The Love Assignment

Chapter 16

Vall's POV

Daniel expected us to meet again, in New York. New York the city that is always awake, the city that can make you or break you, the city that is 54556 square miles with its population of 19,651,127 and counting. It's been a week and there's no sign of Daniel yet. I mean, what was I even thinking.

Me! Meeting Daniel again, in this huge place. Not every one's a Cinderella, where in you'll have a guy search for you holding a glass shoe. At least Prince Charming had a glass shoe, but Daniel and me; well we didn't even have a slightest connection. As stupid as we were, we didn't even exchange numbers. Like I said, what in the name of God was I thinking? 

After we left the Cave-in, I dropped off Alex at his place and reached my apartment. The whole night all I could think off was the whole episode that took place, meeting Alex like a women, then Daniel, with whom I connected, everything seemed like a dream that I had to pinch myself to be surer.  

The next day, I was bombarded with questions from Stacey. In fact Stacey even forgave Alex for spoiling her dress because Alex did the impossible or that's what she quoted it as.  

Alex got me to like someone, she said.  

So yes, Alex was let off the hook, too easily. Lucky for him. After Alex finished his side of the story on how he got Kyle's booty kicked, it was my turn, and Stacey was not an easy person to let go. She wanted to know everything, every minute detail, like what we spoke, how I sat, how he moved. People say it's difficult to find a needle in haystack, but with Stacey, its the most easiest thing to do.

Explaining to her was exhausting. As sad as it is, Stacey was the one who pointed out that we never exchanged numbers. I on the other hand, played it down  saying that 'If we were meant to meet again, we would'. Right now, I feel stupid for even saying that cheesy line.  

The next day, I got a call from, Sarah. She wanted to know about our progress, and for once I had something good to tell other than the usual 'Working on it'. Sarah was super excited. Rumours are that there's trouble in paradise between Sarah and her Fiance and me finding someone, seemed like the happiest thing she heard in a while. And Sarah had a tough time, cooling the rumours that had fired up.  

It looked like people around me were more excited about my meeting with Daniel than me and my time was running up. I had just 45 days, yes, just 45 days to write and submit my final draft. And that slightly scared me. What if I don't meet him again?  

And now, as I walk through the busy New York street, I feel helpless, lost. The pressure of meeting someone I don't even have slightest the idea of existence was building up day to day. And the only information I knew about Daniel was that he was a lawyer, and New York has thousands of Law Firms. And where do I start searching. Daniel had suddenly become the most important person of my life, that too without his knowledge.  

Between all this mess, I got a call from my mom the other day, asking me to come over for my weekly dinner meet. My mom's name is Vanessa Walter and Dad's name is Larry Walter, and hence the name Vallerie Walter. Every week we had this tradition of meeting for dinner. My office was far away from my home, and making it all the way from home to office was a tough job. So I rented out an apartment closer to office. Dad died when I was 10 years old and my mom's everything I have. She's an independent woman, who never married again. Took over my Dads small cafe 'The Walters Dine-in' after he left us and built it into huge restaurant, opening it in two other places. With the restaurants running in three different locales, my mom had turned busy but she played her role well. Even though she was busy she made sure she was there for me, when I was sick she was there, when I was lost, she guided me through it, during my school meetings or my prom or my graduation, She was always there for me. Many thought that I would take up her role as the restaurant owner, but when I walked out sighting my interest in writing, my mom held me and pushed me forward. My mom's a very intelligent person; she worked hard to be where she is now and my role model. Many good suitors came forward to marry her but she always rejected them. According to her, love happened only once, and my dad had given her so much love that she could survive with it for the rest of her life. When I questioned her if she ever felt lonely, she replied that she always had me. I never understood the meaning then, but now, I realize what my mom was talking about.  

And this time for dinner, she expected me to walk in with a guy, otherwise she promised to set me up with one of her book club member's son. I didn't want that, I prayed to meet Daniel sooner. 

So much was running in my head that I didn't realize the star bucks coffee I was holding had turned cold. Winter was setting in and cold air blew past me, sending chills down my spine. I wrapped my arms around my body and walked faster to reach my office, which was three blocks away.  

As I made my way through the crowded streets, I saw a young couple walk by. The guy had wrapped his arms around the girl, holding her close, warming her shivering body. They had eyes only for each other and the world looked completely oblivion to them. The sight made me feel happy and sad at the same time. I stopped walking, taking in, the people around me. Every one of them had a story to tell. And all we had to do was look closely. May be I was thinking too much about the assignment, may be meeting Daniel isn't the only thing that could help me, I had to wait, wait for love to happen, whether its with Daniel or with someone else, all I had to do was wait.  

Just then, I heard a little girl squeal loudly from a few feet behind me. I turned around, saw that the girl was looking up. Apparently, she was holding a bunch of red balloons, and she lost hold of it. Her mother was trying to calm her. The cold air which was running slowly picked up fast. As though wanting to show its winning hand, it pushed all her balloons further away. I saw people trying to escape the gush of wind, and between all the fluttering coats, I saw a hand rise up. The guy who had raised his hand jumped higher, and caught hold of the escaping thread to which all the balloons were tied. The small girl must have noticed that some one caught her balloons for she stopped weeping and a small smile played across her lips.  

I knew I had to move away from there, I had to walk to my office. But then something held me to my place. I waited along with the small girl, for the balloons to be returned to her. With so many people walking, it was hard to make out the person holding her balloons. I was so engrossed in looking at the girl jump up and down with joy that I stopped noticing two shoes that stood in front of her. The guy bent down, picked up the little girl, and gave her back the thread of balloons that she gladly accepted and kissed him back on his cheek. As he dropped the girl down slowly, a smile played along his lips, a smile I was too familiar with.  

Just then the guy looked straight at me and called out my name. And all I could do was stare back and whisper "Daniel".

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Hey Angels...

For me its been a long time, coming back to wattpad and uploading the story on my own. Have been busy with my work.  All this while I had help from my bestie Diamonddew... THanks a lot...

But now I am back and you can expect an update every week,,,,,, yup I ll try my best updating every week.... 

Hope you like this chapter. I know its quite small, but I'll make it up to you guys...

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