The next day Avni woke up early and as she lay in bed she thought that since she had been very irregular and skipping her workout for several days because of work stress she should engage in some form of physical activity. But she was also feeling incredibly lazy to do her usual routine...And then an idea struck her...she started shaking neel awake.

N- avniii...he groaned...aaj Sunday hai. Kyun utha rahi ho?

A- Neil please utho na...lets do something together

N- hmm..baadme. he said and just turned the other way and pulled his comforter closer. 

A- Neel..she whispered into his ear, please na

But neel was showing no signs of waking up so Avni used her brahmastra! She started placing soft kisses on his face and neck. As he felt her lips moving on him, neel could no longer sleep. He was very "awake" and as he reached out to hold her and reciprocate she suddenly jumped out of the bed and moved away from his reach.

N- AVNI! 

A- Please neel, lets do something together na she pouted

N- accha ok he said giving in looking at her cute pout. Bolo, kya karna hai he said rubbing the sleep from his eyes. 

A- Lets play badminton

N- hein? Tumne mujhe subah subah iske liye uthaya? 

A- Haan, voh actually maine bahut dinon se apna workout skip kiya hai. But I was feeling really lazy. So I thought that if we both played a match together, workout bhi hojaygea and it'll be fun also

N- just shook his head and smiled at her- accha ok. Lets play

SO both of them got ready, grabbed their racquets and shuttlecock and made their way to the garden and started playing. They had an awesome time. They were both very competitive individuals so even though it was just a fun match they were both going for it since they both liked to win. SO they were really sweating it out. About 2 hours and 5 games later neel had won and avni just sat down pouting at having lost.

Neel looked at her childishness and just chuckled!

N- he walked away for a minute and plucked a rose from his garden and came back- He handed it to her and said- jaaneman, tum toh sirf ek match haar gayi, hum toh apna dil hi haar gaye hai! He said dramatically and forwarded her the rose.

Avni cracked a smile and accepting the rose and said- kahaan se laate ho aise bakwaas lines?!

Neel- gasped- tumne mere lines ko bakwaas kahan?

Avni – just chuckled- ab tumhaari nautanki ho gayi toh hum andar chale?

Neel- pulled her closer and said- avni no matter what the reason is I don't like seeing you upset.

Avni –wound her arms around him and replied- no matter what the reason is, if I've got you around I cant stay upset for long she told him sincerely with a smile.

Neel- moved forward and playfully bumped his nose against hers.

They just stood there for a moment together, taking in each others presence

Neel then moved closer to her and sniffed loudly a few times and said- I think somebody needs a shower! 

A- Gasped loudly and said- Accha bacchu! Now u wait. She quickly grabbed the hose pipe lying on the ground a few feet away and turned on the tap. And she sprayed the water on him 

Neel started running away from her. Arey yaar avni main toh Mazak kar raha tha. 

Avni said- but tumne hi kaha na that somebody needs a shower 

Avni and neel were running around in the garden. After a while since neel was anyway wet he changed his tactics and started running towards avni instead of away and avni realised that he was trying to get the pipe from her so now she was struggling to change the direction of the pipe away from both neel and herself...but neel was quicker and he had cornered her and was trying to grab the pipe from her and in the process now the pipe was directed upward such that both of them were getting wet 

Avni- finally gave up and just enjoyed the feel of the refreshing cold water against her skin 

Suddenly they heard a loud cough – Tillu, avni- shower lena hai toh apne room main jao na, garden main shower lene ki kya zarurat hai? 

They both snapped out and quickly let go of the pipe to see Shweta standing at the doorstep with a teasing grin on her face. 

Avni- dekhiye na mummyji, sab neel ki galti hai, he's wasting water 

Neel- turned to her in shock- oh hello! Pahle pipe se attack kisne kiya tha? 

Avni- toh uske liye provoke kisne kiya? 

Neel- par maine sirf ek observation kiya tha, attack toh tumne kiya 

Shweta- Bas karo tum donon, ye kya bacchon ki tarah lad rahe ho! Chalo andar chalke kapde badlo varna thand lag jayegi she said and walked back indoors shaking her head at their childishness

Avni and neel just looked at each other and burst out laughing.

They finally shut the tap and grabbed the racquets and went back indoors.

After getting ready they were sitting at the breakfast table . Neel was as usual absorbed in his newspaper when suddenly avni came there and snatched it from him.

Neel- avni, ye tum kya kar rahi ho?

Avni- shh...ek minute. She said and turned it to the last page- ye dekho she pointed out an article to him- it was about the blood moon- a rare celestial event that was to happen tonight.

Avni- wow, this looks like it'll be amazing. We SO have to check this out tonight from our terrace.

PRakash- arey vaah avni puttar tumhe astronomy main bhi interest hai?

Avni- haan papa! Main jab choti thi toh Ayesha ma aur main hi roz raat ko taaron ko dekhte the. She used to point out constellations to me...she said with a nostalgic smile and I remember main jab 6th standard main thi toh maine apne school ke science project ke liye ek telescope banane ki koshish ki thi...

Neel- watched fondly as avni talked about some of her memories with Ayesha ma. Then suddenly an idea struck him.

N- he finished breakfast quickly and walked away on the pretext of some urgent work

But in reality he had come up with a great plan for avni that night.

He called up neelama to help him out and act as a perfect diversion.

Neelama was more than happy to help her son out!

So later that day neelama called avni up and did some emotional blackmail saying that she had not spent any time with her daughter in so long and so avni decided to go home and spend the day with her. She took shweta along so that they could make it a girls day out. They all headed to the parlour and went for a mani-pedi session. While they were getting it done they just sat there and gossiped about random things! After that they all went out to get some lunch together, followed by a movie. They just showed up at the mall for shopping but when they enquired they found last minute tickets available for a movie so they chucked the shopping plan and watched a movie instead and it was already early evening when they were done. Neela received a message from neil confirming that she could let avni go so she very tactfully said- ok baccha, I had a great time but abhi main chalti hoon ok, mujhe kal NGO main kaam hai so I want to go home and do tayyari for that.

Avni- ok ma. I'll see you. Bye she said hugging her

So shweta and avni headed back home.

When they got home, prakash ji said- accha hua shweta ji aap aa gaye. Main soch raha tha, aaj hum bahar dinner karein?

Shweta- hein? Aaj sooraj konsi direction se nikla hai? Aap mujhe bahar le ja rahe ho? Voh bhi mere bina kuch kahe?

Avni- arey mummyji, papa itne sweetly pooch rahe hai. Aap chale jaiye! Aaj toh aapka poora day out ho jayega!

Neel threw a punch in the air as he watched avni convince shweta. His dad slyly looked at him and winked at him as shweta agreed to go out.

Once his parents left neel quickly went to avni and said- finally! Its just you and me he said to her

Avni- wait a minute- ye tumhara plan tha to send mom and dad?

Neel- just grinned at her

Avni- besharam! Tumne unhe bahaar kyun bheja? Mummyji ko bura lagega na that we sent her away.

Neel- avni relax, unhe kuch bura nahi lagega. Mom aur dad khush honge to spend some time together and we'll also get some time together he winked at her and pulled her by the waist close to him

Avni- just smiled at him- accha, ok mr.patidev- boliye kya plan hai aapka?

Neel- offered her his arm and said- chalo?

Avni linked her arm with his and allowed him to guide her

Neel walked up to the terrace with her and once they got there avni stared in shock at the setup.

It was decorated with fairy lights and a few lanterns neel had cleaned the place, put mats and arranged cushions for them so that they could be seated comfortably.

And as she looked around she saw that he had also arranged a telescope on the ledge

Avni- just stared in open mouthed shock!- neel- tumne ye sab.....she couldnt complete the sentence because she was so surprised!

Neel- felt so content seeing that avni had liked the surprise so much that she was choked up!

Avni- turned back and gave him a hug trying to put all her feelings into it. Thank you, thank you so much she whispered to him. Its all just...just so amazing!

Neel- hugged her back and caressed her hair lovingly- your welcome he whispered back into her ear. After standing there for a long moment he said- ab chalo, lets test the telescope

Avni-vaise tumne itne short notice pe telescope kaise arrange kiya?

Neel- Jugaad boss! Tumhaare saath rahke main bhi kaafi jugaadu ho gaya hoon! he winked at her

Avni-just grinned back at him and said chalo lets go

she led him to the telescope and they both watched the celestial spectacle together. In addition she was spouting out a lot of info about constellations and finding them using the telescope. It was quite geeky and another side of avni that neel was discovering. She was telling him about how the light of the stars they saw now was actually from so LONG ago because it took so many light years for it to reach the earth. HE listened in rapt attention as she talked .He didn't realise that she was this fascinated with astronomy and watching her speak about something so happily and passionately he felt that her eyes were twinkling more than the stars in the sky. And he would do everything to make sure that the twinkle in her eyes remained as bright as it was now! As they lay on the cushions laid out on their terrace just gazing at the sky they both felt so much at peace. Avni gripped neil's hand in his, intertwining their fingers .

Avni whispered- in this universe we are like tiny maybe even inconsequential specks but right now just being here with you I feel like the entire universe has conspired to make us find each other

Neel smiled as he listened to her and moved closer to her and their joined hands to place a kiss on her hand and said- we should say thank you to the universe then!

Avni just chuckled in response and curled into him placing a light peck on his cheek.

And avni and neil enjoyed a beautiful night together with the stars and the moon. This is something that they'd both always remember as a memorable experience and there were many more such nights that they'd experience together.

Ok that's a wrap! Hope you guys like this chapter. The idea for this came from one of the pics of avneil that I'd seen long back with them just lying on the grass amidst some lights...I don't know why that scene never aired. Until next time..may the force be with each of you! :)