"Are you sure?" I stuttered as I looked at him in confusion, I had never deleted Arnav's phone number so why dint it show his name?

"Yes, he called me once through this number, it's a new one, I think he changed it. Look I have it saved here." Yug said as he showed me the number, he was right, it was Arnav's number, but why was he calling me?

And if he called me, why wouldn't he speak? Was he in any kind of trouble? With Arnav, my first instinct was to always make sure he was okay, anytime my phone would ring and I would see his name on the screen, I would get worried immediately hoping everything was okay.

We might have broken up, we might have gone separate ways but the instinct still remained, maybe I just had to learn how to not care.

Why was it that every time I gave Yug a chance, somehow Arnav would just mess it up? Here I was, on my first date with him and he chose right now to call. Was he doing this on purpose?

Tu hi bata mere maula tu hi bata mere rabba...
Faasle milon ke hai, dono hai alag hi disha...
Kabhi yeh milpayenge nahi kisiko hai pata...

"You want me to call him back?" Yug asked.

For a moment, I just stared at him silently, of course a part of me wanted to talk to him and make sure he was okay, but a part of me believed, if he had chosen to walk away from me, he would have to be okay on his own.

"No... let's just forget he called." I smiled faintly as I took my phone and placed it on the table.

"You sure? If you want to call him, I wont mind." Yug said.

"Yeah, I am. If he wanted to talk to me, he would have spoken when he called." I shrugged.

"So tell me, what made you pursue fashion?" I asked.

He started explaining to me, telling me a story from his childhood how he would see his mom dressing up and all and how that made him fall in love with fashion, I couldn't really pay much attention to whatever else he said as I kept on looking at my phone, just staring at it, thinking maybe it would ring again, maybe Arnav would call again.

I tried to look back at Yug so I could take my mind off Arnav but as I stared at him, all I could still think about was Arnav, and whether I should call him back or not.

He might have broken up with me, he might have walked away from me but before being my boyfriend he was my best friend, how was I supposed to not care about him just like that?

Yes Khushi, you are supposed to do that, not care and move on, just like how he did! I wish it was easy to make myself understand that.

Na paas aasake, na durr jaa sake,
agar pyaar inko kheenche takrar inko roke...
Yun to bade hai kadam, inhe raste tu hi inhe rasta tu hi dikha...
Tu hi bata mere maula maula... tu hi bata mere rabba...
Iss pyaar ko kya naam doon? Iss pyaar ko kya naam doon?

While Yug was still talking, my phone rang once again, I really hoped it was Arnav calling but wen I looked at the screen, I realized it wasn't him, it was my dad.

"Excuse me, it's my dad, I have to take this." I said to Yug as I grabbed my phone walked away from him as I received it.

"Dad, hi." I tried to make myself sound as normal as I could.

"Khushi, where are you?" he asked, it was a strange question, why did he call suddenly to ask me where I was?

"At a hotel, why?"

"Why wouldn't you just come home then? Or you forgot your parents have a house?" He asked. Okay, I was really confused.

"Dad, I am confused, what are you talking about? Do you want me to come visit you and mom?" I asked.

"Of course, I would expect that since you are in Hyderabad Khushi, I didn't think you would just go stay at a random hotel." He sounded so angry.

"What? Dad I am at a hotel in Mumbai, having dinner with a friend, when did I say I was in Hyderabad?" I asked in confusion.

"I thought you were here... I saw Arnav here and I thought because he's here maybe you came along, I wouldn't think he would come back here all alone." Dad said leaving me utterly shocked.

"What? Arnav is there? He swore never to go back there, why would he suddenly decide to go there all alone? Is he out of his mind?" I said angrily.

"Now I am confused Khushi, I thought you knew."

"Dad, let me call you back later please?"

"Okay, take care." He said, I disconnected the call as I started pacing around, why would Arnav go back there? The place literally haunted him. Had he gone crazy or something?

Shit! Was that why he called? Maybe he was there all alone and he needed me, of course it was going to be tough for him there all alone, I had to call him.

I opened my recent call list so I could call him back on the number from which he had called me but I wasn't sure. He had already told me he dint want me in his life so why was I trying to go somewhere where I wasn't needed?

I shouldn't call him, even if he was in Hyderabad all alone, if he needs me he would call me himself, I am so done running behind him always.

"Is everything okay? You look tensed." Yug asked as soon as I walked back to him, so much for our first date seriously, it was like the entire universe was trying to screw it up.

"Yeah, it was just dad... he thought I was in Hyderabad."

"Why would he think that?"

"Because Arnav is there."

"What? Is he gone crazy?" Yug stood up in shock, exactly my reaction Yug, at this point I seriously don't get what he is up to or why he's even doing such things.

The waiter came with our food but we both just looked at him blankly, it was like we didn't even have an appetite, something that was supposed to be romantic was just becoming stressful now.

"I need to call him." Yug said as he pulled out his phone and dialled Arnav's number waiting for him to receive the call but he didn't, he tried two more times but he still dint receive it.

"Hey, I'm sure he's okay, maybe he just needs to sort this out himself." I said to Yug, even though I dint believe it myself.

"I thought we were friends before cousins Khushi, since he shifted here we had become very close, he had told me about everything that had happened in his childhood. I can't believe he's gone back to that place, he told me he even hated to mention it.

I am just worried, so much had happened in his life and he's all alone, he doesn't have anyone by his side."

"Because he pushes everyone away Yug." I said angrily, all I wanted was the best for him, to be with him, to make him happy, to love him and get a little love back but he pushed me away too, despite me trying so hard to stay in his life.

"I know." He said sadly.

"Don't worry, he must be busy or something, I'm sure once he sees your calls he would call back."

"Hope so." He pouted. We both stared at each other and then at the food for a moment and again at each other.

"I'm sorry I don't know why our dates get ruined every time."

"Hey, it's not ruined yet, we can still make it perfect. Let's forget all this and act like we are on a date, come on, let's eat... the food looks yummy." I smiled as I served myself some, Yug smiled as he also served himself and we both started eating, even though we dint feel like.

*****

We stood outside my building saying goodbye as Yug dropped me back after the date, which was completely ruined by the way.

"So... I'll see you tomorrow?" He smiled faintly.

"Yeah." I smiled a bit and bit my lips as he stared at them, did he want to kiss me?

When Yug asked me on a date, I agreed, because I wanted to move on, I wanted to live my life, I wanted to forget about Arnav and everything about us, but now standing here, I just realized, I never really thought this through. If I did this, Yug and I were going to be involved, he would touch me, he would kiss me and the idea of anyone else doing that just dint make any sense to me, for me it was Arnav, it was always him.

"Don't look so scared, I'm not going to kiss you until you're comfortable." He laughed at me.

"I know." I rolled my eyes trying to act all cool, but the real question was... was I ever going to be comfortable or was I just giving him false hopes?

Why did it feel like I was back where I started from? Why was all this going round and round in the same circle?

"Don't worry, with time it would feel okay, you don't have to feel guilty, you aren't cheating on Arnav." Yug said to me.

"I know... sorry I know I'm just taking too long to move on."

"Happens when you've loved just one person your entire life."

"Well let's hope someday I'm going to be just as comfortable with you then." I smiled at him.

"Can't wait for the day. Anyway I'll see you tomorrow, goodbye." He smiled as he moved closer and hugged me, okay... hugging him dint feel weird, maybe that was one step right?

"See you." I waved at him as I walked inside the building and he got inside his car and drove off.