19 Dates

Chapter 33

Dev waited for Shalini until lunch & they met again in the afternoon:

Shalini: "Dev I have an amazing surprise for you."

Dev (excited), "what's that? Have you bought me that Rado watch I had told you about?"

Shalini, "not yet but I will get that very soon, as for now I have got you a date. Your date number 4, considering that you have already had three in the past."

Dev (in an irritated tone), "Shalini, why do you do such things? I told you I am not doing this stupid thing. Actually it is my mistake, I never should had told you about this thing."

Shalini, "oh come on now, don't cry like a girl. Be a sport Dev, I am so convinced that this 19 dates thing is going to work out for you."

Dev, "I am not going on any date Shalini, so please tell that someone that it is not happening. Let's have our meal; I am very hungry & sleepy. I want to go home and rest as soon as possible."

Shalini, "OK OK, let's eat then."

Dev left for home after the lunch & finally he got to rest. It was only late in the evening that he got up. He spoke to his dad about the discussion he had had with Rajat regarding his mom. Mr. Sinha was very happy about seeing this change in Dev. He called Rajat & thanked him for this. After dinner at home with his dad Dev was checking out for a good movie to watch. He got a 10 p.m. show, asked his dad to join but Mr. Sinha refused. Then he thought of Shalini, he was feeling a little bad about the way he had spoken to her. Dev called her:

Dev, "hey Shalini there is this horror movie with a rating 7 on IMDB; let's go for 10:00 p.m. show what say?"

Shalini, "Neeraj is home today but then let me see what I can do."

Dev, "fine let me know in half an hour, I will come to pick you up if you are able to manage."

In next 15 minutes Dev got a message from Shalini that she was ready for the movie. He left for her place & after reaching there gave her a call. She asked him to wait for a bit, as he was waiting, he saw Shalini & Tanuja (Tanuja from chapter 1) coming towards him. He was confused about why Tanuja was there with Shalini.

Shalini (with a big smile on her face), "hello sweet heart, so glad that you both are finally meeting like this."

Dev was confused & he was only staring at Shalini trying to understand what was going on.

Shalini, "hey Dev, aren't you going to say hello to Tanuja? See I had told you Tanuja not to look this good, Dev is confused about what compliment would suit you best. (laughing)"

Dev (stammering), "hey Tanuja, yeah you are looking great. Just give us a moment, I have something personal to talk to Shalini."

Tanuja, "yeah sure."

Dev, "are you insane? What is she doing here? And why are you not dressed?"

Shalini, "because it is a date dude. What am I going to do coming on a date with you guys."

Dev, "this is so not done. You are getting me into this crap."

Shalini (laughing), "please control your reactions, you are scaring Tanuja And besides I think she deserves one date with you after all this struggle & wait. You should be thankful; I got you a date, now it is one less from 16, which makes it 15 more to go."

Dev, "you are a monster Shalini."

Shalini was not able to control her laughter looking at Dev's reaction, now Dev had no option but to take Tanuja for the movie along with him.