The question

 Anuj mentally banged his head to the wall on seeing Anu on her knees. He barely got a chance to assimilate the good news and now the disaster awaited. Ideally, he would have resented Anu for stealing his thunder, but he was genuinely concerned for her this time. Worst was that Priya was as clueless as him as to what was happening. They were too late to stop it, both of them held their hands tightly dreading the conversation which was about to happen.

Anu picked up Priyansh's wallet from the floor and handed it over to him. Priyansh took it and thanked her. The grip of Anuj's and Priya's hand loosened in relief. Just when they thought that the disaster was over, Anu handed over the bouquet to Priyansh and said: "Thank you for organizing this and sorry I couldn't be there for the ….ceremony". Her voice almost dropped low with the last word. Priyansh like a jolly fellow took the bouquet and said: "It was a pleasure helping you ladies with this, and you don't need to be sorry. I have known you for years, if something hadn't been important you wouldn't have missed my engagement" and slightly patted her shoulder. "This my friend is too much, almost looks like a cover-up", he laughed looking at the bouquet. Anuj and Priya laughed awkwardly and after seconds of confusion, eventually congratulated Priyansh. "Thanks guys, but it is your day today, please don't share the limelight with me", he smiled humbly.  

Priyansh had to leave early. Other three spent time ambling their food on the plate silently. This must have been the quietest time they had ever spent together. While Anu's eyes were filled with sorrow, Priya's eyes were filled with anger as well as concern and Anuj's eyes, they were full of questions. But all of them knew that it wasn't the right place to talk about anything.

Priya stepped out to settle the bill and asked them to proceed to the parking. While walking towards the car, Anuj could no longer tolerate the awkward silence, so he finally popped the question, "Are you okay?" Anu knew that with him, there was no point in lying. Anu took a deep breath and started, "Priyansh is a really nice guy, I have known him for long. But I guess I took too long to process my feelings for him. By the time I realized it was too late". 

"Does he even know? And why didn't you share this before? I mean with Priya", words almost stumbled out of Anuj's mouth. Anu wiped her nose with the corner of her thumb and smiled, "I can share that with you as well. I learnt about it last week while you guys were on vacation. Fortunately, I saved myself from embarrassment by asking him to share the surprise first on that day. I would have been at a great loss if I had gone first. At least I have him as a friend".

"Why do you need him, when you have us?", Anuj tried to lighten the conversation.

Anu also slipped into comfort and teased him, "Because you always keep complaining about the third-wheel".

"As long as you agree to be the third-wheel instead of me, I am ok with it", and they both laughed.

Priya was listening to the conversation from a slight distance. She always wanted Anu and Anuj to gel up, but not at the cost of Anu's misery. She thanked God for the good things, then rushed to hug them.