I was packing my books in the classroom when Harsh sat down on the desk in front of me, "Hey, Shiva. Dude... Hm... Can I talk to you for a second?"

"Sure... What's up?" I looked up at him.

"So, I am planning a trip. To my dad's farmhouse." He said. "You and Kashi are invited."

Yeah, bade log, badi badi bathen... Bratty rich kid things. Farmhouse and all. "Why am I invited?"

"Because I know that Kashi's parents would not let her come if you are not there." He said.

"Did you tell Kashi about this?"

"Not yet. I am not sure she will say yes. But if you say yes... I will get to convince her." He smiled at me. "Please, dude... do come," he said.

"Who all are coming?" I asked.

"Krish, Farhan, JD, Tarun, Samaira, Rhea and Jhanvi," He said.

"Samaira?" I raised my eyebrow. I looked at him accusingly. Like even after what she did to Kashi, he is still friends with that girl.

"I know... I know... But she is my friend." He said. "I can't just exclude her. She will know about the plan anyway... I can't just..."

"Yeah, whatever..." I said. "I'll come." I just wanted to make a facility for Harsh and Kashi to spend some time together.

On the day day of the trip, Harsh picked us, Kashi and me from our basti. Harsh has two vehicles. A car and a jeep. He was on his jeep. I got in the back seat and allowed Kashi to sit in the front. Harsh gave me a thankful look when I automatically jumped into the back seat.

The drive was for two hours including Mumbai's traffic. We arrived at his father's farmhouse. It was a beautiful place. But it seemed like it rained the day before. The front yard was full of mud and water. But thankfully we all were wearing sturdy shoes. Harsh helped Kashi cross the muddy front yard and reach the farmhouse. I was just getting our stuff when Samaira's car came past the gate of the farmhouse and came to a stop a few feets away from me. Samaira got out of her car and struggled immediately. She was wearing high heels. That too the pointy type, I am not sure what that is called. But the heels were sinking into the mud and she balanced herself by holding on to her car. "Oh my god..." She said... "How filthy..." She tried to take another step and then her heels sunk into the mud again...

"Harsh... Harsh..." She called, taking another step.

It was way too comical, the way she was trying to walk in the mud, carefully holding on to her Channel Bag and with her expensive short dress and accessories. At a point, she was about to slip and the side of her legs was covered by mud. "Ew..." she said. I snorted without meaning to. She turned to look at me and noticed me only then.

"What is he doing here?" She asked Harsh who was coming to her.

"I invited him. You okay there, Sammie?" He asked going to her. "Do you need a hand..."

"Why is he invited? He is not even your friend..."

"Well, I invited Kashi. So..." Harsh said.

Samaira frowned more.

Harsh gave her a hand to hold on to, but she practically jumped into his arms. I frowned now... I hate this girl. Harsh took her inside and in a short time, the others arrived as well. And we all went inside the house.

The inside of the house was so grand. It was cosy like a farmhouse should be. But it had like ten rooms or something. And the living room was huge. I was hanging out in the living room awkwardly. Harsh's friends all knew each other. And I was an outsider. Kashi was not in sight. I hesitated to walk in and search for her. So I just stood.

After a while, Kashi walked outside. She came to me. "It's so huge..." She said.

"Yeah..."

"I knew Harsh was rich. But this rich. The bathroom in this place is bigger than my bedroom." She said. Well, she at least has a bedroom to compare it with the bathroom of this place. I don't even have that.

"Is that making you feel like we are nothing compared to these rich kids?" I asked her.

"Aren't we?"

"No... Kashi. We have our own worth. And the worth of a human being should not be calculated by the amount of money they have... And you are more than worthy to be with Harsh."

"I am worried about his parents..."

"What about them?"

"Haven't you seen old movies... where parents give money to the girlfriend or boyfriend of their rich kid and ask them to go away from their kid's life..."

"Well, if that happens, we will get some money," I said, and she punched my arm. I laughed.

"Relax, Kashi... No one is asking you to marry him. You two like each other. Hang out. Date... We are still young. We are just 20." I reminded her.

"Yeah..." She accepted. But she did not look too sure about that.

"Who knows how to change a bulb...?" Harsh came out to the living room and asked.

"I do..." I said. "Don't you?"

"I have never changed a bulb in my lifetime." He told me. Yeah, he might have people doing it for him all his life. He was holding a new bulb packet in his hand. "Sammie's room's bulb is not working. Thankfully there were spare bulbs in the storeroom." He said. "And I told dad to not send me any house help since I wanted privacy. Now there is no one to change the bulb."

"It's okay... I can help you." I said going to him. I was not so happy about changing the bulb in Samaira's room. But whatever. I would have helped Harsh with the bulb if it was some other person's room. I can't tell Harsh that I cannot help him because it is Samaira's room. I walked with him to the room. Samaira's large suitcase was in the room, open. What did she bring for 2 days and 1-night trip? The luggage seems to be enough for a one-month vacation.

But it was very dark in the room. So I moved to the bulb socket. But it was high and there was no chair in the room. "I might need a chair," I told Harsh.

"Stay here. I'll get it for you," he said and walked away. Maybe he was sorry that he was not doing any work. So I sat down on the bed. In a second, Samaira walked out of the bathroom in the room.

"What are you doing here?" She snapped at me.

"Just changing the bulb," I said, holding up the bulb in my hand.

"Then change it and go." She said walking to her suitcase that was on the floor. She knelt by it. She was still wearing her short dress. She began to search through her luggage and found what she was looking for. She took out a shoebox. She opened it and there were new-looking sneakers in them. She smiled and took them and sat on the bed and began to put them on.

Guess that's why her luggage is so big. It has everything from a few bunches of clothes to another handbag to a hairdryer to hair straighter and curler and another handbag.

She was smiling at her shoes. I looked at her from the side. And at that point, she did not look so hateful. She almost looked cute and adorable smiling at her shoes like a little girl. I smiled. She got up and saw my smile. "What are you smiling at?" She asked.

"Nothing," I said.

"Why are you not changing the bulb?"

"I am waiting for Harsh to bring me a chair."

"Oh..." She said. "Then do that..."

And she was about to walk away. Then stopped and looked at me. She was looking at me like she was analysing me. "What?" I asked her.

She bent down and looked into my eyes... It made me feel a bit uncomfortable, the closeness. "You have nice eye colour, hon..." She said. " Such a waste it does not match your personality." She smelled nice. The perfume. She turned around, her hair brushed with my face.

I don't know what made me do it, I suddenly held her wrist. I mean one moment I was there and then the next second, her wrist was in my hand. Samaira turned around surprised. She looked at me. I immediately left her hand. I need to fix this situation. Why would I hold her hand anyway? I need an excuse.

"What perfume do you use?" Was what came out of my mouth.

She looked at me puzzled for a second. Then said, "You won't be able to afford it." She said this in a softer tone that I was surprised. "Don't you guys live in a Slum area or something?" She asked me.

"We don't," I said automatically defending myself and Kashi. But I can't say our neighbourhood is really the rich kind. I looked away from her, now embarrassed that I even tried to defend us. I scratched the back of my neck. "What is keeping Harsh...?" I asked, "I should go check...." I said getting up. I walked outside and Samaira followed me. But when we reached the corridor, we stopped because Harsh and Kashi were just outside and we could see them through the window in the corridor. But they could not see us.

"I am waiting for an answer," Harsh was telling her, sounding a bit agitated and tired. Kashi remained silent. "Got Damn Kashish... I know you love me," He said.

"I don't..." Kashi said. "Not like that. You are my friend."

"Oh yeah...?" He asked. "Just a friend, huh?"

"Yes... We are too different."

"I don't want to hear all those excuses. And I know you don't think of me as just a friend. All I am asking you is, to be honest with your emotions."

"I am... being honest," She did not sound very convincing.

"So you don't love me like that." He said.

"No," She said, again not so confident.

"Then how do you explain this?" He asked and stepped forward, cupped her face in his hand and kissed her, full-on lips. I stepped forward, ready to smash his face out of him. How dare he touch her without her permission? But Samaira touched my hand, I stopped... and that is when I realised that Kashi was letting him kiss her. She was not resisting.

Something broke inside me. I never realised I will feel something like this... It began to hurt.

It would be a lie if I said I had never thought of a life where Kashi is mine. I had always assumed that Kashi and I will eventually end up together. On sleepless nights, I have been on my bed imagining a life with her. Where we would be husband and wife. And it all felt so fitting. So natural.

Kashi was now kissing him back. She was crying... and kissing him back. He suddenly took her in to hug, "God, Kashi... you drive me crazy. You don't know how much I love you. I mean," He stepped back and cupped her face again, "I am in love with you," he said. He dried her tears with his thumb.

"Do you love me?" He asked her.

She nodded. Through her tears, she nodded.

He smiled and hugged her. I kept looking at that scene.

I did not realise it until Samaira said, "You are crying..." I turned to look at Samaira. She was blinking at me. And then she asked with a puzzled face, "You are crying?"

I dried my tears at once. I did not understand the tears. I was happy for Kashi. I should be happy for Kashi. I was embarrassed by the tears, so I began to walk away. I need to hide these tears. I went to a corner in the farmhouse, and now more tears began to roll down. I hated it. I don't usually cry.

But I could feel it, Kashi was becoming someone else's. There is a possibility that she and I will never end up together. She is moving away... I cannot deny the fact that I thought if I stayed her friend, she will eventually someday break up with Harsh and she and I will end up married. But I did not know it will hurt this much to see her with someone else.

I dried the last of my tears and that is when I realised that Samaira is looking at me. She was standing in the hallway and looking at me. "You love her." She said that as a statement. "OMG, you love her?" She asked me, sounding excited. She skipped her way to me... "Wow, this is perfect." She sat down beside me on the bench I was sitting, "Let's break them up."

I just stared at her a bit angrily. Just because it hurt me, I was not going to ruin Kashi's happiness. "Go to hell," I whispered to Samaira. I was not in the mood to deal with her.

"But why?" She said. "You... You like her..."

I stayed silent.

"So you know how it feels." She said. "So what is the problem... Let us break them up..."

"No," I said.

"Why?"

"I am not like you." I turned to her in anger. "I don't step on people's happiness..."

"Yeah! Such an Angel. What is the use of being so good? It will just hurt you." She paused. "It IS just hurting you." There was empathy in her voice as she said that. It was tender and caring.

"I am okay," I told her.

"No, darling. You are not." She said. "What is the use?" She sighed herself. That is when I noticed that she did not look so happy either. I realised what she must be going through may be something similar to what I am going through. I wanted to ask if she is okay. But I would not ask that for obvious reasons.

"Maybe your parents did not teach you enough values." I snapped at her. "Mine did. It's not my fault that your parents let you grow up selfish like this." I saw her face fall. She looked hurt and sad. I began to regret what I said... I mean, I did not know she would be this sad. "I mean..."

But she turned around and walked away from me.