Dates to remember

Confessions

Valentine’s Day is a time for couples to get together and express their love. For some, the day turns out to be romantic and fun. But for others, not everything goes as planned and the date turns out to be a disaster. Here are some romantic successful dates and disastrous dates that many find it hard to forget...

Good times

Flower power

My most romantic Valentine’s Day was last year. My husband kept me completely in the dark about what he was doing and acted like he was too busy to take me out. But at lunch that day, he called me to tell me to go and look in my car. There, I found a note saying, “Roses are red, chrysanthemums are blue...” And there it was, a blue chrysanthemum on the seat of my car. When I got home, there were rose petals on the doorstep. I went inside and saw a rose-petal path leading all the way to a table, where he had laid out a dozen roses and a gift basket full of bath gels, soaps, perfumes and chocolates. He had also laid out a dress for me to wear to our date at night. It was so romantic.

Anila, 25

Wedding surprise

Some years back, my boyfriend bought me a wonderful card with old-fashioned lace, a dozen red roses and a large box of dark chocolate, a few days before V-day. Then he asked me if I would be interested in a three day trip to interior Sindh with a group of friends. I said yes and thought it would just be a fun-filled weekend of travelling and exploring.

We arrived on a Friday morning, and when I went to my room, it was decorated with roses. Apparently he had travelled all the way before and arranged the decor and then had come back to Karachi to pick me. Then he presented me with a diamond ring and asked me to marry him. He told me he had spoken to his parents and they were ready to speak to mine. The rest of the weekend was beautiful even though it was spent with friends. Now we are married and are a very happy couple and even now, my hubby is always coming up with special secret surprises for me.

Haniya, 32

Little surprises

Last year, my boyfriend and I were short on money, so we agreed that we wouldn’t really celebrate. We chose to put what little money we had together and try to go to dinner. After dinner at a local place we headed out to the car. To my surprise, there were two dozen gorgeous pink roses in the driver’s seat of my car. He had asked his friend to put them there while we were having dinner. It was the most romantic thing anyone has ever done for me!

Alizeh, 23

Devoted fiance

A few years back on Valentine’s Day my fiancé (now husband) engineered a really big surprise for me. I worked with his best friend, so he conspired with him on how to surprise me. He asked his friend to keep me inside my building so I couldn’t see that my car was missing from the parking lot. My fiancé had taken my car at lunchtime and had four brand-new tires put on. He also washed and waxed the car, changed the oil and placed a dozen long-stem red roses on the front seat. When I saw the car, I was in tears! Who knew four new tires could be so romantic? I guess it’s just the small gestures that count.

Nida, 28

New home

I had been married for two years and was having problems with my mother-in-law. My husband was supportive in general but never had the guts to tell his mother off, which is understandable. He would console me when I would cry and tell me everything would be fine. Last year on V-Day, he took me out for dinner and gave me a present. I opened it and saw that it contained a key. I was confused till I read the note that said, ‘The key to our new life’. Turned out he had bought a separate apartment for us. I will never forget that day.

Faryal, 29

V-Day ball

My boyfriend asked me to go to a hotel for Valentine’s Day ball with him. He gifted me a dress beforehand and said he had bought the tickets and I had nothing to worry about. On the day, I got dressed and he came to pick me up with flowers and chocolates. But there was more, when I entered the hall, all I saw were familiar faces. Then I saw a banner with my name on it and the hall was decorated with pictures of me and him. My boyfriend had booked the hall for me and had invited my friends. So the Valentine’s Day ball was planned just for me! I have never felt so special in my entire life.

Hira, 27

Furry surprise

My parrot had died in January 2015 and I was extremely upset about it. So my boyfriend made it his mission to fix my pain. On Valentine’s Day, he arrived at my place with a parrot and a puppy. I am an animal lover and he figured I would be pleased to adopt two new pets. Needles to say, I was ecstatic.

Mahrukh, 26

Disaster strikes

Shot in the heart

Last year I decided to have a low-key Valentine’s Day with my fiance since he is always complaining about me taking charge of all such occasions. The only reason I decided to do a low key thing is because I had a feeling he was going to surprise me by making a special dinner or sending flowers. I didn’t talk to him all day since I was busy with work, so I was really excited to see what he had planned out when I stopped over at his house after work. I walked in the door to find him sitting in front of the TV in sweatpants. He gave me the lamest card and then asked, “What do you want to order for dinner?” I was shocked that to him low-key meant nothing at all. Never am I ever trusting him to make an occasion special.

Alina, 26

Hot date

We were out for dinner in 2014 and my fiance leaned across the table to romantically feed me a piece of dessert. But in the process, he knocked the candle over and onto my freshly gelled hair. I ended up in the hospital after my hair caught fire. However, we did get a free meal out of the deal - and I only had to endure a minor burn on my neck. I guess there’s literally too much fire in our relationship!

Saba, 28

Stomach pains

On our first Valentine’s Day as a married couple I had the flu and started throwing up. We had a boat trip planned and I had been super excited the whole week setting out my wardrobe and telling all my friends. But right before the day I got sick and my husband spent the night cleaning up after.

Anum, 30

Special delivery

Last year, we had a flower bouquet delivered at our office and it had my initials Q.N on it. I was ecstatic because I thought my boyfriend had sent them for me. I uploaded pictures on facebook, snapchat, instagram and texted some of my close friends all about my flower surprise. Then I called my boyfriend to thank him and he seemed completely confused. Turned out he never sent me anything and those flowers were for someone else on a different floor of the office building who had the same initials as mine. I was so embarrassed when I had to send the flowers back and on top of that everyone in the office kept teasing me. I ended up fighting with my boyfriend for not being thoughtful enough to send me flowers.

Qurutalain, 24

Crispy present

One year, my husband thought of a really clever way to surprise me and hid my present in the oven. It would have been a nice surprise had he said something before I started cooking breakfast. I didn’t bother looking into the electric oven as I started baking brownies and ended up burning a Marc Jacobs watch to a crisp.

 Fariha, 29

Basket hater

I spent endless hours last year trying to put together the most special, wonderful, thoughtful present ever for my boyfriend. I looked up different ways of saying ‘I Love You’ and put them on heart shaped sugar cookies that I made. I made homemade candies, and fudge. Then I wrote down 100 reasons why I loved him. I put them all in a beautiful box. I presented him with the basket when he came to pick me up and he smiled and said thanks. I kept waiting in anticipation for my gift, but he didn’t mention anything. After dinner he told me that he didn’t get me anything. If that wasn’t bad enough, he told me that he didn’t want the basket because he didn’t have any use for it and they would just make his room messy. I was hurt, crushed, and very mad. I just smiled at him and told him that I didn’t want it back and refused to talk to him for a month after that.

Zara, 25

‘Falling’ in love

We decided to go to Arena in Karachi for iceskating, bowling and paint balling since I am a very sporty person and dinner dates are just not my thing. It was my first time skating and I mistakenly wore a size bigger, so I ended up falling on my face three times. My boyfriend helped me out and didn’t mind my clumsiness, but I just could not block out all the pain in my body for the rest of the night.

Maira, 23

‘Nosy’ me

I was on a Valentine’s Day date with the guy I had been for a month. We decided to have dinner at café Zouk and all seemed to go well for some time. After ordering dessert, Ali began rubbing his nose. I wondered if he was okay. He kept rubbing his nose. So, I asked, “What is wrong? Do I have a booger in my nose or something?” To which he replied, “Yes.” I got up from the table and ran to the washroom with my hand over my nose before he could say anything else. I looked in the mirror and saw a huge disgusting booger. I sat in the bathroom for ten minutes, mortified. A part of me wanted to run out and catch a cab but I built up the guts to go back to the table and face him. It was a good decision though because we cracked jokes about the incident and it somehow brought us close. Now we have been married for 9 years and have a funny story to tell our children.

 Saira, 31