Shehnaaz was standing in the terrace area of their building, gazing into the wide oblivion of the sky. Her hands were wrapped around herself, in an attempt to shield herself from the cold wind that had suddenly picked up, seemingly out of nowhere. Another gust of wind blew past her, leaving her hair to fly free and her arms to tighten around herself, just in time for a warm pair of hands to wrap around her. "It's too cold out here, tu beemar ho jaayegi meri jaan." Siddharth spoke, gently prying her hands away and wrapping her in a warm jacket. 

Shehnaaz smiled, "Tu kab aaya?" She asked, pulling the jacket tightly over herself, holding both its ends.

"Jab tu taaron se baat karne me busy thi, woh bhi itni thandi mein." Siddharth scolded her, "Kaamp rahi ho literally aur fir bhi yahaan pe hi ho." 

"Ghar pe mann nahi lag raha tha, ghutan ho rahi thi, toh socha terrace pe aa jauin." Shehnaaz confessed, "Ab mausam kharaab ho gaya toh kya kar sakte hai na?" 

Siddharth sighed. "You're an idiot. If you wanted to come up here at this hour, you should at least have grabbed a shawl or something." He said disapprovingly. 

Shehnaaz pouted, "What brought you here, by the way?" She asked. 

"Nothing, really. I just wanted to spend a few minutes with myself." Siddharth shrugged. 

"My presence mustn't be helping much." Shehnaaz stated softly. "Should I leave?" 

Siddharth shook his head, "No, stay. I don't mind you being here. You're not a stranger to me." He said softly.

Shehnaaz smiled. "When I saw you for the first time after I moved to Mumbai, I'd never thought I'd have the chance to be something more than a stranger to you." She said truthfully. 

Siddharth laughed, "Why was that?" He asked softly.

Shehnaaz shrugged, "I don't know. There's no particular reason." She said 

Siddharth nodded, "You always had a strange pull to yourself, it was only just a matter of time before I would've lost my battle to my 'better judgment' and barge into your house like I did." He confessed. 

Shehnaaz chuckled at that, "I'm glad you took the first few steps, or I would never have known such an amazing person as you." Shehnaaz said quietly, making Siddharth smile at her, bewitched. 

"The pleasure's all mine sweetheart." Siddharth cupped her face, caressing her cheek lovingly. 

Shehnaaz leaned into his touch, her cheeks heating up at the contact.

"I have so many things that I want to say to you." Shehnaaz confessed, "So many things that you need to know." 

Siddharth pressed a gentle kiss on her forehead. "We have our whole lives to talk to each other, love. Aaj uss sab ka waqt nahi hai." He told her sternly.

"Toh.. kis sab ka waqt hai aaj?" Shehnaaz asked curiously.

Siddharth smirked, held her gently by her shoulder and steered her towards the railing of the terrace. "Look up." 

Shehnaaz looked up at the wide sky, filled with thousands of twinkling stars. "Beautiful isn't it?" Siddharth whispered softly in her ear. 

Shehnaaz nodded, mesmerized by the wide expanse of the sky. "Reminds me of you. The moon, lighting up everything in sight, the stars twinkling much like your eyes." Siddharth spoke quietly, tracing a pattern on the canvas of the sky.

"Stars always fascinated me as a child. Mom was a space geek and she'd tell me 'bout the space, the stars, moon. It was magical." Shehnaaz confessed, her eyes lighting up like the stars overlooking them. 

Siddharth smiled, watching her talk about stars with such innocence and passion. He moved closer to her, entwining his fingers with her and looked up at the stars as she traced a constellation that her mother had told her about when she was younger.

"I don't know about the stars, but right now, watching you like this, is worth a thousand astronomy lessons out in the open." Siddharth said sincerely.

Shehnaaz blushed, "You could just have said that you're getting bored. I would have shut up." She said in a small voice. 

Siddharth took her hand, cautiously in his own. "I'd never tell you to shut up, love. It gets boring around here when you're not talking." He said, his eyes wide and adorable like a puppy.

Shehnaaz laughed, pulling his cheeks. "You're a dork!" She said. "A very cute one at that." 

Siddharth smirked. 

For the next few minutes, they stood beside each other, perfectly silent. They gazed at the stars together, trying to find unheard stories among the billions of twinkling stars.

"My dad believed that when a person dies, he becomes a star to watch over his/her loved ones from up there. Mom was more of a practical kind, but she never quite countered this particular belief of my father's for some reason. Mom liked the science part of everything and dad made me aware of the fairy tale perspective, quite a unique family I had." Shehnaaz told Siddharth.

"Do you think they're up there?" Siddharth asked curiously, "Do you think they're watching you?" 

"Yeah, I think so. It's a comforting thought." Shehnaaz confessed. 

Siddharth pulled her into his arms, snaking his arms around her from the back "Yeah." 

"I'm fine." Shehnaaz said softly, leaning against his chest. "I know."

Shehnaaz closed her eyes, relaxing in his embrace just as a droplet of water landed on her nose. "Uhhm" She wrinkled her nose, making Siddharth laugh at her cute expression.

"It's raining." Shehnaaz announced as the water droplets began falling at a quicker pace. "Let's go baby." Siddharth tugged at her arm. Shehnaaz shook her head. "No, I want to stay here and play in the rain." She said with a cute pout. 

"You'll fall ill baby, already bahut thandi hai." Siddharth said softly. "Please?" Shehnaaz requested, giving him her best puppy face. The rain had started to fall in full force at this point. Siddharth sighed. "Shehnaaz!" He looked at her sternly. 

"Khadoos kahin ka!!" 

Siddharth rolled his eyes, "Chalo ander, we're both soaking wet. Sardi ho jayegi." He pulled her towards the inside of the building and dragged her towards the elevator amid the mild protest of the child woman next to him. "What are you? A toddler?" He asked as they entered her apartment and Shehnaaz nodded cutely. 

Siddharth laughed, "Oh. How old are you?" He asked curiously. Shehnaaz chewed on her lower lip and looked at her hand. After a few seconds she held up five fingers making Siddharth laugh out loudly at her antics. "You little devil." 

"I'm a cute little baby. I'm not a devil." 

Siddharth shook his head, made her sit on the couch and went inside to fetch towels. After returning, he dried his baby's hair with the towel and cleaned her face. "Now go & change." 

Shehnaaz mock saluted him. "Aye Aye Captain." before going to her room to change

Siddharth shook his head fondly. "Pagal."

This is the second time that I've lost access to my account. I am very bad at remembering my passwords and I had to change my phone, so I'm very. very sorry for going MIA.

Whoever is here, reading this, if you still are. Thank you for being patient and I'll try to get more active on here now that I have logged into this account more permanently.

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