The arcade was buzzing with life, the colorful lights bouncing off the walls, and the sound of coins clinking mixed with the mechanical beeps of games. Sehra's eyes lit up as she took in the chaos, her excitement palpable. Abhishek trailed behind her, hands shoved into his pockets, trying not to grin at how childlike she looked.

"Okay, okay, that's where we're starting!" Sehra declared, pointing to the basketball hoop game.

Abhishek smirked. "You sure? I don't want to hear any excuses when I destroy you."

"Destroy me? Oh, please. I'm going to obliterate you," she shot back, flipping her hair dramatically.

The game began, and Sehra immediately realized her mistake. While she struggled to make her shots, Abhishek was a machine. The balls swished through the hoop one after another, his movements smooth and practiced.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS?" she yelled, missing her fifth shot in a row.

"It's called winning," Abhishek replied smugly, sinking another basket without even looking at her.

When the timer buzzed, Abhishek's score was three times hers. She threw her hands up in frustration. "This is so unfair! You're a cricketer. You've got the hand-eye coordination of a damn ninja or something. I'm just a mere mortal."

"A mere mortal who trash-talked before losing," he teased, collecting the tickets that spat out of the machine.

Sehra squinted at him. "I demand a rematch later. Let's find something that doesn't require freakish athleticism."

They wandered over to the claw machines next. Sehra's eyes zeroed in on a black-and-pink Kuromi plushie sitting tantalizingly close to the edge. "Abhay, this is it. My destiny awaits."

"Destiny? It's a claw machine. You're about to waste your coins."

"Watch and learn," she said confidently, inserting the coins.

Sehra's "destiny" turned out to be a series of near-misses and increasingly aggressive muttering. "WHY is the claw so weak? I was so close that time!"

"Here, let me show you how it's done," Abhishek said, stepping up like some kind of arcade savior.

"Oh, please. Let me grab my popcorn for this disaster."

Sure enough, his attempts were worse than hers. The claw barely moved, and when it did, it grasped the plushie for a nanosecond before flopping uselessly.

"You're terrible," she said, laughing so hard she had to hold her stomach.

"Yeah, well, at least I'm not emotionally invested in Kuromi," he shot back, but he was laughing too.

After a few more games (where Sehra won exactly once and didn't let him forget it), they decided to grab dinner.

The sushi bar in the corner of the arcade had a surprisingly good spread. They got a few trays packed and headed to the nearby park. The bench they found was right by the lake, the moonlight reflecting off the water like tiny stars.

Sehra took a deep breath. "I love this place. I used to come here all the time when I needed to think."

Abhishek opened a tray of sushi, picking up a piece with his chopsticks. "You mean when you needed to stew over our arguments?"

She gasped. "I did NOT stew!"

"Really? What about that time you yelled at me for eating the last samosa? You didn't talk to me for two days."

"That was justified. You ate it without asking!"

"Sehra, it was MY samosa!"

"Details," she said, waving him off.

They both burst out laughing, and the conversation drifted to other ridiculous fights: the time she accused him of stealing her charger (it was in her bag the whole time), the epic showdown over whether pineapple belonged on pizza, and the infamous Monopoly game after the SRH Pre - IPL party that ended with her smacking fake money at his handsome face.

By the time they finished their sushi, Sehra spotted a cotton candy vendor across the park. "I need that," she declared, already on her feet.

Moments later, she returned with two fluffy pink clouds of sugar. She whipped out her phone and snapped a picture. "For the 'Gram," she said with a wink before handing him one.

"You're such a genz," Abhishek teased, taking a bite of the candy.

"And proud of it," she replied, her lips sticky with sugar.

As they walked back toward the parking lot, Abhishek suddenly grabbed her hand and pulled her toward a small Photo Booth tucked in a corner.

"What are you doing?" she asked, confused but laughing as he stuffed coins into the slot.

"We're making memories," he said with a grin. "Now pose!"

The booth's flash went off as they scrambled to strike silly poses. One picture had Sehra sticking her tongue out while Abhishek made bunny ears behind her head. In another, they were laughing so hard they were blurry.

When the photos printed, Sehra carefully tore the strip in half and slipped her copy into the back of her clear phone case.

Abhishek noticed and smiled. "That's where it's going?"

"Of course. It's a reminder of how much fun I had kicking your butt at the arcade."

He rolled his eyes. "You literally lost every game except Whack-a-Mole."

"Details," she said again, grinning.

As they reached the car, Abhishek stopped her, his expression suddenly softer. "Hey."

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for today. I mean it. This... this was good."

She smiled back, her voice just as soft. "Yeah, it was."

And as they got in the car, Sehra found herself already looking forward to the next date.

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