I'd only gone to the library to read a book recommended by a friend, but never in my wildest dreams had I thought that there'd be a blackout with a torrential downpour outside, and I'd be stranded with the prettiest girl I'd ever seen. She broke my reverie by sighing loudly. I walked up to her.
She (Sighing): "Oh no!"
(The state of alertness which darkness engenders, brought out the spontaneous guy in me.)
Me (Curious): "Are you afraid of ghosts?"
She: "What? No......I mean..... I don't believe in such stuff!"
Me: "Me too. But, I don't know why, whenever I am in an old, large, spooky, dark place like this and it's raining outside, the probability of existence of ghosts seems very high."
She: "Spooky, large, old, dark." (She emphasized on each word.)
Me (Clueless): "Huh? Yeah, that's what I just said."
She: "No! Your order of adjectives was wrong."
Me (Digesting slowly): "Order... of.... adjectives. Hmm. Is that what this place does to you?"
(She chuckled.)
She: "Hi! I am Rose."
Me: "Rose. The noun or the verb?"
(She chortled again.)
She: "Look, my parents were not that grammar conscious!"
Me: "And look how you turned out!"
(We both laughed.)
Me: "I am Aditya."
(The librarian brought a candle. By the look on his face, he seemed as freaked out as me; watching two people talk in complete darkness. As opposed to ghosts, crazy people were very much real!)
Me: "Well, I have heard about candlelight dinners, but candlelight reading sessions are new to me."
She: "Don't get any ideas, mister."
Me: "But I thought people came to libraries for ideas, for enlightenment!"
She: "Funny of you to say 'enlightenment' during a blackout."
Me: "Hey! Let's not undermine the efforts of the candle. These babies have been very useful to people, you know; to help them bond, have romantic conversations."
She(mischievously): "Are you flirting with me?"
Me: "Yeah. Rule No.1 of Professional Flirting:When you want to flirt with a girl, praise a candle instead!"
(She giggled.)
She: "What are you reading?"
Me: "Your eyes! The most beautiful pair I have ever seen. Now, I can see the flickering of the flame in them. Those glittering pearls have the power to make time stand still!"
She(overwhelmed): "Wow! That is the most wonderful thing anyone has ever said to me. Now you are definitely flirting with me!"
Me: "Well. I took the last line from the Sci-Fi book I am reading."
(She laughed really hard.)
She: "You plagiarist!"
Me: "Hey! I just gave credit to the source!"
She: "But you used it to try to impress me before mentioning that!"
Me: "So you are impressed by me now?"
She: "Didn't you hear the word 'try' ?"
Me: "Okay, let's see, I am in this candle lit room alone, with a beautiful, intelligent girl who has a good sense of humor and it is raining outside.You can't blame me for trying. I am not a wuss!"
She: "So what are you?"
Me: "I am not a self-pompous person either. People are free to judge."
She: "Good. I like modest people. Especially, if they are smart and funny."
Me: "Were those compliments in disguise?"
She: "Why do you need to convert my generalizations to attributions ?"
Me: "Don't know. Why do you need to play games?"
(She giggled again and made a deep eye contact.)
She : "I don't remember the last time I laughed so much."
Me: "Well, I hope you shall remember this time."
(The power was back. The rain had also significantly receded.)
She:"Okay. Time to go."
(We prepared to leave. I went to the shelf to collect my bag.)
She: "Hey! You dropped your bookmark here."
I went back to the table and picked up the bookmark. I looked around. She was gone. I couldn't understand. Why had she gone away so abruptly? There was no mention of whether we could meet again. Not even a proper goodbye. I became morose.
I looked at the bookmark again.
There was something scribbled on it in a cute handwriting:
Rose:99224188*#
Looking forward to that candle light dinner with you!
:) :) :)
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