It had been about a month since that adventure of the gang visiting Naina's home. An adventure that had left them all quaking in their boots! The unexpected early arrival of the family and the ensuing confusion as Sameer and Pandit tried to escape undetected had caused them all a lot of anxiety. But the real damage had been caused when the new lovebirds Munna and Swati happily strolled back into the house holding hands. The drama that unfolded after that had given them all a lot of sleepless nights, especially the girls. Naina, Preeti and Swati had been scared of their own shadow for the next few days after Kamya planted the idea of what if Rakesh Sir decides to check up on them in the college? Finally, after a week or so of nothing much happening they all visibly relaxed.

Munna had then come up with the idea of going on a double date to watch a movie. Sameer though very eager had not been very optimistic about being able to convince Naina. He had indulged Munna by making a few attempts to persuade Naina, but without much success. Munna had also failed in convincing Swati, but he was more committed to this cause than Sameer maybe owning to his newly started love story. Munna finally resorted to emotionally blackmailing his Bhabhi and finally got Naina to agree to the movie date. Once Naina agreed Swati quickly followed too. The boys had set their heart on the latest blockbuster Beta.

After successfully managing to hide this plan from the rest of the gang the four lovebirds found themselves seated in the movie hall with a lot of anticipation. They were armed with all the essentials that is popcorn and drinks to share, with the hopes of making this a memorable event. The boys sat flanking the girls between them in a protective macho manner. The journey to the Cinema has presented an unplanned opportunity for a bike ride which Sameer had happily grabbed. The bike ride though short had left them cocooned in a feeling of sweet contentment. Even a few moments spent alone with your beloved can bring such unparalleled joy! And now the prospect of three hours of uninterrupted romance had all four of them experiencing different flavours of anticipations.

Once the movie hall darkened, Sameer and Munna started their subtle and not so subtle attempts at getting closer to their girls. Reaching inside the shared tubs of popcorn at the very instant the girl reaches for it... leaning close to whisper something that just had to be shared that very moment and of course trying to place their hands as close as possible on the shared armrest. Have you ever wondered just how much analysis must have gone into the design of the first cinema hall? Someone had anticipated the needs of all the lovers who would come to this place seeking refuge and pleasure in the darkness and the magic that movies would invoke!

Things were proceeding as well as expected. Swati had at some point allowed Munna to hold her hand just as he had hoped for and Naina had refrained from letting Sameer take any such liberties just as he had expected! Hence while Munna watched the movie with a content smile, Sameer was feeling resigned to his luck or rather the lack of it. He reminded himself that with Naina it was all about baby steps, though he was sure that he had seen babies crawling faster than this!

And then that iconic Dhak Dhak moment appeared on the screen. A collective gasp echoed throughout the movie hall! Popcorn, drinks and even girlfriends were forgotten in an instant! Sameer and Munna along with every other male young or old entered a trance. The fascination with the beauty dancing on the screen clearly reflecting in the looks of arousal and hunger on their faces. Naina and Swati watched their boys with a shocked expression. Naina had never seen this look of rapture on Sameer's face. She had seen him looking at her with love, adoration and sometimes even something a little unsettling that she felt was akin to desire. But this was something so raw, something so blatantly sexual. He had clasped her hand with so much power even without realising that it was her hand. Naina felt very uncomfortable. Her eyes kept oscillating between the sensuous lady indulging in some overtly suggestive moves on the screen and Sameer's expressions. He was completely oblivious to her presence. 

Naina was so affected by his reactions that she completely missed out on the intense chemistry between the pair on the screen and how it otherwise might have affected her. Something that could have been a source of curiosity or learning left her feeling oddly unsettled. In spite of not being completely familiar with the concept of what physical intimacy between a couple consists of, it was crystal clear to Naina that this was not a look that she would ever want to see on her man's face for some other woman.

Naina jerked her hand out of his hold. Her movement barely registered with Sameer who was still too lost in whatever land his mind had flown to with the Dhak Dhak girl. Sometime later once the spell cast by the onscreen enchantress had lessened it's hold, Sameer tried to get close to Naina again. But by then she was in no mood to indulge him. Some rowdy comments from some mawali guys in the row behind led to a scuffle between Sameer-Munna and the guys. This further left Naina perturbed. She sat through the rest of the movie trying to keep at bay a cloud of doubts that had started gathering around her. The girls made a hasty departure as soon as the movie was over, leaving behind two frustrated guys especially Sameer.

After the movie, she had muttered something to Swati about how the boys had been ogling Madhuri during that song. Swati's mind had gone off in a completely different direction! She excitedly told Naina that she had decided that she would get an exact copy of that blouse stitched when she got married and wear it on her honeymoon. She added that she was very confident that once Munna saw her in that avatar Madhuri would be completely forgotten forever. Naina had been shocked into silence by Swati's plans.

That night as Naina tried to fall asleep she struggled to get that image of her Sameer drooling over some other woman out of her head. She recalled the conversation with Swati and wondered how Swati came up with such ideas and the confidence! Could she ever wear something like that? Just the thought of that gave her the shivers and not in a nice way. No, she decided, she could never pull off something like that. She just did not have it in her.

Her mind travelled back to that moment in her room when Sameer had held her so close and kissed her hand. She had felt so elated post that new experience and expression of love. In fact, today when he grabbed her hand with such intensity she had momentarily felt thrilled that he was so desperate to have her close to him, but then all her hopes had coming crashing down with the realisation that her presence was so irrelevant to him in that moment. Even that day as he kissed her hand the look on his face had nowhere resembled the look she had seen today. So, would she have to just accept that Sameer would never find her as tantalising and that she was not enough? It was hard to reconcile to this prospective equation of their relationship. Naina's pillow once again experienced an onslaught of tears that night after a long time.

Meanwhile in his bed Sameer was tossing and turning around cursing his penchant for impulsive behaviour. Before she departed, Naina had muttered something about not bothering to invite her for any future dates if this is how he liked to behave. Sameer wished he had exercised more control in handling the situation with those guys today. He had not thought about the attention that ruckus could attract. Thank God nobody recognised them in the cinema, else that could have resulted in another drama! But, he had effectively killed any chance of romance after that. Though Naina had not said anything during the movie he had felt the change in her demeanour. She had visibly pulled into herself and leaned away from him. He knew how much she hated it when he gave into his anger so quickly, but how could he have let those guys get away with expressing their wish to touch her! Sameer had tried calling her earlier at their usual time, but she had not answered. Had she really been busy or just cross at him?

The next few days weren't any better for Sameer. Naina though talking to him seemed rather distant. When he apologised for getting into the fight, Naina just shook her head with a slight look of disbelief on her face and then muttered that it was alright. When she smiled at him, her smile did not completely reach her eyes. When he complimented her these days, she didn't blush the way she used to earlier. In fact, one day when he flirtatiously held her hand she quickly drew it away and turned, but not before he thought he saw her eyes misting up. When questioned she tried to appear clueless. Sameer couldn't put his finger on it, but something had changed between them.

Naina was going through her own dilemmas. As much as she tried she couldn't move past that look of complete awe and arousal. She tried to remind herself of that age old saying of 'boys will be boys', but it did not help. Where she had blushed at his flirtatious advancements before, she now felt a little scared wondering if what he felt for she was just a temporary thing till he came across someone who could earn herself THAT look. She was not able to meet his eye without feeling a little deficient. She was finding it very hard to put things in context when she couldn't even completely understand what her instincts were trying to flag.

There had been few other issues to tackle too. The rest of the gang had somehow learned of the movie date. Well, it had started with Preeti finding some ticket stubs in Naina's bag as she rummaged for something. Preeti had kicked up a storm accusing Naina and Sameer of selfishness. She was particularly disappointed in Naina, but also disillusioned with Sameer. She couldn't comprehend how her much loved sister and much admired Jijagi, whom she had so far supported to the best of her abilities, had found her a kabeb-mein-haddi. Her hurt was multiplied by the fact that they had gone off to watch the movie starring Madhuri without her! Sameer attributed some of Naina's behaviour to this too. Pandit had also been upset that his two best friends had lied to him.

Late one night Sameer had then come up with what he thought was a brilliant idea! The next day he in the class, he whispered to Naina "Naina, mujhe tumse kuch urgent baat karni hai. Preeti aur Pandit ki narazgi dur karne ke liye maine kuch soocha hain. Lecture khatam hone par zara rukna." Naina nodded and accordingly stayed back after the lecture was over. Once all the other students and their friends had left the class, Sameer very excitedly started "Naina, wo main sooch raha tha ke Preeti aur Pandit humse naraz hain kyu ki hum unhe chod kar movie dekhne gaye the. Toh hum phir se movie ka plan banayenge. Aur iss bar sab log jayenge, humara pura group." Naina started "Sameer, mujhe nahi..." Sameer interrupted "Aare suno toh, main sooch raha tha hum Khel dekhne jayenge, usme bhi Madhuri hai. Preeti aur Pandit ki bhi favourite hain na wo!" Hearing him utter the words Madhuri and favourite something snapped in Naina. She stood up and walked out of the class without saying another word.

Confused Sameer ran after her "Kya hua Naina? Suno toh!" Naina retorted "Mujhe koi movie wuvie dekhne nahi jana hai!" Sameer noticing an empty store room close by quickly pulled her inside and closed the door to ensure that she wouldn't leave from there without listening to his plan. He continued "Aare kyu nahi dekhni? Hum sab sath mein jaayenge, aur bohoot maza aayega!" Naina angrily replied "Toh jao na! main tumhe thodi rok rahi hu. Jao aur khoob enjoy karo! Mujhe bikul nahi aana hai." Sameer tried to explain "Naina, main chahata hu hum sath jaaye. Tum nahi aaogi toh kya maja aayenga. Chalo na... " Naina replied "Nahi Sameer mujhe aaisa bikul bhi nahi lagta ke mere waha hone ya na hone se tumhari enjoyment mein koi kami aayegi ya tumhe koi farak padega" Sameer now more confused than before "Kya bol rahi ho tum? Farak kaise nahi padega mujhe?"

All the anxieties that she had kept bottled in so far suddenly rushed out in the form of anger. Naina turning away from him almost screamed "Nahi jaana mujhe! Tum na Pandit ko aapne pass bithao aur jab tumhara dil uss Madhuri ko dekh kar dhak dhak karne lage toh Pandit ka he hath pakadna. Waise bhi tumhe koi hoosh toh rahega he nahi. Nahi dekhna mujhe tume kissi aur ko waise dekhte hue! Ek bar dekh chuki hu, bar bar dekhne ka koi shauk nahi hai mujhe." At this point Naina voice starting trembling and she continued in a softer tone "Samjh gayi hu ke mujhme aisi koi baat nahi hai ke tum mujhe..." Realising what she was about to say she stopped abruptly.

Realisation slowly dawned on Sameer too. He stood speechless trying to get his head around what he thought she was saying... more than saying what she was feeling. Did she feel he did not find her attractive? Did she think that she was not beautiful and sexy? Had he led her to believe that he preferred some arbitrary woman over her? Is this what she had been agonizing about since that movie date? Damn him! How had he been so stupid?!

Sameer taking a step towards her softly started "Naina, wo Madhuri ya koi aur mere liye koi mayne nahi rakhti... un mein mujhe aisa kuch bhi nazar nahi aata ke tumse compare ho sake. Tum jaanti ho ke tum toh meri jaan ho, right?" Naina knew that he loved her. But it felt like there was something still missing. Maybe she should make peace with the way things were. Naina nodded "Tum shayaad theek keh rahe ho... jaruri toh nahi ke tumhe mere liye waisa kuch mehsus ho... wo toh such much bohoot khoobsurat hai."

Sameer realised that he had still not been able to convey what he wanted her to know. All this time he had been careful about not crossing any lines of physical intimacy with her worried that she might feel offended. He had always made a point of not letting her see the strength of his desires afraid that it may scare her. But it had resulted in her feeling undesirable. She had no idea just how much he wanted her! Maybe it's time this was set right, he thought.

Sameer took another step towards her and turned her around. Naina still had her eyes on the floor worry and uncertainty write on her face. While on one hand Sameer felt sad that she was feeling so insecure, at the same time there was a growing sense of elation that she wanted to be desired by him! He tilted her face upwards lifting her chin and whispered inching closer to her "Naina, I can never look at you just like that cause what I feel for you is so much more. But, I will look at you like this..." He gently rubbed his thumb against her lower lip. Naina's eyes darted towards his face and her breath caught seeing the desire clearly reflecting on his face along with his love.

Sameer let his eyes travel over her, top to bottom, deliberately lingering over her curves before returning to her eyes.There was no way Naina would not understand just how much he liked what he saw. 

He pulled her closer, then without any prelude leaned in and kissed her perfect pink lips. At first softly and tentatively, but soon with more urgency and need. Naina was too shocked to react in any way but slowly surrendered to that moment. 

After a few minutes of bliss, Sameer lifted his head and noted with great pleasure her slightly swollen lips and the flushed look on Naina's face. None of the fantasizing and encounters with his pillow had prepared him for this! Before Naina could regain her composure and object, he quickly went back in for another long hot kiss. 

Finally deciding that if he didn't stop now, he could probably not stop anytime soon, Sameer ended the kiss and just kept looking at her. Naina with her lips tingling, shivered under the intensity of THAT look.