The Second Chance – II

“All the characters in this story are fictitious. Any resemblance to anyone is purely coincidental”

Here’s the link to the first part of the story: Part -1

I started getting a bit restless. I didn’t know what to do, I tried calling her for the next one hour with no luck. I considered going to her place, but I didn’t know what to expect, so I wasn’t sure if that was the best move. Right then I got a text from her: “Sorry I was in a bad mood, I will talk to you tomorrow”. Something felt weird, she yells at me for nothing and then apologizes for it. One thing was clear to me or so I thought, I had nothing to do with her bad mood. It was something else. I was convinced it was probably okay to show up at her place after all.

I needed to have enough ammunition to deal with the situation. They say diamonds are a girl’s best friend but I would say flowers are a cheaper alternative(Btw, I can be killed for this statement). I went straight to a florist and asked him to make a bunch of roses. I couldn’t give a bunch of red roses, so I asked him to mix it up with all colors, but have more reds than any other color. I put the bunch in my backpack and started to her place.

I was a little nervous when I got there and rang the door bell. Her mom opened the door.  I introduced myself as Priya’s friend, Sid. She said “So you are Sid, Priya talks about you all the time”. She invited me in.  Then I asked her if Priya was home and she responded “It’s one of those days, she doesn’t want to meet anyone”. I asked “where is she now?”. “She is in her room upstairs but I’m not sure if she is going to come out. You can try knocking her door”, she said.

I went upstairs and knocked her door. A quivering voice responded,  “Go away, I don’t want to talk to you today”.  I said, “I’m stubborn too, I’m just going to wait here until you come out”. She didn’t respond for about five minutes, but then she opened the door.

“I’m not really in a mood to talk to anyone today”
“Me neither, but someone ruined my day with a stupid response on the phone. Btw, you look so ugly when you cry.”
“How dare you say that? That’s why I didn’t want you to come in”
“Ok, ok! Now will you tell me what’s happening.”
“Nothing!”

I thought I have to start playing this ‘nothing’ game now. When a girl says there’s nothing, it just means that she is not going to tell you very easily. You have to ask for it again and again until she is pleased enough to tell you about it. So, I know I’m not going to get the answer very soon, but I have to give her the impression that I’m trying hard enough to get it out of her. In this particular case though, I really wanted to know what was going on. After playing this game for a bit with not much success, I decided to use my ammunition. I opened my backpack and gave her the rose bunch. I don’t know what is it about the flowers that makes her so happy, but she couldn’t hide the smile on her face. Now capitalizing on the moment, I said “I’m hungry, I didn’t even have breakfast in the morning because of you. Can we please go out and get some lunch?”. She lightened up a bit and said, “OK give me a few minutes, I will get ready”.

We had lunch at a nearby restaurant. She didn’t speak much; I realized she was hungry as well. She later told me that she skipped her dinner last night as well. After lunch, we went to a hang out place near the lake and sat on a bench facing the lake. It was a cloudy day, adding a bit of gloominess to the mood. The place had a few fast food joints and it usually gets crowded in the evening. But now, as it was just an hour past noon, there wasn’t much of a crowd except for a few college kids, who presumably bunked the college, roaming around with their back packs.

Then she started talking “A few months ago, I was introduced to a guy by one of my friends at a party. That guy somehow got hold of my mobile number. He called me and started asking me out for dinner. I politely said no. But when he tried a couple of times after that, I gave him a strong warning. He never called after that, so I forgot about that matter. Yesterday, my friend called me and asked me if I knew that guy. I told her what happened. She then told me that she got to know from someone about how that guy was making lewd comments about me and my character. I was completely taken aback by that. I don’t know why guys are like this, I didn’t even do any harm to him”. She had tears in her eyes, I could see that she was hurt badly.

Then I looked into her eyes and said, “Let me tell you something about this girl I know. She is extremely beautiful, to the extent that she won a beauty pageant in her college, she is the gold medalist of her undergrad batch, she is a good dancer, and she has hosted some large scale events, while working for NGOs. Her name is Priya. That’s you”. Her face started to lighten up a little bit, I continued, “and then there is the guy you mentioned, who is no way an equal to you, but just probably wanted to boost his ego by going out with you. But when you said no, he just did a sour grapes. That’s his only way out of the situation. Now, let me tell you one thing, given what you are, you will always encounter these kinds of people who will try to bog you down, you can either get pulled back by them and spoil your mood or just ignore and not let them impact you in any way. It’s a choice you have to make”.

She came closer to me, rested her head on my chest and said “thank you so much”. That moment, I felt really good about myself, I should have said something right. It started to drizzle a bit, so we got up and started walking towards the food court for shelter. Then she suddenly stopped and asked “Why were there more red roses than any other roses in the bunch you gave me”. I was totally caught off guard, I stuttered and only could manage “Is it?”. She started smiling already. It sometimes amazes me how many things women can keep track off.

The next few days were probably the best days of my life, we were together for at least 12 hours every day, roamed around in all the different places in the city and she even let me ride her bike. She is the best thing that could have ever happened to me. If you ask me whether I deserved her, I would say I don’t know, but I know one thing for sure, I can make her smile. I didn’t have a lot of time left, I wanted to tell her that I really loved her, but I’m afraid of what’s going to happen, given the past. I don’t want to lose her again, but I had to do something. So I called her up and said that there was a birthday party on Thursday(I would be leaving for US the next day), which I wanted her to come along. She said yes without even asking any questions.

It was Wednesday night I was checking all the travel documents for my trip back to Seattle on Friday. I got a shocker when I realized that I had to leave the next day itself. I had a 9 AM flight, so I had to be in the airport latest by 6:30 AM. I called up Priya and told her about it and needless to mention, she was annoyed and hung up the phone on me. I had to pack all the stuff overnight, so I wouldn’t even be able to meet her. I tried calling her a couple of times, but she wouldn’t pick up the phone.

Priya speaks …
I was so annoyed that night when he called to say that he had to leave the next morning and wouldn’t even be able to meet me before he leaves. I don’t know when I would see him again. I felt as if a part of me was leaving. I started imagining how my world would be without him and I felt really lonely. With him, I could be myself. He was interesting in his own way, he would acknowledge his flaws even before you could crib about them. He knows himself well and more importantly, I think he knows what makes me happy. I wouldn’t even have expected this would happen, but I have a feeling that I’m starting to love him. But I’m not sure how he feels about me now, I’ve made him promise that he wouldn’t propose to me again. Now I really wish he does.

I spent the entire night thinking about him. I could hardly sleep, I checked the watch, and it was already 7 AM. I looked at my phone only to see a ton of missed calls from him. So, I called him up. Before I could say anything at all, he started off. “Priya, I know you are pissed off with me, I will make it up to you, I promise. But I really need this help from you”. I was still mad at him, but I just said “go on”. “Remember I told you about this party I was going to take you to. I selected a gift for that party and I need you to go to that shop and pick it up. They should have it ready by now. You need to pay for it.  One of my cousins will call you around 11 AM and will let you know where to hand over the stuff. I will text you the details of the gift shop. I got to go now, will talk to you later, sorry once again, don’t be mad at me!”

Though I was mad at him, now is not the time to show my anger. He will pay for it, though. In the mean time, I got a text message from Sid with the gift shop details. That shop would only open around 10:30 AM, so I had a lot of time. A part of me was hoping Sid stayed back if only for a day, may be his flight gets cancelled or he forgets his passport: he is quite capable of that. I told myself that if he happens to stay back for some reason, I’m going to tell him what’s in my heart. But then quickly I realized its not going to happen, he might already be on his plane now.

I reached the gift shop in time and told Sid’s name as suggested in his text, and the lady at the shop came back with a gift wrapped item. I was thinking what it could be: A photo frame, I thought at first, but its way too lighter for that. A bunch of posters was my second guess, but I didn’t see anyone gift-wrapping posters that way. It cost 250 bucks, but I still couldn’t make out what it was! I paid for it and right when I was about to step out, I got a call on my phone. A guy who introduced himself as Ravi, requested me if I could hand it over at the party venue, which was just a few minutes walk away from the gift shop. I told him I will be there in another 5 minutes.

I reached the venue and as I entered it, I felt something weird. The party was supposed to be tonight, but the arrangements seemed far from complete. One of the staff members there approached me and asked if I was Priya and directed me to a conference room a little inside. I entered the conference room and was amazed at how beautifully it was decorated. It had a red theme and it was filled with a few hundreds of roses decorated in different styles. The conference room itself was very small so I didn’t know what kind of an event could be hosted in it. But someone definitely had taste.

Then I saw someone approaching the conference and to my astonishment, it was Sid. He was dressed in formals and looked very handsome. It was one of my cribs that he never wore formals. But I didn’t understand what he was doing there, he was supposed to be on the plane. On one hand, I was so happy to see him, but on the other hand, I was still mad at him. But before I could say anything, he started off “I will explain everything later, but first let’s look at what you got for me”.

“What did I get for you?”
“The gift lying there, I guess that’s for me!”
“Seems big, what’s in it?”
“Why are you asking me, you should know”
“It’s your gift, you bought it for me right? Stop arguing and come over”

I stood next to him as I was also curious as to where he was going with this. He unwrapped the gift packet, in his usual clumsy way. But then he stopped half way and said, “actually this can wait for a bit”. Then he made some gesture and all of a sudden artificial snow flakes started coming down in the room. For the next few minutes it was absolute magic. The lights dimmed down and screens on the three walls of the room started projecting my pictures capturing my different moods. Then suddenly the room went dark and a spotlight came up at the place we were standing. He took my hands into his hands and looked at me straight into the eye. I felt like I had no shield at all, he was looking straight into my soul. Then he said “Priya, I know I’m taking a big risk by doing this, I might lose you for the rest of my life, but if I don’t do it, the regret of not doing it would haunt me forever. I love you and I want to be with you for the rest of my life. Now I just can’t imagine a life without you, you have filled my life with the little nuances you have brought into every aspect of my life. I understand that I’m by no means the perfect match for you, I can never be, I have too many flaws, but I do know I can make an honest effort to fix them. I may or may not succeed, the only thing I can promise is that I would at least put it in an honest effort. I will do everything possible in this world to make you happy, after all you are my princess. I could love you for a lot of reasons, but the one that stands out is the fact that you make me happy just by way of being yourself”. Then he closed his eyes, paused for a bit and said, “I love you Priya!”. I was mesmerized by his tone when he said that, and reacted almost impulsively “I love you too Sid!”. Then he opened his eyes, which were moist by then. Before I could think much, he reached out to kiss me and I couldn’t resist. There are some feelings in this world which can’t be explained but just need to be experienced and this was definitely one of them. We hugged tight for a while, we didn’t talk at all, there was no need to talk.

Then Sid announced, “This isn’t over yet, open the greeting card”. The greeting card was huge and it opened up into a huge heart shape which had our photos printed on it. And some tunes started playing. As it turns out, they were the tunes of my favorite music tracks hand picked by Sid. I was totally loving it. We spent another 30 minutes there and left. I took pictures of the place, for those were going to make for long lasting memories.

Sid speaks…
I’m just glad how that day turned out. I left for US the next day, but I moved back to Hyderabad in a couple of months and we lived together happily ever after. I had my doubts when I decided that I would go full on with the ‘filmi’ proposal setup, I knew that I just had a 50-50 chance. But then when life gives you a second chance, you got to squeeze every bit out of it

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