During most weekends, Megha, Surabhi, Raj, and Neel would go out for bowling/lunch, or they would catch a movie. Sometimes, some of their other colleagues joined them too. Raj, with his usual clownish self, always entertained them during such outings. Neel, through his mature, calm presence, always resolved verbal arguments between Megha and Raj. Surabhi, on the other hand, always had a good laugh when they would begin arguing. She always said that she was lucky to have found such a wonderful group of friends. Surabhi could not imagine her life in Bangalore without these wonderful friends.

Their first-weekend plan was made by Megha. She took Surabhi out shopping and showed her around the city on her bike. When Raj found out, he claimed to be furious, he loudly sang 'dost, dost na raha' until they had to put on their headphones to tune him out. He would raise the issue after every sentence, so finally, they promised him they would never leave him out of any plans going further.

A week after her parents left, Dhruv called her to tell her that he was visiting Bangalore for the weekend to attend a friend's wedding. The wedding was on Sunday, so he had a free day on Saturday. He asked her if she would spend the day with him. She instantly agreed, much to her surprise, and immediately remembered that Megha had made plans for bowling on Saturday with all her friends. She immediately called Megha and began apologizing. 'I am so sorry that I am doing this at the last min, but I will not be able to join you guys for bowling today.''Is everything okay?' asked Megha in a worried tone.

'Everything is fantastic....I am spending a day with Dhruv. Sorry that I agreed to go out with him and completely forgot about our plan.'

'That is okay. We can plan for tomorrow if you are free.' Megha said, hoping she was not going out with him 2 days in a row and trying to hide her displeasure.

'That would be great!' said Surabhi excitedly.

Surabhi joined Dhruv at the entrance of the planetarium as he stood waiting for her. As she walked towards him, his smile broadened. 'I cannot express how happy I am to see you!' he said as she walked up to him.

'I am glad to see you too.' she said as she looked around to see that there were many school children around them. 'You like to visit the planetarium too?' she asked.

'Well, I don't. But I figured you might be a fan. So I planned to attend this show.'

'You are right. I love it here. And thanks for doing this for me.' she said as they walked in together.

'I am willing to do anything that makes you happy.' he said with a wink.

'And he is back!' she said, narrowing her eyes at him as if disapproving of the flirting. He simply smiled.

Just as they had entered, Dhruv's phone rang. He excused himself as Surabhi found their seats. He returned in a few minutes just as the show began. In the darkroom, he found his way to his chair and sat down. But he seemed distracted as he continued messaging on his phone. Finally, after watching him for a few minutes, Surabhi asked, 'Are you okay? You seem distracted.'

'Sorry, I will put this away. I want to spend the entire day with you without any distractions.' he said as he silenced his ringing phone.

'No, that's okay. You can answer the call.'

He spoke in a low voice, but she heard him say that he would not be able to do something as he was outside.

As soon as he hung up, she asked, 'What is it, Dhruv? Do you have to be somewhere else?'

'No, nothing important. My friend wants me to pick up a few things for the wedding. But it will take up at least half a day. So I told you that I won't be able to do it.'

'We can do these chores together. Your friend must be busy with the wedding, so it's okay if we miss this show and help.'

'No, no, you don't have to do that. You love these things, and plus, I have the entire day planned.'

'Come on. The main motive of today was to hang out. So we'll be doing just that.'

'Are you sure?'

'Of course.' said Surabhi as she picked up her purse and walked out of the show with Dhruv following her.

'My friend called to ask me to pick up a few things. There are a few clothes from the designer, then visit the flower store to check on the floral decorations they have ordered for today evening. Finally, we have to pick up a piece of jewellery from the jewellers where we will meet up with her brother and offload all those things to him. You can still back out, and we can go back to spending the day as planned.' he said with his hands on the car steering as he waited for her to answer before pressing ignition.

'Let's go. I am sure this will all be fun.' she said, locking in her seatbelt.

As they zip zapped through the streets towards their first destination, Surabhi casually inquired, 'So who's getting married?'

'Aaaa...' Dhruv hesitated as he spoke, 'She is an old friend of mine.'

Surabhi, sensing hesitation, did not inquire further, but he added, 'We briefly dated.' He looked at Surabhi for a reaction, but she was silently looking out of the window. 'Why the silence?'

'Nothing.'

'I could have lied, you know.'

'I am not judging you.' Surabhi said, raising her hand.'Then why are you silent? I am worried.''I was just thinking how you can go from dating to being friends to attending her wedding and also shopping for her on her wedding day? Isn't it all a little too tangled up?''We were not as emotionally attached, I guess.''Hmm.' she said thoughtfully. Seeing her silently lost in her thoughts, he said, 'To tell you the truth, I have always gone about it the wrong way. Girls have never approached me just as a friend, so we have dated first, and then some of them ended up being my friends. With you, I am learning to become a friend first and then a boyfriend.'

Surabhi was silently looking at the road ahead of her as she knew his following statement. 'So, are we at that stage yet?' he asked hopefully.

'You know, during this visit, I am actually getting to know you a lot better. And I think there is so much more to know about each other once you take flirting out of the equation. To tell you the truth, I think this was one of the first real conversations that we had, and I actually liked it. Thank you for your honesty.'

'You are killing me with your sweetness and your levelheadedness.' he said smiling and then added, 'I like this too. And I am willing to wait until next time.'

'I am glad you are not pushing me. I know this is all very different for you but trust me, it is all very new and different for me as well.' she said thankfully. "Since we are honest, can I ask you something?"

"Yeah, sure, anything." he shrugged.

"Did you ever get hurt? Or did you hurt anyone?"

"Surabhi, if you are worried that I may hurt you, trust me, I will never ever do that. I know about your past, and I also know that you are afraid, but my intention is pure. I like you...I like you very much and would never do anything to hurt you in the slightest."

She gave a slight tight-lipped smile. She hadn't spoken to him about her broken engagement. He had probably heard about that from someone. But what he just said gave her butterflies. They went about the day ticking off things from their list one by one. Finally, they took a break for lunch and then continued until evening, driving through the town. Once they were done, he thanked Surabhi for the help, and she thanked him for the wonderful time she had.

The next day Surabhi went bowling with the gang. Bowling was usually between girls versus boys, with Surabhi and Megha on one team and Neel and Raj on the other. But Megha had planned differently for the day. Surabhi and Raj picked up their bowling shoes and headed down to the ally allocated to them. Megha intentionally hung around as Neel tied his shoelaces. Megha made sure Surabhi was not within the hearing distance and sat beside Neel and said, 'Dhruv asked her out. Did you know that? He also asked her not to mention that to anyone in the office. Surabhi, however, told me that after her date with him. And yesterday, she was with him the entire day. '

'I know. She did mention that.' Neel said, continuing to tie his shoelaces without looking up.'He wants to take their relationship a step further, you know. I think this time he is serious.' Megha continued trying to judge Neel's expression.

'Good for Surabhi.' Neel resorted without giving away his sinking feeling.

'Neel, do you think he is the right person for her? I mean, you know his flirtatious ways.''As far as I know Dhruv, he never bothers to date, anyone. He gets girls very easily. If he was willing to wait for so long just to get Surabhi's permission to date her, that's a good sign. I think he really likes her.'

'But I think she might be happier with someone more mature, understanding and caring.''She is smart, Megha. I think you are unnecessarily worried about her. Whatever decision she makes, I am sure it will be the right one.'

'Are you okay if she decides to marry Dhruv?'

Neel gave her a silent stare. So Megha continued, 'Come on, I know you like her. Whenever you are with her, you are the happiest I have ever seen you. In the last 2 years that I have been working with you, I have never seen you like this. She has brought you out of your shell. Don't you see that? Neel, I know you like her, but I am not able to judge her feelings. She too enjoys your company, but whenever I try to decipher her thoughts about you, she just changes the subject.'

'Megha, I have my reasons not to express my love for her. And I think it is not right for us to meddle and influence her. She may end up making a decision she may later regret. If she is happy with Dhruv, I am happy for her.'

'You will lose if you play fair with Dhruv; it's always a war. He always gets the girl he wants. If you don't want to influence Surabhi's decision, at least let me try.'

'No, Megha. Don't do it.' Just as Neel wanted to add something more when Surabhi called out from behind them, 'Come on guys, what's taking you so long?'

As Neel and Megha walked towards Surabhi, Megha walked clinging on to Neel's arm. When they reached the ally, Megha declared that she and Neel will be a team. Neel bent down and whispered in her ear, 'You are not ready to give up, are you?'

Megha replied with a smile and a wink. Her intention was to make Surabhi jealous and so that she would realize her love for Neel.

Surabhi did not bat an eyelid. She continued her regular game with Raj. Megha continued to stick by Neel. She giggled and hugged him at every instance she got. Finally, Raj paused with the ball in his hand and asked nonchalantly, 'What's the matter with you two today?'. He bowled and left to answer his ringing phone. While he was away, Megha tried to decipher Surabhi's thoughts. She was sure she had made her friend jealous but was not sure why she was not expressing it.'That was my amma. I need to leave now.' he said as he hurriedly picked up his jacket.'Whoa. Wait. Is something wrong?' asked Megha

'No, just some guests are visiting, and amma had told me about that a few days ago, but I forgot.''Okay. Then let's all leave, and we will drop you on our way.' Surabhi suggested.

'No, that's alright. You continue the game. I will go on my own.' said Raj.

'These are no normal guests, are they Raj? My guess is someone special is visiting today. You seem jittery.' Megha noted.

Raj blushed a little but said nothing. 'See you later, guys.' he waved on his way out.

The trio continued the play with Megha throwing around guesses regarding whom Raj was meeting that day. But in doing so, she forgot all about flirting with Neel. Surabhi quietly noticed this change.

They bowled for some time and decided to leave. 'Why don't we drive by Raj's place and see who is visiting him?' Megha suggested.

'I don't think that will be appropriate for us to pay a visit now.' Neel said, shooting down Megha.

'Let's just drive by his place. How about that? Maybe we can get a glance of his special someone.' Megha quipped with raised eyebrows.

'Yes, let's do that.' Surabhi seconded Megha before Neel could object.

With Neel in the driver's seat, the trio drove to Raj's house. They found a couple of cars parked in front of his house. Neel slowed down at Megha's instance, but before he could object, Megha and Surabhi were out of the car headed straight to his house. The sound of a lot of people talking could be heard from the house. They quietly opened the gate and tiptoed past the main door unnoticed. They walked over to the side of the place where the bedrooms were located. Both the girls peeped through the bedroom window. A beautiful dusky girl with long black hair was sitting on a chair near the study table. Raj entered the room and spotted Surabhi and Megha peeping in. The girls realizing they had been caught, ran towards the gate but tripped and fell over the water sprinkler just a few feet from the bedroom window. Raj and his female guest came running towards the window. As both looked at Raj, trying to find words to apologize, Raj's guest said, 'You both must be Megha and Surabhi. And that must be Neel.' she said, pointing towards Neel, who was standing near the gate. 'I have heard so much about all of you. I am Laxmi, soon to be engaged to Raj. Glad to meet you.' she said with a smile.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Raj and Laxmi were soon engaged. So the gang of 4 decided to go on a trek to celebrate Raj and Laxmi's engagement. Everyone was ready early in the morning as Neel was to pick them up one by one. Surabhi was the first one to be picked, next was Megha, last were Laxmi and Raj. As Raj and Laxmi got into an already packed car, he commented, saying, 'We will soon need a bigger car. Our group is expanding.'

'Hmm... if Neel does not change his car, then I guess we cannot expand our group anymore.' Megha began her chatter.

'So, does that mean the 3 of you will not get married?' Raj asked, continuing the headless-tailless topic.

'No. Neel and Surabhi can get married to each other.' Megha replied, acting innocent.

Surabhi, who was sitting in the back seat centre, immediately looked away to hide her embarrassment while Neel, who was driving, gave Megha, who was in the seat behind him, a stern stare through the rearview mirror. Then, to their relief, Raj asked, 'But what about you?'

'Eh...I am not made for marriage.' Megha said as if turned off at the thought of marriage.

'Or you can marry Neel, and Surabhi can marry someone away from Bangalore.' said Raj turning around and giving Surabhi a wink.

'Oh no, I don't like the thought of breaking up our group. I think the 1st option is better.' said Megha.

'Why are you guys dragging me into the discussion?' Protested Surabhi.

'I will buy a bigger car if needed so that Surabhi can marry anyone she wants, Megha can decide to marry if she wants. Everyone happy?' said Neel to close the discussion.

'But what about you, Neel?' asked Raj teasingly.

'Laxmi, are you sure you want to marry him?' asked Neel, smiling at Laxmi, who had been silently enjoying the banter so far.

Everybody laughed out loud.

It was pitch dark when they started towards their destination, which was an hour's drive. Neel insisted on leaving early so that they could watch Sunrise from the peak. So they drove with music thumping on the radio and all five of them humming the tunes. Soon they reached the parking area. Now they had a trek of about 4 miles to reach the top of the peak. It was cold and hazy. The First 15-20 mins of the hike went quickly as everyone was energetic and easy to climb. But slowly, the climb started getting steeper, and the rocks covered in moss did not help. Raj and Laxmi walked ahead of the group, chatting. Neel, Surabhi and Megha were following them. Soon they could see the peak. But the climb was getting more challenging, and backpacks on their back felt heavier with every step. They had planned a small surprise for Raj and Laxmi; hence they had not disclosed the contents of their backpacks to them when they inquired.

Surabhi slipped on loose mud but managed to get a firm footing avoiding a fall. Just as she had managed to stop her fall, Megha gave out a sharp cry. Neel and Surabhi rushed to her side. She had slipped over a moss covered rock. She lay on the ground holding her left ankle, crying in pain. Finally, they helped her sit up. Neel helped her take out her shoe and had a look at her ankle. There was a slight swelling on her ankle, but now she could sit up. Neel took out a cold drink from his backpack to use it as an ice pack to help the swelling subside. A few minutes passed, but Megha could not stand up, but the pain had subsided.

'You guys go ahead, or you will miss the sunrise.' said Megha. But when both of them refused to leave she gave another try 'You need to give them the surprise! We cannot just sit here. So please go!'

'Well, we can do something else.' suggested Surabhi. 'Why don't we help you come up with us? It is just 5 more minutes of climb.'

Neel seconded her idea despite a strong protest by Megha. Both of them helped her stand up. Neel supported her from the left while Surabhi supported her on the right. Megha walked on one foot without putting any pressure on the other. Their climb was slow, but just as they reached the top, the first rays of the sun shot up from the horizon. Raj and Laxmi, who were enjoying the view, came rushing to their side when they saw them. They enjoyed the Sunrise together.Surabhi spread the mats from their backpacks for them to sit. Neel helped her as she took out cupcakes and other snacks and set them out as all of them sat down. Raj and Laxmi were surprised to see that their names were written with icing on every cupcake.

'We wanted to give you a surprise. So we planned this small trek and a picnic to welcome Laxmi into our group. And here is a small gift from the three of us.' said Neel handing them an envelope containing various couple's workshops ranging from pottery to cooking.Laxmi was the first to react by hugging each one of them. 'I could have never asked for a better friend. I have really lucked out here.' she said.

Their chatter and laughter filled the sky. Raj and Neel helped Megha climb down on the way back, and Laxmi and Surabhi followed them.