The usual scenario.

You walked out of the diner and turned your head to the side where you knew Shubman would be waiting. And there he was.

When you saw his smile, the same damn smile like every other day, it became difficult to control yours.

"You didn't think I stood you up, did you?" He asked as soon as you were near him. Then your eyes met.

"That's one of the many things I thought," you answered, facing him as you did.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I promise, I'll never be late again."

"It's fine. I guess we're even now," you shrugged. "I mean, I kinda ignored you the whole time so yesterday can be a compensation and-"

You stopped when you realized you were starting to rant.

"Never mind," you mumbled. "How was your day?" You asked and Shubman smiled because you looked at him a second longer and also because you asked him how his day was.

"The usual but now the best day because I'm with you," he answered. Smooth mothertrucker.

"Alright," you tried not to react to that.

A usual day for him. As in meeting up with allies, signing a few deals, checking his container shipments, a couple of shootouts, maybe killing a few, fighting with his sister, Ishan questioning his sanity and then waiting for you.

"How was yours?" He asked you back.

"Pretty normal," you said. "There was this customer in the afternoon who poured mayonnaise in a cream strawberry latte with instant coffee. Other than that, yeah, normal."

You watched as Shubman listened before taking out presumably-a-box from nowhere.

"An apology gift," he said, holding a box of Ferrero Collection.

"The whole thing?" You asked. You were never given a whole box of Ferrero. Only one or two were permitted.

"The whole thing, baby," he repeated your words.

He wanted to buy you a four foot teddy bear too but he decided against it because stuffed animals may even lead to asthma as they attract dust, other allergens and irritants.

Also he wasn't sure if you'd like teddy bears because not everyone does, or if you preferred something else. He'll figure it out later.

"You are not allergic to cocoa or hazelnut, are you?" Shubman asked, concern growing in his face.

"No, I'm not allergic to anything," you said, shaking your head in denial. "I hate anything that has to do with coconuts though. And do you know this? More people die from falling coconuts than from shark attacks. Also a study says that-"

You went on providing statistics while Shubman held the box closer to you so that you finally got it.

He just listened to you keenly, watching as you managed to open the box while also giving him a lesson on how coconuts were more dangerous.

You handed him a Rocher before picking one for yourself.

"Wanna walk with me?" You asked after you were done with statistics class and Shubman's smile couldn't have got wider.

"Of course," he said and you turned towards the path you took home, at the same time when he swiftly took out his gun and placed it in the car.

He didn't want you to stumble upon anything unpleasant. Like, what if you were going to hug and you felt the gun accidentally?

Not saying a word, you just walked in the same pace as him, still holding the box of Ferrero in your hands.

"Wait, let me keep this in my backpack," you halted and placed the box inside, quickly zipping the bag again before resuming the walk.

Oddly, Shubman's reputation did not scare you at all.

You believed you had worse things to be scared of. Zombies, ghosts, curd, the past, the future.

But for the first time in forever, one thing you're sure about. You're not scared about the present.

Also you noticed whenever he came to the diner, these days, it was only one car. It gave more privacy.

And its driver had to be given the award for driving at the slowest possible speed, with the rate at which he followed behind.

"Did you really mean it?" You broke the silence as you both turned to the next street. He knew the way too. "When you said you-" You gestured vaguely with your arms before looking at him.

"More than anything my life has ever meant," Shubman answered, looking deeply into your eyes.

Now his life was just you. He has finally found the meaning for his existence.

You looked at him intently for a few seconds while still walking. Then you broke eye contact, contemplating until you both were standing in front of your house.

"I still don't believe you a little bit," you started in a small voice. "It's just that-"

You sighed, thinking if you really wanted to go with the lengthy list but you did anyway.

"Butterflies are not beautiful to me. The middle of sunflowers is not aesthetic. Mangoes are not delicious. Strawberries are not tasty. The smell of flowers gives me a headache. I can't decide if I want to add sugar or not in maggi. I hate milk, I don't eat curd. Hell, even smelling them makes me want to puke. My fictional obsessions change every week. I feel insecure about myself. I'm awkward with people. All the time, I keep wondering what's the point of me being here and I'm broken beyond repair. You don't want to love me. I can give you a hundred reasons."

You were almost out of breath when you finished talking.

All you could do was look in disbelief as Shubman smiled.

You gave a complete essay for him to smile?

If you give him a hundred reasons to not love you, he could give you a thousand more reasons why he loves you.

Yet he won't because there was really one simple reason.

Shubman took a step forward so that he could place his hands on your cheeks, caressing them softly.

"My only reason is that I love you," he said, his voice barely a whisper as he kissed your forehead.

When he pulled away again, he looked into your eyes, his gaze then trailing down to your lips.

Your heart threatened to jump out of your chest and you involuntarily nipped at your lower lip.

His pupils dilated and it was almost like his breath hitched for a moment too.

Neither of you moved. Just stayed there within the intense atmosphere.

There was only enough space for a taper candle between his lips and yours.

One small movement and there wouldn't even be space for a quark.

Then Shubman withdrew one of his hands from your cheeks, slowly stepping back.

He smiled again, fingers tracing over your cheek. "Good night," he said before pulling back that hand too.

You let out a breath you didn't know you were holding.

Briefly looking down at your shoes that were still just a little bit stained with pink, you nodded.

You turned around and made it inside the gate, walking further to the door.

When you looked back at Shubman again, he was still there, his car waiting behind.

Your eyes met and you felt like you were risking everything, but for once, you really wanted to.

It was never that you didn't believe in love.

You just didn't believe in it for yourself. You didn't think you'd be that lucky.

Looking at him, it felt different.

It felt like your long period of loneliness and difficulty was being ceased.

All you wanted to do was hold on, for now Shubman was your light at the end of the tunnel.