Later that night, Nila was lying in bed, waiting as Narain had gone to the bathroom to have his shower and get ready for bed. Seated next to her on the bed, Anuradha was biting her lip, wondering what to do as Nila was being stubborn that she wanted Narain to sleep with them on the same bed from that night onwards.

Stepping out of the bathroom in his sleeveless nightshirt and pants, Narain was disappointed to see Nila still wide awake.

"Come, Papa, come! Look, there's so much space for you on the bed." Nila gestured to the area on her right as she lay in the centre of the bed with Anuradha on her left.

Narain hesitated for a moment before seating himself next to Nila on the bed.

Hugging Anuradha's right arm with one hand, Nila hugged Narain's left arm with her other hand and closed her eyes. "Goodnight, Papa. Goodnight, Mama."

Deep in thought, Narain and Anuradha sat still on either side of Nila for a long few minutes. When Narain was sure Nila had fallen asleep already, he carefully tried to remove his arm from her grasp and get up without Nila knowing in her sleep but her grip was tight and firm around his arm. He tugged a few times but could not free his arm from her hug. He noticed that Nila was holding onto Anuradha's arm the same way as well.

There was an awkward silence as the two of them did not know what to do. After a moment, Anuradha checked that Nila was lying in the centre of the bed, leaving equal space on each side. She grabbed a spare pillow from the side and placed it at the area above Nila's head before grabbing another one too and placing it below Nila's feet, thereby forming a virtual fence between her and Narain from the top to the bottom of the bed between them.

"You stay at your side. I'll stay at mine. Don't even think of putting a single limb of yours a millimetre into my side," warned Anuradha firmly to Narain, before she lay down to sleep. I don't think I'll get any sleep today.

After a while of contemplation, Narain lay down on his side of the bed and closed his eyes. Lost in the whirlpool of their thoughts, the two adults expected a night without sleep as they lay on the same bed, with their backs turned to each other. Nevertheless, they sank into a deep and tranquil sleep within minutes.

***

The next morning, Narain went to work as usual while Anuradha stayed home with Nila. After doing some laundry, Anuradha and Nila went shopping for some groceries and returned home late in the morning. While Nila did some of her homework, Anuradha decided to bake the chocolate cake for Nila.

Being the first time she was going to make a cake, she first searched the Internet for the recipe of a chocolate cake. After choosing a recipe from the many she found online, Anuradha began making it while Nila watched in excitement. Anuradha followed the instructions in the recipe and Nila helped to stir the cake batter every few minutes. Soon, the cake batter was poured into the cake pan and put to bake in the oven.

While Nila waited eagerly to eat the cake, she played with her playdough in the living room, making cakes and cookies of different shapes in small sizes with it.

About twenty minutes later, Anuradha was casually browsing the Internet on her laptop when the smell of something beginning to burn drifted up to her. Oh no, the cake in the oven! Anuradha jumped up from the couch and hurried towards the kitchen.

She was dashing towards the oven across the kitchen when the doorbell rang, stopping her in her tracks. Who could have come? Forgetting about the cake in the oven instantly, Anuradha left the kitchen to check who had come.

By the time Anuradha reached the door, Nila had already opened it.

"Papa, Mama made a chocolate cake for me!" exclaimed Nila as soon as Narain walked in through the door.

He's back early today. Anuradha waited, wondering how he would react but his features remained impassive.

"It's baking in the oven!" added Nila with a grin, before turning back to the picture she was painting in her painting book.

Oh no, it's burning! Anuradha gasped, remembering the cake in the oven, before rushing towards the kitchen.

An acrid odour reached his nose just as Narain stepped towards the living room. He sniffed and then looked around in alarm. Something is burning. Dropping his laptop bag gently on the couch, Narain strode over to the kitchen immediately.

Meanwhile, Anuradha had grabbed an oven mitt and yanked open the oven door and then reached inside to get the cake by the time Narain entered the kitchen.

"Ouch!" she cried, jerking her hand back out of the oven.

"Did you burn your hand now? I thought so, seeing the way you were reaching for it." Narain rolled his eyes for a moment before noticing her distraught face and her hand shaking in pain. "What are you waiting for?" he snapped.

Without wasting another second, Narain grabbed her arm and held her hand under the cold running water from the tap. Anuradha watched him, quite shocked by his action.

Leaving her hand under the cold running water, Narain pulled on the oven mitt Anuradha had abandoned. He retrieved the cake from the oven, inserted a fork into the center of the cake and then pulled it out. The fork came out completely clean, indicating that the cake was done. He set the cake on a cake rack and turned to see Anuradha sulking with an annoyed frown.

"Thanks."

"Don't you know how to take the cake out without touching the insides of the oven?" demanded Narain, before turning away.

"It's the first time I've baked something so no, I don't. But you didn't have to take the cake out of the oven. I would have managed it on my own even if my hand was hurting."

"Why? Will the cake get spoilt just because I took it out of the oven? Or were you just trying to compete with me in making cakes too? Who cares if you make a cake or a hundred cakes! I don't have any problem with that."

"Look, I didn't make this to prove that I can bake better than you. I know you make cakes often and you're so good enough to be a professional at it. But this was the first time I baked something. And I made it only for my Nila. So I was upset that you had to put your hands into it. That's all. Couldn't you have just let my cake be? It wouldn't have done you any harm." Anuradha turned away in dismay.

Narain frowned and glanced at her. "The top of the cake was already starting to burn. If you had let the cake continue baking the remaining ten minutes you had set for it to bake, the top would have been completely burnt."

"Yeah, the recipe I followed is wrong and the time for baking stated in it is wrong. Only you are an expert at baking. I know you'll show this to Nila and prove to her that I'm not good, only you know how to make cakes. First time I wanted to try and bake a cake on my own. And you came and ruined it."

Nila skipped into the kitchen before Narain could respond.

Narain turned and called out to her back in his composed tone. "Come and look, Nila. Your Mama made a chocolate cake for the first time just for you."

Nila ran over and beamed, looking at the cake in delight, before she frowned. "Why is the top so black, Mama?"

Because it's burnt. Anuradha averted her gaze, feeling too dejected to answer Nila's question.

"That's because the cake is not ready and your Mama is still making it."

Anuradha frowned at Narain.

"Then, Papa also help Mama finish making it, okay? If Mama and Papa make cake together, cake will be bestest cake and Nila will be happy girl!"

Narain frowned a little but remained silent.

Nila skipped out of the kitchen in a moment. Anuradha glanced at Narain. "Why did you lie that the cake isn't ready? It is ready but the top is burnt."

"So what if the top of the cake is burnt? Even if it was more burnt than this, you could still save it."

"How is that?"

"Only the top outer edges are burnt. You can just carefully cut them off with a knife and frost the cake. Simple. The rest of the cake isn't burnt and once you frost the cake, no one will even know that you had cut off a thin layer at the top. Burning the top or bottom of the cake is very common. But when you get used to baking and the oven you're using, you'll be able to know exactly how much time a cake would require for baking."

"Okay." How do I frost the cake now? Anuradha pondered for a minute about it.

Seeing the quizzical expression on Anuradha's face, Narain quickly explained a little more. "You know simple buttercream frosting? You can just cover the cake with that."

"Oh." Anuradha was still clueless.

Narain turned to leave the kitchen but paused. "Listen, you made the cake on your own and you deserve the credit for it. I'm no one to criticize the cake you made or prove that you're not good and only I'm good at baking. I'm sure the cake you made will be good. Nila is very excited to eat it."

"But you said it would have burnt. I followed the instructions in the recipe properly and set it to bake the exact time mentioned in the recipe. I don't understand how it still got burnt."

"The time duration recommended for baking the cake in the recipe is just the time normally taken to bake the cake based on the experience or supposition of the person who wrote the recipe. But different ovens may have different settings and may sometimes require different timings to bake the same cake.

So next time, you can try baking at a lower temperature or set the timer for 10 minutes less than the recipe or you can just check it regularly after half the time of baking is over for any signs or smell of it starting to burn. That's all."

"Okay, thanks."

"By the way, one more thing. Just because I took the cake out of the oven as soon as it was done, it doesn't change the fact that you're the one who made it."

Anuradha contemplated over his words for a moment before calling out to him as he stepped out of the kitchen. "I'm not so sure how to frost the cake. Can you help?"

Narain turned to face her, taken aback. What has happened to her? Is this really her, Anuradha, asking me for help?

The expression on her face was enough for him to comprehend that she was not interested in asking his help but was only asking since she didn't seem to know what frosting was in the first place.

"Especially since Nila asked us to make the cake together, we could frost the cake together for her sake, right?" prompted Anuradha.

"Okay, fine. Just for Nila." Narain took off his coat and loosened his tie. "Buttercream frosting is the simplest one. The main ingredients are butter, powdered sugar and vanilla essence. Since this is a chocolate cake, let's make it chocolate frosting with cocoa powder."

Like a puppet, Anuradha nodded her head in agreement as she was clueless about frosting. She had searched a lot of recipes to find out how to make a chocolate cake but she hadn't got to search up about frosting so she was quite blank about it.

Narain started beating some butter with a whisk in the mixing bowl while Anuradha added the powdered sugar.

Once it was done mixing, the cocoa powder was added and soon, the chocolate frosting for the cake was ready.

The three of them had their lunch first while waiting for the cake to cool more before frosting.

Later that afternoon, once the cake was cool and the burnt edges on the top were carefully cut off, Narain began spreading the frosting over the top and sides of the cake.

Anuradha watched at first before trying to help a bit. But frosting was not as easy as it had appeared when he had been doing it. As soon as she took over, blobs of the thin frosting started landing on the kitchen counter.

"Hey, careful, you're making frosting all around the counter. The frosting is quite thin so it's not so easy to spread it. Shall I do it?" asked Narain worriedly.

"No, it's fine. I want to try." Anuradha continued but soon a blob of the frosting landed on her cheek.

Narain could not help but laugh out loud at that moment, seeing her face.

Anuradha, who had been so engrossed in frosting the cake, looked up at him, puzzled. "What?"

"Nothing, look at your face!" He showed Anuradha her reflection in his mobile.

Noticing the stain, she immediately wiped it off her face, while Narain chuckled again.

"What are you laughing for?" She swatted his arm with her fist playfully, feeling annoyed.

He moved back to avoid further blows from her but the spatula, which she had been using to frost the cake with her other hand, accidentally fell onto the front of his shirt, leaving a stain of the chocolate frosting. Anuradha caught it instantly.

"I'm sorry!" Anuradha set the spatula in her hand down and turned back to him guiltily before grinning a bit sheepishly. "You laughed at me, no? That's why even you got a stain on your shirt now."

Narain looked up from his shirt to her face, amused. He felt a little annoyed towards her at first but remained silent, remembering that even he had laughed at her when she had got a stain of the frosting on her face a minute ago.

Seeing the stain of the chocolate frosting on his shirt, Anuradha instinctively grabbed a napkin and began dabbing at his shirt. The warmth of his chest beneath suddenly disconcerted her. She froze, upon realizing what she was doing. He's not Raghav! Or anyone you would like sharing this proximity with! What are you doing, Anu? Get a hold of yourself!

His hand closed over hers for a moment, stopping her. The heat from his hand radiated up her arm, through her shoulder and right through her chest. She stared up into his eyes and saw the same turmoil of emotions she was feeling at that moment in his eyes as well.

Releasing her hand abruptly, Narain stepped back and took the napkin from her. "I think... I'll clean it myself."

"I'm sorry." Her voice was a low mortified whisper.

"It's alright." Narain turned away for a moment before turning back to face her upon spotting a blob of the frosting on the side of her arm.

He reached out and brushed it off. The intimacy of the touch sent a shock wave winding through her and she instantly moved back. Something about his touch made her feel bothered and almost breathless. It was not right.

Sensing the uneasiness between them, Anuradha glanced at Narain. Pain, confusion, disbelief, guilt; she saw so much in his eyes in a moment and knew that he could probably see it in hers too. The two of them instantly tore their gaze away, feeling like they were exposing too much of themselves to each other through the mess of their emotions which their eyes revealed.

Narain strode out of the kitchen without speaking another word while Anuradha turned back to the cake and continued spreading the frosting on it while her mind wandered. What had happened to me? Why had his touch moved me?

He returned to the kitchen after a few minutes and sealed the frosting. Using a piping bag, he piped swirls on the frosting all over the surface of the cake as decoration. Making sure to maintain the distance between them after what had happened, Anuradha merely watched while he decorated the cake.

"It's ready now." Narain glanced at her with a thin smile before averting his gaze and walking out of the kitchen once the cake was ready.

Anuradha smiled a bit as she watched in the direction he had gone. I guess he's not so bad after all.

***

That evening, Anuradha served the cake on a plate at the dining table and gave a small plastic knife to Nila to cut it.

Nila took the knife and cut a small piece of the cake. Anuradha took the piece and fed her.

"Yummy!" squealed Nila, munching on the cake before she cut another piece and fed Narain.

Narain ate it in silence with a smile. It was good. He then cut another small piece of the cake and fed Nila.

Nila cut a piece and fed Anuradha again before cutting a piece and keeping it in Anuradha's hand.

Surprised, Anuradha stretched her hand out to feed the cake to Nila but Nila stopped her hand before it reached her mouth.

"This is for Mama to give Papa."

Anuradha hesitated before holding it out towards Narain. Would he take this piece from my hand?

Seeing the uncertainty in Anuradha's face, Narain took the piece from her hand and ate it with a slight smile.

Anuradha smiled a bit and then turned back to Nila, who was digging into the cake on her own.

After clearing up the mess at the dining table and storing the leftovers of the cake, the three of them left for the beach that evening on Nila's insistence.

Playing with Nila first in the sand and then chasing after her in the shallow waves, Anuradha and Narain enjoyed their time with the child though they maintained the distance between them without arguing or speaking to each other.

When they were all tired, Anuradha and Narain decided to sit in the sand for a while but Nila insisted to go to the same bench they had sat at last time. That bench was almost always empty so they followed her to the bench and seated themselves in the same manner like last time with Nila in the centre, Narain on her left and Anuradha on her right.

Nila was happy to see the combination of their names she had written in the sand before the bench the last time was still visible today.

NARAINILANURADHA

Using a twig, Nila then engraved the combination of their names deeper into the sand, hoping that it would never fade.

***

Later that night, Anuradha tucked Nila into bed while Narain was having his shower.

"Today, Papa will sleep with us in this bed like yesterday, right Mama?"

Anuradha glanced at Nila, feeling a little alarmed at the thought of his presence on the same bed again. "I don't think so."

"Why, Mama?"

Anuradha remained silent.

"Mama, if Papa sleep on the couch in that room, it's not comfortable. Mommy always scold if Nila or Daddy or Papa or anyone sleep on the couch. When we can sleep comfortable here, let Papa also sleep comfortable here, Mama. There's space here, right?"

"Hmm."

"So, Papa should sleep here from today, okay Mama? And if Papa don't sleep here, Mama should scold Papa, okay?"

Anuradha frowned but remained silent.

"Why Mama not sleeping together with me now? Mama waiting for Papa?"

"No!" Anuradha practically jumped, hearing Nila's words. Why would I wait for him? What is she thinking? Anuradha turned away.

"I know, I know. Mommy also make me sleep first then only Mommy go to sleep with Daddy. I know Mama is waiting for Papa like that."

"Nila." Anuradha turned back to face Nila a little sternly. "Your Mommy and Daddy is different, Mama and Papa is different. Your Daddy and Mommy are together and will always be together. Papa and Mama were never together like your Daddy and Mommy and will never be together. Understand?"

Nila frowned, looking down in dismay.

"Like your Mommy has your Daddy, even Mama had someone before." Anuradha's gaze reached far as tears stung behind her eyes.

"What happened to stranger Daddy? Did stranger Daddy go away from Mama?"

Anuradha shook her head in disagreement.

"Did Mama go away from stranger Daddy?"

Anuradha shook her head again no.

Nila frowned in confusion. "Then what happened to stranger Daddy?"

Anuradha sighed before glancing at Nila with a small smile as a tear left her eye. "He didn't find his happiness with Mama so he went to find it without Mama."

"That means stranger Daddy only go away from Mama! Why Mama lie when Nila asked that?"

"Because even if he went from Mama, it's Mama who let him go. If he could not find his happiness in me like I found in him, then let him go find it. As long as he's happy wherever he is, that's enough for Mama."

"Mama want stranger Daddy only to be happy. Mama don't want to be happy?" Nila began to sulk.

Anuradha turned away, trying to blink back the tears ready to spill.

She met Narain's eyes and noticed that he was standing outside the bathroom door, watching her. Feeling guilty for eavesdropping, Narain quickly turned away and walked out of the bedroom without a word.

To be continued...

A/N: Hey peeps! Hope you liked the chapter.

A little cliffhanger. How was the cake romance bit?

Please vote, comment and share. :)