10

6 months later...

"I love your dress! I knew I should've gone graduation shopping with you instead of my dida." Pari pouted looking at herself in the mirror.

"Pari, your dress is fine," Mishti replied from the bathroom.

" 'Fine' is just a nice way of saying ugly."

Mishti laughed as she continued curling her hair. Pari stepped inside the room for a few pins to use for her cap.

"Can you believe we're graduating from college? I don't think I've truly wrapped my head around that." Pari said.

"Yeah...it's crazy but I'm looking forward to that next chapter in my life," Mishti claimed.

"Does that new chapter include a certain London artist formerly known as our old literature teacher?" She teased but Mishti looked anything but amused.

Six months.

It's been six months since she last saw Ronobir. She didn't cut off all connections with him though tried to keep it as minimal as possible. He texted her when he landed in London, called in February to wish her happy birthday and she texted him good luck on the talent company opening. It seemed as if Ronobir looked for almost any reason to talk to her but each time he either caught her voicemail or their conversations were agonizingly short. Mishti was hoping he'd eventually understand, this is not a movie romance and he broke one of his promises of not holding on to each other. It wasn't that Mishti was trying to be mean or didn't want to talk to him but...

She missed him. She missed him more than she would ever admit and the constant calls were making the wound so much deeper. The last time she saw him was the night before he left. After an endless night of them expressing their passion and love for their bodies, Mishti stayed curled up next to him until he fell asleep. With one last kiss to his lips before she quietly picked up her things and exited the apartment without a word. She let him go for a reason and Ronobir was starting to forget that, pushing him away seemed like the best option at the time.

The texts and phone calls stopped after a while, he was starting to catch the hint. Their last conversation was full of honesty and tears. Ronobir told her how much he missed her and how he'd love to show her London one day. He told her he loved her and distance did make the heart grow fonder but he understood her distancing herself from him. It was for the best, at least that's what he's been trying to convince himself of.

That was February. It was now June and they hadn't spoken to each other since.

Pari pressed her lips together looking down at the floor. "Sorry, I-""It's okay. He's not a bad word." Mishti commented plainly."He might as well be. You haven't brought him up since...""There's nothing to talk about. He left, and we both accepted it and moved on respectively." She said coldly.Pari scoffed. "Okay, Mish." She said sarcastically. "I'm assuming you didn't invite him to the ceremony."Mishti sighed, finishing her last curl. "I haven't spoken to him in months, Pari. A little random for me to just pop up out of nowhere like 'hey I know I've been pushing you away and have avoided all your calls but you should come to my graduation for old time's sake."Pari chuckled. "He would've come for you if you asked, you know he would have."She nervously cleared her throat. "Well...I didn't..."She drifted off walking out of the bathroom and grabbing her cap and gown off her bed. "We have a graduation ceremony to get to, Pari Malhotra! So hurry up."Mishti shifted nervously in her seat as she waited for them to call her name. Her anxiety was getting the best of her but it's not every day you graduate from college. She was excited about the university and the new journey ahead of her but every time she would think about her future, there he was.She was slightly regretting not asking Ronobir to come to her graduation. It was one of the most important days of her life and she should be celebrating it with everyone she loved but she couldn't see him again knowing she eventually would have to say goodbye. Mishti couldn't bear to say goodbye to him again, that was why she didn't go to the airport to see him off. She thought she was strong enough to do it, she waited in front of the airport in her car for an hour contemplating but the moment she saw him she left. This whole situation had her mind all over the place she felt she couldn't breathe. She had to get herself together and unfortunately that required cutting ties with the person she wanted to talk to the most.Ragini nudged her on the shoulder to walk, she was in her world of thought she didn't even hear Principal Chatterjee call her name. She walked across the field flashing her beautiful smile as she accepted her diploma, trying not to make awkward eye contact with the principal.

Eventually, all names were called, caps were thrown in the air and tears began to shed. Mishti found herself not as affected as the rest of her class. Going to college with the same people since you were a kid doesn't exactly scream sorrow when you're finally leaving them behind. Luckily she, Pari, and Ragini was going to their university together so at least she had her best friends with her still. She walked over to her mom in the bleachers who was surprisingly able to attend the ceremony. It was for her sake definitely but the fact that she was even here and put in the effort spoke volumes.

She felt overwhelmed by the number of people she said goodbye and hello to as she continued walking through the crowd. Her smile began to slightly fade when she saw him walking towards her.

He was here.

Of course, he had that grin on his face that he knew she couldn't resist. Not to mention his black suit with black tie and his curls nicely done and intact were not decreasing her blood pressure. Mishti felt her heart desperate to pop out of her chest as he got closer. Mouth dry and sweaty palms, she stayed still until he finally spoke.

"Hello, Mishti."

She had to blink a few times. "Ronobir ." His name came out as more of a whisper than she had planned but she still couldn't believe...he was here.

"It was a beautiful ceremony."

"Umm...yeah I guess it was." They just stared at each other for a while. Six months is a pretty long time apart but in appearance wise at least they both could agree they did them well.

"Wh-what are you doing here?" She finally asked the golden question.

Ronobir shrugged. "I may have only been your teacher briefly but I wanted to see my class walk the field, glad to see most of you did. And Ratan wanted me to show up."

Mishti nodded, feeling a tad hurt that she wasn't on his list of reasonings.

He sighed, taking his hands from behind his back revealing a bouquet.

"Did you think I wasn't counting on seeing you?" He grinned, handing her the bouquet.

Her eyes shot up in pure happiness as she grabbed the flowers out of his hand. "Well, you sure know how to make a girl feel missed." She teased.

He chuckled. "You deserve it. Graduating from college is a huge accomplishment."

"Thanks." She shyly smiled looking down as the mood suddenly turned awkward again. Both didn't know what to say without risking making the other feel uncomfortable.

"Mish-"

"Ah, Ronny there you are." Ratan surprisingly appeared from behind Ronobir. "Good to see you catching up with your former students, congrats Miss Khanna."

Mishti thanked him with a nod.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, brother but I told Charulata you were here and she wanted to see you."

"Yeah umm, I'll walk over there to her myself," Ronobir replied clearly trying to get rid of his brother as soon as possible which thankfully worked.

"I guess you should go huh?"

"I guess." Ronobir licked his lips. "Do you have any plans for tonight? Because if not then at least let me take you out for a celebratory dinner, as friends of course."

-That stung.

Mishti thought, contemplating even though her brain was screaming at her to just say "yes!" Ronobir referring to her as his "friend" was a slap to the face but she should've seen it coming. She basically avoided any further contact with him so what was he supposed to think? He can't read her mind and expect him to know how she feels. He probably thinks she's moved on. What if he has a new girlfriend back in London? Mishti shook the possibility away. She honestly missed him a lot and even if they're just friends now, having a nice dinner with him and catching up after so long didn't seem too bad.

"Of course...umm dinner sounds nice." She answered happily.

He grinned. "I'll pick you up at 8."

Mishti faintly smiled at him before her heart almost dropped for the second time in the past 15 minutes. His soft lips against her cheek made her swoon and her legs felt like jelly. The kiss was unexpected but nice and chilling. He pulled away too quickly. She didn't even get the chance to enjoy it but she seemed to have forgotten their surroundings.

"Congratulations, Mishti." His velvety voice sang her name like a melody she could never tire from. They exchanged genuine smiles before he walked away, making her feel empty all over again.

Mishti was anxious about her date with Ronobir. No, this wasn't a date. He said himself they were friends and that was something she had to respect. Ronobir is not only hot but he's a great and talented man, who wouldn't snatch him knowing he was single?

After having dinner with her parents just 30 minutes ago, she wasn't really hungry and the anxiety in her stomach made her want to vomit. She's never been this nervous to spend time with anyone but Ronobir wasn't just anyone, he was the man she loved and the one she let get away. Deep down she still believed that she did the right thing by putting him and his dream first but the price she paid did not come cheap.

She bit her bottom lip when her phone buzzed with a text message from him saying he was outside. Mishti looked herself over in the mirror and redid her lip gloss before grabbing her purse.

-This is going to be fine. You're going to be fine. The date will be-stop calling it a date!

Mishti thought to herself as walked down the stairs of her home taking a deep breath that got caught in her throat. Her eyes widened at the surprised appearance of him standing right at her door.

"You look-"

She shoved him back before he could utter another word quickly closing the door behind her. She dragged him down the porch behind a bush so her mom wouldn't see them.

"Are you insane?" She harshly whispered.

"You think I'm insane for properly greeting you at your door?" He amusingly asked.

"This is not just my door, okay? It's my mom's door. Did you forget I live with a parent?!"

Ronobir laughed at her paranoia. "It boggles my mind how much the roles have reversed between us."

She scoffed. "So not the point right now. What if she answered?"

He shrugged. "I would tell her I'm taking her daughter out for dinner."

Mishti was ready to interject but he raised his index finger in front of her.

"Your mother has never met me, she doesn't know I was your teacher and you were 18 then so we're not doing anything illegal," Ronobir explained making Mishti roll her eyes.

She hated when he was right.

"Now I believe I promised you dinner, Miss Khanna.""I haven't missed you calling me that," Mishti said with a teasing smile. He smiled back at her leading her towards his car by the small of her back. His light but heated touch felt like it was burning through her dress. She missed his warmth; the warmth in his smile, touch, and presence. It was something only he was capable of providing and she never wanted to experience a moment not feeling it.After opening the passenger door for her and settling himself into the driver's seat they were off. The car's course was silent at first with a side of thick awkward tension. Mishti shifted uncomfortably in her seat looking out the window the majority of the time when she wasn't sneaking glances at him. She didn't think she would ever get to the point where she couldn't talk to him, it nerved her. This wasn't how she wanted things to be between them from now on.She sighed, reaching her arm over to turn on the car radio to attempt to break the ice. Her face lit up in joy as his face fell in disgust when a Taylor Swift song blared through the speakers."Not a fan?" Mishti teasingly asked."Not particularly.""You should give her a chance, she's not that bad.""I'll take your word for it, love." He chuckled.She anxiously nibbled on her bottom lip looking down at her fingers, noticing Ronobir's phone light up. She tried peeking over to see the contact name but Ronobir hung it up before she got the chance."So any particular place you want to eat? It's your night after all." Ronobir smirked."I'm not that hungry."He turned to her with a raised eyebrow."I had dinner with my family not long ago but some ice cream would surely hit the spot." Mishti hinted, staring at him with big brown puppy dog eyes that made him blush."Hmm...well who am I to deny you what you want? And just to be clear, those eyes of yours did not affect me.""Your red cheeks are saying otherwise." She teased.Ronobir tried to hold in his wide smile as he continued driving. She sat back in her seat, at least they weren't being awkward with each other still."Of course, we got a new substitute who I must say seemed like she did drugs each time before class. How did she even get hired?" Mishti explained funnily, taking another lick of her chocolate ice cream.Ronobir chuckled. "Are you stewing you're not being overdramatic?""She literally had bloodshot eyes and looked like a wreck every day.""Sounds like a typical college student to me, sweety."Mishti scolded him jokingly. "You're supposed to be on my side, okay? But out of all the replacements we've had, you were definitely the best and I say that as unbiasedly as possible."Ronobir just grinned, taking a small lick of his own ice cream as they continued walking through the lit-up park together.She liked this. The intimacy of their evening consisting of walking through a park and eating ice cream cones instead of a hectic restaurant was a nice change. It reminded Mishti how much she enjoyed just spending time with him, she can't just do things like this with other people."What about you? Big-time London artist, how's a good life?"Ronobir laughed. "Big-time artist hm? I don't know about that but it's nice. The talent company is amazing and so are the people I work with plus being back in London just feels right."She pressed her lips together. She was happy for him, truly."That's great, I'm proud of you." Mishti praised with a faint smile.He stared at her thoughtfully for a few seconds before speaking. "I actually have a showing this Saturday...I was wondering if you'd like to attend."Her eyebrows lifted so high they almost flew off her face."You'd be my guest and I already got you a ticket which you don't have to accept of course but, I would very much like for you to be there." His tone was adorably nervous and she subconsciously smiled.Mishti felt overwhelmed with nervousness and happiness all bottled up in one mixture of pure delight. He actually wants her to go to London to see his work. He wants her support and input and he already bought her a ticket. This night was turning out better than she was expecting in all ways."Wow, of course, I would love to go." She cheerily agreed, making him shyly smile. "But you didn't have to buy me a ticket.""I wanted to, I have you to thank anyways. When we lost the talent company I lost so much inspiration, nothing inspired me for months until I met you Mishti."She blushed. "Well, I look forward to seeing your work for myself.""Oh umm, what will you tell your mother?"She shrugged. "That I have a friend in London who wants me to see his work in a talent company."He looked impressed. "Good to see you're as honest as ever.""Well, I'm not exactly lying, right?" Her insinuation struck a nerve within them both and the awkward tension resurfaced.-Great job Mishti.But was it really her fault? He was the one who made it abundantly clear earlier that they were just friends so if anyone should be feeling guilty or weird it ought to be him.Ronobir coughed purposely trying to clear up the sudden bad mood change."How's your ice cream?" She asked, taking another lick of hers, wanting to change the subject as quickly as possible."Very good, yours?""Amazing.""Hmm well, considering you got the most basic flavor known to man." He teased.She jokingly appeared offended. "Excuse me? You can never go wrong with chocolate ice cream.""Doesn't make it any less basic, sorry sweety." Ronobir teased with a smirk."Oh, so you think you're a fancy Prof. mint chocolate chip?" Mishti spat back amusing him immensely he couldn't contain his giggles."You know, I've never tried mint chocolate chips before."He stopped walking looking at her in astonishment and offense. "Never?"She shamelessly shook her head taking a step closer to him. He gulped when she grabbed his hand off his holding the ice cream cone. She never shifted her eyes from his as her tongue dominated the frozen treat. Ronobir could feel his jeans tightening at the sight. His eyes attempt to multi-task by looking into her eyes and observing every lick. Each stroke of her tongue was slow and sensuous like she was purposely taunting him which given their history, she definitely was.Ronobir discreetly stabbed his teeth into his bottom lip to stifle a harsh moan begging for an escape. Her hand softly caressing his hand wasn't helping his uncomfortable case either. Were six months so long that he forgot how effortlessly sexy she was? The number of times the mood changed between them throughout this night was giving him whiplash.He noted some of the ice cream dripping down her lips and he literally had to fight the urge not to clean it off with his tongue and lips. Mishti gave it one final long lick before retreating her mouth from the dessert. She was still gazing into his eyes as she licked the remaining ice cream off her mouth seductively."You're right, it is good." She commented with a lip bite taking another small step towards him, they were practically chest to chest. Their lips ghosted over one another's, the smallest movement would connect obvious thick sexual tension was driving them both mad and Mishti was more than willing to ride him on this damn bench but as always, there were interruptions.Ronobir 's annoying phone began vibrating like a maniac in his pocket. He sighed, clearly as frustrated about it as she was while scrambling for it in his pocket. He looked at the screen once immediately ending it. Mishti noticed that was the third time he did that tonight and as the nosey control freak that she was, she had to know.She effortlessly took the phone out of his hand. Dodging his attempts at trying to get it back she looked at the lock screen and once again the mood shifted for the worse."Who's Komolika?" She asked, not necessarily wanting to know the answer or prepared to hear it."Mishti...""Who is she, Ronobir ?"He ran his fingers through his hair frustratingly. "She's a friend.""Who do you also sleep with?"Ronobir sighed, which gave her all the answers she needed.Mishti couldn't act completely innocent in the situation, she knew her passive aggressiveness would bite her in the ass one day. She had a feeling nothing good would come out of how she handled him leaving, but now look what happened. Why was it still so difficult for her to be fully honest with him? Why did she still put up a wall with him after he already broke all of them down? Now another woman was in his bed, enjoying the company and pleasure of the man she loved. And who's to say he won't fall for her, Mishti was proof of how just sex could turn into something more. She couldn't even stomach that thought right now."Can you just take me home, please?" Mishti softly asked as she wiped away a tear before it could fall.Ronobir looked at her somberly before nodding in agreement as they both walked back to his car in silence.

The entire car ride back was completely quiet. Ronobir glanced over at Mishti a few times but she never reciprocated, she stared out the window with her arms crossed the whole time. They didn't know what to say to each other at this point. Ronobir hadn't moved on from her and they were broken up but to her, it still felt like a betrayal. He can't judge because if the roles were reversed, he would feel exactly how she was feeling if not worse. But Mishti should have just told him how she felt from the beginning and maybe they wouldn't be in this mess. He didn't know what he had to do to convince her that honesty is the only way they could even try to make them work but after this, things weren't looking too hopeful.

He finally arrived in front of her house, turning off the engine and parking. Mishti stayed in her position unmoving even knowing they were at his house.

"I still want to go to London." She spoke, still not looking at him.

"This doesn't change how proud I am of you or my respect for you as an artist...I want to still go if you'll still have me."

Ronobir 's face was almost embarrassingly filled with joy.

"Of course." He faintly smiled. In actuality, he was over the moon with delight but he couldn't show too much now, it wasn't the right time.

She looked at him blankly. "Well, thanks for the ice cream. I guess I'll see you Saturday."

He nodded.

She unlocked her door climbing out of the vehicle. He would've walked her to her door but he needed to give her space and at least she still wanted to go to London, at least that was something.

Ronobir wasn't trying to keep his affairs in London a secret from Mishti but he didn't know how to tell her or where they stood together. The last time they spoke he poured his heart out to her but as always her guard was up. He can't force her to be truthful with him and he can't force his way into her life. Komolika was no more than an occasional fling who he would never put above Mishti. He still loved Mishti as much as he did the first time he told her but it meant nothing if she wouldn't believe him. Maybe London will be good for them, it may also be the last time they see each other for a while so hopefully, they make the best of it.

Hopefully.