Mr and Mrs Unromantic

Shopping

It's been two weeks since Venkat and Sreeja met. They have not exchanged their phone numbers yet. Sreeja too did not think or care much about this proposal as she thought of not developing any hopes until they are officially engaged at least. 

Within 2 months of joining a new company , this all has happened, so she does not have any close friends to share about any of this and decided to inform her Team only during Marriage.

The onsite process which was getting delayed for some or the other reasons made her get worried , her engagement was planned somewhere after 2 months tentatively. The following week Venkat and Sreeja along with their family went to TNagar for engagement shopping.

First they went to select saree for Sreeja. She is not someone who has good taste in dress selection and started randomly looking in to everything which was shown to her. Her mom and Latha involved themselves in to Saree shopping who got diverted to select a saree for them forgetting Sreeja. 

Venkat, his father and Sreeja's father sat on the nearby chair discussing things in general as they don't have anything to say in Ladies section. Subhi pulled Venkat and adviced him to go select a saree for his would-be. 

"Why me di? I don't even know how to select something for me and you are  asking me to select it for her" said Venkat with a confused face. But subhi did not listen to any of his ramblings and dragged him by his hand forcefully to where Sreeja was standing.

Subhi dragged him so fast and made him stand near Sreeja, because of which Venkat slipped his leg and was about to fall on her . At the same time, Sreeja felt someone coming near her and turned towards her left.

Venkat somehow managed and balanced himself by holding the table on his left side thus avoiding any embarrassing situations in the public place. 

Seeing Venkat very close to her suddenly , Sreeja felt little awkward. After few seconds of thinking whether to move immediately or not , she moved towards her right making space for big china wall to appear. 

Venkat felt disappointed and threw an angry look at Subhi for making him face this situation. He went to her and shouted. Subhi who was laughing started teasing him again " you should behave yourself in public place Venkat. don't you know how to behave with girls?".

"hello, nanga lam ponna patha manna pakara parambara di" said Venkat by lifting his collar.

(I am a well behaved gentleman who don't see girls)

"Ya ya I know about your gentle mannerism. I also knew that once you saw a girl in matrimony and  you continuously followed her via chat and email asking for alliance using our Dad's mailD without his consent."

"hey how did you know that? and did you tell to our Dad?" panicked Venkat. 

"Just chill bro, I did not. But let's leave that all. Coming to the point.Usually girls would like her fiance to select a saree for them. You need to utilize this opportunity to do some romance...went on Subhi who  started giving lots of tips to Venkat on what to do and how to be romantic. She then dragged him again to Sreeja, but Venkat withdrew his hand and said he would walk alone not wanting to face the same situation again.

Sreeja  was not able to say which is her favourite color or what type of saree or design she is expecting. Usually it is her mom who would select or she relies on the person who accompanies her. The worst case, the salesperson is her dress selector. 

She saw Venkat and Subhi coming towards her. Seeing Sreeja Venkat stopped 5 metres distance away from her. When she came to know the siblings  have come to help her in selecting the saree, Sreeja felt happy. She even called Venkat to come near and select. Venkat who was astonished at first then went near Subhi who was standing between him and Sreeja.

While the siblings were busy selecting a saree , making the salesperson roll his eyes because of the work Subhi gave,Sreeja went and sat along with her father. Subhi who turned towards Sreeja to show a sky blue saree , saw her sitting along with her father and Father in law. Seeing Subhi looking her , "you guys better do the selection, I am ok with anything. I always want someone to select things for me, thank god you both offered to help me" said Sreeja with a smiling face.

Finally they chose saree for all the ladies, while the Gents went to the Men's section to select their dress. Subhi made sure that Venkat's attire matches the color combination of the Saree selected for Sreeja.

Both the families went to a nearby restaurant to have their lunch and then continue with the shopping. Subhi and Venkat decided to have a table for all the youngsters and separate table for the elders. 

Seeing Sreeja sit on a nearby table , Subhi nudged Venkat to go and secure a place near her. Venkat who was hesitant at first , then went near her table. When he was about to sit, his mom called his name making him panic. She asked him to go wash his hands first and then eat. When he came out after washing hands, his face fell and pulled his chair and sat.

After ordering the lunch he got up to move from his place but not knowing what to answer when his father asked where he was going, he silently sat. Yes, Venkat was sad because he saw their plan got changed. All the ladies sat in one table and the men took another table in the second line. He saw Sreeja talking and laughing with Subhi comfortably. 

He felt Sreeja was not comfortable talking to him nor took any initiative to know his as well from the beginning. It is always he who seeks for any opportunity to be with her or talk with her and thought her as unromantic person. But he ignored all those feelings realising that it would take time to gel with him than his sister.

After finishing the lunch, they went to jewellery shop to purchase ring. This time Venkat thought he himself would choose a ring for her and walked to where she was standing. While he was on way, his father and Sreeja's father took him to another section to select bracelet and ring for him. 

Sreeja thought of selecting a couple's ring for both of them together but after seeing Venkat move to next section, she felt sad and lost interest in selecting a ring. She thought he is more unromantic than her. Here Venkat was also in the same situation. He did not want to do shopping with all Men's association but no chance for him.

Finally all the shopping got over, everyone went to a nearby coffee shop. This time Venkat was stubborn to move the elders out of their way and he succeeded in that. He gathered all his courage to spend time with her alone in the coffee shop and sat opposite to her in the table not knowing what and how to initiate the conversation. 

Subhi who was standing near the counter Queue to buy token , signaled him with her hands to talk. She even made Sreeja's brother to come along with her to give them alone time. 

**************************************