for a long time. It was true that I had asked her about that she plays guitar or not as I was trying to form a band of my own. But how could this be possible? I thought very hard. I had asked my sister that what should I do now? She told me to do nothing at all. This time she will approach you. Really? I had exclaimed to her. Poly also said that Amita has taken a kind of liking to me now and she thinks that I’m a funky and cool kind of person. I was over the moon to hear that!

“Slowly, my sister conveyed one of our messages to the other and this carried on for a month until Poly said that she wanted to meet me again. Bracing myself again I went to see her at the time and place that my sister had said. It was the first of this month. After exchanging hellos and talking about the causal stuff, she stopped all of a sudden and grasped my hand tightly and said, ‘Amit, I know that I have been very rude to you on two occasions. I have turned you down not once, but twice. Yet still, you are here, standing with me, as if nothing has happened. I came to realize that what kind of heart you posses, what kind of a noble person you are. Though I liked you even at that time, I turned you down for no reason. So I just wanted you to know that I am very sorry for my behavior and I love you.’

“Boom! Those words hit my face harder than the ‘No’ she had hurled at me a couple of years ago. I stammered a little, I wanted to tell her that I loved her too, when I caught her eyes for the first time this evening. She had a look that you had this morning. I felt that was something that was something that I hadn’t felt in my life before. I think that was love.”

Amit stopped talking finally and stood up but Rachna didn’t. She looked at Amit, wide eyed and said, “So how do you fulfill your promise that you made to her?”

Amit smiled at her, stooped and picked up a rosebud that had a long stem. Straightening up, he said, “Seems like that vendor gave me a long stemmed rose bud too! This will do just fine.” Amit helped Rachna to her feet

Before parting, Rachna said, “You truly are a lovely person. You have a heart of a diamond, which has been polished fine by all the hardships you have been facing! You really are a noble person. Thanks for the roses!” And she ran away quickly, smiling to herself.

Amit just stood there, looking up at the sky, bathing in the shower of happiness that God had finally given him after his rocky journey called life. He hadn’t finished his long journey through the rocky path, he was certain that he would have a lot of troubles ahead too, but it felt really nice to be in a ‘pit stop’ for a while.

Author's Note

This may have been the most ridiculus love story you've ever read, but I thought it was worth a try writing for valentine's day. Just tell me what ever you feel.

Reviews

[Bhavya Kaushik]

This is according to me one of your best piece till date...
for a matter of fact!!...that I'm a die hearted fan of love stories...
and..this is really a very lovely and cute story...
The way you've described the meeting of Amit and Rachna and their willingness for only roses buds is really awesome..
and then...how you flashbacked the entire story of Amit...

Literally, Its a nice piece....I only found few minor mistakes which is of no worry!!


The entire piece somehow touched me and it explains a very true essence of LOVE that-"If you really love someone...then you always wants them to be happy...even when their happiness means that you're not a part of it.."

Amita refused Amit twice...but still He haven't gave up hope and still came..still he developed a relationship with her...
This is what true and real LOVE is all about..

An awesome read...Thanks a ton for sharing it here..

-Bhavya

[Vrushali Ohatker]

Hmm... a nice, sweet and cute story Kevin. Although I'm a little confused about what Amit whispered into Rachna's ears. Anyway, the story was good...Amit's long wait for Amita...long but fruitful. Which hopefully will turn into a wedding and the wedded bliss that will follow. But Kev, I think I know you enough to know this much that you could have done this a lot better. Candidly speaking it was a little droning in the beginning. And it was predictable. But, however a very lovely story about this feeling of *falling in love* and endlessly waiting to get what you really want is what this story is! As usual, great work which...umm... could have been better (since it's Kevin after all)!

[Starting Over]

This is such a beautiful write!

♥

[MyStoryEndsNow]

it's nice, i felt the feelings of the girl, lol..but it's really nice :)

[DarkIriswriter]

I love your heartfelt story, its amazing how some guys supress their feelings until finally they tell the special someone they love. I love how the two characters told their story of how they met Amita and Raghav. You did a wonderful job of expressing feelings and emotions into the depth of they story and characters.Great work!

sara

[Imperfection]

I like the essence of it, no doubt.
I had gone through this piece earlier but I did not know the background then. But now that you've made me familiar to the circumstances before and after, I could make an attempt to understand the thoughts that have gone into your writing - the dialogues and the scenes, which have made this story, come to life.

But I'm afraid there are some grammatical mistakes that prevent the piece from flowing smoothly. It is certainly a nice story but the expression could have been better. The narration, in my opinion can be improved upon.

[Emily B]

What a nice romantic write!

[Janyce Helen Van Es]

Well, I guess I read this just in time not to have to go through all the grammar glitches, hehe. Patience is a virtue. If you wait long enough good things will happen. I waitied years for a guy and finally won his love and trust. He was extremely young for me though and is still immature. I still love him and I am sure he thinks of me but the time which we longed for each other was precious, indeed.

[Melanie Jane Boicourt S..]

"Let me buy it for you." *** I think you meant 'from you'
"What else there is to say?"*** "is there'
"I was very anxiously for her." ***'anxious'
"and she started breathe in excitement again"***'started to breathe'
" The me in her dream say that Wow!" ***'said that. Wow!
'It was true that I had asked her about that she plays guitar or not as I was trying to form a band of my own"
***'It was true that I had ask her whether or not she played guitar. I was trying to form a band of my own.'
"I had asked my sister that what should I do now? "***'I ask my sister what to do now.'
"I felt that was something that was something that I hadn't felt in my life before"
***repeated words*** I do that too sometimes!!
Anyways, I loved the story and I hope you are not offended by my pointing out these little things. I do it because I appreciate when someone points them out to me.
Love All, Mejasha

[Nicole (Carpe Diem)]

I think it is a great piece. Fun, sweet and romantic tale� some of the sentences are a bit choppy and the grammar is a bit rough� I think you will have a fantastic story once it is cleaned up a bit.
I will leave some notes�

[[untitled]]

Uniquely refreshing to read. Enjoyable! Good job. Best wishes, Pam