"I'm sorry ping-pong"

"I know you since 5th grade. My brother was your classmate. I have a crush on you ever since then." I closed my eyes when I felt tears on my cheeks.

He held my hands to comfort me.

"You never told me you have a brother."

"I did. I had a brother." I couldn't stop my tears. And Adi hugged me. I cried for a while in his arms.

Once I stopped crying Adi spoke again. "Rahul?"

I nodded my head. He squeezed my hands before continuing "I'm so sorry Prerna. Rahul was one of my best of friends. That accident had moved all of us. He was the dearest amongst our group of friends." He chuckled remembering something. "We would call him Tiku. He would get so angry at that name." By now he had tears in his eyes too. He was trying his best to blink away his tears.

"Why didn't you tell me earlier?" I had no answer to this question. I did not know why I couldn't tell him earlier. "I don't know. I'm sorry Adi. I was scared maybe."

He looked at me as if I spoke something unacceptable. "Scared of what?" His tone was till calm.

"Scared of you. Scared that you would look at me differently when I'd tell you I was your bestfriend's sister."

He never broke eye contact "That's okay Prerna. Maybe I would have seen you differently."

"I know. When that accident took place I was in 9th grade. And you came home a couple of times after that. Only to see how my parents were doing. And after that, I next saw you only during the fest. I instantly recognized you."

"I don't understand how I couldn't recognize you. I'm sorry Ping-pong"

I laughed. "How do you know that name?"

"Your brother always would talk about how he irritated you by calling that name and how we irritate him by calling him Tiku. So I remember the name"

I smiled my tears away this time. He was still holding my hands. I hugged him.

"And by the way, the crush part. Am I still your crush or was I your crush only once upon a time?" I'm sure he must be smiling. We were still hugging each other so I couldn't see his expression.

"Um, I still do. I love you too Adi"