An awkward silence filled the air, as purvi constantly looked at dushyant with agitation. The more quietly he kept on driving, the more stressed she seemed to be about what was he really thinking. 
'abhi bhi nahi gayi iski yeh adat....bhagwan hi jaane iske dimaag mein kya chal raha hai...' thought purvi, as she tried to figure out what might be filling his thoughts. 
kavin, who had just known dushyant for a week, could feel the tension as well as sense purvi's agitation. 

during one of her train of thoughts, purvi's gaze caught the rearview mirror, through which kavin was looking at her. 

'what?' she signalled through her eyes. 

'kuch bolo na...' he replied through his gaze, soon averting it to dushyant. 

'kya?' conveyed purvi through a glare. 

As kavin just looked away, giving up entirely, but then also laughed at his own stupidity of pinning hopes on a stranger. 

'kavin, tu bhi kambal karta hai, order bhi uss insaan ko de raha hai jisse mile hue tujhe adha ghanta hua hai....' he thought as a smirk crept up on his face, and he focused his sight on the view outside the window of the passenger seat. 

"itni bhi kya naaraz hone waali baat hai, ek lift hi toh li hai!" remarked purvi, smashing the vaccum of silence in the car. But, she quickly got disappointed, seeing that it had the same effect on dushyant as not saying anything altogether. 

"ab kuch bologe bhi!" scolded purvi, as dushyant just reclined back on his seat, completely relaxed. As kavin looked at purvi with anticipation, wondering what is she going to do. 

But just when purvi thought she was running out of ideas, a lightbulb suddenly lit up in her head. 

"nahi, theek hai, main bhi toh issi tarah naaraz hoti thi tumse...." recalled purvi, as dushyant was starting to be taken aback by her, and kavin just wondered what they were talking about. 

"phir tum bhi mujhe flowers bhejte the sorry notes ke saath, jab tak main maanti nahi thi..." continued purvi, as she started to see the desired effect on dushyant, who got uncomfortable and started driving slowly. 

kavin just looked at both of them as perplexed as an unknown party would be at the moment. but, the cherry on top was when purvi hugged him from the back, resting her arms on his shoulder. 

"miss nahi karte kya mujhe?" asked purvi rhetorically, as dushyant's breathing rate increased, and kavin's jaw dropped looking at both of them. 

unfortunately, this desired reaction lead to a quite unfavourable situation, as dushyant hit the brakes of the car, and purvi crashed on the backseat. 

"what the hell!" exclaimed kavin. 

"get out!" ordered dushyant, as kavi got confused. 

"purvi, niklo gaadi se..." repeated dushyant, as purvi just glared at him. 

"badal gaye ho tum....." said purvi before she got out of the car. 

kavin, who was utterly shocked, to see a glimpse of emotion in dushyant other than anger. the guy just seemed like someone who was just so hurt by even this memory. surprising kavin more, was the sympathy he found within himself for him. 

"are you ok?" asked kavin, with genuine concern, as dushyant nodded in agreement and continued to drive. 

"tum dono....." mentioned kavin, trying to not sound unecessarily nosy, as dushyant glared at him. 

"best friend thi meri, bachpan mein...." replied dushyant, as he kept his eyes on the road. 

"ohh..." uttered kavin, as he tried to comprehend the situation. 

"toh, hua kya tha?" followed up kavin, as dushyant did not even look upto him this time. 

"tumhara usse koi matlab nahi hai..." blurted dushyant coldly. 

"arre, main bas..." arugued kavin. 

"i don't need your sympathies..." said dushyant, as kavin just shook his head in disblief, why does he even bother? 

                                                               ***

ishita rubbed her thumb across the diary in her hand, as she hesitated to open it. But on her fourth attempt, she finally managed to open it on the first entry. unfortunately, that is when she was interrupted. 

"hey!" she remarked as she sat next to ishita. 

"kya kar rahi hai?" she asked as ishita just nodded in disagreement. 

"yeh kya hai? dekha na!" she said pointing towards the diary, as ishita resisted. 

"poonam, nahi, yaar..." said ishita, as she held onto it tightly. 

"arre, par...." protested poonam, only to to give up seeing ishita's disinterest in showing it to her. 

"acha, yeh toh bata yeh hai kya?"  asked poonam.

"woh, mom ki almirah saaf kar rahi thi, papa keh rahe the woh kapde donate kar denge, bas, wahi mili yeh....pata nahi kyun chupaya hua tha isse..." narrated ishita. 

"uncle ko pata hai iski baarein mein?" questioned poonam 

"pucha nahi. i thought agar unhe pata hota toh wahan chupake kyun rakhti...infact, mujhe toh yeh bhi nahi pata tha ki maa diary likhti hain." replied ishita. 

"toh tu kya karne waali hai iske saath?"

"i don't know....." said ishita, as deep down, she just felt that it had something she needed to know. 

                                                                    ***

kavin came home by an auto-rickshaw, in an attempt to avoid dushyant. he thought a lot about what happened this morning, in fact, more he thought about it, the more he wanted to know about what really happened with dushyant. moreover, find about his past self, of which, only a shell was left behind. but his chain of thoughts was broken when he saw purvi. 

he smiled at her, as he waved his one hand, and placed the other on the doorbell. purvi too acknowledged it with a nod, only to unlock the door of her house to get in, when suddenly, 

"purvi!" he called, as she turned to him. 

"aapko, mera naam yaad tha?" she confirmed, in disbelief. 

"haan, woh...." shyed away kavin. 

"btw, i am kavin." he introduced as he forwarded his hand, which she shook back. 

"toh, aap pahunch gayi thi, phir, colllege." followed up kavin awkwardly, as purvi just nodded in agreement. 

"listen, i really have to..." said purvi as she pointed towards her door as kavin nodded. 

"sure...." he replied, as she unlocked the door to get in, but before he could leave, she turned back and said, 

"see you around...." 

and as odd and unreasonable it was, a smile crept up on his face. 

                                                ***

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