“When love waited for a Hazelnut chocolate”

The magical words “I love you” flashed in front of her eyes. She stared at her phone in disbelief. It was a happy-shock for her to read this message from him one random evening.

A story from some time ago…

She was his sweetheart from school. However, they never interacted much except for exchanging a few shy-hellos and goodbyes after class.

A couple of years later, her profile popped up on Facebook and he acted on his instinct by pinging her with “Hello Topper”. A handful of messages were exchanged to discover that both of them were now in the same city, away from their hometown. The obvious next action was to exchange phone numbers and meet.

There were no second thoughts as they decided to catch up over coffee the next day. Surviving in a new city by themselves was a good life lesson. Both of them had left their shy personalities behind. The eagerness to meet someone from back home was strong.

They had a lot to catch up on. She was pursuing her articleship to become a Chartered Accountant. He was in the middle of his bachelor’s degree in commerce. She was living in a girls hostel. He was staying in a rented apartment with friends.

From hereon, they met every weekend to explore a new eating joint or a food item they had heard about. The foodies enjoyed hogging as much as the time spent with each other. Gradually, their outings became less about food and more about spending time together.

She found herself growing fond of him. Many times she thought of telling him how she felt, but then ended up keeping her thoughts to herself. She knew he liked her too. She wanted him to be the first one to say it. She dropped many hints and at times pushed him to the edge, but he never played along.

The happy shock of love…

As much as she was elated to read his “I love you” message, a streak of disbelief still crossed her mind.

She immediately replied: Do you really mean it?

No reply from him .

She sent another message: Are you serious?

Still, no reply from him.

They met over lunch the next day. She was excited that now she will finally get to hear the three magical words from him. In the past, she had given him multiple hints, hoping he would express. He always brushed off those occasions by making a joke of it or just ignoring. But today, he had put himself in a spot by messaging her the previous evening. He had communicated his feelings, but was having a nightmare acknowledging the same to her in person.

His mind argued: What if she says no? Maybe she was teasing me all this while. Maybe she looks at me just as a friend. Will she laugh and make me feel like a fool? Is it too early?

On the other hand, she was waiting for a clear sign. She wanted him to speak out. She wanted to hear the three words. She wanted to make sense of all the longing and feelings she had for him. But he just would not say anything further.

She: Let’s talk about the message you sent last evening.

She: Did you send it by mistake? Do you really mean it?

She: Say something.

She: Ok, I will make it simple for you. Just give me a Kit Kat chocolate, if you sent the message by mistake. Or, give me a Cadbury hazelnut if you really meant it.

She thought: Maybe I should not have put him in a spot. Maybe I’m forcing him to speak.

She continued to speak…

She: I think what you should really get me is a Kit Kat. Just end the suspense.

He walked away to the coffee shop counter and came back with something. On one hand she was upset with herself for putting him in this place, afraid of being disappointed. On the other hand she wished hard for him to come back with the right chocolate.

She couldn’t look at him in the eye. She was looking down at the table.

He placed 4 hazelnut chocolates on the table, one after the other.

He went down on his knees and said “Mujhe yakeen hai ki main sirf is liye janma hoon ki tumse pyar kar sakun … Tum sirf is liye, ki ek din meri ban jao” (picked up from the movie Dil Chahta Hai, which he had watched a million times).

This was so unexpected.

Her eyes were wide with joy. Her face lit up with a broad smile. It is difficult for her to contain her happiness. She immediately hugged him and held his hand tight.

They were looking into other into each other’s eyes. The world around them and just turned magical.

#PuppyLove #MinionLove #ChocolateLove