When they were in a covered place, he told her that the bus to the town was cancelled because of bad weather and the only way she could reach her destination would be by her own transport. He told her to come into his home. His mother and sister were there. He offered Nandini a towel to wipe herself and his sister asked her if she needed a change of clothes. The hot cup of coffee was very soothing. All this happened so fast that Nandini did not have time to think. The stranger introduced himself as Adarsh. He said he lived in this part of town with his mother and sister. He worked as a professor in the college nearby. He offered to drop Nandini by his car to her home as soon as the rains subsided.

On the way to her home, Nandini told Adarsh what she was doing in his part of town. She felt very comfortable and enjoyed his jovial ways. She invited Adarsh home for coffee but he declined. However, he gave her his business card and told her to keep the invitation pending. She thanked him profusely, but he said, “I don’t do things for free, you have to pay back by becoming my friend!” Nandini couldn’t stop laughing. “I’ll keep calling you and troubling you, so give me your phone number”, he said. Nandini told him she would SMS her number to him. With a pleasant good bye they parted ways. Nandini was exhausted but happy with the events of the day.

The next few days just flew by and Nandini forgot to send her number to Adarsh. Being the chief co-ordinator for a major event of her company, she hardly had time to think of anything else. Once or twice she went for a cup of coffee with her friend Yash. Yash was her friend of many years. She was not dating him, but he was definitely more than a friend. On one of these coffee meetings, she had mentioned to Yash about her encounter with Adarsh. Nandini was disappointed when he did not share her happiness about it. Yash was a nice person but did not display his feelings very openly to Nandini and she never knew where she stood in his life. But she knew that she was extremely fond of him and very open in her display of feelings with him and told him all her secrets without any hesitation.

Summer was almost over and the flame-of-the-forest was in full bloom. Nandini was waiting for her bus engrossed in a book when a twig tickled her from behind. She looked back and was surprised to see Adarsh. He smiled at her and said, “Friendship one way is no good, why did you not keep your part of the promise?” Nandini just smiled sheepishly. “Come let’s go, you explain to me over coffee why you did not call.” Nandini quietly followed him. He led her to his car which was parked a few meters away. He looked so calm and composed. Many of his female students must surely be having a crush on him, she thought. “How have you been? I heard the event was very successful.” Nandini was astonished as to how he knew this. As if reading her thoughts, he said, “When you accept someone as a friend, you have to keep a count of their whereabouts!” Nandini could not stop laughing. How can someone be so jovial and happy all the time? Adarsh was so different from Yash, who was always serious and showed love in subtle ways. Their coffee meeting at the café near the lake was just too good! This time Nandini gave her number to Adarsh and he told her, ”You’ve made a mistake, hope you don’t regret it, as I have a habit of calling friends at odd hours and troubling them with long conversations!” Nandini again had a hearty laugh.

Nandini was experiencing a feeling she had never felt before. She felt extremely happy and excited in life. Somehow the positive attitude of Adarsh seemed to have had a great effect on her. Her colleagues also noticed a difference, and some even commented that she looked very happy. She met Adarsh once a week on Fridays. She noticed that she started to wait for Friday evenings, and there seemed to be a feeling of longing when she did not hear from Adarsh. Their conversations were very general about the weather or about their jobs or about their days but somehow they seemed to mean a lot to Nandini. 

Whenever she had met up with Yash, her conversations seemed to be about Adarsh, and Yash did not seem to comment much on them except on one occasion when he said, “Can we chat about something other than your new-found friend?” Nandini felt hurt but then she realized that she had been doing just that. She apologized and decided to consciously avoid the topic of Adarsh with Yash.

Winter had set in and the mornings were filled with fog. Nandini was getting ready to leave for work when her cell phone rang. “Hi, can you take the day off? I want to spend the day with you!” Adarsh sounded very excited. Nandini hesitated for a moment and then agreed. She called her office to say that something urgent had cropped up and she needed the day off. As agreed, Adarsh was waiting for her in the lane next to her home. He did not tell her why he wanted to spend the day with her. She decided to wait and see. When they met, he told her, “What a friend you are, you don’t even know that today is my birthday! I was waiting for you to call me. When you didn’t, I decided to call you. The objective is to spend the day with you, and it doesn’t matter who proposes it. Right?” Nandini felt very ashamed and she had not even time to buy him a gift. She wished him and smiled.

When asked where they were heading to, Adarsh just replied, “It’s a surprise but I can assure you, you will not regret taking the day off”. The drive in the countryside was very beautiful. The fog and chill made the scene very romantic. After traveling for some time, they came to a lake side. Adarsh parked the car and gave his hand to Nandini. This was the first time they had touched each other. She felt very strange. He led her towards a small temple made of marble on the lake side. He told her that on his birthday he always came to this place alone, this was the first time he had someone special with him. They both prayed for a while. Nandini could hear the wind hissing when they came out of the temple. They came out and sat on a bench close to the lake. The sun’s rays on the lake gave a beautiful shimmer to the water and it looked like diamonds shining. It was extremely peaceful. Adarsh held Nandini’s hand and lightly kissed it. “Thanks for being an important part of my life. I am very grateful for it”, he said. Nandini just smiled, too overwhelmed to say anything.

They spent the rest of the day just having fun from eating chaat at the chowpatty to dinner in a five star hotel. Nandini enjoyed herself except that she could not give him a gift. When she mentioned it to Adarsh, he said in his jovial way, “Remember, I don’t do things for free, I will take my gift, keep it with you for sometime in the future.” When he dropped her at her house it was close to mid-night. “Thanks for making my day so special!” he said very emotionally. It was the first time she saw some seriousness in Adarsh.

When she reached home she saw there were two missed calls from Yash. She wondered how she missed them, but it was too late to call back. She decided to call back the next day. Just then her phone rang. It was Yash. “Where have you been the whole day? I was desperately trying to speak to you.” “I was out with a friend.” She decided not to mention the name of Adarsh to Yash. “Was the friend’s party so important that you forgot my birthday?” Nandini felt miserable. “Oh God, I am so sorry, I just don’t know how it happened. Happy Birthday dear. I will meet you tomorrow, we can spend the day together”, Nandini tried to cover up without realizing that this would mean taking another day off from work. “Forget it, bye for now”, he said and slammed the phone. Nandini felt very bad. She realized that of late she had been unconsciously spending very less time with Yash. Suddenly it dawned upon her that Yash had never told her that he loved her, and he was her very good friend and it was wrong on her part to have forgotten his birthday. Was she unconsciously comparing him with Adarsh? But then Adarsh had also never told her that he loved her or wanted their relationship to be anything other than friendship.

With conflicting thoughts, Nandini fell asleep. She woke when the door bell rang. She went to open it and saw a bunch of flowers kept outside with a note saying, “Nandini, sorry for being nasty yesterday, but I realized that I just can’t live without having you as an important part of my life. I now know that I love you. -Yash” Nandini picked up the flowers and called Yash. He was already at work and had gone into some meeting so could not take her call.

On the way to office, Nandini’s thoughts were going over the events of the last few days. She had always waited for the day when Yash would say he loved her and now when he did, she was not sure if she was ready to commit to him. Life is strange, she thought. She was totally confused with her feelings for the two men in her life.

It was Friday, the day she and Adarsh conventionally met. She decided to take his help in deciding the course of action. When they met, Adarsh handed her a small gift and said this is a return gift for my birthday! Nandini burst out laughing. Then she told him that she had some serious matter to discuss with him, being her good friend he should help her. Adarsh smiled. He led her to the corner table of the café where they always sat. Nandini told him the episode with Yash and frankly also spoke to him about her feelings for him and how she was not able to make up her mind.

“If you think with a cool mind, you will see that you are rushing to convert friendship into a relationship and in which case, as society wants, you want only one relationship. What you are forgetting is friendship is also a relationship and one which is more beautiful than any other relationship in anyone’s life. Don’t let society’s ways make you take such hasty decisions. Keep both of us as parts of your life. After all love is the most beautiful emotion in the world and what will you do if I told you I love you Nandini!” This almost looked like a speech to Nandini but then she realized he was right. She decided to take things as they come. She opened the gift Adarsh gave her and it was a beautiful ring with ‘Nandini’ engraved on it and with a note which said “Thanks for being a part of my life, I love you.”

They walked towards the car without saying anything. The silence between them was very comfortable. Nandini realized that Adarsh had taught her that she had two very valuable gifts in her life and there was no need to give up one for the other. 

Her phone rang. It was Yash. “Nandini see you for dinner tomorrow at the Wine and Dine restaurant. I have already invited Adarsh. After all I also need to increase my circle of friends, and what better way than a friend of my best friend. And by the way, don’t forget my gift this time!” They all laughed together.