We just sat on her couch; her head against my chest; our fingers entwined. There was nothing to say to each other, just our presence was enough to fill the silence around us.

"What are you thinking" she turned her head a little to look up at me

"About how happy I am" I answered, pecking her forehead  

"Thanks to me?" the tease evident in her voice

"Now wont you just love it if I say yes" I played along

She just shrugged and said "Well, you'd just be admitting the truth"

"Hey. Now wait a minute" I protested "I was happy before you came along. For your information, I had a fantastic life going. So stop being smug about it"

She snorted "Sure" her sarcasm reaching its peak

"I did" though I knew it wasn't true "I had some awesome friends, a lovely family, a super cool college life and very importantly, a lot of girls drooling over me"

She rolled her eyes, trying to show she wasn't affected but her eyes gave her away. Oh when would she realize that her eyes always told me the truth "Please Manik! I bet you can't name five girls who you think were hopelessly in love with you"

"That's easy" I bluffed, adding to her anger "Soha, for one and then there was Rohini, Mansi, Mellisa, Akanksha, Vandita, Sudarsh..."

"Hey! I only asked for five" she shouted

I laughed "I told you I was popular" obviously not telling her that I just made up these names. I knew there were these silly girls who always giggling flirtatiously at me; whenever I passed them in college or in class but I had never bothered with their names. No girl had ever caught my attention – except of course Nandini

"Manik" she narrowed her eyes in suspicion "Are those names even real?"

SHIT. This one was a clever. "WHAT" I faked my anger "Why would I just randomly name some girls just to prove a point?"

"Fine. When we go to college next. I am going to hunt for these girls" she told me firmly

There goes my act. "Err...they have all left college"

"ALL OF THEM?" she had evidently caught on to my game now and she was just pushing it till I relented

"Alright fine you win. I don't remember their names. But you got to admit, I am a chick magnet"

She grimaced at my choice of words but said "Well, too bad for them. You are now taken for good" she looked at me; challenging me to say otherwise.  When I saw her expressions, I remembered once again why I started this argument in the first place. She looked adorable when she was angry and possessive But this, even I couldn't argue with. I was definitely taken – heart, soul, mind, body et all.

"Yes. I am" voluntarily conceding defeat. 

She smiled widely – showing her perfect set of white teeth against her pink lips and I had to take over those for the zillionth time. After a luscious round of kissing, I pulled back just to admit "Yes sweetheart. You are the reason for my happiness". She hugged me then– as tightly as a little arms would allow and I went back into my happiness bubble again

Just then the phone – the biggest ever curse in our relationship ever – rang and she hurried to see who it was. "Hey Aryaman" she breathed into the phone. GROAN. I should have known. The fact that he had waited all this while before he called infact surprised me

"Will meet you there directly" she was saying on the phone and I knew our time alone was over and our friends were taking over our life

An hour later, we reached the pub and noticed that 'the clan' had already met 'the gang'. Aryaman had introduced all of them and gauging by their expressions and laughter, they were getting along just fine. No surprises there!

We went inside and took our seat at the table, Nandini sliding in next to me. I didn't fail to notice that Aryaman pushed Dhruv out of the way to take the seat next to Nandini as he immediately engaged her in a chat. Relax, Manik. Don't spoil the evening for everyone. I took that time to look around

Abhi was leaning over to Mukti, saying something in ear and she clearly found it entertaining because she wouldn't stop laughing. I smiled at that. It was nice to see her so carefree and happy. I made my mind to thank Abhi later. Navya was scolding Cabir for something and he sat like a lost puppy,with his head down as he heard her out. He looked up just to catch my eye and wink before looking down again. He was such a character.

Aaliya and Dhruv were doing what they do best. Aaliya was chatting not to stop ever and Dhruv was listening intently – hanging on to every word she said like his life depended on it

Nandini nudged me then and said "Are you thinking what I am thinking?"

"Nandu, we cant do it here in front of everyone" I told her

"Manik. Seriously! One track mind. I was talking about these two" pointing at Abhi and Mukti " and those two" turning her fingers to Dhruv and Aaliya

"What about them?" I asked her curiously

She sighed, annoyed "What were you doing when God was handing out common sense?"

"Thinking about you" I answered in my love-struck voice. She smacked me on my arm finally coming straight to the point "Don't you see something brewing between them" and then it struck me. Of course I could see the sparks.

I grinned back at her "I must admire your observation skills" I appreciated her

"Yeah comes to me naturally" she dismissed it with a wave of her hand "So what do you think we should do?" she asked me

"Do about what?" Aryaman interfered. This guy sure couldn't leave us alone. Off all the couples around, he had to disturb only us.

"Hey Manik. Want to go out for a smoke?" Cabir asked suddenly. I glanced at Navya and she still looked a little pissed at him

"I don't smoke but Ill come along" I said understanding why he needed to step out

"Aryaman, Abhimanyu, Dhruv?" Cabir asked

"Ill stay back" no points for guessing who said that. But I wasn't going to let me sit here alone with her so I said "Let the girls be. They have a lot of catching up to do"

"Yes please. Sometime alone with my girls would be nice" said Navya; glaring angrily at Cabir. He gave her a small weak smile and immediately looked at me; pleading me to dart away

I chortled and walked out; ensuring once that Aryaman was following us.

"What happened, Cabir?" Dhruv asked when we stepped out

"The usual drill. I didn't do something she had asked me and now she is angry" Cabir said, his voice a little small

"Bro, just how much you guys fight man. You guys need to cool down and spend some nice romantic moments together. You need to find that right balance. What's the point otherwise? " Aryaman tried to explain it to Cabir

"You seemed to know about this?" I really couldn't stop myself "Are you also in love with someone?"

He looked back at me squarely "Yes"

"Is that someone Nandini?" I asked him quietly.

Noone said anything for a while- the atmosphere getting tense and serious all of a sudden. Out of the corner of my eyes, I could see Dhruv shift his weight from one leg to another, Cabir was avoiding looking at either of us.  Only Abhi kept looking at Aryaman. Just like me

To his credit, Aryaman's eyes did not waver once. He stared back at me as he weighed his response to finally say "It's that obvious, eh?"