Now every­day after col­lege Diya, comes to my place. She and mom have become best friends. They go out shop­ping together. The two of them have re-​​decorated my room. Mom takes her sug­ges­tions very seri­ously. She comes to my place even when I am not there. All this is get­ting very absurd.

Some­thing I didn’t think of. I thought mom wouldn’t like her. Last week it so hap­pened that mom had to go to an aunt’s place. Once Diya came and pre­pared din­ner for pop and me. After mom came he had all praise for her.

She has also become a part of our gang. They sim­ply loved her. I also loved her for this in no time she had found a place in everybody’s heart. Now when she doesn’t come every­body is sad.

Today we all had bunked col­lege. Riya was leav­ing for Delhi for fur­ther stud­ies. We all had planned a sur­prise party for her. Every­body had taken charge of some­thing or the other..

Jug­head was given the charge of the food. Karan for enter­tain­ment, Aakash for soft drinks, Manav and Sahil arrang­ing things .

The girls were given the job of dec­o­ra­tion and cake, also for invit­ing peo­ple. Worst of all ask­ing them to keep it a secret you know how girls are. The party was to be held at my place at eight. We had told Riya that my mom wanted to meet her before she leaves.

We gath­ered at 5 and made all the prepa­ra­tions, Sahil was sup­pose to bring her.

We were wait­ing then she came, she opened the door and lights were switched on “SURPRISE” the whole group shouted. She then cut the cake.

For the first time Dhruv came offi­cially to meet every­body. Khushi intro­duced him to Manav.

“Manav this is dhru, I mean Dhruv.” Khushi said smil­ing. Manav exam­ined him from top to bottom.

“How do you do.?” Said Manav

“Very well.”

“What are your hobbies.”

“I love cars, and football.”

That was it Manav and Dhruv were the best of friends from that time on, dur­ing the whole party they did not part from each other.

“I should have asked Dhruv his inter­ests, if Manav and Dhruv keep talk­ing like this I would have to find a new boyfriend.” Khushi said to me feel­ing sorry for herself.

“Don’t worry I have had a taste of it.” I said con­sol­ing her.

Every­body had din­ner. Then we pre­sented Riya with a t-​​shirt auto­graphed by all of us, and a Walkman.

Then Riya said bye to every­body one by one.

“Hey Jug­head con­trol your eat­ing habits.” Riya told Deepak, punch­ing his stomach.

“Sure Riya.” Deepak said in a low tone.

“Aakash I will miss your words of wisdom”

“No prob­lem, just ring me up.” Aakash as usual quick to solve a problem.

“Manav take care of Khushi, Khushi don’t fight with him.”

“we won’t” Khushi and Manav said together.

“Hey miss India I will miss you.”

“Me too.” Muskan said crying.

“Oye don’t cry Muskan, she will come dur­ing her vaca­tions.” Karan said seri­ously. For the first time he was.

“I will miss your PJ’s”

“Don’t worry, when I will write a joke book I will send you a copy.”

“Bye Queen, will you hon­our me by hug­ging me.”

“I will miss you.” Sak­shi hugged Riya.

“Nisha it was nice know­ing you.”

“You too. Bad luck we couldn’t spend time together.”

“Rohit you would have to leave me to the station.”

“Sure.”

“Diya, Raj‘s a dar­ling. Never leave him.’

“Puja my best friend, keep writ­ing, I will miss you a lot.”

“I will miss you.” Puja started crying.

“Raj I would like you to say some­thing on this occasion.”

“Okay,

You are like a star,
Shin­ing bright in the dark,
You hide for some­time,
When the sun is bright,
But, return to sparkle.
When it is night.
Next time you see,
A star twin­kling above.
Remem­ber
Its Riya look­ing at us with love.”

“That was so sweet.” Riya. I held her hand.

“Where’s Sahil”

“He is sit­ting in the cor­ner.” I pointed towards him. Riya went near him.

“Hey Sahil what happened.”

“Riya do you have to leave.”

“Yes Sahil.”

“I will miss you, Here I have a gift for you.”

“What is it.”

“Open and see for yourself.”

“Wow, a chain.”

“How is it.”

“lovely.”

“I have some­thing else also. But open it when you reach Delhi.” He handed her the gift.

“okay. You are my best friend”

“I will miss you.”

Then every­body wished her Best of luck for her future. After it Riya left. She had to catch an early morn­ing flight. We will def­i­nitely miss her. Rohit and I along with her par­ents went to see her off at the air­port. It was dif­fi­cult to see a friend part away.

“Rohit will every­body leave us like this.” I was get­ting emotional.

“Hey cheer up Raj, she has gone only for her stud­ies, she will come back, besides our group is so close, no mat­ter how far we are from each other we will always stay in each oth­ers heart. Right.”

“Right.” I said wip­ing my tears.

How dif­fi­cult it becomes to part with some­one. I just wish the best for Riya.