We attended col­lege. There Diya and I told them about the trip, Nisha and Rohit too agreed to come. After col­lege Nisha and Rohit left to meet a travel agent to book a bus and get to know the rates. I went over to Diya’s place. Diya had told her mom about me. The day she told and her mother called, I was scared. I didn’t know what she would ask me. What she would say. I got all dressed up for the occa­sion try­ing to look the best. Although I had met her before I did not want to take any chances.

When I reached her place I was taken by sur­prise. She was very nice and warm to me. She did not object or com­pared our sta­tus noth­ing. She just asked me to con­cen­trate on my career and to take good care of her daugh­ter. Today when I reached Diya’s place, aunty was at home.

“Hi aunty.”

“Hi Raj.”

“How are your mom and Dad?”

“Fine aunty”

“Tell your mom and dad to come over sometime.”

“Sure aunty.”

“Aunty I wanted to ask you something.”

“What?”

“Aunty my friends and I were plan­ning to go for a small trip to Puri. Can you allow Diya to come with us.”

“How many friends are you?”

“Aunty 8 boys, 7 girls. Plus one of my friends elder brother and wife are com­ing with us.”

“Well okay. How many days trip is it.

“About a week.”

“Give me the details.”

“Sure aunty.” I said what a relief.” Diya lets go. We need to talk to others.”

When we reached my place already every­body was wait­ing for us. I changed then we all sat in the draw­ing place to chalk out the plan. Rohit gave us the rate list for hir­ing a bus. We opted for a lux­ury bus. It fit­ted the bud­get perfectly.

Next on the agenda was arrang­ing things for the trip. Deepak as usual took the charge of the food. Rest was divided equally.

Next was to see how much it will cost per head. As the resort was booked by Diya we were get­ting a good dis­count. So it was com­ing under 2 thou­sand per head. Rest was up to us.

Now it was the most dif­fi­cult part we had to con­vince everybody’s par­ent. It turned out to be a very easy task after all. Every­body showed con­fi­dence in us.

We decided, it was 10^th June today. We would eave on the 13^th which was a Sat­ur­day and we will be back by next Sun­day. Riya was to arrive tomor­row ‚for her this was a sur­prise. Rajeev was also to come this evening.

I went over to Aakash’s place to con­vince them.

“Hello Raj.” Said Rajeev.

“Hello.”

“What’s up? How is Diya?”

“Aakash must have told you everything.”

“Not exactly, I heard you all are plan­ning a trip.”

“Yes and we want you to come over with us.”

“Alright.”

“Hello Bhabhi.” Bhabhi came from inside.

“Hi Raj. How is everybody.”

“Fine.”

“I got some good news.”

“Well we should have heard one by now.” I said. Bhabhi blushed.

“Raj we will def­i­nitely come.” Rajeev said.

Rajeev was like an elder brother to me. He was so bril­liant in stud­ies. I at one point wanted to study like him, but landed up in the wrong place. He and Aakash were totally dif­fer­ent per­son­al­i­ties. Rajeev was more fun lov­ing. He had a love mar­riage that was later arranged.

We had enjoyed our­selves at his wed­ding. What fun it was. We had enjoyed our­selves although we were quiet young we were given a lot of respon­si­bil­ity dur­ing those days. We were to look after the guests, and see if every­thing was there and noth­ing was missing.

Bhabhi had also become a good friend of ours we enjoyed some­time which she spent with us. We were actu­ally in a way instru­men­tal in their mar­riage tak­ing place. As Bhabhi also lived in the same apart­ments it was us who used to arrange their meet­ing secretly. We would also black­mail them at times and get treats from both sides.

One day it so hap­pened Bhabhi’s Mother caught the two of them together that was it like any Hindi film, there were prob­lems but later they agreed. That was such a nice day, we all went to have a din­ner with them. They thanked us all for the help.

I left because I had to go to the sta­tion to pick up Riya in the morn­ing. As uncle was out of sta­tion aunty had asked me to pickup Riya. The train was an hour late. Finally Riya arrived, it was won­der­ful meet­ing her.

“So Riya how is college.”

“Very good.”

“I gave him the jacket and the card.”

“Thank you. Sahil had told me about it.”

”So you talk over phone.”

“From that day till now we have talked almost everyday.”

“Riya we have planed a trip to Puri. You would have to come with us. Every­body is going, you too have to come.”

“A trip. Fan­tas­tic. I have to ask mom.”

“Don’t worry I have asked aunty. Besides Sahil will also be there”

“When are we leav­ing?” In excitement.

“On the 13^th.”

“Great. We have so less days in our hand”

“Yes but don’t worry all arrange­ments have been made.”

“Good.”

We reached home. Then in the evening we all met on the ter­race. Every­body was so excited that Riya had come. They just sur­rounded her and did a quick fire round of ques­tions. We also finalised the plans.

Later Sahil met Riya.

“Hi “

“Hi”

Then they did not talk they just looked at each other and smiled. We all sensed that we should leave them alone. Then we decided to leave the scene and let them talk. As soon as we left.

“Riya I love you.”

“I love you too.”

“Riya when you were about to leave I realised what I was about to loose. All this time we were together but I never realised the impor­tance of your being with me. I couldn’t let go. ”

“Sahil, when I heard your cas­sette, I began to remem­ber the days we had spent together. The sweet moments, the sad ones. All the time I found you by my side. You were always there when I needed you,”

“And I will always be.”

“I know.” Riya hugged Sahil.

“We must also thank Nisha and Raj.”

“Yes they were very sup­port­ive. You know before I decided to say it to you I had a talk with Raj. He made me under­stand. He under­stands every­thing so well.”

“Yes. I have been notic­ing this change from the time Diya has come in his life.”

“Yes they are such a nice pair. Touchwood “

“Yes. Touch­wood”

“Sahil when I return to Delhi keep in touch through e-​​mails let­ters and phone. On the net we will chat every Sat­ur­day at 7.”

“Okay.”

They left. Aren’t they a lovely pair? I thought to myself.