It was a fine morning when the cool breeze of winter let its chillness disturb the caressing slumber of people. I was on the way to my work. I was already late and was really fed up with my boss who had phoned me for more than five times. It was a perfect and brilliant morning but was a frustrating one for me. The bus I boarded was crowded. So I found myself a place to stand comfortably. It was a cold winter but still beads of sweat slid from my head to my neck. I wiped my forehead with my kerchief and that was when I heard a beautiful laughter. It was a girl. She was laughing like a child who had nothing to worry about. Everyone around her was laughing along with her. Something about her impressed me. I felt like I had seen her before . She caught me staring at her. I thought that she would lower her brows but instead she flashed me a smile. I couldn’t do anything but to flash her back a smile. Soon the crowd cleared and I found myself a seat. Fortunately it was behind her. I was preparing myself to talk to her. She turned to me suddenly.
‘Rithvik?’ she asked. A chilled sensation slid through my spine. I was speechless so I nodded.
‘How’s life?’ she went on. She understood the puzzled expression on my face. ‘I’m Tritiya’.
As soon as she said her name, I found goose bumps popping on my skin. I didn’t know whether it was her name or the climate that gave me heebie-jeebies. I knew her. I knew her from my childhood. We were best friends. It was me who departed from her due to my father’s transfer. Nostalgia filled me. All my memories flooded into my mind. The days we spent in playing, studying, and playing pranks on people. Within a fraction of second my thoughts were completely filled. That’s when I realised I had to reply her.
‘Pleased to meet you’, I said.
‘Don’t be too formal,’ she said. Her words were just flowing smoothly. She was not nervous like me. To be truthful, it’ll not take a minute for me to fall for her. She was so beautiful. But I didn’t want to do that, because she had approved me only as her best friend.
She was excited. But I was scared.
‘You still didn’t answer my question’, she said.
‘Yeah. It’s really great. How about you?’
‘Very happy as always.’
It was my destination that departed me from her now. We exchanged our phone numbers. She never felt like talking to someone whom she had known a long back. She was just like her. Like the 16-year old Tritiya who felt easy to mingle with people.
After that day, we met during the weekends in a café. We shared a lot about our lives. She said that she had joined a charity organisation. Her story was interesting as usual and mine was really a dumb one.







********
It was my birthday, August 7,2014. As usual we met in the café. She said that she wanted to say something. As soon as she entered the café she flashed her cordial smile. I smiled back. It’s been a week since I confessed that I had fallen for her. She didn’t reply. But when I saw her I felt bad for confessing it. She took her place opposite to me. She produced a gift wrapped cube. When I opened it, I found a brand new watch. I thanked her. Her constant smile faded as she began talking.
‘Rithvik, I am leaving to the US,’ she said.
‘Oh…..why?’
Tears were flowing from her eyes.
‘Listen. I may leave this world a month later or two.’
‘What happened? Are you alright?’ My voice was panic stuck .
‘Yeah, but -,’ she hesitated.
‘Never mind. It’s really hard to get things from you.’
‘I’m not well. Please don’t ask me any questions and please don’t try to call me. Bye she said and left. Just like that.
I sat there with our conversation running in my mind. A message popped up. I checked it. It was from her.

R,
Sorry for making your day a horrible one. Really sorry. I had to leave. Forever J . SMILE….

















-T
She was going to leave this world? She was going to die? Everything was going in a proper pace. Why did this world put her in my life and take her? Was it just to give her back to me and take her again? Tritiya had taught me to smile. She made me laugh. And now she had taught me to cry.

“When everything seems right,that’s
When something goes wrong…”?

*********