Arjun stops walking when he's right in front of me. A small and definitely not decent gap between the two of us.

I take a step back. He takes one forward.

Instead of taking another step back I stay on my spot. There's no use taking another one back because eventually I'll end up getting pinned against a wall because it doesn't seem like Arjun will stop.

"Enlighten me Arjun." I tell him.

"Rishi Mehra." He utters.

"My date? You want to talk about him?" I ask him trying my best to sound calm.

"Yes." He answers.

"What about him?" I ask.

"He's not a good guy." He says in response.

"Oh really? His behaviour is very contradictory to what you're saying about him." I tell him.

"What behaviour is that? Ogling at you throughout the party?" He asks me.

"He's a decent guy, Arjun." I tell him.

"Shravya can't you just listen to what I'm telling you? Rishi isn't a good guy, you maintain distance from him, I'll help you in dismissing him. We can do it right now." He tells me.

"Neither you nor I will do any such thing. I've heard enough and now I'm leaving from here to get back to Rishi." I tell him and make an attempt to reach for the door but fail.

Arjun's fingers wrap around my wrist and he pulls me back to himself, my body crushing against his.

One of his arms snake around my waist, my bare one at that because of the saree that I'm wearing and he pushes me closer to himself if that's even possible.

My breath hitches.

"Shravya." Arjun said in a husky voice.

"I don't like it. Plain and simple, I don't like you being close to Rishi." He continues.

"Arjun, this..leave me." I tell him flustered.

"No, I won't. Not before you listen to me." He says.

My heart starts beating rapidly against my chest and those wiggly jiggly feelings that Sneha talked about start happening to me again.

Good Lord, save me.

"I will but I think we should have a little space between us, yeah?" I ask him with a nervous smile.

"Why Shravya? Does this bother you?" He asks me, looking straight into my eyes.

"No." I firmly answer.

"No?" He asks, cocking an eyebrow and I shake my head in a no this time.

"But it bothers me." He says and from his free hand holds my hand bringing it towards himself.

He then flattens my palm against his chest right above where his heart is.

And it beats rapidly. Just like mine.

"You feel that, Shravya?" He asks me and I nod my head at him, unable to respond in words.

"That's what you do to me." He says.

"Arjun.. I... I." I begin speaking but he cuts me off midway.

"No wait, let me say all that I want to." He says looking intensely into my eyes and that's enough for shivers to run down my spine.

"Shravya today when I saw you with that Rishi Mehra, I was pissed, angry even. When I saw you with that Vivaan at the cafeteria I felt the same. I've come to the realisation that I don't like seeing you with any guy other than myself of course." He says.

"What are you trying to say, Arjun?" I ask him.

"I want you to stop going on blind dates. I want you to stop bringing anyone else as your date anywhere. I want you to give me a chance. I want you, Shravya." He finally says.

"Arjun.. " He shuts me up again, this time by bringing a finger to my lips.

"I know you're going to refuse, but I'm not ready to hear that Shravya, I'll not force you to give me a chance or reciprocate whatever I feel for you but if it's a no, then don't say anything." He says.

I remove his finger from my lips and open my mouth to speak.

"Arjun Mehrotra give me a chance to fucking speak. Don't try to stop me again or else I'm going to use my karate moves on you, you remember the warning I gave you a while back, right?" I ask him.

"Refuse he karna hai toh aise he kardo Shravya, iss bechare bande nu maarna mat. [if you want to refuse Shravya then do it just like that, don't beat this poor guy up okay?] It's taken him a lot of effort to voice his feelings out." He tells me.

"Is your blood group B negative?" I ask him and he immediately shakes his head in a no.

"Toh phir kiss baat ki negativity? [Then what is this negativity all about?] Why are you so sure I'll refuse?" I ask him.

"Wait, does that mean you won't refuse?" He asks me carefully.

"No I won't." I tell him as a smile breaks on my face.

It takes him a good ten seconds to process my words before an even bigger smile than mine breaks on his face.

"Shravya you, you will give me a chance? I stand a chance, wow!." He says as he realises.

"Yes, Arjun, I will." I tell him.

"Wait you aren't joking right? What about Rishi Mehra?" He asks me.

"Rishi Mehra isn't my actual date, he was just pretending to be one because Abhi asked him to." I tell him.

He looks at me with his brows furrowed as he processes what I've just told him.

"I'm not going to spare Abhi but before that, I have to deal with you." He says and places another hand on my waist, holding me in place once again.

"What did I do?" I ask him innocently.

"You made me sad, sad and mad. Very very mad." He tells me in a babyish voice and then goes on to pout.

My heart instantly melts at how cute he looks.

"Wait, Mr. Mehrotra, I should be the one mad." I tell him.

"Really Miss Arora? Why is that so?" He asks back.

"That's because you only realised you felt something for me after seeing me with another guy." I tell him.

"You can't entirely blame that on me, I wasn't sure whether you liked me at all or not." He says in response.

"Well that was my thought exactly till a couple of days back too, so I understand where you're coming from. We've both been foolish." I tell him.

"Absolutely, instead of confronting each other we just kept thinking negatively but in a way I'm glad Abhi set you up with Rishi Mehra even if it was a fake set up." He tells me

"I know right, first I was reluctant to go ahead with Abhi's plan because I thought it'll fail but I'm happy I did agree to do it. Just imagine had I not showed up with Rishi today you wouldn't have reacted the way you did Arjun." I tell him.

"Well, you never know Shravya, I may have." He says.

"Oh really. How is that so?" I ask him.

"Give me a second." He says and removes his hands from around my waist freeing me from his hold.

He then walks over to his desk and picks something up from it. It's a velvet rectangular shaped box. He then walks back towards me.

"What's this?" I ask him, eyeing the box curiously.

"This is a small gift that I got for you. I had already planned on telling you about my feelings today Shravya and had you accepted I would have given you this as a symbol of our new relationship." He tells me and opens the box to reveal a gold chain with a pendant having the letters S and A joined together and three small diamonds engraved on the A.

"The letters stand for our names. Shravya and Arjun." He adds.

"This is beautiful Arjun." I tell him.

"It'll look more beautiful when it is on you." He tells me and picks it up from the box.

"May I?" He asks walking behind me.

"Arjun, I don't really know, it's too expensive unless the diamonds are fake, which I hope they are..I don't know if I can accept it." I tell him.

"The diamonds aren't fake Shravya and a gift is a gift, what counts is the thought behind it and not it's price, so let me." He says.

"Arjun, maybe you can give it to me sometime later, I think it's too early to.." I protest again but he silences me.

"Shush. Now let me make you wear it, Shravya." He says and brings his hand to gather my hair on the side of my shoulder.

His fingers make contact with the bare skin of my neck and back while his chest presses against my back. His warm breath falls on my skin, making goosebumps form all over my body.

My breathing turns heavy as Arjun brings the chain to my neck and then clasps it.

"Done." He murmurs against my ear and then plants a soft kiss behind it.

"Arjun." I utter in a soft voice.

"Yes?" He asks me.

"Thank you." I say and turn around to face him.

"Beautiful." He comments as soon as he looks at me.

My cheeks flush and I immediately look away from him.

"Look at me Shravya." He says and brings his index finger to my chin, raising it such that my eyes meet his.

"Shravya Arora, will you please be my girlfriend? A real one this time, I must add." He says and smiles at the last sentence.

I nod my head at him.

"Words, Shravya. I want to hear you say it." He says.

"Yes, Arjun, I will be your girlfriend. A real one must I add." I answer.

"Thank you so much." He says with a happy glint in his eyes.

"Thank you so much to you too. For everything." I tell him.

"Always a pleasure." He answers.

"Can I ask you something?" I ask him and he nods his head in response.

"What if I refused? What would you have done about this pendant then?" I ask him.

"Then I would have given it to you as a token of our friendship." He answers.

"Oh and this S and A? What about them?" I ask him.

"Then I would have told you it stands for Shravya Arora, your name." He tells me.

"So you were prepared for both the cases Mr. Mehrotra." I comment with a teasing smile.

"Of course I was. A man has got to prepare for both good and bad." He says and chuckles.

I chuckle too.

The two of us keep looking at each other, staring directly into each other's eyes.

I feel Arjun lean in closer towards me.

My heart starts beating rapidly again.

When he's just an inch away from me, my eyes shut on reflex and I lean in too.

Our lips are now almost touching.

Suddenly there's a knock on the door and my eyes immediately fly open.

"Shravya, are you in there? It's me, Rishi." Rishi's voice says from outside.

I open my mouth to reply but I do not get a chance to.

Arjun doesn't let me.

He presses his lips to mine the very next second.