As the sun's rays crept in through the blinds, a new morning awaited them. Esha woke up to her phone vibrating on the table. She reached forward, moving away from Nikhil to answer it, certain it was Sanam calling her. On new years, Sanam was always the one to call and wish her first thing in the morning if they hadn't spent it together.

Closing her eyes again after answering the call, she put the phone to her ear. "Good morning, sis."

"Good morning, love."

Narrowing her brows, she opened her eyes to check the caller ID. It was Sanam's, but Parth was the one talking to her. "What are you doing with di's phone? Where is she?"

"Relax, she's here. She knows I'm using her phone to call you. Here, she's back." He answered and seconds later, she heard Sanam's voice.

Nikhil inched up closer to her since she'd moved away to get the phone and talk. She got startled a bit when his arms wrapped around her from behind. She was definitely not used to waking up with another person in her bed. Realizing who it is, she relaxed and focused on the call.

"Eshu, happy new year!"

Esha smiled, letting her eyes close again. "Happy new year!" Her shoulder inched up to her ear when Nikhil pressed his lips to her neck, unintentionally teasing her.

She tried to move away, thinking he was awake now and simply teasing her. But, the next second, his hold around her tightened and he stopped, as if he had fallen back in a slumber.

"Esha? You there?"

"Yeah, um, what? Sorry." She answered.

Sanam laughed, "Are you dozing off to sleep again?"

"No, I'm up. How are you doing? How was new year's? And how's jeeju?"

"I'm good, your jeeju is fine too, and it was great. We all just got together and watched a lot of movies with the occasional drinks and card games. We missed you! Were you in your room by yourself again?"

"Um, no." Esha answered, turning slightly to look at Nikhil sleeping.

Sanam asked, surprised, "Really? Did you go out and celebrate?"

"No, not really, but... I mean, yeah. I guess."

Sanam laughed, "Kiddo, its either you did go out and celebrate or you didn't. How can it be both?"

"Di?"

"Yeah?"

"You know how you always kept telling me I'd find my Arjun too?"

"Yeah?" Sanam asked, getting concerned and curious. Esha always disliked it whenever Sanam would tell her that, and attempt to open up to the possibility of finding love. Having found it herself, she always wanted her little sister to realize that as well. It was only a matter of coming across the right person.

Esha confessed, "I think I might have."

A few days ago, or even 24 hours earlier, she wouldn't have thought telling her sister was a possibility. Last night had changed things. If anyone, she wanted her sister to know for sure. She shared all her secrets with her, and this was after all the biggest one of them all.

Sanam exclaimed, "What? Really? When? How? Oh, forget all that. It doesn't matter. What's his name?"

Esha smiled at all the questions Sanam was going on a rampage of. The one thing she liked more was how Sanam said it didn't matter when or how. She was happy just finding out, and knowing the name. She really did have the best sister she could have asked for.

Still, she answered all the questions, "I don't know when di, but I think it's happening. The first time I met Nikhil was in LA, but then I ran into him again here at work."

"Hmm, Nikhil. Oh, I'm so happy for you! I can't believe it. My little sister is finally falling into love!"

Esha chuckled softly, trying not to laugh so as to wake him up, "Di, please. Don't go off flying in the clouds just yet. I said it's a possibility. It'll be a long time before I... you know how tough this is for me."

"I know, Eshu, but just remember, you choose how your relationships are. Don't punish yourself for the way mom and dad turned out. It took me a long time to realize we weren't them... Just please, learn from my mistakes and don't let it happen to you. If you're already thinking he could be to you what Arjun is to me, then trust me, he is. Let him in. You won't regret it."

"I will, di. I'll try." Esha promised, thankful for the advice. Sanam always knew what to say to her. "Thanks."

"Ofcourse silly. I have to go wake up Arjun now. Call me back later and we can talk more on this, okay?"

"Sure, bye." She greeted before ending the call. She felt at peace sharing it with her sister. She knew she had yet to tell her of LA, but she knew she didn't have to worry as much. Sanam would understand.

"I didn't think you wanted anyone to know."

She yelped in surprise, "Ah, geez! Don't do that." She scolded him for startling her.

"Good morning." He greeted, but she didn't.

Instead, she questioned, "Have you been up the whole time?"

"Sorry, but yes. You don't talk soft on the phone as well as you think you do."

"Not my fault when you glued me to you."

Instead of riling up at her sarcasm, he pulled her to him again and kissed her cheek. "Guess you can say I am already addicted to you."

She rolled her eyes, trying to not fall for his sweet words. "Yeah, sure. Now get up. We should be getting back. I'm sure the blizzard must have stopped at night." She tried to get up again, but he pulled her back again. This time, he rested his hand on her back, keeping her there.

"Do you have something against saying 'good morning'?" He questioned her. She gave him a 'seriously' look, but he shrugged his shoulder, giving her an answer with his actions.

She shook her head, not stopping the smile from spreading on her face at his childishness. She leaned down to press her lips to his cheek and whispered, "Good morning." She tried to move back, but he did not let her move an inch. "What?" She questioned, since she believed she had wished him good morning with a kiss.

Ofcourse, he was hoping for a kiss on the lips. She did figure that out, seeing the mischievous glint in his eyes. She went on to actually kiss him. Only, it wasn't a brief and quick peck. When he kissed her back, his hands rubbed her back up and down, bringing up the heat and passion. Her hand traveled from his chest up his neck.

Pulling back, she whispered, "You're impossible."

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After saying good bye to the family, and thanking them again for the hospitality, Nikhil and Esha were on their way back home. They had to stop by Nikhil's place as Esha had left some of her things there. He gave her the house keys so she could run up and quickly get them while he turned the car around.

Only, after entering his house, she heard a voice yelling for a surprise, "Nick!" She stopped dead as she saw an elderly couple staring at her. "You're not Nick."

"Uh... no?" She answered, feeling out of place – figuring out they were Nikhil's parents from the family picture she had seen before. "Um, Nikhil is... I can call him up." She quickly said instead of trying to explain where he was and fumbled to reach in her pockets and take out her phone.

She pressed his contact ID to call him. He answered right away. Before he could utter a word, she informed, "You might want to park and come up."

"Why?" He questioned, "Did the key get stuck again? I told you, you have to jiggle..."

She pressed a smile to his parents, turned to face away from them after, and whisper-scolded, "Just get up here! Now!"

"Okay, jeez. One sec." He answered and ended the call.

She turned to face them again. "Hi. Uh, yeah. He'll be up in a second."

Rasika asked, "And you must be...?"

"Esha." She offered, and the couple nodded. They passed a look, and it told her that they had figured out who she was.

Luckily for her, the awkward moment was cut short as Nikhil's voice came around the corner, "Well, the key isn't stuck so what's going...?" He stopped talking as he saw his parents, and instantly caught on to the situation. "Mom. Dad." He let out, looking at them, and then at Esha who shifted from one foot to another, feeling completely out of place. "Hey, what are you guys doing here?" He walked up to give both of them a hug.

"Don't ask as if you're not happy to see us." His mother chided him as he went to her to hug her.

"Ofcourse I'm happy to see you two." Nikhil commented, and then looked at Esha, "Well, you met Esha. She's..."

Kirtan interrupted, "Yeah, you picked a pretty one.".

Nikhil noticed she wasn't comfortable in this sudden situation. "Okay, yeah, how about you two settle in and get comfortable? I was about to take her back to her place."

Rasika offered otherwise, "Oh come on, don't be silly. We should have brunch together!"

All eyes turned to Esha, and she was at loss of words. That gave Nikhil the answer he needed. He cleared his throat, bringing attention to himself, "Ahem. Mom, another time. It's been a tiring night. We got stuck in the storm. Lost story. Tell you later after I drop her off."

"Oh." She answered, decoding his words. "Sure. Ofcourse."

"Shall we?" Nikhil said to Esha when she continued to stand there. He touched her arm to get her attention.

She blinked her eyes away from his parents, and to him. Having a glance at his face, his eyes, made her feel comfortable again. She did not get uncomfortable when forced to face an unexpected situation. She realized that, and returned to her element.

She spoke to his parents, "I'm sorry, but I'd really like to go home and take a shower. How about dinner tonight?"

His parents looked back and forth from their son, to her, startled at her quick comeback. "Uh, sure. That sounds like a plan!" Rasika answered for all of them.

Nikhil was just as surprised, but he didn't say it just yet.

Esha nodded and smiled at them, "Alright. Look forward to seeing you tonight."

Once they were in the car, and Esha let out a deep breath she seemed to have been holding in, Nikhil questioned, "Are you sure?"

"I told you I would try," She answered, turning her head to look at him, "And I wasn't ready to meet your parents just yet, but they're here." She let him know with that that since they were here, she might as well learn to tackle the situation. She herself thought it to be rude to not acknowledge their presence, especially since they knew about their shotgun, drunk wedding.

"If you change your mind." He offered, not wanting her to feel pressurized to simply because they visited unannounced.

She nodded, appreciating his support. "Thanks."

He turned the key in the ignition and drove her home. When he pulled up in the parking space, he commented, "Here we are."

She said, unbuckling the seatbelt, "Yeah." Her hand reached for the door, but stopped. She turned to speak to him again, for she didn't feel right leaving without saying anything. "Nikhil?"

"Yeah?"

"Yesterday was a complete surprise for me, and really, thank you for that." She expressed her gratitude, "If you hadn't pushed, I'd have stayed home stuck in my room. Thank you for getting me out of my comfort zone."

He forwarded his hand to reach for hers. "Esha, I didn't do anything special that you need to thank me for."

"To me, it was." She answered, putting her other hand on top of his. "And don't say differently, because let's just say this goes in your favor."

He chuckled, squeezing her hand in support. He didn't care if it was in his favor, but it definitely did help that she was letting him in and seeing past everything that had happened in a rush. "Come here." He put his hand around her and gave her a tight hug. It was all he could do to express what her words meant to him.

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