"Give me another one," Dhruv said, and the girl, who was wearing a white blouse with a low neckline and elbowed sleeves revealing her multiple tattoos. She was cleaning glasses just like every bartender you ever see, gave him a worried look.

At the bar Dhruv sat feeling dishearten, staring blankly into his mug of beer. It felt like an invisible knife had been stuck in his heart. No one could see it but he felt its presence. There was a dull ache in his heart every moment remembered her walking away. It wouldn't let him go so he had spent the evening wandering the dark, empty streets but then he decided to drown it with alcohol. He had six mugs of beer already, and he motioned to the bartender for another.

The alcoholic drink was numbing some of the hurt.

The bartender poured more beer over a fresh glass of ice for Dhruv.

"Maybe you should go home, Man," the girl suggested, setting the drink down

Looking up at her with teary eyes Dhruv said smiling. "What for, Miss?" Dhruv mumbled loudly. "We fought and she left me. My life is ruined once again."

As bartender wiped a spill off the highly polished bar, she smiled, "Perhaps things will work out later and you two will get back together. Anything's possible, right?"

Dhruv laughed, gulped down more beer. "I had crossed my limit of being awful, Miss, she hates me, I have seen it in her eyes." Dhruv swallowed as if he hated the taste of beer.

"God, I'm such a selfish bitch. One day, she had to tired of me."

The bartender girl shook her head. "Everything's going to be okay. You'll be back together before you know it."

"I deserve it anyway," Dhruv half-mumbled into his drink. "I doubted her love for me. She gently tried to remind me of the truth but I kept on doubting."

"You get what you deserve, friend. It's karma," The girl said philosophically.

She left to serve on another customer

Dhruv gulped at the half-empty glass. He slammed it down on the counter, spilling it. He stumbled off the barstool and staggered a crooked line out of the bar.

......

Dhruv opened the door and went inside. The house was empty and dark. It should have been a great day for the two of them, and it was ruined. He blamed him for ruining it. Dhruv stumbled down the hallway to their bedroom and flopped out on the bed and passed out.

......

Dhruv awakened to the scent of aloo paratha, freshly brewed coffee and sound of clattering of utensils coming from the kitchen. He pulled himself out of bed and he glanced over his shoulder, he momentarily froze. The far side of the bed was empty; the covers hadn't even been pulled back, then he remembered the last night. Rain softly pitter-pattered on the roof. The scent of aloo paratha wafted through the air. It would have been a perfect morning it aloo paratha and Ditiya was in his house.

Dhruv walked into the kitchen, his mouth gaping in stunned amazement. God, he was losing his mind, Dhruv thought, he had been convinced that he was dreaming. Ditiya looked absolutely beautiful with that pink apron on, along with a little flour on the side of her face.

"Ditiya, you are back," It didn't sound like a question; neither did it sound like a statement; it sounded more like a combination of both. They both blinked at each other, taking a moment before Ditiya spoke, "I thought you'd be getting ready for school."

"Two days off," He shrugged, trying to appear casual.

"Oh." Ditiya looked at the piece of aloo paratha dough between her fingers and then back at Dhruv, "I was going to surprise you with a breakfast."

"Oh," Dhruv said, he just so confused, happy, and scared all at the same time he felt like he must be in some dream... "Why would you do that?"

"Di taught me how to cook last night." Ditiya grinned. "Or at least, she tried, I hope you will like it." she sprinkled flour on the top of her dough and started rolling and then continued, "To apologize!"

"You haven't got anything to apologize for. If anything I should be the one saying sorry." He said with a smile that definitely wasn't wolfish. It was a smile meant to comfort her.

Ditiya put ghee in the pan and waited for it to come to the right temperature for frying the parathas, "You were being totally right."

"I was afraid! I could only act like I was brave. Never really had the courage to tell you how I really feel." "How do you feel?"

"I loved you."

Ditiya wiped her hands on her apron and turned the stove off. She walked over to Dhruv.

She was standing close enough to be able to smell him, her nose only a centimeter or two from his shirt. "It's OK to be upset, Dhruv. There's nothing wrong with being hurt when your significant other even doesn't have the guts to say I love you." She looked up at him, her beautiful eyes wide and serious. "I shouldn't have expected you to just know what I was feeling. I'm sorry. And I'm sorry for bringing all that stuff up with Shreya, that wasn't fair of me."

"I chose to keep the promise I made to Shreya... I didn't choose her over you; please don't think that I would ever put anyone before you."

"I don't." She shook her head, a small smile playing on her lips "I shouldn't have said that. I didn't mean it."

"I shouldn't have said those ugly things to you about your past relationships. I'm sorry, Ditiya. I really am. I want to know that I know, we are more than sex." Dhruv spoke slowly, feeling his way and his voice was choked with sincerity.

The smile didn't grow on Ditiya's face or even shift perceptibly.

Eventually, she reached out her hand, and he took it. She wove their fingers together. The hesitation was slight, but it was there, and he saw her eyes flicker as if she was not sure she should, "I do, you know?" she said, very softly. "Love you. I'm sorry it took that for me to say it."

He had wanted to ask her but had been afraid of what she would have told him. So instead, he squeezed her hand and leaned into her, brushing lips against her temple. "And I love you."

Ditiya was there. She didn't break up with him, and she told him he loved him and right then, as far as he was concerned, Ditiya was all that mattered.

Then he leaned forward and caught her lips with his, kissing her slowly, tenderly until Ditiya pulled back to move her hand up, fingertips brushing against the bags under Dhruv's eyes. "Didn't you sleep last night?"

"No, I was so much drunk that I passed out" Dhruv replied, already feeling guilty "Have you?"

"I don't think so," she smiled, shaking her head.

His voice was soft and serious. "I hate fighting with you. This," he squeezed her tightly, "this is what I like."

"Awful fighting with you," Ditiya agreed.

"Let's never do it again?" Dhruv asked, leaning forward to brush their mouths back together again.

Ditiya nodded, and murmured, "Deal but I have something to confess."

She smiled, hoping to encourage her to continue, which she did. "Saying I love you wasn't easy. Loving you is filled with care, want, honesty, dishonesty and even guilt.

I got to know your name as my friend's boyfriend. Then a year later I unknowingly met you as narcissist boy, I would like to hate and another year later suddenly we were relatives, you became my sister's brother in law; such a big name and small relationship. Finding out you're not at all narcissist but you are responsible and caring was weird for me.

Three years later, you were breaking the stereotypes of the society and standing against you brother and supporting me. My heart was going crazy racing from fear to admiration.

You amazing cutlery skills and soft nature were something just add up to for me realize that my friend's first love is also my first love. The pain of loving you, and knowing that I'll never be her was difficult.

I thought, the guilt eating me up inside. I couldn't break Shreya's home so I decided to break my heart. That was not all of it I broke my heart again and again by understanding that no man in this world can take your place.

So now I know I have this second chance with you, I swear, I will never let you down, never, Dhruv."

Dhruv didn't know what to say, or maybe he knew what he should have said but didn't because nothing will equal to her.

"Thank you... I love you so much that it hurts." Dhruv threw his arms around her, hugging her tightly and tossing kisses all over her face.

............

............

A year was passed of unalloyed happiness. Ditiya was sitting under the big mango tree in the backyard of her parent's house. The initial opposed to their relationship was ended quickly, and after eight months of the relationship, her parents gave them their blessings to her and Dhruv. So now she was enjoying her time with her parents.

She had so many fond memories of this house. She could see herself running about the tree playing basketball with her father and Aditi, this was how she fell in love the game. Her dad had also nailed a basketball hoop to the mango.

Dhruv came out of the Virks' house, a basketball tucked at his side. He didn't say anything. just kept dribbling the ball with a smirk on his face. The ball nearly knocked her down as he suddenly passed it to her, and she missed it, much to her amusement.

Dhruv took the ball, bounced it all the way to the farthest end of the backyard then turned and shot it into the basket.

"Impressive,"

A crooked smile formed at the corner of his mouth, "Thanks,"

He stood quiet and thought about it for several seconds, then came up with the perfect way to pop the question. "Let's play a game."

Dhruv suddenly looked as though he had been waiting for this day for a long time. He was praying all day long, pleading with God for a positive answer.

"We'll start here close to the hoop and each take turns shooting. If I miss, you can ask me anything you want, and I have to answer truthfully. If you miss, I get to do the same. Then we'll step back further each time to make it harder."

"I was under eighteen camp, I'm gonna get it in every time," she answered with a proud smirk to her face.

"Well, then you should happy with this game, chuffy."

He was sure on her missing shot at least once. It was a win-win situation for him, so long as she missed one time so that he could ask that one question.

She shrugged her shoulders. "Alright"

He shot first, and the ball went right into the basket.

Ditiya followed him.

They kept taking turns, successfully hitting the baskets until he became the first one to miss.

"Aha!" Ditiya laughed, she made it sound like she was teasing, "Let's see...what do I want to know?" She scratched her chin and scrunched her lips.

"Oh! The first time we met, did I attracted you? Did you find me sexy?"

He nodded. "you were hot and beautiful, but has a different kind of beauty—not the usual kind ... One that said mess with me and I'll fuck you up... I really had a small crush on the way you acted, and it took me longer to understand but I knew I would see you again anyway."

She nodded in understanding. "Cool."

He passed the ball to her and backed up a step further away from the hoop, gesturing for her to do the same. "Go."

Of course, she made it and passed the ball to him.

He missed again of course.

"Alright, Dhruv...hmm. What was your most embarrassing moment?"

He looked up at the cloudless, blue sky remembering the moment. " The most embarrassing moment of my life was when I was caught by my mother while watching porn and masturbating."

Ditiya's mouth dropped. "I can't believe you just admitted that!"

"We told each other we'd be honest! That was honestly the most embarrassing moment of my life."

"That was pretty bad."

"No. What's bad is that I was using Arjun Bhai's phone so everyone thought it was his, and I let them believe it.

They laughed at his admission until he passed the ball to Ditiya who proceeded to shoot...and miss

He jumped up in the air, bursting with excitement. "Yes!"

"Your embarrassing moment caught me!" Ditiya licked her lips and looked down at the ground shaking her head in defeat.

"Okay, give it to me."

Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a small box and slowly fell to one knee; opening the box as he crouched down, he said, "Ditz, you know how I feel about you, and I think you feel the same about me. So I would like to present this ring as a token

of my love. Will you do me an honor by being my wife."

Flustered, Ditiya said, "Are you asking me to marry you?"

"Yes, Ditiya, will you marry me?" Dhruv returned.

Ditiya put a finger to her lips and appeared to be thinking about it

"Of course I will marry you," she said as a big smile spread across her face. She took the ring and wrapped her arms around him. "Yes!" she yelled and held him tight. But then she pulled away, with a slight look of worry on her face

"What's the problem?" Dhruv asked looking worried.

"But what will your parents say?" It was a very important question to her. Ditiya looked down and saw he was looking at her with a smiled.

Dhruv got up off his knee and stood up so that he was eye to eye with Ditiya and then he said,

"Oh, no worries, I already asked for my parents' and your parents' blessing, and they said yes."

With her smile returning to her, arms went around him and he hugged her tightly, lifting her off her feet, rotating both of them as they embraced.

Author's Note

What you think about my this story? 

It is worse, better or same as WHEREVER YOU GO?

Did any one of you wanted me to end Dhruv with Shreya? 

Let me know anything and everything. 

You and give story request I will try to write, what you want to read. 

VOTE AND COMMENT PLEASE