1 Year Later

Rohan 

A group of people was surrounding Adi, and he was telling them about something. And he was laughing... Everyone in the group laughed with him. Just then someone who knew him from before came to him and put his hand around Adi's shoulder and he turned to the person and they began to talk as well. Adi was still laughing and smiling.

"Are you in love with him?" Esha asked me, teasing me. "If anyone sees it, they will think that he is your boyfriend."

I just gave her a scowl.

"You should seriously consider dating him." She said to me.

"I have a girlfriend," I told her.

"Oh, really... I did not know that. Introduce me to her someday." She said.

"Oye... It's you." I told her. She is still trying to be a hard catch even after 1 year. "Esh..." I followed her. She disappeared into one of the drapes of the wedding decorations. I pulled her and pushed her to a wall... "My girlfriend is right here, okay?"

"Rohan, this is a wedding house. Everyone is here...."

I didn't care about her protest and kissed her... She let me kiss her. Even when she says that we are not yet officially back as a couple... Well, there have been times when I have kissed her after the break up a lot in this 1 year. Yet she plays hard to get. Well, I like that in a way. It keeps things fresh...

When I stopped kissing her, she pushed me back. "Today is our friends' wedding and you do not even think of any curtsy. It's disrespectful toward the bride."

"Well, you are looking prettier than the bride so..."

She chuckled...

"Hey, by the way... Is Aditya okay?" She asked. "You were worried for him, right?"

"Hm... I am." I said.

"But he seems to be totally okay. Look, he is laughing out with a bunch of people as usual." She looked at Adithya in a faded golden sherwani laughing with the other people surrounding him. Usual. Laughing, teasing people and telling jokes. Everyone looked fascinated by him again. As always he got a bunch of fans here as well. People who met him just today were already his fans and inviting him to their house and all.

"He looks totally okay to me," Esha said.

Yeah. He looks like he is totally okay. Only, just I feel like he is not. I saw Adithya putting his hand to his pocket and clutch tighter onto whatever was in his pocket.

"You see him putting his hand to his pocket?" I asked Esha. "Piyali had given him a small model of the sun in porcelain that she had made herself. And her final words to Adi was that she wants him to be the sun again. He keeps that sun model in his pocket always. Every day... I feel that is what motivates his smile now. When he finds things hard, he puts his hand in his pocket and holds on to that sun tightly... So as he can go on to pretend that he is okay. Reminding himself that he should be the sun..."

"Forcefully reminding himself that he should be happy and energetic..." Esha said. She sounded a lot sorry towards Aditya. "That is a bit sad... He can't even revile his true feelings and just have to pretend to be happy always?"

"What are you two doing?" we heard and looked back to see Piyali.

"Nothing," I told her.

"It's Tanu's wedding you guys," Piyali said. "Behave... Don't sneak around and do naughty stuff. And you say you two are not a couple."

"We were just talking about Aditya," Esha said. Piyali paused. "Don't you think he looks pitiful?"

Piyali looked in the direction of Adi. "He looks happy..." She said with a smile. She looked back at us.

"I think you need to consider this once more," Esha said. "I mean... I don't know, I used to be against you two, but now that you have broken up, both of you look so pitiful. You should think about it..."

"You know why I did that." She told us. "When he is with me... He won't be as happy as he is now. See... Look at him, he is happy. Like he should be... And all I want is for him to stay like this forever. When he is with me, he won't be. And I won't let that."

"You are being stupid," I told her.

"No. I am doing the right thing."

"Do you honestly think that he is okay?" I asked her. "He is missing you every day. That smile you see...it's all pretend. That guy, I know him. He can hide any pain inside that plastered smile. The smile and laugh you see now is not him... He is pretending all that."

"He will get over me," Piyali said. "Eventually."

"And he will stay alone for the rest of his life. Never taking up the courage to fall in love again. Do you realise that?"

She looked at Aditya... He was still laughing.

"It's all over already. And we can't go back from this point. And you guys don't know yet...but I might get married soon."

Esha and I gasped. What the???

"It's my mom's friends' son. I knew him always. He is an Engineer and working in a good company in the USA now. Just our families are discussing our marriage... It could be next month or so."

"What the hell, Piyali?" I yelled up. "You can't do this to him." There is no way that it is ending like this. She can't do this... And that idiot of Adithya, why can't he just...He is worse than her!!

"This is what he wants, right?" Piyali asked, "For me to be with a normal guy."

"Piya, you don't have to force yourself to marry a guy you don't like," Esha said.

"Doesn't matter. It doesn't matter who it is. I don't care." She said. She looked sad. I felt angry... I looked at Aditya and then back at Piyali. No... It's just unfair if they end like this.

"We better go near the mandap. The ceremony will start soon." Piyali said and walked away.