Sanam had the week off to prepare for her final exams. It was mid-December. Over a month since they decided to give their relationship a real chance. Arjun would occasionally take her out in the evening if she didn't have much to study. If both were tired, they'd spent the night in watching TV, cooking together, talking about things - it was mostly Arjun filling her up on the lives of everyone they knew while him also telling her stories of his wild, college days.

In the past month, Sanam had never felt closer to anyone before. He listened. They talked, truly - about things that mattered. He gave her space when he'd feel it was getting too much for her. And, as always, he was understanding - giving her the time to adjust to continuing her studies and turning their relationship into a reality.

This particular morning, she was sitting at the coffee table in the penthouse studying when Arjun walked out of the kitchen and placed a cup of coffee in front of her. Her eyes flickered at the movement and catching what it was, a smile spread over her lips. She hadn't realized when he'd woken up and walked in the kitchen to make it. Suffice to say, she had gotten addicted to his coffees since he had first made it for her when he'd driven her to the hospital.

"Thank you," She expressed with a grin as she reached for it.

"Your welcome, sweetheart." He sat at the other end of the round table, suppressing a yawn. "Did you ever go to sleep last night?"

Sanam sighed into the sip of the coffee, relishing the taste as well as the warmth trickling down her throat. "Not really," She admitted in a stressed tone as her finals were only a few days away. "I took a couple of 20 minute naps." She added, as if it were going to help her case when he gave her a concerned look.

"You're going to exhaust yourself one of these days."

He had made it known to her on multiple occasions how he wasn't the biggest fan of her sacrificing her sleep, even though he did try to be understanding of her major.

"It's my finals, Arjun." It was her way of saying she didn't have much of a choice. She had worked too hard her whole life since high school to give up now. This was what she wanted: to be a doctor and make a difference in the world one family at a time. "Anyway, you're up early. Meeting?"

She had gotten to learn his schedule as she didn't have to leave for hospital early in the morning as her shifts got changed to afternoon. His daily routine was something she remembered more than things on her daily to-do list. For instance, she knew that he didn't wake up until 8 and didn't have to get to office until 10. That always gave him plenty of time to get ready without ever being rushed. The only time he was awake before 8 was if he had an early meeting.

Twisting some of the notes around that she had taken over the night in his direction, he replied. "Yeah, I've got back to back today. It's going to be hell of a day." He was mentally counting the pages, and added. "Did you seriously make 23 pages of notes since last night? Do you even remember any of it?"

That had been another thing. He actually kept track of her notes. He'd usually remember the number she'd labeled on the top right corner each time he'd come up to check on her. "Once this amazing coffee kicks in, yeah." She answered while swatting his hand and retrieved her notes. "I haven't numbered the pages yet, so don't get them out of order please." Numbering the pages were essential if she didn't want to confuse the life out of her when she would go back to study them.

Given that Arjun was more of a tea person than coffee, he had finished drinking first. Still, she asked for she was in desperate need to feel fresh. "If you aren't getting too late, I'd like to jump in the shower first."

He smirked, walking back to her from the kitchen sink where he'd just deposited his used cup. "I am a little late, but I won't mind if you join me."

Initially, she would blush whenever he passed a comment. By now, however, she had taught herself to get used to it. "Shut up and get your ass in the shower." She compromised, not minding having to wait another ten-fifteen minutes to shower. That was another thing. In the past month, he had been flirtier with her and even though it used to bother her at first, she taught herself to not think much of it.

He dragged a gasp in pretense, "Sanam! Language."

She laughed, "You have your wonderful friends to blame for that." It wasn't a curse anyway. Atleast, she didn't take it to be one. "Now seriously, go. I don't want you to be late." She started to push him towards the room.

He fought against her push, "Okay, wait. Listen to me though."

She momentarily stopped, "What?"

"You're going to bore yourself sitting at this table all day long and studying. Come with me to work." Before she could open her mouth to object, he continued, "Seriously, Sanam. You can stay in my office. No one will bother you, I promise. It's got this huge glass floor to ceiling windows and I swear, you'll love the view."

Sanam knew what he was doing. Trying to manipulate her into spending the day with him. She did somewhere feel bad for not being able to spend much time with him lately, with studies always on her mind and barely a relaxed 10-15-minute talk in a day, unless it was the weekend She shook the thoughts away of what was going to be in a few days, "No, definitely not. You will only be a distraction and I really have to study."

He pointed out, bending down to sit on his knees and meet her eye level. "Sweetheart, I can barely be a distraction when I am going to be in and out of meetings all day today." He raised his brows, "Please?"

She asked, "Why do you want me to go with you so badly?" He had been trying to make her go for the past two weeks, bringing it up every few days."

"Because, I want you to see the place where I spend my time when I am not with you or my friends." His instant response took her aback. She should have stopped being stumped by his answers.

"Next time, I promise. Just not today, please?" She felt terrible having to do this again, especially with the dejected look in his eyes at her response.

Still, he attempted to understand and nodded with lips pressed together in a thin line. "Okay, I'll see you tonight?"

She nodded for that and he stood up. "Hey wait, I forgot to tell you something."

"Yeah?" He sat back down.

"Good morning."

His frown was quick to turn in a laugh. "You're really something else." Whether or not other things were a success, he had taught her to actually give people proper greeting instead of cutting to the chase.

Trying to hold back a smile, she scolded. "You're supposed to say it back."

"Oh? My bad." He said and pecked her lips. "Good morning, sweetheart." She somewhat froze for a second as even though she was used to his hugs or random flirtatious comments, or forehead/cheek kisses, this was new. Shaking his head biting back a grin, he walked away to shower.

She was sure his mood would be better now. She knew he was still upset she had said no again to visit his office but she was sure he wouldn't be for much longer. She had thought of a way to make it up to him. Actually, she had gotten the idea of it when she had told him she'd come next time. She figured she could say no now and then surprise him later in the day. He had complained today was going to be a long day. She couldn't wait for his reaction when he would see her there after he came out of a meeting.

About ten minutes later, the scent hit her. She yelled with a raised voice so he could hear her all the way in the room from the kitchen, "Do you seriously have to spray on so much cologne?" The boy used it in abundance. Every morning.

He yelled back cheekily, "You love it, babe."

And heck, he wasn't wrong. Every time he'd walk by, she'd catch a whiff of his expensive taste. Something sharp and musky. Intoxicating. Every time he'd hug her, she'd smell it. A couple of times, he even teased her that the only reason she hugged him was because she couldn't get enough of it.

That may be one reason, but ofcourse it wasn't the only reason.

He walked out and narrowed his eyes at her on finding her sitting on the kitchen counter. She pouted, "I needed something from up there so I jumped on the counter... but now I am scared to actually get up on it."

These little things she did amused him enough to overlook the lack of time they got to spend with each other. "You know, I did offer to move everything to the lower cabinets so you can reach it, but no. You don't want..." He stopped talking when he was in front of her and she wrapped her arms around his neck. Cautious, he asked, "What did you need?"

"Now, why would I want you to shift things lower when it gives me an excuse?"

"I see." He asked, "What's this excuse for?" playing along and placing his hands on either side of her on the counter, trapping her in between. It wasn't like she was going to run away anyway. She'd gotten used to loving this banter.

She answered simply without a hint of hesitation or a blush. "For getting you close to me." She honestly hadn't needed anything from the upper cabinets. She never did. It was just the two of them living here. They didn't use much of the bigger utensils or the fancy silverware and glass plates that were stored in the upper cabinets.

He commented, looming over and closing the distance between their faces slowly, but tempting her by not kissing her. "Someone's getting bold." She wished he would. "Not that I mind... but today, I'm getting late and dad and bro will chew me up alive if I don't get to the meetings on time."

She rolled her eyes when he tried to leave. Grabbing the back of his shirt, she pulled him back to her. "Oi, man up and tell your brother and dad that you already get limited time with your wife. I'm sure they'll drop the idea of beating you to a pulp."

Grinning, he did lean in and kiss her cheek. She wished he would just stop temping her and really kiss her. Alas, he went on to placing kisses over her jawline, raising the heat in the room as well as the beating of her heart.

That was another thing about him she had gotten addicted to.

Coffee and kisses.

Even if they were chaste, he had a way of firing up every inch of her skin and wish they had time for more.

He exhaled at the buzz in his pocket. Since her knee was against his leg, even she felt the phone vibrating. Agitated at not even being able to properly have a moment with her without disturbance, he pulled back and retrieved his phone. It was his dad. "I really gotta go now."

With a smile, she nodded. "They will tease the life out of you though." She said while fixing the front of his hair for him. They were still slightly damp with the hair gel mixed in.

"You know that doesn't bother me." He pointed out, reminding her. Taking a step back, with his hands on her waist, he lifted her off the counter and on the ground. "Enjoy your day, kay?"

There was no enjoying studying. Still, she smiled. "I will." He kissed her cheek one last time to say good-bye and she waved at him when he was by the door. Once he left, she couldn't stop grinning. She may be 24, but he made her feel like a freaking teenager.

Remembering her plan, she called Neha. She was obviously unhappy at being woken up at 7 in the morning, but when Sanam revealed the plan, she was all in for helping her out. Neha ended the call, saying she'd get the info Sanam needed and call her back in a few. Meanwhile, Sanam gathered up her books and notes, taking them to her room and packed them all up in her bag along with her laptop. After making sure she had all the study materials she needed, she jumped in the shower.

Minutes later, she walked back in the room wrapped in her towel. She reached for her phone to see if Neha had texted her back. She had, but there was also a message from Arjun.

Arjun: Don't go about climbing places when I'm not around to carry you back down.

She grinned rereading the message. He seemed to have learnt her tiny fear she'd masked behind the pretense of getting him close to her, but she didn't really mind. She cared about the fact that he was always going to be around, next to her. Back at the beach, he had stayed and made sure she wouldn't fall. Today, even though she could have managed to push through and jump down, he had lifted her down safely on her feet.

Sanam: You better not have texted that while driving.

She knew that he knew better than to do that, but she was also an expert at dodging topics.

~

authors note;

The chapter came up to 4957 words so I split it into two separate chapters :D I'll post the next one on Friday! Now to see how they manage their relationship with both their careers in the way. But, first, some happy moments are long overdue, right? Leave your precious comments and votes behind!