Eid Mubarak, everyone! I hope all your wishes get fulfilled this Eid and also that you get a lot of Eidi! ❤

**

A couple of days later, it was during a break in shooting that Surbhi came across something on Instagram that surprised her. More than that, something that made her heart start beating incredibly faster. She had been casually loitering on Instagram, scrolling through posts she had been tagged in as she sometimes did, as one particular picture with one particular person who had been messing with her heart and mind since she had met him, caught her attention. She had all but forgotten such a picture existed until she saw it. It had been taken when she had visited their IPL game, just a week back, and met him for the first time. In the picture, she was giving him the presentation check, and they were both smiling at the camera. Smiling, she traced Nakuul's face on the phone. It had been posted by a fanpage of hers, and Surbhi scrolled down a bit to see the caption. It read-

Gosh, don't they look so good together? What do you say, guys? Wouldn't it be awesome if #Narbhi could be a couple?! <3

"Nabrhi..." Surbhi whispered to herself, her cheeks heating up. Shy, she hid her own face in her palms, a wide grin not leaving her face. Somehow, it made her giddy to think that her fans thought she would look good with THE Nakuul Mehta. They had even come up with a ship name! And frankly, Narbhi sounded amazing. Repeating the name to herself again, she got up and twirled around, giggling with arms spread wide, ignoring the questioning looks everyone on set gave her. Falling back down on the couch, she picked up her phone again and stared at the picture, before taking a screenshot of the post. They did look great together, admittedly. 

At this moment, her phone vibrated, indicating the arrival of a message from the very man she had been drooling over all this while. She briefly wondered if he had seen the post too- it would be the best thing ever, if he had- because he had  been tagged too, but the chances of that were very less, seeing as he had over 3 million followers and probably got tagged in hundreds of posts everyday. Trying to fight the urge to casually send him the screenshot and say 'look what I found haha', she opened his message.

Busy, Miss Chandna? I have a break and was 
missing you ;)

She smiled fondly at the message. He was a real flirt when it came to her, wasn't he? And she absolutely loved it. 

Never too busy for you,
Mr. Mehta ;)

Two could play that game, she thought as she sent it. His reply came in a minute.

That makes me feel quite special ;)
Anyway, what's up? You having a break, too? 
I'm surprised you aren't utilizing this break to sleep :P

Surbhi rolled her eyes at that. According to him, she slept a lot. Which was probably true because she was always the first one to doze off during their late-night conversations, but that didn't mean the guy would make fun of her! 

Haha, very funny. I was just going through 
Instagram. And I found something that I would have
sent you but now I changed my mind :)

There now, hopefully that would make him curious. She was honestly dying to show him the post, no matter how desperate that would seem. But then again, what if that gave off a wrong signal and ruined their friendship? She couldn't afford that. Gosh, this was confusing! For the time being, Surbhi decided to not ponder over the post and enjoy texting him, because it was rare that they would get time off during the day to talk to each other.

What is it? Show me! I apologize, Surbhi. 
You do not sleep more than an average woman of
your age should, I suppose :)

Shaking her head at his pathetic attempt, she decided to play him a little.

Nuh-uh, not working!
Gotta go now,
shoot calls!

That wasn't a lie, because she knew her very punctual director would come looking for her in a while and would then chide her for 'always being on the phone and not coming for her take without being called'. Nakuul's reply arrived before she could switch off her phone.

Come on, babe! I'm sorry :(
Now show me, please?

Ignoring how the simple 'babe' made her cheeks burn and her palms sweat, she turned off her phone and walked towards where the next scene would be shot. More like happily sauntered, actually.

**

Nakuul could absolutely not focus on practising, and it was killing him. He watched as his teammates put in their best efforts, all under the bright sun of 12 pm, while he pretended like he was observing them but was actually lost in his own thoughts. In her thoughts, to be precise. 

Since the past few days, she had taken a permanent stall in his mind, 24/7. He was starting to realize that it was probably unhealthy to think so much about one woman, to the point of addiction, but couldn't help it. He always looked forward to her messages and had to switch off his phone during practise sessions so as not to be distracted. He smiled like an idiot all throughtout their night conversations, and if she didn't fall asleep in the midst every time, he could go on talking to her till morning. He stalked her on Instagram, dating back to her earliest pictures, and literally drooled over every single one of her posts! Yeah, he realized this was all extremely unhealthy. But honestly, he wasn't complaining. This feeling was something else entirely, and it made him feel so much better. In fact, although he was more distracted these days, their coach had remarked that Nakuul's performance during the practise sessiongs had improved drastically. And Nakuul knew it was a result of having such a positive light- AKA Surbhi- in his life.

Anyway, coming to the main point. Nakuul was having an extremely hard time focusing on practice today. Part of it was because of Surbhi's reluctance to show him what she had found on Instagram, which he was dying to know about. But the main reason was because their team would be leaving Mumbai tomorrow, early morning, for hyderabad, where their next match was scheduled. After that, they would be travelling to many different cities for upcoming matches, and would only come back to Mumbai after 20 days, when their next match with Mumbai Indians would take place. And this was a problem because?

Nakuul was dying to meet Surbhi again. 

And the only chance he would get of meeting her, was tonight.

The last time they had met, they had barely known each other. Still, there had been the spark, that comfort zone, that had made him want to get to know her more. And now, now they had been texting, non-stop. The past few days had made him realize that he had a huge crush on this woman, and if he didn't meet her anytime soon, he would go insane. 

Running a hand through his hair in agitation, Nakuul shut his eyes and tried to think. It was already noon, and if he wanted to meet her tonight, he would have to ask her ASAP. Chances that she would be able to make it were slim to none, because of her schedule, but the least Nakuul could do was ask. And right now, he wasn't being able to muster up the courage to ask her. Texting her first had been difficult too, yes. But this would be entirely different. What if she just saw him as a friend, and thought that meeting up at such short notice was a bit too much? God, he was so confused!

Declaring a break of 10 minutes, Nakuul decided to take some expert advice on this matter, and called up his best friend- Virat Kohli. Virat picked up after 2 rings.

"What are trying to do, man?" He started, no greeting or preamble, "Trying to distract me from making my team practise? Well, it won't work!"

Nakuul chuckled at that. 

"As hilarious as you are, I need your help in something. And it's a serious matter," He said, because time was running out.

"What is it?" Virat asked, sensing the serious tone.

"Before I tell you, you have to promise me- you won't speak a word of it to anyone, and you won't make fun of me!" 

"Okay, okay, I won't! Now tell me, what's the matter?"

Taking a deep breath, Nakuul deciced to spill it out. This was his best friend, after all.

"So the thing is, there's this girl-"

"Oh my God, finally! Who is it? What's her name? Do I know-"

"Okay okay, shut up, man. Let me finish, and no interruptions, alright?" He said sternly. He heard Virat sigh, and continued.

"So the thing is, there's this girl- and don't ask her name. I kinda like her and I kinda wanna take her out on a date..." Embarassed, Nakuul trailed off. 

"Wow mate, that's great!" Virat exclaimed, genuinely excited. "I know you don't wanna tell me who she is but-"

"Later. I'll tell you everything, but later. Currently, I need your help. How do I ask her out for dinner?" 

There was a few moments of pause, and Nakuul knew Virat was trying to come up with something romantic. Probably going back to his days of wooing Anushka.

"Okay, first things first- you have to take it slow. Maybe drop hints about wanting to meet up for a few days, talk about some restaurant you wanna check out, and-"

Scratching the back of his head, Nakuul scrunched his nose.

"Yeah uhm, there's a slight problem in that- the team leaves Mumbai tomorrow, so I have to ask her to dinner tonight."

A minute of silence, and Nakuul was just about to ask if he was still on the line, when Virat replied.

"You're really bad at this, aren't you?" He said, his voice a true indication of a dissappointed friend. Nakuul sighed.

"I know, I know. This is such short notice, but trust me- I've been meaning to ask her for the last couple of days! I just couldn't, you know..."

"Get the courage, I get it. Anyway, now that you only have a few hours to ask her, I'd suggest you do it directly. No hesitation, no wandering around the topic- just be blunt. Desperate times call for desperate measures, buddy."

Groaning because he had been an idiot all these days by being a coward, Nakuul decided to listen to Virat's advise.

"Fine, I'll do that. Thanks, buddy, I appreciate it."

"No problem, man. Let me know how the date goes! And now that I've helped you will you tell me who..."

Too late, Nakuul had already hung up.

**

During lunch break, Surbhi excitedly took out her phone to text back Nakuul. People on set were surprised these days to find that she was more intrigued by her phone than she was by lunch, but ignored asking because the last time Kunal had asked about that, she had given him the perfect example of a 'if looks could kill' glare. Unlocking her phone, Surbhi ate her lunch of biryani with one hand and texted with the other.

Nope mister, not showing. 
Anyway, you free now?
I'm having lunch break.

A few minutes passed where Surbhi decided to focus on her home-made delicious food. Picking up her phone again, dissappointed because he probably wasn't free, she frowned when she saw he had already seen her message. Yet, he hadn't replied and neither was he currently typing. Pouting, she was about to keep away her phone again, already angry at him for being late because she was so used to his constant attention and quick replies, when it started ringing. Wondering who would call during work hours, she looked at the screen, and her heart almost stopped beating.

Nakuul

"This isn't happening, this isn't happening..." Muttering this to herself, Surbhi stared at her screen for a while, frozen. Her heart pace had increased, and the air around her had suddenly become so hot, she was almost already sweating. Taking deep breaths and praying that he wasn't calling her to call off their friendship because he had realized she was a pathetic loser or something, she stood up and went towards a balcony on set, where there was no one present. Hands shaking, she picked up the call.

"Hello?" Her voice came out very timid and a little squeaky, and she cleared her throat.

"Surbhi? Hi, this is, uhm, me. Nakuul."

Gosh, his deep manly voice! Surbhi was already drooling. And also, was it just her or did he sound..nervous, for some reason?

"Yeah, I guessed. Since I have your number saved, and all...anyway what's up?" She said the last part quickly, having realized she had been awkwardly rambling. She heard him lightly chuckle at the other end, possibly at her idiocity, hopefully at her cuteness.

"Actually I called because I, uh, had to ask you something."

Surbhi's brows furrowed, in confusion, and apprehension.

"And you couldn't do that over text? Not that I mind, of course," She added quickly, realizing she was probably sounding rude. "I absolutely do not mind. Anyway, go on."

Way to embarass yourself, you moron, she thought to herself.

"Yeah so, the thing is- and it seemed better to ask over phone rather than text- I was wondering if we could, uhm..."

"Nakuul, what is it? Kill the suspense, already!" 

Because I'm dying in here, she wanted to add. 

"Okay so I wanted to ask if we could meet for dinner tonight? I know you're busy and all but afterwards? The thing is the team leaves Mumbai tomorrow and after that we won't be here for long so I just wanted to meet up. If it's okay with you, of course. You don't have to if you don't want to-"

"Yes."

"...I would totally understa- wait, yes?"

"Yes."

"Oh uhm, cool then. That's really cool. So tonight, 9 pm, at Le Cirque Signature?"

"Yes."

"Alright, I'll uhm, see you there. Oh and, Surbhi?"

"Yes?"

"It's a date?"

A few moments of pause, before-

"It's a date."

"Great! See you, then. Can't wait!"

After hanging up, it took Surbhi a long, long time to come out of her daze, and get back any of her senses.

**

Hope everyone liked it, do share your views! Oh and I'm really open to suggestions, so let me know if there is anything in particular that you would want to read about. I'll defo add it if the story allows. 

Love y'all! ❤