MEN

She was walking by his side, two steps behind him, observing his steady confident walk and his sturdy build.

He was cutely humming a song- his voice was sweet, clear and strong. ‘Protective’, she thought.

They stopped by a tree with beautiful pink flowers. Pink was her favourite colour and he knew it. She gently kept touching those pink flowers and looking at him expectantly.

‘When are you leaving for cochin?’ he asked
‘Sunday. Why?’
‘And when are you back?’
‘In a week’
‘Hmmm…Will be boring’.
She smiled.
‘I mean… no entertainment. An office tour. Won’t it be boring?’ he corrected himself.

Her smile disappeared slowly and she replied, ‘No. I like my job. It’ll be interesting.’
‘Hmmm… Cool! So, you’ll call right? I’ll be waiting for it,’ he said and smiled.

She smiled. ‘At last the idiot’s getting romantic,’ she thought and said, ‘ duh! I will!’

She continued to caress the flowers, as if waiting for him to pluck one and give it to her.
That instant, as if reading her intention, he plucked that very flower! She shyly smiled to herself.

He looked at the flower and gave it a weird smile and started to pluck one petal after another till just the stem remained.

‘Men…’ she muttered to herself and frowned.

‘You expected me o give it to you, right?’ he queried.
She said nothing.

He plucked a handful of pink flowers, bent on his knees and gavi it to her saying, ‘I love you’.

She smiled…
‘Men…’she remarked and kissed him!