19 Dates

Chapter 54

The lady turned around & gave him a cold look, she sat in her car & left. Dev called out for a cab & asked the cab driver to follow her car. The lady's car stopped by & she got down heading straight to her apartment. Dev quickly followed her calling out, "Shalini". She turned around & noticed Dev was quickly proceeding towards her so she rushed towards the security & informed them that Dev was a stranger and he was following her. She asked them not to report it to the cops but ask him to leave the premises & never return back. So the security stopped Dev & asked him to not return or else he would be reported. He kept telling him that he knew her & she was refusing to recognize him because of a past event but then he noticed that the situation was only getting worst so he left for his hotel. The lady stood at the window & kept looking until Dev was gone. Dev returned to his hotel room & called his dad:

Dev, "she refused to recognize me dad (with tears in his eyes)"

Mr. Sinha, "son don't be disheartened."

Dev, "you know dad what she means to me, after all these years when I finally was able to reach out she refused to even recognise me."

Mr. Sinha, "Dev that day when it all fell apart for the both of you I had seen so much pain in Shalini's eyes. More for you Dev, I know she is doing this to protect you because she does not want to complicate things in your life. My best advice would be that you respect her decision son & return back to your life."

Dev started to cry listening to these words spoken by his dad, he was fighting with himself to quite chasing her. He kept the phone & then tried to rest but he could not so he pulled out his dairy & started writing:

"Shalini was equally happy & sad that day when she had come to see me off at the airport. Everyone around wanted me to make the most & regain all my lost happiness but Shalini knew already that I would make the most, her faith & confidence in me was remarkable, most of the time much more than I could ever have in myself. When I came to London, life's comfort was gone, everyday was a challenge & I had to have a plan ready to make my way though it but then this was good. I preferred it this way, every single day I did my best at my work, I strived to let out my passion in the best possible way and very soon, so much sooner than I had ever imagined I was successful. I had everything in my life & I had become the same old Dev who loved his life & was skeptical to share it with anyone except family & Shalini. I spoke every single day with them just as I had promised & there Shalini was convincing me every single day not to give up on the 19 dates adventure. I was still far from that number 19, considering the last one; I guess I had dated around 5 ladies. No more, the rest of my life I wanted to be a single man but then like Rajat said 'I leave it on the magic of 19 dates to convince you' the magic did really happen.

I was discussing an important project with our company CEO when this amazingly gorgeous girl walked into his cabin without knocking the door, now considering the kind of person he was I was quietly waiting to see what would happen & then she called him dad. In a moment all the possibilities running in my mind stopped. She told him that she needed help in getting a gift for one of her newly made Indian friend who was celebrating her birthday that evening & she had no clue what to buy for her. For obvious & equally absurd reasons my boss looked at me and told me to help her buy something. I had no option not because I was seeking an opportunity to impress him but then I genuinely respected this guy. I was avoiding any kinds of conversation with this girl but then she was very talkative & I always thought Shalini was the only one lady I knew who could talk so much. Her name she said was Amelie, I told her mine, we checked out a lot of things that she said possibly her friend would like, poor girl she was so confused but then I did not have much time for this so I asked her if she knew which region in India her friend was from, she said she had no clue but then she could share some pics of her friend to help me get some clue. As funny & weird this had to get for me, initial few pics that she shared made no sense because nothing specific was defining which part of India her friend was from & then this one pic popped up wherein the girl was standing right besides a car that she owned back in India & the number plate read: PB 19 XX XXX, so there was a minor clue now, her friend possibly was from Punjab but then dam the number 19."

Diary continues in the next chapter