"Can I talk to you?" Ananth whispered to Vandana the next day. She looked up at him and nodded. It was morning. "Tell me," she said.

"Not here. Come to the balcony with me." He said.

"Okay," She said. They walked off to the balcony of the office. Vandana turned to Ananth. She had been thinking about just him since last night. She saw his reasons, yet she did not want to end up marrying him. She could not imagine having his mother as a mother-in-law. Also, her own parents would never agree to a marriage with him.

"I think we can just do your casual dating thing." He said, leaning to the railing.

Vandana crossed her arms. "What are you planning?"

"No plans?"

"Out with it, Ananth. I know you."

He fidgeted.

"I was hoping I would be able to change your mind. Eventually..." he said.

"I don't think you can. I don't want to give you hope or waste your time."

"You won't. But I want to try to do this. Make this work."

"Why?" She asked. "It's not like we are in love with each other."

"I know... But don't you know as well? There is something between us.... Something definitely is happening. This has not happened to me in a long while. I have not felt like this for years. Honestly, I don't want to give this up and get into a boring arranged marriage in which I have no feelings towards the girl. The prospect of that is haunting for me. I have never thought like this before you came along. I thought I CAN get into a loveless, feelings-less marriage. But now... I am not so sure." He was being honest. "I don't want to live my life so boring anymore. I don't want to live by my parents' orders and wishes. I want to live my life. I know we are not in love... I know we can easily survive without each other for the rest of our lives. But... You seem like the right step to take at this point in my life. This feels like the start of something extraordinary."

Vandana understood what he meant. But she still could not promise him a life together. "I don't know..." she said.

"You need not give me a commitment right now. But can we just let it hang in there for a bit... We can spend some time together and see where this is going. We can analyse our feelings and see if it will work out for us in the long run."

Vandana considered that.

"Okay, fine... But I am not giving you any promises."

"That's okay..." He smiled. "As of now, I just want to spend some time with you." He took her hand in his hand. "I... like being with you like this. I missed you, Nandhu."

"One condition before we do this. Can we stop calling each other 'Nandhu'? It's cheesy as hell." She cringed. Ananth laughed. Just then Girish walked into the pantry. He quickly left Vandana's hand. Girish noticed them.

"Hey, Girish." Ananth acted casual.

"Hi..." Girish suspiciously looked between Ananth and Vandana. "Hope things are alright."

"Yeah. Just catching up," Ananth said. Girish got his coffee and biscuits and left.

"Let's not be so obvious inside the office," Vandana said. "We do not need more office gossip."

"Also Girish give me the vibes that he won't like an office romance. So you are right. Let's keep a low profile."

Vandna walked back into the Pantry and to the office. Ananth waited a bit before going in. Vandana was at her laptop working. Ananth sat down in his seat and began working too. Vandana's skype message blinked. She opened the message. It was a private message from Ananth. 'Did I tell you, you look really nice today?' He had written.

She saw him looking at her. She suppressed a smile and wrote back 'flattery is not going to get you anywhere. Now shut up and work'.

***

"Are you not going to go home?" Vandana asked Ananth a few days later. He was at her home. He stayed over after dropping her home and was now working on a program on his laptop lying on her bed. This was a routine these days. He stayed for a while with her before going home. With the office being a 'no dating zone' the only place they get to spend time was at Vandana's house.

Vandna sat down by him, she had already changed to her homeware clothes. "Ananth..." She called again as he was not replying.

"Don't make me go home," Ananth said, snorting like a child... He lay back with his head on her lap. "Home is a mess these days."

"Well, whose fault is that?" She asked, moving her fingers through his hair.

"Can I stay the night?" Ananth asked, suddenly, as if he also thought of that just then.

"I would have said 'yes' if this was a bigger city." She said. "Now neighbours have already begun to talk that I am having a guy over every day."

"And that is why we should get married," Ananth said getting up and looking at her. "Then people can go fuck themselves."

Vandana chuckled. "It's weird to hear you say 'fuck'. You did not use to curse." She said.

"At fifteen?" He asked. "I would have been smacked by my mom if I cursed at that age. And I still don't curse in front of her. And I learned all this while in college. So I can't stay the night?" He asked.

Vandana smiled and shook her head.

"Hm..." Ananth frowned cutely, hugged her and fell to the bed. "I'll miss you at night." He said to her hair. Buried his head in the nape of her neck. Vandana smiled. She liked this overly cute romantic phase they were in. She softly touched his ear. Ananth looked up at her. Vandana kissed him. Ananth kissed back... softly then passionately.

"Wait... is this an invitation to stay?" He asked.

Vandana was already feeling a bit out of control of her desire. She opened one shirt button of Ananth. "Stay if you want to..." She said.

"Okay, but no...." He took Vandana's hand off his shirt. "Not going there..."

"What?" She asked.

"We are not going there yet." He said, explaining.

"I thought you want to stay," Vandana was confused.

"Yes. But I did not mean that. I can stay platonically."

"Platonically?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. She felt almost offended and embarrassed that her advance was bluntly rejected.

"Yeah. Like we can talk while cuddling types." He said. "Why? What did you have in mind? You naughty..."

She pushed him off her and got up, annoyed. "Go home." She said.

"Hey, don't be offended... I was joking." He said, getting up with her. "I mean with the 'what did you have in your mind part'. I mean the 'no sex' part. It's too soon."

Vandana frowned. "We are 30-year-old adults Ananth." She reminded him. "What is so soon?"

"Yeah... But..." He looked hesitant. It was true that he was a bit hesitant because it would be his first time. But that was not the main reason. "I want us to do it only after marriage." He said. "I know... I know it sounds very old fashioned. But...I don't know. I was raised with these values." He hesitated, looking at her reaction. "I would feel like I am disrespecting you if we do it right now. I mean, obviously, I want to do it someday. But I don't want it to look like I am desperate for it, or I like you only for your body. I want you to be my wife someday. So I want to treat you with that respect."

"Having sex does not diminish my respect," Vandana said, who spent most of the prime of her life with different social standards in a different country. "And sex is just sex."

But Ananth looked uncomfortable.

"I don't understand. Which guy says no to sex!" She asked.

"Trust me, there are guys who do. Not all guys are dogs." He said. "And I want our first time to be special. You are precious and special to me. I want to treat you with that respect."

Vandana sat and thought about it. She has never had any 'special' sex. The closest to being special was the first time. The Prom. Malcolm had tried his best to make it special. But she messed it up. More like Ananth's memories messed it up. Then the second time was her college boyfriend – Dan. They did it in a car for the first time. And then in dorm rooms. Nothing special. Most sex she had was like that. Hastey. In dingy corners and cars or dorm rooms. Tiny apartment buildings. Those guys were hungry for her body only.

Respect? She did not fully understand the concept. It felt new. But nice.

She looked at Ananth. "Stay..." She whispered. "Stay for tonight. In your platonic whatever..." She felt she could not send him away that night. He smiled. He set his laptop away and got on the bed with her and got her in a cuddle. Vandana cuddled close to him. Looking up at him. "Ananth..." She said, filling up with something very close to love. "Hm?" He looked down at her. Vandana's lips almost said the words 'I love you'. She wanted to say that. But she did not. "Nothing..." she said.

Ananth kissed her forehead. She closed her eyes.

The truth was Vandana did not want to lose him either. She was now melting a bit and imagining a future with him.