For a change, let's get into the time machine and see what's happening in the future.

8 years later....

The sun is going ,down the horizon, and darkness is setting in Gurgaon. The streetlights have been turned on. Just across the street having the tallest and luxurious commercial building of ****** company, is a 'sutta' joint or so they call in their language. The professionals /employees of the company flock to the joint for smoking cigarettes. Manik goes there too, to smoke but not out of enjoyment, but to let his worries and problems fly away with the rising rings of the smoke. Every time he takes a swig of the cigarette , he just wishes that he could undo his past doings. As the nicotine settles in his senses, his memory travels back to the past which had many happy memories. He has the memory of that farewell party given to the seniors, very well etched in his memory, and flashes come like a reel of a movie. That party had special memories, as it had ignited certain sensations in his body, which he had not experienced in those 16 years of his existence.

Flashback....

As the group of friends made their entry, they were instantly the center of attention. The party was quiet and calm because of the presence of the principal and teachers. The welcome song was sung. Principal gave a motivating speech asking the students to bring laurels to the school, the class teacher reminisced the memories of the times with the students, how they gave her a tough time. By the end of it all, some students were dozing off and others were busy in their own gossips and chats.

It was only when the principal and teachers took leave, asking the students to party properly without any chaos that suddenly the atmosphere was electrified. Cabir, everyone's favourite humourist and his think-alike partner, mukti took the center stage and everyone knew that the fun was on.

"so...bhaiyon aur unki behon (brothers and their sisters) we are present here to bid farewell to our sweet seniors. Toh main soch raha tha ki q na iss party ko memorable banaya jaye"

Hooting and cheering , started.

"so seniors, hm (juniors) apko aaj ek mauka dete hain to confess your feelings. Feelings ksi bhi ho sakti hain. A boy's love for a classmate, a girls jealousy towards her classmate, a boy's bromance , a girls sismance!! Kuch v...koi v emotion, pyaar, gussa, jealousy, gratitude...anything!! and jo shy hain (winking) unhe hm help karenge...ye mt sochna ki bach k nikal loge! Humare paas sab love birds ki list hai...so you won't be spared today! Buck up guys ...aaj bahut saare secret crushes reveal honge! R u ready for the fun??"

"yes cabir...seeing their excited faces, i am sure they are ready...so who wants to be the inaugurator?? Hai koi himmatwala??" mukti instigated and surprisingly the head boy shobhit kumar stood up.

"ooooo shobhit!!" cheers of this like started.

"com'on shobhit...be a man!" cabir shouted and shobhit reached the stage quite nervously.

"hey" he said over the mike.

"so tell us..kis ke liye hai ye confession?" cabir urged while shobhit's classmate kept cheering as they knew whose name , he is gonna take.

"head girl" he said awkwardly.

"ooooo....that's great! But don't you think you should take her name rather than addressing her by her designation!" mukti teased. Head girl akansha was going all red as her girls gang were teasing.

"akansha..we met 2 years back on the first day of our high school and as destiny would have it, we were appointed as the head boy/girl and while working with you and spending time with you, i realised that our thoughts are at the same wavelength and our opinions too match a lot. Even my mom likes you a lot. What would a guy want more from his girl? I know you feel that this is mere attraction, but i would say i am hopelessly in love with you. I want to make 'us' work. Will you help me in this? If you say yes, come what may, i promise a forever for us. I will make it work. So , will you be my girlfriend?" shobhit kept his heart in his words and which girl could say no to such a sweet proposal. Akansha nodded in a yes, shyly. And shobhit just ran to her , taking her in a bone crushing hug.

"awww how sweet! So guys...its now or never...come on speak your heart out" mukti said and this time a girl stood up. She reached the podium and took the mike.

"hi i am rohini"

"so rohini..to whom do you want to confess?" mukti asked.

"well, its quite unconventional that a senior girl expresses her crush towards a junior boy, but like you said its now or never, so i want to confess that i have a crush on manik since last year. "

All the heads turned towards manik, who was till then quite out of focus, not interested in anyone's love life. Nandini ,sitting beside him, stiffened.
"wooooooooh" a chorus ran through the auditorium. Rohini was feeling shy and her cheeks were getting hot. Manik was like spare-me-the-drama-i-am-already-taken. He looked at nandini, she was looking at him already as if trying to read his expression.

"rohini sorry to say but manik baba ko sirf kitabo (books) ki bhasha samajh ati hai...sadly tumhra crush , crush hi rahega" cabir saved manik and in turn helped nandini. Rohini once again looked at manik but he was not looking at her, she understood that he is not interested.
So she got down the stage, with a sad smile.

"acha aur kitni senior girls ko manik acha lagta h??" cabir asked and nearly 40 hands out of the 100 girls were raised.

Cabir chuckled and mukti passed him a look which said 'itni girls?? Seriously??'

"acha acha...let it be...manik se ek larki handle ni ho pati...itni saari ko kya sambhalega! So let's move to the next" cabir was speaking while manik gave him a killer look for putting him in such a situation. Nandini's insecurities surfaced once again, and her face was a reflection of it.
There were hell lot of confessions.
One senior boy, proposed mukti, and a fight ensued between , abhimanyu and the senior boy, which had to be calmed down by shobhit and manik, cabir.

All in all there was a lot of drama.

"ok guys! We juniors know, sabko yaha par mann hai to dance with their partners, so to fulfil your wish,a genie named cabir is here! So i would request you to vacate the room for a few minutes! Girls go and gossip a bit...and guys well do anything but please leave the hall" cabir announced and the seniors left the room with confused faces. All the juniors utilised the time and quickly changed the setup. After a few minutes, the seniors were called inside and they were surprised to find a ball room like setup. Suddenly there excitement level reached a new level, as soft music started playing in the background.

"so seniors what are you waiting for ?? put on your dancing shoes and grab a partner! I hope ...we juniors could entertain you even a little bit...so its cabir and mukti signing off ...all the best" cabir spoke and then jumped off the podium and helped mukti too, to get down.

Iss qadar tu mujhe pyaar kar
Jise kabhi na main sakoon phir bhula
Zindagi layi humein yahan
Koi iraada toh raha hoga bhala
Ki darkhaast hai yeh
Jo aayi raat hai yeh
Tu meri bahon mein duniya bhula de
Jo ab lamhaat hai yeh
Bade hi khaas hai yeh
Tu meri bahon mein duniya bhula de

they started with a slow track to set the mood. All the students present in the room hit the dance floor with their chosen partners. There was no bar of senior or junior.

Manik , sensing nandini's off mood, asked her for the dance, she refused at first , so he forcefully dragged her to the middle and grabbed her waist and made her dance. Bit by bit, seeing his cute antics, nandini's mood changed and they danced like there's no tomorrow. They really wanted to forget the night in each other's arm.

Tu aata hai seene mein
Jab jab saansein bharti hoon
Tere dil ki galiyon se
Main har roz guzarti hoon
Hawaa ke jaise chalta hai tu
Main ret jaisi udti hoon
Kaun tujhe yun pyar karega
Jaise main karti hoon
Ho ho....

as soon as this song started playing, nandini felt like it just had the words she wanted to say to manik. Now they were dancing cosily.

"manik"

"hmm"

"ye song sun rahe ho??"

"ha"

"ye mera favourite hai" she said with a slight blush and as a reflex reaction of her words , manik pulled her closer with a jerk, now there was no space between their bodies. Nandini had to arch back a little to be able to look into his eyes.
"and YOUR eyes are my favourite song. Every time i look into them, they have a different lyric for me" he said and as he realised his words , he joked "wow that was too heavy!"

"yeah" she laughed along with him.
The track changed.

Yeah...

Arrey ladki beautiful, kar gayi chull
(chull chull...)
Arrey ladki beautiful, kar gayi chull
(chull chull...)

and that was it for all the single souls, who were forcefully dancing in couples, this was what they were waiting for! They pulled their friends out of their cosy moods and made them dance in groups. Soon, the ball room setup changed into a club like setup, where the youngsters were dancing crazily.

Nandini, realising that no one would notice her absence, now, dragged manik out with her. He didn't argue, he just followed her. At that time he didn't know, that he is going to experience something that will make his heart beat wildly, even years later, by just the thought of it.

Flashback ends.

And truly, his heart was thumping at a wild pace, now. The cigarette had just burned away, and his colleagues patted his shoulder to bring him out of his reverie.

"let's go! The cigarette is done" said one of them and as a habit manik bought chewing gums, to freshen his breath, before entering the office premises. As he entered his cabin, those thoughts , the feel of her lips, everything came back like a flood. He sat on his chair, and started working on his laptop, to distract himself, but her happy, shy face of that farewell day, kept flashing.

Flashback..

She dragged her to the stairs, which used to remain deserted all the time.
When she stopped, he asked "kya hua?"

She didn't reply, she just hugged him with all her might, trying to merge her body with his. He took a few seconds before wrapping his arms round her.

"nandini, kya hua??" he asked without breaking the hug.

"tum sirf mere ho!" she stated like a stubborn child. He held her a little more tighter.

"nandini...tum insecure kyu ho?? U know main tumhre alawa kisi aur larki ke baare mein sochta bhi ni hun"

"good! Aur sochna bhi mat!" she said in a scolding manner, breaking the hug.

"ok ma'm!" he replied cheekily.

She smiled but then a frown settled again on her face.

"ab kya hua?" he asked seeing her frowning.

"tum itne lambe kyu ho?? I can't even reach your lips!" she complained earning a chuckle from him.

"bas itni si baat?? Lo abhi solve kar deta hun..." he said and picked her up like a 4 year old kid. She laughed at his idea, but then wrapped her legs round his waist.

"ab theek hai?" he asked. She nodded happily looking down at him.

"so kiss me" he demanded and she obliged. Unlike the kiss last time, this time she took the lead and placed her lips on his. As his lips slightly parted, she sucked his lower lip and he sucked her upper lip. She was kissing him with such force that a fire seem to have ignited in him and it travelled south, giving him his first experience of arousal. His senses were on fire and it was getting difficult to hold her in his arms. He wanted to place her on her feet, grab her nape, anchor her face according to his comfort and kiss her lips insanely, but she was not ready to entangle him from her hold. She had no freaking idea what her kiss was doing! He was thankful to the almighty that he had worn denim jeans today otherwise he would have embarrassed himself in front of her.
Finally, she stepped down, panting hard. Her cheeks were a brilliant shade of red. She was clearly happy with the kiss and her never ending smiling was a proof of it. He kept looking at the angelic glow on her face, which etched in his memory forever.

Flashback ends
....

He looked at his watch, it was 8 in the night. 'One more hour to go' he thought to himself. As this had become a habit now. He didn't want to go home now. If it would have been allowed, he would have stayed in the office, round the clock.

The word 'home' gave pleasure to others but to him it is a cause of tension, stress and an immesurable amount of pain.