The deep maroon roses hugged each other tightly in her grip as she ran to catch the low floor bus which had stopped ten steps ahead of the bus stop. The bus started before she was inside and she swung herself in, holding the side bars. The roses swiveled around too.
The passengers in the early morning bus looked at her and then at the roses. Their gaze was fixed upon the prettiest flowers they had seen today. A curious look back at the simply dressed girl and then everyone got busy with their own businesses. The girl was very similar to all the other girls who were travelling in the bus, but only for the flowers who seemed to grin back at all the onlookers.
She felt lovely with the fragrance that surrounded her. She felt like a beauty queen today, with smiling brown eyes, eyes that had borrowed a tinge of burgundy from the bunch of roses in her hand. She thanked her stars that she could manage to buy those roses from the little lad at the traffic signal near the bus stop.
As soon as she reached the pavement, these flowers, the deepest shade of maroon, had caught her attention. A boy, not more than seven years of age ran from one car to the next whenever the traffic light turned red. Knocking on the car windows, he seemed to be too eager to sell the roses. "Ah! They look lovely!", She thought and considered buying one for herself. The colour looked lovelier on the foggy winter morning, a contrast to the background. Her walk became swift as she saw her bus coming at a distance. "Hey! How much for a rose?", Her enquiry was crisp. She didn't want to miss the bus. "Rupees fifty for the whole bunch", the boy with torn sweater, flared pants and no slippers, replied. "What luck!", She was exuberant and hurriedly paid for the bunch, running to catch the bus that had stopped ten steps ahead of the bus stop.
The flowers winked at each other, hugged each other tightly and went off to the journey into the unknown.
"So, an early morning meet up with the boyfriend, haan!? He must be crazy about you!" No sooner had she entered the college campus, that her best friend exclaimed, obviously imagining that the flowers were given to her by her boyfriend. "And what makes you think so?" She decided not to give a direct answer, obviously enjoying the imagination which excited her too. "It's a beautiful morning, isn't it?", she chuckled more to herself than to the best friend, and for a second, wished she could actually meet her boyfriend each morning. Winters make you all the more romantic.
"Hey! Hey! That blush! Did you kiss him too?"
"You and your imaginations!", she huffed and made a face, trying to hide the pink on her face which the reference to a kiss had brought.
"I bought these for myself and that too for a dime. Fifty bucks for the whole bunch, can you imagine!", she exclaimed, counting the number of flowers in the bunch. She hadn't yet got the chance to count the number of roses.
