"Suman, today's special dish is lemon cheesecake." Said one of the kitchen staff members who worked with her.

Since the minute Suman and Shravan saw each other, it seemed as if the clocks stopped and life came to a stand still. They couldn't believe they were actually standing in front of each other after 3 months, 6 days and 12 hours to be precise. Shock, anger, hurt, guilt, happiness, as well as love; no number of words could do justice to what the two felt when they had seen each other.

Only they know how they managed to keep a poker face when Rishi had introduced them to one another.

Huh! The guy was introducing two long lost best freinds.

'Bro! I know him even better than you okay?' Played in Suman's mind as Rishi was introducing the two to each other.

Their heartbeats sped up, as if wanting to prove it's existance. Never in her wildest of dreams did Suman think she would come across Shravan, after Shravan's friend informed Pushkar of his absence in London. Not only is he in London, but is the owner of the very same company she is catering for!

What were the chances!?

As soon as she saw him, all she wanted to do was, break down in his arms and confess her love for him. But of course, being the practical girl she is, realized that is highly impossible as the one standing is front of her isn't her best friend and chashmish Shravan, it is The Shravan Malhotra, one of UK's leading attorneys' owner. Soon her love and longing was masked with anger, she walked off making an excuse before he could even greet her.

On the other side Shravan didn't know what to feel at the moment. He was utterly shocked as well as pleasantly surprised. He wanted to jump in exuberance, yet he remained nonchalant looking at her. He wanted to wrap his arms around her and confess his love for her, yet he just remained quite. Could their lives get more complicated than it already was.

First, a 16 year old Shravan had fallen in love with the girl he called best friend, the very same who would fight the world for him yet would be embarrassed if seen with him at school. He was so blind in love, he refused every time his father would offer him his studies to be completed at Oxford. Despite Oxford being one of the most reputed universities in the world, he didn't want to study there, he just wanted Sumo. The younger Shravan believed in the quote, 'Home is where the heart is', which in his case turned out to be Suman. Unfortunately, both women whom he loved dearly, knowingly as well as unknowingly; intentionally and unintentionally hurt him beyond repair, being the sole reason behind him leaving his childhood behind in his home town and moving away to a place so foreign. With time, Shravan had changed both physically as well as emotionally. He had built a body because somewhere deep down, he wanted her to admire him, his looks. He claimed to have not only forgotten his first love, but also claimed to hate her; yet never 'moved on' with any girl, even though many had asked him out due to his looks and nature.

They all knew him as a rough and tough angry young man, yet none knew he was still, in the deepest of his heart and soul, that same 16 year old boy craving for a glimpse casted his way from Sumo, craving to lie his head on his mom's lap. When he returned back and was informed by Pushkar about Suman's excitement at his arrival, he wanted to do nothing but run to her, but alas, he masked his longing with anger and asked 'Kaun Sumo?'. He had taken his revenge, yes, but had felt miserable afterwards, so much so he couldn't look at himself in the mirror. The day he heard Suman narrating the problem of her house, he was happy that despite everything, she had come to him, as if its her Haq, but had masked his happiness by making an excuse of going back to London. The restless feeling he got after his phone conversation with Verma, did nothing but mess his already muddled mind, as to who and what is Sumo to him. They had slowly come closer to each other thanks to the case, something he'll remain grateful to Khosla for eternity, and he had come to know that Suman had another side to her, a side that was either hidden to him or he was just too blind to acknowledge.

When he cornered her in his closet, his initial intention was to grab her by her waist and kiss her senselessly, yet he controlled his raging emotions, Suman's reaction to his approach did nothing but make him exuberant. And when finally he understood and realized the feelings he had for Suman hadn't disappeared, but were just hidden in the deepest chambers of his heart, he began ignoring her, in fear of her finding out his feelings, in fear of yet another rejection. And how funny is destiny, the day he gathered the courage to finally confess his heartfelt feelings to her was the very same day she had decided to reopen old wounds.

Little did she know, she had hurt him, yet again.

And not to forget the anger he felt towards himself as well as Berry, when he found out he had unintentionally broken down PCT. Breaking down PCT just broke that little hope he had for their relationship again. He had yet again fell in his own eyes, when Suman had met with an accident right in front of his eyes. Every word the doctor uttered describing the resultant condition of hers were like an arrow piercing his heart, each aim perfectly shot. It had then come naturally to him to look after her, a new determination to make sure she gets back on her feet. When he had finally seen her on her own feet, standing and walking normally, was the exact time he had decided to walk away from her life.

He was scared of becoming yet another reason behind her grief and sorrow.

He sighed as he sat back on his recliner. He remembered back to her expressions when she had seen him there as well. She was utterly shock, which meant she didn't know he was in London. Seeing the happiness in her eyes at seeing him face to face after 3 months, gave him hope. And this was when he had made up his mind to clear out all differences and to apologize to her. He would do anything to get his best friend back.

Anything.

》》●●●●●●●●●●●●《《

"Sumo." He breathed out as soon as she had opened the doors of her apartment. She stood in shock, at seeing him at her doorstep. He had a bouquet of her favourite white tulips. However, she was reminded of the emotional torture she had gone through for three months, and before a word said by him, she shut the door right on his face making his smile falter.

Well this was something he defintely did not expect, but life had been full of surprises lately so he should've seen this coming.

He had rung the bell again only to be met with ignorance.

'Oh, so she wants to play the ignore game huh? Well two can play this game very well.' He thought and had rung the bell yet again. He kept on ringing the bell, till she was beyond irritated and opened the door. Before she could shut the door on his face, again, he walked in fast.

"Oh hello. Tum aise kaise aa sakte hon huh? Tumme manners nai hai kya?" Suman asked irritated by his behaviour. He was acting as if nothing at all happened between them in so many days.

Seeing him give her a goofy grin in return riled her up more, "Oye kya daanth phaad rahe ho? I mean, London main log aise hi bin bilaye mu uthake aate hai kya? Please yaha se abhi ke abhi niklo." She said, fighting every nerve in her to not melt in his arms. Only she knew how hard it was to keep her emotions in check.

"Sumo." He called yet again and she stopped her rambling only to see immense happiness in his eyes on seeing her.

"Kya Sumo Sumo laga rakkha hai? Mera naam Suman hai, sirf Suman, samjhe?" She said angrily.

Before he could say a word she held his arm and directed him to the door, "Get out." Came her cold reply.

Seeing that she wouldn't relent at the moment at all, he walked off not before leaving the bouquet in front of her door.

Guess some things are attained the hard way.

The cycle had repeated for the next few days, Suman would come to work and jovially talk with everyone in office, except him. Hell she wouldn't even look his way. This had hurt him, but he knew he hurt her even more by disappearing and so she had every right to show her anger.

Every evening he would ring the bell and would wait for her to open the door, but walked off dejected after an hour or so. Every morning Suman would find a bouquet on her doorstep. A different bouquet each day. It would range from being lillies, carnations, roses or sometimes a mix of different colors of different flowers.

"Kyu Shravan kyu? Tum humesha aisa kyu karte ho? Humesha mujhe aise chodke kyu jaate ho? Aur ab jab mile hain, aise bartaav kar rahe ho jaise ki kuch hua hi nai. Sirf main hi jaanti main kaise apne aap ko rokti hu, tumse galle milne ka, tumhe mehsoos karneka, par afsos, I can't. Tumne mujhe bohot hurt kiya Shravan, Main tumhe maafi itni aasani se nai de sakti." She said as she looked at his photo on her phone.

Hearing her co worker calling out to her, she wiped her tears as she switched off the phone and began work.

"Suman, what's this you're making?" She asked as the aroma of the cooked food hit her nostrils.

"This is an Indian sweet dish, called moong dal halwa. It's Shra-"

"It's what?" Her co-worker, Samantha asked noticing her stopping abruptly.

"It's my best friend's favourite. He loves this." Suman said with a fond smile on her face.

"Hmm, interesting. This smells so good, my mouth is watering just at the sight of it!" She said excitedly as Suman laughed.

"Don't worry, just a few more minutes and you can taste it." Suman smiled as she continued stirring the contents of the pot.

"Woah! This is yum." Samantha said after trying a spoonful of the halwa. She had always loved Indian food, specially since she had been on a tour to India, and now having an Indian person cooking food in the same kitchen meant divine food for her.

"Bruv, you should teach me how to cook this." She said taking another spoonful of it.

"Looks like Ms Samantha Drew forgot her manners while eating." Suman laughed pointing to Samantha's mouth full while talking.

From what she heard, English people were the most mannered people in terms of everything in their lifestyle, and seeing Samantha hogging on the food as she talked at the same time was quite amusing.

"Pfft, not my fault this is so yum. Forget me, even the royal family would forget their table manners when eating your food." Samantha scoffed taking another bite making Suman giggle.

"Good to hear that." Suman winked as she began serving the food in the various dishes before proceeding to place them all on the cafeteria table.

"Suman, this is yummy." Aditya, an Indian British said as he tried her handmade pepperoni pizza, it was their hour long lunch break.

"Haha thanks Aditya." Suman flashed a smile.

"Please, call me Adi." He said forwarding his hand for a handshake to which Suman gladly accepted.

"And you can call me Sumo." She said.

Unknown to the two newly found friends, a pair of blazing eyes stared right back at them.