'Cold' experience

It was undoubtedly cold that morning. in delhi during winters, unless one has to attend to school, college or office, it is best to be at home under one's blanket while sipping hot coffee and reading a book may be. this might just be romanticizing the whole concept, but how can i help it, i'm a romantic! but inspite of all this and my being on a college christmas vaccation, i had to step out of my house that day. not just step out, to be precise, i had to cycle out. i had thought of giving my girlfriend a surprise. it was her birthday, and due to the vaccations, my chances of meeting her were nil unless i did something like what i did. she was a part of a strict north indian family, where it's almost impossible for the girl to go out with her friends on an off day. although it was her birthday, even then the maximum she was allowed was to call her friends (only girls) to her place for lunch. this didn't go too well with me, and since i was so madly in love with her, i could not have not met her on that day. i had decided the night before that i would secretly reach her place early morning, call her downstairs via my mobile phone, give her the gift, kiss her and come back. needless to say, my vision was pretty optimistic. to kiss her right infront of her house downstairs can only be a dream. neither did i ever have the balls, nor was she that willing to do something like that so visually close to her parents. anyway, i set out for her house, keeping my hopes alive and looking for a bouquet shop on the way. i later realised that i've been pretty absent minded to not buy the bouquet earlier, as finding a shop at 8 in the morning in that kind of cold was next to impossible. but then i thought by the time i reach her place at around 9-9:30, i would get a shop near her place that would be open. i was going to ride no less than 16 kilometres,one way, to reach her place. i was proud of the fact that very few boys would actually execute such a bizzare plan, only for their girlfriends. while i was riding, i realised that it is not just cold but chilly, and invisible ice cold knives went across my face, making it red and my nose watery. on the other hand, the fact that i was riding a bicycle kept me warm with heat transferring from my thighs to my entire body. after covering a fair distance, i decided to take a minor halt & look for a tea stall where first i could get my throat wet with some 'non distilled' water and then have a glass of hard boiled tea from a ridiculously burnt & black kettle used for years without any renovation. after i finished my tea, i began again for aliya's place, this time with more speed induced in my riding. i began ignoring a few red signals and made my way through thin gaps between cars and scooters, disgusting most of them but i couldn't care less. it was 9:15 and now i was within a kilometer of her place. now i resumed my search for a bouquet shop, and after a little bit of asking around, i found a shop that was open. i think i was the first customer of the day, so i was pleasantly treated by an otherwise rowdy shopkeeper (intuition). i made him arrange a few kinds of flowers and make an improvised bouquet, which also exceeded my budget, but i was thankfully carrying more money. now while riding i had the bouquet in my left hand, while i held the handle of my bicycle with my right. this reduced my speed but since i was close i was not very keen on riding fast now.
i reached her place and gave her a missed call. she called me back,
"hello, aliya?"

"ya, tell me"

"i'm right there at your place, just come downstairs"

"what? why didn't you tell me? i'm at gurgaon, at my cousin's place!"

"oh shit man! i rode my bicycle all the way from my home, just to give you a surprise."

"i'm sorry yaar, but you'll have to go back, can't come all the way from gurgaon now. hope you understand!"

"ya, anyway,happy birthday! love you, bye!"