When you Say Goodbye

Me & She

Had been nearly six months the kissing incident took place and Dhruv was able to reconcile with Shreya. Dhruv felt that his relationship with Shreya had improved tremendously over the past few months. They called each other regularly and every Saturday and Sunday morning, he chats with Shreya. He maintained his closeness with her by letting her listen to his voice and see him face-to-face through Skype video.

The best thing happened in this four-month was, Dhruv had just bought just a small house in Hinsdale, a small suburb of Chicago. It was nothing just a two bedroom house with a patio but he knew Shreya would love it and suddenly he couldn't wait anymore to get her to see it. He had been making mental plans on how he would ask her to marry him. He had also spent time putting together in his mind.

That morning he woke up to the phone ringing and he picked up still with sleep in his voice and said "hello?" It was Aditi on the other end and she said, "Dhruv this is Bhabhi here"

He sat up straight even though not be able to see him, he did it naturally due to the respect and then cleared his throat and said, "yes Bhabhi, how are you?"

"I am fine Dhruv, how are you?" Aditi asked her voice soft and hesitant. The sound of her voice tensed him a bit.

"I am good here, I'm missing your cooking, especially your cheesecake... Bhabhi do you need anything?" Dhruv asked in a very soft voice, fearing that she must be having some problem, which she is not willing to share.

"Here I need a favor from you if you can."

"Sure but how can I help you?" Dhruv reverted

"Actually Ditiya is coming to Chicago for six months for training purpose and she is adamant about renting a house on a temporary basis as she turned down my suggestion of her, staying with you but I think she would be safer and I will be tension free if you are there," Aditi said. Dhruv opened his mouth to say something, but his stomach dropped when Ditiya's beautiful face intruded into his mind without warning.

Her drunken face from that night, he could almost feel her breath on his lips, her eyes were dilated with desire. He just wanted to kiss her right at that moment, until they were both too dizzy to know where they were, soon he felt guilty because he felt like that.

"Dhruv?"

"UH- what?" Dhruv was instantly startled out of his thoughts, "yes, sure Bhabhi you can rely on me,"

"I thought so! I thought so!" Aditi said with satisfaction and relief in her voice. He could state by the way her voice sounded that Ditiya never disclosed to her elder sister about their smashed hook up and he was certain he could never let out the slightest peep about it to Aditi since it was awkward.

"I mean I will send her an SMS asking for that her stay here with me, however an official decision ought to be hers," He mumbled

"Yes, beyond any doubt," Aditi's voice reverberated down the phone line. "I know both of you don't get along extremely well however she is a decent housemate,"

Dhruv wished Aditi knew how sickening idea came into his brain, just by hearing to Ditiya's name. At that point, Aditi could never let her sister anywhere close to Dhruv. He was sure Ditiya was extremely unlikely to move in with Dhruv after that incident.

"I will save some of our money, foreign countries are so damn costly," Aditi continued with her speech. Dhruv made sounds like "hmm, uh" as he pretended to listen Aditi's rambling, when his mind was not only somewhere else but actually torturing him by re-playing the unsavory kiss that had happened in the past.

------------- Two days later-------------

The porch had awesome significance for Dhruv; this was the place he could smoke, in spite of the fact that he planned to surrender soon however not today certainly not today. He didn't think even for a moment that Ditiya would be keen on living with him when he sent the message to her saying he has an additional room, however, he gathered it was likely she didn't recollect the tipsy snog, which frightened the crap out of him.