At around 20:30 p.m., Vaish and I occupied the corner-most table in the hospital's canteen, and while Vaish stood in the long line to receive our order, I clung onto Karan – my Boss – on WhatsApp, who needed me to rejoin work because of an all-important meeting.

Karan: I'm so sorry I'm informing you at such a short-notice, but I cannot let you go to Ladakh. The team NEEDS you.

'I feel so important. OMG ;)', I texted, and smiled.

Karan: Is that a YES?

'Of course, Boss! In fact, I don't think we're going to Ladakh; the trip has been called off because of an inconvenience. So, I was thinking about returning to work, anyways. Now, I have a reason to. We'll nail the meeting, I promise!', I messaged.

Karan: Still, I owe you and your friends a treat for not going to Ladakh, okay? Dinner @ Hilton Hotel on Friday. Be there. I'd love to host you :)

'YOU. ARE. THE. BEST. BOSS. EVER! We'll be there!', I beamed broadly, and Vaish kept a mug of coffee on my side of the table.

"What's with the smile? Did Darshan say something cheesy?", she teased, and lounged back on her chair. "Oh, no! He hasn't even come online yet", I rolled my eyes, and wrinkled my nose, as I wrapped my hands around the warm mug. "It's Karan; my boss. He's throwing a dinner for us at Hilton this Friday!", I informed Vaish. "Money grows on tree for your Boss? He doesn't even know us and he's throwing a party? In a five-star hotel. Wow. Impressive", Vaish raised her brows, and took a small sip of her steaming coffee. "I'm telling you, there have been uncountable times when I've had to pinch myself, wondering if he's actually my boss; he's so friendly, and kind! When you meet him, you'll fall in love with him, I swear", I praised. "In fact...you'll look good with him, you know! Oh My God! You and Karan; you'd make a perfect pair!", I dreamily said, as I imagined the two of them together, and Vaish dragged me out of my dreams the moment she stomped on my foot, beneath the table, making me wince, painfully. "You don't need an occasion to speak sheer shit, do you?", Vaish grouched and darted a glare in my direction. "You complain about being single, and when I've found a life-partner for you, you're yelling at me. Matches are made in heaven, but your partner won't fall from the sky, Vaish. You'll have to look around and find him", I shrugged my shoulders. "I know, sweetheart, but that does not mean that I'll aim at a multinational company owner, right away! We're worlds apart", Vaish told, shaking her head to the sides. "But love doesn't look at status", I said, tilting my head to the side. "You're saying this, because yours worked out, but not everyone's as lucky as you. Love looks at everything, all the worldly matters matter, and that's inevitable!", Vaish huffed, angrily, and I remained silent once I understood that it bothered her.

We coexisted in silence for a long while, where Vaish absently ran her finger over the rim of her mug and I kept a check on WhatsApp, wondering when Darshan would revert to my text messages; his event must have certainly met its end hours ago, but unsurprisingly, he must have been engaged in a thousand other things that he forgot about my existence. And as much as I tried hard to not let it bother me, I couldn't wholly shove off the frustration that coldly embraced me. I missed him – I often missed him a lot – and even if I was working on an important presentation at work, I'd take a break to talk to him to silence my loud cravings. But he wasn't the chaotic mess I was; he wasn't as fierce and open, as I was. He was far more balanced, and owned a clear sense of understanding between his personal and professional life. Between the two of us, I was the one who was unbothered and carefree, but I was aware that, in silence, I was the one who was caged in love; I suffered in silence – an upheaval would unleash itself within me, and subside within, in absolute quietness.

'Hey. I miss you. Call me w—', I almost typed, took a pause, reread the text message and deleted it, before keeping my iPhone aside on the table. I didn't want to bother him more than I did. He should have known to call me up, after all the missed calls and text messages! He had it in him to upload pictures on Facebook, and revert to his fans' comments, then what's the most he'd lose if he spared a minute to talk to me?

"How's life?", Vaish asked, out of nowhere, and diverted my attention from the thought of him. "How's life?", I echoed with a smile, and breathed in deeply. "You say!", I cued. "Life is...ugh, I don't know", she sighed, throwing her head back. "One day, I feel that I'm gathering the pieces together, and the next day, I feel I'm standing amidst the scattered pieces, all over again", she said. "I know. Same. One day, I feel that life's fabulous, and the next morning, I'm blowing things up because I'm simply so annoyed with the way things are", I mumbled, and studied my nails. "But life swings between good days and bad ones, so it's understandable. I honestly do not have a problem with the bad days, or downfalls; but it's just how life has turned out to be, yaar", I spilled out something I kept within me for long, because all of a sudden, every little thing piled up on me and I needed to relinquish it. "I had a serious vision; I thought I'll earn enough to do my MBA and then, I'll open a foundation. I thought I'd nab one of the best jobs, within three months in Mumbai, because my scores were good", I told Vaish. "But then, you figured out that you were starting from scratch with this new chapter in Mumbai. Honestly, Dia, if marks, experience, skills and talent was everything; then, you would have been an Entrepreneur and I would have been a singer, by now. But there's something called a luck-factor that never favours us", she rolled her eyes. "I still believe that if you work hard, you can achieve anything, Vaish!", I said with conviction. "Absolutely no comments", she mumbled, and drank her coffee. "You shouldn't let life knock you down. Your chances ended because you believed it's the end", I lectured. "You should change your attitude, Dityaa; sometimes, you should allow life to knock you down, it's for your own good. Sometimes, you should quit trying and that won't make you a loser; it only means that you're wise enough to differentiate between the chances that belong to you, and chances that don't. We'll do uncountable things in life, but not everything we do will work out. And sometimes, you'll do things only to understand that you cannot do everything. When something does not go your way, let it be; because if you keep standing back up to get knocked down, there'll come a time when you wouldn't find a way to rise, again. So what if I have lost in front of my dreams? I can win I in many other aspects of life, right? Life's big and chances are unlimited! Adjustments and giving up shouldn't be limited to relationships only; you'll have a proper equation with your life only if you learn how to change yourself, according to it. Life is rigid, we need to be flexible, Dityaa", Vaish verbalized, and I listened to her in silence, utterly astonished; it was an angle I'd never viewed life from before, and her words forced me to think about my adamancy. Those three minutes, or so, were an eye-opener for me. "Oh, Nash has landed. She has messaged on the group; she said she'll meet us tomorrow morning, she's tired now", Vaish informed, scrolling through her iPhone, and I nodded, absently.

•

"Didn't you go to Ladakh?", Kavya questioned, the moment she dragged the door open. "Long story. I don't want to talk about it", I muttered, throwing my bags on the couch, and collapsed back on it. "I'm so done with everything", I murmured and yawned, widely. "You look so tired. Do you want something hot to drink?", Kavya was kind enough to raise that question, as she massaged my head, standing behind me, and I smiled with my eyes shut. "Thank you, but I'm good. I'm off to bed", I stood up and stretched my arms out. "Freshen up and go to bed. I'll take care of your bags", she offered. "Has anyone ever told you that you're the most amazing roommate ever?", I smiled at her, lazily. "Thank you", she blinked her eyes at me. "You're the best. Thank you for everything", I whispered and hugged her tight, before walking inside the bedroom.

The moment I walked inside my bedroom, my iPhone vibrated in my hand; it was an incoming call from Darshan, and the second my eyes fell over his name, something surged straight through my veins. I was indescribably exhausted and I was certain that if I talked to him, my nerves were guaranteed to snap; my frustration would make him lose his mind, or I'd lose my mind. Or at its worse, we'll lose our minds together. I tossed my iPhone in the air, throwing it on my bed, and ignored his incoming call; while the incoming calls were ongoing, I picked out my PJs and headed straight into the washroom to wash the day's weariness off my skin.

Once I headed out of the washroom, I crashed down on my bed, wearing a printed-cotton PJ, and fetched my iPhone from the bed; he still called me up, and even though, I was desperate to avoid the phone-call, I swiped the answer icon, simply because I didn't want to whisk him to the tip of his toes with worry in the middle of the night. "Hello", I said, monotonously, and sat cross-legged on the springy bed. "Where did you go? How long have I been calling you for?", he questioned. 'Now, do you know how it feels when you call someone up and get ignored? That's how I've been feeling!', I wanted to snap, but I didn't have the energy to create a scene, so I chose silence. "What is it?", I asked him, straightaway, and he treated me with his legendary silence. "Darshan, what is it? I'm tired. I need to sleep", I told him. "How's Chanchal?", he interrogated. "She's good", I answered to the point. "Are you at home?", he asked next. "Just reached", I informed. "Dityaa, what's wrong? Why are you in a bad mood? What happened? Talk to me", Darshan encouraged. "Nothing", I breathed. "Then, why do you sound different?", Darshan asked, worriedly. "Because you cannot be the same person every day!", I exclaimed in vexation, and once it struck me, I fell silent; I pursed my lips together, took a deep breath in and ran my fingers through my damp hair. "I'm sorry", I apologized in a hush. "I had a long day, and I'm tired; that's all", I told him. "You called me many times, so I thought something was wrong...", Darshan prompted and he got away with it because I wasn't in the mood for drama that night. "I wanted to know if you were okay, that's all. But I figured out you were, because you couldn't even notice one out of the thousand phone-calls or messages I dropped when you were on that long drive with your friends", I said. "Dityaa, lis—", Darshan tried to speak up, but I cut him short. "I don't need an explanation. I hope you had a good day", I said, immediately. "No, listen", he insisted. "Good night", I whispered, and hung up, throwing my iPhone away.