Where's the moon to my sun?

3.

Ishan walked into the cafeteria, his eyes fixated on his phone as he replied to the texts from his family and friends from back London, smiling.

Suddenly his phone was snatched out of his hands and he received a smack on his head.

"Beta phone se aankhe hata le varna kahi thuk jayega,"

Ishan looked at the person who spoke, his face lighting up in a huge smile, "Rishu!! Oh, I missed you,"

Rishabh chuckled, pulling him in a tight hug, "I missed you too, Ishu!!"

He heard someone (fake) clearing their throat and he pulled back to see Anaya glaring at him playfully while Mayank stood beside her with a soft smile playing on his lips.

"Hum bhi hain yaha agar kisi ko yaad ho to," Anaya muttered, playfully narrowing her eyes at Ishan who chuckled in response.

"Aw, mere bacche," Ishan cooed, hugging them both at the same time, "I missed you both too,"

Mayank chuckled while Anaya rolled her eyes fondly, lightly smacking Ishan on the head, "We both are literally older than you, idiot,"

Ishan chuckled, flopping down on the chair of an empty table, "Koi na, I have still adopted you both, no actually the three of you as my kids,"

Mayank laughed, sitting across from him, the other two following suit, "Okay, then, dad." He exclaimed, dramatically.

"No, no," Rishabh chimed in, "Okay, then, daddy." He said emphasising on the word and not in an innocent manner.

"Eww, what the hell, Rishabh?" Ishan exclaimed, scrunching up his face in disgust while his friends around him laughed.

Ishan looked at the laughing faces, a sense of ease settling into his chest. A feeling of being home, "I missed you all a lot,"

They had quite literally grown up together, the three of them being his neighbours when he lived here in India. It had been extremely difficult when his family had moved to London a few years back, he had missed them terribly. Fortunately, they never lost touch and had even visited him in London. And now being back, nothing feels different, it was like he was fourteen again, laughing with his friends on a silly topic.

The three of them looked at him, their smiles turning softer. Rishabh reached out to ruffle his hair gently.

"We missed you too, kid," Anaya said, her smile reaching her eyes, reflecting the joy clearly.

"Okay, Anny, stop calling me that. I'm not a kid," Ishan whined, even though he secretly loved when she called and treated him like a kid.

"Um, no, kid," Anaya chuckled.

Ishan rolled his eyes playfully, propping his face up in his palms as he leaned on the table. Even before he could open his mouth to speak, Mayank interrupted,

"Wait, before we converse further, let me go get some food for us," He muttered before jogging up to the canteen's counter. He was back in a minute with sandwiches and some drinks for them.

"Here," Mayank smiled, forwarding Ishan his sandwich and the pack of drink.

"Aw," Ishan cooed, literally pouting as he saw it was chocolate milk. He absolutely loved chocolate milk as a kid and still do to be honest, so his friends or you could say his most favourite people in this world apart from his family, used to buy chocolate milk for him from their pocket money. Ishan is the youngest amongst the four of them so he had always been cherished a lot by them and he, quite honestly, loved it.

"Thank you, Mayu," He muttered, smiling, also receiving a big smile from Mayank in return.

"So, how was the shifting to the apartment?" Anaya asked, unwrapping her sandwich and taking a bite, "You didn't have any problem, right?"

Ishan chuckled, his mind shifting back to the incident this morning. The one where he got called a killer, a cute one to be precise, "It was... alright,"

"Were the guys nice to you?" She asked.

Ishan chuckled at the mama hen's interrogation, "Yeah, they were. Don't worry, Anny,"

"I'm not worrying," Anaya rolled her eyes, "Well, I know Abhishek, he shared a class with me last semester. He's really nice. Don't know much about the other one though,"

"I know him," Mayank muttered, referring to Shubman, "He's a nice lad as well, a little quiet but really nice overall,"

"Okay, leave that. So what's going on with you guys?" Ishan asked, "Anything new?"

"Oh, yeah. Did we tell you that Rishabh finally found his soulmate?" Anaya exclaimed.

"Oh, my God, really?" Ishan squealed, his eyes widening, "When?!"

"Just two days ago," Mayank replied, "He wanted to tell you immediately but we didn't call 'cause you were busy in preparing to leave,"

Ishan smiled a big smile, wrapping Rishabh who was sitting beside him in a side hug, "I'm so happy for you, Rishu," He beamed, squeezing Rishabh tightly who chuckled in response, patting his arm.

"Tell me everything," He added, again propping his face in his palms and leaning on the table.

"Okay, so her name is Meera," Rishabh started, a shy smile playing on his lips as his cheeks turned pink 'causing everyone to coo at him, "Well, I met her when we went to a different university for a debate competition. She's from a different university as well, the one really close to ours. She was speaking on a different topic than me but she won in her category,"

"You won in yours as well," Mayank pointed out with a chuckle.

"Yeah, that as well," Rishabh smiled, "So our professor was introducing all the winners. She had her soulmark on the back of her hand, I saw it when I shook her hand. We went on our first date yesterday, she's really nice,"

"Aw," Ishan smiled, feeling extremely happy for his friend, "What about you two? Any progress in finding yours?" He asked the other two.

"Negative," Anaya muttered, waving her hand dismissively, "You tell me, you were saying you feel like you will find yours in India. What's with that?"

Ishan sighed deeply, "I don't know. I just feel like it. A very strong gut feeling you know,"

"Mhm," Mayank mumbled, "Always trust your guts. It'll definitely steer you to the right direction,"

"Hey, Ish. Show me your soulmark again," Anaya asked, "I'll try to remember if I saw that around here on anybody,"

"Like you know everyone in the college," Rishabh rolled his eyes, "Oh, wait. You do know almost everyone in the college," He added.

Anaya chuckled.

Ishan rolled up his sleeve, showing his soulmark to them.

"It's so pretty, isn't it?" Mayank mumbled.

"It is," Rishabh agreed.

"I don't think I've seen it on anybody," Anaya sighed.

"What do you think it means though?" She asked.

"The sun quite literally represents you 'cause you're a literal sunshine," Rishabh said with a smile, "What do you think the moon means?"

Ishan smiled softly, looking at his soulmark before unfolding his sleeve, "Maybe it means my soulmate is as beautiful as the moon, as gentle as the moon. Like a light guiding people on the darkest of nights. Maybe they make people smile, like the moon does as soon as you look at it." His eyes twinkled as he spoke, his heart feeling that familiar longing to meet his other half. He couldn't wait to meet them, get to know them and fall in love with them. He was extremely eager, desperate even.

"Aww, isn't that so sweet?" Mayank smiled.

"It definitely is," Anaya agreed, "I really hope we all find our other halves soon,"

"Me too," Ishan sighed.

"Aur aap Pant ji, jaldi milwao hum sabko bhi bhabhi se," He added.

Rishabh chuckled, "Bilkul, bilkul."