Valentine Rush

A early morning call from a married woman, but not married for me.

A frantic search for flower in the areas outside the Peripherique in Paris.

A red rose presented by me to a man.

All of this happening in a span of 3 hours. Isn't that quite a lot to accomplish? If you are thinking I lead an exciting double life, let me assure the truth is uglier than fiction. There is no double life, extramarital affairs and sexuality switch. I'm still an ordinary person who gets occasionally pushed into doing extraordinary things like most of us. One thing for sure. Since I thought the day would turn out to be an ordinary day, the events reaffirmed the fact I'm bad at predicting future.

The married woman is my friend's wife. My friend is in the same boat as me, living in Paris while the family is in India. So she requested me to get a red rose for him. There are a few amazing things which happened immediately after the request was made. I lost the ability to say "No". So I agreed. I also lost the ability to see the logical flaw in the request. The man is supposed to initiate this ritual, the whole shebang of flowers and bouquets, for a woman and not the other way. I lost the ability to think about the future. I am going to present this red rose to a man in a room full of people. Isn't that giving out the wrong signal to everyone in the room?

Cross the bridge when it comes. The favorite idiom to embrace when there is no plan. The whole endeavor was going to end up in a disaster. I was sure of this fact. But the whole endeavor was doomed before it started. Do you know there is not a single flower shop along the route I take to work? There is a RER station near my work but not a flower shop in it. Don't people buy flowers on their way back from work? I had to go all the way to La Defense to find a red rose. Not a flower shop in this romantic city? Isn't that odd? During this ordeal, I was more worried about the meeting at 9:30 am where the absentees are highlighted on the minutes of the meeting probably to induce guilt. Yes, I work with interesting people.

Once I found the location, I was worried about transporting it. All the roses had a big stem. It wouldn't fit in my bag. So I asked the lady at the shop to cut the stem small. I also think I did something right. Holding the red rose waiting for the lady to attend to me, I was awarded a lot of smiles from beautiful women. Of course, it was the rose and all those smiles reassured me of my choice.

All is well that ends well. I made it in time for the meeting. I gave it to the man in front of a room full of people. My sexuality is safe, questioned but not suspected anymore. To tell you the truth, it ended nearly well. The focus shifted to my friend and his wife. Everybody is in awe of their love and reserve to overcome hurdles. I was overshadowed by the cute love story. There was neither any pat on my back nor invites for drinks. I'm the guy who made it all happen. At least, buy me a drink. Be friends with me. I'm cool...

Tags: Musings,Valentines,Red Rose

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