Raagavi's POV
On the way home I saw a flower shop, and decided to stop by. I entered the quaint little greenhouse, filled with the fragrance of all the flowers that bloomed there. I walked around, stopping to smell a flower sometimes, when the florist approached me.
"Looking for something in particular, dear?" It was a kind looking woman with salt-and-pepper hair, maybe in her mid-forties, with a beautiful flower arrangement in her hands. When she saw me looking, she said "Oh, this is for one of my customers, they're sending it to a long-lost friend in an attempt to rekindle the friendship. I suggested they give yellow roses, as they symbolise friendship. Flowers have their own language, you know?"
"That's interesting. What would you give to represent that you're sorry for something that happened because of you with heavy consequences and also show that you are coming in peace with an offer of friendship?"
"A bouquet of white tulips to symbolise forgiveness, white orchids to symbolise sincerity, lily of the valley to say 'this is the start of a new chapter in the relationship and leave the past behind', and finally yellow roses to symbolise your offer of friendship."
She flitted about picking out the flowers as she named them, arranging them in an aesthetic crystal vase. She handed them to me with a smile and said, "I hope you have a wonderful new beginning, dear." She added a card with the meanings on them.
Wow. Who knew that flowers have a deeper meaning hidden under their beauty? I thought. "Thank you very much, I learnt a lot. I'll be sure to visit you again sometime, Ms...."
"Call me Aunty Gloria. You're welcome here anytime, dear. Come over for a cup of tea someday and we'll talk about how your apology went. I hope he accepts your friendship." She smiled sweetly.
I paid her half the amount (cause Aunty Gloria insisted on giving it on the house, but begrudgingly agreed to give 50% off instead after I dusted off my bargaining skills), carefully loaded the vase into the car and drove home. Rudransh wasn't home yet when I arrived, so I took the opportunity to grab a piece of paper and wrote "I am sorry. Please accept my offer of friendship. I will try to communicate better" and folded it in half. I placed the note and vase on the table by his bed and left the room.
I was in my room listening to some light music when I heard a knock on my door. Rudransh stood there, still in his office clothes. He stared at me for a few seconds, when I realised I was in my shorts and shifted my legs nervously. He cleared his throat and snapped his eyes up to meet mine. "Would you like to join me for a movie?" he asked. "Sure. Go freshen up while I set us up." I said.
He left to his room. After making some popcorn for us, I sat down on the living room sofa and waited for him. He came and sat down beside me, now dressed in a light tee and shorts.
"I saw the flowers you left for me. The card was helpful with the names and meaning behind the flowers on it. They're nice, thank you. And I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have screamed at you, I was out of line. Now, what are we going to watch?"
I liked the way Rudransh did not hold on to how I behaved with him and did not accept his apology in the morning. "Anything is fine,'' I said.
"Shall I pick a classic, rom-com or thriller?"
"Which language?"
"Which language do you watch?'' he asked.
"Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, Malayalam, English, and sometimes Kannada." I said. "I also watch Chinese, Japanese and Korean sometimes."
He chuckled. "Which makes it even harder to decide on what to watch" He said with a shake of his head. I laughed.
"What about DDLJ?" He asked.
"Mmm, okay. What languages do you prefer to watch?" I asked.
"All languages you mentioned, plus Spanish and Mandarin sometimes." He replied and went to set it up on the TV. Around 8:00 pm, Savitri served us food and left. We brought it to the sofa and ate it while watching the movie."Since it is Sunday and all of you are off tomorrow, shall we invite our friends over for brunch?" Rudransh asked.
"Sure" I said. We paused the movie and went to inform our friends to come to our house tomorrow. I called Vaamika, Vrunda, Vaidehi and Shivika. I called Shiva too but he said he was had rotations tomorrow.
"How many of your friends are coming tomorrow?" I asked.
"Four of them," he said. "How about you?"
"Four of them,'' I said. "Another close friend of mine is busy with rotations." I added.
"Did they come to the wedding?"
"No he did not. He was busy that day as well."
If he's a close friend of yours as you say, then I would like to meet him some other time."
"Sure, you can meet him."
"Raagavi, the day before yesterday, I called Lakshman to ask if you went there, when he said you didn't, I was worried." He said.
"Lakshman forgot to call you to inform me that I came over there and also to inform me that you had called to enquire if I was there. I went there right after your call, it seems." I said. He just nodded in reply. No one spoke for the rest of the movie, and I had dozed off by the end of the movie.
Rudransh's POV
When I came home, the door was already open and I entered the house. Savitri was cleaning in the kitchen. I went and knocked on Raagavi's door. She answered it, dressed in a black t-shirt and a white shorts with black polka dots. I gawked at her long legs, maybe a bit too inappropriately, and she shifted her legs. That broke the trance I was in, and I invited her to watch a movie with me.
In reality, all I wanted to do was to apologize to her again, but I didn't know how to approach that without being abrupt. She agreed and told me to freshen up. I went to my room and immediately noticed how nice it smelled. I looked for the source of the smell and found a bunch of white flowers and some yellow roses in a vase. I flipped over the card to read about the flowers and their meanings, and was amazed at how thoughtful it was.
There was also a note from Raagavi, in her neat, cursive handwriting, apologising and offering friendship. I couldn't help but be touched about all of this, and made up my mind to apologise to her again and accept her apology as well.
I was also slightly embarrassed as my attempt at apologising now seemed a bit insignificant and it had also caused her pain, with the thorn prick. Stupid thorn for ruining my apology, it would've been perfect otherwise and Raagavi would've forgiven me.
I got changed and went out of my room to the living room, determined to apologise and get that part of the evening done before the tension ruined the movie night.
I really hope Raagavi accepts my apologies and also agrees to watch Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge with me, I've been wanting to rewatch it for quite a while now. How can she not? It's a classic and everyone loves it.
Later that night
I am glad we cleared up everything that happened yesterday. We made plans and invitations for brunch tomorrow, and I called and invited Karthik, Arjun, Dev and Aarav.
Then we continued to watch the movie. By the end of it, Raagavi was out like a light. She looked cute in slumber. I picked her up gently, trying not to wake her, I carefully walked into her room. I noticed she had made a lot of changes in the room. She had a lot of books on the shelves. She had put up some art on the wall. Her family photo was placed on the table. She was smiling wide in all the photos. She looked happy with her friends. I left after placing her softly on the bed.
I went back to my room and got into bed, but not before putting my nose into the bouquet of flowers to get a deep whiff.
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