Happy Valentine's day, honey!

With her XII board exams about to start from about two weeks from now, Preeti could not have cared less about the Valentine’s day. Not that she was a nerd, but she knew her priorities well. Every night at around 11 pm, she would slip into the kitchen quietly to brew some tea for herself.  This would give her a break from her strenuous revision schedule, and would also help her flex her muscles a bit so that she could sit through an another four hour session. The hot cuppa was a reward too in the cold nights of February.

The weather had been quite erratic of late, though.

 Now warm, now cold. February was infamous for its mood swings— not very surprising for a month that celebrates Love, she thought as she entered the kitchen tonight. It was a soggy night. The drizzling hadn’t stopped since 9 pm.

Like every other night tonight, too, she would meticulously follow the same routine: one cup water, half-a-cup milk, two teaspoons of tea, three teaspoons of sugar, a dash of ginger, and a few Tulsi leaves if her mother hadn’t forgotten to pluck them for her before sunset. Adding all the ingredients at once to the pot, and placing the pot on mild flame, she would wait for the concoction to boil. As the concoction would brew, so would her thoughts. She would embark on a train of thoughts in those precious few minutes between the boils. The crest and trough of her thought-waves would rise and fall harmoniously with the rising and ebbing concoction.

The stove was placed right below the kitchen-window. The window was big and opened to a lane. From her kitchen she could easily see Naagar uncle’s flat in the building right across the lane. Oh, but Naagar uncle had passed away last year at around the same time. Now it was only his wife and daughter, Baani, who resided there.

She was a sweet girl, Baani. She would smile at Preeti whenever they would meet at the bus stop. She looked the studious types. But she’d been looking a little troubled lately. Preeti wondered why. Boyfriend issues? Could be. Last Valentine’s day Preeti was in a relationship too. It was sweet till it lasted, she smiled as she reminisced. Aakash was great. The image of his goofy smile brought a twinkle to Preeti’s eyes even now.  He smelled great too. He would text the lyrics of Preeti’s favourite songs to her every night before wishing her good night. How endearing she had found it then, and how silly she finds it now. No, but it was cute. Silly chap! She giggled in her head. He must be in Banglore now...

And the tea came to its first boil. Preeti lowered the flame.

Masi was supposed to go to Banglore for her treatment, too. When? This month, or the next? When will these elders start listening. If only Masi had followed her advice of abstaining from sugar for another month. But what did all the Preeti’s thick Biology books meant to Masi. Zilch!

 “I would have made my daughter a lawyer, Yogyata. With a family like ours, we could need one any time,” she would say every time she spoke with Preeti’s mother in her presence. “Doctery bhi theek hai, chalo!” she would add, shrugging her shoulders. She loved Preeti, though. And Preeti knew it. She was so close to Masi in her growing up years. She wished she could spend more time with her, but the problem...

Another boil.

This would be the last one, she decided.

The tiny granules of dried tea leaves danced fervently in the pot, and had lent a brilliant hue to the concoction by then. The aroma of ginger and Tulsi was energizing.

She again looked out of the window. The street light had gone out of commission. Must be another rain-induced short-circuit, she thought. The night was foggy and soggy. The darkness was dense enough to absorb all her nocturnal musings. The cold draft, that somehow managed to seep through the fine crevices of the window panes, accompanied by thunder made her want to go back to the warm comfort of her quilt. She looked into the pot expectantly, waiting for that final boil. It suddenly occurred to her that nobody had wished her-- not even her friends-- on Valentine’s day that year.

Yet.

She was anyway only 45 minutes away from the next day. Soon the clock would strike 12.

The realisation hit her sharply, and made her feel a little insecure.

Gosh...when did she start behaving like the other girls in her class, she thought as she shook her head dismissively.

She froze as she raised her head. With a wide grin on his pale and scarred face, Naagar uncle peered through the window from outside.

“You deserve to be wished too, Preeti. Happy Valentine’s day, honey!”

And the tea came to final boil...