Day 02 (15 February 2007)

Slap Day

The good old Valentine's Day is not that simple any more. The wild imagination of our generation and the brilliant marketing team of Archies Ltd. have given birth to the concept of "Valentine's Week". For those of you who are not aware, the week comprises of some adorable, some funny and some completely bizarre days ranging from Chocolate Day to Kick Day!

Enough theory. Let's get back to the story. My Anurag-visiting days were long gone. Holidays had ended and I now had a good 7-8 hours of school to see and adore Khushi. I still had not managed to get into a proper conversation with her. Chocolate Day had come and gone, with me distributing Bar-Ones to the entire class just for an opportunity to give her one. Valentine's Day too had come and passed, with me roaming around with a rose in my pocket all day without having the courage to actually give it to her.

Unlike the heroes of common love stories, who make it big on Valentine's Day, I got my chance on Slap Day. After waiting for hours and slapping every other classmate, I finally ran into Khushi, slapped her cheek gently and wished her a happy Slap Day. She did not react at the moment or wish me back.

Later that day, while I was fooling around with my friends, she came up to me with a serious expression and said she wanted to talk to me about something. *my heart skipped a beat*. She wanted to talk to me ALONE. *skipped another beat*. Scared and tentative, I walked out with her. This is the conversation we had while her friend stood and giggled at me:

    Khushi     : What you want is never going to happen. I am not that type

                     of girl.

    Me           : What do you mean?

    My Mind   : Damn! This is not going to be good!

    Khushi     : Anurag has told me everything. Don't even think about it. I

                     don't want to get involved in any such thing. 
    Me           : *speechless* 
    My Mind   : ANURAAAAG! ****censored****

She walked off with her giggling friend. The rest of my day was spent in Devdas mode. Even my teachers were surprised to see a naughty chap like me remarkably quiet in class.

But the day was far from over. At the end of the last class, after the daily prayer, Khushi came up to me with a smile, offered her hand and said, "Just because we can't be lovers does not mean we can't be friends". I shook her hand after a slight hesitation and came up with a rather cheezy line, "Now that we're friends, I'll convert us into lovers". She smiled, touched my cheek with her gentle hand, wished me a happy Slap Day and left.

I spent the entire evening day dreaming with my hand on my cheek.