*David Pov*

As we continued to tease Kamal, he shouted at us and it just made us laugh more. A voice joined us and I turned to see Pallavi smiling at Kamal while asking him why is he shouting at Girish while my smile slipped.

She is the girl I have liked for so many months already but her eyes always search for Kamal and stay on him without any change no matter how he treats her as just a normal friend.

"Ask them, Pallavi." Kamal replied, and trying to calm himself down.

"It is just that we ordered this specially today for a special reason." I said when she suddenly looked at me and realized I didn't tell her properly at all.

"Today, his fiancé had the same breakfast as per his mom." Rakesh explained bluntly.

"So, today was the day of the week when your mom calls you and gives you live feed of that's girl's life?" Pallavi asked chuckling.

"You too, Pallavi?" Kamal asked her still with a normal expression.

"Come on! It is fun to talk about it. It is not like you are going to marry her. You don't want this madness like you are saying for the past one year since I met you." She replied smiling.

"And for the past eight years since we met him." Girish added grinning.

"Right! I don't want this madness and will do everything to stop it." Kamal said, nodding, and started packing his books.

"We are getting late for our class." Saying that he stood up and we all followed his suit before walking out of the canteen.

"Pallavi! I heard you wanted to find information on the paper you are working on. I have some information. Do you want it?" I asked reaching her side.

"Definitely! Thank you so much, David! I was plucking my hair feeling lost as I was not able to get proper information." She replied smiling at me and I smiled in relief before passing the Thumb drive to her.

It is worth it after working on this for the past few weeks if I can see her smiling at me like that.

"I will definitely treat you for this help. What do you want to eat?" She asked staring at me.

"Uhmm! How about the ice cream at the shop near the college?" I asked and she laughed hearing my request.

"You are letting me repay with a very small thing. Okay! I will buy you ice creams once a week for the next two months. Okay?" I nodded accepting it and I would have nodded no matter what she would have said.

****

"But Mom..." Kamal started saying and we all glanced up hearing the change in his tone.

"Mom! I believe that it would be better to not talk about marriage. I mean, I don't know her and she doesn't know me. Maybe we both are just not compatible." He said and waited for her reaction.

Now, Aunty will definitely understand his words, and then... I thought glancing at Pallavi and found her smiling at him with a relieved expression.

"Did she again, not understand the meaning behind your words?" Rakesh asked as a statement staring at Kamal's stunned face after the call is cut.

"Yes! When I said it is not good for this marriage as we don't know each other, she thought I am thinking about getting to know her on my own." He replied and sighed.

"Maybe you should try more than simple words." Pallavi suggested.

"Like what? My studies will finish soon and then I don't know what will happen." He said rubbing his forehead.

"When your wedding gets fixed and you say that the wedding should not happen, she would think you want it even earlier than that date." Girish said laughing while He glared at him.

"What will you do? Are you going to visit her this weekend?" Pallavi asked, frowning at him ignoring Girish.

"No! I have exams in a few days and I don't want any tensions at present." He replied shaking his head.

"Then?" she asked, still frowning.

"Then... then I will be having an extra class at the last minute." He replied after a few minutes and she smiled but the remaining of us looked at him in shock.

"That is not the right thing, Kamal. She would be waiting for you." I said shaking my head.

"Like I said, I need to concentrate on more important issues." He said getting up and walked out of the canteen.

I frowned at his back and I found both Girish and Rakesh showing disturbed expressions. However, when I turned to glance at Pallavi, she looks really happy.

I know she will never like me and I can't force her to like me also. So, if I just try to help her be happy then I will feel content.

With that thought, I decided to help her from now on and try to get her together with Kamal. When I got that thought, I no longer felt disturbed by Kamal's decision.

"Even though I never met that girl, I feel sorry for her." Girish commented and Rakesh nodded at him sighing.

Even I felt bad for her until a moment ago but not anymore. Pallavi scolded them for thinking about stupid things before walking out of the canteen.

****

When I first saw Vani, I was completely shocked as she was really beautiful, and more than that the way she looks at Kamal seems to be so familiar to me as if I am looking at a mirror.

I can't believe she is going to get her heart broken because of Kamal when he finally explains his stand but I don't know whether that will ever happen at all.

Even though every second, he talks about how he doesn't want this marriage, no one mentions it more than him.

I mean how many girls confessed to him but he makes sure to explain about his arrange marriage in detail and for someone who doesn't want it, that just doesn't make sense.

And we all know the moment he will get a girlfriend, Aunty will never force him as she really likes Vani and they both are really close to each other.

So, I felt maybe he is using this matter as an excuse until he meets the person he actually wants to have a relationship with.

I sighed before looking out of the bus as we are going back to the city. After we returned to college, I found Pallavi sitting in the library while checking a book.

"Hey!" I greeted sitting beside her.

"Hey! I heard you all went to Kamal's village. How is it?" she asked smiling while my smile dropped.

"Good!" I mumbled opening my book.

"So... did you guys meet that girl?" She asked clearing her throat.

"She is called Vani." I replied and she continued to stare at me still waiting for my reply.

"We met her that day." I nodded and she slowly nodded before concentrating on her books.

After a few minutes, she again turned to me before asking, "How does she look?"

I closed my book and turned towards her saying, "She is really beautiful and seems lovely too. She doesn't seem to be calculative at all and her eyes shine when she sees Kamal. So, she seems to be madly in love with Kamal."

After saying those words I stood up while she frowned at me asking, "Why are you mad at me? What did I do?"

"Nothing! I forgot that I need to get printout of a few things." Saying that I left the library while holding the book tightly.

Damn it! I already decided to support her but I just couldn't control myself earlier. I should learn to control myself better in the future.

If I can't control my emotions now then what will happen if these both get together. I closed my eyes feeling pain and then shrugged it off thinking I will definitely overcome these feelings and fall for someone else again for sure.

After such determination, I thought everything will be fine but what I didn't expect is to see Kamal leaving for the states for a study program and I ended up getting closer to her in his absence and she didn't even bring out his name frequently.

Everything has to end someday and it did when Kamal returned and she got so happy after seeing him again.

She really tried hard even by accompanying us to Kamal's village next time we decided to go together and when she said she wants to meet K'mal's Mom, everyone took it in a general sense but I know what she means by that.

She wants to show Aunty that Kamal has a girl who is a perfect match for him and she may even try to get Aunty to cancel that arranged marriage for Kamal.

However, what we didn't expect was to see the arrangements for his engagement and she looked so hurt that I wish I could help her somehow but didn't know what to do.

And to her luck, the engagement didn't actually complete and she is the only one who found that out and none of us realized that Vani didn't put a ring on his finger.

This event too got passed off and this time Pallavi became a reckoning force by trying to be with Kamal all the time and trying to involve in everything he is involved.

She even made him apply for a job at the hospital that belongs to her Dad. I actually applied for a job there last year but I got rejected while he immediately got it because of his study program where he got more experience.

So, Pallavi and I are really not meant to be. I sighed looking away to not see her actions to express her love for him even though no one is understanding her behavior.

We sat down at our places during a weekend and everyone felt tired with so many cases recently in each hospital.

"Well, that's why my Dad doesn't stop praising you at all." Pallavi said smiling at Kamal with a proud tone.

"I hope so! I don't want to lose this job when I am planning to bring Mom here. I even selected a flat." Kamal said smiling.

"She will not come here until your marriage is over. Speaking of marriage, did you get a chance to have a word with your fiancé? Or is she still at her friend's house?" Rakesh asked sipping his coffee.

"No! And Mom seems to be worried as this is the first time Vani stayed away from the house." Kamal replied leaning back.

"Why are we talking about her? Let's talk about something else important." Pallavi said, shaking her head.

"She is his fiancé and is going to be his wife. What else is more important than that?" Girish asked glaring at her.

"Guys!" Kamal said, frowning at both of them.

"Because she is not his fiancé." Pallavi retorted without giving any heed to my words.

"Why?" Girish asked and I stared at Girish in shock thinking his behavior doesn't seem normal at all.

"Because I love him and I will be his real fiancé and wife, but not her." She replied and immediately glanced at all of us before covering her face.

"I didn't want to say that like this at all." She slowly mumbled before staring at Kamal.

"I so knew it." Girish said, grinning at her.

"You love him?" I asked her but I actually wanted to ask that does she still love him.

I thought as she found that Kamal took this engagement seriously and it's been a few months since she behaved closely with kamal, she must have broken away from her feelings but she still loves him then.

I stayed silent while others continued to talk and I just want to leave this place right now. I thought staring at the table in silence.

"Yes! I don't care about anything else, Kamal. I want to marry you and will you?" she asked, not looking at anyone.

"I am sorry! I never thought you like that and never will." Kamal replied and I closed my eyes feeling bad for her even while feeling my heartbreak.

"But you never thought about that girl like that too. You don't even know her, but you know me." She said a confused tone.

"It is true that I don't know her, but it is also true that I am actually engaged and will never do something which will hurt mom. If she thinks that Vani was best for me, then so be it." Kamal replied back.

"You are not saying the same thing before this so-called engagement." She said and this time she seems to be angry.

"Yes! It was my mistake to not stop it, but you don't know how it will be for my Mom and her parents to get the engagement canceled and I got used to the idea of her knowing well I don't have a specific reason to cancel it. If I loved someone, then I would have done everything to cancel it, but I don't." Kamal explained.

"You could love me. We are compatible and you wanted your wife to be compatible." She said shaking her head.

"Yes! If you had said before the engagement, then I would have thought about it. Now, it is not possible as I heard Mom thinking about the wedding to be next month." He said sighing.

"I will leave." She abruptly said, standing up and walked away.

"I never expected this." Kamal mumbled shaking his head and worriedly asked us how to face her at the hospital now. mumbled, shaking my head.

"I told you to stay away and you didn't listen." Girish said shrugging.

"Are you sure you don't want to cancel anything with Vani just because of the reason's you told Pallavi?" Rakesh suddenly asked after a few minutes of silence.

"Of course!" he replied without any hesitation.

After a few days, Pallavi messaged me saying she is going for a vacation and will be able to contact me for some time.

I sighed before texting her to take care of herself and wishing she can mend her feelings and come back to be a normal friend to Kamal as he really seems to not have any kind of feelings in a romantic way for her.

****

I can't believe Kamal and Vani are really married now. And Pallavi doesn't even know this truth.

I want to tell her right now but Girish and Rakesh asked me to keep quiet and she will find out when she comes back from her holiday.

However, every day I took out my phone, and opened her contact, and stared at it for a few minutes before locking my phone.

What if she nearly got herself together and now with this information, she comes back to square one?

I don't know what to do and I wish someone could tell me what to do. I groaned disturbing my hair feeling frustrated.

"What happened to you recently? Is everything fine?" I turned to find Rakesh walking towards me with a frown covering his face.

"Rakesh! Don't you have a girlfriend in the states and you are in a long-distance relationship for the past six years, right?" I asked looking at him and he froze hearing those words.

"What do you want to ask?" He asked sitting down beside me at the canteen in the hospital we work at.

"I... I don't know what to do whether to forget her or maybe try to express my feelings. Can you give me some guidance?" I asked to which he sighed before patting my shoulder.

"I am the last person you should ask that question. However, if you have a chance to do what you wish to, then go for it. Not everyone is lucky to follow their wishes." He replied and then walked away before I could ask him what does he mean by that.

I sighed leaning back and closed my eyes thinking to leave this matter for now and wait until she returns.

We continued to go to Kamal's place during weekends and I somehow felt irritated while looking at Vani.

I don't even know why I felt like that and I wish I could control it and I even managed to by not talking to her much and trying to stay away from any discussion with her.

However, sometimes the words just didn't stop at all. I know it is wrong to be rude to her but I couldn't help myself.

When Aunty asked us to care for Vani, I couldn't say anything as I didn't want to lie to Aunty.

I wish she could get better somehow but we all know that is not possible. And we know better than anyone as we have seen many things happening in the hospital.

There are miracles too and everyone wishes for one but they are called miracles for a reason as they don't happen often.

When Aunty passed away, Kamal froze his emotions and did every single thing robotically and so I adviced him to come back for work.

Even Vani didn't object to coming with us and so we all decided to leave for the city as we need to get back to our lives no matter whom we lost and how much pain we are in.

When I saw her again at the restaurant as she just returned from the holiday and directly messaged me to ask where is Kamal.

After I told her that we all are at the restaurant, she directly came here and gave him her condolences.

As no one seems to be going to say that he got married and she seems to be wishing to be his support, I blurted out that he need to go home to be with his wife.

Because no matter how much I wanted to support her until now, I can't see her as a third party in a marriage.

"That is a nice joke, guys." She said shaking her head.

"I know I made a scene while leaving from here, but during the holiday I thought about all this. I was very forceful and I should have given him time to adjust to the idea. I will wait as much time as he wishes." She added.

"That cannot happen." I said before taking my hand away.

"Why? Even your Mom is not there to force you." She said and her eyes immediately widened.

"I am so sorry!" she said covering her mouth

"I am married and she is actually living in my home." That's all Kamal said before walking out of the restaurant and I continued to stare at her in shock.

"Great job, Pallavi." Girish said, glaring at her.

"We never thought you were so insensitive." Rakesh said before getting up and they both walked away.

"I didn't mean it like that." She mumbled before standing herself and started walking near to her car with a shaking body.

"Give me your keys." I said forwarding my hand.

"Thank you!" she whispered when I stopped before her house.

"It is ok!" I said and started walking away, but she called after me.

"Coffee?" she asked and I nodded before walking inside the house this time.

"I didn't mean anything I said. I was just out of line and I know that. But I love him. Is it wrong?" she asked me and I just glared at her before walking into the kitchen following her.

"I got a crush over him the moment I met him and it slowly increased. Maybe I should have told him soon at our college itself." She mumbled sighing and turned around only to stagger back as I was standing very near to her.

"What is it?" she asked frowning.

"You should have told him, Pallavi." I said gritting my teeth.

"Ok?" she mumbled, still frowning.

"Then I wouldn't have done this." I mumbled back.

"What is this?" she asked and I held her face before crashing my lips to hers making her freeze on the spot.

"Did you get it?" I asked, moving back while she just stared at me.

"As you know I am not good with words and just now started to show it through my actions." I added before crashing my lips again but didn't place them stiffly.

I started nibbling her lips and to my surprise, she started kissing me back. After a few minutes, I moved back to only see her flushed face.

"I shouldn't have done that." I mumbled realizing what I had just done.

"Yes! You definitely shouldn't have done that and now get out." She said shouting at me.

"I said get out." She shouted again and this time I walked away.

I just thought of telling my feelings but not that. I wish she didn't have talked about her feeling for Kamal, near me, and then I wouldn't have done all this. Damn it! I screamed.

As expected she started ignoring me completely by not picking up my calls or replying to my texts and to my surprise she came to the restaurant where we all meet during the weekend in the evening time.

I tried to talk to her but she just glared at me and I simply replied it is a fight when our friends got curious.

What surprised me is Kamal warning me to not be rude to Vani. I didn't mean to be rude to her but after she got married, I have changed that way.

And maybe because I was jealous of her in a way. When I first saw her, I felt we both are the same but she succeeded in marrying the person she loves while I had to think about the broken heart of the person I love.

So, it was all from envy and I know it was completely immature of me. And I thought it is better to let Pallavi meet Vani and see that Kamal is really married so that she can step away from a married man.

No matter in what way Kamal got married, he is still a married man and she needs to know about it.

We even get to meet Vani's friend who turns out to be Girish's crush right now. After he broke up with his girlfriend during the college days, he stayed away from relationships and I thought maybe he is still attached to his Ex-girlfriend and couldn't move past.

But it turns out he not only moved on but is also chasing someone on his own. He really surprised me with this.

After everyone left, I stayed back to walk with Pallavi to her car and she turned around to frown at me.

"Did you suggest this meeting because you want me to get jealous and then sad before choosing you to take care of my mindset?" she asked folding her hands.

"No! I just want you to leave the married man alone and not hate yourself in the future." I replied honestly to which she glared at me.

"Then why were you rude to Vani? What did she do to you?" She asked raising her eyebrow.

"She got succeeded in love while I didn't succeed. It was all my envy towards her luck and nothing else." I replied and she froze but continued to stare at me.

"I... I don't know what to say." With those words, she turned around and got into her car before driving away.

When we went to Kamal's place for lunch and found so many dishes that Vani prepared, I felt guilty for suggesting this meet up otherwise she wouldn't have got this much work to do.

Pallavi tried to have small talk with Vani but to my surprise, she seems completely distant to Pallavi. I mean she didn't behave like this with me when I already said a few things in a wrong manner.

Does Vani already know about Pallavi's feelings? What will happen now? Everyone decided that Pallavi no longer has feelings for Kamal anymore as she started behaving just as his friend now but I know she must be still having feelings for him.

After sometime when I suddenly didn't find both Vani and Pallavi, I stood up to search for them while hoping they are not going to have a fight now or hoping Pallavi is not going to hurt Vani right now and get hated by Kamal as he seems to care for her now.

"I really need to talk to you and it is important. If I do any delay it will hurt someone special." I frowned hearing those words when I reached the balcony.

"I don't want to listen to anything." Vani said stubbornly and I immediately stepped into the balcony to hold Pallavi's hand and dragged her out of the house in front of everyone.

"What the hell are you doing?" She shouted when I stopped us near the potted plant's area outside the flat.

"What were you doing just now?" I shouted back while pressing her to the wall.

When I heard her mentioning Kamal as her special person, this time I felt anger more than hurt.

"I need to talk to her and it is important before something wrong happens." She replied and tried to get her hands to loosen and I tried to not hurt her hands by leaving a bit of space.

"No! It is better if you leave them alone and let them live their life. I know you love him and I know you are hurt but don't do this." I said scowling at her.

"What were you doing, saying all those things to Vani as if Kamal and I are some lovers?" She asked talking about the things I said during lunch just now.

"So that she can keep him away from you and I can't do that myself." I said shaking my head.

"Why?" She asked frowning at me.

"Because I love you, but I don't want to deceive him by planning something else to keep him away from you." I replied looking away.

"You are a coward." She whispered and I want to reply to her saying yes I am a coward but felt her tugging my collar with a force and she pressed her lips to mine before kissing me with complete force.

"And you should stop talking like that with Vani." She added releasing me while I don't even know what she is saying and I calmly said okay before kissing her this time properly.

We continued to kiss like that and completely ignored the fact that anyone can see us if someone comes into the corridor but it just didn't matter to me.

"We should go inside." She whispered while I moved to trail kisses on her neck.

"Good point." I whispered back as I already decided to accept whatever she says but I didn't stop my actions at all.

"Stupid!" She said scowling at me before pushing me away and then walked towards the flat and stepped inside and I calmly followed her.

"Where were you?" Kamal asked when I walked inside arranging myself.

"I got a call." She replied shrugging.

"I too got a call." I said and they all frowned at us.

"We will leave now." Girish said, glancing at the clock.

"I will drop Pallavi." I offered and she scowled at me.

"In my car?" She asked narrowing her eyes.

"Of course!" I replied before dragging her out of the house as we need to finish this discussion tonight and ask her what does he mean by her actions.

Does she like me now? Or is it just physical attraction? I need to get everything clear as I am literally stopping myself from pouring my heart out to her and kiss her again right now in this car.

"Why are you silent?" Pallavi asked as I continued to drive towards her home while having too many thoughts in my head.

"Nothing!" I mumbled frowning and finally reached her house.

"Nothing!? You took advantage of me and now you are going to ignore me? I will kill you, David." She warned suddenly hitting my shoulder.

"What? When did I ignore you?" I asked rubbing my shoulder and I am glad we already reached otherwise there would have been an accident for sure.

"Just now! Do you want to ask me to forget all this?" She asked frowning at me and I chuckled shaking my head.

"Of course not! I have been in unrequited love for all these years and when I can finally be with the person I love, why would I even think of forgetting you?" I asked and immediately stared at her with a serious look.

"Even you took advantage of me and so you can't say that you will not date me, okay?" I asked in a serious tone and she chuckled nodding.

"Okay! I can't say that I love you but want to say that I want to give this relationship a try and give my best to it. Will it be fine?" she asked and I nodded smiling at her.

"So, let's keep it a secret from our friends for now." She added and I immediately frowned.

"Only until we get a bit closer to each other." She mumbled and I nodded accepting her words and promised to not tell our friends.

Of course, after a few weeks, I broke it because of teasing from Rakesh and got scolded by her but still she fell in love with me sooner than I expected.

I finally got to even marry my first love and be with her happily but of course, there were differences, jealousy, and many things here and there but it still got worked out every time.