a valentine triangle

                                                "What did i do? ", this single question banged my head all the way from hospital door to intensive care. The excruciating pain from the road accident a few minutes ago was now gone. Out of all numbness, i couldn't feel anything, but the words from Maria still bang my head. It's not like i love her, but still....... The pain is catching up to me and eyes are becoming blurry. Then i noticed the nurse's badge, ROSE.......A rose........which took me straight to last year "valentine’s day".

The day which everybody grow horns, wanting to make themselves special, so the special one they dream of say “yes” to their desperate proposal. But i was never one of those desperate souls in pursuit of happiness. But  my friend Arjun was one of those. As I accompanied him on his quest to find Maria, we met our rival Jose. He was not a good sign and messing with his love is like a “want to get hurt” sensation. Poor Arjun had no time to react as Jose came to us. He took the bouquet of red roses from Arjun and whispered,” if i see you near her today, you know what happens next?”.He gave me a made up smile and left.

         At least, it was quick for him. We were no match for Jose, but this day has a speciality which makes people take stupid decisions. Making drastic decision was never my thing. “Leave it, man. She won’t fall for him”, as i gently tapped his back. “yeah..I’m counting on it”. Those words told me that we won’t be receiving any punches from Jose today.

                   Jose is one of those “good guy turned bad” people. He was a hardworking student in college. Being rejected by his first love in the very first year of college, he lost sight of everything. He smelled of booze and always skipped class. Reason was probably hangover. Arjun on the other hand has been rejected plenty of times. He is never bothered by that. Also guys never call other guys “pervert”. And finally, he always see through me which made us best friends. Finally, Maria one of our college beauties .  We could smell “valentine” from miles away from college. Many faces lined up waiting for “the one”, so romantic. “look, there’s your Maria....”,pointing my hand towards left side of entrance.

”where?......  “,suddenly his gloomy face turned bright.As jose walked towards Maria with the stolen bouquet plus his own gift. The whole college eyes fixated on jose and waited for the judgement. Arjun looked like a “super villain who just conquered earth”. The judgement was so fast and Jose got humiliated. He even got a slap on cheek as bonus. within seconds, i changed my mind. It would’ve been better if she just accepted. Otherwise i won’t be hearing the same thing over and over again. He admired her bravery from college ground and all the way to classroom.

That evening as exceptions of that glorious day, we marched out of college. Suddenly, i heard someone call my name. It was her, Maria....she was standing next to Arjun with a shy face and a red rose .Arjun stood jaw dropped. Then she turned to me and gave me the rose, ”I’ve always wanted to say this, but still i...i.(after a really long pause).................I  LOVE YOU......, and she ran away. Arjun was still in that jaw dropped position. But i was frozen and stood emotionless. Suddenly, i got filled with lots of it. Jose saw the new development in the story and we became “martyr’s of love”. With a swollen face, we walked out. This time, i couldn’t see what he was seeing. Both of us didn’t utter a single word on the way home. I turned my face towards him like a robot  with a faked assuring smile.”It’s okay, i get that a lot. This is nothing......and good luck”, and Arjun left me. Reaching hostel, i crawled in like an earthworm. My roommates gave me quite a stare which i didn’t care.

From next day onwards, i saw her smile at me and jose never quit staring. Few days went like this. My choice of staying silent was making the competitors happy. One day on canteen, i saw her chatting with her friends. I finally decide NO for an answer and walked towards her. Arjun tagged in as well.

“HI”, i said with a low voice. All her friends giggled. It was so annoying .”Meet me here after class, okay?”

“Sure...can they come too?”

“no problem”

“what were you thinking, ALONE was the word, you moron “,arjun muttered just after we walked past her.”Just wait”, came my answer.”you are coming too”.

Evening, to my surprise she came alone. I caught onto Arjun’s hand to prevent him dumping me.

“Sorry for being late?”

“It’s okay, let’s have a tea”

As we sipped coffee, arjun dumped me saying he has to use the restroom. I couldn’t gather my strength to say anything. suddenly it came out.

“i don’t have a better way to say this......i don’t love you. Please leave me alone. So many are trying their best to get accepted by you...you...you should atleast consider them”

I left her motionless as arjun caught up to me.

“what did you say?”

“ i dumped her”.

My story actually ended here. Despite all this, Arjun was kind of motivated and i saw him propose to her every day. To my surprise, she called him.

“You even got her telephone number”

“What?!!!!!”

There were two “what’s” ;Jose’s was the other.

“Didn’t i told you to scram”, just then before letting jose complete his dialogue, Arjun landed a blow at him..That was my cue. I told his people to move out saying this was their battle and we were back to a standstill. The first punch made jose lose balance, and Arjun won. Next day, he came before me and told me that she accepted him. I was surprised but didn’t ask any details to preserve that happy face. For a whole month, he was chatting with her all night. He only talked about her and was becoming very annoying for me. Then again to my surprise, she came to me.

“Please tell your friend to stop calling me. It was a mistake letting him be my friend.    -You are still

Before even completing that sentence, i ran across the road to break up his dream of love. It’s always better late than never, but it took me two days to break the news to him. I got hit by a minivan.

“you know, she still....”

“don’t say it ,let me hear something nice”

“Then, i’m still trying....”

“you are hopeless and stupid”, I grinned as my parents came in.

After my recovery and semester exams, things got rebounded like a rubber band. She never lost hope and neither did Arjun. Jose was an exception; he left our cycle. Like him, i also hope to break this stillness as the next valentines’ draws near.