The following few days saw a lot of improvement in me as a clinician. I found it easier to take case histories, identify what the problem was and hand over whatever was required to Arya. He still didn't trust me completely. After all, I hadn't finished my BDS and had just finished 2nd year so it was allowed.
Meera too came back from Trichy with a huge smile on her face, saying that all had gone well with her parents. Infact, it seemed that her mother had already forced the information out of her brother when she suspected something was going on.
It had already been a week of working, and I remembered that Diya was supposed to arrive today. If you forgot, Diya was Tanu's sister.

My phone rang with 'Cheerleader', waking me up from the short nap I had fallen into.

" Riyaaaa," Diya screamed excitedly over the phone. " Hiii!!"

" Heyyy!" I said with a huge smile.
"Where are you?"

" Right outside your dorm."

" Whaaaat?" I said and ran outside to see a grinning Diya standing with a suitcase beside her.
I ran over and enveloped her in a huge hug.

" Wowww, it's been so long!" She said, once I pulled back. " Did you do something to your hair? Oh my goodness you dyed it," she said and started jumping.

I smiled innocently, then started laughing at her excited face.

" From when did you learn to dress yourself up without me?" She teased.
"It's gorgeous Riya, it suits you well."

I remembered why I had done it. At that time, it had seemed a fancy thing to die the ends of your hair the colour your crush loved. Now that I think of it, it was a really silly thing considering the fact that he didn't comment about it. Just a "Oh there's something different about your hair."
He had become really quiet suddenly after the ice cream incident. He acted as if whatever happened didn't even happen. He became closed off and only occasionally shot me a fleeting smile. I didn't know if it was my fault.

" Thanks," I replied, twirling my hand through the strands. The ends were dyed a light brown.

" Was it to impress someone?" She asked with a grin.

" Pshttt," I said. " Nothing like that."

I am pretty sure she read through my lie like a pro then, but she didn't comment. She had an amused expression on her face.

" Do I get to meet this person?" She continued, as if I hadn't just denied about the existence of ' someone'

" Mmm," I said.
" Anyways though, how come you're not at that meeting you came to Chennai for?"

" I will go there...it's in the afternoon, just thought I'd meet my favourite sis first..don't tell Tanisha I said that okay?" And I laughed.

" So tell me..how has your life been then?"

" Mom's looking for a groom already. Oh my god..all my dreams of finding a guy are going to be crushed now," she said dramatically, waving her hands around.

She had always been a good actor.

" Haha, Tanu never told me about this."

" That's because she herself got to know about it only yesterday. And I am sure she is busy with her own life."

That sparked my curiosity. My brother hadn't said anything, but I had to ask.

" Did Anandith tell you anything?"

" About what?"

" You know..." I said waving my right hand around.

" Oh my god did the two kids finally tell each other how much they love each other?"

I rolled my eyes.

"No they are really stupid. Even after I gave him the push he didn't. Said he had no courage or something like that. That's why I asked you. Thought he may have said something considering you guys are pretty close."

" That, we are. But he hasn't talked to me in a while. Come on you're his sister and you're closer. You should know better."

" I somehow feel because of being in a different city we're losing touch with each other, " I said sadly. " We both seem to be busy with our own lives."

" You guys will make up, no worries. He loves you too much to let distance come in between you."

" True," I said and smiled.

"Okay enough of this mushy talk, now where's the food? I am starving," she said.

" I have only Maggi."

" More than enough," she said and we went up to my room.

" No wonder your mom was complaining to me about the place," she said scrunching up her nose in a cute manner, when she saw my room. " How do you live here?"

"Just like everybody else does," I said with a wink and she rolled her eyes.

We spent the next one hour talking and I showed her around the campus. Then Diya left, saying she had to go for her meeting.

My results came in two weeks' time. I had got 76%. Not as wonderful as my first year percentage but I was still happy.

The relationship between Arya and I had definitely grown. We understood each other so much better now and had become really good friends too. But there was always a feeling that he was still my boss and nothing more.

I knew he felt something for me especially after the ice cream incident or maybe it was just my imagination. I knew I definitely did feel something for him. But I was really not one of those girls who would make the first move. I was bold enough to give subtle hints, but even if he realized it, I assumed he ignored them. I started to feel that maybe it was one sided and it was high time I let go. Since it was going nowhere.

And that's what I decided. I was pining after someone who didn't reciprocate my feelings. And it was affecting my studies. My dream was to become one of India's renowned oral surgeons and hardwork was definitely on top of the list of things I had to do to achieve it. It was time to forget about love and concentrate on my studies.

" Riyuuu," my brother said over the phone. " When are you coming to meet us?"

A month had already passed in Chennai interning under Arya. Though my parents were happy for me, since I was getting a lot of experience and exposure, they were also disappointed at the prospect of not seeing me till Dussehra.

" Oh come on, just come for a week," my brother insisted. " It's been ages since I last saw you..I miss you..and you don't even call me these days."

He sounded like such a whining baby that I couldn't stifle the laugh that bubbled up from my throat.
I realized that a visit was definitely due and I needed a lot of 'catching up time' with my bro. Finally I agreed to come back to Bangalore for a week.
The last thing I heard before I cut the call was my brother imitating a girl's squeal and I doubled over laughing.

I booked a flight for the next day online and started packing my bag. I called up Arya to inform him that I won't be able to come for a week. He was quiet for a moment and I wondered if he was going to say something. Then he spoke softly.

" Can I drop you to the airport?"

Those words were simple, nothing with too much meaning. But it meant he cared. Atleast about my safety. I was really surprised since he had been very closed off the past few days. For him to show that he cared was a rarity. And I didn't want to refuse him, how much ever my mind warned me not to reveal that I cared for him. But my mind and my heart were on different wavelengths and they just didn't seem to be listening to each other. I would have jumped up in joy and hugged him if we hadn't been in the middle of a phone conversation. I am pretty sure he heard the happiness in my voice when I said " I would really like that. "

I don't know what was going on between us. It seemed like there were feelings involved. Something a little more than friendship. Normal friends weren't locked in dreamy eyed gazes often or felt butterflies in their stomach when their skin accidentally brushed. But we hadn't given a name to what we were or discussed anything about it. We had just gone with the flow.

When it was time for him to leave me, before checking in my luggage, Arya gave me a hug for the first time.

His arms wrapped tightly around me and for a brief second I wondered if I was imagining it. It gave me hope that there was something there. His eyes sparkled with an undecipherable emotion as he lightly brushed my fringe away from my forehead.

" I will be waiting for you," he said, pulling away all too soon for my liking and disappearing among the crowd of people leaving the airport.

I did not understand what he wanted to imply by that single sentence. Did it mean that he was acknowledging the fact there was something between us or that he wanted something more to happen between us? Or was it just a simple goodbye between friends? I didn't know. After ogling his retreating figure( yeah I know it sounds creepy), I proceeded towards baggage check in.

After half an hour, I was done with the formal procedures, so I ordered a coffee and sat on the bench near my gate terminal waiting for boarding to begin.

The brief trip to Bangalore would also give me a break from Arya. A time to think about my real feelings, to assess if I really liked him as much as I thought or if it was just an infatuation. And I really needed that kind of time to myself, especially after he had shown me he cared, even a little.

*
" Riyaa," my mom called, as she threw her arms around me, when I reached the outside of Kempegowda International Airport in Bangalore.

My brother was standing right beside her beaming.
I beamed back but didn't make a move to hug him.
He frowned and advanced towards me, arms out wide on either side. I ignored it and started walking away towards the car.
My mother started chuckling when she realized I was doing it on purpose. My brother loved hugs and I was just teasing him.

" I can still throw my arms around you, you know?" my brother said.

" It won't be much of a hug if the other person doesn't hug back you know," I said with a wink.

My brother started running towards me and I started sprinting as fast as my legs could carry me. We had both run till the end of the footpath and passers- by were giving us really odd looks. Imagine a 19 year old girl being chased by a 22 year old boy. Then I had to stop as I started panting.

Anandith crashed into my back due to the momentum and we almost fell over but he caught me right on time.

" Got you, " he said and I chuckled.

He was still as childish as ever.
I hugged him as tightly as I could, resting my head on his chest. Then he put his arm around my shoulder and we started walking towards my mother who had a very amused smile playing on her lips.

" Come on let's go home," she said. And we did.

As soon as we reached home, I went to inspect my room. It looked barren without all the posters of bands I loved and the artwork I had put up on the walls. But it had a homely feel to it. I jumped on my bed and started bouncing when my brother came in with a smirk.

"Missed your bed I see," he said and I laughed.

"Sure I did, you don't know how horrible hostel beds are. NOTHING can compare to this soft, cuddly thing."

"Want to have a late night movie marathon?" he asked.

I got off the bed and playfully shoved him. We exited my room and headed for the home theatre room. Yeah, we had one.

"Of course that's been our thing for the past so many years.. we HAVE to," I said grinning.

"But I get to pick the movies," I said before he could protest, with an evil smile.

"No chick flicks then please," he said.

"Even though you're denying the fact bro, I know you're a hopeless romantic inside."

After I said that, I looked at my brother and smirked. He blushed in front of me for the first time. Pink ran all the way from his neck and spread over his cheeks.

"Tanisha," I called, just to tease him, and the flush deepened.

"Can you stop that?" he muttered and I don't know if he was telling me to stop teasing him or if he was talking to his cheeks, asking them not to blush. It was funny to see him like this.

"Awww... Anandi.." I said, pinching his cheeks, and he swatted my hand away.

"Shut up."

I couldn't let go of a chance I got to tease him. It was really fun to watch his reactions to my words.

"Alright, can we watch The Secret Life of Walter Mitty?" I asked, knowing that it was a movie both of us would enjoy.

"Alright," he said putting in the DVD.

I was currently seated on my purple beanbag and my brother was sitting on the carpet, leaning against my legs. We were waiting for the credits to roll in.

Mom decided to be nice for once and made us popcorn. Kidding! Mom was always nice. We had also been fortunate to have had a Baskin Robbins tub of Caramel Crunch at home. As the movie progressed, Anandith spoke a lot more than he ate which was surprising to me.. He told me all about work and how his boss was such a grumpy and moody man. He made him work overtime all the time and he ended up coming home late. He also told me about how he and Tanisha had started talking a lot more but he still hadn't found the guts to ask her out.

"It's really simple you see," I told him. "You just have to go say I like you. Once those words are out, the rest becomes much easier."

He asked me what sort of things she liked. He asked me what her favourite colour was. Was she a flower kind of girl, a chocolate kind of girl or a jewellery kind of girl? I gave him a weird look. You couldn't classify girls like that.

"What would you say if I said everything?"

"Then I would say that attempting to propose to her is going to be a very expensive affair."

I started laughing loudly at that.

"Does that mean you are finally going to?" I asked then, looking into his eyes.

"Better late then never right? I don't want anyone else but me to sweep her off her feet."

I looked at him with a shocked expression on my face, my mouth wide open, my right hand covering it. From when did my brother become so romantic in his expressions? He smiled sheepishly when he realized I had noticed.

"You're totally whipped bro," I said.

I told him about how my internship had been going, how I was slowly learning everything I wanted to about dentistry and how I was so much better than what I was on the first day.

And then my brother questioned me if I liked someone. And it all came tumbling out. I told him all about Arya and what a wonderful person he was. I told him all about the time we met just briefly during the Chennai floods and how such a short encounter had such a great impact on me. I told him about our meeting in Cafe Coffee Day, my shock when I realized he was my boss, our lunch together, the electric tension in the air when we were in the same room, and finally our good bye at the airport. And when I was telling all this to my brother, I realized how deeply I had fallen for him. And there was no going back.

My brother sat through all this, listening, without interrupting, with a small smile on his face.

"Looks like my little sis is in loooveee," he cooed like a girl.

I hit him upside the head. It was the easiest part of his body to reach since his head was literally in my lap. "Shut up."

"That isn't really going to help YOU is it?" he said, with an amused smirk.

"Jeez, I shouldn't have told you anything."

"But I knew you couldn't resist.. by the way..I am damn disappointed in you..how could you have not told me earlier?"

"Like you ever called to talk to me..Only I always did."

"I told you my boss had piled me with loads of assignments. It was hard Riyuu.. I am sorry."

I looked at his face. Noone could resist that cute puppy dog look in his eyes, or his pout, or the adorable dimple that formed on his left cheek when he smiled.

I sighed and gave up.

"Alright, all is forgiven."

By the time it was 12, we had finished watching 3 movies and my eyes were drooping.

"Come on let's go to bed," my brother said yawning loudly.

"Do I get to sleep with you?" I asked, and my brother smiled so widely, I couldn't help but laugh.

I ran to my room and jumped into my double bed, my brother following shortly. I snuggled into his warm embrace and soon fell asleep, completely forgetting the fact that I had to text Arya to say I had reached Bangalore safely.

_________ x________________

Sooo my lovelies...hiiii :)
What do you think? Did Riya do the right thing when she said she had to forget him?
Oh and when we are on the topic of forgetting someone we love, do check out my poem " To forget is the hardest" It comes under Creative Pocket.
What's going to happen now? What was Arya's intentions? Does he really like her?
Please do vote and comment if you are enjoying it soo far!

Love ya guys,
Adios amigos,
:) harshini :)