Had been nearly six months the kissing incident took place and Dhruv was able to reconcile with Shreya. Dhruv felt that his relationship with Shreya had improved tremendously over the past few months. They called each other regularly and every Saturday and Sunday morning, he chats with Shreya. He maintained his closeness with her by letting her listen to his voice and see him face-to-face through Skype video.

The best thing happened in this four-month was, Dhruv had just bought just a small house in Hinsdale, a small suburb of Chicago. It was nothing just a two bedroom house with a patio but he knew Shreya would love it and suddenly he couldn't wait anymore to get her to see it. He had been making mental plans on how he would ask her to marry him. He had also spent time putting together in his mind.

That morning he woke up to the phone ringing and he picked up still with sleep in his voice and said "hello?" It was Aditi on the other end and she said, "Dhruv this is Bhabhi here"

He sat up straight even though not be able to see him, he did it naturally due to the respect and then cleared his throat and said, "yes Bhabhi, how are you?"

"I am fine Dhruv, how are you?" Aditi asked her voice soft and hesitant. The sound of her voice tensed him a bit.

"I am good here, I'm missing your cooking, especially your cheesecake... Bhabhi do you need anything?" Dhruv asked in a very soft voice, fearing that she must be having some problem, which she is not willing to share.

"Here I need a favor from you if you can."

"Sure but how can I help you?" Dhruv reverted

"Actually Ditiya is coming to Chicago for six months for training purpose and she is adamant about renting a house on a temporary basis as she turned down my suggestion of her, staying with you but I think she would be safer and I will be tension free if you are there," Aditi said. Dhruv opened his mouth to say something, but his stomach dropped when Ditiya's beautiful face intruded into his mind without warning.

Her drunken face from that night, he could almost feel her breath on his lips, her eyes were dilated with desire. He just wanted to kiss her right at that moment, until they were both too dizzy to know where they were, soon he felt guilty because he felt like that.

"Dhruv?"

"UH- what?" Dhruv was instantly startled out of his thoughts, "yes, sure Bhabhi you can rely on me,"

"I thought so! I thought so!" Aditi said with satisfaction and relief in her voice. He could state by the way her voice sounded that Ditiya never disclosed to her elder sister about their smashed hook up and he was certain he could never let out the slightest peep about it to Aditi since it was awkward.

"I mean I will send her an SMS asking for that her stay here with me, however an official decision ought to be hers," He mumbled

"Yes, beyond any doubt," Aditi's voice reverberated down the phone line. "I know both of you don't get along extremely well however she is a decent housemate,"

Dhruv wished Aditi knew how sickening idea came into his brain, just by hearing to Ditiya's name. At that point, Aditi could never let her sister anywhere close to Dhruv. He was sure Ditiya was extremely unlikely to move in with Dhruv after that incident.

"I will save some of our money, foreign countries are so damn costly," Aditi continued with her speech. Dhruv made sounds like "hmm, uh" as he pretended to listen Aditi's rambling, when his mind was not only somewhere else but actually torturing him by re-playing the unsavory kiss that had happened in the past.

------------- Two days later-------------

The porch had awesome significance for Dhruv; this was the place he could smoke, in spite of the fact that he planned to surrender soon however not today certainly not today. He didn't think even for a moment that Ditiya would be keen on living with him when he sent the message to her saying he has an additional room, however, he gathered it was likely she didn't recollect the tipsy snog, which frightened the crap out of him.

Dhruv finished his tea, stubbed out a half-smoked cigarette and then he looked at his watch. Unlocking the back door he stepped inside and closed the door behind him, he quickly fetched a chewing gum from an overhead cupboard in the kitchen and popped the chewing gum in his mouth to suppress the smell of cigarette. Ditiya hated the smoke smell on him and told him before and he just did not like the idea of bothering her on her first visit to his house.

His heart clenched, tightened, and dropped into the pit of his stomach when he heard the doorbell rang. He took a deep breath and, feeling as though he was about to tackle Everest, he walked up to the front door.

"Hello Dhruv," Ditiya greeted first as Dhruv opened the door. She peeked her head in slowly only to see more of the house. Then she politely smiled at him waiting for him to welcome her into the house.

"Umm." Dhruv blinked rapidly before stepping aside to gesture her in. she seemed to have shortened her hair again, she was one of those certain women can pull that off beautifully. His face felt hot as she pulled off her jacket and hung it over her arm, he could see those flat tummy ripples straight through the fabric of that thin shirt.

Ditiya hacked as she discovered him gazing at her wide-eyed. "Um," Ditiya sighed, "I heard, you didn't need me to squander cash on hotel rooms,"

Dhruv couldn't trust that she really didn't recall anything, he felt like a major bit of shit for as recollecting that it vividly while she didn't recall at all what happened. Obviously, it was only an imbecilic intoxicated fascination.

"Let me show you around the house. There are two bedrooms so I want you to pick the one you like most." Dhruv said as he started to show her around his house.

Dhruv was the one that had caused this awkwardness between them as he led her around showing her every room. Then He showed the way around to the back of his house, to the patio.

"Um... It is a small patio, just a slab of concrete. Not especially attractive," Dhruv said.

"Aww it is such a lovely place for summer barbeques, I heard Americans really enjoy this or it can be amazing here on fall evenings with a cup of coffee," Ditiya said leaning her body on the door frame, and staring at the bed of dried grass.

"I just move down here about a month ago, so I really don't know about the summer or fall here... yeah you might be right," he shrugged, Ditiya smiled looking at him and Dhruv had an uncomfortable feeling in the pit of his stomach. He led Ditiya back inside, closing the back door and sighing inwardly.

"So, we should probably have a chat. You want a cup of tea?" she happily nodded, everyone likes a hot cup of tea in the chilled winter evening.

Soon they were sitting around the dining table. They were facing each other from opposite ends of the table. However he was not comfortable around her, and he still felt extremely. "So Bhabhi must have told you that I have every facility like Wi-Fi, cable connection in the TV and an extra cupboard for you things, Any question?"

"Not so much? Umm... " Ditiya murmured, frowning and gazing at the roof in thought. She took a taste of her tea and grinned as she set the cup in the saucer, "Mmm, I have two things to state one in the event that I move in I will paying a portion of your house installment, two will you make me more tea? This is an incredible chai."

"Possibly," Dhruv stated, breaking a bona fide grin finally. "In case you're great housemate"

Ditiya smiled back. The wide, senseless grin came to up to her eyes and bore lines of white teeth. "Okay, well, I'd like to officially express my interest in the room."

The hope in Ditiya's eyes cut right through to Dhruv's heart, his expression bright. This was a terrible, terrible idea...

"Alright, so when are you moving in?"

"How about today? All my bags are just outside the door," Ditiya asked innocently. Dhruv chuckled lightly to himself and then smiled.

It had been less than a week that Ditiya was staying with Dhruv. At whatever point they both remained home, she was continually talking without being tired, she just would not quiets down. Dhruv knew she was a garrulous person, however, living just with him made her talk to an ever-increasing extent.

However, she never talked about the kiss. And, if Dhruv was honest, it wound him up. How could Ditiya be so clueless? She had no recollection of that drunken night. She had been floating around the flat; somehow equally elegant and clumsy at the same time, happy-go-lucky almost all of the time.

Be that as it may, it wasn't getting any less hard for Dhruv on the grounds that he was as pulled in to Ditiya as a sober as he had been when he was drunk.

If Ditiya was home before Dhruv, which she was most days, she always managed to have steaming ready and waiting for him. "Well..." Ditiya shrugged coyly when Dhruv commented on it. "You've brought me into your home and let me live with you, I want to make you comfortable."

However, Dhruv was uncomfortable, he felt guilty as if he was cheating on Shreya and he could not pinpoint exactly why he felt so offended that Ditiya had forgotten. Was it pride? Or was he judging Ditiya for getting so drunk she couldn't remember him?

The early February weather was quite chilled enough for the longer sleeves; Dhruv grabbed a blanket off his bed and wrapped it around himself. He pulled the laptop out and set it on his lap as he opened up his Skype screen and checked to see if Shreya was already online.

She was not online. So he dug his head into the pillow and tried to revisit his entire journey with her, cherishing all the moments of their closeness.

A knock on the main door jarred him out of his daydreams. Frowning, he got up out of bed and walked to the doorway, looking in the direction of Ditiya's room. He expected to see her walking out to open the door too, but she wasn't there.

When he opened the door, he saw Ditiya standing there, her hands were occupied with the grocery bags. She gave him a tired smile; He was left staring at the girl standing with her hands filled with paper bags looking expectantly at him. How can someone look this pretty with hair totally messed up falling on her face, cheeks are red and lips were chapped from the harsh cold winter and there were still flakes of snow on her grey beanie? Dhruv thought to himself.

He knocked some sense into him and quickly took some bags from her hands as he stepped back to let her come inside.

"The fridge was empty so before coming back home, I had to take a trip to the grocery," she said she sat down on the couch. The word 'home' sounded so fascinating coming out of her mouth. Why is there a false sense of domesticity and intimacy in their interactions, Dhruv couldn't understand."

Dhruv blinked and looked away before any of this could come tumbling out of his mouth. "Do you want some tea?" it was the safest thing he could have asked that moment.

"I would love some, yes." Ditiya smiled, she always smiled if not then she is talking, Dhruv saw her doing both at the same time, she was a wonder herself. Dhruv turned to leave the room without waiting for Ditiya.

No smile and then this made Ditiya wondered if Dhruv did not want her in his kitchen because usually, it was her who made the evening tea or coffee. That was why he was offering to make the tea himself. Then, she remembers how much she liked and praised his tea on her first day here, maybe that was the reason for offering and well then he was on the right track.

However, she was not a slave driver so; she busied herself by grabbing the grocery bags up off the coffee table and carrying them to the kitchen so she could unpack them.

Dhruv's back was to her when she got to the kitchen and he seemed to be putting the kettle on. There was a pack of Darjeeling on the island.

When Dhruv turned around, he was startled maybe not expecting Ditiya to have followed him.

"Oh my—you really need to make noise while walking."

"What? Like stubbing my toe into every surface?" she mocked back

It came out before she could stop the words, but maybe it was worth it to see a blush dusting Dhruv's cheeks at the question. Ditiya had noticed his accident-process without really doing it purposefully. She was herself a bit clumsy but walking into every single surface was quite a skill, she reckoned.

"You noticed then."

"I did, yes."

For a second there, it felt like he was taking the piss with an old friend and it was an artificial comfort that she hated. If anything, she needed all the lines to be crystal-clear in her mind. This was a dangerous slope, he had a girlfriend, who was her ex-best friend, and she knew it would be a narrow escape in the end.

"Do you want to sit in my room? The heater out on there." Dhruv asked as he made her tea silently and making himself a cup of some sort of herbal tea or something

"Yeah, sure."

They sat down together on the bed by the heater in Dhruv's room and shared their tea, "Shreya told me. At the beginning of our relationship, she used to talk a lot about you. On our so call the first date, you know going to the nearest café to your school and buying the cheapest coffee out of pocket money. There was this guy at the table behind us and he was chewing rather loudly. I hate when people do that, Shreya looked at my face and started laughing. I thought she was making fun but then she started telling me this story about how her best friend hates when people chew loudly and how once you picked a fight with a kid in your school canteen when you were in sixth grade. And the whole night, she told stories about friendship with you and I tease her about it even now."

"In my defense, that kid started chewing even louder after I asked him to stop. He was just asking to be tripped on his way to the bathroom."

Dhruv was laughing with his head thrown back, his laughter ringing loud in the silence. Ditiya had to make an effort to look away.

"She did tell me you were funny and when I met you long back I thought you are arrogant. She still does love you though, I mean I have friends and I love them too. But Shreya respects you so much. There were times when she stayed up all night just telling me her childhood stories and most of them include you."

She could only nod because she already knew deep their friendship used to be. "Thanks." She said holding the teacup up, the tea was gone cold now so she took her to leave and walked back to her room. The wind was blowing rather cold against her sweatshirt; she was definitely missing Indian weather.

Her gaze fell on a tiny picture of a Dhruv and Shreya maybe from their college days, hanging in a steel frame on the wall. In that photo Dhruv's face was partially buried in her hair, Shreya was all blushed, smiles and laughter. The photo was rather cute but she did not understand the sharp twinge of discomfort that shoots through her at the sight.