Rithvik's funeral was conducted. The photo displayed was one of the best of his photos where he was smiling his usual naughty smile. Rithvik' mom was crying non-stop. Roli sat at a corner, with her friends, still in shock. Still unable to believe and still in guilt.

Dhun was standing alone in another corner. She was not crying. Just in the shock of everything.

Some say it's time. And some boys, along with Ansh come to pick the dead body. And as he is about to lift the body up, Ansh's eyes fell onto Rithvik's face, and he broke down crying. He started sobbing really hard. Maneesh his friends put a hand on his shoulder. They offered that they will lift the body and Ansh should rest. But Ansh dried his tears and force himself to be strong, and lifted up the body along with the boys.

Rithvik's mom, Sameera began to cry louder on that. Dhun who was standing silent all this while, saw Rithvik's body being taken away. She quickly moved now. She walked to the guys, not taking her eyes off Rithvik's face. Her eyes were filled with horror & severe pain now. Ansh noticed her. She looked into Ansh's eyes as if asking/begging to not take Rithvik away. Almost commanding or threatening Ansh to not take Rith away from her. Ansh's eyes again filled up and spilt at the sight of her expression.

Dhun's father came to take care of Dhun. He tried to hold her back. But she just pushed him off her and looked at Rithvik's face. Now her eyes filled up. Ansh looked away from her as he couldn't bear to watch her pain anymore. They carried the body away. Dhun was tortured by that. But it was not in her nature to sob or wail. Her eyes filled up. But she looked more angry than sad. As if she wanted to destroy the world for this to have happened.

After a while, Rithvik's mom, Sameera walked into Rithvik's room, looked around. And held back her tears. She walked out. Al the guests have gone home now. But Dhun was there. She and Roli were sitting together, looking lost. Rithvik's mom walked back to the living room as Rithvik's dad and Ansh came back along with one of Rithvik's uncles and Ansh's father.

Rithvik's aunt and Ansh's mother comes out from the kitchen. "Everyone please eat something..." Rithvik's aunt said, Everyone was silent. And Roli who was sitting in shock all this time, made a snorting sound kind of laugh and her eyes spilt. "Eat? Rith is not even here... How can we still eat??" She asked.

She looked at everyone as if they are not making any sense. She was angry at their suggestion. Everybody was looking at her with sympathy in their eyes. She couldn't stand that. Her mother comes to her and tried to hug her with tears. But Roli pushed her off.

"Roli," Sameera called her, forcefully hugging her, breaking apart herself.

Roli was in a bad state. Dhun just looked down clutch her head as if it's hurting. Ansh stared at Roli really really concerned. Roli just got up and walk to her room and shut the door on them. And then they could hear her crying. Really badly. Loud, and ugly. Ansh felt tortured at that. He wanted to run in there and hug her and console her. But not just Ansh. Roli's parents and Ansh's parents, and everyone was tortured at Roli's sobs. They all looked at Roli's closed door and felt as if her cries are cutting through them. Only Dhun's head was still down.

A few hours later, Dhun's mobile rung. It was her father. She took the call. He asked if he needed to come to pick her up. He had left earlier after the funeral was over. He let Dhun stay for a while more.

Dhun told her father that she will come home on her own. And got up to go. Ansh offered to drop her. She nodded. As she was walking, her eyes travelled to the photographs in the house. One was a photo of Rithvik, a small framed photo. Her eyes stayed on that photo.

Sameera walked to her. She took the photo in her hand and gave it to Dhun. "You can have it," She said. Dhun hesitated. But Sameera thrust the photo into Dhun's hand. "Here, take it with you." She said. "You will always be our Rithvik's girl for us. But...I hope you will move on. Live your life."

Dhun did not reply to that. She took the photo and walked to Ansh.

Ansh dropped her in front of her apartment. She left without a word. Dhun walked into her apartment. Her brother and her father looked at her with concern and sympathy, not knowing what to say to her. But Dhun walked straight to her room and closed the door.

Dhun sat down on the floor as soon as she closed the door. She sat leaning to the door, still clutching to the photo. She looked up at the ceiling, as grief engulfed her.

All she could think about was Rithvik's laugher and his touches, and the way he talked to her. The private times they spent together and him saying 'I love you'.

Dhun eyes filled up with vengeance and anger and hatred, but all of those generated by her pain. She kept staring at the photo as her eyes fill up again. Tears fell down to the photo frame.

*

Roli was in her room. She remembered something. Just after Ansh had rejected her the first time, she came home and when Rithvik asked if she was okay, this was what she said – "I hate you, I wish you die'. She could not bear her guilt. The fact that her brother died after seeing her with Ansh and driving in the aftereffect of that was killing her.

She heard Ansh's voice outside. She went and opened the door. Ansh was talking to her father. Ansh turned to look at her. They held each other's gaze for a second. Then she closed the door and returned to her bed, Ansh kept looking at her closed door. But his own guilt would not allow him to go console her. He did not think he could even talk or look at her anymore.

Roli was not even crying anymore. She was spiralling into deep guilt which was making her lose herself. She stayed in bed, all night, not sleeping, just awake.

*

At college, they made a memorial space for Rithvik. Just his photo and some candles and flowers in a corner of the atrium. Ansh walked in to see it, and he stopped. He did not know what to feel. He still could not believe or accept it. The memory space just made things worse.

*

Dhun still stayed in her bed, not wanting to go to college yet.

*

Ansh returned home the evening to hear an argument coming from Rithvik's house. The front door was open.

"You will die as well if you don't eat."

"Well, let me then," Roli said.

"Roli..." Sameera was crying. Ansh understands the situation and walked forward. He saw Roli on the bed. Sameera looked at him helplessly. She had a plate of food in her hand. Roli was stubborn and not eating.

"Ansh..." Sameera called.

"Let me talk to her," he said standing at the door of Roli's room. Sameera nodded, left the food plate on the table and walked out. Ansh walked in and closed the door. Roli looked up. She jumped up horrified. "How can you close the door? How can you come in here? Leave..." She said.

"Roli. Eat your food." He requested softly.

"LEAVE..." She yelled.

"Yes. I will. I will go. But you please eat something." He said.

"I don't want to eat. Let me just die..."

"Roli..." He cried.

"Can you eat, Ansh? How can we eat when he.... Rith is not here anymore. We caused this Ansh. I caused this. I...." Roli started hyperventilating in pain and guilt. Ansh's eyes were already spilling tears. But Roli was in a bad state. So he tried to hug her. She pushed him off her with fierce eyes. "Don't touch me. How can you touch me after that? How could you..."

"Roli, please..." Ansh begged. "Please calm down..."

"How can you be alright? He died because of us, Ansh. How can you be so fucking alright?"

"Roli, it was an accident," Ansh said.

"Accident?" She laughed. "Yeah, well... why did he have it then...?" She looked at Ansh as if she can't believe him, with hatred, "How can you be so alright?"

"I am not alright." He said. "What do you think? I am alright? I am not. Not at all. Not even a bit."

"Then how can you still eat?" She asked, "Shame on you for eating."

"Roli..."

"Get out of my room..." She hissed at him with hatred and lay down on the bed. Ansh did not know what else he could do. He wiped his tears. And get up to walk out of the room.

*

Dhun sat on her bed, leaning against the wall behind her, looking up, and being very still. The lights were switched off. Her dad came and switched on the lights. She still did not move. Her dad was very concerned. It's been a while since Dhun moved either. She ate her food when he forced her. But then after that, she remained like this in her room. Slept a lot. Then woke up and sat for hours like this.

*

Dhun packed her backpack with books. She was now dressed to go to college. Her brother, Dhruv comes to the door and saw her and ran off calling for his father. Dhun's father comes to the room. He sew what Dhun was doing. "Dhun, beta... You can take leave for a few more days, no?" He asked her.

"It's the last few days of the semester." She said not looking at her dad, "If I miss a class I won't be able to do well on exams." She was largely avoiding her father and brother's eyes and trying her best to appear strong and okay.

*

Ansh walked into the college building and was again met with the memory corner for Rithvik. Ansh paused and kept looking at the corner. There were more flowers and more candles now. The corner was just making him feel more pain than console him. He wanted it gone. Just then he felt a presence beside him. He looked around and see Dhun. She was looking at the corner as well. With a kind of vengeance in her eyes. "They said there is something like this here. My classmates."

She kept looking at the corner with Rithvik's photo. " Can we get rid of it? Burn it down or something?"She looked at Ansh. "We don't need more reminders that he is gone, do we?"

"We need to take other people's feelings into consideration."Ansh said, "It's their way of loving him." He looked at the photo of Rithvik. But Dhun refused to look at the place again.

"Are you okay enough to come to class?" Ansh asked. "Why don't you take a few more days leave? It's just been a week."

"I will go mad if I stay home alone." She walked away.

*

Roli opened her eyes and found herself in a hospital and an IV tube was attached to her hand. She sat up. Her mother was sitting near her. Her mother looked angry and sad and as if she hated Roli more than anything at the moment. Roli's dad, Gautam was standing near as well. "What happened?" Roli asked.

"Beta, you were not waking up. You lost consciousness."Her dad told her. She looked at her parents.

Sameera was crying and angry, "Do you want to kill yourself? How could you do this to us? We lost your bother. We don't want to lose you as well." Roli suddenly felt guilty by her mother's tears. "Do you want us to live without both of our kids?? I know we have never been great parents. We have never been around for you two. Is that why we are getting punished??"

Gautam came to calm his wife down. Roli started crying.

"I am sorry, mom... I am so sorry."

Ansh ran in through the ER - really worried, panicked and concerned. He paused as he spotted Roli. But Roli was with her parents now, and she was eating food. Ansh let out a deep breath. He was really really relieved He had wet eyes. He did not go to her. He turned around and walked away.

*

Ansh walked into the college atrium and paused near the memorial space for Rithvik. He stared at the photo. He sighed. And then walked away.

*

Dhun was sitting in class, attending classes. She was trying to take notes. Trying to hold up. Not let out her pain be shown out. But then it started to rain outside. She turned to look at the rain. And gradually, very slowly, her eyes filled up on their own. Tears silently drip down from her eyes to her book.

The teacher looked up to see that Dhun's eyes were silently dripping down. There was no expression change on her. Just tears. Everyone was looking at her now. Dhun noticed the stares. She got up with her bag and left the classroom. No one stops her.

Dhun walked through the empty corridor while wiping her tears, and saw Ansh at Rithvik's memory space. Ansh was knelt down near Rithvik's photo and was crying, whimpering something which she couldn't hear. She walked over to him. Ansh noticed Dhun and quickly moved away as if spotted while doing something bad. He looked horrified. Dhun looked at him suspiciously.

"I was just talking to him," Ansh told her.

"I did not ask for an explanation."

Ansh looked really guilty. Dhun looked at the photo of Rithvik. "Like he can hear you," she said cynically. Ansh looked tormented. "You look worse than me. It's you who should take a few days off." She walked past him.

Ansh turned to her. "Dhun..."

She turned back. "I am sorry."

"Sorry for what?" She was confused.

Ansh was crying. "He died because of me."

"What?"

"I kissed Roli." Ansh was tormented because of his guilt, "He saw me and Roli kissing. He drove his bike that night in anger and a sense of betrayal because of us." Dhun walked closer to Ansh on this, looking at him.

"And why are you telling me this only now? And WHY NOW?"She asked bitterly "Why are you telling me?" Ansh did not know what to say, so he stayed silent. "You just want to get rid of your guilt?" She found this flabbergasting. She kept staring at Ansh. But Dhun was sensible. Even when she really really hated the situation, and even when a part of her wanted to blame Ansh and Roli, she did not. She saw guilt in his eyes and felt sorry for him. "It was an accident." She said plainly.

Ansh looked at her, almost grateful that she said that. Dhun turned around and walked away.

*

Dhun went to marine drive. Sat on the tetrapod rocks. Looking at the sea. The wind blew on her hair.

*

Ansh walked up through the steps and then saw that Roli was being brought back home by her parents. He waited till she is in the house and then walked to his door so that she does not see him.

*

Roli and Sameera slept together in Roli's room. Sameera hugged Roli securely and was petting her head. She wanted to support and protect her remaining child.

The next morning, Sameera came out of Roli's room. Her husband was making tea in the kitchen and he came to her.

"Gautham" Sameera called. He looked at her. "I am taking a few months leave from service. I want to give Roli time. I don't want to lose her as well."

Gautham noded.

*

Dhun dug through her food, disinterested to eat while her dad and brother were eating their breakfast. Dhun just got up without taking her food.

*

Ansh walked into the atrium and saw that Maneesh and Varun were in a conversation. They noticed Ansh and turned to him. "Ansh," Maneesh called him.

Ansh stopped. They walked to him. "Hm..." Maneesh continued, "the college authorities want us to clear out Rithvik's corner. They said three weeks are enough."

"I can't even believe that it's already been three weeks," Varun said.

Ansh took a breath to hold his emotions in.

"So if we clear the space, what will we do with the things left by people? Should we take those to his house? What is your opinion?"

"I will ask his mom," Ansh told.

Later when Dhun walked into the college building, the memory corner was being taken away by the students and union members. She paused and look at it. Ansh saw her and went to her. "Since it's been three weeks." He said.

She nodded.

"Would you like to take something home from there?" Ansh asked her.

She looked at the place, and then away. "No," she walked away.

When Roli came home from school she finds, Ansh, Maneesh and Varun at her place. Her mother was receiving a box from the boys. She walked closer. It was the contents from the memory space. What people wrote for her brother and his photos. It broke her all over again.

*

Dhun was just sitting trying to study when her father comes to her. Dhruv was watching TV in the background. "Dhun..." Dhun looked at her father. " Let's eat food outside tonight."

Dhruv sat "Yeah. That's good."

"Why? I did make dinner."

"No." her father said, "Let's go out. And have an outing and all. You are not even eating properly these days. You need a change." Dhun understood that her father is concerned for her.

"I am okay, papa." She said.

"Oh come on, di," Dhruv whined. "Let's eat outside." She looked at him.

"Yeah." Her father insisted. "Go get ready. Fresh air and change will be good for you." Dhun gets up reluctantly.

It was when Dhun was searching for a scarf to wear to go outside that her eyes fell on the unopened sanitary napkin covers inside her wardrobe. She paused and thought for a moment. It had been a while since she last got her periods. She checked the dates on her mobile to make sure.

In the middle of all this, she had forgotten that she has skipped a month. Now, she was concerned.

The next day, Dhun sat on the toilet with her pants down and peed on to the pregnancy test strip that she had bought that day. She was looking into the pregnancy testing strip with really nervous eyes. She tapped her finger to the side of the plastic kit, impatient and really scared and nervous. And then two lines came upon the kit.

Dhun walked back into her room, looking really angry and frantic. She immediately grabbed the photo of Rithvik from the table and flung it to her bed in anger, and dropped down to the floor and broke down to tears.

Dhun lay on her bed. Looking lost. She just did not know what to do. She sat up suddenly. And look around at the photo of Rithvik. She kept staring at it. "Asshole" She called the photo in ager. But Rithvik was still smiling in the photo. There was a cyclone of emotions in Dhun's eyes.

Suddenly, she got up and go to her wardrobe. She opened it and take a chair and climb on it and look into the topmost area. There was a plastic rope there. There was also a small wooden box which she does not pay attention to. She took out the rope from there. While taking the rope, the rope pushed against the box and pushed it from depth to the rim of the wardrobe. Dhun got down from the chair and looked at the rope in her and and and looked up at the ceiling fan of the room. She contemplated the idea for a second and more.

But then she gave it up. She cannot do something as weak and selfish as that. She dropped down to the floor helplessness and pain again. She hits her head against the wardrobe behind her in frustration and helplessness, tears flowed down on their own... She kept hitting her head, and on that something on the top shelf of the wardrobe falls down on her head. "Ah.." she rubbed the place where it hit. And laughed cynically that it still hurt in the middle of all this. Life was like that.

She looked at the wooden box that had fallen onto her lap. It lay open now, and a pocket watch lay on her lap. Dhun sees it. She does not remember it at one gaze. She pick it up looking confused.

But then she gasped as memories rush back into her.