One Shot Title: Piece of Cake
Daya and three of his friends had a bet - Ask Shreya out on a date. They had followed her into a hypermarket and were now standing in a corner.
'She is so full of arrogance you know! And she thinks too much of herself. Too proud of her good looks. Treats everyone else like scum!' said one of his friend.
Two of them had already failed to impress Shreya.
'She is not She is just playing hard to get. And besides do you really think she would date you?' said Daya eyeing her long legs.
'Really? Why don't you try then? Let's see how you do it!' he said.
'Okay. Wait and watch.' said Daya standing up.
'I am going before you' said Rishabh, another friend of Daya, who was very good looking.
Daya merely shrugged.
Rishabh approached Shreya quite cautiously, Daya following him. She was standing on her tiptoes trying to reach the topmost shelf.
'Scooting closer to her, Rishabh said, 'Can I help you with it? The shlef is too high'
'No Thanks' said Shreya.
'Oh come on! Little help from me won't hurt' Rishabh persisted.
'But I don't need you help!' Shreya snapped.
'I can't see a beautiful girl like you in trouble. I am just trying to help you in a friendly way' said Rishabh placing his hand on her shoulder.
'Don't touch me! Get lost all right or you will be sorry!' said Shreya angrily.
Daya was now shaking with fury. They had agreed before the bet that there would be no touching. He didn't like Rishabh's behaviour with her at all. He could see Rishabh arguing with her making her slightly uncomfortable. Daya had had enough. He knew what to do. He grabbed a trolley lying nearby, and put few items of the shelf in it and went towards Shreya.
'Hon, are you done? I got all the stuff we need. I can't wait to get home really. Looking forward to spending some time with you' said Daya.
Both Rishabh and Shreya stared at him perplexed. Daya stared at Shreya without blinking.
Shreya couldn't help smiling. She didn't know who this man was and he was pretending to be her husband or Boyfriend just to fend off the other guy who was irritating her. She was rather impressed.
'Yes, darling. I am done. Let's go' said Shreya to Daya and moved ahead leaving Rishabh staring ipen mouthed at them.
Once Rishabh was out of earshot, Daya spoke - 'Hi! I am Daya. And you?'
'I am Shreya. Nice trick you did back there pretending to be my boyfriend. Thanks.' said Shreya smiling.
'Yeah. And you got the wind of it and you played along too' said Daya.
'Yeah.' said Shreya.
An awkward silence fell between them. Daya knew he should leave but he stood there still staring at her beautiful face.
'What are you waiting for? I hope you are not thinking I am really gonna take you home' said Shreya.
'Oh no! No. I will just leave' said Daya and walked away feeling extremely stupid.
When he came back to his friends, he urged them to hurry out of the hypermarket as he had his back slapped.
'Man! You were amazing! She was actually talking to you' said one of his friends.
'Did you exchange numbers?' asked another one.
Daya didn't reply. He wished he might have said something to her. He felt like a loser now. He had lost a golden opportunity.
'That wasn't fair bro! You totally ruined it for me. She was about to get friendly!' said Rishabh enraged.
'And what were you doing? We had agreed that there won't be any touching. You were making her uncomfortable. I saw it' said Daya.
'Woah! I wasn't making her uncomfortable! I had merely placed my hand on her shoulder.' said Rishabh.
'She wasn't liking it! And that wasn't the part of the bet!' said Daya angrily.
'Why are you making such a fuss about it? The whole idea was to flirt with her and then get a little cozy -'
'Shut up! That's wasn't what I had in mind!' Daya roared.
'Gosh! You are unbelievable! She isn't into you and you are getting possessive already!' said Rishabh laughing.
'It's not that! I am just saying that we ought to show women some respect!' said Daya.
'So? You are friends with him?' came Shreya's voice right behind him.
Daya whipped around and looked fearfully at her. Shreya was looking unusually grave.
'Yeah we are friends. We had a friendly bet - to ask you out on a date' said Rishabh gleefully.
'Do you think this is funny?' asked Shreya angrily. She was looking at Daya.
'No, Shreya...' said Daya.
'How could you? How dare you? Do you think I am going to like you because of such silly antics? I -'
'Yes' said Daya.
'What?' said Shreya.
'Shreya what happened back there was just a silly thing. But I really want to know you better' said Daya earnestly.
'Why?' asked Shreya.
'Because I like you' said Daya simply.
'Excuse me?' said Shreya.
'I really like you. And once we get acquainted, I am sure you will like me too' said Daya.
'This is bullshit! I am leaving Mr Daya' said Shreya and began to walk away with bulging shopping bags in her hand.
'This is called confidence! You ought to give me one chance' said Daya following.
'That's overconfidence. I don't think I will like you' said Shreya.
'You will.' said Daya making her stop by catching her hand.
'What are you doing?' said Shreya tensly as he came closer.
'Just one chance Shreya. I am really looking forward to spend some time with you' he said.
'I will see. Now let me go' said Shreya. She looked rather scared.
'Promise me and I will let you go' he said.
'I promise' said Shreya.
'I will wait for you right here tomorrow evening at 7.30 then. And don't worry. You are safe with me' said Daya.
Shreya smiled, rather blushed. She walked away quickly.
Daya went back to his friends feeling elated on his success.
'There you go.' he said. 'Piece of Cake'
'You totally rocked it!' said Rishabh looking impressed.
'Yeah. I've kinda fallen for her' said Daya smiling.
'Daya you ought to give us some flirting tips. You are natural!' said Rishabh.
'Sure. Anytime' agreed Daya happily.
*** THE END ***
