The next day Surabhi dressed up in dark blue jeans and short white top with black embroidered border. She usually dressed up in formal pants and tops and sometimes in traditional kurtas. Friday's was a casual wear day and she chose to wear jeans or knee length skirts. Surabhi wanted to look good that day. She thought that the time she spent with Dhruv had been wonderful and wanted to look good for that day's meeting.

As usual, she was one of the first to reach office. Poorvi was already at her desk working. When she saw Surabhi come in, she greeted her. Surabhi thought this must be one of her 'good mood' day. She wished her back and began working. But Poorvi wanted to talk to her. She came closer to her desk while pushing her chair with her feet while seated on it.

"You met Dhruv for the first time yesterday, right?" Poorvi asked with an unusual enthusiasm and twinkle in her eyes.

"Yes," Surabhi replied unaware of the flood gates that she was opening.

"I bet you dint expect him to be so good looking," she said and she paused and looked away momentarily before looking back at her.

"Pictures don't do justice, don't you think?"

"Frankly, I did not expect anything as I hadn't seen his pictures," Surabhi replied honestly. She had wondered that he must be handsome guessing by his voice while their training was going on. But later she had not thought anything else beyond that.

"I joined just last year, but I hear that he has a huge female fan base in our office. Someone even attempted suicide after being rejected by him is what I heard. After I joined T&S, I was working from Singapore office for sometime and he moved to Delhi office barely 4-5 months after I came to work here." Surabhi noticed some disappointment while she told her this. But Surabhi was not interested in talking about him anymore so she discouraged any further discussion and just gave her a nod. Poorvi soon got back to her desk.

Sometime later Megha came in. Dropping off her laptop on her desk she walked straight to Vijay's office. She reappeared 10 minutes later looking extremely worried.

Surabhi walked over to her desk and putting an arm around Megha asked what was wrong.

Megha looke at her with worried expression, "I had prepared a report a couple of days ago and but someone accidentally deleted it and now I was asked to prepare an extensive report covering the entire year. It was an urgent requirement but the data is so large that it would take me at-least 2 days to complete it. But I have to submit it at the end of the day."

Surabhi comforted her telling her that she would finish her time critical tasks and help her. She quickly got to work. An hour later she told Megha that she was done with her important work and that she could help her out.

Megha and Surabhi disconnected their laptops from the network and went and sat in a meeting room so that no one could disturb them. Megha showed Surabhi the data that she had to gather and the process. Soon both were engrossed in work. Surabhi had left her mobile on her desk when she moved to the meeting room. Dhruv tried sending her messages and then tried calling her but could not reach her. He could not understand what was wrong.

Vijay came looking for them after lunch time. "Here you are," he said as he entered the room. "I was looking for you. I didn't know Surabhi was helping you. That's nice of you Surabhi," he said with a appreciative smile. And then continued to ask, "How's it going?"

Megha looked at her friend with a thankful glance and said, "Long way to go, but we may manage to finish it by tonight."

"Good. Let me know if you need anything," he said as he left.

Vijay had sandwiches delivered to the meeting room for them. They ate all the while continuing to work.

Both Megha and Surbhi were busy trying to get a hold of the report. Surabhi forgot all about Dhruv.

Dhruv could not ask anyone in the office about her as he did not want anyone to know he liked her. So he slipped out of his office and went down to the 7th floor where Surabhi's cubicle was located. He walked in as if to meet everyone. But checked out Surabhi's desk. He saw her mobile on the desk but she was nowhere to be seen. He went back to his office hoping she would call him. Surabhi continued working partly on her own report and also preparing report for Megha. She finally decided she needed a break, so she looked out through the window blinds and saw that sun had already set and it was getting dark. She suddenly remembered about Dhruv and frantically began looking for her phone. She went to her desk and grabbed it and saw that Dhruv had called her several times during the day. She immediately returned his call. Please answer, please answer Dhruv she repeated in her head.

He answered, "Hi where have you been? I was waiting the entire day. I got to leave to the airport now. Can you come down and maybe we can talk for sometime?"

"Yeah sure will be down in a minute," she said and took the elevator down.

Dhruv was pacing around the fountain in the lobby of the office building as he waited for her. As soon as she walked to him, she apologized. "I'm so sorry. I was so caught up today that I forgot to carry my mobile with me."

"I'm relieved that this was the reason. I thought you were angry because I tried to kiss you goodbye yesterday," he said waiting for her response.

"No, I'm not angry. That is who you are, a charmer, flamboyant, extrovert and you have met similar girls so far. But you have to understand that I am different. I was raised in a small town. I'm a very shy person. My moral values are different than those of a girl raised in a big city. If you can respect that, then we can work something out.' she said.

"Great! Can you stare at a delicious chocolate and not eat it? You are asking me to do just that. But, I will wait for you to trust me completely," he said staring into her eyes.

"I have to leave now but I hope to see you again soon. And meanwhile, I hope to keep talking to you. When we meet the next time, I hope you consider me more than a friend. If that happens, you will make me the happiest person on the planet,' he said as he gave her a side hug.

Surabhi just smiled.

After he left, she returned back to the office. She thoughtfully sat in front of Megha.

"What happened?" Megha asked with furrowed brows looking up from her laptop.

"There is something that I need to tell you. I... I went out for coffee with Dhruv yesterday. You know that we have been talking for a while now and I don't know how or when but it turned into flirting. Yesterday, we just talked and he says that he likes me," she said anticipating a surprise from Megha.

"What!?' Megha exclaimed. "Why dint you tell me this before? This is huge. Wait.. but what about you?"

"I... I...don't know. I'm confused." Surabhi shrugged and let her hands rest in her lap. "He is everything a girl would ever dream of. And here he is, pouring his heart out and I stand there like a wax idol. Is something wrong with me?" Surabhi asked hoping to get some support from her friend.

"Is there someone else?" Megha asked.

"No, there is no one else. What makes you think there is someone else?" she exclaimed.

Megha was thoughtful for a moment and then finally said, "If there is no one else then take your time and decide. But can I give you a friendly

advice?"

"Of-course."

"Don't take a decision based on your past. I mean to say if one guy dumped you does not mean you will be hurt again. Don't fear falling in love but don't settle for anything less than you deserve. Only you can tell if he is the right guy. I am saying this because you are a very different person. I have had a couple of boyfriends. Experimented and learnt a lot. Got hurt in the process as well. But that was because of how I was raised. For you this is more important than just a fling. I am sure you will pour your heart into the relationship and expect the same kind of commitment from the other person. If Dhruv is the person who will understand this and take care of you I will be very happy for you."

"Megha, do you doubt Dhruv's intention?"

Megha hesitated for a moment. "You must have heard rumors doing rounds in the office regarding list of Dhruv's girlfriends. That is what is worrying me. You are not like any other girl. So please tread carefully."

Surabhi thoughtfully nodded.

While returning from office as she watched the city lights zoom past her cab window she thought about what Dhruv had said. She had never met someone so confident, open about his feelings and as passionate as him. But she was not sure what was holding her back. She opened the car window and let the cool air hit her face as she thought that her life was nothing like a movie when she got dumped but now with Dhruv entering her life, it sure felt like one. But was he the hero of her life's story? If he was then could there be a happy ending for them she wondered.