A/N:Sorry for making you wait so much. Please read the A/N if possible.
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Nia's POV

"Pranjal, you love Sasha."I said loudly, barely able to contain my excitement.

Pranjal shot me one of his shy smiles.

"Chupe Rustam kahi ke!(Keeping secrets huh?)"I nudged his shoulder with mine.

"Nothing like that."He said without meeting my eyes. Now that was proof enough.

"Shut up. You guys would be so cute. I mean you will be one of those best friends turned cute couple. Oh my god! ! Now you guys will shamelessly flirt with each other and I will pretend to be bothered by you guys when in fact I am gonna be heart eyed. Oh Pranjy I have even decided your ship name Sanjal."I huffed after my monologue and turned around to see his reaction.

He contorted his face."I have never heard a shipname as depressing as that before."He said and suddenly his teasing expressions changed to serious ones."We need to look for Erjot."

"Oh yeah."I said realising the seriousness of the current situation.

"Let's find her."Pranjal said and we sprung into action. We looked for her for a while without any success. And then Pranjal suddenly nudged my shoulder.

I looked at him with questioning eyes. He just pointed at someone sitting in the corner behind the ticket booth.

As we walked closer to the girl our doubt was confirmed. It was Erjot but she wasn't alone. Someone was sitting beside her on the ground.

We tiptoed towards the ticket booth. And it didn't take us million dollars to figure out who the other person was when he spoke"Pranjal doesn't love you, Erjot. I don't particularly like him but it's really not his fault that he doesn't harbour any feelings for you.Try to put yourself in his shoes."

Pranjal gritted his teeth and was about to make our presence known to the two human beings sitting behind the ticket booth but I yanked his collar before he could. I put my fingers on my lip gesturing him to stay quiet.

Kairav sure wasn't fond of Pranjal but at the moment he was backing him up in his own twisted way. But Erjot wasn't convinced yet.

"Why doesn't he? Am I that bad? I love him since eighth standard. Do you even know that. We went to same tution. He didn't even noticed me then. After school, I purposely took admission to Royal hoping that he would atleast notice me now but he didn't. And then something finally happened. I moved into the same building he lives in,unknowingly. Don't you think it's a sign?"Her voice was full of hope.

I noticed Pranjal shifting in his place nervously.

"Dear, it's not sign. It's coincidence."Kairav said softly.

And then we heard Erjot sobbing hard.

Pranjal and I decided to step forward but Kairav's weird question stopped us in our tracks.

"Hey would you like to eat Poppins?"

Pranjal and I exchanged confused look.

"I don't want anything right now."Erjot said in a croaked voice.

"Oh c'mon Erjot. Poppins ne kya bigada hain yaar?(Why taking out your anger on the poor poppins)"He cooed her.

"Fine. Give me the one with orange flavour."Erjot said in a less excited tone.

"No. You have to eat the berry flavoured."Kairav ordered.

Pranjal nudged me and circulated his index finger to his head suggesting Kairav had officially lost it.I shushed him so that we could overhear their conversation further.

"I don't want berry flavoured. I like Orange."Erjot repeated.

"You have to eat the berry flavoured poppin."Kairav pressed.

"Kairav, what's wrong with you? I don't like berry. Why are you forcing me to eat it."Erjot's voice had grown irritated.

I wonder if they realised they are getting carried away from the main topic here.

"Exactly, Erjot. Pranjal doesn't like you."Kairav said and then a realisation hit me.

"Oh."was all Erjot could reply in return.

"I know it's not easy to forget someone you loved. But you will succeed eventually."Kairav said in a gentle manner.

"Did you ever love someone, Kairav?"Erjot asked.

"Yes."Kairav replied."I did."

And I was feeling conscious suddenly. But then I shrugged off that feeling. I can't be the only girl he had feelings for.

Stop being so self-obssesed Nia.

"What happened?"She asked him.

"I wasn't her favourite flavour of poppins."He said with a dry humour. And then there was a pin drop silence for a while. But soon it broke as a loud ringtone of fix you song by Coldplay started playing.

I guess it was Kairav's cellphone since I could hear him informing the caller that he had found Erjot and they would soon return to the place we had decided to gather at.

Pranjal and I hastily returned to Sasha and other group members before Kairav and Erjot could notice us anywhere around the booth.

Sasha looked alright after Erjot had returned safe and sound. She hugged her and also apologised for hurting her.

Erjot gave her a genuine smile in return.

We all headed to the cafeteria to feed our growling stomachs. In the meantime I was nudging Pranjal and pointing at Sasha who was walking ahead of us along with Zeenat and Zeeshan.

"What?"He shot me an irritated look.

"Go Sanjal."I whispered shooting my fists up in the air like some cheerleader.

"WSE."Pranjal commented.

I looked at him questiningly.

"Worst Shipname Ever."He answered.

"Offcourse. Now you will find everything that I suggest, worse. Pranjy I didn't expect this from you. Jo mil gayi Sasha toh buri lagne lagi meri bhasha.(Now that you love Sasha, you will only see faults in me)"I said overdramatically.

"When is Aaruj returning?"Pranjal asked suddenly.

"Second of Jan. Why?"I probed.

"Oh the separation of so many days!!! That's why your hormones are getting into your head and causing you to talk nonsense."He said before chucking.

I threw a punch in his stomach and soon he was begging me to spare him before I could punch him again.

During the meal, I had reserved Pranjal's place right between me and Sasha. But unfortunately Zeeshan sat on the very chair. I sulked as I saw Pranjal taking seat at the opposite side of our table.

Erjot looked busy in conversing with Zeenat about some online shopping site. While some of the guys from group were busy watching football game on the TV in cafeteria. Some people were still eating so the rest of us were giving company to them just by sitting at the table.

I was busy in making kissing faces at Pranjal whenever I caught him stealing glances at Sasha. He was shooting daggers at me but I wasn't going to budge because it's not everyday you get to tease your friend over his lovesick state.

All of a sudden, Zeeshan got up, causing his chair to fall with a loud thud in process.

"Guys, I have an announcement to make."He said and then looked at all of us.

"Are you paying the bill?"Sahil joked.

Everyone else broke into laughter.

"Yes I wouldn't mind. But that's not important. The important thing that I like someone."He said taking the suspense to next level.

Okay. It could be Geeta.

Or could it be Zeenat?

Or Erjot. Wow!!! it would be great. She deserves to be happy and Zeeshan is such a nice guy.

However he looked at......Sasha.

Zeeshan, you are going to choose between the girls I just listed down.

You understand?

No. Don't look at Sasha. Look at other girls. They are nice too.

"I like Sasha."He said.

Zeeshan is such a bad guy.

"And we have decided to take our friendship to the next level that is dating."He said and then turned to Sasha who was blushing furiously.

"So Sasha please please please let me be your boyfriend."He said taking her hand into his.

Sasha smiled at him in response. I had never seen her smile like this before.I wanted to be happy for her and I tried. I really tried.

But you can't be sad and happy for the same thing when your best friends are involved.

When I looked at Pranjal, I felt a pang of hurt in my chest.

He was smiling at Sasha who was pestered by teasing remarks of Zeenat and Kairav.

There had to be some way to fix this.

So many hearts can't be broken in one single day.

There had to be some freaking quota.

On our way to the bus,I tried to talk to Pranjal about the earlier incident in cafeteria but he avoided the topic. I made another attempt of talking about the subject but Sasha interuppted us.

"Dudes, you are not angry at me, are you?"She asked placing her each hand on our shoulders while walking along with us."Believe me, I wasn't even expecting it till today. You know we were just friends but then he said he likes me and I like him too as a person so I decided to give us a try."She looked nervously from Pranjal to me.

"I am happy for you."Pranjal said giving her a smile. But I knew how he must be feeling at that moment.

"Me too."I said.

"Really?Thank you Pranjy and Ni.But I promise nothing is going to change between us just because I am in a relationship now. You guys are and will always be my priority."She said wrapping her arms around our necks gently.

"Oh Please, we will be happy to not be your priority. That way we would have to tolerate you less."Pranjal said faking seriousness.

"Too bad. I am not leaving you Pranjy..... Ever."She engulfed him in a bone crushing hug.

I smiled at the duo and let out a deep sigh. Today had been just like some rollercoster ride full of ups and downs.

On our journey to back home, I willingly offered my window seat to Pranjal but he refused it politely and sat next to me.

"Are you okay?"I asked.

"Relax. I am not gonna die. I will survive."He said nudging my shoulder.

"I am making the offer for the very last time. Do you want this window seat?"I said patting the soft cushiony fabric.

"Thanks Nia but I really don't want it."He said leaning on back of his seat.

"Why?"I asked.

"May be life is a bus and love is window seat. Not everyone gets to sit on it."Pranjal said suddenly, looking so lost into his thoughts.

"WTE."I replied.

"And what's that?"

"Worst theory ever."I replied earning a chuckle from him.

"Better than that stupid Poppins theory."He said in playful manner.

"Don't forget those Poppins saved you."I played along.

"Yeah."He agreed.

"Pranjal can we talk?"Erjot asked from the seat opposite the aisle.

"Sure."Pranjal replied getting up from his seat.

"Be gentle."I warned him.

"Don't worry milady. I am going to properly apologise to her."Pranjal assured making me smile.

After a while I saw them shaking hands and talking to each other in the most normal way I could have ever imagined them.

Then I looked at other people on bus. Zeeshan and Sasha were taking cute selfie with each other. Where Sasha was trying to pout but the truth is she can't.

Even Pranjal pouts better than her.

Zeenat and Geeta were trying to drink water from the bottle but the moving bus was making the task seem impossible. Finally Zeenat lost the challenge and Geeta rejoiced in victory only to spill the remaining water from the bottle on herself.

Some guys were dosing off while the other played with the Frisbee.

Wow.

Then my eyes rested on the peaceful smile on someone's face. Kairav had closed his eyes and I guess was listening to his favourite songs.

So he did find the earphones after all.

I turned my attention back to the scenery outside the window. My phone beeped with a notification on Facebook.

I opened it and saw Dadima had tagged Aaruj in a photo. I chuckled at the irritated expressions of Aaruj and his Dad. To tell the truth, I had never seen so much pink in one frame before.

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Like any other average human being, I too had plans on new year's eve.

"Do you think this would look good here?"Chetan uncle asked me as he held the the twinkling lights on the wall of living room.

"Or we could just make a tangled mess of them and put it on the table in the corner."I suggested.

"That would be kewl."Uncle remarked in heavy accented voice.

"Sokewl."I mimicked his accent and we hifived.

"So any new year resolution?"He asked while we worked on the rest of decorations for the party.

"Plenty. I never run out of them. The only thing that I run out of is-- the rigour to complete them."I sighed.

"I can understand."He chuckled.

"What about you Chetan uncle?"I asked.

"I made a new year resolution of not making any resolutions from this year onward."He smirked.

"Clever."I patted his shoulder.

He bowed in a mock courtesy.

"Who is boring who?"Mayank interuppted before stuffing his mouth with a hot samosa and then fanning his mouth when it burnt his tongue.

"Mayank when will you grow up?"Chetan uncle asked shaking his head.

"I hate to break this to you uncle. But the answer to your question is never."I said as I consoled him dramatically. Then uncle and I, we both burst into fits of laughter at the same time.

"Nia balike kahi tumhari rashi meen toh nahi?(Is your sunsign pieces?)"Mayank asked patting my head in mock affection.

"No. Why?"I shot him a confused look.

"'Cause you are so mean."He chuckled."Get it? Meen rashi and mean."He was laughing so hard at his own joke.

"That pun was so lame."I said making disgusted face.

"Totally."Uncle agreed.

Pinaki came out from the kitchen finally. His pace was slow. He was dragging his feet as he walked. Then he prepared himself to laze on sofa.

"What happened?Are you alright kid."Uncle enquired.

Before Pinaki could answer Mayank said"Dad,he ate five samosas."

"Mayank, how many times have I told you not to count food when someone eats."Veena Aunty shouted from kitchen.

Pinaki stuck his tongue out as some victory gesture. And Mayank crumpled one of the paper ribbon and threw it at him.He was too lazy to dodge it. So it ended up hitting his nose."Ouch." He winced before rubbing the spot.

"Guys I prepared new batch of potatao chips. Anyone wants to test it?"Veena Aunty offered from the kitchen.

Mayank and Pinaki's gaze connected for a while.

"Mine."Pinaki growled.

"Mine."Mayank growled back.

And then they both sprinted towards the kitchen as if they were running in a marathon.

Finally the preparation for party was done. We all changed into new clothes. and welcomed our only guests--our neighbours next doo. The Chakroborty family.

"This is for you."Mrs Chakroborty handed a box of sweets to Veena Aunty."Thank you for inviting us."

"Oh! Don't be so formal, dear."Aunty replied. Soon the party started. Pinaki entertained us with some magic tricks he had learnt recently. He was good at what he did except for the dove trick where he was supposed to turn it into flower. He tried and tried but the dove didn't transform into anything. Even the dove got tired of Pinaki's persistence and flew out from the nearest window as soon as he got the chance.

And we all left a sigh of relief as his magic trick was finally over.

Then Mr.Chakroborthy sang an old bengali song in his melodious voice.

amar pujar ful
bhalobasha hoye geche
tumi jeno bhul bujhona |
mala gethe rekhechi
porabo tomae
tumi jano chire felona ||

Mrs.Chakroborthy was blushing when he dedicated the song to her.

I didn't understand most of the words in the song but I did understand the love he had in his heart for his wife. Because sometimes love doesn't need translation you just feel it.

My mind was suddenly filled with Aaruj's thoughts. I missed everything about him: his smile, his non-stop teasing, his flirtatious comebacks. And soon I was smiling to myself.

I was brought back as Veena Aunty shook me off.

"Will you help me in setting the food on table?"She asked.

"Sure."I replied.

After we were done setting the table, all of us helped ourselves with the delicious food Veena Aunty had cooked. Everyone praised her culinary skills.

We decided to resume our entertainment drill after having food.

"Dad you have to do something?C'mon."Mayank insisted while forcing Chetan uncle to get up and perform.

"I can't."He protested.

"Say that dialogue you used on Mom to propose her."Mayank prompted him.

Veena Aunty blushed. Her cheeks became redder than a beetroot."Mayank."She glared at him.

Upon insistence of other people, That was me, Mayank and Chakraborty family, Uncle had to agree.

He got up and adjusted his shirt. And started saying the dialogue while looking at Veena Aunty"Yakeen nahi aata toh poocho in barfilay pahadon se.Guys I proposed her on a college picnic at Mahabaleshwar(Hill station in Maharashtra)"

"Enough said. Now get back to proposal."I said impatiently.

He started from the beginning again"Yakeen nahi aata toh poocho in barfilay pahadon se. nadi ki leharon se, in baharon se ... hum dono ke dilon ki awaaz ek hai, joh saath saath milkar in vaadiyon mein goonj uthegi.( If you don't believe me then ask these snowy mountains, ask the waves of the river, ask this spring season ... the voice of our hearts is one, which will echo in these valleys together)"

Everyone else broke into applaude as Uncle bowed dramatically.

As I looked back at Veena Aunty, something was different in her face. In that moment, she looked so young as if she was back in that time Uncle had proposed her. There was a beautiful smile on her lips that reached to her eyes and lit them up.

As soon as she realised everyone's attention was pinned on her, she blushed and covered her face in embarrassment.

We all chuckled at her reaction.

Soon Mayank announced on top of his voice."People, in exactly 7 minutes new year is going to begin. So let's go to garden in society and the watch the fireworks. Say what?"

"Cool idea."Pinaki agreed. And so did the rest of the grownups. I nodded in agreement with all of them.

Everyone was heading towards the door. I was about to grab my cellphone from the room when it started ringing. I picked it up from the study table and answered it imidiately as I saw the caller ID.

"So Miss Tantrum, did you already forget me?"Aaruj's asked from the other end of line.

I was about to answer him when Aunty walked in."Nia, let's go."

I told her to go ahead with the plan and I would join them shortly. She left before giving a smile.

"Where are you going?"Aaruj asked.

"To the society garden to see the fireworks. What are your plans?"I asked.

"For now,I am driving."He answered.

I hadn't noticed the sound of engine before but now I could hear it distinctly.

"Why are you driving at this hour and most of all why are you talking While driving?"I retorted.

"Shant ho jao meri jhansi ki raani."He said before chucking.

"First you stop driving."I warned.

"Fine. Anyway I have reached to the place I wanted to."He informed.

"Where is this place mister that made you drive at such late hour?"I asked.

"It's the most beautiful