Nakli Valentine Week

“I would like to be in a relationship with you.”

“What?!”, Kabir exclaimed, looking up at Maya, who was staring at him, with her chin rested on her hand, from the other side of the camera.

Maya and Kabir, college classmates, had just gotten over with their assignment due the next day, over a video call.

“Simple. I like you.”, she said, smiling with her head slanted to the side all the time without breaking eye contact.

“Where is this coming from? What kind of joke is this?”, Kabir asked, putting down the pen in his hand and his full attention on Maya.

“What is there to joke? I have already told you before that I check you out, and I have a crush on you. So, what is there to be surprised about it?”, she asked in a matter-of-fact tone.

“I don’t know what to say. Why did we get to this topic? How did we get to this topic?”

“Well, what do I say for that? Even I have no clue. I just felt like I should, and here I am confessing to you. Simple.”, Maya said, shrugging.

“And what is with your questions? All I need is for you to answer me. Yes or No?”, Maya said, pouting at how he was not answering the question of the hour.

“What is there to like in me? Why would you like me?”, Kabir said, trying his best to cover the nervousness in his voice.

“Relax. Why are you so nervous? Shouldn’t it be me, the one who confessed, be the one nervous here? Why is it reversed here? Relax, do you want some water?”, she joked while lifting her water bottle at the camera.

“Of course, I would be nervous. I was not expecting this. It came out of the blue. Let me take some time to process this.”, he said while taking a sip of water and clearing his table of the books.

“Do you like me or not?”, she said, crossing her arms and staring at him through the camera.

“See, I have never been in a relationship before this….”

“Neither have I been in one.”, she cut him off.

“Listen to me first.”, she pursed her lips and made the action of zipping her mouth before motioning for him to continue.

“I want to be in a relationship with someone I can be together with forever.”, he said, pursing his lips.

“Is that a No then?”, she asked, quirking her eyebrow at him.

“You never know. I might make you that someone who will be with me till the end.”, he said, shrugging with a smile.

“Too optimistic, aren’t we? We never know what will happen in the long run. Tell me for now. Yes, or no?”, she asked, staring straight at him.

“Can we skip to something else? I don’t want to talk about this.”, he said, looking uninterested in continuing on the topic.

“Fine. I will take that as a No. Just forget that I confessed to you, and I will not ask you out again. I gave you your chance.”, Maya said, harrumphing at the end.

With that, Maya changed topics as he wished, and they talked about random things for some more time before bidding each other good night.

Weeks passed by, and both got busy with their college work. Neither of them brought up the topic again. The matter was pretty much under the carpet until the start of the second week of February.

Maya looked at the rose in her hand and the guy a few meters away from her.

After looking back and forth between the guy and the rose, she looked up as if she had made up her mind and muttered, “Just one last time.”, before going towards the guy.

~Five minutes before~

The bell indicating the end of the hour rang, and everyone scurried away to the canteen to refresh themselves after a three-hour-long lecture.

Maya sat by her table, packing her things slowly while waving back to people who passed by her. Once she was done, she looked at the piece of yellow, looking out of place in her bag. She lifted her head to look at the guy sitting a few meters away from her, chatting with his friends.

“Just one last time.”, Maya muttered before walking towards him.

Kabir waved at her with a smile as she moved past him and his friends. She nodded at him with a smile in acknowledgment.

She looked at the locker next to her, and the rose in her hand. She looked around, like a thief, to see if anyone was there before opening the locker.

Looking at the locker with overflowing red roses and the yellow rose in her hand, Maya was at a loss on what to do.

“You have come till here. What can you not do?”, she muttered to herself.

Finally, Maya brought out a piece of tape. Taking a huge breath, she stuck her yellow rose on an inconspicuous corner of the locker before closing it and going her way for lunch.

“Mission successful?”, asked Niza, Maya’s friend asked as Maya settled down on the place Niza had saved for her.

“Mission completed. As for the successful part, I am not very sure.”, Maya said uncertainly, taking a bite of her lunch.

“It’s cool. It’s cool. You have done your part. Why overthink now? If he accepts you, then it’s good. If he doesn’t, then even better. You get to look at better choices. Anyways, I don’t know what good you see in him. He is just average, if I have to say. Nothing special.”, Niza said before stuffing her mouth with food while shaking her hand at me.

“He is good. You shut up and eat, or I will choke you in your food.”, Maya said, slapping the hand in front of her face.

After lunch, Maya sat through another hour of lecture before class was dispersed for the day. She did not share the class with Kabir and had no idea what he thought of the rose she had placed in the locker. She highly doubted that he would have noticed her rose among the sea of roses in the locker.

She packed her things and chatted with her friends for a few minutes before bidding them goodbye and making her way to board the bus back home. She wanted to know what his reaction was after seeing the roses.

On the way, she met up with Niza, who was ready to board the other bus heading in the other direction.

“Any updates?”, Niza asked Maya as soon as she came near her.

“Nope. I haven’t met him since then. We didn’t share any class after that.”, Maya said, putting her arm around Niza’s shoulder.

“Oh, okay. He is in the same bus as you, right? Check his reaction, then. Now take away this dirty hand of yours. Always using me as a stand and making me look short.”, Niza said, slapping Maya’s hand on her shoulder.

“Can’t you even let me lean on you? This is why I am going behind him and not you. And here you are still wondering about the reason. Tsk. Tsk.”, Maya said, taking a step back while shaking her head in disappointment.

“Get lost. I am not in the least interested in you anyways. All you do is make all the guys coming my way run away with this behavior of yours. Go away. Your Mr. Charming has already boarded the bus.”, Niza said, rolling her eyes at Maya.

“See you tomorrow. I have to go see him first. What if he throws tantrums while I am away?”, Maya joked before side hugging Niza and heading towards the bus.

After boarding the bus, Maya glanced at Kabir, who just so happened to turn her way. Seeing that he didn’t give much of a reaction, she waved at him with a smile which he reciprocated before settling in her seat, which was two seats before his.

“I heard that certain someone’s locker was stuffed with roses to the level that the whole row smelt of roses.”, one of Kabir’s friends said with his arm on Kabir’s shoulders.

Maya’s hand that was browsing through the playlist deciding which song to play, paused. Since her earpods were already worn, she decided to eavesdrop. Anyways, no one would guess that she was doing what she was doing.

“Stop it. I threw them away already.”, Kabir said, slapping away the hand on his shoulder.

Maya made a face of understanding, uttered an ‘oh’ before randomly playing a song and looking out of the window, no longer paying attention to anything else.

Reaching her stop, she picked up her bag and waved goodbye to a few of her friends before getting down and making her way home.

Maya stayed alone in her home. She did some chores before having her dinner. After dinner, she finished the remaining college work before settling down in her bed and texting Niza.

Maya:“Awake?”

Niza:“Yeah, tell. What did that guy tell?”

Maya:“Well, he was telling that he threw away the flowers.”

Niza:“I told you he was not worth it. You never listen to me. Are you still going ahead with your plans for tomorrow?”

Maya:“Of course. After all, it’s one last time.”

Niza:“Will you listen to me even if I stop you? You will stop only after you have learned your lesson.”

Maya:“Yeah, yeah, whatever.”

They chatted for some more time about random things and recent gossip before bidding good night.

“Yo, my dear beauty.”, Maya said, leaning on the locker next to Niza’s.

“I am in a hurry. I have a lecture in the next two minutes and for continuous two hours. Only the front row will be waiting for me if I don’t rush up. If you are bored, then go hit at your guy. I have to go. Bye, sweetheart.”, Niza said, rushing to her class without even closing the locker properly.

“Don’t fall and hit yourself. Walk carefully.”, Maya shouted at the disappearing figure that was pushing past people.

She closed the locker and made her way to the class. Her next lecture was, anyways, an hour later. She had lots of time in her hands.

Kabir and his friends were gathered around when she entered the class, discussing something. She went to her seat and placed her things.

“Maya, come over.”, one of the guys from Kabir’s group called her.

“Yes?”, she asked, going over to where they were seated at.

“Sit here.”, another guy said, getting up from the seat next to Kabir and getting himself another place to sit.

“Do you know?”, started Rez, Kabir’s friend, once Maya sat next to Kabir.

“What is it?”

“Kabir here got so many flowers yesterday. It was overflowing to the level that when he opened his locker, he almost got knocked out by the smell of them itself.”, said Rez feigning a faint.

Kabir rolled his eyes at him but made no comments.

“But, sadly for the girls who had kept them there, he threw them away.”, Rez said, making a pitying face.

“Oh, that’s sad. If he did that yesterday, then what about today? How many young hearts did Mr. Charming break today?”, she asked, putting her arm around his shoulders and wriggling her eyebrows at him.

“None.”, he said, shrugging and shaking his head at her.

“Awww. Is our Prince Charming sad at not having gotten a proposal yet?”, she asked, holding his face with both hands and shaking it.

“How about I go down on my knees like this and give you one proposal?”, Maya said as she demonstrated by going down and posing on one knee like she was about to propose. She got a round of hoots and shouts from around them.

“Get up already. Don’t do anything funny.”, Kabir pulled her up to the seat and looked around nervously.

“What are you looking around nervously for?”, she asked, dusting her hands.

“We said we will not bring this up again.”, he whispered, looking at her in the eye.

“What are you talking about? Why do I not understand? All I did was ask you whether I should give you a proposal to console your broken heart.”, she said, pouting at him.

“You know what I meant. Anyways leave it.”, he said, sticking out his tongue at her before turning away to glare at the guys who had been hooting previously.

“Yeah, whatever. I am going to grab a bite before the lecture starts. You want to join?”, she asked, getting up and dusting her pants lightly.

“Sure. But your treat.”, he said, ditching his friends and standing up. He put an arm over her shoulders and dragged her towards the classroom door.

“Yeah, yeah. Whatever. You only know to freeload.”, she said in a grumpy voice while she moved along without any resistance.

They rushed out of the classroom while the guys hooted and shouted in the back.

Maya’s lecture ended around the same time at which Niza’s ended. Maya went ahead to pick her up before heading to the canteen.

“I really don’t understand why they are trying to grill us to death so much.”, Niza said as her upper body lay sprawled on the table.

“Just two more years. Just make do with it. After that, you need not turn back. Now get up. Eat something.”, Maya said, nudging Niza’s hands away to place the food she had brought.

After gobbling down quite a few bites, Niza finally calmed down.

“So how was it? Did you do what you had planned? How did he react?”, Niza asked, drinking water to soothe her burning tongue.

“Though it was not what I planned. I did almost propose to him. But that idiot was a hell lot nervous. It should have been me. I was the one who had to do it in front of his friends.”, Maya said, rolling her eyes at the thought.

“Why would you be nervous? You make the ones around you nervous. The day when you become nervous is yet to be seen.”, Niza said grumpily.

“Of course. It is exactly because of that that I am here proposing to my crush while you are still checking out your crush like a scaredy-cat.”, Maya said, teasing her.

“It is still far better than getting friend-zoned by your crush.”, Niza said, harumphing.

“Have you gotten the chocolates for tomorrow?”, Niza asked, finally getting done with her food.

“Nope, I will get it later. Anyways I will be coming late tomorrow. So, I can get it anytime by then.”, Maya said, shrugging.

“You better remember to get me one, or you will not be alive to get a proposal from him on valentine’s day.”

“Oh, I am so scared. Someone, help me. Duh.”, Maya said, rolling her eyes.

The next day, Maya rushed up to Kabir the first thing in the morning after coming to college and put a box of chocolates before him.

“What is this?”, raising an eyebrow at her without making any move to take any.

“Chocolate. Duh.”, she said while pushing the chocolate box towards him.

“I know that. Why are you giving this to me?”

“Just like that. Isn’t it chocolate day today? I decided to give chocolates to all my friends. So, take one. Don’t take yourself to be special or anything.”, she said, rolling her eyes at him.

Right after she said that, the guys around them whistled and hooted.

“What is it, Maya? Yesterday you almost went down to propose to him. Today you are giving him chocolates. What is happening here? Any sparks that we are unaware of?”, Rez said, lifting his eyebrows suggestively.

“Nothing like that. I am just giving it to him as a friend.”, Maya said, stuffing a chocolate into Kabir’s hand.

“Then give us one too. Aren’t we, your friends too?”, Rez said as he came forward to pick one for himself.

“Oops. I am very sorry. But if I don’t give these to Niza, I will be dead tomorrow with no one to care about me. Care for me a little and let me off the hook. Bye.”, Maya said before running away from the place.

“Give me chocolates.”, Niza said, grabbing at the box of chocolates Maya had run away with from the boys.

“Hey! Hey! Wait. Take this. That’s not for you.”, Maya said, taking out a different box of chocolates from her bag and swapping it with the one that Niza was grabbing.

“Yeah. And they say sisters before misters. Lies. Authentic Lies. The irony of life.”, Niza said, shaking her acting as though disappointed with life.

“Stop with your antics and get going to your class.”, Maya said, pushing her towards the class.

After the classes, Maya met up with Niza as usual at the bus boarding point, chatting while waiting for the other students to arrive.

“So how is it going till now? Is Mr. Charming still out there charming everyone, or is it just you that has not yet gotten out of the reverie?”, Niza said, poking at the hand that was resting on her shoulder.

“I don’t know. I didn’t hear anything today. So, I guess nothing happened, or it is just me who doesn’t know it.”, Maya said, sighing.

“Not that it is going to stop you or anything. What are your plans for tomorrow? Are you going to buy him a teddy?”, Niza asked as she supported herself against the wall to balance the weight Maya was putting on her.

“I am going to present myself to him.”, Maya replied dreamily.

“What?!”, Niza shouted, almost losing her footing.

“Are you saying what I am thinking you are saying?”, Niza asked with her eyes looking like they would fall out, from how big she was stretching them.

“Of course not. Your mind is filled with dirty thoughts. I didn’t mean any of it.”, Maya said, taking a few steps back just in case Niza were to fall and pull her along.

Niza rolled her eyes before asking, “What was it that you meant by your words then?”

“Nothing. You will get to know tomorrow. Get going now. Everyone in your bus has arrived. See you tomorrow.”, Maya said, waving at Niza.

Niza harumphed at her before going towards her bus.

Maya chuckled at her antics and waited for her to board her bus before going towards her bus.

The next day Maya arrived early at the college with a bulging bag at her side. No matter how early she had tried to make it, she still encountered a few friends who joked, asking her how many teddy bears were there in that bag and whom she was going to give them to.

After impatiently waiting for the classes to get over, Maya slipped out quickly, the moment the bell rang, to get changed. There were barely one or two on the corridors by the time she was ready. Spotting her target quickly, Maya made her way and stopped in front of him, blocking his way.

Kabir was shocked for a few seconds before remembering the rumors he had heard from the morning and figuring out who it was in front of him.

“May I know what this human-sized teddy is doing here blocking my way?”, Kabir asked, looking at the human-sized teddy bear, aka Maya, in front of him.

“Well, this Teddy is here to deliver you your teddy.”, she said, handing him a small teddy bear.

“Why are you giving this to me, Ms. Teddy?”, he asked, pushing back the teddy into her hands.

“Well, someone’s secret admirer asked me to give it to you. So, here we are.”, she replied.

Kabir rolled his eyes at her before pulling out the teddy head that Maya was wearing.

“I am taking this. Keep that to yourself or give it back to the person who asked you to send it to me.”, Kabir said, pointing at the teddy bear in her hand and taking the teddy head with him.

“Hey! That’s my costume. I have to return it. Hey! Come back here.”, Maya shouted at Kabir while she tried moving as fast as possible in her teddy bear costume.

Looking at the guy walking faster than usual, Maya took a huge breath to control the boiling anger inside her. Trying her best to cover her face, Maya made her way to get changed out of the costume before someone recognized her.

“This is what you meant when you said you were giving yourself to him yesterday. It seems like he has taken away a part of you already. What do we do with the broken you?”, Niza asked, laughing from beside Maya, aka the headless teddy, inside an empty classroom.

“Stop laughing and help me out of this. I still don’t know how I am going to convince the shopkeeper. Why the hell would that idiot take the head? If anything, he should have taken this teddy bear. On top of that, I had to walk around like this. Do you know how embarrassing it was?”, Maya said, looking at the teddy bear in her hand.

“Nope. And I definitely don’t want to try it first-hand.”, Niza said, helping Maya out of whatever was remaining of the costume.

“So, now that you have done all these stunts in the past few days, what are your plans for tomorrow?”, Niza asked on their way out to the bus boarding point.

“What promise do you think can I make to him? All I can do is promise myself that I will give up after this week if he doesn’t show any reaction.”, Maya said, shrugging.

“I hope it happens soon. Oh god, please help me see this wish come true.”, Naya said, pretending to pray to the god, looking skyward.

“You just can’t bear to see me get into a relationship. I tell you. I have broken up with you already. Don’t be a clingy ex.”, Maya said, feigning a sneer.

Niza just rolled her eyes at that without giving any reply.

The next day went by with nothing eventful happening. Maya did not know what Kabir’s thoughts were. He hadn’t explicitly spoken about it except for the day she pretended to go on her knees. But that didn’t give away any of his thoughts either. After putting in all the efforts for the past few days, it was finally the weekend. She didn’t have to meet him in these two days. It was not like she had planned to pull any stunts in those two days anyway.

After planning meticulously over the weekend, Maya finally picked her courage on valentine’s day. She bought a bouquet of red roses to propose to Kabir. Although she had confessed to him on the video call, they had never talked about it seriously face to face. She was very nervous, but she knew that she would never get a chance to do it if she didn’t give it a shot this time.

She opened Kabir’s locker and placed the bouquet in her hand inside before shutting the locker close and leaving for her class.

She had initially planned to place a letter in the bouquet but decided against it. Just in case someone else dropped by his locker and came to know about it before Kabir. It would be very embarrassing.

As she walked towards her class, prepping herself for what she had to do later, she spotted a familiar figure from the corner of her eye. She turned around just in time to see Kabir getting down on his knees and giving a bouquet of roses to another girl. Maya stood frozen for a second before silently going back to where she came from.

She opened his locker and picked up the bouquet. Maya decided to take them back and place them in her locker to avoid misunderstandings on his behalf. Right when she was about to close the door, she spotted a withered piece of yellow from the corner of her eye. Looking at the withered rose stuck in the corner of the locker, seeming to have not been disturbed at all, Maya did not know what to think of it.

She didn’t know what the rose was doing in the locker till that moment as she clearly remembered him saying that he had thrown away all the roses. The only plausible reason she could come up with for it was that he should have missed it, which she couldn’t believe much. No matter the reason, Maya decided to take it back since it longer had a place here.

After placing both the bouquet and the withered rose in her locker, Maya made her way for the class. Thankfully, she didn’t share any class with Kabir on that day. Even though she had come to terms with the fact that he didn’t like her and instead liked someone else, it was still hard for her to come face to face with him immediately.

“Yo, lover girl. How’re the plans for today going on?”, Niza said, taking a seat next to her in class.

“Mission aborted?”, Maya said, pouting at Niza pitifully.

“Why? What happened? How did you suddenly get enlightened?”, Niza asked, shocked.

“Well, I saw him proposing to another girl in the morning.”, Maya said, lying down headfirst on the table.

“It’s okay. It’s okay. I am actually very tired from telling you that he is not worth it.”, Niza said, sighing.

“Professor is here. Now get up.”, Niza said, patting Maya’s head on seeing the Professor enter the class.

As soon as her classes got over, which happened to be one hour before lunch, Maya packed her things. Maya prepared to leave for her home, taking along the two items from her locker.

“What exactly are you doing here?”, Maya asked, looking at the girl who had tagged along, back home, at the last moment.

“Didn’t I say already? I am interested in listening to that Professor’s irritating voice today. I don’t have anything to do at home either. So, I decided to grace your house with my presence. Even though your voice is not any better than his, I will just bear with it for the sake of it.”, Niza said, making herself home on the sofa.

“Oh, and simple lunch will do. You need not make anything special to impress me.”, Niza added as Maya made her way to the kitchen.

“Any other orders, Your Majesty?”, Maya asked, bowing forward 45 degrees.

“Oh, that’s all. You can take your leave. I would like to be not disturbed for some time.”, Niza said, waving her hand without sparing a glance at Maya.

Maya rolled her eyes and smiled before going to the kitchen.

Whipping out a simple lunch, Maya enjoyed her lunch date with Her Majesty.

“Where is my resting chamber? Have you made the necessary arrangements?”, Niza asked, patting her round tummy after having her fill.

Maya rolled her eyes at her without giving her any reply.

“I will go take a nap. Don’t repeat this behavior again. I will let you off this time on account of the good food.”, Niza said, patting Maya’s shoulder before making her way to the guest bedroom upstairs.

After cleaning up, Maya went to her and settled on the bed for a nap too. Right when she was about to fall into a deep sleep, she was woken up by her mobile ringing. It was a call from Kabir.

“Mm…”, Maya answered the call groggily after tapping at it a few times.

“Where are you?”, he asked.

“Home...”, she replied after a few moments of silence, taking time to process what he was asking her.

“Are you sleeping?”, Kabir asked.

“Yeah. I will talk to you later.”, she said hanging up on the call without giving him a chance to talk and pushing her face into the pillow, wanting to get back to her dreamland.

The phone rang again in the next second. Maya knew whom it was without checking it. Without lifting her head, she patted around the bed to pick up the mobile she had thrown away. Accepting the call, she put the mobile next to her ear.

“Open the door.”, Kabir said.

“You have called the wrong number. Call Auntie if you want to go inside your home. Don’t disturb my sleep.”, Maya groaned in the call.

“Very funny. Come down and open the door. I’m waiting at your doorstep.”, he said before hanging up.

Maya threw away the mobile and got back to her sleep. After a few seconds, her eyes flew open and registered what was happening. She groaned before throwing the blankets and going down the stairs.

“What are you doing here?”, she asked, opening the door to let him in a while combing down her hair.

“I need your help with something. Get changed. I will take you somewhere.”, he said, pushing her towards the stairs.

“You only know to torture me.”, she said grumpily as she climbed the stairs with heavy steps.

After five minutes, Maya came down to the living room, all tidied up and a clearer mind.

“What are these? What did you steal from my house?”, Maya asked Kabir, pointing to the black plastic bag in his hand. These had definitely not been with him when she had let him in a few minutes back.

“You will know soon. Come now, let’s go.”

“Get on.”, he said, handing her a helmet before starting the bike.

Maya wore the helmet before climbing the bike and settling herself properly.

“Hold tight, and goooo...”, he said as the bike sped against the wind.

After ten minutes, they reached his house.

“What are we doing here at your home?”, she asked, pointing at the house in front of her.

“Too many questions. I will tell you. Have some patience, little miss.”, he said, dragging her by one hand and carrying the bag in another.

Entering the house, he dragged her to his art room before switching on the lights.

“Now we have to deal with something really important. Someone gave me a few things, but I seem to have lost some things in it. Help me find it.”, he said, placing the bag on the floor before making her sit and taking a seat himself.

“How will I know what you lost? Tell me who it was that gave you and what those things are. Then only will I be able to help you.”, Maya said, getting herself into the mood to help him find the things he had lost.

“Yeah, I am telling you. Before that, tell me what the yellow rose that was supposed to be lying in my locker doing at your home?”, he said, crossing his arms.

“What yellow rose are you talking about? How would I even know that you had a yellow rose in your locker? And can’t I have a yellow rose of my own? After all, you saw it in my home”, she said in a matter-of-fact tone.

“Oh, is it so? Then you might not know, but I had made a mark in the rose. Oh, just like this. Such coincidence too happens?”, he asked, pointing to the small ‘M’ in the withering yellow rose that he had taken out from the bag he brought from her home.

“So what? Yes, I took it from your locker. But it was mine, to begin with. I kept it in your locker when I felt like it and took it back when I felt like it. Should I ask you for permission? Please, no.”, she said, rolling her eyes at him, not much bothered by the fact that he had found out about the rose.

By now, she already had an idea of what other thing was there inside the bag he had brought from her home.

“Okay. Answer this then. Why didn’t you do a good job in your delivery?”, he asked, pulling a long face.

“What delivery?”, Maya asked, truly clueless this time.

“Of course, the bouquet that was supposed to be delivered to me today at college. By the Miss here.”, Kabir said, pointing to her.

“Oh, that. The person who asked me to make a delivery cancelled it at the last moment. Sad for you.”, she said, shrugging and making a sad face.

“Is it so? It doesn’t matter anyway. I have picked up the delivery personally. It doesn’t matter even if the other person is no longer interested in sending it.”, he said, picking the bag and taking out the bouquet.

“Now we have to find what is missing.”, he said, taking the rose and the bouquet in his hands. He headed towards the table at the corner of the room.

“Come here.”, he called out to her after placing the things in his hands on the table.

Placed on the table were the withered rose, the chocolate she had given him, the teddy head he had grabbed away, and the bouquet.

“We have the rose, teddy bear, chocolate, and the bouquet, but it’s not complete. It seems like the person who delivered it has forgotten to do the complete delivery.”, he said, looking at her with an eyebrow quirked.

Maya responded to his statement with a roll of her eyes.

“Don’t worry, I will personally help her get it done.”, he said, turning and taking a few steps towards her.

Maya retreated a few steps back at that.

He tugged Maya into his arms with a pull and looked into her eyes.

“What are you doing?”, Maya asked, shocked at the sudden move. She struggled a little to get out of his arms, only for him to tighten his hold. Her heart was beating hard.

“What do you think am I doing?”, he asked as his hot breath fell on her face. She didn’t believe what she was thinking was happening, was happening.

“Tsk. Tsk. Why is your heart beating so fast, Ms. Brave? Nervous? But I haven’t done anything yet.”, he said, whispering the last part in her ears.

Her face slowly turned red no matter how she tried to stop herself from blushing.

“Now you are blushing. Do you know how to be shy too? Why didn’t I see you shy when you confessed to me that day?”, he said, positioning his face in front of her, his eyes wandering and covering every part of her face.

“Which day are you talking about? I have no recollection of doing any such thing. And I am not blushing, and neither am I feeling shy. My face is red because you are holding me too tight. Let me go first.”, she said, pushing his hands that were holding her.

“Let’s take that you are not blushing. As for how you cannot recall when you did what you did, I will help you with it. Look at me.”, he said, lifting her head slightly and making her face him.

He stared at her eyes for a few seconds, and right when she opened her mouth to ask him if he was going to say something or not, he dipped his head and kissed her on the lips.

Maya was taken back and stared at his face that was pressed against hers. She forgot to respond until she felt a sting in her lips. She collected herself only to see the eyes that were initially closed were staring at her closely with emotions swirling in them.

“Do you remember now?”

Right when she thought of continuing to pretend to be dumb, he continued.

“I can help you more if you still haven’t remembered.”, he said, dipping his face again.

“I remember, I remember.”, she said, pushing his face away.

“My bad. I was thinking of going for another round to help you remember it better.”, he said, pouting at her, looking like she had wronged him.

“What are we doing here? What are you doing?”, she asked while pushing at the hands that were holding her close to him.

“Don’t you understand yet?”, he asked before turning back and taking the bouquet from the table of things.

He got down on his knees and put forward the bouquet.

“Maya, will you be my girlfriend?”

“No.”, Maya answered almost immediately.

“What? Why?”, Kabir asked, not expecting such an answer.

“You can’t even get me one bouquet to propose to me. You used the one I bought for you. And that is not even the main point. You just proposed to someone in the morning, and here you are in the evening doing all this.”

“Wasn’t it because of some fool that I am doing all this here? I was practicing in the morning when you came across me doing that. I was waiting for you the whole day only to know later that you left right after your class. And when I saw the missing rose, I knew something had gone wrong somewhere. I connected the dots and knew where things had gone wrong. So, I rushed to your home, forgetting the bouquet in the college itself. Anyways that bouquet was originally for me, so I used what was rightfully mine.”, he complained without getting up from his position on the ground.

“So, will you be my girlfriend now?”, he asked, stretching his hand with the bouquet.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever.”, Maya said, trying to act as nonchalant as possible, but her smiling face gave her away.

“I promise, you will be mine forever.”, he promised, pecking her forehead.

“Everything is complete right now.”, he said, hugging her close.

And began their real valentine week and what followed was their valentine years.

THE END

Behind the Scenes

“I keep feeling like I have forgotten something.”, Maya said, looking out of the window.

“You must be imagining things.”, Kabir said, pulling her into his arms as they sat on the windowsill in the room.

“Yeah, maybe. I can’t recall it anyways. Oh, by the way. How did you know that it was me that placed the rose in your locker?”, Maya asked as she leaned on Kabir, looking at the yellow rose placed in the vase.

“What do you think? It is, of course, because no one else would place them in my locker.”, he said, ruffling her hair.

“Liar. I clearly saw your locker brimming with roses that day.”, Maya said.

At the same time, Kabir snickered, making her look at him quizzically.

“I placed those just for you to see them.”, he said before pursing his lips and snickering again.

Maya smacked his arm at being teased by him.

“Then why did you not place it in the water already if you knew I gave it to you? Why did you have to make it wither?”, she asked, pouting at the sight of her dying rose.

“Of course, it is again because of certain someone here. Did you think no one would notice it if you eavesdropped with earpods on?”, he said, rolling his eyes at her.

“What eavesdropping? I didn’t do anything like that.”, she said, looking away guiltily.

“I clearly saw you straining your ears to listen to our talk that day. When you stopped hearing right after I said that I had thrown out the roses, I knew you had misunderstood. But it was not like I could come and clarify it to you at that moment. So, I just left the rose there in its place, waiting to show it to you.”, he said, hugging her from the back and placing his chin on her shoulder.

“Excuses for every damn thing. I really don’t know what to do with you.”, she said, harrumphing.

“Oh, please. I need not remind you about a certain someone who said she would be giving out chocolates to all her friends but in the end, only gave it to me. She even went one step ahead and told me not to take myself to be someone to her. Is it so? I am not special to you?”, Kabir asked, nuzzling into her neck.

“Who said I didn’t give it to my friends? I clearly gave a box of chocolates to Niza. Just that it was a different box.”, Maya said, trailing away in a whisper as Kabir watched her with a raised eyebrow and knowing eyes.

“Why do you know everything? And you pretend to know nothing in the end. You are totally doing this to irritate me. Hmph.”, she said in a high voice, pouting to hide her embarrassment, making Kabir chuckle against her neck.

“I love you, Maya.”

“I love you, Kabir.”

“Oh, I remember now –”, Maya was cut off by her ringing mobile.

*Ring…Ring…*

“Can you let me out of the house already?”

THE END