Once upon a time there was a girl. Pretty, witty and insightful as hell. At the tender age of sixteen, she wanted nothing more than to graduate with flying colors. She aimed to be the daughter, her khandaan of scholars would be proud of.

Or so everyone thought.

Of course she wanted to be the best student, daughter, sister... all those tags that the society wanted to slap her with. But what they didn't know that beneath her icy exterior, existed an innocent teenager who wished for romance. A knight in shining armour who would fly her away to the foreign lands, far away from home. Someone who would love her like Ranveer did to Deepika. Someone who would break through her exterior to seek the naughty, quirky girl from within.

And guess what? It came true... in a roundabout way.

While she visualised a man several years older than her, her aashiq was only older by one. And while she pined for her handsome Math teacher from school, hers was a wonder boy from neighbourhood.

He watched her from her terrace as she hung the laundry on the wires. Her natural brown hair that covered her back, her peach shaped face, her cold yet mesmerizing eyes, her stoic smile... He was mesmerized by all of it. It was difficult to approach her at first. Infact he was so afraid that he would pretend to talk on phone the moment she caught him staring. This went on for days, weeks and probably even months without any progress.

“Why do you keep watching me like that, huh? What's there to be seen here anyway?” The girl finally called out to him one day.

He wanted to say ‘your eyes, lips and everything nice’. Instead what came out was—

“I was just learning how to hang laundry. Ni- nice variety of clothes you got there. From where did you—”

Obviously a girl had to laugh at that.

“So if I had been sleeping here like I did last week, would you have said— I was just learning how to lay down to sleep. Ni- nice sleep you got there, puft-” She enacted him and got into another fit of laughter. He would have got easily mad, had it been someone else, but it was her. Somehow her laugh made up for everything.

* * 

“A boy watching a girl. I think that in itself answers everything to your otherwise dumb question.” Saurav answered seriously when Aradhana asked him for the seventh time. She was trying to find what was it that he found mesmerizing about her. Was beauty truly all it took for someone to fall in love? Then again, he never said he loved her. Truth was, both were yet to understand the real emotion of love. They were only teenagers after all.

Naturally they became friends (they had to for the sake of the story). Aradhana's evenings were filled with conversations with the mysterious, quiet boy next door. He didn't speak much but when he did, his words mattered. There was a certain charm to him despite being a bit reserved. She looked forward to hearing his stories from childhood, rather than the stories from her English textbook. While she had a dozen of her own. Since their parents were already acquainted with each other, they had little to no problem in visiting each other's homes. Just not completely alone.

With time, Aradhana and Saurabh grew close. Closer enough to share few secrets, but not close enough to share their own feelings. Saurabh was afraid of being rejected, while Aradhana was yet to confirm whether he was truly worthy of being her knight in shining armor. A true Disney movie fan.

But you see, time waited for no one, let alone for two people to confess their feelings. By the time, Aradhana reached class twelve, our hero had already graduated from school. He had enrolled to a college in another state. They had to part ways. It was only at that time the foolish girl realised how much she was gonna miss him and how much she wanted him in his life.

You'd think one of them would gather the balls to confess their feelings right there, but no! They simply bid goodbye and promised to contact each other. Pathetic.

It wasn't until next year when it happened. Saurabh gathered his blue balls to ask her out, just because someone had to. Dating wasn't something for an ambitious guy like him but damn, he wanted her bad. By that time, Aradhana had enrolled herself in a prestigious university on another state which wasn't his. They were seperated by seven hours but they promised to make it work, just like all the other couples do.

And today was the beginning— their official first date.

The only difference was, it was a group date. Both Aradhana and Saurabh were accompanied by their respective friends.

The boy made the sweetest entry to his girl— by surprising her from behind with a single, red rose. None of the girls saw him coming, so it definitely caught Aradhana by surprise. Her eyes brightened as soon as she saw him, followed by a quick kiss on his cheek and a smile from her heart. Her friends were in awe with that gesture alone. Saurabh actually owned the white shirt and black pants look. ‘How lucky,’ one of her friends thought.

Thereafter, the couple decided to commemorate their day by visiting a famous temple in the city.

* * *

Pallavi Khurrana was a fresher studying at Vidhya Bharti Girls college near Bangalore. She was pursuing engineering, just like the other million Indians. After three excruciating months of living away, she was finally going home, on the occasion of Raksha Bandhan.

She wasn't alone though. Since the entire college was exclusive to hostellers, almost all the students were going home around this time. You could bet today's trains and buses would be filled with Vidhya Bharti students. Since Pallavi's train was due by five hours, she had ample of time to waste. She was accompanied by two of her roommates. One of them was walking besides her, merrily chatting with two stranger boys. She was doing a pretty job so far with holding up the guy's interests by reciting her hostel days so far. While the other healthier one was walking ahead with her boyfriend.

Boyfriend. To Pallavi, that word was as alien as the galaxy of Andromeda. Painfully unattainable.

Yet to many girls from Vidhya Bharti, it was a piece of cake. Ironic, because they were studying in a girls college. Pallavi noticed this after their university bus dropped them to the main city. Girls hurried to the exit to meet their lovers, waiting eagerly at the bus stop. While some others met away from the bus stop, like Aradhana. You could say that Bangalore had become an unofficial meeting ground for lovers. There was this wave of love and excitement all around. It was understandable though. Their University was strict. A student couldn't just step out of their University without an official permit, signed by their parents, which was mostly given for going home. To sum it up, their university was a grand jail with restaurants, markets, internet cafes and parks.

“So what kind of movies do you like, Pallavi? ”

No wonder her parents agreed to send Pallavi away in this University. It was a reassurance that their daughter would be safe in every way imaginable.

“Pallavi!” Saumya called out, louder pulling Pallavi out of her reverie. She jerked her head towards Saumya's direction, clearly startled.

Saumya flashed a wide smile with her thin, broad lips to the boys before nearing Pallavi's ear. “They are asking which genre of movies you like? Just say, rom- com so that we can watch ‘Hate love stories’, instead of some mindless action. Okay?”

“Romance,” Pallavi replied back to the boys without a second delay.

“Heh, not fair! I wanted to watch action.” The tall one amongst the two boys spoke in dismay. He narrowed his eyes slightly at Pallavi. “You are just favouring your friend, aren't you?”

Pallavi instantly looked away. “I don't hate action... I just prefer romance more than action.”

“You chicks are all the same...” Muttered the shorter one, shaking his head dramatically. “It's no use, Aman. I'm sure Aradhana will give the same answer and Saurabh will have no option but to favor his precious girlfriend. Oh how I miss those old days.”

Saumya ushered Pallavi to converse with Saurabh's friends, and she did— by asking their favorite movies and places, and that was about it. It wasn't like she wasn't interested. More like, she didn't have the  courage to stretch the conversation, without sounding like a dunce. She was internally grateful for Saumya's presence. Saumya knew how to keep up with strangers because Pallavi couldn't especially if they were strangers of the opposite sex.

Instead, Pallavi diverted her attention to the couple ahead of her. Aradhana and Saurabh were walking hand-in-hand, chatting quietly amongst themselves. Pallavi knew enough about Saurabh, thanks to Aradhana's non- stop talks about him. It was the first time she witnessed a known couple before her. She observed them like someone looked at a photograph, wondering if they could visit the place in the photo too, one day.

‘We are still very young, dear. Think about a boyfriend after you graduate.’ Saumya replied after Pallavi voiced her thoughts. Unlike Pallavi, Saumya could care less about having a boyfriend. Though that didn't help when she had her own line of boys after her in her hometown. More than beauty, it was her figure and friendly nature that did the job. But all she cared about was hitting good scores in her exams and having good friends.

She turned to Pallavi, advising her for the hundredth time. ‘Lose some goddamn weight now, will you? You'll look so beautiful I'm sure a barrage of boys will come after you.’

***

‘So how's the movie?’ Saurabh asked his girlfriend as they exited the theatre through a flight of stairs. 

‘Sweet, romantic...’ His dark eyes followed her movement as Aradhana's fingers tapped on her lower lip.

Frankly speaking, Aradhana hardly watched the movie. She was busy noticing the broadness of Saurabh's shoulders than the space in the theatre. His husky voice was more mesmerising than the voices of the actors. Although she enjoyed it whenever he attempted to enact some of the flirty dialogues from the movie. He seemed more vocal since last time. He was funny, silly yet possessed the wisdom of his age. From the way he talked about his career, she could tell he was serious about his future.

Aradhana crinkled her nose back at him. ‘But it was lacking a bit of spice, don't you think?’

‘No worries. That can be arranged.’ Saurabh whispered in her ear, and the next moment she was pulled by her arm, right next to him with their lips just inches away from each other.

‘Saurabh, behave! There are people here.’ She hissed, instantly pulling away while looking around at the same time. She had no problem kissing him but public display was still a big no- no.

‘Just wait, baby.’ He smirked, refusing to let go of her hand. They waited as people passed them by. When everyone exited from the theatre hall, he pulled her again. ‘Now, let's continue where we left off.’

‘You little...’

‘I'm anything but little.’

Her mouth opened wide at his double meaning comment. It was the first time he made one. Soon his laughter died down as she inched closer to his face, hoping the staircase was empty. Back then in the theatre, she could hardly kiss him for more than two seconds, lest one of her roommates caught them, even though they were seated three rows ahead of her. Soon her worries drowned as his inviting lips enveloped hers.

It was their first real, bothersome kiss.

* * *

‘Aradhana, hurry! The bus will be leaving in two minutes.’ Pallavi called Aradhana from the train window. It was scheduled to leave for Delhi. Consequently, both of the girls happened to live in Delhi, while Saumya lived in Bangalore itself. Aradhana looked at Saurabh, her eyes giving away the sadness from being departed. It was unfair how she could only squeeze out five hours from ninety days without him. No wonder long distance was painful. But that's exactly why she had to treasure those five hours as if it were five days with him.

‘Don't be sad, babe. It won't be long till I see you again.’

‘Again? But you were...’ She blinked, looking past her slightly wet eyes.

‘Yes, but I changed my mind. I'm planning on coming home in two days. It might be possible this time. And then, we'll leave Delhi together.’

‘I hardly think it would just be the two of us’. As if on cue, Pallavi called out to her again. Pallavi and her had already planned to return to college together. The boy looked behind Aradhana at a frantic Pallavi from the window.

‘But I'm still so happy.’ Aradhana voiced out cheerfully. Infact she was bursting with happiness to the point she hugged him, without minding the watchful eyes of people around her.

‘Hey, now who's being bold here.’ Saurabh laughed nervously in her arms. Soon they bid goodbye as Aradhana settled down on the designated seat inside the train. She didn't miss throwing a flying kiss his way. Neither did he miss fake catching it and giving one right back. Saumya hid her cringe at their elaborate gesture and instead, waved goodbye to her roommates. Their lives diverged as one moved in motion with the train while the other stood still at the station.

For the next few minutes, Aradhana closed her eyes in bliss, playing their date in her head. It was weird, romantic and heartwarming all the same. For some inexplicable reason though, she could sense a foul aura around her. She didn't have to open her eyes to find where it was coming from. She knew.

‘Spit it out, mughead.’

Pallavi blushed slightly from being exposed so bluntly. ‘Nothing, it's nothing.’ She voiced out after a while. ‘Your boyfriend is amazing.’

Aradhana narrowed her eyes slightly. ‘Don't you dare...’

‘No, no, not like that,’ Pallavi quickly defended. ‘I mean from what I watched, he seems to genuinely care for you and love you... If only I had someone like him, too. I'd have loved him with all my heart.’

‘Oh God, not again.’ Aradhana rolled her eyes. She was okay talking about love with Pallavi. In that regard, both were hopeless romantics. They had already discussed about their favourite romantic movies, celebrity couples and their own past crushes. She was okay with all except Pallavi's pitiful talk about being single. Aradhana wished she could explain how amazing it was being single, too. That she should stop idolizing relationships as it wasn't rosy as she pictured out to be. Aradhana tried to explain but it just wouldn't get to her head.

Aradhana heaved a sigh of relief when Pallavi fell asleep after hours of ranting. She opened a new message that had just popped up in her mobile. It was a picture of her with Saurabh at the temple, followed by a sweet caption. She recalled what her roommates told about her boyfriend earlier. That all the while when he talked to them, not once did he looked at them inappropriately, nor tried to flirt with them. If she recalled correctly, he never pursued another girl in high school as well. He wasn't a womanizer anyway. Pallavi was right. Aradhana was lucky indeed. If only her parents could see that as well, one day. She overlooked the sunset covered fields with hope in her eyes. A hope for a brighter future.

And that was how their college love story began.

End of chapter one.

* * *

No, wait! You got it all wrong. 

See, this isn't a love story about Saurabh and Aradhana. Of how they met, fell in love, seperated and came back together again.

Okay, then, what? Friendship?

Wrong.

This is a story about that pitiful, naive, single girl who watched from the sidelines, as cupid stroke everyone around her.

Everyone, except her.

Yes, that same Pallavi Khuranna. The one who watched the entire date of her friend enfold before her eyes (except for a few private moments of course).

This is a story about a hopeless girl Pallavi on how she found love while still being single as hell.

Sounds odd, right?

Welcome to the prologue of More than friends, and this is her story.

* * * *

Inspired by true events.

A shoutout to the one who made this cover-cover- mcdbai56

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