The Secret Garden
I was on my way to daisy's house. Ah..! Daisy!!!she is my childhood friend. It is her birthday today so I stopped by a beautiful flower shop to buy her flowers as a birthday gift, it became more like a birthday tradition.
'The Secret Garden' was written in Kimberly style in golden colour on the Glass of white framed Door. On the both sides of the shop were many different beautiful flowers, dried flowers of different colours surrounded the door beautifully which gave it an aesthetic look. after admiring the view in front of me for a while a pushed the door open and met with the sound of bell chime and Hundreds of flowers smiling at me.
I inhaled deeply and The Mixed fragrance of different flowers filled my lungs. The sweet smell made me little dizzy. There were rows for each colour with different flowers in it. My eyes fell upon White row filled with Peonies, lilies Carnations and what not and then my gaze fell upon the Daisies. 'Perfect' I said to myself. I was about to grab them but sudden heavy voice behind me made me flinch with surprise!
"How can I help you Miss? " I truned around and saw a Men probably in his Sixties wearing brown beret hat, half of his face covered with white beard and big moustache and saw a little smile under it.
"Umm.. Hello, I would like to buy some Daisies.
"Oh yes sure .......Is it for your mother miss? "
"Well she sometimes act like my mother" I murmured. He seemed confused about not catching my words properly
"Oh no!" I laughed "umm..for my friend, it's her birthday today"
"Oh I see!" Said the Old Men And continued
"Do you know miss every flower symbolise something"
"About some I know" I answered
"Do you know Daisy symbolise Motherhood and that is why people Gift them to their mothers on birthdays or on mothers day" he said smiling under that big white moustache.
"Oh yes i remember ! They also symbolize purity and Innocence. But I always gift her daisies as her name is also Daisy"
"Oh! That's very nice of you...! You said you gift her Daisy every birthday. Then she must be expecting Daisies today! "
"Yes I guess "
"Then why not give her something different this time" He said and Continued "I can suggest you something if you don't mind" The old man asked with a suggestive tone.
"Yes of course" I answered as amusement crossed over my face.
"Lilies are always best for birthdays, They represent Happiness and Positivity"
He continued "Should I bring them to you my dear?"
"Yes please" I said smiling
"I'll be back Right away! " And he hurried his way with excited steps to the white row.
Meanwhile I took a look around the shop. "Fly me to the moon' in franke Sinatra's voice was echoing in empty shop. I went to the counter and saw a photo of beautiful Lady in golden Oval frame, she was holding Bouquet of Jasmine in her hands.On wall was purple Irises painting. On lower right corner was name of painter. I tired to take a closer look but soon my observations were interrupted by the same heavy voice that made me flinch not a while ago. "My Grandson gifted me this when I opened this shop"
"I think I have seen this painting somewhere " I said while still looking at painting "You probably have, it's the replica of Van Gogh's painting 'Irises"....."He tried his best to make that". Said the Old man sounding proud of it.
" And his best is beautiful " I Answered the As hint of appreciation echoed through my voice
"Do purple Irises also symbolise something? " I asked with sheer curiosity
"Yes They Do!!" He sounded happy and excited to share his knowledge about flowers with me
"Purple iris is symbolic of wisdom and compliments."
"Oh that pretty much Sounds like you Mr? "
"Arone... Arone pine.. But you can call me Mr Pine" He said with pleasing smile.
"Here miss" Said Old Man handing me the flower bouquet
"Thank you Mr Pine it was nice meeting you"
"Same here dear, Do visit again". As I made my way outside music started to fade away. I pulled the door open and met with the sound of bell chime and the Cold breeze smashing on face pushing my hairs behind my shoulders. "Yes ,nice to meet you too! " I said rolling my eyes at brutal greetings the cold air outside of shop gave me at late evening of autumn. Which already made me miss the warmth i felt in the shop.
...
I was standing in front of Daisy's house my wrist watch showed the number 7:30, I rang the doorbell, heard something shuffle behind the door, as Soon as the door opened I shouted her name "Daisyyyy!!!! "
"Lanaaaa!!!" She shouted back calling my name with excitement
"Lilies??!" She asked sounding surprise as soon as her eye fell upon the lilies i was holding in my hand
Here, Happy Birthday!
"Thank you! Come in."
She sniffed them "hmmm they smell amazing"
"Someone suggested me to give you something different other than Daisy"
"Oh is that so, who was that".
"Mr pine"
"Who?! "
"The florist I went to buy flowers for you" I told her
"He told me about flowers and what they symbolises! We study floriculture so I know about most of the flowers but I didn't know about symbolism"
"WOW That's nice it will be helpful to us in upcoming days " Said Daisy with surprising tone
"Yes i thought so too"
As soon as we entered kitchen we met with the Sweet wiff of blueberry cheesecake
"Wow you baked the cake ? I hope we survive your cake and the food you cooked us since it's important day tomorrow " - I said teasing her
"Really! You are Dishonouring my cooking skills with just lilies?! "
"Hey..!!! they are costly ok and Plus you haven't seen the bouquet properly I believe! " I said side Eyeing her
As soon as I told her this she left everything she was doing and rushed to bouquet of lilies. There was a tiny box in it she then saw me smiling at her, as she opened the box i went near her, There was a Daisy pendant with small paper saying 'with Love Grandma' she was about to say something but my next words stopped her
"There is more" I said and pulled the envelope out of the pocket of my trench coat on top of it was written Daisy, Lana and Ren in different handwriting.
With widened eyes she asked me "You went Mapelville?!"
"Yes, I went home 2 days ago to bring few essential things and I return today, I visited your grandma and she gave me your gift and I went to that garden...I had to..It's the Fifteenth year remember..? I couldn't help but dug this out" I said in one breath pointing at the letter.
Daisy answered getting nostalgic"How can I forget...you me and Ren! "
"And guess what , the Name of the flower shop i brought you flowers from was 'The Secret Garden'!
"What a coincidence! " Said daisy sounding surprised.
The word Secret Garden made us drift into past memories.
...
My and Daisy's grandparents were neighbors. We would visit them in Mapelville during summer Vacation. Mr and Mrs Humble also were our neighbors. Ren used to visit his aunt Mrs Humble during summer vacation. Many families from Mapelville moved to the city to earn and for better Education of their children , our family was one of them.
Daisy and I knew each other even before Ren. We were 10 years old when we met him.
.....
"Come on children gather around , take a paper and write your name on it , fold it and put it into this bowl" Said Mrs. Humble.
that one summer Mrs Humble made the children of neighborhood gather around for activities and after those activity she would reward us with delicious snacks. Yes, that bribe was enough to make us work!
"Come lana pick any two paper out of the bowl" Said Mrs Humble
"I picked out the first paper opened it and shouted daisy's name while Jumping "
"Ok pick the next one" said Mrs Humble smiling sweetly
I read out "Ren?"
that's how team of three kids were made and was given task to gather around different information about flowers. There were five teams. Each team was given a task. In neighborhood there was an empty open space ground ,Mrs Humble decided to make it a useful place by planting flowers and turning it into a garden.
"Welcome to the team New kid" said daisy to Ren.
That's how we met. Every summer we would meet , play and make many memories. We used plant three flower plants every year until we turned fifteen. The tree grew taller, so is our friendship.Mrs Humble Named the Garden "The secret Garden " It was Home for many kids in Mapelville because we grew it with love and care.
It was the fifth year. It was summer time,We were lying leisurely near the Jasmine plant. It was in its full bloom. Petals whiter than snow.The smell of Jasmine flowers was magnificent. It was the first flower plant we planted together when we were ten. Ren seemed quiter than usual.
"What's wrong Mr Water lily " asked Daisy and we both laughed at her remark. Teasing Ren was her favorite activity.
"Shut up Daisy Crazy! " Said Ren getting annoyed over Daisy teasing him with his name for thousandth time probably.
He seemed quite all day
I asked Ren why he seems quite and sad?
His next few words suddenly changed the whole atmosphere.
"I might not visit next summer"
Daisy and i went silent. All we heard was birds chirping, wind blowing slowly and leaves rustling. I loved those sounds but in that moment for the first time i found it quite annoying with passing of each second. Someone needed to speak.
"What, why?!" Daisy and I asked in Unison
"I'm going abroad for further studies and I don't know when i will return!" Said Ren with a lump in Throat
That was saddest day of that summer and of all summers of my life. We sat there in silence for some time.
"let's write and promise to meet each after 15 years on the same date, same time here" Suggested Ren breaking the silence. We wrote in a paper and put that into glass bottle and dug it under Jasmine tree. We said goodbye with teary eyes. Next morning I received purple lilacs with the Note saying "from our secret garden-Ren".a tear escaped my eyes.
....
Daisy said bringing us to present "Let's not cry it's my birthday today, there is 10 days left and if Mr Water lily don't show up I'm going to throw those lilacs out of your house which you have been keeping for fifteen years" And she took a deep breath after speaking a long sentence in one breath.
"How do you know"! I asked in surprise
"Honey I know everything...I'm your best friend!" She said with confidence
"And Tomorrow is a big day. We are going to work as intern in RP fragrances." She squealed with excitement
She was right i thought to myself.
.....
We started working as interns at RP Fragrances . It was fun collecting information about flowers and testing fragrance. I started visiting Mr pine to learn more about symbolism and it turned out to be a great help in creating meaningful fragrances which company launched on special days.
We were sitting on the bench in flower shop while sipping chamomile tea while Elvis Presley's 'Can't help falling in love' echoed from Radio
"Mr pine I'm not gonna lie..this really feels like those sophisticated business meetings" Upon hearing my words a laugh escaped from his mouth
If you don't mind me asking What are they going to launch this time" asked Mr Pine with curiosity
"This summer they are going for lilacs" i said looking at lilacs arranged in beautiful order in purple row.
Ah wonderful! Said Mr Pine sounding pleased
"They symbolise First love" i said looking back at Mr pine
"That's right" said Mr Pine smiling unaware of the sting i felt in my heart.
"And When they are launching this?"
"Tomorrow "
"Oh I see! "
"Mr pine how did you came up with the idea of opening this flower shop?" I let out the thought that struck me since my first visit at the shop.
"My wife really loved flowers, after she passed away I opened this shop that way I felt more close to her. My grandson took over my business. You see the, name of the shop was his idea."
My eyes widened in surprise as all the pieces fit so well together !
So, Your grandson's name is Ren?!
Oh ! how you know? He asked sounding surprised
The painting!... I answered and ready to shoot another question ' So, The company your grandson took over is RP fragrances(Ren Pine) ?!
Mr pine seemed more surprised "Yes!...You work at RP Fragrances?!
All i could do was nod in response. I said standing up ready to take my exist.
"Mr pine it was nice meeting you today, I will visit you again and this time to not ask about flowers but to tell you a story about flowers.
.....
Next Day I went to Mapelville hoping to see Ren like every summer i did. Daisy said she would join me after launch as one intern had to be present. She was totally unaware about this new side of story.
I went to the Secret garden and Old memories flashed in front of me like a old movie, like it was just yesterday. I clutched the lilacs tight my hand. I stood there staring at freshly bloomed Jasmines
I heard the sound of leaves crunch followed by a deep voice
"Hello Miss Calm waters"
I turned around with anticipation, i starred at the beautiful face in front of me. Silky Jate black hair cascading over his forehead dacing delicately with wind. His hooded steel Gray coloured eyes starred right back at me. I knew it was him
" Ren? "
"Nah!".... Mr Water lily. And with that he flashed his beautiful smile!! A nostalgic smile, a treasured old possession pulled out of the back of the drawer
"Time to replace that bouquet with New one " he said extending his right hand full with the Roses in front of me. A tear escaped my eyes but this time it was of happiness
"Roses? " I asked and he noded in answer
I Countinied with my question
"Do you know what they symbolise? "
He answered "They symbolise love, my love " And with those words he started taking steps towards me as i did the same, he took me in his embrace. All i heard was birds chirping, wind blowing , leaves rustling and smell of Jasmines and Roses engulfing us both. "Oh how much I love these sounds" i said to myself clutching my hands tight around him.
"A Lily Bloomed in calm waters"
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