This is an excerpt from one of the chapters of my novel.. read and let me know how it is :)
August 29, 2014:
Diana was late for our date, and I hated
the wait. As she got down from the auto, I went near KFC's door and opened it for
her [inspired from various ‘first
impression’ lessons I had learned]. I asked her to place the order (‘ladies
first’) and then we took our food to the first floor. We took a corner seat and
started to chat as we ate.
I observed that she was a silent listener.
She didn’t talk much except for a few nods, bites and ‘hmms’. She gave me an
impression that the chicken on her plate was the most important thing in the whole world at that moment. Anything that I said fell on deaf ears. As she
continued to give her meal that undivided attention, I decided to surprise her by
gifting a key chain. She took it like it was the bill, glanced at it, kept it aside and continued to eat.
Without showing my disappointment, I gifted
another small memorabilia after ten minutes. She smiled and finally took her
concentration off the chicken. The smile was momentary, but the hogging
continued. I should have done better, I thought. Then, I gave her a big bar of
“Cadbury Dairy Milk Silk”, and her expression totally changed.
“You should have given me this first,” she
said and began to open it hurriedly to eat. I anxiously gazed at her lest she
was going to lick it the way they show it in the ad.
I gave her three more small gifts that I
had bought to woo her, one by one every ten minutes. Gradually, to my relief, she began to enjoy
the gifts more than the food, and more than… you guessed it, ME!
Once we finished our meal, I asked her to
go and wash her hands as I prepared to present my final gift for the day.
I looked around and saw a few couples busily
attacking their plates. I slowly took a rose bouquet outside. I thought for a
moment whether I should propose like a hero by going down on my knee, but then,
I dismissed that thought immediately. I felt KFC was inappropriate for such a
brave act and decided to place the bouquet on her seat.
She came back nonchalantly after a minute and
was about to take her place when she saw the bouquet. She was bemused. Her eyes
glistened with joy and out came a drop of tear! Her happiness was visible in
every inch of her body, but she tried her best to conceal it. I wanted to hug her;
I know she wanted it as well. Then I looked at her and our eyes hugged each
other. It felt divine.
After several calls from her mother, she reluctantly
decided to go home carrying back the memories of her chicken, the bouquet and
her man. In her eyes, finally, I saw the woman who would be mine forever very
soon!
