Before you begin reading, this is a riddle! Its not an experience from my life! 
It was the afternoon of 2nd of July, 2008. It was the first time I saw her. The sun hid behind the clouds as if ashamed of her beauty. It ought to be. In a garden of red roses, she stood out wearing her pretty yellow dress. She would have been frowned upon by others as the dress barely covered her knees. But I didn’t care. I was just lost in her ways. The way she moved. The way she covered her face, when the sun showed itself to catch a glimpse of her beauty. The way she smiled at me when I looked at her. What made me happy was she never made eye contact with anyone besides me. Let alone a smile. I was completely lost in her. I was in a trance from which I was unable to snap out of. Time stood still. I could live a lifetime in that split second. Each step she took, just enticed more people. The men complaining to their wives about her audacity to wear such a dress, while staring at her from the corner of their eyes. “Oh the irony and hypocrisy”, I thought to myself. She had reached the other end of the garden. Disappointed about something, her face which was bearing a smile so far, turned gloomy. And so did mine. She walked back the length of the garden. She still looked sad. She was looking around for something. Anxiously. And then she smiled… when she saw me. When she walked towards me, it was like a dream come true. The smile… just for me. When she sat beside me, I felt shivers… and a sense of calm. When she spoke to me, her voice echoed in my head. I always believed that if you fell for someone in perfect weather and surrounded by a garden of red roses, you weren’t in love with her. You were in love with the illusion created by the ambience. But this was different. I just knew it was. When she had to leave, I held her hand. And she simply smiled and said “I’ll be back tomorrow”. I let go and she walked away. I couldn’t sleep that night. Her thoughts filled my head with expectations. I was never a diary keeper. But that day changed me. I could not afford to forget this day. Or any time I would spend with her. And so I began chronicling my thoughts for her. The next morning, before the sun rose, I went to the garden and waited for her. I waited through the morning on the same bench on which we spoke for hours the day before. I didn’t mind the wait as long as I would get to see her the minute she walked into the garden. And walk in she did. And that smile appeared the moment she saw me. We spoke till the sun went down. When she had to leave, I offered to walk her home. An offer she gladly accepted. I dropped her back home and she promised she would be back the next day with that innocent smile. I walked home with the broadest of smiles on my face. I reached home and wrote my feelings, which only grew deeper. This ritual continued for months together. Her mother loved me as I had become her closest friend. “She has trouble making friends”, her mother once told me in confidence, which I found hard to believe given her personality. Now, we did everything together. We were inseparable. She thought we were best friends. Only I knew she couldn’t be just a friend. There was not one flaw I could find in her. She was perfect. And I rediscovered it every day. Each minute spent with her was one of happiness. She would never disappoint me.
It was the 19th of December when she came over to my place for the first time. My mother was glad to finally put a face on the girl with whom I spent every waking minute. And she was overjoyed. We spent the whole day in our room listening to music and talking about our future. Needless to say, I had nothing much to talk about. My future plans involved only her. And she had no idea. That night, as I wrote my diary, I thought about my future with her. I got lost in my dreams and fell asleep while writing. The next day, I was awoken by her voice. I thought it was a dream but she was there with her sun-lit face. She smelled like strawberries. I got out of bed to get a glass of water not realizing I left my diary out in the open. When I was back, her smile had vanished. The day I dreaded had befallen me. I stood there speechless. She seemed so disappointed. It wasn’t like how I had expected it to come out. I tried to explain myself, but she stormed out in tears. I wept for hours too. We did not speak for a week after that. I left her many messages but she wouldn’t call me back. I still went to the garden where we met first and still sat on the same bench on which we spent hours talking. I reminisced and missed her every second. After a week, she came to the garden and quietly sat next to me. It might have been at least an hour before she let a word out. “I’m getting engaged in February”, she said to me. “This is the most clichéd of all endings to my story”, I thought to myself. But I didn’t utter a word. As the words sunk in, I realized what I had just lost. “But…”, and before I could complete my sentence, she interrupted me. “I love you too”, she said to me. Those words were etched in my mind. Nothing could erase that. I could not believe what I was hearing. I was so happy. I was so sad. I gave in to the overwhelming emotions and burst in to tears. And so did she. When I stopped weeping, I consoled her and got her to stop crying so that we could talk. Only now I understood what she had been going through. “My parents would never understand”, she told me. “My mom knows you are my best friend and nothing more. And it’s us! I don’t think she will ever understand”. “But I can explain it to her”, I replied. “She wouldn’t understand. She had fixed my engagement long before she told me”, she said. I understood her predicament. I said no more. I realized that her parents wouldn’t understand. Nor would my parents. It’s her after all. We watched the sunset together, without saying a single word with her head in my arms. I walked her home that night and bid goodbye. Her mother invited me in for dinner but I politely refused. I couldn’t sleep that night. I wrote everything I felt. Had countless vodka shots and passed out. The next few days were pure hell for me. I couldn’t get her out of my head. I broke my cell phone and disconnected the telephone line from my room. Yet, every time the phone would ring in the hall, my heart would fill up with hope. Only to be trashed.
It was the 23rd of February… an auspicious day according to the priests. It was the day the engagement was scheduled. I did turn up for it coz I knew she had to know I was fine with it. And I did it. Then I thought to myself. “This room full of people would never understand how much we love each other”. I was made to sit right next to her throughout the engagement. That just made it more painful. We didn’t know what to tell each other. I made some excuse and got away from her. I stayed for the ceremony but didn’t speak to her. She seemed happy. Seemed. Only I knew that. I left soon after the engagement was done with a tear rolling down my cheek. I reached home and wrote it all in my diary. Then I burnt it. I spoke to her a month after the engagement. I missed her. And so she missed me too. We spoke for hours and decided to meet at the garden. We were just really glad to see each other. For the time we spoke, we forgot everything. We were detached from reality. We did our usual ritual and left at sunset… and after a long time, with a smile on our faces. We were just happy to have spoken to each other after so long. And we met every day from then on.
It was 2nd of July, 2009… the day that changed my life. It was the 1 year anniversary since we met. Something magical had happened. And I called her up barely able to control my excitement. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She hung up just after I told her the news. I had no idea what was going through her head. I went to mom and came clean about everything. She was confused but she was supportive. I went to my room and sat alone thinking how she felt. After sometime, there was a loud thud on my door. I opened it and she stood there. “I called off the engagement”, she told me, “My mother understands now”. I couldn’t hold back my tears. We cried, hugged and kissed. I knew nothing could separate us. Now that she was mine. The day I’ll never forget.
What magical thing happened?
hint : 2 July 2009 has some significance