"See you then, make sure to come. The 2.5 days of your 'Jamai bazaar' are on their way!" Nisha grinned, earning a sigh from Priti. 
She glanced at Kabir to see his heartwarming smile and wondered if he was possessed.

Ever since this morning, he had been awfully nice to Nisha.

She had termed this as the peace before an upcoming tornado.

"I guess I'll have to prepare to stay 2.5 days with my lovely... sisters-in-law." Shams tried to smile but seeing the evil grins on their faces, he gave up. Priti chuckled, "Stop scaring him. Now go home."
"Bye-bye!" Nisha smiled, greeting the elders as Kabir's mother spoke, "She's so lovely. All three sisters have good manners." 

Kabir smirked a little seeing Nisha's shy smile. 

Her gaze went to him as her smile died down. She frowned, eyeing him weirdly as he raised his brows. 
"Creep." She mouthed. 

As they were in front of the car, Kabir whispered into her ear, "Are you sure you're not forgetting anything?" 
She shook her head, "Thank you for the worry but no." 

He nodded, the smug look on his face deepening.

She wondered what was wrong with him as she got into the car. But as soon as she looked out of the window, her eyes widened.

The car started but her eyes nearly fell off the window.

He was holding her jhumka with an evil smile. 
"Thanks for the gift! I'll keep it well!" He shouted.

She gasped, "My jhumka!" 
"Quiet down, Nisha-pi." Adisha groaned, closing her eyes again. Nisha sat there, baffled by what had just happened.

How could she forget such an important thing?

Grabbing her phone, she immediately sent him a text,

nisha00: SEND MY JHUMKA BACK U CHOR. You said today morning?!

Thief. 

Yes, she called him exactly that.

She let out a noise in disbelief upon seeing his reply.

kabir_95: It's mine now. 🥰🤗😘😍 Unless you come to the book fair, that is.

"I'll stuff these ugly emojis up his ass." She spoke, giving a deathly stare at his profile photo.

He was about to face death for being an asshole. 
"I'll see you on the day of the bookfair."

—A few days later—

"Shams, why are your friends here?" Nisha asked, eyeing the bunch of males goofing around. Kabir smiled sweetly at Nisha as she rolled her eyes. 
"Well, they're here to drop me off. I don't know why, though." He sighed. 

"Of course. The only thing they're good at is squeezing in everywhere." Priti chuckled. Nisha glanced at the males and smiled, "Come in. Leave after having some tea." 
"Sure!" Atif walked inside along with Wahi, making them smile. 

They all sat down, greeting Nisha's parents. Adisha and Adil were chatting with the guys as Nisha spoke, "I have some work to do. I'll be back soon."

She entered her room and continued to finish the recent interior project. 

"Yellow and blue give a nice contrast to the studio but... this won't go well with the theme." She whispered to herself, taking out her colour palette for colour contrasting and furniture colour selection. 
After nearly half an hour of research on the topics, she could finally figure out a few designs and started trying them on her computer.

Her work was interrupted by a knock on the door. 

"Come in." She spoke, focused on her work.
"Adisha, get me a glass of water please." She scrolled a few designs on her computer, fixing her computer glasses. 
"Ah, my eyes hurt now." 

Resting her head on the chair, she massaged her eyes lazily.

Footsteps approached her as she heard a noise on the table. 
"Thanks." 

Opening her eyes, she expected to see Adisha but frowned when a manly figure came into her view. Her eyes rose to find Kabir standing there with raised brows. 
"You wear glasses?"

She immediately backed away, "What the f—"
"Stop cursing." He sighed, forwarding the glass of water to her. 
"Why are you here?!" 
"You told me to come in when I knocked and asked for a glass of water." 

"I asked Adisha."
"She's not home. She and Adil went out with Shams to buy chocolates." He replied, earning a sigh from her. 
"Ah, this is so... you didn't have to bring it though." She took the glass of water, glancing at him awkwardly. He smiled, tilting his head, "What's wrong with that?"
"You're the guest..." He chuckled at her statement, shrugging it off, "I can always give you water whether it's your house or mine." 

She gulped at his statement, trying to shake her head out of any delusional thoughts. The problem was his mouth, she was assured.

He bent a little, his face right beside hers as he stared at the screen.

"Wow. This is pretty. Is it a project?" He asked. 
She glanced at him from the corner of her eyes, nodding slightly. Her chest shrunk and her breaths became uneven at his proximity, his scent engulfing her in a painstakingly slow motion.

She turned her face slightly, looking away with a soft smile when he seemed engrossed in the design. 
"I wasn't sure about your skills before but like I guessed, you do live up to your attitude." He smiled, turning towards her. She moved her face slightly, her fingers that rested on the keyboard curling into a delicate fist. 

He fixed his posture, smiling down at her. 

"Good job. Carry on with your work then." He was about to leave but she abruptly spoke, "Wait. Why did you come through?" 
"Just to see if you're free." 
"Why?" She asked. 

He gave her a look she couldn't decipher and said, "I was bored with those idiots. So, I was searching for the best company in the house. Also, I had a question." 

She processed his words, realizing how he had called her the 'best company' in the house.

As hard as it was to restrain a smile from those words, she still managed to do so. 
Clearing her throat, she spoke, "Oh. Um, I'll be done in a few minutes." 
"Alright." He gave her a faint smile and disappeared as she stared at the closed door. A soft sigh escaped her lips as she held her chest.

"This is irregular." She whispered to herself, about to fix her glasses but ended up taking them off. 
"These should go to hell. I can explain this to my eye doctor later. I should prioritize seeing a heart doctor first." She muttered under her breath.

Wait, what question did he have?

—Time skip—

"Really?" Nisha gasped when Kabir nodded, "Yes. I'm not kidding." 
"How did you even stay in the States? Does your mom know?" She tried not to laugh, earning a desperate sigh from him, "She... supervised me a lot. I don't know why she thought foreign girls would die to be with me. She's a little delusional in the head like you." 

The last two words were nearly inaudible for Nisha but she still heard it, arching a brow at him. 

"I'm delusional?" 
"Yes, you are." He smiled cheekily. 
She huffed, "If I'm delusional, you're a certified open chor." 
"Stop calling me chor !" 
"You are one." She pointed at him with a glare. 

He smiled, "Okay. I'll return your jhumka when we go to the book fair." 

She eyed him from head to toe, "Why do you think I'll trust you?" 
"Why wouldn't you?" 
"After all, the only thing you're excellent at is lying." 

He shook his head in disapproval, "You're wrong about that." 

Inching closer to her, he tilted his head as she held the arm of the sofa, swallowing hard. 

His scent reached her, giving her a taste of the refreshing essence he carried. The urge to get closer to him made her hands itch but she restrained herself. 
"I'm excellent at many things you have no idea about." He whispered near her ear as her eyes widened. 
He backed away, his face inches away from hers.

She let out a giggle hearing that as he frowned, "Why are you—"
"You're a creep!" She laughed, pushing him away. 
He let out an airy laugh in disbelief as she held her mouth, looking away. She shook from the silent laughing as he scoffed, "Stop laughing." 
"Creep." 
"I'm not." 

"You are."
"I'm not!"
"Yes, you are a certified full-time chor and a creep."
"Shut the f—" He stopped as soon as a few noises were heard outside the living room. Both of them shared a look before staring at the entrance.

"Oh! They are here. We went outside to get some snacks. Want some?" Atif asked, joining in as Wahi smiled, nodding. 
Ajay sat beside Kabir, hugging him tightly as he cringed, "Move away from me, you stink!" 
She chuckled, "Deserved." 
"Nisha-pi. Can you help me with my homework?" Adil asked as she raised a brow, "Why should I?" 
"I'll give you a packet of my chocolate cookies." 
"Um, not enough." 

Adil sighed, looking at Kabir, "Will you help me?"
"I'm not done dealing!" She called with a scowl.
"I'll help you for free." Kabir grinned, punching Ajay away, making her gasp slightly. 
"Ouch!" He winced in pain as Adil sighed, "Thanks for the help, Kabir." 

"Let's go." Kabir followed Adil out as Nisha scoffed in disbelief. 
"Greed leads to sin, sin leads to death. Say the Bengali term, Adisha." Priti said as Adisha smiled, "Lobh e pap, pap e mrittu."

She glared at Shams who controlled his laughter at that.
"You lost a whole ass packet of cookies for nothing." 

"My ass." She whispered under her breath, grabbing a packet of chips from the table.

"See you then." She smiled, waving at the boys goofing around. Kabir walked closer to her, "You aren't saying goodbye to me?"
"Why should I?" She teased back, earning a dramatic sigh from him. 
"I see. You're too sad to say goodbye to me, isn't it?" 
"Me when I'm delusional." She spoke. 
"You're always delusional."
"Why do you call me that?!" She frowned as he shrugged, "I like calling you that."

"Irrelevant." She muttered under her breath. 
He cleared his throat, walking closer to her. She frowned slightly, glancing at Adisha and Adil staring at them. They were whispering something between themselves.
"Can you not... come so close?" She whispered to him as he frowned, "I'm not too close."
"You are." She replied. 

The right corner of his lips inched up, "Do you happen to be shy?"
"No, you stink." She lied, looking away. He never stunk. In fact, she was surprised a guy could smell that good.
He chuckled, not buying her lies and backed away. 
"Then, I'll maintain my distance since you're very shy. See you, Nisha." He waved at her, walking towards Atif who was asking him something. He shrugged Atif's remarks, glancing at her one last time before getting into the car. 

"What the heck was that? Is he... flirting?" She asked herself, shaking her head in disbelief. 

He definitely was flirting.

She was certain. 

Yet, she was rather pleased instead of being exasperated like she usually would've been in these situations.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Adisha tugging her kurta, "Nisha-pi, what are you thinking about?" 
"Uh... w-what?" She asked cluelessly, earning a sigh from Adil. 
"I told you I'm right. I interrogated Kabir earlier." He whispered to Adisha as Nisha frowned, "I can hear you. What the heck does that mean?"
"Nothing." Adil shrugged, walking away.
"Stop! Hey!" She called but he ran inside, making her gasp in disbelief.

"What goes on in the household behind my back?" 

———

"Yes, if this plan works out then... we're sure to have a success," Kabir spoke on the phone, smiling lightly.
"Of course, let's meet this week." He smiled, listening to the other one attentively. 
"Saturday? I don't think I'm free that day. Does Sunday work for you?" He nodded, his smile dying as soon as the man replied in the negative. 
"Okay... I guess if there's no option then... alright." 

After a few more chatting, he hung up. 

A soft sigh escaped his lips as he watched his mother take a seat on the sofa across from him.
"Business call?" She asked, making him nod.
"Maa, do you think being an entrepreneur is a good choice?" He asked as she smiled, "Are you regretting your decisions?" 
"Not really, but I feel a little disconcerted about it. Either we'll get a grand success or..." 
"Whatever God does, He does it for a reason, son. So, don't worry. I've never pressured you into being a doctor or engineer like your other classmates' parents. But whatever you do, have faith in yourself and give it your best." 

Kabir smiled a little, getting up and took a seat beside her. 
"Maa, do you love me a lot?" She scoffed at his statement, "Not really. Because I'm your mother, I just have to love you." 
"You're lying." He chuckled, resting his head on her shoulder. She smiled a little, patting his head, "Don't ask such absurd questions. Just focus on work and earn a lot. Have a happy future. I've asked Rina for more contact with girls in our village." 

He immediately got up, frowning at the elder woman.

"Maa!" 

"What? Neither do you like anyone nor do you want to marry. Will I die without seeing my grandchildren?" He sighed, shaking his head. 
"Kobita's daughter has three sons now! Her family is so lively! I'm tired of living alone in this house with your father." 
"You can get another kid now, Maa. Instead of pressuring me, you could—"
"Ei Fazil !" She smacked him, making him back away in fear. He held his arm, making a sour expression, "Okay, sorry."

"You're a nuisance. Move! Don't talk to me if you won't marry."

Kabir sighed, shaking his head, "Who said I won't marry? I'm making progress, okay? I will marry slowly. You'll see."

He got up with a grin and walked into his bedroom, leaving his mother confused.

"He'll marry?!" She gasped, looking at the window.
"Thank god. I was so scared he had immoral feelings for Shams. Did Atif lie to me then?"