(Adithi's)

I yawned. It was getting 11:30 pm. And t was way too useless to stand guard at the terrace door. Who is going to come up to the terrace in November? It was too cold. Not even a fly came bay. This way I will sleep off...

I looked at Ishan. He looked bored too.

"They are taking too long." He commented looking at me.

"Maybe we should take a peek." I suggested. "what if they are arguing or worse... What if Arjun is getting murdered in there? Like if she had a knife with her, and she is stabbing him over and over with that..."

Ishan rolled his eyes.

"It's possible," I said. "We should check, just in case."

I moved to the door indenting to take a peek. Ishan held on to my t-shirt.

"What?" I asked.

"What if they have made up, and is all lovey-dovey now. You don't want to interrupt them," he said.

"Still...Let me confirm." I said. I slightly opened the door and looked out. And I softly whistled. Arjun and Suhana were totally making out. Ishan came near me to a lookout. He saw what was happening and jumped and sat back and pulled me back along with him.

"What?" I asked, pushing him off and trying to take a second look. It's not every day that you get to see a steamy scene like that. It's just disturbing that the people doing it were your twin sister and friend... Still, I won't mind another look.

"It's rude to peek," Ishan said pulling me back. I struggled with him. He is so good-natured. I can tease Suhana over this for ages and take revenge on that chocolate pudding. Ha ha...

"Sit back..." Ishan said pulling me back...

"Are you jealous?" I teased him, "that you are not getting a kiss as well?"

"As if." He sneered at me. He was looking so cute and embarrassed, that I wanted to tease more.

"Oh, poor boy...." I said, "Come on, I will give you one." I pulled him closer. Just teasing him. I don't actually mean to give him one.

"Get off." He pushed me off. I laughed. He fell back to the stairs when he pushed me off and hit the door behind him. The old dusty door rattled. Ishan said, "ouch." And put his hand to his left eye.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Dust went into my eyes." He said, rubbing his eyes.

"Hey, don't rub it. Let me see." I said. "I will blow it off."

I pushed his hand away from his eyes and looked at his eye. It had gone a bit red as he rubbed. I held his face in my palms, firmly so as he doesn't turn away, and went closer and blew into his eye a few times. "Better?" I asked.

"Hm..." He said. "I think the dust is out."

Okay, good.

But I was still holding his face under my palm and was too close to his face. Ah...his lips look so adorable. And he looked so cute. His fringes fell to his forehead carelessly. With those 'kind' type eyes he was looking at me. And those lips... With the perfect curve and colour... Adorable lips...

I don't know what happened. I lost memory for a second...Then I found myself kissing Ishan. I had kissed him. My lips were pressed to his lips.

Adithi you total mental case...

I back off at once. What THE HELL was I doing???

Ishan just looked stunned. Or like he got frozen.

"Ha ha ha..." I laughed awkwardly. Ishan still just looked frozen and stunned... I scratched my hair, "Ha ha...so things somehow turned out like this." I said, "Okay... time to run."

I got up and ran down the steps. Ishan was still so shocked and stunned that he was not even getting up from the steps. So I just ran as fast as I can.

Adithi, you idiot! How can you just kiss him like that all of a sudden? See....that poor guy is so shocked that he can't even react. I hit my head in frustration.... Ouch, that hurt. Ah... I had accidentally hit the place where my head was injured in the accident.

I paused as it hurt badly for a second, rubbing the side of my head where I had hit.

Then, I found Ishan near me. He was gasping, as he had been running as well.

"What?" I asked.

"You..." He advanced toward me angrily.

"Okay...sorry." I shielded myself with my hands. "I had gone mental for a second. Because you looked so cute."

"Cute?" he asked.

Yeah... I was looking at him, and he looked so cute. And those lips felt so adorable and kissable. Loveable...

"You crazy..." He hissed. "You do that and run away... And you know that you should not run."

I just shrugged.

"Ah..." He looked a bit too irritated.

"What?" I yelled at him. "I wanted to. What's so wrong?"

He seemed to have gone speechless.

"Now that it came to this," I said, getting agitated. "I have been waiting for you to say something for the past few months and nothing. Everyone else can see something is between us, and you also know that - and still nothing. Ugh.... I will get old waiting like this." I grunted. "And that's not my style. I am Adithi. I am meant to do crazy things. This is me. I always act like this. So...what's the big deal?"

"Couldn't you have waited just one more day?" He asked. "I planned a whole lot of things."

"One more day?" I asked, feeling a bit confused.

"Yeah. Tomorrow is your birthday, you dumbo." He said. "And I really wanted to confess in a cool way. Making it eventful, special and memorable. In a really grand way."

Say What???

"You messed up the plan." He said.

"What were you planning to do tomorrow? Get on your knees with a bunch of roses... God, that is so....gross." I said. I hate over corny stuff.

"No." He snapped at me.

"Then?" I asked.

"Forget it. What's the use now?" he said, looking hopeless.

"I want to know. Or you can just do it tomorrow."

"What's the surprise factor in it then?" He said, sighing. "I am not going to do it."

Unfair. "No way," I yelled.

"What's the use? It turned out this way anyway. So let me just make it official now itself. Adithi, will you be my girlfriend?"

"No." I snapped. "Tell me what you were planning to do tomorrow."

He looked uneasy and embarrassed. "I don't want to say." He said.

"Then I also...my answer is 'no'."

"You can't say that...after...doing...that." He said, looking way too shy that I wanted to kiss him again.

"Then tell me," I said, jumping up and down. "I will give you another kiss if you tell me," I went closer.

He pushed me away... "No... Anyway, I think we should call Arjun and Suhana. It's been too late..."

"You are changing the topic on purpose," I said.

"Yeah...come on. They will freeze to death else." He said.

"Many hot things are going in there for them to freeze," I said. "So you tell me... Come on... Come on..." I walked around him as he was trying to avoid my eyes shyly. I manage to catch his eyes and he turned away. He was so so embarrassed and shy...

"Oh, come on..." I snapped.

"Okay..." He said, "I will tell you" I stopped in front of him. "Good," I said.

"I planned to give myself as your birthday gift." He said. "Like... I am your gift, you can have me forever."

"That sounded pretty..." I was thinking,

"Cool, huh?"

"No. Lewd."

"Huh?" Ishan frowned.

I shrugged, beginning to walk off coolly.

"Hey," he caught up with me. "How in the hell was that lewd?"

"Like giving yourself away to me, as my gift... as if you are an object that belongs to me, and I can do anything with it..." I said. Turning to him and grabbing his shirt, and pulling as if to suggest tearing his shirt away. "Lewd," I said.

He just gulped.

I laughed... "Anyway. I am glad that idea failed."

"Even then I planned a whole lot of things." He said, still sounding disappointed.

"Life doesn't go according to plans. I thought you figured it out that by now."

"Yeah." He stopped. "With you almost dying that day, and the case of Farhan, and what happened to Jiggy, and all... I pretty much got an idea of that."

"So...Isn't it better it turned around this way at least?" I asked him, "who knows it might have gone to the worst condition which we could not have anticipated as well. But now, I know you like me, and you know I like you as well. So... It's fine, right?"

"Hm..." He smiled. "So... from today we are an official couple. Right?"

I nodded, "even if there is no need to make it sound so dramatic."

"Yeah. It feels totally odd." He said.

I laughed...

He hesitated for a second then softly stepped closer and kissed my forehead. I closed my eyes... The feel of his soft lips on my forehead was too gentle. He stepped back after a second.

"What was that? It felt soooo good." I said, meaning every word. A warm sort of feeling was spreading over me. "Better than any lips kisses," I added, to which he chuckled. "Can I have that once more?" I asked.

He smiled. "Any time." He came closed and kissed my forehead again. "Love you." He whispered, moving his thumb over my cheek.

"Yeah... Me too. Kind of..." I said.

He ruffled my hair. And then took out something from his pocket. It was a wristband. A better one than last year's. "I meant to give this tomorrow," he said. He looked at his watch... "It is almost midnight. Wait a few minutes..."

"No. Give me now."

"Wait," he said holding the wrist band held high. I jumped to catch it. But Ishan was taller than me. So, no use. "There are 10 minutes left till midnight." He said. "Let's wait here till then."

"No. Give me now." I said.

He looked like he won't give. So I frowned and leaned back to the wall behind me and waited. We stayed side by side while I waited, and he held my hand... I liked holding hands with him. I felt happy. We didn't talk much in those 10 minutes. It was really rare that we spend this much time not saying even one sentence to each other. But the silence made it special...

After ten minutes I jumped in front of him. "It's 12. Give me." I said.

"There is ten seconds more to midnight." He said, looking at his watch, and holding the wrist band high so as I can't catch it. I jumped to catch it. No use. "9...8...7...6...5" Ishan was counting. I was jumping in the air to catch the wristband. "...4...3...2..." Just a bit more jump, "and one... Happy Birthday"

He grabbed me in a hug and pushed me to the wall and kissed me. I was really shocked for a second... "I have told you not to jump..." he whispered in between the kiss. And kissed again... Okay, now, I was just.... I mean, I did not expect that it will feel this good. Coz Ishan's passion was throwing me off. I felt like I was back in that ocean getting crashed into the rocks. "You know..." he whispered in between the kiss. "I have wanted to do this so bad since a few months...." He kissed me again, "really was going crazy."

Now that felt SERIOUSLY good. I mean, it was Ishan... Ishan was saying this like that about me. THIS WAS AMAZING!!!!

I hesitated and put my hands around him, and kissed back. We kissed a bit more. It did feel a bit strange as this was Ishan. But it also felt special because it was Ishan.

When we stepped back, we both laughed...

Then he grabbed my hand and put the wristband on me. "Now don't you dare jump into any ocean to find this if it gets lost. You are more important than this band, understand?"

I nodded.

"Come here..." he said, taking me into a hug. I rested my head against his chest. It felt good. Pleasant. Happy...

Ishan kissed my forehead again.

"Still feel better than the kiss on lips," I said. It feels special... Caring.

"Then how about if I give you this at least once every day from now on?" He asked.

"That would be good," I held closer to him. Feeling really really happy. This might be the best birthday of my life.

And actually, life with all difficulties and bad moments and hardships are worth living for little happy moments like this. These snow-glob like happy moments make life worth it.