'V Day'

Ttttringgg Ttttringgg goes the alarm right at 7 am. I snoozed the alarm to ten minutes and went back to sleep. After some time I rolled on the bed and glanced the alarm. It's 7.32 am! I got up hurriedly and said, "Oh my god! I'm late. Jake?! Darling?! Why didn't you wake me up? What about breakfast? And I'll be late for the office too."

My husband says, "Darling, you snoozed the alarm three times already and I tried to wake you up 10 minutes ago but you just went into deep slumber. Were you so tired yesterday?"

"Yeah I was... but then..."

"That's okay Stace. I have already prepared it. Just get up and get ready for office."

I exclaim, "But.. I wanted to prepare something special TODAY because..."

"It's Thursday today. Nothing more than that and what a cool weather it is! Just have your coffee, you'll be fine."

"Okay, no problem Jake." But of course, I am unhappy. How can Jake forget the 'VALENTINES DAY'? Jake proposed me 2 years ago on Valentine’s Day and I said yes! We married 2 weeks after that. I am so happy to be married to Jake. He is the most loving and honest human being. But how can he forget the day he proposed me? I am angry as well as sad now. In a pensive mood, I enter the washroom after collecting the necessary items.

After 20 minutes I realize that my bath robe is outside the washroom at the corner of the bed. I call Jake and ask him to bring it to me. He comes after some time and says, "I am so sorry darling. I was eating my cereal and suddenly Felix spilled the milk. So I was busy cleaning it." Felix is my pet cat. I say, "Oh Felix, not today!?" I take the bathrobe and come out of the washroom with a towel on my head and as soon as I open the cupboard, a pile of clothes falls on me. I had forgotten to arrange my wardrobe yesterday. I quickly put them back together and take out my trouser and shirt. Then I realize that it's not ironed. So what? Our CEO is out of town. It will be okay if I go to office like this for one day. Who is going to observe me today?

I change quickly, blow-dry my hair, take a quick look at myself and rush to the kitchen. Wow! My hair looks great today. I hope Jake remarks something about my hair. As I enter the kitchen, I see Jake smiling and think that maybe now he must have remembered it after watching the newspaper.

Instead, he says, "Stacy! Check this out. Finally, we could see the light at the end of the tunnel as finally the corrupt official was nabbed by the cops yesterday. I hope others get a lesson from this. Our country surely has the finest police force." I am like, what? Why is he excited about all this? Can't he see the front page ad of Golden Travels who say 'Gift a foreign tour to your valentine this Valentine Day' I say "I will check it later Jake" and just rush out of the house with a toast that burnt my tongue and my car keys.

I run down all the way to the parking lot and see that our car isn't there. How is that possible? Are we robbed? Maybe... Maybe not... Let me ask Jake. I speed-dial and say, "Jake, our car is not there in the parking lot. Where is it?"

Jake laughs, "No darling... remember yesterday while we were returning home there was a problem in starting the car due to low battery... so I gave it to the garage nearby."

"Ah ha... Yeah ok... I will catch a cab then. Well bye." I put my cell phone back in my bag quickly rush out and search a cab. I see one and hear myself yelling "Hey, Earles Limited. Quick." I sit in the cab staring at my watch. It's 8.33 am. That's the time when I should have been in the office. Oh Lord what's going to happen today? I am so very late. I had to report by 8.30 am today and give a presentation to my boss. He hates people coming late. And what about my presentation? I haven't had a look at the slides. Oh Lord! Help me!

I reach Earles Limited by 8.58 am and see everyone rushing to and fro. I am confused. What happened? I am so pissed off already as I had a bad morning and now this?! Is the building on fire? I see my immediate boss Mr. David Radcliffe rushing towards me. He angrily said, "Stacy Cullens... You are so late. Didn't anyone tell you that our CEO Mr. Jackson Earles is coming today by 9.30 am? Now go clean up your office, put some fresh flowers in the vase, be ready with your presentation, and... What happened to your shirt? Why isn't it ironed? You..."

I said, "I am sorry sir for being late...Traffic…"

He yelled, "Clear up everything... Run... And be ready with the presentation."

Oh why today? I hope my day goes well in office and Jake calls me to apologize and say "Darling I am so sorry I forgot it in the morning. Happy Valentines Day. I Love You, Stace." Then only I will give him the valentine day gift that I got for him.

I reach my cabin; drink half the glass of water, switch on my laptop and tidy up my desk. The sudden noise of my ringtone scares me and I drop some files in my hand. As I pick the files, I pick up the phone and say irritably, "Yes, What is it?" without watching my caller ID. It’s from my boss who says, “David here. Where is the blue file I gave you yesterday?"

"I have it with me here. Sorry sir, I forgot to keep it in your office yesterday."

He growls, "I want that file in 2 minutes." and cuts off. I just take the file and run. As I reach his cabin, I see him holding a cup of coffee and talking to Joe, my colleague.

I run at him and aahhh. I fall down. Joe comes in quickly and picks me up while my boss is staring at me in anger as I spilled his coffee on his blue shirt. "Stacy! This is not happening. Mr. Jackson is coming in around some minutes and my shirt is ruined... You..." Roared David.

Joe said, "Don't worry sir. I have a spare shirt in my cabin. I will bring it in no time." and he ran in a jiffy. I give him that file and came back to my cabin. My cell phone rings and it’s my best friend Juliet. As I picked up my phone I hear her low voice which tells me that she is unwell. I say, "What happened? You sound unwell?"

She says, "Yes, I am not keeping well Stacy. Our CEO is coming today; I forgot to tell you that yesterday. I hope you could manage. The doc said that I have food poisoning so I will be resting for some days. Nick took off work and we he is taking care of me."

"Ok dear. That’s okay. Take care. Bye.. Listen, where is that file of..." Oh... She cut off. Never mind. I will search it in her cabin. Lucky her. Of course, I am sad that she is unwell but then she gets to spend time with her husband the whole day and that too today, on Valentine’s Day. The last time I and Jake went to a romantic date was three months ago.... Now where is my pen drive? Oh ya, it's in my purse.... Got It.

I did as told to me by my shrewd boss. Joe texted me to come down as our CEO had come so I went down. We welcomed him and then he went to his cabin after a quick Hello with all of us. He then went to his cabin. Mr. Jackson was a great man. He was a modest person who would always smile and encourage everyone around. Even I left for my cabin. After reaching there I started revising my presentation and took a quick look at my slides. Joe texted me after 5 minutes and told me to meet up near the conference room on the 6th floor where we had to give our presentation. So I took the stairs and reached the 6th floor. Joe was already standing there giving me an encouraging smile. I wave at him and go inside the conference room.

I start with the presentation and everyone look at me eagerly. Looks like I am doing good. Maybe I was! Everyone cheered me the end. As usual, David gave me some critical views on the presentation and our CEO gave me some tips with an encouraging smile. I was happy that it went well. At least something went right today! I listened to others presentations and we left after an hour and an half. I went back to my cabin.

At 1.30 pm I went to the canteen for lunch. As I reach there I see what was there on the menu. Just vegetarian food?! Why today? I wanted to eat non vegetarian food today. But what can I do now? I will be late if I go out of my building and I would have to go from the horror of climbing 3 floors again. So let it be now. I will eat this as I am hungry too. I paid for food and sat with Joe who waved at me.

As I reached there Joe said, "What a nice day today is? Our boss liked my presentation, I have almost completed my work and I am going to a concert and lavish dinner in a 5-star restaurant with Annie to celebrate Valentine’s Day." Annie was Joe's girlfriend. They have been together for 2 years and are planning to wed soon.

I say sadly, "Good for you. I am like having a bad day today. Don't ask." As we discuss the presentation, my phone starts ringing. It's Jake! I was hoping he must have realized it by now. As I picked up he excitedly says, "Stacy dear! I hope your presentation went well. Google is celebrating the 154th Birthday of George Ferris who invented the Ferris wheel. Just check out the Google Doodle!"

I said angrily "I am busy right now so I will call you later Jake." I get irritated and put my plate in the trash and just go back to my cabin. I reach my cabin and concentrat on my work the whole afternoon just to forget about Jake. The evening coffee was too bitter for me today.

At 6 pm I left my office and started walking. I waited for the signal to cross the road. My phone rang and I picked up. Jake said, "Darling, my friend is coming today after many years to meet me with his wife. So please meet me at the subway near the station."

"But I don't want to come. I want to go home and do some work from the office." I lied. I had no work from the office today but I was I not in a mood to meet his friend. I just wanted to go home, lie in bed and cry. Cry for having the Worst Valentine Day ever! But he persisted so I had to go. Jake is the most romantic man ever. He knows what to say when and how to persuade me. So I crossed the way and got in a cab.

But what I see is that a man gets into the cab from the other door. I tell him to get down as I got the cab first but he wants the cab as he wants to go to the hospital to see his son who had an accident just a few minutes ago. So we share the cab. The hospital was on the opposite direction to where I was heading but then I didn't say a word. I was in no mood to argue further. I just sat there, numb. I texted him that I'll be late and he replied okay with three kiss smileys. How adorable of him!

I reached the station area, paid for the cab and saw him wearing a nice suit and standing alone across the street near a brand new car. Whose car could it be? I would do anything to get a car like this! I cross the street. I was confused if I should smile or be angry at him. But he was looking so handsome in that suit!  I went near him and oh my god! He smells great! But don't you forget girl, you are angry at him!

He smiles, bends on his knees, gives me a huge bouquet  and says, "Stace, I Love You. Happy Valentine’s Day. Should we go?" He was gesturing the car now. "What?! I… Ohhh… Jake!" I hug him tight and the anger vanishes in a second. He remembers the Valentine Day! I'm glad. He then tells me that it is his Valentine's Gift to me. "Oh, Jake! You are the sweetest husband ever!" And we kiss....

He drives us into a big 5-star restaurant where we have delicious non vegetarian food. He orders a cake first. Oh what a beautiful cake! Even the food was delightful. We slow dance to 'Careless Whisper' and I whisper, "Jack, why did you tease me the whole day? I am sorry for being rude. I Love You."

"I like to tease you, you know that, right?" He winks, "I love you too Stace."

I smiled and got lost in his beautiful eyes. I forgot the happenings of the day and lived in that the moment. I gave him his Valentine Day gift when we come back home. I had the best night ever with Jake TODAY.