"At the heart of personality is the need to feel a sense of being loveable without having to qualify for that acceptance."

- Paul Tournier

* * *      

Jhanvi Aragwal was a marriage counselor.

It was an interesting job, but that wasn't the only reason she had chosen to be one. It was her parents' profession, a divorce lawyer, and a family court judge, that had pushed her to become one. She had seen her own parents struggling to stay together despite everything that pulled them apart. Ever since she remembered, she had been a good listener and had been very good at helping people to communicate better. And that was why she was so sure she was just meant to be a marriage counselor.

And when her father's friend had requested her to observe his son and the girl that accompanied him, she wasn't as shocked as her parents were.

"What do you mean, Ramnaath," her father, Mr Agarwal had asked.

"I just want to know if a marriage between them will work out," Ramnaath had answered.

"That's not how you go about it, Ramnaath," her judge mother had said with disapproval.

"I don't know what else to do. I just want my son to not get hurt, and she is someone who is going to hurt him because they are so different. They have different priorities, different ideologies. I don't want history to repeat itself," Ramnaath had told them with a pleading tone.

"Ramnaath Uncle, there isn't nothing wrong with being different from one and other. The most important things are; acceptance and strong communication and if they are willing to make their marriage work, I don't think anything can stop them," Jhanvi had interfered when she had seen the desperation in the old man's eyes.

"Then how can I know if they do have everything you just told me about?" Ramnaath had asked her.

"I can't know about that in one meeting, but I will try to at least give you my first impression of them," she had told him with a comforting smile.

And that was why, at the moment, her eyes were set on the couple who were laughing together at what seemed a personal joke.

'Interesting,' she told to herself.

* * *

With a champagne glass in hand, they circulated around the hall, making small talks and standard social conversations. Shravan couldn't have been prouder of her; the way she handled herself with grace and allure, charming everyone. She spoke so passionately and eloquently when she was asked what she did. Her small business and big ideas had fascinated the few businessmen that were present in the big crowd of lawyers and judges.

"You are amazing," he told her as they sat down at their table.

"Did you realize that just now?" She asked him smugly.

"No, I always knew," he admitted with a smile.

She looked beautiful tonight, and when in the evening he had gone to pick her up, standing in the garden of Tiwari Killa, wearing the gray and rose quarter saari he had chosen for her, she had looked like a part of the sunset they had been surrounded by. So beautiful. And now sitting in front of him, with poise and grace, she was making his heartbeat fast every time she looked at him with a soft smile on her lips and tenderness shining in her dark brown eyes. So he smiled back, contently.

They both continued to smile at each other without breaking their gaze until someone cleared their throat. And when they looked up, they found his father towering over them with a calculating look in his eyes.

"Shravan, did you meet Mr and Mrs Agarwal and their beautiful daughter, Jhanvi?" Ramnaath asked him as introduced them.

"Jhanvi here is getting bored with us old folks, so I thought you both can give her company?" Ramnaath said with a charming smile.

"Of course," Suman said graciously before stepping in to introduce herself and invited the girl to sit with them on the table, only to frown when the girl chose to sit next to Shravan who was suddenly very interested in remaining silent as if he was keeping a mou-warat fast.

Was his father trying to set up Jhanvi with Shravan? Should I be worried? She thought to herself, her heart trembling with the idea.

"So, for how long you both have been friends?" Jhanvi asked with a smile, breaking the awkward silence between them.

"For almost a decade and a half," Suman answered.

"How did you both meet?" She asked as she looked between them. And that started an intense conversation, as she saw both of them chime into each other's narration as they talked about their past. She observed them as they smiled at each other and laughed at the jokes obviously only they could understand. She smiled in approval when even while disagreeing, they had a smile on their faces, and acceptance for each other's differences.

"Jhanvi, you are here and we had been looking for you all night," the ongoing conversation between was interrupted when a group of young people came to stop near their table.

'Just in time,' she thought.

"I will join you guys in a minute," she answered with a smile.

"Thank you for keeping me company," Jhanvi said when she looked at them with a smile.

"You both look cute together," she said while standing up from the table.

"But we aren't..." Suman muttered as she looked at the girl who was gracefully standing up from the chair, bluffed at the assumption, she had tried to clear the misunderstanding, but before she could complete, she was interrupted by Shravan.

"Thank you!" He said as beamed at the girl and he waved at her goodbye.

"Why didn't you tell her that we aren't together?" Suman asked as she glared at him.

"Why should have I?" Shravan asked her innocently.

"Argh, whatever," she muttered, annoyed, but within a minute, everything was forgotten as they dig in and enjoying the food and conversing together, spending the night in the way they have been dreaming about ever since the plan to attend the party was made.

* * * *

'I could get used to this,' he thought to himself.

There he was, after the party, late at night, walking the garden with her by his side.

He couldn't believe that, could faith really be at his side this time around? His father, Ramnaath Malhotra himself had asked Suman to stay back the night as it was too late to drop her and Nana Ji even gave her permission to stay the night?

'We are too old for a sleepover but never old enough for a game night,' Pushkar had screamed out loud and had started to make plans to watch movies or play Ludo or chess, after giving Suman clothes to change in, Vandy Bhabhi had run away to make some popcorn and Varun Bhahiya, after making plan to meet in the garden, had walked out to call God knows who. But their enthusiasm had lasted only for a few matches of Ludo before one after the other, all three disappeared, leaving them behind to wander around the garden.

And now under the moonlight, surrounded by the bushes of roses, he couldn't believe the reality even if she walked with him, side by side. He told her how strange it was; meeting the people who only knew his name because of his father, and how different it had been in London where he was known for what he did on his own. She listened to him before telling him that he should stop analyzing, to not let these things bother him and simply let his work do the talking.

In the mid-sentence, when he turned to his left to share his thought with her, he noticed that she was not walking by his side anymore. And when he turned around, he found her leaning on a tree for support while standing on her one leg, with her head bend sideways she was fumbling with the straps of her slippers.

Walking towards her, he waited till she looked up and found him standing near her, and held his hand out open for her to take. When she looked at that, she smiled at him gratefully. A smile she had never given him ten years back whenever he had helped her out, in any way. He didn't know what to think of it...

And then he saw her letting go off the tree and take his hand - firmly as if she would never let it go. It was then and there that he realized that she had taken his hand, let him help her not because she needed it but because it was him who was offering it. She would have never let anyone else do it, he knew. No one else but he could make Suman Tiwari grasp his hand for help even when she didn't need it to begin with, but took it because it was him who was offering.

She was doing it more for him than for herself...

He smiled at her gratefully, knowing that it was her way of showing him how she took what he had told her last time to heart. It pleased him, how now they actually were mature enough to deal with the past misunderstandings and forgive the misdoings.

She smiled at him, and they once again started to walk side by side but she didn't let off his hand...

He loved it. He loved how it made him feel special. He loved how it made him feel wanted and needed by her. That was what he had always wanted to be: hers to need, hers to want...

That gesture made him understand that she didn't need his help, but she would always welcome it. She would always turn to him, let him lead her in a difficult situation, not because she won't be able to do without him, but because he was the only person to whom she could admit of not knowing what to do.

The more he thought about it, the more he loved it. He was the only one who would know her shortfalls, shaking faith, confusion, and pessimism. The only person with whom she wouldn't have to pretend she had everything in control, the only person who would see Suman Tiwari with all of her guards and walls down. The only person to whom she would trust all of her because she finally thinks of him as someone who would never judge her for having a weak moment and cherish her in the same way he had always done.

And cherish her he will, she must know that by now, maybe always has. She may have confused it with only friendship ten years back, but maybe this time around, she would come to know the intensity and the depth of his feelings for her...

He was determined to let her know...

* * *

"They are so painfully slow..." He sighed in frustration.

Hiding behind the bushes, Pushkar was concentred on spying on the couple of the night as they stood in the garden surrounded by the roses and their faces lighted up by the moonlight and by the contentment that came with by being in each other's company.

"I think we should do something about it they themselves are useless," the voice on the other side of the tree whispered.

Pushkar jumped at the sudden intrusion, with his eyes wide open and a hand on his chest, he looked at his Vandy Bhabhi crouching down in her very pink pajamas as she peaked above at the rose bushes in a very comic manner.

Amused he looked at her as she continued to gush and squeal about the sight in front of her.

"They look so cute together," Vandy fangirled in excitement.

"Vandy Bhabhi!" Pushkar exclaimed in delight, finally, there was someone else apart from him who could see how perfect his Shravan Bhahiya and Sumo looked together.

"Pushkar, after tonight, I couldn't resist them. I am joining the ShraMan fan club," Vandy gushed with a hand on her chest and stars in her eyes.

"What fan club?" Pushkar asked confused.

"ShraMan, Shravan's Shra and Suman's Man, ShraMan. Oh my God, Pushkar, you are so outdated," Vandy huffed as she rolled her eyes at her youngest brother in law.

"Vandy, keep your voice down," they heard a third voice whisper from somewhere behind them.

"Varun Bhaiya, you too?" Pushkar asked in delight, a second member joining in on the same night, he couldn't have asked for more.

"Mind you; I am only here to find out what's happening between them, I am not into fangirling like you both are," Varun told them firmly even though just a second after, he was beaming when they heard Shravan laughing uncontrollably as Suman narrated some incident with her exaggerated hand gestures.

"Okay, still in denial, I see," Pushkar said with a knowing smile.

The three of them spied the couple from behind the bushes where they were huddled together. They couldn't help but beam as they saw the couple part away with smiles on their face and stars in their eyes.

"Ah, young love," Varun muttered with a sigh.

"Ah, Shravan Bhaiya and Sumo, sometimes it seems like they aren't that close but sometimes it seems like no one knows them better than they know each other," Pushkar said with an amused smile.

"Give them some time, and you will see them winning the best couple award next year in Mr & Mrs Mehra's valentine party," Varun predicted.

"Wow, Bhaiya, I didn't know you are a shipper too," Pushkar laughed in delight.

"Who isn't?" Varun muttered in his defense, "the way they were behaving tonight, almost every person I met tonight had asked me if they were engaged or when was that they are going to receive the invitation card for their wedding," he complained about with a sigh.

"I know right," Vandy said, "I was wearing Gucci's limited edition dress, and I couldn't even make others jealous because I was busy shipping them. It's so consuming and such a distraction," she whined with a pout, making her husband and younger brother in law laugh out loud at her.

'I finally have someone with whom I can talk about them,' Pushkar, the ShraMan Fanclub president beamed at the two new members in front of him with delight.

'Maybe I should try to convert Preeti too?' He thought about his own love interest.

* * * * 

A/N:- So, here is the much-anticipated party night that we have been waiting for... Hopefully, it was what you have been waiting for and that it was worth the wait...

If it wasn't, my apologies, I never had thought parties are this hard to write but they actually are...

Please leave behind a comment or two or more to let me know your thoughts on the chapter and on the story so far...

Thank you for reading, liking, and voting and for waiting patiently...Thank you for the kind words and support...

Thank you... :)