Hey guys, hope you all are well. I would like to thank all of my readers for a wonderful support and for reviews on my story 'Magic of M' and also very encouraging support on my new story 'Family Affairs', thank you guys. :)

Now this story, tonight, this is a one-shot story, I had this planned and half written long time ago but due to busy routine I was unable to finish it but now I have. This one-shot is called 'The Morning After' and it is a sequel to 'The Magic of M' (to new readers, please read 'The Magic of M' before this one-shot in order to understand). Seeing the popularity and great support for that story, I had decided to write a sequel one-shot which I have finally written. This one-shot is a brief introduction of my characters/pairings from 'Magic of M', continuing from where the story ended. Just showing how each character wakes up the next morning with last night's events still hovering over their minds. I have not included the request pairings 'Rajat/Iqra' & 'Ajat/Aditi' apart from them, pretty much everyone's here. Well, I hope you all enjoy it. :)

The Morning After

He opens his eyes slowly and blinks few times until the vision is absolute clear. He finds himself curled up on a sofa but not alone. As he looks down he smiles, her head lays on his chest as she sleeps peacefully with her arm around his waist. Then it starts to become to him, they must've fallen asleep while watching the film. Gently he tries to wake her up.

"Tasha. Tasha.."

"Hmm.." She stirs slightly in sleep.

"Good morning." The words escape her mouth but her eyes are still closed.

"Good morning." He kisses her forehead and she finally opens her eyes and smiles at him.

"You look beautiful." She laughs.

"What?"

"I just woke up."

"So?"

"So.. I don't look beautiful."

"You do." She looks at him, in his eyes and finds nothing but sincerity.

"Thanks." She places a hand on his cheek and kisses his nose. He places his hand on top of hers before placing a kiss on her palm.

"I love you."

"I love you too." She replies with same passion.

"I should go and get ready for work or else I will be late for work."

"I will see you at bureau?"

"Of course." Not wanting to but Tasha breaks from hug, letting him get up. He straightens his clothes before heading towards door.

"Vivek." He turns around to meet Tasha's gaze.

"Yea?"

"Thank you... for last night... for staying... for everything."

"I love you, Tasha. I wouldn't"

"I know." She nods and he smiles at her.

"See you soon."

"See you soon." With this, he leaves. She doesn't move her gaze from the door until after sometime he disappears.

Pankaj always enjoyed morning walk. On a contrary to Nikhil, he has always been the early riser. Coming from a family of morning love, he believes it is in his genes that he is attracted to mornings than nights. After having a nice walk he comes and sits down on his usual bench before making his way back to his flat which he shares with Nikhil. Usually sitting here and adoring the sight helps him relax but today his mind keeps wandering back to last night; what happened between Purvi and him. He knows that he created a mess, it will rise a lot of questions, the situation he had perfectly managed to ignore until last night. He knows this is not going to go away, he has to deal with it but not now, not yet... The chain of his thoughts is broken by his phone vibrating. Looking up he finds a text, it's a text message from her; it read. 'Breakfast at Indigo?' He immediately knows why Purvi wants to do this but he doesn't know if he is ready to face her just yet, about this.

She keeps glancing on her phone, waiting but it doesn't beep. Purvi had just woken up and all she could think of was last night. She knows what happened between Pankaj and her is more than what meets with eye. She feels the urge to fix this, to clear the mess she made last night in her careless attitude. But it also brought a lot of questions and feelings, she wants the answer for them. She immediately looks down at her phone when it vibrates. She stiffens a bit when she reads the message 'I am sorry, not much time. Maybe other time.' 'Typical him,' she thinks as she reads but she is not the one to give up, not so easily.

He is making his way back when his phone vibrates, he knows who it is from. 'Come on, it's breakfast.' She feels irritation building up as she reads his message, which had only one word 'sorry.' Before she can reply, another message comes, from him, which reads 'see you at office.' He was about to put his phone away but he gets another message 'I am sorry about last night.' He softens a bit, even she's not here, he knows she means it. His fingers comb through his hairs before he types the message without giving another thought. Purvi, didn't hope he would reply back so dropping her phone on her bed, she starts to get ready. After sometime she reappears in her room and then picks up her phone, she gets surprised when notices another message. Immediately she opens it, it from Pankaj. 'Evening at Indigo? P.S. Accepted.' Smile crawls on her face and she re-reads the message. Once assured that it is true, she types 'Perfect' and hits send.

When Pankaj gets to flat, he finds Nikhil still in bed but at least he is awake. With brief morning greetings Pankaj hits the shower and in meanwhile Nikhil still finds himself in bed. He is having one of those days when he just cannot be bothered enough to get up, not good. He lays there, staring at ceiling soon finds himself revisiting last night's events in his mind. Pankaj is still sore with him over the bet issue. He knows that it will take Nikhil some effort to make up to Pankaj for what he did. A lone 'sorry' is not enough here. He shakes his head, trying to divert his mind from this and it works but he groans in frustration as he finds himself thinking about her again. Ever since the kiss last night, Nikhil kept thinking about Anushka and the kiss. The amount of thoughts he is having associated with this, with a single 'kiss', which probably, no, actually did not meant anything is shocking. His brain is racing like a horse with thoughts passing in his mind like winds. He knows, he shouldn't think of it or read too much into it because let's face it, it was just a stupid experiment and nothing else, right? The kiss plays in his mind again, like a video on loop it has been playing in his mind since last night. Every time he thinks of it, he can feel her lips on his, he can taste her. He still has taste of her and what is worse, the fact that he enjoyed it so much. He kissed Anushka, his senior in rank and the one who always criticized him and last night they actually opened up to each other slightly and then they kissed. He kissed her, HE kissed HER and he does not regret it, not even one bit in fact, he was disappointed with a intrusion, he was disappointed that it ended abruptly. And this, this right here is what scaring him. He shuts his eyes and groans loudly. "What have you gotten yourself into, Nikhil?"

"Nush... breakfast is ready!"

Anushka appears in the kitchen as she takes her seat on kitchen counter. The girl on the other side of counter puts the glass of juice in front of Anushka before she settles down too.

"Thanks Nish."

Anushka stares at her plate for a long time which is noticed by Nisha.

"Anything fancy about plate?"

"Huh?"

"What's wrong Nush?"

"Nothing."

"Come on, I am your sister."

"It's nothing."

"Party went well last night?"

"Yea... yes, of course, it went... well."

"Nush.."

"I am just tired." Anushka sighs and looks at her sister. Anushka love her to bits but sometimes she just wishes that Nisha would be off her case, especially at times like this. Nisha, getting the sign, sighs and decides to drop it.

"Anyways, I am off." Nisha, speaks as she gets her bag.

"Have a nice day."

"You too." Nisha briefly hugs Anushka and then leaves. The house goes quiet again. Anuskha, lays back in her chair slightly and closes her eyes briefly. As soon she closes her eyes, she gets it that it is a bad idea as the event of last replays in front of her eyes. She tried so hard to get her mind off it but had been failing miserably since last night. Of course, it is nothing... the kiss, it was just an experiment. She mentally kicks herself for letting herself loose in the kiss; she hadn't realize they were actually still kissing until Aditi interrupted it was supposed to end way sooner, why didn't it end sooner? Why did she felt a disappointment when they pulled away? This wasn't supposed to happen. They were to kiss, move away and laugh away at the 'magic of mistletoe' but this isn't how it happened. Somehow things got out of hand and now her head is a messy place because of one damn kiss. She groans as she places her head in her palms and rest her arms on counter, not fully understanding what is happening. Damn the kiss, damn him.

Muskaan wakes up with a headache which is not a good way of starting a morning. 'You shouldn't have drank so much last night, Muskaan.' She face palm herself at the thought. She blinks few times but the light seems too much for her eyes so she shuts them again.

His voice rings in her ears. "This is your, so help me God, third glass tonight. Don't you think you need to dial it down a bit." She sighs as she remembers his words but still not everything is clear. She remembers this but then there was more. Flashes of series appear in her closed eye lids. Them, of course them talking. Along with flashes, she remembers bit of their conversation.

"Where is your ring, Muskaan?" She slowly remembers telling him, who is her boss about her broken engagement. Another flash - her tripping, him helping her, they walk at entrance, the kiss. The warmth she felt when he kissed her, the connection. Her eyes are shot open. 'So, this really happened. All of it. I didn't imagine it.' Before her mind wheels start to turn she focuses back on the headache she is getting due to consuming slightly more alcohol than she can handle. 'I need to do something about this headache', with this thought she tries to leave her bed to go to kitchen but she almost falls so she sits back down. 'Maybe, in a minute,' she tells herself as she put her head in her hands and closes her eyes.

Tarika looks at herself in the mirror one last time to make sure she is presentable enough to leave for work. Everything looks fine except her eyes which are swollen and her lips because she's wearing smile upside down. "Pata nahi dobara yeh mauqa mile na mile." His words ring her in ears like a bell. "Thank you." "For what?" "For letting me do this." She remembers his longing look, longing for her? "For letting me near you." She feels his touch and it almost makes her jump again.

"Shut up!" She screams at no one though it seems she shouted at her reflection, her voice echos in her room. "Thank you for giving me this moment." Through her shout, she recalls his whisper from last night which only angers her further.

"I will not let you win, Rocky. Never." She stares at her reflection until she sees her lips curving into a smile. It's not a genuine smile, she knows it's a mask. She will do everything in her power to defeat Rocky and whatever his intention was last night. "I am not doll, Rocky, you will have to do a lot more to break me. I will not let you break me, never." Her eyes almost shine as she speaks and her smile widens. She turns around walking out of room without looking back with same smile and shine in her eyes. On her way out she picks her hand bag from the side table next to her bed and leaves. She doesn't notice a shining silver pendant which is lying exposed on the table. It is the same pendant from last night, a silver infinity pendent with diamond in it, which has a small TR engraved on it. It stays there untouched but it shines as the sun rays hit it.

When the horn blares loudly the third time she knows if she doesn't step out of house right this instant, she will be in deep trouble by him and her neighbors. She makes the run for front door, opening it she finds him sitting in his car, hand almost touching the horn. He looks at her smiling, she waves at him.

"Shreya, hurry!" He shouts.

"1 second!" She hurriedly locks the door and runs towards the car.

"Seriously, Daya.. patience." She tells him as she adjusts her seat belt.

"You were taking long." He innocent reply earns him a smack on arm by a wide eyed Shreya, her expressions are clearly show how unbelievable Daya is being.

"I did heard that people change after marriage but seriously, Daya, we just got engaged last night." She states.

"We did? Wait.. so it was real?"

"Daya!" She smacks him once again on his chest and he catches her hand before she can move it away. He gently kisses her fingers. "Sorry, I was just messing." She smiles and he releases her hand.

"I am hungry, let's go."

"We have to go and pick Abhijeet up as well." He states while starting the car.

"He's on breakfast too?" Shreya is surprised, not that she mind him joining, she is more than happy too but she's just surprised as he didn't say anything last night.

"He wasn't but I am just going to pick him up. I called him this morning and he sounded distracted so I told him, he's coming with us."

"Distracted? Is he alright? I mean, did something happen last night?"

"I honestly don't know, I was myself distracted by a pretty woman with whom I got engaged last night." He deliberately speaks in a low tone looking at her.

"Eyes on road." She replies in her steady voice but Daya doesn't miss the smile on her face which she is trying to suppress and the shade of pink rising on her ears. He laughs and turns his attention on road, going to Abhijeet's house.

Despite knowing that Daya will be here shortly, Abhijeet is not fully ready yet. He tried telling Daya he is fine but of course Daya knows him too well. Sometimes, well in times like this he wishes that it would have been better if Daya didn't know him that well. Abhijeet doesn't feel like going with them but knowing Daya, Abhijeet will be forced to go if Daya sees him in this condition. 'What is this condition exactly?' He stops to wonder, why everything seems so messed up today? Did he woke up on the wrong side of bed or is it a bad hangover? He cannot place his finger on what exactly is causing his 'this condition'. Where he is distracted and feels internally messed up. But why? 'You know exactly why.' He hears a tiny voice in his head and with that a flash of last night comes in his mind: he is standing with Muskaan and asking her about her ring followed by another flash: him kissing her.

"Forever alone." He remembers her voice correctly as if hearing it right now. He recognized the emotion behind it - loneliness. He is very well aware of this emotion because he is battling with it on regular basis. Maybe this is why when he heard it from her, something broke inside him; he doesn't want anyone to be familiar with this loneliness because he knows how dangerous it is and what it can do to a human mind and soul. This is why he felt it was most important thing to do that moment was to tell her, show her that she is wrong because forever is a long time and she does not deserve this. He remembers closing the gap between them. "Not forever, no." She needed to know this. Even though he jut showed her, she needed to hear it too.

All of sudden his thoughts are interrupted with a loud knock on his door. 'Daya,' Abhijeet knows he is here, plastering the smile on his face he walks towards the door.

"Get out."

"Pradyuman..."

"Get out."

"Let me explain."

"There is nothing to explain. Leave." Pradyuman can be very adamant when he wants to be. He is not making this easier for Salunkhe which is worrying and irking him at same time.

"There was no one she was letting us go we..."

"See you later, Dr." Pradyuman tries to walk away from his own house. He would go anywhere right now to be away from this.

"I am sorry!" Salunkhe shouts at walking away ACP Pradyuman.

"It's not that I enjoyed it too. I needed to get out of that mad house that instant and if my out ticket was kissing my way out, hell, I would have even kissed a dog." Pradyuman stops his tracks right there and turns around.

"Did you just compared kissing me with a dog?" He asks, clearly offended.

"No I..."

"And I was just this close to accept your apology." Salukhe is startled, he opens his mouth to speak but ACP Pradyuman rises his hand to stop him right there.

"Not accepted. Bye." Pradyuman walks out of his house, leaving a completely stunned Salunkhe. 'Well done, Salunkhe.' He mentally kicks himself for his foolishness. He knows the going after ACP Pradyuman right now is futile so he decides to go to work for now and deal with this matter later. Dejectedly he walks out.

I hope you all enjoyed it. :) I will try and update 'family affairs' soon but as I said due to my busy routine, I cannot promise when will I be able to update and how regular.