They were all dancing happily, Ali and Puja, Alekh with Neelu, Abhi with Dr. Shalini.
Yudi was messing with the DJ machine.
Huda was purposely dancing with one of Puja's friends, knowing, that Naina would never dance with Raj, if he was free too.

And thus, bullied into having no option, Raj and Naina were dancing together.

Raj : Wo...tum.....um..

He stopped, collecting himself, before he made a fool of himself again, like last time.

Raj : I mean...tum bohot khubsurat lag rahi ho.

His hand encircled her waist, though barely touching, but a fact both were acutely conscious of.
Her hand was on his shoulder gripping it through his jacket.
Her other hand, was entwined with his.
How he wished he could hold it with full authority.

Naina (softly, uncertainly) : Thnks.

Both went quiet again.

Naina (in an attempt to break the silence) : Wo...um..apki nayi posting kaisi hai.
The next moment, she mentally kicked herself.
Seriously?
Posting kaisi hai?
Brilliant conversationalist, Naina!

He had just twirled and pulled her in, her hearbeat raced, as her back came in contact with his chest, for a moment.

Raj chuckled, knowing this to be just a cover up question.
He answered in the same light tone, not wanting to embarrass her.

Raj : Acchi hai.
Atleast the weather is better than last time.

He added jokingly.

Wo...I..did not have the opportubity to thank you, last time.

She did not pretend to not understand what he was referring to.
She knew, that he knew she had understood.

Naina : Aapko....thanks kehne ki zarurat nahi hai sir.
Agar aap meri jagah hote, to aap bhi shayad yahi karte....I just did what was right.

He did not attempt to further the conversation, and soon, a fast bhangra number started, and they separated, to go sit with Abhi, Shalini and Yudi, who were already sitting.

The evening passed amidst laughter and fun, yet no one failed to notice, that Raj and Naina were making no attempts to end the formality, that was between them.

Naina went to stand by Pooja's side for sometime, as Ali and Pooja greeted guests.
Pooja managed to have a conversation with her, between all the smiling and hugging of the guests.

Pooja (teasingly, nudging her ) : Yaar Naina, tujhe nai lagta, Sharukh aaj kuch zyada hi handsome lag raha hai?

Naina widened her eyes in surprise, amused.

Naina (nudging her right back) Pooja, tujhe nai lagta, tujhe Ali par dhyan dena chahiye, at least aaj ke din?

Pooja (smiling a fake smile at an irritating relative) : Kyuuu?
Dekh Naina, jealous mat ho.
Tension mat le, Shahrukh tere alawa kisiko dekhta bhi nai.
Mai guarantee le sakti hu.
I mean, at least, pichle kuch mahino ki.

Naina rolled her eyes, and told her to shut up.
What did it matter to her, who he saw, or didn't?

Pooja did not push it.

Soon, Ali and Pooja left after the bidaai, and the gang was enjoying the party.

Alekh and Neelu were dancing, Yudi was dancing with Shalini.

Raj, Naina and Abhi and Huda were sitting at a table.

Abhi and Huda were swapping hilarious mischiefs of their academy days, Naina was listening with a smile, sometimes adding to the conversation, Raj was unusually quiet.

Abhi (laughing at Huda's last story) : ...Aur aapko pata hai, Raj was ridiculous with girls.
Remember Priya, Raj?

(Abhi burst into a fit of laughter)

Raj(who had turned red, irritatedly, frowning) :
No, I dont. And neither do you need to remember.

Huda (with his typical grin) Sir, bataiye na ye Priya ke baare me, plz.

Raj looked threateningly at Abhi.

Raj (clearing his throat) : Its late guys, I think we should start back.

Huda : Sir, kuch late nai huwa hai. Aapki train 2 baje ki hai, aur hamari to 4 baje ki.
We have hours to kill.

Abhi (who was still holding his stomach) :
Raj topic change kar raha hai.

So it was the leave before our first posting. We were at Raj's place, and Naveen and I were bored.

Raj : This story just goes to show how you guys were complete jerks. Khudki izzat bachale, and shut up.

Abhi ignored him and continued :

Raj had his head stuck in his comic books, which he has a truckload of.

Naina looked at Raj.
Raj grinned sheepishly.

Abhi : So, to have some fun, we created a profile of Raj, on a dating site, and soon set him up with a girl.

He did not know about the date, till a couple of hour before it was due.

Ofcourse he was going to stand her up, and we knew it, so we had requested, on Raj's behalf ofcrs, that she meet him at a local movie theatre, hoping his 'ideals' wont let him abandon her.

He cursed us, but went.

*Flashback*

Raj had actually had a good time, but Priya had found out, about how the date was set up by his friends, due to a slip of tongue, by Raj.

Being a good sport, she had laughed it off, but they had left, and had never met for a second date, as Raj, too shy around her, had not asked her, and she, feeling maybe he wasn't interested, as the date was actually set up by someone else, had not pushed it.

Naveen and Abhi, hoping that the date would be a disaster, had waited up for Raj, only to be dissapointed to find a stupidly grinning Raj come home.

And then, they found he hadn't asked her out, despite it being such a great date.

Abhi and Naveen had found themselves cheated out of both, entertainment, and a future date for Raj, which eventually would have meant more entertainment, as Raj was sure to goof up, sooner or later.

They had slapped their foreheads in frustration, throttled him but soon gave up.

Nothing could be done about him.

*End of flashback *

They were sitting there,  laughing, Raj included.

Abhi (seriously now) : We were all such doofuses....but we have come so far...
Kabhi kabhi aisa lagta hai, are we even the same people?

Raj (a sad smile on his face, which Naina did not fail to notice) :
Yes, but for better or worse, this is us.