I'm sorry for being so late and also for giving such a short chapter, but I'm having a major writer's block phase right now. This part is to sort of kick start with the story again. Hope y'all like it. I'll try to give a longer update next time.

**

"Suna hai you have a girl in your life now?"

As his father casually threw the question at him while reading the newspaper over the breakfast table, Nakuul almost chocked on the coffee he was sipping. He knew his mother surely would have gossiped to her dear husband, but still, it was awkward for Nakuul to be directly called out on it by his dad. His father wasn't strict, mind you. Despite having been in the army, senior Mr. Mehta was as cool a dad as they came. Still, because Nakuul had never had conversations about girls with his father before, he was a little uncomfortable. Moreover, he didn't know how to answer to the older man's question.

"Uh... what do you mean?" He ended up quite stupidly asking, buttering his toast all the while to appear nonchalant. If he had looked up, he would have seen his father rolling his eyes under his glasses, a small smile on his face.

"Woh kya hai uss ladki ka naam? Subha...nahi, Sunita..."

"Surbhi," Nakuul said, then bit his tongue. His father roared into laughter, keeping aside the newspaper and folding his arms across his chest.

"Surbhi. Hmm. Nice name."

It was Nakuul's turn to roll his eyes, and he let a smile escape his lips now.

"Let's not pretend that mom didn't tell you everything already," He said, to which his father only raised his hands in surrender.

"So fine, there...is a girl," Nakuul said, shrugging, but smiling shyly nonetheless. "She's an actress, works on this show-"

"Ishqbaaaz," His father interrupted. Nakuul looked at him surprised. 

"Your mother and I were watching an episode, the other day," The older man said as a means of explanation, a glint in his small eyes. ""She's really good."

"Well, thanks, I guess," Nakuul said, feeling stupidly proud. 

"So, I've heard that you haven't asked her out yet?" His father asked, while serving himself some poha. Nakuul groaned internally, wondering why his mother had to tell everything to his dad. All his friends had been hounding him with this exact question- why he hadn't asked her out yet- and he was tired of explaining.

Because he wanted it to be special, goddamit!

"I haven't," Nakuul replied, nodding. "But, I will. Soon."

"Tonight at the party, I suppose?" His father asked, to which he only grinned. The prospect of the reception tonight made his heart beat faster, in nervousness and in excitement. The idea that he would possibly soon be dating the woman he was practically obsessed with was so entirely thrilling, Nakuul's stomach churned with emotions and he left his breakfast half-way. Getting up and moving to his room- well, his old room, since his current abode was a penthouse near their practice venue- he dialled up Surbhi's number. Ever since she had gotten the personal invite from Virat and Anushka, she had been over the moon and it was evident in her voice. Unfortunately for Nakuul though, she had been so excited about the party, that in the last two days, she had barely had time to talk to him, being busy in buying the 'perfect' dress, matching accessories, and of course, getting her beauty sleep. Which meant that in the past two days, Nakuul had been deprived of their crucial nightly talks, and the only thing that had been holding this man together was the fact that, well, if everything went well, their nightly talks would become even more...interesting, to say the least.

When Surbhi picked up the phone, Nakuul had been so lost in his own thoughts, she had to say hello a couple of times to catch his attentions.

"Oh, hey, babe," He replied, shaking his head and moving to stand in the balcony of his room. "What's up?"

"Nothing's up, Nakuul! Everything's down! I told you that mumma wanted me to wear her favorite diamond pendant with my attire, right? She said it would go perfectly, so I didn't buy any other neckwear. But TODAY she realizes that she left the pendant back in Delhi, when she went to mama's house last month! Can you imagine! I'm freaking out, Nakuul. Now I don't have any neck-wear that would match with my-"

"Surbhi Surbhi Surbhi- calm down," Nakuul broke her rambling, chuckling slightly. "Don't freak out, babe. It's okay if don't have a neck-piece. You'll look beautiful either way, I'm sure."

"You're just saying that," Surbhi whined. "And it's not just about the pendant, Nakuul. It's about the fact that nothing ever goes perfect when I want it to!"

Sighing, Nakuul walked back into the room and slumped down onto the couch.

"Isn't the fact that we're gonna be there together perfect enough for you?" He asked, his voice turning soft. There was silence on the other side, and he knew that his innocent question had probably made Surbhi a little guilty. He smirked at that. He had found out over the weeks that contrary to her usually chirpy and happy-go-lucky demeanour, his girl was really quite sensitive inside. She didn't like upsetting people, and if she ever did so by mistake, she would apologize and use her own weird antics to make up for it. Nakuul absolutely adored that about her, amongst many other things.

"Of course it is," Surbhi finally replied, evident now that she was smiling to herself. "But, I want to look good enough to be with you-"

"Surbhi," Nakuul laughed, "Are you insane? You're beautiful, woman! And even if you come in just your PJs, you would look too good to be with me!"

Surbhi took a while to answer because she couldn't stop laughing hearing his overly-sweet dialogue, and Nakuul himself was smiling throughout.

"You really know how to make a woman feel better, don't you?" Surbhi asked. 

"Do I? I don't know. I've never tried it, before you," Nakuul replied, honestly. Surbhi was his first everything, so far, and he never let go of an opportunity to tell her that. To tell her how special she was, to him.

"I'm glad you haven't," She replied. They were both silent for a while, before Nakuul heard Surbhi's sister call out to her, saying something about how they urgently needed to go to the parlour, right now. He chuckled at that, and saying their goodbyes, they hung up. Sighing, he lay down on the couch, day dreaming about the night that was to come. He couldn't wait to see Surbhi after one whole week, couldn't wait to pull her into his arms and kiss her. Oh, how he had missed her! The Udaipur trip had been great, and he was ever so happy to have spent time with his parents. He was especially glad that he had opened up about Surbhi to them, and that they were so very elated about it. But now that he was back in Mumbai and had nothing to do for the rest of the month, he wanted to spend as much as possible with Surbhi. It would be difficult, yes, since her routine was still as hectic as before, but he was willing to make it work, even if it meant going to her studio and just, watch her act. He had so much planned for them, starting from wandering around the streets of Mumbai to taking vacations abroad together. It made him excited to even think about all this. Sighing again- because he did that a lot these days, whenever he thought of Surbhi (which was practically all the time)- he closed his eyes and rested for a while. They had landed in Mumbai at the early hours of the morning, and he hadn't slept much last night, it being the last few hours with his relatives and cousins there. And because tonight was going to be eventful, Nakuul really needed a nap. He had just drifted off to a light slumber, when his phone rang. Cursing, he picked it up.

"Hello?"

"Yeh hello hi chhor, aur bata- raat ka kya scene hai?"

Rolling his eyes, Nakuul sat up and answered back to the caller- Yuvraj.

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"Areh yaar. I mean, you're asking out Surbhi tonight, na? You won't chicken out, right? God knows how many times I chickened out before asking Hazel out."

Nakuul snorted at that.

"I mean, I don't know. Hopefully I won't chicken out. Because, it's obvious Surbhi likes me back, right? I know she's not the kind of girl who would just go around flirting or anything, if she didn't genuinely like me. But, I have to admit- I am scared. Could it be that she changed her mind about me? I mean, we haven't met in a week. And she's an actress- a gorgeous one, at that- so she obviously has so many other prospects. Gosh, I'm nervous now! Why did you have to call and make me nervous? Tu bhaad main jaa, yaar!"

Hanging up, Nakuul once again slumped back against the couch, covering his face with hands. His heart was beating faster, and his hands were sweating already. Nakuul rarely ever got this nervous, even before important matches, and rolling onto his stomach, he wondered if it would actually be so bad if he chickened out and postponed the whole proposal thing, altogether.

**

I know you all were very excited for the Virushka reception, but I really didn't feel like writing about it, right now. In the next update, for sure.

Much love

xoxo