3

I am still trying to look back and ensure that it was Julian who I saw a few seconds ago. And suddenly in the next moment all I know is that I've lost my hold on the book box and I'm on the ground.

Before I can make sense of my surroundings, there are arms around me helping me get up.

"Are you okay? I am so sorry I was in a rush and I was looking down at my phone while walking" I hear a voice, which somewhat felt familiar but at the same time I couldn't place who it belonged to.

Only once I am standing, I look up to see the face of the stranger who I bumped into, while Rea is standing on the side with a panicked look on her face.

I finally get a good look at the face in-front of me and it's clear that I have the same surprised expression on my face that he has in this moment.

"Sky!" "Jace!" we both exclaim at the same time.

"Oh my god I am so sorry"

"No no, its my fault, I was not looking ahead"

Rea is standing beside us with a confused look. "Ummm, do you guys know each other?"

"Oh yeah, this is Jace, we took the introduction to design together in university and I haven't seen him since" I turn towards Jace as I say the last part of the sentence.

Jace scratches the back of his neck and says "Yeah, I shifted my major to video production, after that and got occupied with so many things"

"It really has been long but you don't seem to have changed much, still always rushing your way to everywhere you want to go. You do know it is okay to slow down sometimes."

"Oh well, I guess some things never change" Jace replies with a small smile on his face.

"Can I give you a hug? It's been so long since we spoke and I didn't realise how much I missed you until this moment" I ask him

"How is that even a question?" Jace responds with the biggest smile on his face and pulls me in for a bear hug.

Once he lets me go, Rea says "You know, we're just headed for dinner why don't you join us, it'll give you guys a chance to catch up"

"Thank you so much for inviting me and I would have loved to join you guys, but I am actually meeting up my brother here and I am already a bit late" Jace says

"Okay then, at least give me your new number, before you disappear on me for years again" I say, as I hand him my phone.

He chuckles while entering his number in my phone and as soon as he hands it back to me, I press on dial "There, now you have my number as well, save it and lets catch up sometime this week"

"Yes ma'am. I will drop you a text and we will set up a coffee meet-up for the two of us, just like we used to. We do have a lot to catch up on"

"Yes, we definitely do" I respond.

"I will head inside now, otherwise my brother will just assume that I am not showing up today" Jace says with his adorable smile.

"Yes yes, don't let us keep you. See you soon"

"It was nice meeting you as well, had heard a lot about you from Sky" Jace says to Rea

"It was great meeting you as well" Rea responds.

Jace waves goodbye to us and starts heading inside while calling someone up, probably his brother.

I look back, as Jace is heading inside and my eyes automatically search for Julian but I can't see him anywhere. I probably imagined him standing there. It must be someone else who looked similar.

"Let's go" Rea says

I nod and we start heading toward the restaurant. "Jace seems like a nice guy and the way he immediately helped you, he seems like a gentleman."

"Yes, he's amazing, but I haven't seen him in so many years, things must have changed over the years." I respond

"That is just part of life, you know how that saying goes, change is the only constant. But deep down people tend to maintain the essence of who they really are and what really matters to them. So he probably has some parts of that old Jace within him still" Rea says with a soft smile

"Suddenly a lot of wisdom this woman is imparting on me" I say with a small laugh "But yes, I agree with you on that. I know that while majority of the things must have changed over the years, he's still going to be the same Jace that I first met all those years ago"

"Yes, you seemed so much at ease and comfort with him, it was noticeable in that two minute conversation" Rea comments

"Well, I don't know why but there was this sense of familiarity from the moment I first met him. And that is also what made it so easy for me to become really good friends with him. And I felt that sense of familiarity once again today when I met him"

"You know this could be really good for you. You can finally work on your personal life also a bit. I know that you love your work but it's also time you got back in the dating game now." Rea says

"Look who's talking about dating, the biggest workaholic I have known all my life"

"No, I am serious. You know what I believe in, you shouldn't run after someone who brings butterflies in your stomach, but rather be with someone who makes you feel calm and safe. And you sure did feel at ease and comfort with Jace. I mean that's just my observation from the conversation earlier" Rea says

I immediately burst into laughter when I understand what she's trying to imply. "Oh my god. No."

When I finally catch my breath, "Jace and I can never be romantically involved. You should know that he's 2 years younger than me"

"I don't really think it is that big of a age difference, you being happy is all that matters" Rea comments

"That's true and I love that you want this for me, but when I spoke about having a sense of familiarity with Jace, I meant in a sibling sort of way. I don't know why but he's always felt like a younger brother to me."

"Oh. My bad" Rea says with a small laugh. "I rarely see you so much at ease with someone, so I just thought"

"It's okay. Even in our class everyone assumed that we were dating, but that was never the case and never will be" I say with a small smile "In fact it was Jace who let me know that our classmates were saying that and he was so appalled by it himself, it was quite a funny moment between us" I recall.

"Either way, you should meet up with him. It'll be good for you to be a bit more social again."

"Yeah, you shouldn't be the one saying this. I know that the major reason you wanted to come out tonight was cause of these" I say as I point towards the book box kept on the chair beside her. "It's time for YOU to start doing a bit more than just work and reading. It's been a long time now Rea. 4 years is a long time." I say with a small smile on my face.

"Yeah, I know. It is a very long time." Rea says in small voice while going over the menu. "We will have this serious conversation, when we're on our way back home. It will be more fitting during our night walk. Now tell me, what do you want to eat?"

"Yes ma'am" She can hear the relief in my voice, because even though I was brave in the moment and said that, I was a bit worried about how she will react to it.

We have a hearty meal and Rea informs me that she will be travelling next month for a few weeks for work. I also have a full schedule and new design projects are being assigned to our team next week onwards as it is. So it looks like we both are thriving in our respective work and we honestly wouldn't have it any other way.

After paying for dinner, on our walk back home we decide to get some ice-cream. We both get chocolate ice cream cones and sit down on a bench on the sidewalk outside the ice-cream store and keep the book box between us.

A few moments of silence pass while we enjoy our ice-cream and the cool night breeze.

"I agree with what you said, 4 years is a long time. But at the same time it felt like the right amount of time for me to go through it all and learn how to come out of it." Rea breaks the silence and I turn to look at her, but her eyes are focused on the closed stores on the opposite side of the road.

"I am finally at a place where I don't feel hurt about those things. I won't say that everything is absolutely perfect and I love everything in my life right now. It's going to take a bit more to reach there, but soon." I see a small smile come to her face.

"You know, out of all the things that have happened, I am extremely happy and grateful about two things and forever will be." Rea turns her head and faces me as she says this.

"One is that I had my work to keep me occupied and ensure that I had something to look forward to everyday, irrespective of everything else that I was feeling and facing at that time. And second is You. When you decided to live with me, it was like the light at the end of the tunnel suddenly became visible." Rea says and I know she means every single word.

But I can't find the right words to respond to her and she knows I will either just make a silly comment or be a mumbling mess, so she continues.

"My work ensured that I had something to look forward to each day and when we started living together, I knew for sure that good is coming and that soon I can leave this darkness behind. So thank you for all that you do"

And I can't control it anymore and I start blinking rapidly so that I don't end up crying.

"Haha, it's okay, you don't have to say anything. I know I don't say it often, but I just wanted to let you know that I am very grateful for you" Rea says as I am still looking up at the night sky and blinking away my tears.

After a few minutes I finally look at Rea and she's eating her ice-cream with a happy smile and I feel happy seeing her at peace. "Next time please hand me a tissue before you start speaking. Out of nowhere you just start saying things, how am I supposed to handle all this?"

Rea lets out a laugh but doesn't say anything and I go back to focusing on my ice-cream.

"Sky look, isn't that Jace?" Rea says suddenly while pointing at 2 guys walking on the opposite side of the road.

They are sharing a laughter, oblivious to the world around them and just walking ahead. My head does a complete 180 as I watch them walk.

Of course, Jace's brother will be that tall. It is in the genes. But wait, why does he seem so familiar. I know that tall person.

No way.

No.

Way.

Julian.

Jace's brother.

Julian is Jace's elder brother.

The moment this realisation starts to sink in, I see that Jace has noticed us from the other side of the road. He stands in his spot and waves at us. Rea waves at him to join us and Jace starts crossing the street.

While all of this is happening, Julian turns around and we have locked eyes. For the second time in the same night. It definitely was Julian, who I locked eyes with while leaving the book sale.

Once Jace is finally standing in front of us, he directly bends a bit to take a bite out of my ice-cream and that brings me back to reality.

I look back at Julian once again, and I am not able to understand the expression on his face right now.

When Jace notices that Julian is still on the other side of the road, he turns around and asks him to come over.

And then I just hear him slowly say to Rea, "I'm going to have some fun, just play along, okay?"

Once Julian joins us, Rea asks them both if they'd like to have ice-cream and Jace takes another bite from my ice-cream and says "I'm good, I'll just share with Sky"

Jace then turns towards Julian "Do you want to get some ice-cream Julian?"

And he just nods and heads into the ice-cream store with a pointed look.

Is Julian actually feeling jealous?

As soon as he leaves, I can hear Jace giggling and Rea has a surprised look on her face. "Wait, what was that about? Sky do you know that guy?"

Before I can respond, it's like she's connected the dots herself, "Wait, don't tell me he's the guy from the cafe"

My red face confirms her suspicion. "I like this. I like him for you." Rea says with the biggest smile on her face

"You don't even know him" I say to Rea

"But I do" Jace steps into the conversation

And I simply hit him on the shoulder "What are you doing?"

This was the moment that Julian decides to come out of the store and I see that he has 2 chocolate cones in his hand. He hands one cone to me. And gives my half eaten cone to Jace.

"There, you wanted to eat Sky's ice-cream. Eat it. Let her have her own ice-cream." Julian says in a tight voice.

Rea and Jace share a look and start laughing and Julian faces me "Don't mind him, you can eat this ice-cream" He says as he points to the ice-cream that he placed in my hand a few seconds ago and takes a bite out of his own ice-cream cone.

Jace and Rea are talking about something in hushed tone. I still have the puzzled look on my face as I look at the ice-cream in my hand and then at the guy in-front of me.

"So Jace, Sky told me you guys were very close in university." Rea's voice brings me back to reality, like always

Jace has a grin on his face, that shows that he's upto no good "Oh yes. I felt so bad when we had to break up. We were the best of friends and she's so much fun to be with." Jace is just looking at Julian when he says this and while Julian is focusing on his ice-cream, he has that pointed look on his face again.

So he's really bothered by this. But more importantly why does his reaction make me feel so happy?

"But Sky said you guys were just friends" Rea says at the same time that I say "What break-up?"

Jace comes and places his arm around my shoulder, "How can you not remember, we always went on coffee dates, we always sat together for our classes. And come on, we even stayed back at the campus the whole night alone, to finish our projects. How can you not remember all of this Sky?" Jace says, all the while looking at Julian.

Rea seems to have understood what Jace is trying to do, and she's laughing silently on the side while taking two steps back.

"Stop it, we never dated" I say in a hurried tone.

"Oh but if you call up any of our classmates, they will for sure say that we dated" Jace says, the teasing grin permanent on his face.

All this while, Julian is trying very hard to focus on his ice-cream. I just whisper to Jace "What are you upto? What is all this?" And he turns to look at me and bends down and whispers in my ear "Nothing, just want to see how much Julian can control his expressions."

"Okay that's enough. Even if you guys dated, that was in the past. You are not dating right now. You should respect a person's personal space and stand apart" Julian's voice finally breaks through as he places his hand on Jace's shoulder and pulls him away.

Jace ends up in fits of laughter and Rea also joins in now.

In that moment, Julian takes hold of my wrist and we take a few steps away from Rea and Jace who are still full of laughter.

"I didn't date him. I never have. I never will. We were just very good friends. I haven't even met him all these years. I met him today for the first time after a very long while." I start babbling.

Julian finally lets out a small laugh and his thumb moves across my wrist slowly and I realise he's still holding my wrist. "Deep breaths, Sky. He was just trying to get a reaction out of me and he sure does know how to do that."

Even though, I have a feeling I know what the answer to my next question might be, I still ask him "Why would Jace want to get a reaction out of you?"

"Because I like you" He says, without missing a heartbeat.