Be My Valentine <3

Be My Valentine <3 - Part 1A

12th Feb 2013

7:00 pm

“Thank you for coming here Raj.” Sneha said, her voice as sweet as ever. I was seeing her after almost a year, but nothing much had changed about her. The only physical change that I could see in her was that her hair had grown longer. And she had gotten another one of those piercings done in her ears.

“How could I have not come.?” I said.

I picked up a glass of champagne from a waiter’s tray as he carried it past me. I didn’t take much time to gulp it all down. And then I picked up another. Even if Sneha was feeling any sort of awkwardness with me around, she was doing a good job of not showing it.

“You look beautiful. Sneha. As always.” I said.

Sneha was either embarrassed by what I had just said, or she was feeling awkward. But whatever she was feeling underneath, she hid it quite comfortably behind that magnificent smile of hers.

I had wanted not to come here. I had wished not to be a part of these proceedings. I didn’t want to be near her. But I was given no choice. I was forced to come. And so I decided that as long as I was here, I was going to have some fun (at the expense of others).

“Your parents are seated over there.” she said pointing towards the front row seats of the hall.

“I know. Dad and Mom are always the first to arrive for any party or function.” I said.

I didn’t even want to meet them or see them right now, and there were several reasons for that. One of which being their involvement in the plan to bring me here tonight. Emotional blackmail by family is one of the most effective and deadliest traps in the world, and I unwittingly always fall for it.

Slowly, she enquired “Raj. You came alone.?”

Although I had anticipated such a question, I hadn’t expected it coming from her. Plainly, I said “I didn’t want to bring anyone, I couldn’t. You won’t understand, but it’s better that way.”

She was stumped. And she remained silent for a while. I don’t know why, but I had changed a lot in these last few years owing to the sudden and unexpected changes in my life. After all that had happened, and all that I had been through, I had learnt to be blunt and straight-forward (well, at least most of the times).

“Yes, I don’t understand.” she said after a while. She looked around, probably searching for a reason with which she could excuse herself from having a conversation with me.

I decided to give her that reason, and asked “So where is the groom-to-be.?”

She looked at me with those jade green eyes of hers, the very same ones which I had fallen in love with once. I knew her eyes were trying to tell me a million things, but those weren’t the things I wanted to hear from her. I reassuringly said “Don’t worry Sneha; I am not here to spoil anything.”

My parents had asked me to come here, my brother had asked me to come here, Sneha’s parents had asked me to come here. But the one and only reason why I had decided to come here today was because Sneha had asked me to come here. And I just couldn’t bring myself to say no to her. If she was happy, I at least had to act as if I was happy.

I felt a pat on my back. I turned around. The man in the dashing black tuxedo hugged me tightly. I hugged him too, but probably with lesser warmth and enthusiasm than him. As we separated, he said “Thank you so much for coming brother. This party just wouldn’t have been the same without you.”