Sidharth and Shehnaaz's dinner at the dhaba went well, he was somewhere occupied with himself in the back of his mind though.

"Rumal de, maine hanky nahi rakhi aaj." She asked, wriggling her wet hands after washing them.

"Ye le." He pulled out his handkerchief to her.

"Ice cream khayega?" She asked him then.

"Mausam thanda hai." He reminded her.

"Toh?" She shrugged.

"Sardi ho jayegi." He elaborated in case she didn't get him in the first place.

"Ye sardi vardi mujhe nahi hoti." She boasted about herself, gesturing to him to follow her out.

"Hoti hai. Tujhe halki si barish me bhi sardi lag jati hai." He reminded her one last time, even though he knew she wouldn't listen.

"Aur na thand me na, ice cream khane ka maza hi alag hota hai." She told him, as she held his hand and two the road towards an ice cream parlor.

"Ek cup blueberry aur ek dark chocolate." She asked the ice cream vendor, excitedly standing next to the frostier and looking at the various flavours available.

"Blueberry ke upar ek American nuts ka scoop daal dena." She added.

"Shehnaaz." He reprimanded, tugging on her hand and taking her away from the frostier, gesturing to the vendor to not to add the other flavour.

"You're not having two scoops." He told her.

"Stop acting like you're my mother!" She chided.

"Stop making me act like one." He retorted and she stomped her foot, very close to his shoes on purpose.

"Mere joote gande karne ki sochna bhi mat." He told her.

"Oh thanks for the idea." She forced a smile, stomping her foot over his this time.

"You'll pay for this. Ice cream cancelled." He calmly replied, taking her hand and walking out of the parlour.

"Nahi, nahi. No! Ice cream khani hai meko. Please, please! Please na yaar!" She tried to stop him but little did she know he was way too strong for that.

"Acha sorry!" She said it, the keyword and he stopped.

"Mere jootey?" He turned and asked her.

"Poch dungi, wapas polish laga dungi ghar jake." She replied what he wanted her to.

"Ek scoop!" He reminded her and they walked back into the parlour.

His guts! She was glaring at him, she wanted to scream at him, storm out of the place for doing this to her and question herself why she was with him. This was probably one of the cons of dating her best friend, not all moments turned out to be as she thought would be romantic like having ice cream together in winters. He cared but he could also have taken care of her while she'd be sick cold and tugged deep under the covers, make soup and hot chocolate for her.

"Wanna taste?" She looked to find him offering ice cream from his different flavoured cup.

"Nahi chahiye!" She twisted the corner of her mouth and focused on her cup.

"Sidharth! Meri icecream hai!" She whined when he scooped out a spoonful of ice-cream from her cup.

"Hmm, tasty." He smiled wholeheartedly, replying.

"Kyu muh sada ke baithi hai?" He asked her, watching her go all silent in the car on their way back.

"Mai hurt hu." She replied, busy looking out through the window. He shook his head and drove them towards his place.

"Aur kitni der hurt rahegi? 15 minute se dekh raha hu." He asked her.

"Haawww! Matlab time ki padi hai lekin meri nahi!?! Mai kyu hurt hu, usse thodi na farak padta hai tujhe. You're so mean Sidharth!! Kutta hai tu." She snapped at him, she wished had something to hit him in the head with.

"Fine I'm sorry." He replied. Hands down if that's what the lady wants.

"Ek baat bata phir it's okay bolungi." She stated her condition and waited for him to nod.

"Tu kyu puch raha tha ki Ranvijay bakery aata tha ya nahi?" She asked him the question he had casually dodged in the evening. She wanted to know.

"Bola toh tha aise hi." He replied, wondering why she was bringing it up again when he was finally getting over the thing that her ex-boyfriend might have run into.

"Tu aise hi kuch nahi puchta! Sachi bata, kyuki jab tu puch raha tha tera face serious tha." She told him to let him know that she couldn't be that easily dodged.

"No really, I was simply asking." He shrugged, not wanting to think about it.

"Asking what, if my ex boyfriend comes to see me often?" She asked and this time he didn't lie.

"Yeah, I kind of, saw you guys hug." He said.

"Hmmm. Answering the question, no he hasn't visited Sprinkles since we broke up and we hugged because that was probably our last one, he's moving out of the country." She said, looking at him.

"No, no. Shehnaaz that was why, I wasn't asking you. Because I don't wanna sound like I'm doubting anything!" He immediately replied, as if he was justifying.

"It's okay, I understand." She said, keeping a hand in his bicep when he slowed down the vehicle to the side.

"What is it? Tujhe koi baat pareshan kar rahi hai? I- I shouldn't have brought that up, haina?" She asked, trying to figure out what went wrong.

"Nahi, aisa nahi hai. Just that, that, you and that guy, Ranvijay, had that spark, once." He admitted.

"Aisa nahi hai Sidharth!" She said, making sure he heard her. Why was he even thinking like that?

He nodded, regretting bringing it up now. He had embarrassed himself by making her justify why she greeted that guy. He understood that this wasn't really about him and she, it was about him and his insecurities. He didn't know what he expected at that very moment, that was the basic problem.

Would it have been fine if Shehnaaz would have literally pushed away Ranvijay? Did he want that? To push an ex-boyfriend away because she was in a relationship with him? Or would it have been even better if she ignored Ranvijay like she didn't know him anymore? He knew she wouldn't ever do that, being the bubbly and kind-to-everyone that she was. She would never ignore, or push away someone she knew, perhaps greeting people with her adorable smile was her habit and he liked her for what she was, he never wanted to behave indifferent because of him. He'd never want her to change her nature or demeanor towards people for him or in order to assure him that she would leave him any time soon.

He had defined himself in some past based experiences that needed her validation. He felt threatened when there would be any hint of any possibility that her attention would divert from him, if elaborated it meant that his feelings would at times become needy, they needed her attention and valuation. So he, at times, wanted to reset and push back against anything that smelt like it would take her attention away from him and the most serious threat would be another love interest. But this wasn't him, this identity wasn't his true self. The person that he believed himself to be was not who he really was, it was a construct of past experiences in relationships. It was not true and he knew that.

Getting free from that identity was the real game, that was not so much about jealousy as it was about waking up to the fact that he made up this new version of himself as a way to survive in the past, and now he was stuck with it, stuck with the fear that Shehnaaz might leave him for being so occupied with work all the time. He knew he didn't have to be stuck with it but that was the path of least resistance and least awareness. All he could do for himself in this case was to wake up and recover his true self, letting go of those unrealistic scenarios, thoughts and beliefs.

He needed to trust her, have faith in her and maybe talk to her about it. She could possibly help him with that, if she understood that he had something bothering him inside, she might assure him and love him through it. But fundamentally this was his task to explore it out, their relationship, the feelings,the trust, the faith, the future if there would be any.

"Sidharth!" She called out, holding his face and making him look at her. She had her lips on his, moving closer and enveloping her arms around her. Kissing him deeply with her mouth and heart open, making sure all he could think about at that moment was her and this kiss. She didn't know exactly what bothered him but she certainly knew he wasn't comfortable opening up.

"I love you, it's always been you!" She confessed in between her kisses.

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Here's a new chapter.. tell me how's it!!!

Sidharth and Shehnaaz would continue to argue like that.. love cannot change you being the Tom and Jerry you've always been, can it? Lol

Anyway, Sidharth happens to have insecurities.. guys aren't expected to be so insecure, aren't they.. especially when they don't open up, it's assumed that they pretty much don't have anything to say.. whereas they're not finding it comfortable to share..

That's the difference btw men and women.. when women are insecure.. they talk it out.. just the way Shehnaaz does.. but what a woman also needs to do is understand if her guy is on the same page as hers or not.. don't  you think??

Thank you for helping ADHY reach 100k+ views.. and also I cannot thank enough you all for all the love you all have been showering on the rest of my stories..

Look at 50k+ views on SOL already.. Thank you so much for your love and support..