Two days later

"Am I looking okay?"

"You are looking gorgeous, Princess. Now stop worrying; Ved will be here any minute," Dad said and handed me my clutch.

Mom admired my appearance and told me to behave myself. I nodded and exited the house when I heard Ved's car arrive outside. My parents followed behind, and Dad hugged Ved when he reached our doorstep.

"Please take care of her," he said.

"And you take care of Ved," Mom told me.

Ved took my hand after hugging Mom and Dad and assured them that he will look after me. We were going on our first date, but everyone was reacting like I was getting married. I nudged Ved as we headed towards his car.

(Sandhya's outfit👆)

(Ved's outfit👆)

"Looking hot," I said.

"I know." He smirked.

"Aren't you going to compliment me?"

He opened the car's door for me and strapped me up. He stared at me for a minute, and then banged his head on mine.

"You are the most beautiful girl for me, so why that question?"

I glared at him, but he pinched my nose and kissed me. He got in the driver's seat and waved at my parents before zooming off towards our destination. He had chosen the venue, but he didn't know that I had a surprise waiting for him.

My friends had helped me in setting up some stuff with the cafe employees' assistance, and I promised them a treat in return. Even though Ved didn't compliment me, I was really excited for his reaction. While I was daydreaming, Ved announced our arrival and took off my seatbelt.

"Are you that happy for our date?" he teased.

"You don't have any idea." I grinned.

He shot me a curious look but waved it off as my way of annoying him on purpose. He clasped our hands and kissed the entwined fingers. I felt my inner voice doing cartwheels, and I told it to hold it till the main moment.

After checking with the receptionist, we made ourselves comfortable on our table. The retro themed cafe was really cute and posters of yesteryear movies and actors hung all over the place. Ved and I started discussing about the same while waiting for our food to arrive.

"Ved, I have a doubt."

"Yeah?"

"You didn't tell me what happened between Sahil and you. He is alive, right?"

Ved tapped his fingers on the table before snapping his eyes on me. "His family had come to see Dad, but Sahil was acting really awkward around me. I saw Namrata Di trying to indulge him in the conversation, but he kept his distance.

"After analysing his behaviour, I learned that he was indeed afraid of me. So, I confronted him myself, and as Mayank bhaiyya and Nikhil had already briefed me about what had actually happened, I was able to handle my emotions.

"Sahil apologized for his actions and told me how you didn't want to meet him but still did on his sister's request. I was not in the right mind earlier, that's why I misunderstood everything."

I placed my palm over his right hand. "You don't have any doubts, right?"

"None." He smiled and enclosed my hand in his.

"I have the bad habit of keeping stuff to myself, and Surbhi has also scolded me for it, but please don't get mad if I am not able to share something instantly - I am working on it. I promise I won't do it on purpose to hurt you."

"Relax, Sandhya. Why are you getting so serious?"

"Actually... um... I have something I wanted to ask and tell you, and it is really personal. I don't know if it is the right time to do so, but I can't keep it in my stomach."

Ved scrunched his eyebrows, but when he saw me fidgeting in my chair and banging the table with my knee like an earthquake, he squeezed my hand in assurance.

"I love you, stupid," he said. "What is it?"

I took a deep breath and stared at him with full focus. "I know about your mother's death, and I am really sorry that I neglected you when you were going through such a hard time. I didn't do it intentionally; if I had known, I wouldn't have troubled you and made fun of you for coming second in class. Please, forgive me."

I waited in anticipation for his reaction, but he didn't say anything for what seemed like an eternity.

Are you a fucking idiot, Sandhya? Why did you tell him if it was supposed to be a secret?

"Ved... are you angr-"

"Ayush told you, didn't he?" he asked calmly.

I nodded with great difficulty. Ved got up from his chair, and I thought that he was going to leave for final, but he sat beside me and pulled me in a side-hug.

"He told me about it years ago," he said and kissed my temple.

"What? Then... why didn't you say anything?"

"I didn't know what to say. I had lost my mother, and it was not your fault that it was your birthday that day. I know I didn't treat you well that time, but I was already tired of everyone trying to cheer me up and tell me that everything was going to be alright when I knew it wasn't.

"No matter what they said, my mom wasn't going to come back, and I was not so young to just believe otherwise. And you know what? More than me, Dad was suffering; he lost the love of his life, but when he looked at me, he picked himself up and tried to protect me as much as he could."

"I am sorry. I wish I could have helped you that time." I kissed his cheek. "If you don't mind, can you tell me what happened?"

"It was an accident, and... Mom died on the spot. She was overseas to visit her family, and Dad was working in his office when he received the news. As you already know, I was in school and fighting with you for giving extra chocolates to Ayush when I got the information.

"Dad didn't directly tell me about her death, but after hearing his voice, I knew something was wrong. I couldn't concentrate in the rest of my classes and when I reached home and finally saw Dad, I was devastated. He looked miserable; he was crying his heart out while his friends arranged for our flights.

"We left the moment we got our tickets, and I was not able to come out of the shock of losing my mother even after five months. I tried distracting myself with studies and sports, but nothing was helping, except for getting in fights with you."

Ved cracked a sad smile, and I pulled him in a hug. He told me that he was now better at handling his grief, but I couldn't help myself from crying. Instead of me consoling him, it was the other way around, and he laughed when I spoilt his white shirt with my mascara.

"I am happy I could be of some help," I said.

"Yup. You irritated the shit out of me; not to forget how you danced on knowing that you got the first rank and teased me for one whole week."

"Sorry." I pouted.

He pecked my lips. "Stop saying that word already. Didn't I say I was glad that I had you for distraction?"

"Then why didn't you tell me?"

"Because I didn't want you to change your behaviour. I knew you would have recoiled and left me alone because I was already turning into mini Hulk. And as it is, you had Ayush, so you wouldn't have needed my presence."

"Sir, your order," the waiter announced and left after placing our dishes on the table.

"Let's eat first." Ved took a morsel and fed me.

We ate till our stomachs were near exploding, and Ved told one of the waiters to bring the bill. My mind was itching me that I was missing something, and just when Ved took out his credit card, I snatched it from him.

"I will pay," I said.

"You can do it next time. It's our first date, so let me pay," he argued.

"No! Absolutely not. And yeah, we have one more thing to do before we leave."

I got up and grabbed his hand. I told the waiter to wait and took Ved to the garden behind the cafe. He joked if I was planning on murdering him, and I shot him a flat look. I made him stand in front of a wooden bench and told him to close his eyes.

He was amused but followed my requests. I went away for a few minutes and grabbed the stuff from one of the employees who was keeping it safe for me. After thanking her, I returned and grinned when I saw Ved still standing with closed eyes.

I put the handmade strawberry cake on the bench and took out the ring box from my clutch. After controlling my heartbeat, I told Ved to open his eyes. He looked at me in confusion when he saw no change in his surroundings, but when I went down on one knee and extended the ring towards him, his face went pale.

"I know your ears must be bleeding after hearing it continuously, but no matter how many times I say it, I feel like I am saying it for the first time. I love you, I love you the most, and I love you to the infinity and beyond.

"I know you also love me, but I was planning this since long ago. Will you like to be my boyfriend cum partner-in-crime, Mr. Ved Jaiwant Rajput? I promise I will protect you, keep you happy and the tradition of our bantering alive."

I shot him the best of my smiles, and even though Ved was frozen in his spot, his eyes kept darting between me and the ring. After torturing me with his silence for the whole five minutes, he finally moved and pounced on me.

"Is that a yes?" I asked.

He took the ring from the box and kissed it. "I love you, Sandy Pandy."

I slid the ring on his finger, and he smothered my face with kisses. I laughed and informed him about the cake. Thanks to his sweet tooth, we finished off the dessert in no time, and I smiled inwardly as I took out a blindfold from my clutch.

"What's that for?" Ved asked.

I gave him an evil smile and tied it around his eyes. He was shocked at my sudden attack but chuckled when I told him that I had another surprise for him.

"You gonna ask me for marriage now?" he joked.

I pinched his cheek. "Better than that."

He moved his hands to grab me, but I bounced back and told him to prepare himself. I got the next present and saw him turning red as I advanced towards him. I took off his blindfold with my left hand and kissed him before moving away and showing him what I had for him.

"Are you fucking kidding with me?" he yelled in surprise.

"It is yours now," I said and handed him my most precious treasure.

He gulped nervously and made sure again if I was pulling a prank on him or not. I shook my head and felt overwhelmed as he glowed like a bulb, his lips curled into a beautiful smile, and eyes twinkled with pure joy, reminding me of our childhood days.

"Are you sure you want me to have it?" he asked.

I nodded and told him to keep his present, the golden Ho-oh card, with great care and love. He promised me that he wouldn't lose it and frame it for safety purposes. The gift was really small and not at all expensive, but it meant a lot to me.

When I was a kid, I was totally into Pokemon, and at that time, the various chips packets were offering the Pokemon game cards, and the one Ved was holding currently, was one out of four major cards which demanded a lot of determination and patience if we wanted to get our hands on them.

Out of those four, Ho-oh was the most important to me as it had taken me about three months and a lot of beatings from Mom to get it. The moment I had it, I was on cloud nine and bragged about it for a whole year.

(Ho-oh cards👆)

"You are the best," Ved said and crashed his lips on mine.

I patted his cheek after he broke the kiss. He hugged me and swayed us side-to-side. I rubbed his back and tightened my hold on him.

"Ayush also has the same, right?" I asked.

"Yup. Now he can't tease me about it," Ved said.

"How about we blackmail him into giving us the rest of his cards?"

"I already tried it, but he is very smart; he always bursts my plans."

"Same here, but we can give it a try."

Ved and I looked at each other and burst out laughing. We spent the rest of our time plotting plans and discarding them soon after. It felt so good to be with my Natural Heater - I hoped we smiled like that for the rest of our lives.