HIS FRIEND ROHIT

Ever since Piyush had arrived at my nani's house, my visits there had dramatically increased. Earlier, when Nani used to look for a volunteer to do her household chores or pay some bills or bathe Samba, her furry pug, Zarah and I vanished from the scene, and if caught by Nani, we made as many lame excuses as we could think of to get her off our backs. But since her new PG had arrived, both Zarah and I were at Nani's Beck and call. In fact, I wondered if Zarah had stopped attending her classes altogether just to be in the house when Piyush walked in and out for college.

One day Nani has sent us to the market to buy 1 kg of gourds. While Nani had gone out to meet some relatives. We had come back from the market. It was the second Sunday since the boy had invaded my dreams, I was so eager to talk to Piyush but I couldn't. 'Do you have his number?' I asked Zarah, sulking.

'I can get it for you,' she replied as clearly as is possible with an entire samosa stuffed into his mouth. Nani was not at home, but samosas were,

That evening Piyush was not home either. His school friend was to arrive from Delhi that morning and, surprisingly, Nani had given him permission to share his bedroom with his friend, provided this friend of his paid some money for his share of household expenses like food and electricity, etc. Piyush had gone to the airport to pick his friend up!

At 4 p.m, a taxi stopped in front of the main door. I peeped through the curtains and saw Piyush get down with his friend ----a huge, dusky male with french beard with a bright smile, and appeared to be someone who is fun-loving, charming and motivated no matter how the day was. Piyush paid the taxi driver and they came into the house.

'Come, Rohit. Let me show you our room!' Piyush took his friend into his room without acknowledging mine or Zarah's presence in the hallway.

'I am in love!' Zarah declared, still looking in the direction where the boys had stood, as if she were dreaming. She was madly in love with Rohit. Zarah was friendly, talkative and fun-loving girl.

Next morning Zarah made coffee for all of us, as she wanted to start a conversation with Rohit, I wondered how she easily done friendship with Rohit and Piyush, might be because of her bold and friendly nature to make friends easily,on the other hand I always feel shy to talk to Piyush , always my heartbeat increases in loop. I always made an eye contact with piyush and gazed into his dark brown eyes that was the moment when I knew that my soul had finally found the place it needed to rest in. Love penetrates the hardest of hearts in the blink of an eye.' whenever I looked into his eyes I always fall in love as it was the first time, I ever saw him. It took Zarah, just one week to ask Rohit out for a coffee and three to start dating him.

Since I and Rohit had met many times, he knew me too. Somehow, I had a feeling that he knew about my crush on Piyush, thanks to Zarah. But being the lovely guy he is, he never brought the topic up in our conversations. We used to go movies and had dinner all together. That was the first time I and Piyush had finally talk to each other, I remembered he asked me about my hobby and I said him about my talent of singing and co-incidentally, we shared the same music taste. Apart from us, Zarah and Rohit were madly in love with each other, as if they found there ideal match. They always looked happy, as they are made for eachother. Rohit was the one she truly desire for. Zarah even told her parents about their relationship, luckyly they were happy for their daughter. They even liked Rohit for his well being nature and behaviour. I always wanted them to be together forever, as they looked the perfect couples in my eyes.

My one-sided love story had not progressed at all. Still a timid girl, I used to admire Piyush from afar and dreamt of confessing my feelings to him one day. When and if that 'one day' would ever come soon, I was not sure, but I hoped it would come soon enough.

On a cold Sunday afternoon, Zarah and Rohit planned a coffee date at Cafe Coffee Day, Lajpat Nagar. I got to know, through my personal eavesdropper, Zarah that Piyush was going to accompany Rohit to the coffee house. I asked Zarah to take me along with her. I remember an icy wind was blowing all day, and the sun made an appearance between the clouds once in a while, making the day bearable.

'It is freezing outside, Piyush. Sit with us until your friends pick you up,' Rohit insisted. Piyush had plans to go to Saket with a couple of his friends who were coming from Mayur Vihar and were running late.

Ya, have some warm coffee,' Zarah offered him a seat. I also took a position at the table, uninvited of course. The lovebirds looked at me with repulsion in their eyes as soon as I sank into the soft sofa. Meanwhile, Piyush was busy on his phone.

'You can have coffee with us too, Rohit

Offered politely, and got up with Zarah to order coffee for all four of us.

Piyush and I were sitting opposite to each other at a table next to the big glass windows with a view of the busy street outside. The winter sun now shone weakly through grey clouds. He stared out of the window, and his eyes flickered as the sunlight glittered on his face. This was the first time I was sitting so close to him. He was wearing his usual perfume, and its ocean smell calmed me like it always did. Someone came in through the door, and cold wind from outside blew in, tossing my hairs all over my face. I moved it aside delicately and looked at him. He was already looking at me. I was so lost in admiring him that I had not even realized that there were two cup of coffee in front of us already. As our eyes locked, the surroundings disappeared. Suddenly, there was a loud noise as someone's phone buzzed. It was his phone; he got up, with a smile and said bye Adira, leaving me alone at the table, apologizing to Zarah for not being able to have the coffee as his friends were there to pick him up. I realized then that Zarah and Rohit were sipping their coffee and cosying up at another table in the corner---it was their date after all.

I did not mind sitting at that table alone, with two cups of coffee and an empty chair. The cups sat untouched for a while. I kept thinking about him; about his brown eyes that had looked deeply into mine. I picked up one of the cups and raised it to my lips. Till that day I had been quite fond of coffee, but the first sip made me realise how all other drinks had lost their charm for me. I wanted to taste him, his soul, his mind. I wanted to know him more---- more than ever.

Sitting alone and enjoying my own company and thinking about Piyush, I looked towards Zarah and Rohit, they were happy together.

Many years later, I asked Zarah, if she remembered the exact moment when she knew she was in love with Rohit. I still remember what she said and knew instantly that it was for real. 'Well, it was the first time when I gazed into his dark eyes. That was the moment when I knew that my soul had finally reached its destination said Zarah with a blush in her face.' Love at first sight always tend to be beautiful and pure.