“Now tell me, both of you, what happened? Why did you fight again?” Dhruv asked. Apparently, Roshni and Ajay had a fight, and they didn’t want to speak to one another. Dhruv was always the peacemaker between them. Ajay and Roshni had been great friends to Dhruv for a long time now, and Dhruv always took charge of making peace between the two lovers.

They were sitting in a coffee shop. It had been half an hour and neither of them had spoke. They had turned away their faces and sat there, sulking.

“Guys, I don’t have all day. Stop acting like kids and speak up. I must even attend the JEE coaching classes if you remember. Now speak up!” Dhruv spoke again. Both of them looked at him.

Roshni began.

“This person doesn’t ever listen to me at all. He always does what he wants, even if it means disregarding what I’d have said. We’ve mostly fought over this. He must start listening to me, right?”

“Why should I listen to her when I can think for myself? I’m not a small kid. I can decide things for myself!”
“What decision of yours did he disregard? Why do you think he doesn’t listen to you?” Dhruv asked Roshni. “We had been to the mall today. I chose a shirt for him which I think looks really good on him. This man doesn’t want to wear that because he thinks it’s old fashioned. He chose another shirt instead!” Roshni complained. “Why should I wear the shirt that is so old fashioned? Can’t I choose what I want to wear myself?” Ajay said.

Dhruv had dealt with them for a pretty long time and he knew how to deal with it. “Well, forget today’s incident. You guys tell me about the first time either of you bought or chose a great dress to the other!” Roshni jumped at the opportunity. “I’ll tell you”, she said and began the story.

It was a couple of days before his birthday. That was his first birthday in the relationship. He had to buy clothes for the day and had taken me to shop clothes for him. ‘I am not actually used to buying clothes myself. Will you help me choose my birthday dress? After all I’ll be taking you on a romantic dinner. You’d not want your guy to look like a clown. I am used to mom buying clothes for me. It’d be great if you decided how your guy must look like when he’s out on a dinner with you,’ he had said. We went to the apparel store and began looking around. There were a lot of clothes which I felt looked great on him.

“I’ll tell you what happened next,” Ajay cut in. He didn’t want her to manipulate the story further. “This lady chose a lot of clothes. Literally a lot of them. She made me try like millions of clothes. I had already started feeling tired. I felt why I even had to bring this girl. I could have just chosen some clothes to wear. But no, it doesn’t work like that with girls. They will make you try everything they feel looks nice. Trust me, I’d be the only guy who spent over an hour in the trial room trying all sorts of clothes. You can’t say no to your girlfriend, you see.”

“Stop there, you’re twisting the facts here. You didn’t spend over an hour just trying on clothes. Tell him everything. Why do you say things which makes me look like I’m a nagging girlfriend!” Roshni said. Ajay gave her a why-do-you-want-to-talk-about-it look. “Oh you don’t want to say is it? I’ll tell him myself,” Roshni continued.
“I had around five to six pants with me which I wanted him to try. This man was like, ‘I can’t open the door everytime and pick one pant from you. Just get inside’, he said and the next moment I find myself inside the trial room. He is one big romantic I tell you, doesn’t ever leave a chance to get cozy. We made out inside the trial room for about half an hour before we actually decided which clothes to buy!”

Roshni was blushing now. Ajay was smiling at her. However, they didn’t look into Dhruv’s eyes. Their anger had melted away. They were feeling nostalgic now.

“It’s not just me, she wasn’t any less. She always jumped at me whenever she found opportunity. One day, we were inside her room while her parents were downstairs. We had said we’d be studying together. Did you know what she did? I didn’t even get to breathe! And the whole while, the door wasn’t shut!”, Ajay was smiling. Roshni was blushing again. “Can never stop falling for her more when she blushes like this”, Ajay spoke, “I love you” he said. “I love you too”, Roshni held his hand. Both of them were smiling.

“Okay now, I guess my job is done. I should really get retired from this job. You crazy lovers!” Dhruv said and stood up. “I’ll leave, I am already ten minutes late. What will I tell my professor? That I was making peace between two kiddish lovers?” He said as he was collecting his bag and helmet. But then he stopped to tell something.

He turned to Ajay.

“You must really buy the shirt she chose for you. You are poor at selecting dresses for yourself. And mom can never be wrong about what looks great on her husband! Bye dad,” he said and walked out of the coffee shop.