Ram glanced at Priya from far and raised his brows, asking what happened—to know why she seemed so lost.
She raised a gentle smile and shook her head. She bent down her head and went back to prepare the order. Her gaze fell on the flowers.
'It feels nice to get flowers on Valentine's day.'
She cracked another smile. Damn, even the flowers reminded her of him.
As the last customer stepped out of the bakery, Ram turned the close sign to face the street. He tossed the apron on the table.
"I was never this tired," he said, and plopped on a chair nearby. He sat there, under the fan rotating on full speed, and almost doze off.
'If you are caring and supporting each other 364 days, then it's not wrong to take this one day to express and celebrate your love.'
Sara's advice on expressing how you feel kept running through her mind. Sure they weren't lovers, least he was a friend.
I should thank him, let him know what he did meant a lot, she told herself.
****
"Mr. Kapoor," she called softly and stood beside him. It awakened him.
"Pri... Priya." He squinted his eyes and got up. "I was... wasn't sleeping..." he stuttered.
"Last hour in the bakery was pretty hectic. It would have been suffocating for you," she said, guilty.
"Umm, no. No-" he stopped abruptly. His mouth fell open at sight of her, carrying a red rose in her hand.
Is it for real? Did she get it for me? Nahi, Ram. Kuch bhi. He glanced up at her.
She held out the rose to him and said, "It also feels nice to give flowers on Valentine's day."
He rubbed his eyes, still not believing his eyes.
"Thank you. Thank you for staying by and helping me." She motioned him to accept the flower.
"A... a rose? For... for me?" he confirmed. By now, he could hear his heart thumping against his ribs.
She nodded, smiling.
Dazed, he extended his hand and took the flower. He was silent for few minutes. Then he stared the flower. His lips curved into a smile as his mind wandered into reverie. Anytime he thought she couldn't surprise him anymore, she proved him wrong.
"Are you okay?" she questioned, realizing he was smiling to himself quietly.
He nodded weakly.
"Doesn't seem to me," she knitted her brows.
He caught a glimpse of the rose and spoke, "This feels different. This, you giving me a red rose on Valentine's day feels different. Not that I wasn't popular in my college. I was. Bohot ladkiyaan fans bhi thi..." he sniffled, then he looked into her deep brown eyes and held her gaze. "Par... gulaab... gulaab dene wali tum pehli ho."
She tore his gaze embarrassingly. She didn't feel it was a big deal to give him a flower, at least in head.
He added after few seconds, "Generally girls don't—"
"Why? Why does it has to be weird?" she cut him off. Deep lines grooved her face. "I was grateful; You like flowers; I gave it to you. Can't girls give flowers to boys?"
He crossed his arms over his chest, glaring at her.
"What?"
"Nahi. Finish it. You are yet to complete today's quota of fight," he taunted.
She rolled her eyes and stayed quiet.
"Thank you for giving me a chance to explain. Earlier I tried to say that it is my first time to get a flower from a girl, that too on Valentine's day. So I—"
"Lair!" she snapped at him. "You get tons of flowers and bouquets at every party. Even from women. Aur phool dena, propose karna inn sab par copy right hain aap ladko ka?"
His glare faded into a sigh. First, different and weird are not same. A literature professor would certainly know this. But who would confront her? Again, who would tell her the difference between business associates & guests giving bouquets at parties and a girl–Priya–giving a Red Rose on Valentines? Besides what could he even explain to her when he himself was overwhelmed with multiple emotions? When finally he took a moment to think and understand, she kept on rumbling about gender equality, social gatherings and what not. He twitched corner of his mouth, his eyes lingering on her.
"Thank you," he interrupted to stop her rant. He pointed to the flower. "Aur jo tumne thank you kaha uske liye welcome."
She flinched. "Drop it. We should leave."
"No yet." He caught her hand. "It should be here any minute."
Before she could enquire about anything he got a call. He talked on phone about some hotel and guided route to Bakery. "Ignore the close sign, it's for customers. Come in." He ended the call.
"Such a simple address and he couldn't locate it," he muttered.
"I am surprised. You remembered some address. Wait, not some, Bakery's address," she teased, "Not bad!"
"Sangat ka asar," he replied. They laughed.
The delivery guy entered the café. He saw them and jerked to halt awkwardly.
It was then they realized he was still holding her hand. They glanced at each other, next at his grip around her hand. Instantly he left her hand.
"Why are you still standing? Keep the parcel and go," he scolded to him.
The man nervously shook his head. He kept the bags on the table to his right and rushed out.
They stole and averted each other's gaze. Neither of them said another word for several seconds. The awkward silence between the two broke when Priya enquired about the parcel.
"Oh yes," he brought the bags. "Dinner for us."
"Dinner?"
"Yes. And I wouldn't take no for an answer."
"Thanks, but this was not necessary."
"It was." He moved closer and showed his watch to her, "It is quite late. By the time we reach, everyone would be asleep. You will have food alone; I will have food alone; better we have food together," he suggested.
He noticed the uncertainty on her face and added, "It's entirely a different matter if you do not wish to have dinner with me, or dislike me or my company, or if you want me to have food alone. It's alright. I mean why would you or anyone bother to think about me, what I wish? Who cares?" he muttered and gazed away knowing it is the only way she would give in to his demands without arguing. Or less aruging.
"This is emotional blackmailing."
"Is it?" he raised his eyebrow. "Yet I don't think it's unreasonable."
She stared at him.
"Priya." He inched closer. "It's Valentine's day. And like you said, this café is less famous, less crowded so I thought even I can spend some time with my someone special."
"Someone special?" she repeated in low voice. She felt her face flood with colour. What is this feeling? This time they weren't even in close proximity. Most importantly, WHY??? She was puzzled, feeling all those estrange emotions again.
Did he really say that I... I am...? she wondered, baffled.
"Yeah... yea... special... special friend," he covered up on realizing what he just said. "We are special friends and this is your café. Itna toh banta hain."
Special friend. He said special friend. Stop overreacting. Think straight. Concentrate, Priya. Concentrate, she chided herself.
"Priya." He snapped his fingers.
"No... no... Just friends."
"Huh?"
"Okay... let's eat... let's eat," she replied, recovering.
Together they set the table for dinner. She unpacked few containers. Paneer! Paneer!! Paneer!!!
Of course, his all-time favourite.
She unpacked few more containers. Mushrooms, cutlets, kebabs to balance out his Paneer special.
Obviously, he remembered your allergy too.
He asked her to bring something sweet — dessert — as he didn't order. "What's point being friends with the owner of the Bakery?" he giggled.
She brought him a plated of assorted muffins and cupcakes.
"Wait," he paused on spotting the chocolate truffle cupcakes. "Weren't we out of these? I told everyone we ran out of them."
"I was saving it for you," she blurted, "It's your favourite so..." her voice faded. Immediately, she busied herself in making space for the plate on the table. She didn't know why, but with him her actions were always outsized.
Ram felt the sinking in his stomach as his mind wandered into the old memories. Hungry, he grabs seat on the dining table. He notices either Shivi or Shubu holding their fists under the table to surprise the other with their favourite toffee they received at school. He remembers sometimes Nandini put some sweet/dessert back from her bowl so that Shivi and Shubu can have it later. He felt a weight pressed low in his stomach.
"Mr. Kapoor," she called him to draw his attention. "Sit down! Let's eat while food is still hot."
Unable to react, he managed to give a nod, his eyes stayed on her while she serves them.
Breaking the lengthy silence ensued, he enquired, "You didn't tell me why were you working alone? Where's Sara di or... Poo... Poorvi? They should be here. It is not your job."
"Poorva."
"Doesn't matter." He stuffed a paneer tikka into his mouth. "Speak up. Don't try to change the topic."
"Sara Di was with me. In fact, she left only sometime before you arrive. And Poorva, we hired her to help with Bakery not café. Thus, technically, it is not her job either."
"You could have called me," he insisted, "I would have arranged help. Tarun would have helped."
"Doesn't matter. Aap phir bhi aaye."
"Aana toh tha."
He took a cupcake and raised it. Further, he tipped his head, gesturing her to take a cupcake. She burst into laughing at the idea of raising a toast with cupcakes. He scrunched his eyes making a cute puppy face, requesting her to do it.
And however silly she finds it, she takes a cupcake.
He gently tapped her cupcake with his and cheered, "To this beautiful day. No. Night," he corrected, "To this beautiful night, and us."
"To us," Priya mumbled under her breath. A soft smile formed on her lips. It was harder to not be happy with him.
"Sorry. You wanted to go out but you're stuck here with me," she spoke after sometime.
"Galat. First, I am not stuck here with you. I chose to stay. Second. I wished to have dinner with you, it hardly matters where we have it. Now that we are having dinner let's just enjoy," he smiled, his blue green eyes glint in the candle light.
Wow. His eyes reflects different colors in different lights.
She mentally shook and ordered herself to focus on their conversation and not on his eyes.
"Is your Valentine's day like this every year?"
"Yeah, more or less it is like this."
"It must be upsetting to spend day like this... to be in this ambience, goofy couples all around... you're getting what I mean, yes?"
"Umm... not really." She chewed and swallowed enough to answer, "You see, I am working here for years so I got accustomed to all this. Besides, I am not much of a fan of all these..." She glanced around. "I think it's sheer waste of time, money, energy..."
"Bas! Bas!! Please don't start lecturing on this. Business and Marketing aspects of Valentine's day," he added, waving his hands in air.
"Fine. I will remain quiet and you speak. Afterall it must be amongst your favorite days, right?"
"Absolutely." He dipped a naan into the curry, but paused to speak. "You think it's just a day, but I used to plan it for weeks, pehele," he clarified. "Precisely from my birthday."
"Back then gift wasn't a thing. Those times Dad..." his voice cracked up as he speak, "dad used to give me some money as gift... on my birthday," he paused briefly, as if he went back in times, reliving the time spent with his Dad.
Dad. The ached seared through her. Despite the heaviness in his heart, his eyes always glistened while talking about his dad. Her heart ached for him. She didn't know what father's love was like but the way Ram talked about his dad she could only imagined how much he'd miss his dad.
He took some time to compose himself before continuing. He put the morsel into his mouth and said, "Among us Vik, apna Vikrant, had a bike. I still remember, from my birthday to Valentine's day I used to walk to his house and, thereafter we would go to college on his bike. Every day." He spooned some curry on rice, and put it into his mouth. "This way I used to save my travel allowance. In the end, I'd combine my birthday cash and this saved money to plan a date. This is how I celebrated Valentine's day... for almost three years," he scoffed, meeting her eyes. By then, she had stopped chewing, her eyes intent on him.
He hadn't planned to mention Vedika or talk about them, but somehow it felt easy to talk, open up to her.
His father died. He took responsibility of his family. They suffered huge loss in business; they were in debt. Vedika left him. He took over the business entirely without any support. She married Shashi. He immersed himself into responsibility and work. And while all this happened, Ram neither had anyone nor time to speak about her; to speak about them.
His friends were the only people he could really talk to. Despite this, he avoided to speak about this — Vedika & him — to them. Cause, they hated Vedika.
Although they distanced Vedika when she left Ram, they never held grudge against her. They believed she had her reasons; Compromise don't work always. They did not even hate her when Ram refused to move on, as it was his choice to not love someone else. But when she married Shashi, they began to flaunt their perfect relationship in front of him, and this angered them. Over time, it only worsened — they continued the show off in spite of knowing it hurts him – that the anger led to hatred; they refused to listen and he avoided to speak anything about Vedika.
With Priya, words came naturally. He was able to voice out his deep feelings — which otherwise remain unsaid — without any second thoughts. He knew she would listen.
"On completing education, I got an internship... After that I joined dad's business... Made Kapoor Urbans one of the best companies... But too late... Perhaps I wasn't fortunate..." his voice trailed off, disheartened.
"Or perhaps, she wasn't fortunate enough to have you."
He gave a weak smile. "Enough of me, your turn. Your memories... your stories."
"What stories? There are no stories, no memories. Honestly, I didn't like this day since childhood. Too much of show off. I never celebrated it."
"Not even with Neeraj?" he dared to ask.
'Priya, you should socialize.'
'I think you should work on your dressing sense.'
'Priya, groom a bit.'
'Look at Maitri! The way she carries herself. Maybe you can take some tips from her.'
'You were different than what I thought about you.'
'I thought you'd change some day.'
'I can't live with someone who has so much of baggage; someone who's scared.'
She kept on stirring the daal, ignoring his question, pretending to appear normal.
It was true. There weren't any stories, any memories. Looking back, she hardly recollect any moment when they went out on date publicly — in his social circle — as couple. Initially, she thought he was being a thoughtful boyfriend who was cared about his girlfriend's comfort zone. But when he broke up she realized he was not happy with the way she was. He was only waiting for the day she becomes the perfect girlfriend he wants; and when he realized that can't happen, he broke up.
"You may choose not to share," he added to not make her uneasy; spoil her mood.
"There is nothing to share. Even about him," she answered sternly, "We nearly dated for four years. First Valentine we hardly knew each other. Second and third was dinner, which we usual went on so nothing different, or extraordinary. Last Valentine I was willingly to celebrate, even planned a surprise," she blurt in flow, "but he was busy. A month later he broke up, and few months later..." she stopped.
"Hence I don't have any stories like you. Besides, I never liked this day, all this..." She poured some water.
"Kaise hoga? Your choice was pathetic. Gelled haired Neeraj," he hissed. "If anything, he should be the brand ambassador of hair gel."
She choked out.
"Wait, no. His face would make people hate hair gels too," he scoffed. "That useless will ruin the hair gel companies too."
She burst into laughter.
"You should have dated someone like me. If I was your boyfriend, you would have been in love with this day and everything related to it." He didn't mean to say that but it came out anyway.
She glanced at him.
He looked down, apologetic and scared.
"Or maybe you could have hated this day too, just like me," she added after few seconds, knowing he was only trying to cheer her up.
The corners of his mouth curled up. He shifted his eyes from the yummy paneer butter masala to her. "Never. I can never ever hate Valentine's day. So chances of you loving all this are higher than me hating it."
She looked down to focus on the food, fighting a smile. He was capable of making her smile in any situation. It wouldn't be a surprise if he makes her love Valentine's too.
****
Priya tied her hair and took her bag to prepare for tomorrow. She found his coat in it. She clucked on how irresponsible he was. "But it's not his fault," she defended. "It was so hot in the Bakery, no wonder he forgot he was wearing blazer," she defended.
She took it out and whined about the style of folding — rolling — the blazer. As she unrolled it, something fell out of his pocket. She was astonished to find the black Parker pen. She examined the blazer. There seemed to be nothing in it except the pen she gifted him. She took the pen.
'The celebration we had, the pastry, the pen... everything made my day. Today's birthday is one of the best I ever had. Thank you.'
Her mouth curved into a smile.
"Good Night Bhai, Bhabhi..." Sandy entered into the room.
"Pri Di, hey." She closed the door. "I had lot of fun tonight. The movie... club... it was fun. Akki bhai arrive early else I would stayed little longer." She enthused about the night spend with her friends. "We'll go sometime. Aap, main, Bhabhi, Sara Di... girls outing."
"What is that?" she pointed at his blazer in her hand.
"Nothing!" She slid it under her purse and diverted her attention, "Don't you have office tomorrow? It's quite late. You should change and sleep."
"Hmm." Sandy grabbed some clothes from cupboard. "I have a busy day tomorrow," she grumbled, and made her way to the bathroom.
She folded the coat neatly. Before keeping it back she caressed his blazer, reminiscing about time spent with him.
'You don't have to.'
'But I want to.'
****
He walked out of the bathroom. He was drying his hair when his eyes fell on the flowers in the vase on his study table.
'Lair! You get tons of flowers and bouquets at every party. Even from women.'
He chuckled, hanging the towel on the chair. He sat down on the bed. He picked up the rose from the medicine tray and laid his head back.
'It also feels nice to give flowers on Valentine's day.'
He rolled on his side and kept the rose beside him, gazing it. His smile split wide as the screen lit up with a new message. He knew it would be Priya without checking the phone.
Her: You left your coat in my bag.
She clutched the duvet wondering if she should have texted him at this hour; whether or not he would text back.
Him: Oops, I forgot.
He lied.
Obviously, he remembered. Industrialist Ram Kapoor never forgets anything, except names. He had it on his mind while having dinner, when they were in his car, even when he dropped her and she headed into the building.
Him: Should come early so that I can take it back from you?
He asked, even though he could follow his regular timing and still get the jacket back. It was an intentional move to pretend to forget his coat.
Since it was Priya who asked him to follow his regular timings and not meet in workspace when they, no, she fought; now it should be her to ask him to come early again.
He missed everything with her terribly. He missed their fleeting meet, walking together to the office with her, seeing her every morning.
Her: Sure.
She texted back in no time.
Him: Sleepy?
She was about to reply when Sandy walked in, "Pri di, you didn't sleep yet."
"I was about to," she replied and pulled over the blanket, hiding her phone under it. "Good Night!"
His grin wavered on seeing her go offline.
Obviously, Ram. She wouldn't stay up late night because you desired to talk. Soch rahi hogi thoda pyaar se baat ki toh chep ho raha hain.
His face saddened and he tossed his phone on bed.
Her: Not really.
She typed back — yawning — after confirming Sandy has fallen asleep.
He saw the light and jumped in. "Ram, you literally think anything! Just because she took some time to respond doesn't mean... It could be anything... power cut, WiFi issue, anything..." he muttered, giggling.
Thereafter the duo, not-so-teen Priya and dil ke darwaaze band karne wala Ram, continued chatting with each other.
----------------
What's Valentine's day even with their date? So I was working on all the Valentine's chapters for weeks but before I could finish writing they had a date on the show too — a similarly again!
I did some modifications, also thought to change or omit it but it would affect the chapters ahead so I let it be. I hope it wasn't boring...
Worst, the precap. The precap is good but it seems similar to the next chapter I am working on rn (hoping the episode and the chapter I'm working on will be different.)
And before I forget, thank you for all the comments; it makes my day❤️