Valentine's Day

Aamir was lying on his bed, patiently looking at his gmail screen, with a hot cuppa tea in his hand. It was almost time. 'Work is definitely easier than this' he thought to himself. The afternoon's events were unfolding in his mind. It was two days to Valentine's day and one of his buddies at the workplace, Krishna, had arranged a big evening party at one of the best five star hotels in Bangalore as an auxillary treat for getting married to his childhood sweetheart in January. The bigger problem was that he had invited Aamir... and asked him to come with Alisha.

'No, I've to go to Coimbatore. I've got some work there', 'Dude, she is out of town', 'We are going away from Bangalore this time' were some of the dialogues Aamir had in mind to turn down Krishna's request; but ultimately, he blurted out, 'She doesn't like parties. I don't want to force her, please'. Krishna had convinced him it wouldn't be more of a party than a big buffet with light music (as opposed to heavy music) playing in the background. 'After all', Krishna said, 'We've never met or talked to Alisha! We would want to know who our best friend at office is going to marry, yes?' Aamir didn't know what to do; so, he just grinned, nodded and walked out.

He went straight to his room and wondered what to do. This was going to be embarrassing... not because Alisha didn't like parties, but because Aamir had never talked to Alisha either. Alisha was his classmate at college and Aamir was definitely in love with her, but what he did, that he now felt he shouldn't have, was lying to all his colleagues that Alisha was his girlfriend. Everybody at his workplace seemed to be committed and he didn't want to be left out. So, when Krishna found Alisha's pic in Aamir's wallet...

Krishna said, "Dude, Who is THIS? Doesn't look like your Dad or Mom to me!"

Aamir said, "Oh, that's Alisha." (shit, should have said another name)

Krishna: "Alisha who?"

Aamir: "My... My... classmate at college."

Krishna: (smiling widely) "And why is her photo in your half-torn wallet?"

Aamir: "I... I..."

Krishna: "Dude, you never told us about your girlfriend all these days! Great, man!" (shouts happily to the rest of the people in the room) "Guys, look what I found!"

Aamir: (Shit.)

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So, here he was, regretting every lie he told them from how he proposed to her to how they got in trouble with their families to how they are keeping things low for a while. Not to forget all the gifts he bought for himself and telling people, 'Oh, you don't know her! She keeps giving me something or the other'.

Sigh. Whatay tragedy his life was.

In reality, she was a classmate of his to whom he had never said anything except a very blushing 'Hi'. Both Aamir and Alisha were extroverts, but Aamir always managed to lose his voice in her presence. He never told his friends about this 'disease' though, and just cut out Alisha's pic from a class picture and kept it with him. She had added him in her gtalk list surprisingly, but not even that Hi had gone between them online. He had always remained in invisible mode whenever she was online, scared for some reason.

There were two ways out of the situation he got himself into. Feign sickness or urgency or breakup and keep away from the party (which he was most likely to do) and the second was to take this as an opportunity to make all his statements true. Looking at his screen, he knew he had nothing to lose by trying to talk to her. He could use February 14 to propose to her... or better, just invite her to the party as if they were going out for ever. After all, she was also in Bangalore. Over the years he had stalked(??) her, he learnt her every habit. In another few seconds, she would come online to talk to her brother in Georgia. In another few seconds... tick, tick, tick.

Nothing happened. In the next five minutes before she came online, he considered everything from faking an accident to getting into a real one. Then, like I mentioned in the previous sentence, she came online.

He moved his status from invisible to available. He hoped his life would also change from its current invisible mode. Aamir brought up all his courage and typed, "Hi". 'Should I press Enter?' He closed his eyes, prayed like never before for a few intense seconds and opened his eyes. Ta da, she wasn't online. 'Did she go offline because I came online?' 'Was it just a bloody accident?' He went invisible again, went to grab a glass of water and came back to find her online again. He mustered up his courage again and went online. Zap, she went offline again. He was sure now. He didn't want to disturb her if she didn't want to talk to him. He signed out and decided to feign a breakup after a brief crying session in the bathroom.

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Another chat window in gtalk, not very far away...

G: Hey Alisha
A: Hi G... How are you, girl... Wassup?
G: Ya good. So, temme, did ya find that Aamir guy from college? Know where he is?
A: No... I have his old email id, though. I am drafting a mail at the moment. Temme some nice words to make that idiot reply. And don't mind if I keep going offline. The power's freaking unstable here.
G: Ok ok.. Put in yar heart and type out a mail. Include yar phone number too. All the best dear! btw, he was kinda cute, wasn't he? :)
A: :)
A: Shut up.
Sent at 11:01 AM on Saturday
A: Oh, this is so embarrassing, G! He might not even remember me... and I'm gonna talk about love and all that. :( Sheesh. Am scared.
G: Awww, come on dear.
A: I think he won't remember me. :(
G: Just send it, Alisha... He sure will... Arjun told me he was nuts about ya back then.
A: What if he has a girlfriend now? :(
G: Who? That guy? Gimme a break! Send it before I come over and do it for ya.
A: I know!

Sent at 11:41 AM on Saturday
A: Okay, here goes nothing!

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Like every other fairytale, Here's wishing Aamir and Alisha one great happily-ever-after life!


PS:
Happy St.Valentine's day to everybody!

Those of you like Aamir, say it to the girl, NOW.

For those like me who still wonder when things will happen, or worse, 'if' anything will happen at all, keep a hand on your heart and All iz well bolo, All izz well.