"Kya kar rahi Sana? Tu moti dikh rahi hai yaar! Zyada khane lagi hai?" Gurjot asked, the friends had decided to video chat on a free Sunday afternoon.

"Aye, chup karja! Mickey, isko kyu bulayi tu?" Shehnaaz replied, making faces at him and calling her best friend back to the screen.

"Apni baat bata, teri biwi kyu itni patli lag rahi hai? Tu khilata pilata nahi hai usko?" She asked him.

"Oye, meri biwi lean ho gayi hai. Hum dono sath me gym jate hain! Yeh dekh!" He replied and flexed his big biceps through his t-shirt. It made her chuckle.

"Chal chal, mujhe baat karni hai Sana se. Ja tu, naha ke aa." Sheena entered the room, taking her laptop away from her husband.

"Kaisi hai Sana? By God I hate seeing you through the screen!" Sheena complained, kissing the laptop camera.

"I miss you too yaar, tune shaadi hi kyu ki!?" Shehnaaz replied, kissing her fingers and then passing on the kiss to her friend in the air.

"Kya haal chal?" She asked further.

"Bas, dono adha time office me rehte hain aur adha time khana banate rehte hain." Sheena shrugged, talking about her life.

"Hm. Gym jati hai? Tu sachme kitni lean aur fir dikhne lagi hai pehle se. You're glowing." Shehnaaz complimented her.

"Hain na! Mera toh poora time work from home rehta tha, baithe baithe bas weight gain ho raha tha. Guru ne bola chal gym." Sheena replied.

"Subha weight training, raat ko cardio." She added, winking at her friend and giggling at her own words.

"Mickeeyyy!! Chhhii yaar!" Shehnaaz giggled as well, cringing at her friend's joke.

"Tu achi dikh rahi hai pehle se, you almost stopped eating and sleeping, Sana! I was so worried about you a couple of months ago." Sheena mentioned as their laughter died down.

"Hmm. Time helped." Shehnaaz commented.

"Kabhi kabhi lagta hai ke kash thoda pass rehte tu aur mai, possible hota toh aati jati rehti, tujhse aur aunty se milne ke liye." Sheena said.

"Tu pass hai toh sahi, itna karti hai mera. Thank you for keeping up with me, Mickey." Shehnaaz replied.

"Chup kar. Mujhe thank you bolti hai, kutti. Mai nahi, toh kon rahega tere sath!?" Sheena smiled.

"Ha, bas tu boyfriend wagera bana le toh meri thodi responsibility kam ho jaye." She sighed dramatically and the girls chuckled.

"Mickey.. wo.." Shehnaaz wondered if this was the right time to let her best friend know about her new relationship. Sheena's reaction was one of the things she was scared of.

"Ha baba, I understand. You take your time." Sheena replied, not wanting to hurry her friend into a relationship.

"Aunty kaisi hai?" She asked.

"Achi hai Mummy bhi. Friends banaye hain building me, kal hi ek ke ghar paath me gayi thi. Kabhi kabhi subha walk pe bhi jati hain kuch ladies ke sath." Shehnaaz answered.

Shehnaaz wanted to talk to Sheena about Sidharth but telling her about this new relationship meant telling everybody. Sheena wouldn't be able to hold it back and reveal it to her and Sidharth's family immediately. She wanted to discuss it with Sidharth first.

"Badhiya, badhiya hai. I was really worried about her. Tu toh office aur naye city me settle hone lagti. Lekin aunty, tere jane ke baad phir akeli ho jati na." Sheena replied.

"Hm. Shuru shuru me aisi hota tha. Abhi Mummy khud se market bhi chali jati hai, zyada dur nahi hai aur auto toh badi aram se mil jati hai." Shehnaaz nodded.

"And talking about your building, Montu se milti hai? Koi bhi help chahiye ho toh usko bindass bol dena, he'll be there." Sheena asked.

"Ha, wo- milti hu usse. Ghar pe bhi aaya hai, ek baar toh poori family ko dinner pe bulaya tha na." Shehnaaz hesitantly replied.

"Hmm. Vaise woh khud hi bada busy rehta hai office me. Abhi pictures post ki Preeti didi ne, sare Indore me the." Sheena mentioned.

"Ha, kuch pictures dekhi maine, Adi mere Instagram me added hai." Shehnaaz replied.

"Baki details nahi pata, lekin Mummy bata rahi thi ke Indore me ek family ne Sidharth ke liye ladki suggest ki hai. Aise bhi uske liye rishte aate rehte the pehle, tabhi Montu ne interest nahi dikhaya." Sheena told her.

"Acha?!" Shehnaaz was surprised, she decided to look forward and see if Sidharth would tell her about it. It'll be fun to tease him.

Shehnaaz busied herself with Madhu, joined her while she was watching a movie on TV. It was a fine Sunday, she spent it with her mother, cooking and gossiping around about anything and everything. Back when she went to bed, she found a text from Sidharth sent a couple of minutes ago.

'Jab se gharwale aye hai.. bas Indore me ye hua.. Indore me wo hua chal raha tha.. tune kya kiya aaj?' he had sent. She couldn't help but smile and wonder why she thought he would be too busy to think of her.

'Mickey se baat hui.. Mummy ke sath khana banayi.. TV dekhi..' She immediately replied.

'Nice.' he commented. Talking about Sheena, it had been a while since that girl texted him.

'Tujhe miss bhi kiya maine..😚👉👈' Shehnaaz texted.

'Aw baby I missed u2..' he replied with a smile, wishing he could go and see her right now. He spent the entire day with his family, catching up with everything that happened back in the family function and how much fun they had.

'So.. what were u doing?' he asked.

'I was just going to sleep..' she replied.

'Walk karne nahi jati raat ko?' he further asked.

'Nah.. walk wagera ni karti mai.. woh toh bas jab neend ni aati toh aisi terrace pe chali jati hu kabhi kabhi..' she answered.

'Acha.. sahi hai..' he typed.

'Ok.. then I'll see u tomorrow?' he asked. As much as he wanted to talk to her, he was feeling sleepy after the heavy dinner with the family.

'okie.. kal milte hai ..good nyt 😘' she replied.

'Good night baby 😘' he wished her back.

Monday usually brought loads of work, pending ones and new ones into the schedule. Shehnaaz was talking to her manager Kriti about the upcoming project and she was asked by them to make a small group that'll take up the responsibility of the marketing. Being one with the good experience in the field, she was supposed to lead the group and work closely with marketing teams to ensure that visual content aligns with overall marketing strategies and objectives.

"Shehnaaz Gill?" A guy walked up to her, tall and wheatish in shade with a pair of greyish eyes.

"Hanji?" She nodded.

"St. Xavier's.. 2013 batch?" He asked and she frowned, she didn't feel like she had seen him before and 2013 was more than 10 years ago now.

"Ha lekin I'm sorry maine nahi pehchana.." she sheepishly smiled while trying hard to recall his face.

"It's completely okay mam, I was in the same college as yours. Naman Awasthi." He chuckled, forwarding his hand for a handshake.

"Oh, meri batch me the?" She asked him, shaking hands with him.

"Junior tha, par aapko annual functions me har saal perform karte dekha tha toh aap yaad the. I used to volunteer for the decoration." He replied and she couldn't help but giggle.

"Acha, acha. Haaye, I'm sorry I didn't recognise you." She replied.

"It's okay. It took me a couple of days to recognise you as well." He smiled back.

"You're new here?" She asked him.

"Actually mai kuch 4 saal se hu, Pune ki branch me tha. I joined here this month." He answered and she nodded.

"Shehnaaz." Just then someone asked for her.

"Aap chalo, milte hai baad me." He told her.

"Arey aap waap mat bol yaar, ab toh hum colleagues hain." She chuckled, waved at him and made her way through the corridor.

Sidharth had made his way to his office directly from his mother's place after breakfast and busied himself with work. The upcoming project of interior designing a shopping complex was their priority, after several rounds of discussion they had fixated a layout of the complex. Later in the evening, he couldn't wait to go home and meet Shehnaaz at night. Thinking of her, he ordered a piece of cheesecake for her, recalling she liked them.

"Hello?" He was surprised to receive a call from Shehnaaz in the evening.

"Khidki se bahar dekhiyo zara." She replied and he frowned, walking towards the elevators.

"Kaha hai tu?" He asked.

"Bahar dekh toh sahi Sidharth!" She insisted and he stopped in his track, making his way to his cabin's sliding glass doors to the balcony.

"Kaha hai tu? Bolna?" He asked, a little seriously this time and heard her laughing.

"Even though April's gone, April fools!" She giggled and he shook his head.

"Gadhi." He mumbled, with a small smile on his face.

"Bahar kaisa mausam hai?" She asked him then.

"Thode badal hai, baki hawa chal rahi hai." He replied, sitting at the corner of his table and finishing the mail he was working on so that he could go home after this.

"Toh jaldi ghar aaja. Barish ho jayegi toh raste me traffic milega!" She insisted.

"Ha jaldi niklunga. In fact I was just getting done with this one mail jab tera call aaya." He replied.

"Hm, maine disturb toh nahi kiya?" She asked, realizing that he was in the middle of work.

"Nahi baba, bolna. Tu ghar pahuch gayi?" He asked, looking over to his wrist watch. It was a quarter to 7, she usually reaches home by now.

"Nahi, raste me hu. Socha tujhe call karu. Do din se maharaj ke darshan nahi huye, thodi yaad si aa rahi thi unki." She replied and then giggled at her own words.

He silently chuckled, shook his head and shut his laptop thereby putting it back inside his bag. On his way out, he signalled Vardhan that he was leaving while talking to her.

"Kaisa tha aaj ka din?" She asked.

"Hm, fine. Usual. We're working on this project, bandra me ek shopping complex ban raha hai, uspe kaam chal raha hai." He told her.

"Oh wow! Kab tak poora hoga? Mujhe dekhna hai?" She replied.

"Abhi toh chalu bhi nahi hua hai. Hum uska layout design kar chuke, material order karenge phir next week se walls aur ceiling pe kaam shuru hoga. It'll take a couple more weeks." He told her, getting into the office elevator and pressing the button to the lobby.

"Hmm. Bada wait karna padega. Lekin sunne me kitna interesting lagta hai na?! Interior designing, false ceiling aur colour coordination." She said and he chuckled.

"Jitna interesting hai, utna hi dimag kharab karne wala kaam bhi hai. Sabko naya, ekdum latest aur unique interior chahiye! Kisi ko yaha reh ke American touch chahiye!" He replied.

"Sahi bol raha hai tu, mushkil bhi hai." She agreed with him.

"Tune kya kiya aaj?" He asked her.

"Office me ek project aaya hai, naye product launch ke liye logos, adds aur brochure wagera sab banana hai." She answered.

"Hmm sahi hai. Sahi hai." He said. It had been roughly two days since they met and it felt like a lifetime already. Even though he was on a call with her, he would rather choose to be in front of her while talking about her day.

"Aaj tu bach gaya, Mummy ne itne mote mote parathe banaye the. Wo bhi ghee laga ke Sidharth! Haaye, garam hote toh bada maza aata." She chuckled.

"Acha." He smiled, guessing how she didn't want to end their conversation.

"Just a sec, bluetooth connect karta hu." He told her to wait as he got into his car and connected the call with the stereo.

"Kab se wait hi toh kar rahi hu." She mumbled to herself, waiting outside his office building. She silently giggled to herself and waved at him the moment his car was out of the gates.

"Tu yaha kya kar rahi hai? Itni der se yahi thi?" He was somewhat pissed off when she didn't tell him that she was actually there.

"Surprise!" She laughed, opening his side of the door and hugging him once he stepped out.

"Pehle kyu nahi bataya, itne der se bak bak kari ja rahi thi." He complained. He didn't like the way she waited for him to come out, she could either have just told him that she was waiting or she could have come to his office. Nevertheless, he hugged her back, he had been missing that smile for the time being.

"Surprise ka kya matlab hota hai Sidharth?!" She rolled eyes at him.

"Aur agar mujhe office se aane me time hota toh?! Adha-ek ghanta baithi rehti road side pe?" He asked with a pretty not so happy face.

"Tabhi toh tujhe jaldi aane bola tha maine!? Tujhe time lagta toh mai chali jati, ya phir andar aake wait karti tera! As simple as that!" She replied and he looked away, scratching the side of his head and wondering how long it would take to understand the way her brain functioned.

"Nahi aana chahiye tha kya? Kuch chhupa raha hai mere se?" She asked with stinky eyes, trying to lighten up his mood.

"Ha, ek biwi aur do bacche!" He answered with a smile pretty much forced into his face.

"Sidharth, mukke marungi tujhe beech road me! " She replied, shrugging her hands off him and walking to the passenger side.

"Nahi dungi ab se tujhe koi surprise, value hi nahi hai bande ki koi!?! Yeh kya baat hai?" She talked to herself when he started driving again.

"Aisa nahi hai, tu bahar road me wait kare mujhe pasand nahi." He replied and saw her looking away.

His phone rang and he received it through the button on the steering wheel. "Good evening sir, your parcel of Lotus Biscoff Baked Cheesecake is ready for pick up." The man spoke. Shehnaaz's head spun back to the stereo in response.

"Yeah, on my way." Sidharth answered and hung up.

"Mere liye?" She excitedly asked him and he looked at her, devoid of any expressions.

"Yaar, Sidharth!" She whined, lunging forward and throwing her arms around him and soundly kissing his cheek.

He chuckled, her lips pressed quite tightly on his cheek tickled him and he recalled her words, how she felt he didn't value her. All that drama didn't last a minute!

Once they received the parcel, she kept it on her lap and immediately opened it, her mouth watered at the sight of the beautifully baked slice of cake.

"Um-hmmmm! Pata, duniya me sari cheeze ek taraf aur cheesecake ek taraf!" She told him, once she tasted the cheesecake.

"Le!" She forwarded him a scoop of the same, sharing the cheesecake all their way home.

"Achi hai." He commented. He wasn't a fan of cream and sweets but he liked tasting such stuff once in a while.

"Thank you! Maine literally kitne dino se cheesecake nahi khaya tha!" She told him.

"You're welcome. And we're here." He replied, slowly entering into their building.

"Terrace pe milna, khane ke baad. Okay?!" She told him, unbuckling her seat belt and watching him nod.

She realized she'd have to wait a couple of hours to see him again and couldn't resist herself from leaning in and stealing a kiss from him. Cupping his face, she placed her lips over his and it had hardly been a second, he retreated.

"Abey! Parking me hai!" He replied, looking around embarrassed.

"Tu mil mujhe akele me!" He gave her a pretty challenging look. It excited her, she couldn't wait to see him at the terrace later. The look in his eyes seemed so raw and determined, she knew even he going through the similar situation. It made her giggle all the more.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hello ji. Wassup you people?! How's the weather these days?

So we're going ahead with the relationship and the story, stay tuned for the upcoming sequences, twists and turns that'd bring more drama, romance and entertainment!!

Do lemme know what you liked the most in this chapter?! Was it Sidharth's surprise or Shehnaaz's?