My Birthday Promise (Editing)

Love Actually

Almost over 53 hours passed away but I was still unsure about how to respond to Alisha's friend request. I was standing on my apartment's balcony which faced a beautiful green park in the east. It was my best place in this apartment. I jerked upward to inspect the sky. I was examining the clouds, which were getting darker by every passing minute, when thunder erupted. The wind slowly picked up. It didn't take long before rain hit the ground.

It was drizzling when Rutt called me. "Hey," I said, smiling.

"Hey, sugar," she said, excitedly. Her voice sweet and soft as an angel singing. "You know... it's raining!"

I loved the way how sweet she sounded when she got excited.

"I know that. It's raining here too." I said, sarcastically.

"Arey, it's not what I mean. You know how much I love rain. Let's go out on a drive or something."

"Drive sounds good, and romantic."

"Could you please come and pick me up?" she asked.

"Okay," I asked. "Where are you?"

"Gym."

"Okay. I'll see you in ten."

***

At times, during our three years of relationship, I wondered how Rutt always squeezed in some time to hit gym every day. She was a fitness freak. Truth be told, she has not always had such envy-inducing figure. During her childhood she was a fat kid and, thus, was a victim of constant teasing from her classmates. One day when she had enough, she locked herself in her room, and cried her eyes out. When she got tired of crying, she opened a book and started reading it. While reading it she came across a line in the book which changed her life forever - 'Determination is power'.

She hit gym the very next hour. And from that day onwards she never skipped it even for a single day. I always appreciated her healthy outlook and passion for fitness but to me she was much more than just a perfect body. She was caring, affectionate and amiable. In fact, she was the most caring and affectionate person I had ever met.

When we first met I wasn't even sure I wanted to see Rutt Sharma again. We were at this common friend's party. I had come to the party with Aman Verma, my best friend. He was expecting this hot chick, named Malvika Saini, he had met the other day. Malvika was accompanied by Rutt, her best friend. Soon after introductions, Aman took Malvika by hand and wiggled her way onto the dance floor, leaving Rutt and I together. The place was packed with the crowd and the electronic music was thumping at a shout-to-speak level. The chicks were in high attendance, each one primped up and prepped up, ready to be noticed. And then there was Rutt dressed in a lose T-shirt and jeans and sneaker. She had thick eyebrows, her hair looked messy, plus she was a little chubby.

I was checking out other girls when she said, "Check 10:30." I was like, "WHAT?"

"C-H-E-C-K 10-30," she shouted, pointing towards the bar. "SHE IS TOTALLY CHECKING YOU OUT."

A noticed a girl in sexy red dress sitting across at the bar throwing frequent glances at me.

I laughed and said, "YOU NEVER KNOW, SHE MIGHT BE CHECKING YOU OUT." She burst into laughter.

It did cross my mind to ask the girl in red for a dance but I thought it would rather be rude to leave her alone.

"I WOULD RATHER PASS," I said. She looked at me for a while and then looked away on the dance floor where Aman and Malvika were grooving to the latest bollywood numbers.

I ordered another round for us. There was a brief moment of silence.

"IS THIS LIKE A DATE?" She said, smiling big. I chuckled.