When you say Goodbye

Tug of War

Eighteen-year-old Ditiya was waiting near the main gate of her house, tapping her right foot continuously and checking her wristwatch impatiently for Aisha to pick her up. It was a foggy, very cold morning and Ditiya found standing still was quite impossible for her.

Ditiya fished into her pocket, brought out some chewing gum, and popped it into her mouth and then took she took out her phone to dial Aisha's number, but to her surprise, Aisha didn't pick up the call.

"Stupid," Ditiya mumbled as she looked at the ground and started to kick the pebble next to her Nike shoes, for a few seconds she could forget the freezing weather and simply focus on the pebble. But soon many thoughts ran through her mind like what if Aisha won't come? Did she forget Ditiya? And maybe using carpool wasn't her best idea but she really wanted to go to Tanya's farmhouse and enjoy the winter vacation.

After a few more minutes, which seemed like an hour in Ditiya's eyes a Suzuki Etiga stopped in front of her. Aisha was sitting in the passenger seat, while Aisha's boyfriend was sitting in the driver's seat. Two more girls were sitting in the middle seat and a boy of her age at the back.

"Hey!" Aisha said as she got out of the car. "Sorry for being late."

Ditiya rolled her eyes and let her head loll back to show her annoyance, "I was about get pneumonia," she murmured later.

Aisha elbowed Ditiya lightly in the ribs "I said, I sorry." Then she opened the trunk of the car and told Ditiya, as she pushes a suitcase to the side, "You can put your luggage here."

"I will get you a cappuccino for getting late," Aisha smiled at Ditiya

"Better!" Ditiya said, throwing her bags into the trunk and then she jumped into the car onto the back seat, still chewing the gum.

"Hey," Ditiya quickly greeted everyone presented in the car.

"Hello, I am Dhruv," the boy who was already seated at the back seat quickly greeted her back with a big smile and reaching out his hand to shake hands, which Ditiya ignored deliberately.

"Zisha," "And this is Mihika" the two girls in the middle turned back and greeted Ditiya subsequently and in turn Ditiya acknowledged them with a polite smile.

"Vihan," the boyfriend of Aisha and the driver for that carpool said without turning around, but Ditiya looked into the rearview mirror and she could see his smile. Soon he started the engine, put the car into gear and they shot off for Nainital.

"I am so excited," Ditiya cheered with joy as she tried to find a comfortable position.

"Sure why not, Ditiya you gotta good company" Mihika joked, looking playfully at Dhruv.

"You don't say," Ditiya muttered under her breath glaring at the boy next to her if looks could hurt till then Dhruv might have some bruises. To be sure, she didn't like him. Not at all, he had unruly thick, dark, curly hair that was so not incredibly cool, but the girls in the middle seats did seem to like him.

"You should fasten your seat belt," Dhruv suddenly told Ditiya after a while.

'No. I don't want your suggestions," She fired back, staring at him with fury. Dhruv was caught in disbelief, at her rudeness. But he didn't say a word just stayed silent for a while and turned to look out the window.

After five more minutes Dhruv rolled down the car's window, he rested his hands on the window frame and endeavored to inhale one long deep breath of fresh air.

"What the hell! It's winter! Do you want us to catch a cold?" she yelling at the top of her voice at him, "Close that stupid window now!"

"I can't get my breath in here, the air's so thick," Dhruv replied.

"Did you just tell me, that I smell bad?" Ditiya rolled her eyes and let out an angry groan.

He tried to defend himself, telling her "I never said you that,"

Ditiya huffed out a breath, "better, but just shut the window up," then she leaned against the window, and started blowing a bubble with her gum until it popped.

"God, you are so annoying!" Dhruv directly criticized her. Then he said in a much deeper, huskier voice than before, "I've learned that you should always be nice to people."

Wow, he really does have a nice voice, Ditiya thought before she went on in a mocking voice "I am not annoying and I've learned that sometimes people should not criticize other and be silent,"

Dhruv taunted her, "Sure you are,"

"No, I'm not," Ditiya insisted. "You know s**t about me!"

"You don't know how to talk nicely with others," the curly haired boy complained bitterly.

"You are such a horrible person," she yelled furiously and then spat at him "I introduced myself, okay? That's enough for me being nice to strangers. And in case if you haven't realized yet – it's carpool here, not a school trip where we're supposed to make new friends."

"I love talking to people in general but you are very rude," He folded his arms across his chest defiantly

"Who the f***s are you? A spoiled brat who is getting ready to go to Canada sponsored by his parents? God!" Ditiya threw her head back, flinging her arms in the air.

Her words literally knocked all thought out of his brain; he gaped at her, jaw dropped, "you are so disrespectful and not friendly at all,"

"You don't have to tell me, I am friendly or not?"

"Nobody asked you to be a b***h," Dhruv snapped back, his anger was not quite in controlled as it always had been.

Aisha turned her head to the back of the seat and "Could you two idiots just shut up for a moment? I can't take this anymore, seriously!"

Ditiya directed her hand toward Aisha and she fixed her gaze on Dhruv, "see? Stop talking nonsense, people here are getting disturbed,"

They rolled their eyes and turned away their faces to show how unwilling they were to talk to each other. She picked up a headset, plugged the wire into her Samsung Genio and played 21 Guns by Green Day.

Before the song could end, Ditiya felt a tap on her shoulder; she opened her eyes and turned her head. His face was very close to hers, his eyes focused on her what made Ditiya jumped and that resulted in a bump of her head with the ceiling.

"Are you insane? Don't you dare to touch me!" Ditiya yelled enraged.

Dhruv was so shocked by Ditiya's actions that he had left with no clue what was he about to say, "I . . . I just wanted to ask you if you could turn down your music a little bit, it's so loud," Clearing his throat, Dhruv stammered. "Please?"

"I am wearing an earphone, it no way you can hear it, this winter is so cold why don't you tell it to get lower in temperature, so that you can have a warm climate and rest in peace forever?"

"You're so mean," Dhruv grumbled quietly. "I haven't done anything to you, why won't you stop behaving like an asshole."

"I like to behave like this," Ditiya stated roughly, landing a frail kick to his foot.

"Ouch, I'm not surprised," Dhruv answered, rubbed his eyes and turned his head away from her face.

"Are you crying?" Ditiya asked with a mocking grin because Dhruv was so easy to tease and it wouldn't really amuse her if he did. The boy didn't answer.

"Oh God," Ditiya mumbled and hit her forehead with the palm of her hand and shook her head. Then she put her headphones back with an of course with a lesser volume and stared out of the window.

Until she began to feel sleepy, she tried hard to keep her head straight on the headrest but soon her head landed on something hard, something rigid, yet very soft. She was too tired to care at the moment so she slept peacefully.

Dhruv knew she was feeling cold so he let her keep her head on his shoulder, and let her accepted the warmth of another human being.

"You two are insanely sweet, if you asked me," Aisha beamed as she told Dhruv "A terrible duo you are."

Dhruv laughed at Aisha's expression, he was looking a bit embarrassed himself. "Can't wait to get rid of her, gotta pretty girlfriend already"

During the trip, they never stopped arguing with each other whenever they came face to face they just argued.

It's been a year and some month after the Nainital trip. Ditiya's mind had forgotten Dhruv completely and get on with living her own life.

Everywhere there was red fabric, worked with metallic gold patterns, flowers and mouth-watering smell of food with traditional romantic Indian wedding music playing in the background.

As soon as Arjun went to the mandap for the wedding, he had to take off his shoes before climbing the mandap as per the rituals. That was the best moment for the joota chupai ceremony it is a traditional ritual whereby bride's sisters indulge in stealing of shoes. It is a fun tradition, in which the girls charge a fee for agreeing to return the shoes. It is also a task for groom's brothers and cousins keep guarding the shoes.

However, this time bride sister's already had the strategy. Ditiya noticed that her sister and Arjun had already seated for the wedding ceremony and at least five boys from groom's side sat guarding Arjun's shoes. Tanya, Mihika, and Aisha went there and started talking with the boys there, just to engage them in a conversation.

While they were talking and distracting them from the groom's shoes, Ditiya who had been prepared earlier quietly crept up and took the shoes away. Nobody noticed her, now the fun began for Ditiya and her friends. She ran!

And for the moment she was enjoying her elder sister Aditi's wedding. It was a beautiful day; she was looking gorgeous with her hair in a careless bun and wore a colorful ghagra choli with a bandhani Dupatta. She knew that her sister would have a brother-in-law means Arjun had a brother but she was too caught up to notice who was the brother.

At that point in time, Ditiya was literally running somewhere in the marquee when Dhruv and Ditiya bumped into each other awkwardly. She was out of breath, carrying Arjun's pair of mojari shoes in her hand for joota chupai.

Dhruv grabbed her around the waist to stop her from sprawling on the floor, "you are fine right?" the curly haired boy asked in a deep and heroic tone with a bright, perfect smile. Ditiya couldn't remember but felt sure that she must have seen him somewhere before. He was wearing a black-colored dupion silk Sherwani that is heavily embellished with intricate Zardozi, white embroidery, and beading.

Ditiya was sure he was from groom's side. As much as she tried to remember why he had got the feeling that she knows this guy, he won't succeed. Ditiya just looked at him without saying a word back.

"You are fine right?" he tentatively asked her once again. "Ohm . . . sorry but . . . aren't you . . . . Ditiya?" the guy suddenly asked her.

Her expression changed instantly. The smooth forehead creased into a frown, "Huh? Where do you know my name from?" Ditiya was still not sure who this was.

His cheeks flushed hot with renewed embarrassment "I . . . I think we met a few years ago. You know . . . in that car to Nainital." He paused for a moment. "You were . . . very rude to me," he finished the sentence quietly.

Ditiya frowned again. "Oh . . . but that means you're . . . Dhruv?" she asked with a confirming look.

The boy nodded. "That's my name, yeah."

Ditiya let a little smile escape her lips, and soon she chuckled. "You were so annoying!" she bowed his head and let out a small laugh then. "God . . ."

Dhruv smiled back timidly. "And you were being bitched with me."

"I still am, you know?"

"Everybody can change."

Before she could understand what she was saying, she blurted out "you have become handsome"

He shook his head weakly from side to side and laughed, "All credit goes to the gym but you haven't changed all that much." She frowned for a second but then smiled again.

"So you are looking for a hiding place?" Dhruv asked picking up the shoe that was dropped by Ditiya without realizing

"Huh?" Ditiya's all attention centered on Dhruv face. Dhruv waved the shoes near her eyes.

"Oh god! Yes, a hiding place." Ditiya suddenly remembered that she was on the mission hiding the shoes. She was about to take the shoes from Dhruv's hand when he held his hand up just beyond her reach. She jumped to take it but couldn't take it from his grip.

"Give it to me," Ditiya wheezed in a high voice. He only shook his head in reply. Ditiya tried to get twice but failed both the time, suddenly someone called to him from behind. "Dhruv!" He turned and saw Shreya.

The shoes fell from his grip, "thanks Shreya," Ditiya shouted with a nod, bent down, took the shoes and ran where they planned to hide it.

Now it was the time for bridesmaids versus groomsmen, both the parties were ready to negotiate the price for the return of the groom's shoes.

"We want two thousand rupees each," Aisha said in a demanding tone.

"Take thousand each and give us bhai's shoes back," Dhruv said, chuckling somewhat and enjoying the banter between the girls and boys.

"Two thousand and that's final," a cousin sister of Aditi demanded.

"Only one," all the boys said in unison. It was repeating and dragging for a long time. Ditiya knew boys were having fun, just by teasing and watching the girls beg.

Ditiya cleared her throat to get all the attention, and the boys also turned slowly in her direction, "we are ready with thousand," she took a pause and other girls sighed, looking a little defeated. And boys started cheering they all thought that they won the negotiation

But then Ditiya said with a smirk, "we will let the Arjun Bhai have one shoe of his choice for thousand rupees if he wants he can hope all the way to home," the whole group of girls started laughing and cackling at Ditiya's clever thought.

For a moment Dhruv couldn't help but admire her from afar. He was impressed with the way in which Ditiya made every boy dumbfounded. But soon Mrs. Malhotra, Dhruv's mother came forward. She was holding some boxes in her hand, and then she handed those to the girls one by one.

It was titan silver white dial analog watch, it was gifts for the girls in honor of traditions, and with that, it was the ending of the stealing game.

Soon came the moment for the Bidaai, Arjun's SUV was decorated with white ribbons and pinned to the ribbons were red petals. Aditi was walking out of the main gate of the house she grew up; Ditiya rushed into her sister's arms. "I will miss you so di!" she cried.

Aditi let her sister cry and soothed her as best she could. She drew her sister closer, "crying? Oh, Ditz... we will do Skype regularly. You are such a confident and smart girl so all you have to do is take care of ma and Papaji,"

Ditiya tearfully said goodbye to her elder sister. She realized now that her sister officially belongs to a new family when Aditi glance back at her home before, she got into the car. Everyone present there shed a few tears. Ditiya prayed in her heart that Arjun is a good husband for her sister.

Suddenly she felt someone grabbed her hand from behind, she turned around and saw it was Dhruv. She was not a girl who would blush but still, her cheeks showed a little redness. "I am not taking bhabi rather I am taking my elder sister home, I will always love her as my didi so don't worry she won't miss you,"

Ditiya couldn't help but smile, those words...his words. So charming, she knew his was teasing but it was also a big promise. Ditiya felt as if Dhruv stole a little bit of her heart that moment.