Tarika untied her ponytail and crashed into the sofa. She then removed her heels and kept them on one side. Sitting with her back arched against the sofa, she closed her eyes.

The day had been tiring.

Her hand that was reaching for the hook of her bra stopped in mid-air as she heard a doorbell. She opened her eyes in a jerk by the sudden sound. A little annoyed, she dragged herself to the door.

"Abhijeet! Tum iss waqt?"

"Sorry… lagta hai galat time pe aa gaya."

She shook her head. He could visit her anytime he wanted – there was never a wrong time for the right people.

"Andar aao na."

Locking the door after he had entered and both of them sat down on the sofa. He was equally tired too.

"Mein coffee laati hu."

With his she was about to get up when Abhijeet stopped her by keeping his palm on hers. When she looked at him, he just shook his head, indicating that he didn't want anything.

He rested his neck on the top surface of the back rest of the sofa and stared at the ceiling. She looked at him intently. He had probably not even sat down to catch his breath during the entire day. He was most likely carrying his files with him from work – it didn't look like had been doing desk job a while ago.

And yet, despite the workload, he came to meet her. Without even realizing it, she smiled.

When exactly did she get this lucky?

She smiled some more at the thought of it, at the thought of him – this time, consciously.

"Paanch saal pehle itni thakaan nahi hoti thi," Abhijeet said, still staring at the ceiling.

"Haan yaar sach mein… pehle toh puri raat cases solve karne ke baad bhi, next day fresh feel hota tha."

"Ageing just got real."

Both of them laughed half-heartedly. There was a sense of impeding sorrow that filled the room.

"Yaad hai pehli baar tum lab mein raat bhar ruki thi aur Salunkhe sahab chale gaye the."

"Aur tum apni files leke forensic mein aake baith gaye the."

"Arrey mauka mile toh aaj bhi mein wahi karu."

Tarika blushed.

The redness of her cheeks increased when she felt his gaze on her face. As she lifted her eyes to look at him, his hands reached for her cheeks.

His palm felt cold against her burning cheeks. Tarika closed her eyes in reflex, savouring the feeling of his hand fondling her cheek. The whole world came to a sudden halt, even the butterflies in her stomach stopped. There was only one thing that existed – them. Not he, not she but them.

She then opened her eyes slowly as his hand left her cheek. Her eyes saw him smiling at her, full of love, full of warmth. And suddenly she felt beautiful, special.

It was as though she got wings – she felt strong, like she could do anything. This was the essence of love.

People said that they found love in life. But she felt that it was the other way. In love, she found life.

She moved closer to him and wrapped both her hands on his arm, brought it close to her chest and rested her head on his shoulder. For a moment she looked at his face, to meet his eyes and then closed her eyes, choosing to break the eye lock.

While her eyes were still closed, Abhijeet rested his head on hers. She tightened her grip on his arm like she never wanted to let go. Her head was a mess. She had a thousand feelings that she couldn't find words for. She somehow felt comfortable in this silence, sitting next to the man she loved. She didn't want to break it. If only it were in her power to actually do that!

They stayed like that for a while, with her holding on to him before he finally spoke.

"Tarika?"

He lifted her head and looked at her. She too, looked into his eyes only to look away after a quick glance…yet again.

She couldn't tell him.

Not now.

She couldn't.

The thought of telling him shattered her.

"Chocolate khaogi?"

"Kya!"

"Cho-co-late kh-a-o-gi?"

He uttered each syllable distinctly, making her hit his arm.

"Abhijeet raat ke 12 baj rahein hain."

"Haan."

"Ghar pe chocolates nahi rakti mein."

"Haan pata hai."

"Tumhare paas chocolates hain kya?"

"Nahi."

"Toh phir?"

"Mere paas gaadi hai aur mujhe driving bhi aati hai."

"Tum pagal ho gaye ho!"

"Kabhi kabhi pagalpan bhi acha hota hai – kya kehti ho?"

"Seriously Abhijeet? Tum mujhe abhi chocolate khilane le jaoge?"

"Kyun nahi."

She smiled at him. Who could say that this was the tough cop?

She would miss these things he did for her. Oh she would miss them bitterly!

"Toh chalo."

As he drove towards the 24 hours open mart close to her house, she found her mind being occupied by him. She replayed what had happened a few minutes ago. When she sat with him, thinking about something he clearly knew was serious, he comforted her with his presence. And though it would be killing him inside to know what it is, he saw how troublesome it was for her to say it out – so he asked her if she wanted a chocolate.

No whats, no whys – he simply wanted to make her feel good till she was ready to speak. Gosh, didn't he understand her perfectly?

From the passenger seat, she looked towards the driver's seat only to see that he was not there. She looked towards her left and found him standing there, with the car's door open for her.

"Chalein madam?"

Soon Abhijeet and Tarika returned with a huge Dairy milk. As soon as they sat in the car, Tarika unwrapped the cover like a little girl and started eating it. Abhijeet, who had been watching this wished that he could make a video out of it.

"Tarika?"

"mmm?"

"Bachi lag rahi ho."

"Acha hai," she concentrated on her chocolate

"Hain?Kyun?"

"Kyuki tum bacho se bahot pyaa – m-matlab – sab bacho ko bahot pasand karte hai na."

Abhijeet nodded… still blushing from the first part of her statement. Tarika too, awkwardly looked at him.

"Mujhe bhi doh na thoda," he tried to change the topic.

"Ghar jaake dungi khaana."

"Chocolate doh na."

"Bilkul nahi," she rolled her eyes, "kitne mote ho gaye ho tum!"

"Arrey saara akele hi khaogi toh moti ho jaogi tum."

"Acha?"

"Aur kya!"

"Toh mein aadha fridge mein rakh dungi – you don't worry."

"Arrey magar – "

She then raised her eyebrows, teasing him.

Secretly he loved it too, when his witty lady outsmarted him.

"Ek bite toh do yaar."

Tarika kept the chocolate down. Her eyes gleamed with mischief.

A/N :

So what is with the mischief ?

Yeah, I know that is not what you really want to know : P : P

That you would get in the next chapter.

So...please do review.

Would love to know what you think is happening - both about the mischief and about the issue : P : P