PLASTIC FLOWER .. Monalisa Parida

 

It was a baronial, chromatic autumn. Advik and Charvi had just left the coffee shop. And they walked through the park. During that time a light drizzle began to fall. Charvi pulled out an umbrella from her bag and Advik pulled up his hood and hunched his shoulders.
   “Don't be silly”, Charvi giggled, pulling Advik couldn't help laughing and Charvi laughed too which was winsome.
     As the sun started to shine again, Charvi pulled Advik down to sit on a bench. Charvi beamed down at Advik and Advik could only gaze back adoringly. “Who do you like ?” Charvi whispered, and Advik looked away. Advik wanted to say, ‘you, you, a thousand times you. You are the only one I can think about. You are gorgeous, sweet and funny....’
   Instead, Advik shrugged his shoulders and looked down at his knees.
   Charvi  looked at Advik with a cautious smile. “If I tell you mine, will you tell me yours?” “Okay”. Advik said.
  “The person I like is you “. Advik said.
    After that both of them left the place holding each other's waists.
   Unfortunately, Charvi got married when she was 21 to a man that by all accounts wasn't bad, but wasn't good for her. Charvi was married to a loser. He didn't necessarily do anything wrong, he just didn't do anything at all.
     After few months of marriage, Charvi received a beautiful flower bouquet at her door step.  In it, she counted 15 flowers and also found a letter in it. It was written in beautiful lettering and said:
   “My love for you will last until the day the last flower in this bouquet dies”.
  The letter was from Advik. Unsure as to what to make of the message, Charvi went home in the evening and soaked the flowers with water. One day after another, the flowers become a little less beautiful until they all died. All but one flower. This was the day when she realised that there was one artificial flower in the bouquet that would last forever.