"Hey, guys. These people also want to play with us." The boy who led us here shouted to his other partners. They immediately came over to our side and surrounded us.

"Ok, one can come to my team and the other can go to that guy's team." A boy came forward with his hair reaching to his shoulder. He pointed at the guy from earlier and announced.

"How about we toss?" the other guy suggested.

"Ok, if tail sister will come to my team and if head, brother will go to yours." long long-haired guy announced, and I heard my love chuckling. Guess, she also got the meaning of his sentence.

"Deal!" the guy from earlier bumped his fist lightly. I heard quite snickering from the other kids. He is not very bright. Another boy came and was about to toss a coin in the air when the boy stopped him.

"Wait! Rahul, you again tried to cheat." he squeaked.

But the long-haired boy only shrugged. Ok, he is just slow, nothing wrong with that.

"Too bad, you were about to fall for this."

"Rahul-

"Ok, ok. There is no need to fight." My love came and stood between two boys.

"I will go to- what's your name?" she asked the other guy.

"Ojas." He replied.

"To the Ojas' team." She announced and the kids scattered.

And the match begins. My team took the lead first, the boy from my team was about to beat it when Vani interfered and snatched the ball when it was about to go into the basket. Sharp gasp followed. She tripled the ball till she reached the basket.

Boys from my team tried to follow her speed but she goaled smoothly. Everyone hooted and clapped. She grinned and made a high-five with Ojas.

I smirked. The game is on now. Taking another lead, her team was about to basket when Rahul snatched the ball and passed it to me. Tripling the ball three times I made a direct basket from where I was standing.

Now, it was equal. The game continued till 4:00 and the score was 45-44. She managed to make 45 baskets; I must admit she is really good at this game even though I tried my best. I was still a basket away from winning.

Right now, the ball was in Rahul's hands as he passed the ball to the other. Passing here and there for 10 minutes, the ball was finally in my hands. I was tripling the ball when a hand swiftly came under my legs and snatched the ball.

The hooting and clapping stopped and a sharp gasp followed with silence. Everything went still and I realized it was Vani who snatched the ball. I quickly chased after her and again snatched the ball. Surrounding was still silent.

I was about to bathe when the ball was snatched from my hands. Vani stood steadily on her feet after taking the ball. I was about to take the ball when she threw the ball towards her basket. Everyone's gaze followed the ball as it swiftly went inside the basket.

The silent surroundings suddenly up-roared when they won. The basket was phenomenal. She roared a 'come on' and her team climbed over her and pulled her down. Her laugh echoed in my ears as she pulled herself out of the group hug.

"I must say, you are still very good," I commented while looking at her flushed face.

"Of course, 2 times national champion." No doubt. I wiped her sweat with the kerchief I carried in my pocket. She huffed.

We got out of the court and went out. It was almost 5. The sun was hiding behind the dark clouds.

"It's my favorite weather." She muttered while looking at the dark clouds looming over the sky. Warm breeze touched our face while she closed her eyes. She was probably feeling the weather. While I admired her face.

Suddenly she looked over her shoulder. She grabbed my wrist and dragged me with her.

"What happened?"

"Ice cream!" she exclaimed. Her eyes shone with excitement as she looked at the ice cream parlor located on the opposite side of the street.

"Which one?" she asked me.

"I don't eat ice-creams." She pouted.

"Who doesn't like ice cream?" she muttered under her breath. I chuckled lowly.

"If you want, you can order it for me." Bending down slightly I whispered in her ear. I didn't fail to notice the slight goosebumps over her neck. She cleared her throat and stepped away from me a little.

Don't step away.

"Uh, two butterscotch."

I snickered a little when I saw her flushed face. It's so easy to make her red. Soon, our order was collected by her. She forwarded a cone to me which I silently took, and unwrapped.

She licked her ice cream slowly. My eyes flickered over her face which then got shifted to her lips. It looked more ravishing than the ice cream. I wonder, when will I get a taste of it?

She waved her hand in front of my face.

"Where are you lost?" I shrugged.

"Your ice cream is melting. Eat it before it disappears."

I snickered at her small frown. Today was the best day, not only did she laugh but I saw a glimpse of the real Vani, which was lost somewhere in her cries. I'm glad.

Winds blew, and thunderstorms followed. I noticed that she finished the last bite of her ice cream. Licking her fingers, she looked at me. She grinned.

"Thank you, for today." Her voice held sincerity.

"There is no need to thank me, my love. It's my duty."

She fell silent.

"Omkar." My breath hitched when she took my name from her mouth, it felt good.

"Yes?"

"I chose to move on." Her eyes made direct contact with me and I noticed a slight amount of glisten in her eyes.

"For my own mental peace. The way I reacted last night made me realize, what am I doing? It's not like, he will come back from my crying. Death is inevitable, it will come to every person. The one who is gone, we can't call them back. So, why dwelling? Life must go on." She grinned at me with her eyes shining with fresh unshed tears—the type of smile I don't want to see on her face. Clenching my jaw, my eyes hardened.

She held both of my hands gently and made me turn around to her.

"Omkar, I can't guarantee you love, I hardly know if I can be yours, but I will try to be your wife as much as I can. I realized how I was behaving like a kid for the past 4 months. And I'm sorry for that. You are making so much effort to make this relationship work. But I..." she scoffed.

A thunder strikes behind her. Winds made it difficult for her hair to position at one point. Tucking her hair behind her ears, I cupped her cheeks with both of my hands. Her face felt so small in my hands.

"You don't have to pressure yourself for this relationship, let's start fresh." She nodded at my statement.

"Repeat after me." She looked at me.

"I will start fresh." She muttered the same sentence.

"I will move on from the past."

"I will try to forget Raghav, and will move ahead." She clutched my arms which were holding her hands.

"I can't do that." She muttered.

"You need to my love. Or, how will you start fresh? How will you live the future when you will be dwelling in the past?" Even if I have to manipulate you to forget everything Vani, I will do it. This time, I'm not letting you go. I will never let you go.

"I will try."

"Good girl." I kissed her forehead which she accepted without interference.

"Let's go home? It's going to rain soon." She groaned.

"As much as I wanted to roam in the rain, I knew, I would get sick and I even went mad today." She nodded to herself. I chuckled at her instincts.

"Shall we?" I held out my right hand.

She smiled and grabbed it gently.

"Yes."