The next morning, as Anuradha stepped out of the bedroom, a gust of wind blew in from the open balcony. Feeling the chill in the air, she rubbed her arms and stopped where she was. A smile came over her face upon noticing Narain at his usual stance in the balcony and she began to approach him. I wanna walk up to him from behind, slip my hands under his arms, just hold him close and let his warmth flood me all over.

Mew! Veena's soft mew sliced through her thoughts and drew her attention back.

What? Bringing her feet to a halt at the entrance to the balcony, Anuradha turned her face away and looked around, feeling embarassed and disgusted with herself all at once. How could such a thought have entered my mind? You wanted to hug him? Are you mad, Anu? He's just a friend! You used to love it when Raghav hugged you unawares but you never felt like this with him. What has happened to you now?

She turned and rushed back into the bedroom and straight to the bathroom. She splashed some water onto her face, still reeling from shock over what she had almost done absentmindedly. Thank God, I realized and stopped before hugging him. Otherwise, what would he think of me?

Stupid idiot, he might have even told you to leave his home, you know! Okay, cool. It almost happened but he didn't know. So, technically nothing happened, okay? Now, just make sure nothing like this happens again.

Feeling calm once again, Anuradha headed out of the bedroom again. The chill in the air once again made her crave for warmth. Control, girl. A hot cup of tea will satiate your craving. She tried to direct her thoughts to her early morning cup of tea instead.

Her feet turned to head to the kitchen but her eyes shot a glance at Narain once. He was sipping on a cup of tea already. She frowned. Why did he make tea for himself today when I've been the one making it for him too the past few days? Didn't he like the tea I made for him?

Feeling dejected, she walked over to the kitchen to find about another cup of tea in the saucepan on the stove, waiting for her to heat and drink. She beamed. This is also okay, I guess. You wanted your tea earlier, huh? I appreciate that you made tea for me too this morning though you didn't have to.

Next time, I'll set my alarm for ten minutes earlier so we can have tea together. She turned on the stove and heated the tea a bit before pouring it into a teacup and heading to the balcony.

"Good morning." She smiled, standing a few feet to his right while sipping on her cup of tea.

"Morning." He mumbled, without looking at her.

She glanced at him, sensing that something was not right and noticed his frown. "What happened?"

"Nothing."

She frowned, glancing at him through the corner of her eyes.

When he turned to walk out of the balcony without glancing in her direction, she set her empty teacup down on the flat top of the balustrade and turned to face him with folded arms.

"Tell me, what's wrong, Narain? I am your friend; just by seeing you, I know something is wrong. Tell me what is it. I'm not a stranger to you, am I?"

Narain stopped with his back towards her. "That is the problem."

"What?"

"You are not a stranger to me."

"Yeah, so?"

"Look, Anu, I've never let anyone close to me before other than Shiva, Shalini and Nila... and Swetha."

"I know that..." Anuradha prompted, wondering what Narain was coming to say.

Narain turned back to face her and glanced at her before lowering his gaze. So I want you to leave because you have given life to the feelings in my heart that once died. On one side, I feel guilty. I had always promised Swetha and myself that I would always love her and never stop loving her. I feel like I've betrayed my wife by developing feelings for you.

On the other hand, I fear your loss or rejection might break me once more. I don't want to make the same mistake again. I'm not ready to love someone unless I'm sure she feels the same way about me and there's no obsession or anything before her love. Also, you keep calling me as a friend; I don't want to break that friendship because I'm losing control of my heart.

Unknowingly, you've become a very important person in my life. It will hurt me if you leave. But it will hurt me even more if I lost you completely, if you rejected or avoided me and so much more if you stay longer just to leave in the end. That's why it's better you leave me at the soonest or perhaps prove that you love me if I'm lucky enough to have acquired a place in your heart.

"So what?" asked Anuradha in confusion, when he didn't speak but remained silent. "I'm also your friend now, right?"

"Yes."

"Then?"

Narain glanced at her. Don't you have any idea what I'm feeling? I don't know how to say this but I feel like giving you a hint about my growing feelings for you. He looked away once again. "You've become more than a friend to me."

More than a friend? Really? Does that mean you love me by any chance? Anuradha was speechless while thoughts raced in her mind.

"I feel like you care for me too much. But I like it. A lot. I don't know if that's right or wrong of me."

Like? Anuradha remained silent for a moment. "Is that all your problem is?"

He glanced up at her impassive face and nodded once.

"Well, to be honest, I never saw appreciation in anyone's eyes the way I saw in yours, that's all."

That's all? No love? I knew it. Swetha didn't care for me the way you do. So when I got your care, I hoped it was love. I should have guessed this. But why for appreciation? Narain glanced up at her with a frown quizzically.

She looked away and her eyes grew distant as she touched upon a topic that she did not like to speak about. "From the day I remember, I was always frowned upon or ignored by my dad. But he was my dad. Though he never wanted me, he was my only family after my aunt left.

I cared for him a lot with the hope that he would smile at me lovingly someday. It never happened. And after one incident, I stopped trying. I left him completely and never bothered again to turn back or care for the man who never cared or had time for me. Before, I used to call him once in a while to be sure he was fine and to remind him about the existence of his daughter, but after that one incident, I even stopped calling him.

After Shalini persuaded me once, I finally called him again. But he had nothing to say to me. I assured her that I would keep in touch with him again after that one phone call but I never had the heart to call him or care for my father since then."

"Oh."

"After that, I shut myself up against men as a whole. That's when Raghav came. There were times when he appreciated every tiny thing and made me feel like the luckiest girl in the world. But there were times when he didn't but I never saw the sincerity in his eyes like I see in yours.

You don't have to say anything appreciative. Even if you say a negative word or frown like you don't like my care, your eyes don't lie. Just your eyes show some kind of like or appreciation about what I did or am doing that makes me more happier than any words can. That is enough for me. I really liked that. A lot."

Narain averted his gaze, feeling unsure of what to say. No one has made me speechless like this before. Except Nila - with her cute antics. He ruffled his hand through his hair before glancing up at her again.

Anuradha smiled a bit and stepped back, feeling awkward as she had spoken out some irrelevant thoughts spontaneously though he did not have to know it.

Narain naturally smiled a little to ease the awkwardness he noticed in her face.

"I like to do what makes me happy irrespective if others like it or not. You are alone here anyway with no one to care so as long as I'm staying here, I'll do little things like this to help you. Just as a friend. Hope you won't mind that." Anuradha turned on her heel and walked out of the balcony without waiting for his response.

Anuradha bit her lip. I don't know when I might leave. I don't want to leave. But someday I might have to. I like you. A lot, that it's not even like anymore. It's love, I know, and I feel guilty yet confused about it. I want you to know it but at the same time, I don't want you to know. I don't know what's happening to me. I'm in a big confusion myself.

I love the relationship we share right now. I love just having you in my life and I don't want to ruin anything. So it's better you don't know what I'm thinking for now. I remember the way you spoke about your wife a long time back. In your eyes, I saw how much you loved her.

That second, I wished if only someone would ever love me the same. I don't want anyone else's love now, just yours will be my dream come true. Now, all I wish is that I might ever be lucky enough to see at least a bit of that love in your eyes again, but this time, your love for me.

Narain smiled while watching her retreating to the bedroom. If that's what makes you happy, then go ahead. You feel appreciated by me when I don't even do anything or try to appreciate you. Till this moment, I had started feeling it was better you left as soon as possible because I would love you more if you stayed longer. Then if you decided to leave in the end, I was worried I wouldn't be able to bear that or let you go.

But now, I don't feel so anymore. Stay here as long as you wish; I will never ask you to leave. From this moment, my sole aim will be to make you smile. Even if you leave me then, I will live on with the memories of your smiles and our happy moments without any guilt or pain. I never knew girls like you with such beautiful hearts exist in this world till I got to know you. I'm so glad we became friends. Though I wish we had gotten to know each other much earlier.

I don't know whether you love me or its just an attraction or just your sweet nature. But when I thought my life was over and there's never gonna come a day I will live without guilt or pain till death takes me, you gave me back the urge to live again. And now, you've given me back the urge to love again.

***

Later that evening, after eating the dinner Narain had cooked, Narain was working on his laptop while Anuradha had retired to the bedroom for the night.

He looked up from the screen of his laptop and started searching for the papers that had been lying on the coffee table earlier. It was nowhere in sight.

"Anu, where's the papers kept on the table here earlier?" called out Narain.

Veena who was waking up after a nap stretched and mewed in reply before trotting over and rubbing her head against his feet. Narain waited but heard no response from Anuradha.

"Anu," he called again, walking over to the bedroom.

"Yea?" She called out from inside the bathroom over the sound of the shower running.

Hearing the sound of the shower stop, Narain asked, "Hey, where's the papers that were lying on the table in the living room earlier?"

"Papers? Which papers?" She was confused.

"There were some papers on the coffee table earlier. I think it's yours. I got one phone call earlier and I wrote some numbers on the paper on top. I need to check that."

"Oh, I think I kept those papers in the bookshelf."

"Bookshelf?"

"Yes, in the living room."

"Okay, I'll check."

"If you give me a few minutes, I'll come and get it for you."

"I'll see first. If I can't find it, I'll wait for you."

"Okay."

He returned to the living room and scanned the bookshelf. Where will I find those papers here?

He brushed his finger over the books, finding many new books filling up the bookshelf. These must be books belonging to Anu.

He found some loose papers at the end and tried to take it but the books in that shelf were packed together tightly. He took it out carefully but two books next to it fell out as well. One was a novel; the other was a small notebook, more like a child's diary with a flowered lilac cover. What is this? A diary? It's cute like something a small child would write in. Why is she keeping this?

Narain had a lopsided smile as he studied it carefully for a brief moment, feeling curious as he wondered if Anuradha had written anything inside it.

"What are you looking at? Did you get the paper?" Anuradha walked up to him from behind.

Narain dropped the diary to the table instantly, feeling a little guilty since he had almost opened it in curiosity. "Oh, yeah." He checked the papers and found the paper where he had written the number earlier.

"What's these papers though? Why did you leave it on the table earlier?"

"Oh that, nothing, I was just arranging all my books into the bookshelf earlier this evening so these loose papers were with it. So, I just kept it with the books as well in the shelf. You must have written the number you wanted on it while I had been arranging the other books."

"Yeah, by the way, you've filled up my whole bookshelf. It's so tightly packed now that some books fell out." He gestured to the novel and the small diary.

"Yea, I squeezed it all in. Never mind, you got the paper and the number you wanted, right? I'll put these books back." She reached over to grab the novel and the small diary from his hand.

Narain handed her the novel before asking, "What is this? You keep a diary?"

"Which?" She glanced back at him and her gaze fell on the small diary in his hand. "Nah, I'm too lazy to maintain a diary. This one, my aunt gifted me when I was a child and told me to write in it whenever I wanted to talk to someone but didn't have anyone to talk to. I sat down thinking to write in it for her sake a few times but I never knew what to write.

So I never wrote a single word in this other than my nickname. Look, this is the only word I've written in this book - Sweety." She opened the book and showed him the first page where her nickname was written in block letters with a child's uneven handwriting.

"Oh, that's interesting. Why did she give you a diary as a gift?"

"I don't know. You know my dad was a very busy workaholic who never had time for me. My mom passed away immediately after giving birth to me. After that, my aunt cared for me when I was young. When she was leaving me, she gave me this diary so that I would never be alone."

"Where did she go?" inquired Narain, feeling puzzled.

Anuradha's face faded a little. "To begin her life."

"What-" Narain began to ask in confusion but Anuradha interposed, "Nothing, she got married and moved to live in her husband's place. That's it." She turned her face away so that he would not see how vulnerable the memories made her, hoping that he would not ask more.

"Okay." He skimmed his finger through the pages of her diary and found that there was not another single word written in it like she had said.

As he was about to hand the diary back to her for her to put it back in the shelf, his finger stopped at the last page where a few lines were written in a neat cursive handwriting with black ink.

"What is this?" Narain read the address written on the last page.

"That. Oh, nothing, it's my aunt's address. She wrote it last time."

"Agra, nice. That's quite nearby. Do you visit her often?"

"No. Who knows if she's still staying at that same place. She wrote that address there after her wedding before she left home more than ten years ago."

Perplexed, Narain watched her for a moment. "Don't you keep in touch with your aunt?"

"No." She took the diary from his hand and stuffed it back in its place in the bookshelf before walking away to the bedroom. "Goodnight."

"Night." Narain watched her with a frown before she disappeared behind the door of the bedroom.

***

The next morning, Narain woke up to find the other half of the bed empty. He checked the clock in the room, it was still early. Where has she gone so early in the morning?

"Anu!" He called out, glancing at the door to the bathroom but heard no response.

He stood up quickly and walked over towards the door to the bathroom. After knocking once, he opened the door but she was not there. He turned back, just as Anuradha walked in through the door to the bedroom.

"Where did you go?" asked Narain anxiously.

"Nowhere, I was right outside." She replied calmly.

"Oh, what happened? You woke up so early?"

Anuradha frowned a bit before an amused smile came over her face. "Why? Only you can wake up early, is it?"

"I didn't mean like that." He looked away with a sheepish smile.

"I'll make tea, come to the balcony soon."

"No need, I can make-" Narain began to respond when Anuradha frowned at him, "Why? Don't you like the tea I make? I make it strong the way you like, no? Then, what's your problem?"

"You don't like strong tea, right? So no need to make it for me."

"I never drank strong tea before. I noticed that's how you make it so I tried making it strong and I liked it. Simple." Anuradha smiled as she turned to go and walked back to the door of the bedroom.

She stopped at the door and turned back to face him, still smiling. "Now, don't waste time, we both have to go to work this morning. So, come soon if you want hot tea."

"Hey, reduce the sweetness a little."

"I only put one teaspoon of sugar in the tea, do you want me to reduce that too?"

"I wasn't talking about the tea."

Anuradha raised her eyebrow. "I didn't do anything sweet for that." She turned and headed over to the kitchen with a wide smile.

Unknowingly, you make my mornings sweeter and brighter. Narain watched her with a smile.

***

In the living room that evening, Narain was working on his laptop seated at a couch while Anuradha was reading a novel lying on the opposite couch with Veena cuddled up to her fast asleep when the doorbell rang.

Anuradha frowned a little and glanced up at Narain. "Were you expecting anyone to come today?"

"No, who could have come?"

"I don't know." Anuradha stood up.

"I'll check."

"Okay."

Narain strode over to the front door and opened it.

"Surprise!" Nila jumped over and hugged him tight before running over to Anuradha who was waiting behind.

"Hey, what's up, man?" Shiva gave Narain a light clap on the back as Shalini walked past him into the apartment with a large cloth bag in hand.

"Nothing much, any reason for this surprise visit?"

"You guys haven't cooked anything for dinner yet, right sweety?" asked Shalini to Anuradha as soon as she reached by her side.

"Nope, why? Are you staying for dinner?"

"We've brought dinner to stay and have it with you guys tonight."

"It was actually Nila's suggestion that she'll have her sleepover tonight. So we thought it's a good idea and we'll come for a visit first, share our dinner with you and leave Nila with you guys for the night. Tomorrow's a Sunday so you guys will anyway come over, right?" asked Shiva as Narain closed the door behind him and they walked over to the living room.

"Yeah, of course." Narain smiled.

Anuradha grinned in delight. "Great idea! How come we didn't think of that, Narain?"

"I know right, it didn't even cross our minds that we could have her over this weekend. Good you came up with this idea, Nila." Narain raised his palm and high-fived Nila.

"Veena, I missed you!" Nila ran over to the kitten as soon as it woke up and stretched. Veena purred as Nila picked it up and stroked her fur gently.

Anuradha turned back to face Shalini. "But if you had told us earlier, we could have cooked up something for dinner so you wouldn't have had to cook for all of us on your own, smiley."

"Who said I cooked? I didn't cook anything. We bought food on the way." With a grin, Shalini raised the cloth bag in her hand and showed it to them before lowering it to the table.

"Oh, that's nice!"

"Come, let's eat now, I'm famished." Shiva gestured towards the dining room before stopping and scanning the interiors of the apartment. "Hey, what's happened to this place, man? It looks very bright and colourful now. You've done a lot of rearranging and decor, I think?"

"Not me, Anu is the one behind this beautiful transformation."

"Beautiful transformation?" inquired Shalini, raising an eyebrow at Narain.

"Yeah, it's beautiful, right?"

"Yeah, no doubt. I knew it's Anu's handiwork as soon as I saw it but didn't expect to hear those words from you." Shalini giggled.

Narain lowered his gaze to the floor sheepishly.

"Lini, don't you know? These two are very great friends now," remarked Shiva teasingly.

Anuradha too looked away, feeling a little embarrassed and unsure of what to say.

"Just great friends or more than that?" queried Shalini.

Nila, who had been cuddling Veena in her arms, skipped over to stand in between them before Anuradha or Narain could respond to Shalini's question. "Mommy, why Mommy ask Mama and Papa like that? Mommy and Daddy are not friends only, right? Mama and Papa also same like Mommy and Daddy."

Narain and Anuradha stared at Nila agape, dumbstruck for a moment.

"Is it, Narain? Anu?" Shiva eyed them with a smirk

He shared a grin with Shalini while their friends' faces had turned matching shades of crimson in embarrassment.

"Enough, Daddy. Let Mama and Papa be. I'm hungry!"

"Okay, come. Let's eat." Shalini couldn't stop grinning as she turned to head to the dinner table.

When Anuradha and Narain remained rooted to the spot, looking down at the pattern of the tiles around them, Shalini nudged Anuradha and grabbed her hand. "Enough blushing. Come, no?"

Anuradha glared at her friend as she was led to the dining table. Smiley, I'm gonna get back to you for this.

"Hello, need extra invitation for dinner?" Shiva nudged Narain before the two of them joined the dinner table as well.

To be continued...

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

So how are the developments? Waiting for your comments on this chapter. :)

Thanks to shruthigopinath, Lychees4Life, naassaif, Colorful203, SafanaHakeem, smartshireen, Crystalchrysalis19, Amara_lovenature, 22ammu30 and ananya2states for all your suggestions for this story. :)

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