A few days later:

"All ready bro?" Aryan asked Ranbir.

"Hope I don't mess up at the last moment." Ranbir said nervously.

"You will do great. Prachi will not be able to say no." Aryan tried to boost his confidence.

"Oh no! How could I forget about it?" Ranbir put his hand on his head.

"What did you forget?" Aryan asked.

"How will I get Prachi to come out of her house without revealing about the surprise?" he said.

"Leave it to me." Aryan assured.

-----

Shahana tip toed to the kitchen and opened the fridge. She took out a small box and crept back silently to her room. She made sure to maintain pin drop silence. To her annoyance, her phone began ringing.

She ran to pick it up. After picking up the call, she turned towards Prachi to make sure she was still asleep.

"Hi. Are you busy?" Aryan's voice came from the other end.

"Yes. I was practicing Zumba." Shahana said sarcastically.

"Don't get angry. I know it's a little late, but it was important."

"Little late? Have you seen the time? It's five minutes left to be midnight." she pointed.

"I'm sorry. Ranbir is going to propose Prachi and we need your help." he said quickly before she could say anything.

"Really? Finally this is happening!" she squealed.

"Ranbir will be there any minute. You need to get Prachi out of the house secretly." he instructed.

Shahana assured him and cut the call.

"Prachi, get up. Get up please." she kept nagging her.

"What happened Shahana?" Prachi mumbled in her sleep.

"Happy Birthday Prachi!" she shouted.

"Thank you" Prachi said hugging her. She was now fully awake.

Shahana gave her the box. It had tiny cupcakes made by Shahana and Prachi devoured it happily.

"Let's go to the park. I have a surprise for you." Shahana said.

"Now?" Prachi exclaimed.

"Please......" Shahana said with her best possible puppy eyes to which Prachi could not refuse.

Soon, they were standing in the park near their house. Someone had taken the pains to decorate it with little, beautiful golden lights.

"Where is he?" Shahana muttered under her breath.

"Who?" Prachi asked.

Before she could say anything, there a loud sound in the sky. Both the girls looked up to witness a beautiful sight.

They saw the cracker lighting up the night sky. Prachi's eyes widened when those silver sparks turned into beautiful words.

Her eyes followed the tiny sparks until they disappeared in the sky. She lowered her gaze to find Ranbir standing there with a pure white heart-shaped cake with candles adorning its edges. Shahana took the cue and vanished from there.

Ranbir took slow steps towards Prachi with his eyes holding an intense gaze and love for her.

"Stars shine in the night;
Crackers shine in the night.

Fame shines in the limelight;
Name shines in the same night.

Your shine is your happiness;
I shine in your smile.

You captivated me by your heart;
I'm waiting for the mingling of our hearts.

I want to captivate you with that four lettered word;
Waiting to hear it from your heart.

I may not give you fairy tale life;
But, will you be my queen forever?

I love you too is a simple thing;
Giving your heart is the dearest thing.

Will you give me your heart
and kill my longingness with love?"

Prachi didn't know how long was she standing frozen. She had forgotten to breathe and blink her eyes.

She nodded her head subconsciously. "I love you too." she spoke as if in a trance.

Ranbir smiled at her. He so wanted to crush her in his embrace but he decided to go on with his plan.

"Cut the cake princess." he forwarded the knife to her.

Prachi cut the cake and fed it to him lovingly. He picked up another piece of cake and forwarded as if to feed her, but smeared the frosting on her face instead. 

"You...You look cute." Ranbir managed to say in between his laughter.

"Baklu!" Prachi screamed and began hitting him with her fists.

"Hey! You can't beat me. I'm your official boyfriend now." he said.

His words made Prachi realize about the confession. She stopped hitting him and blushed a bright shade of red.

"Thank you Ranbir." she said in a barely audible voice.

"For what?" 

"For everything. For being by my side through thick and thin. For pulling me out of the deepest abyss of hopelessness and for loving even after knowing about Aar......." Prachi couldn't complete her sentence as Ranbir placed a finger on her lips.

"Ssh.....It's a special moment for us. Don't spoil it by taking any devil's name." he said and pulled her into a hug.

Prachi wrapped her arms around him in turn and held him lightly. They closed their eyes, relishing the moment.