Detective

Shalini was busy getting ready for her kitty party. Her friends would be waiting for her. It was around 2 pm. She had finished her lunch sometime back. Gaurav was in office. He would come late. Even if he came early, he should be able to manage himself. She also needs some time to enjoy herself with her friends. As soon as she was about to go out, she heard the doorbell ringing. Hurriedly she opened it.

There was a delivery boy with a bouquet.

“Good afternoon Madam. This is for you,” The delivery boy said.

“For me?!”

Shalini was quite surprised. Who sent her a bouquet and why?

“Who sent this?”

“A sir sent this one. We do home delivery in 2 hours. He only gave me this address and asked me to buy a birthday card and write a message for you. Here is the card. Happy Birthday, Madam.” Saying so the boy left.

Shalini was totally perplexed. It was not her birthday today. Why should someone send her bouquet? She took the card and opened it. Inside it was written.

“My dearest Roopal, Wish you a very happy birthday. See you today evening. Love you. Yours forever, your me.”

Roopal! This is not for her! The delivery boy had made a mistake. But who is this Roopal? She can’t even know as there is no address of the sender. She was getting late for the party. Suddenly she remembered. She knows one Roopal who lives a few houses away. Can she be the one? Only if it's her birthday today. She did not have her number. The only way was to go to her place and tell her. She was already getting late for the party. She called up her friends and told them that she would be late.

She took the bouquet and went to Roopal’s house. She rang the doorbell and Roopal came out. She looked totally taken aback as if she was expecting someone else.

“Hi, sorry to bother you at this hour. Actually, a delivery boy wrongly delivered a bouquet to my house. Inside the card, it was addressed to Roopal wishing her happy birthday. Is it your birthday today.?”

“Oh yes, indeed it is. Thank you so much.”

She took the bouquet hastily and sounded quite relieved. As if she got something for which she was waiting for a long time.

“Happy birthday to you”

“Thank you!”

“So how are you celebrating. Where is Ravi?”

“Ravi went yesterday on a tour for 3 days”

“Oh! then must be he has sent the flowers from there. So thoughtful of Ravi. Enjoy your birthday.”

Roopal blushed for a moment. Shalini left the place as she was already quite late. She thought she must tell Gaurav about Ravi’s nice gesture. Gaurav also should do something for her. She enjoyed a lot in her kitty party. As was usual, girls did all the gossip. Then Shalini remembered today’s bouquet incident and narrated that to the ladies adding how nice it was of Ravi.

“What did you say it was signed off as? ‘You know who? How are you so sure it's Ravi?” Marina asked mischievously. Just then a thought struck Shalini. Oh yes, on the card it was written “See you in the evening” and Roopal had said Ravi had gone for a business tour of 3 days. Then how can they meet in the evening? Surely it cannot be Ravi. The girls discussed this for a long time and in the end reached the conclusion it has to be some secret lover. This remained the topic of discussion for quite some time. It was quite late by the time party finished. Gaurav called Shalini in between to check when she would be back. By the time she reached home, it was already 8 pm. Gaurav had reached home sometime back.

Shalini could not wait to tell Gaurav about her new finding. She quickly changed her dress and set the dinner. When they sat down to eat she started, “You know what happened today.”

“What?”

“Roopal and Ravi you remember from block 2C? Roopal is having a secret affair with somebody.”

“What?!” Gaurav had put some food in his mouth, he almost choked. He started coughing loudly. Shalini patted his back and gave him some water.

When he came back to normalcy, he asked her how she came to that conclusion. She narrated that day’s story and the discussion that followed at the kitty party. She was sounding very proud that she figured out the mystery like a detective.

“Don’t spread rumours without specific evidence.” He told softly.

“I have full evidence. You should be proud of me that I can become a detective. Poor Ravi. He doesn’t even know what’s going on.”

“Please don’t discuss someone else’s life at our dinner table. Let’s finish our food and go to sleep. Give me some more dal please.” They finished dinner and went to bed. Shalini was very happy and proud of herself.

The next day in a faraway restaurant two people were having lunch.

“What happened? Why did you call me here suddenly?” Roopal asked.

“Shalini has figured out that you have an affair with someone,” Gaurav said.

“What are you saying? How did she figure that one out?”

“It's all my fault. By mistake instead of giving your address, I gave my house address to the delivery guy. Thankfully I had not written my name on the card. So she doesn’t know who the guy is. We have to be very careful now onwards.”

Roopal nodded.