19 Dates

Chapter 1

On a rainy day, it was the first shower of Monsoon in Mumbai & as people who live here can relate to, at least the beginning, rains definitely bring a lot of relief. To make it even better this one came on a weekend. Dev's best friend Shalini was off for a weekend getaway to Lonavla (it is a highly commercial hill station close to Mumbai) of course she wanted Dev to join as well, no not with her, she has a boyfriend Neeraj, they have been dating for almost four years now. Well Shalini wanted Dev to accompany Tanuja, a common friend, who has a serious crush on Dev but then as usual Dev  refused. He said he wanted to watch a movie, he was waiting long for the release of this one.

Yes, this is Dev, a good looking smart guy, working as an investment banker, freelancing actually but making good money to afford a very decent living. The only sad part about this information that I shared, well not sad from his prospective but from the prospective of many young girls who have been desperately wanting to date him. Dev is very happy being single, in fact he has been single all his life, he is 27 now and lives all alone. His parents separated around 10 years back, when he was 17. He keeps in touch with them but mostly with his dad. Well on this particular subject I will shed light in the later  chapters. So yes, we were talking about Dev, he believes in a straight edge lifestyle. Spends a great deal of money on travelling to adventure destinations, love adventure sports, loves food & cooking too, has a fabulous collection of expensive watches and finally movies. All of this which sounds so good but he shares it with no one else. Travels alone & goes for movies alone  as well, unless sometimes Shalini agrees to tag along. Shalini is the only person who has access to the secrets of his life & to an extent. Never  talks or makes propaganda of his personal life. 

Shalini on the other hand is definitely a peoples person, she loves meeting people & making friends. She is in a serious committed relationship with this guy Neeraj whom she met in a party. Dev hates him totally because he restricts Shalini from doing a lot of things that she loves doing. Well Neeraj is insecure and hates the fact that Shalini is so close to Dev, but then that in one aspect of Shalini's life in which she expects Neeraj to not interfere at all. They have had fights & arguments over this many times and Shalini always prevailed. She is very much attached to Dev and they have a chemistry which no one else can relate to or understand, it is very precious for both of them. She has been with Dev right from the time they  were in school. Shalini was the only person who felt the pain that Dev felt because of his parents separation, she knew always that it was one aspect of his life that made him feel like a failure & to rise above it he excelled in everything else but always felt beaten in the end. 

Speaking of now, Shalini is going to be back on Sunday night & Dev has the weekend all for himself, just as he prefers & he has a long to do list, about which he is very excited.