The Friend

"What are these for", she exclaimed!! So many bouquets, chocolates,perfumes and all for her. "You really don't have to", she told him over the phone. He just laughed it away. He wanted to see her happy, smiling and forever his. He couldn't articulate or express what he felt for her. She understood. His texts said it all. No, the typical words of endearment were lacking,. So like him. He is boring. He couldn't even smile. God hadn't programmed him to do so, that's what she thought and laughed.

          She called him her, "fart faced". That was her evil, wicked, secret petname for him. She was happy though, very happy; over the moon in fact. Her relationship with him gave her peace and she valued it. She had met him a couple of months earlier. She was happy now. A couple of years younger to her but mature beyond his years. He had plans for his entire life jotted and that included her too. He saw her ten years down the line in his scheme of things. She was ecstatic.

    It was February. They had made elaborate plans for a pre Valentines Day dinner. After a gruelling day at work they had planned to catch up and spend time together dining and chatting and making further future plans. Gifts arrived for her before she left her office for the pre-planned rendezvous. She was glowing despite the hard day at work. She changed her work-wear into something flowy and breezy, did her make up again adding a tint of gloss to her lips and some mascara and eye liner to her light brown eyes and those stylish pair of pumps which she had bought specially for the occasion.

     She had called him up right before she left the office. He told her that he would be thirty minutes late. She understood. The traffic in the city was maddening. She reaches on time with a special, little package just for him. He calls her up again saying some work in the office was delaying him and that she should order something for herself. Feeling completely out of place amidst all the romantic couples out there and yet motivating her ownself, she orders coffee. He calls her up twice more. The Boss's meeting and traffic rush were the details and that he would be by her side any time now.

      So many thoughts start screaming in her head now. She puts them to rest. She was a confident woman and most importantly she loved him and he loved her too. Yes, he did. No doubt about that or was there? She laughed it all away, opened her laptop and ordered her third coffee.

      It was over two hours now and yet there was no sign of him. She calls him up again and this time the phone was switched off. Now, she panics and is clueless as to what really happened. If something had really happened, he would have texted her. No texts from him either.

     Totally dejected and not able to fathom what really occurred that evening, she goes back home. A wedding procession made it's way into the hotel as she took her car out of the parking. "Oh! I wish....." she kept muttering to herself. Once back home she can't stop her mind from over thinking. Very depressed and teary she opens her social media account. There was a photo of Meneka dressed in her best at a wedding. It had been just posted. She was clueless all over again. Meneka, her college bestie and she were always invited together for any "wedding" kind of event, now-a-days as it was normally a common friend getting married. How come she wasn't invited to this one? Who was getting married? Anybody from Meneka's family maybe.

      No, it was Roopali, another close friend cum colleague and she had married Dhruv, her Dhruv today itself, in the same hotel they were supposed to meet. Yes, it was she who had introduced Druv to Roopali during a Diwali get-together. Roopali had coerced Meneka into silence. Apparently, Meneka's alligence layed with Roopali more for so many reasons; Roopali's brother being one of them.

      "Happy Valentines Day, Shona", she types one last message for the day and closes the laptop.