Chapter 4

Khushi

I woke up to the sound of my alarm. I switched off the alarm and laid on the bed for a few minutes.

After a good 5 minutes in bed, I did my morning chores.

Before I could even open touch the handle of my door, my door flung open and there stood doom aka my best friend Niyati.

I am sure I am gonna die today. Dear lord! Please forgive me if I have done something bad in my life or if I have offended someone.

But please save me. Please!

I took a step back unconsciously. She took a step forward just like in movies and novels. But the only difference is a girl is approaching me instead of a handsome guy.

"Stop right there!" She yelled at me.

Now I am sure she is hell angry with me. Because Niyati would never yell at somebody unless. Well! You know.

"Are you out of your freaking mind? Do you even have brains? Who in their right state of mind would leave their home at 1 am?" You can see steam coming out of her ears.

If you love your life just take my advice DON'T EVER I REPEAT DON'T YOU EVER DARE TO WAKE UP NIYATI IN THE MIDDLE OF HER SLEEP UNLESS IT'S SOMETHING REALLY URGENT.

"I am sorry, but at least try to understand me. I am confused. I freaking loved him with all my heart. It hurts here" I pointed towards my heart " I can't do it. I don't think I can even think about someone else. It feels like betraying him. My heart is forcing me to find him one last time. It wants me to try harder. And it might not be the last time. It will tell me to do it unless I will find him."

This was my last straw. I broke down, I cried, I cried like a baby.

She rushed towards me and hugged me. She rubbed my back and asked me not to cry.

But I couldn't stop my tears they were flowing of their own accord.

"I don't know what to do anymore...I don't want to give his place to anyone in my heart...he is my first love...I need to find him...I need to know why he left me...I don't know whether I will be able to stop loving him after that or not but at least I will be able to answer my heart." I said with hiccups.

"Shh, everything is okay. I understand "

"No, you don't. You won't understand because you have never been in love. You don't understand how it feels when the person you love leaves you without even saying anything. You don't understand how your heart tries to reason the disappearance of that person. You don't understand how your heart tries to blame you for not being able to hold that person hard enough. You don't." I cried like a child holding her as my life depended on her.

I held her so tight that she tried to wiggle under my hold and that's when I realized that I held her so tightly. I loosened my hold but kept hugging her.

"Yes, I don't understand your 'romantic love' but I do understand love" she said air quoting the word 'romantic love'.

She sighed and continued "Yes, I don't understand but you need to do things in the right state of mind. It's okay if you don't want to give anyone a chance right now but you can't decide whether you will be able to give someone a chance in the future or not."

Give someone a chance in future. Will I? No!

Don't decide just yet. What if you will? You never know. My brain told me.

I wiped my tears and let go of her. She stood up and gave a hand to stand up.

"If you want to find him, which I suggest you shouldn't then I will help you. But it's not the time. You need to calm yourself. And for the sake of all the sane people in the world don't come up with any great plans in the middle of the night. And...." she left her sentence incomplete and smirked.

This is not a good sign. Never been one.

"Since you have already disturbed my sleep and that too when there was no such emergency if we exclude the fact that you tried to run away from your home, which you didn't do. So, according to our deal, you need to fulfil one of my wishes." She said while dragging me and informed my Mom on our way out.

She drove for 15 minutes without telling me where we were heading to. We came to halt at a red signal and at the same moment, her mobile rang but she ignored the call and texted someone.

"Who's it?"

"Nothing important." She shrugged it off and started driving again. She drove to the bowling alley.

"You've never done this before, have you?" I asked her quite surprised.

If I remember correctly then we have never been to a bowling alley before. And I am quite sure that I know nothing about it.

"A few times with some people. But I am not really good at it so we are here. You know, practice makes a man perfect." We entered and it was membership-based.

She took her card out and they scanned it. It was not very crowded. And nothing like they show in movies. It was pretty quiet. And most of the members looked kinda rich. How did she even start bowling and where did she get her membership card?

"I don't come here often but I know a person who comes here often and that person is the one who introduced me to bowling. That person gave me this membership card." You couldn't see many teenagers there. Most of the people were in their late 20s.

As we were moving her mobile rang again. She excused herself and moved towards the exit. Why is she being so secretive?

I was looking around when I felt a tap on my right shoulder. I looked to my right but no one was there so I looked to my left and the guy from yesterday was standing there with a smirk on his face.

"We meet again. Miss?"

"Khushi. I thought you were not interested in my name and we were merely strangers " I asked him and raised my eyebrows.

He smiled and ran his fingers through his silky black hair.

"I remember telling you that I will ask you only if we meet again. Mind joining me?"

"I am here with a friend " he made 'O' and then there was an awkward silence.

He broke the silence "Did you find your answers?" I was confused by his question. I think he understood and rephrased his question again.

"The answer to 'then', did you find the answer?" He asked.

"You seem very interested in a stranger's life. What are you, gossip buddy?" He laughed at my sentence. He has a burst of melodious laughter.

Now, I am 100% sure that he is a guy who could make any girl fall for him.

"Well, I am quite the opposite. Forget it. I suppose you don't wanna answer. " I nodded and he made that 'hmm' sound and looked up like he was thinking something.

"Would you mind if I buy you a drink? Not alcohol, of course."

I got a call from Niyati before I could answer his question. I answered and she informed me that she is taking a cab and she has to leave because she volunteered in a blood donation camp and they were short on staff so they called her before her shift. She asked me to leave and told me that the car keys were in my bag. I don't even know when she put the car keys in my bag.

I came back and he was standing on the same spot but this time he had two soft drinks.

"You didn't answer me so I assumed that you wouldn't say 'no' and I brought these." He said bringing them forward.

I smiled and took it from his hand.

"What if I had denied?" He smiled. This guy sure smiles a lot.

"You just took it which proves that I was right and if you had denied then I would have been a little bit embarrassed. And would have finished both of them by myself." He said scratching his neck. I smiled at his words. He is so cute!

"Where's your friend?" I realized that I had to leave but I forgot because of him.

"She left something came up. And I need to leave too." I bid him farewell and started to leave.

"You will buy me a drink next time if we meet again" I looked back and saw his smiling face.

I smiled and walked ahead without answering him.

Buy him a drink. Will I? Maybe. He is quite interesting. And he has a beautiful smile.

I reached my car and saw my reflection smiling. My smile faded as soon as I remembered the reason for my smile.

How can you smile like this when he isn't with you? You don't even know about his whereabouts.

We are not meeting again and I am definitely not buying him a drink even if we meet.

But unaware of plans God has made for me, I drove towards my home.