We drove to a nearby restau­rant. Khushi was look­ing ner­vous and scared. Diya tried com­fort­ing her. I ordered the din­ner. Then I looked towards Khushi.

“Khushi you tell me every­thing, but you didn’t tell me about him. Have you lost faith in me.”

“No Raj it is not like that. Actu­ally I was scared you might tell Manav.”

“But you should have told me.”

“Any­one in our group knows about him.”

“Yes Sak­shi knows she is in the same col­lege as mine. But she doesn’t know about us.”

“How did the two of you met.’

“We had seen each other in col­lege, and then met through a com­mon friend at a party. We met after that at col­lege reg­u­larly. We shared the same inter­ests, like and dis­likes. Then one day while we were return­ing from col­lege he asked if he could drop me home, I said ok. Then he said if you would care for a cup of cof­fee. I agreed. We sat at a cof­fee shop, while we were hav­ing cof­fee, we talked about every­thing.” She paused then said.

“Then after some time we talked about love. Then while we were leav­ing the place, he pro­posed. We were stand­ing in the mid­dle of the road and he pro­posed. He bent down on his knees and said ‘I love you’. Oh it was so roman­tic. I just couldn’t refuse.”

“So that’s how it started.” I said.

“He is a nice guy from a mid­dle class fam­ily. I have been to his place once. Manav has just met him once at col­lege, he knows we are nice friends that’s it. Raj if you meet him once you would also like him.”

“Khushi I hope you know what you are doing.”

“Come on Raj have faith in her she is not a kid. She knows what’s right and what’s wrong.” Diya said try­ing to help Khushi. I looked at Khushi. She looked very scared.

“Khushi if your hap­pi­ness lies in this, then so be it, but any­thing you do remem­ber you have a friend to bank upon.”

“Yes Raj, thank you for every­thing.” She hugged me.

“Khushi, I would be happy if you would tell this to Manav.”

“No I would not be able to do so. Raj you tell Manav.”

“Well alright , now have your din­ner its get­ting cold.”

We had our din­ner than I dropped Khushi, promis­ing that I will tell Manav, and she need not worry. Then Diya and I went to scoops near the sec­ond Howrah bridge. We sat in the car, hug­ging each other.

“Raj what do you think of Dhruv.” Diya asked me.

“I don’t know Diya, I can’t say any­thing. Look I have only seen him once. Can’t judge peo­ple from that can we. But the way Khushi was talk­ing of him I think he is a nice guy and loves Khushi. Look what did you know about me, when you accepted my pro­posal. Not much did you. Even today we can’t say we know each other very well. In love it hap­pens in the begin­ning it starts as just an infat­u­a­tion later on as we begin to know each other we really begin to love each other.”

“That’s true Raj, how lucky I am to have you, you are so sen­si­tive to oth­ers feel­ing and have clear thoughts about everything.”

“You should be clear if you want to build a rela­tion­ship or for that mat­ter want any­thing. An under­stand­ing of every­thing is a must.” After a pause” Lets go I shall drop you I have to think of a way to tell this to Manav.”

“Okay lets go. Tell me what Manav said.”

I left Diya at her place then drove back home, down there in the park­ing lot I saw Rohit. He was com­ing from somewhere.

“Hey, how was the date.”

“Great. Where have you been?”

“Oh I and Manav had just gone to a Music shop. To buy some cassettes.”

“Well come to the ter­race. Call Manav too I have got some­thing to tell you people.”

“What just come. I will change and come.”

I changed and called Nisha.

“Hey how was the date?”

“Nice. Come quickly. I have some­thing to tell you.”

“Wow some­thing excit­ing happened.”

“Yes very excit­ing. Come up.”

“Lets go.”

“Nisha you back me up when I say something.”

“Sure.”

We reached the ter­race Manav and Rohit were waiting.

“Hi Manav”

“Hi Raj, hi Nisha, Raj you called.”

“Yes I have some­thing impor­tant to tell you.”

“Come let’s sit first.” We sat at our usual place. “Manav, today I met Khushi at Sparkz. When I was with Diya. She was there with Dhruv.”

“Yeah he is a friend of her. He is a nice guy.”

Good he feels that way.” Actu­ally Manav, he is her boyfriend.”

“What?”

“Don’t get angry Manav, it hap­pens with every­body of this age.”

“Raj she is so young.”

“She is 18 Manav. I can under­stand your con­cern for your sis­ter Manav, but she is like my sis­ter too. I am con­cerned too. Look she needs a friend. She is scared of you. That is why she told me instead of you. You need to talk to her not as a brother but as a friend. She needs sup­port, try and be her friend and give her a chance, have faith in her.”

“You are right, but she should have told me.”

“She was scared. You know how most broth­ers act in such sit­u­a­tions. I hope you act maturely. Don’t be harsh on her. And talk to her give her your sup­port, she will then con­fide in you.”

”Yes Manav you should do what Raj is say­ing.” Rohit sup­port­ing me.

“Yes Manav. It is very impor­tant for a girl to have sup­port from some­one in the fam­ily. This will also give your rela­tions a good bond. If I had a brother, I would have been scared too. But would have liked to, have him besides me when required.” Nisha sup­port­ing well.

“Alright I will talk to her.” Great he under­stood, it was tough. Just then Khushi walked in. She might have guessed what has happened.

“Khushi I need to talk to you.” Manav said coolly.

“Yes sure.” Khushi was a bit scared.

“Khushi you could have told me.” Tak­ing his sis­ter in his arms.

“I am sorry.” She was about to cry.

“Don’t be, it is your life, but you can have faith in your brother, tell me about him. How is he? How does he look? What does he do anything.”

“His name is Dhruv. He is a nice guy. He is 6 ft, fair with good looks. He is doing B.com and later plans to do C.A.”

“ I want to meet him.”

“Why?”

“Actu­ally I want to bash him up.” Manav said jokingly.

“Well all is well that ends well.” I said.

We sat there for some­time and Khushi told us about Dhruv. We all were happy for Khushi, Because she was happy. May god bless their love. Manav and Khushi left. Nisha also left after a while.

“Raj time has passed by so quickly. Till yes­ter­day we used to play, together, fight among our­selves. Today we have moved on in life, made new friends, and begin­ning to make new rela­tions, under­stand them. What you said today in sup­port of Khushi I never expected such kind of talk from you. You were the happy go lucky kind of guy. Today you are a mature guy.”

“Life teaches you every­thing Rohit. You grow up with time. Your per­cep­tion of the world changes. When you have respon­si­bil­i­ties. You need to shoul­der them well.”

“Leave the seri­ous talk. Tell me Raj how does it feel falling in love.”

“Well it’s a won­der­ful feel­ing. But I don’t have words to express my feel­ing. Rohit when you fall in love, only then shall you be able to know how it feels. Any­ways do you have any girl in mind. Tell me I’m your best friend.”

“No not now, but I hope there is one.”

“There will be one don’t worry, some­where, some­one is there wait­ing for you. You will find her soon.”