"Do you know where's Kabir I mean Dr. Kabir?" asked an upset Anaisha.

Sister Dimpy, whom Anaisha had bestowed with her query, looked up from her computer screen and replied with slight jealousy in her tone, "Well, Dr. Anaisha, unlike you Dr. Kabir has a lot of work to do. He's busy in a surgery. I hope you understand well that his job isn't easy, which leaves him little time to loiter around like you!"

"Of course, I know that, Sister Dimpy," said Anaisha sweetly, "but I would've appreciated it more if you have said that straight instead of telling me how useless I am!"

She smiled at the end of sentence, and moved away from there, leaving Dimpy to scowl at her.

"I don't know what her problem is! Whenever I ask her about Kabir's whereabouts she always snaps at me! Weird woman!" grumbled Anaisha under her breath. Though this wasn't the first time Dimpy had talked to her like this, but given her situation on, all she could feel toward Dimpy was fury and loathe.

And it was only because, Anaisha was tensed as hell and an oblivious Dimpy just spoiled her mood even further. On the top of that, Anaisha had no idea why Dimpy always snapped at her whenever she asked her about Kabir. Like, she neither was a fan of Dimpy, but for the sake societal norms for interaction, Anaisha maintained polite composure to Dimpy which she never returned with the same politeness.

Although she wasn't bothered much this behaviour of Dimpy, but apparent reason behind it made Dimpy's behaviour justified, though to Anaisha it was absurd. According to what her batch mates had told her, Dimpy had a huge crush on Kabir, and since Anaisha and Kabir were close friends or actually best friends now, Sister Dimpy couldn't help being rude with her.

Anaisha hadn't given this much thoughts as it wasn't a big deal to her. And then again, she didn't have time to think about this as her problem was bigger and more important than Dimpy's animosity with her.

And the only thing Anaisha wanted to do was, to talk to Kabir about her new problem ... well problem no. 25. Well, Kabir not had become her best friend but her troubleshooter as well.

Over the past two months or pretty much since the terrace incident, they both had become very good friend or actually very close friends. Such close friends that whenever Annie had a problem, she, instead of going to her childhood bestie Rohan and Zaina or her brothers (all of those people who'd always first give her big lectures and then solve her trouble), would go straight to Kabir, who'd solve her problem in minutes.

And the best thing about Kabir was that he never complained or got irritated with her constantly asking for her, rather he sweetly helped her out without trying to show that off. This trait of Kabir, just made Anaisha admire him and feel delighted for being his friend. What made her feel even more special was the fact that he had never indulged anyone like he did with her. Dr. Shaina being an exception here.

What would I do now? Why the hell Kabir have to be busy today only? Now who will solve my problem? wondered Anaisha while biting her nails, putting her lab coat and other stuff in her looker as her duties were over. Her new problem was actually much more complex and serious than her previous issues, and according to her, only Kabir had the solution for it. Though she had other people to help her too, but half of them had denied and the other half weren't even approachable. So that left only Kabir as the last option for her, but not the last resort as she knew from the beginning he'd her savior in the end.

Groaning loudly, she stumped on her foot on the floor and stormed off from the locker room with her dark blue sling bag flying behind her, to the cafeteria, where she knew her friends were already present as their shifts time was over.

Much like Anaisha's guess, four of her friends, Neha, Yuvraj, Shivam, and Nikhil were already there, sitting on their usual table in the cafeteria, Anaisha and Rhea yet to join them. And like usual, two of them looking more like two hungry caveman.

"Eww, guys! Can't you both eat in a more humanly manner?" complained Neha, seeing how Nikhil and Shivam were eating, as if they were on some raid and needed to collect everything before anyone caught them. Well, here it was food that they both were collecting.

"Please, no comments on that. Have some etiquette. You shouldn't disturb people when they are having their food!" snapped Nikhil, looking quite offended.

Shivam agreed with Nikhil and added, "He's right! How much more humanly do you want us to be? We are sitting on chairs and eating our food in such a nice manner! But you! God knows what's wrong with this girl!"

This made Neha roll her eyes, and quite sarcastically, she replied to them by saying, "Yes, I can see how nicely you both are eating, just a little more advance than cavemen."

Hearing this, Yuvraj chuckled, which made both, Nikhil and Shivam to glare at Yuvraj, who became quiet immediately yet couldn't actually stop chuckling. Neha chucked seeing this, and the two boys scowled at her, but she didn't seem affected by it. Nikhil glanced at Shivam once and then shrugging their shoulders, they resumed eating. After all, they needed energy to do their job of a doctor.

"Hey, guys ... ewww! Since when did Admin allowed entry of gorillas into our cafeteria?" asked Rhea in mock surprise, taking up seat beside Yuvraj.

This made Yuvraj and Neha laugh again, and Yuvraj replied between his chuckles, "Oh ... ever ... since ... we ... joined ... NLHRC!"

"Ohh, okay," said Rhea, smiling to herself.

They started conversing and having coffees, while Nikhil and Shivam were still on their eating spree. Few minutes later, Anaisha entered the cafeteria. And immediately after settling down beside Nikhil, not even caring to great anyone, she snatched the ice cream that Nikhil and Shivam were having, and started taking big bites of it.

"Hey, that's ours! If you want to eat that then go and get yourself some!" said Shivam huffily.

"Yes! Don't snatch our food! That's rude!" added Nikhil in the same tone as Shivam.

"Shut up, gorillas! If you don't want me to beat you both, then keep quiet! I'm in a very bad mood!" said Anaisha in a menacingly threatening tone, glaring at the boys.

Another shout of laughter erupted on their table as, Yuvraj, Neha and Rhea started laughing, seeing the sulking faces of Nikhil and Shivam, both of them quite scared of Annie.

Once the laughter had died down, Yuvraj turned to Anaisha and concernedly asked, "What happened, Annie? Did you get in a fight with someone or anything serious?"

Anaisha pursed her lips, then took a deep breath. But before Annie could give a reply to Yuvraj, Nikhil broke the silence and said coolly, "Ohho, Yuvraj, if she had fought with someone then she wouldn't have been sitting and eating ice cream. Rather, she would've been planning her revenge, right, Annie?"

This only earned Nikhil a murderous glare from Anaisha, and immediately he looked away, knowing well how irked Anaisha was.

Yuvraj shook his head seeing this, and calmly said, "Leave him, Annie, you say what's the matter?"

Anaisha kept her spoon down, pursed her lips again for a moment, then sighingly said, "Guys, you all know na my Aarav Bhai's engagement ceremony is just a week away."

"Yes we know! All fine na Annie?" asked Neha and Rhea concernedly.

"Haan, all's fine," said Anaisha, sighing again, "It's just that I was planning a surprise dance performance for Bhai's engagement, but my dance partner, Sammy got into a fight in his college and ended up being suspended because of which his parents have grounded him. Now he can't help me. And I don't know any other guy who can dance with me. I don't know what I'm gonna do!" The disappointment caused by her partner, evident on Anaisha's face.

"Hey, please don't be so gloomy. We can surely think of something and solve this issue," said Nikhil softly. Others nodded their head.

"I don't know, yaar," said Anaisha grimly. "And you know that Dimpy spoiled my mood even more. I just asked her about Kabir and, she, that stupid lady told me indirectly that how useless I am. I don't know what her problem is." When done speaking, Anaisha threw her hands in air in in her frustration, an old habit of hers.

Her friends, except Nikhil, chuckled a little when they heard her complain about Dimpy as they knew the reason well for Dimpy's rudeness toward Anaisha. Nikhil, though, didn't find it amusing much.

"Well, baby, her problem is simple, you're a very close friend of Dr. Kabir and probably the first intern who he has befriended. And since you both hang out a lot together, many people think of you guys as a couple, maybe because of how you guys are with each other," said Neha thoughtfully.

This remark of Neha, didn't go well with Nikhil who felt slightly jealous umm ... well actually a lot jealous. Perhaps because he just didn't get it why Anaisha spent so much time with Kabir, who as per to his knowledge was quite boring.

From the corner of his eyes, he saw Anaisha frown at Neha, and instantly felt better as he knew Anaisha didn't appreciate these gossips about herself nor did she like being linked with Kabir, who according to Nikhil, was slightly older for her.

While he was busy contemplating about Anaisha's approach toward the hospital gossip, Anaisha concentrated on coming up with a good answer for that remark of Neha, as she didn't want to be linked with Kabir; though a small part in her did like it.

"But I'm not his girlfriend! He's just a really good friend of mine. That's it! I don't get this why people start linking two people just because they hang out together," said Anaisha huffily.

"Of course, we understand that," said Yuvraj understanding, "but you do spend a lot of time with him now. I mean it's been just four months since we all started our internship, but looking at you and Kabir, no one can deny that you guys are quite close for a friendship of just 3-4 months, right, guys?"

The other three, Neha, Rhea and Shivam, shook their heads in agreement. But Nikhil didn't react.

Simply because this again irked Nikhil, for whom listening about Kabir's closeness with Anaisha was the last thing to do. Even though he knew, that they both Kabir and Anaisha were family friends and all, he couldn't understand why they have to spend so much time with together, that last two months.

With the disastrous start that Anaisha and Kabir had, Nikhil never expected them to become even friends, let alone best friends. And what shocked him more was that since last 2 months, almost every time Anaisha was free, she'd either she, herself went to meet Kabir or Kabir came to meet her. Theirs this budding friendship, seemed something beyond of Nikhil's understanding and he literally hated that.

The discussion on the rumours of Kabir's alleged relationship with Anaisha didn't stop, Nikhil took a deep breath and interrupted the others by calmly saying, "Guys, I think we can talk about that later. Right now what's more important is Annie's problem! So, Annie, do you still wanna present a dance performance on Dr. Aarav's engagement?"

All of the occupants of the table looked at Anaisha patiently, waiting for her answer, who seemed slightly distressed and pursed her lips, contemplating the possibilities of this dance happening without a partner, which seemed nearly zero to her.

"Yes, I want to perform on my brother's engagement," said Anaisha shortly. "But how will I do that without a partner? It's a ballroom dance act, after all."

Her query, made the occupants of the table to think of a way to help Anaisha. All of them stayed quiet, thinking for a solution, as no one could think of a helpful one. Few minutes passed like that, and finally Rhea, who had a solution, broke the silence.

"Well, since you need a partner, I was wondering if any of these three boys could help you out," suggested Rhea. "Anyone of you who can surely dance with her and solve her trouble."

Rhea's suggestion seemed helpful to Neha and Anaisha for a moment, but this feeling soon went away as the look on the three boys' face said it all.

"Look, as for me and Yuvraj, we both are pathetic dancers and except for Bhangda and Gidda, can't do anything much," chortled Shivam, "And as for Nikhil, then he can't perform with his wounded leg as his fracture would need at least few more weeks to heal. So neither of us can help her out, very sorry, Anaisha."

"It's okay, Shivam, no problem," said Anaisha halfheartedly.

Seeing her again fallen face, Yuvraj added, "But hey, what about your friend Rohan or your brothers?"

As soon as Yuvraj said these words, Anaisha scrunched her nose and grimacingly said, "Please not Rohan! He's no better than you lot. As for my brothers, then Aarush and Nivan are no help since they won't be able to hide it from Aarav Bhai, and Adi and Nihal Bhai has already said no. So no ways I'm gonna ask them again now."

"Oh that's bad," said Rhea.

"I know. And now only one person can help me out of this problem now," said Anaisha, her eyes shined a little thinking about that one person who'd be her savior.

"Yeah only one person! Dr. Kabir!" exclaimed Neha, winking at Anaisha, only to receive a slap on her arm. But this didn't irk Neha as she burst into splits of laughter, joined by Anaisha, Yuvraj and Rhea.

While they laughed, unknown to them, Nikhil groaned and mentally lamented on poor luck. Having his fractured his leg last month while saving a kitten who was stuck on a tree branch, he knew all he could do now was mourn over fate which always to be on Kabir's side whenever it concerned Anaisha.

Since the other four were busy laughing, they didn't pay any attention to the grim look on Nikhil's face. Only Shivam noticed it and tapped Nikhil's shoulder to inquire about it, but Nikhil covered it up by saying, "Oh, nothing, just my leg." Shivam was convinced since Nikhil often complained of his injured leg, and none of the others noticed the commotion taking place between these two.

Once they were done laughing, they all sipped on their coffee. And while doing so, Anaisha's initial trouble came back to her as she realised that she didn't know where Kabir was.

"Guys, there's one more problem now," groaned Anaisha, "I don't know where Kabir is! And no ways I am gonna ask that Dimpy again."

This indeed appeared to be a big problem to her batch mates, but Rhea seemed to have a answer for it.

"Well, Sweetpea, I think you've forgotten that I'm assigned duties with Dr. Kabir. And for your kind information, he's free now. There are no more surgeries lined up today so he'll be able to help you. And I think, he must be in his office," said Rhea, passing Anaisha a small smile.

The piece of information that Rhea shared with Anaisha, appeared to have a great effect as Anaisha's grumpy face quickly turned into a cheerful one. But what Neha said next, slightly reduced her relief.

"Seems like Dr. Kabir's rakhi sister know more about him than his best friend these days, right, Rhea?" said Neha jokingly.

But Anaisha didn't like this joke at all. Even though it was known to her that Kabir had allowed Rhea to tie him a rakhi on Rakshabandhan, she still found it a bit uneasy. Perhaps because it took her greater deal of time to warm up to him, than Rhea, to whom Kabir was acting like a doting brother. But it never meant that his behaviour with Anaisha changed, though the availability of time did constrain him, as Kabir was now spending a part of his free schedule with his new sister, to know her better.

And in her discomfort, it never occurred to her that the time that Kabir was spending with Rhea, was never spared from the time he had kept separately for Anaisha. Rather he managed some time out of his busy schedule for his new sister.

Oblivious to Anaisha and others, Rhea did notice this uneasiness and discomfort of Anaisha's and soothingly said, "No, Neha, it's not like that. Dr. Kabir has had become my brother some two weeks back, but he and Anaisha have been friends for a longer time. So the way Anaisha knows him, it'll take me time to know him that well. And anyway, it's really hard because he's so silent."

A smile came on Anaisha's face when Rhea said this and immediately all her envy went away as she was sure she was still special to Kabir. And once she was feeling secure again, guilt passed through her when she realised that she was feeling jealous of Rhea whose craving for an elder brother was best known to Anaisha.

"But he does spend time with you, Rhea, doesn't he? Certainly because he wants to know you well. And I'm really sure he's happy to have you as his little sister," said Anaisha smilingly, trying to cover up.

"Yeah, I agree with you," said Rhea, blinking her eyes to assure Anaisha that all was fine.

Others resumed talking about their works and Anaisha hurriedly finished her latte, and got up to head for Kabir's office.

"Bye, guys. See you all later!" said Anaisha briskly.

Her batch mates bade bye to her and she rushed out. But just as she reached the exit of the cafeteria, she took a turn and looking at Nikhil and Shivam, chortled, "Waise, Nikki, and Shivi, I've heard rumours about you both pulling a Dostana. Good luck!"

Another shout of laughter filled the half filled cafeteria as Anaisha batch mates, except the bewildered Shivam and Nikhil, laughed their hearts out. The two boys looked around and moved away from each other, giving only disgusted looks to one another.

With a much better mood, Anaisha made her way to Kabir's office. Smilingly, she knocked on Kabir's office door and waited for him to respond. He didn't respond. She again knocked the door, and still received no response, which made her slightly worried as Kabir usually responded quickly.

The worry made her decide to go inside without his permission, and as her duty was over, they weren't actually on duties so she could easily go inside his office as his friend. Pulling the door, she walked inside, only to find the room empty, opposed to what Rhea had told her.

The first thought that came into her mind was, maybe he was in the washroom. But when she glanced at the washroom door, it was slightly open, which was meant it wasn't occupied and Kabir wasn't really in the room.

Impatience dominating her mind, Anaisha decided to wait for him there. First, she settled on the couch but then that just increased her irritation and got up, looking around the room for killing her time.

While she paced in his room, her eyes fell on the bookshelf with some of Kabir's favourite titles that he had once shown her. As nothing else was more interesting than books now, she walked upto the bookshelf and started reading out the titles. She liked one of the books and took it out without hesitation, a privilege, she knew, that Kabir had bestowed on her as perk of being his friend. The sort of guy Kabir was, he had never allowed anyone, apart from his closest friends, an access to his prized possession, his books. And Anaisha knew, she was the first and only intern of Kabir, to whom this privilege was exclusive.

She leaned against the walls beside the bookshelf and started reading the book. As she read the fifth page, her eyes caught the sight of a glass photo frame that was carefully placed upon Kabir's desk, which was just a few steps away from the table.

Curiousity arose in her as Anaisha had seen this frame many times earlier but never got to know whose photograph was there as Kabir had never let her see that, and to her knowledge, anyone ever.

Her curiosity increased more as Kabir still hadn't come back, which only made seeing the photograph easy. Just to make sure that Kabir wasn't coming, Anaisha glanced at the door and saw no one sign of Kabir, she got up from the couch and walked toward Kabir's table. Her heart thumped loudly against her ribcage, filled with greedy curiousity, as she moved her hand forward to pick the frame.

"DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH THAT!"

Roared the voice of Dr. Kabir Thapar, standing on the door of his office. His face colourless and only showing his fury with the intruder who had the dared to try touch the photo frame which meant more than anything to him.

The scene that he had witnessed now was something he hadn't expected, atleast not after coming back from a exhausting surgery, and talking to a paediatric cardiologist about a case which seemed to be improving and on the path of curing completely. The happy mood that he was in, had completely evaporated due to the crime that the girl had done, whose back was facing Kabir, and slowly was turning to face Kabir.

Petrified by Kabir's loud voice, Anaisha's senses became numb for a moment, before she regained her control and slowly turned to look at him. The fear, still evident in her eyes. This was something very new and alien for her as, Kabir had never raised his voice with her and was always his calm and polite self. Once she gripped herself together, Anaisha recalled the scene and a frown found its way to her face. How dare he shout to me?!

And her face, which showed her anger, made Kabir's fury go away, only replaced by mortification as a fear crept upto him. What if she had seen the picture? It would've been troublesome because Kabir had no strength to answer the question that picture would give rise to. The photograph, that only Aarav and Shaina had seen, was something about which Kabir was fiercely guarded and extremely sensitive. And this same photograph had enough might to strain his friendship with Anaisha, which he didn't want to happen, ever.

"Shit! Little Kitty won't spare me now!" muttered Kabir under his breath. Little Kitty, Kabir's most favourite nickname of Anaisha that he, himself had christened her with after a incident that took place when they were kids. 'Miss Mindless-With-Big-Fat-Ego' being his second favourite.

"Er ... Anaisha, I didn't mean - I mean I wasn't supposed to yell at you ... . I wo ... ," tried an embarrassed Kabir to speak. But it was of no use since it only hardened the delicate features of Anaisha's face.

"I get it that you don't want to me to see whose photograph is there in that frame! But you could've said that politely instead of yelling at me!" said Anaisha in a menacingly sweet tone.

"Anaisha, I ... "

Kabir tried to speak again to cover up for his error, but Anaisha didn't give him any chance. Glaring at him once, she strutted toward the door of Kabir's office, when the sounds of murmurs coming from outside the office reached her ears.

"Seems like Dr. Anaisha and Dr. Kabir are fighting. Maybe they are breaking up. That's so sad! They're a lovely couple," said one nurse in a sad voice.

"No, I don't think so. Maybe Dr. Anaisha spilled coffee or something on his files. Everyone knows how clumsy Dr. Anaisha is," said another nurse with a tinge of jealousy.

"Of course! Warna Dr. Kabir doesn't get angry on anyone. This Dr. Anaisha na is a big time trouble maker," said a ward boy with disdain.

Why do everyone want to piss me today? First that moron Sammy, then Dimpy, then Kabir and now these dumb people, she had reached her limit now!

Infuriated, Anaisha walked outside Kabir's office and her presence quietened everyone. Smilingly, in a sugary tone she said, "I guess you all have no other work then standing and discussing about other people and linking them. Go, get a life people! You guys are not paid for gossiping about two doctors! Do you all want me to go and complain to the Admin that you guys, instead of taking care of patients, are standing here and giving your amazing remarks about two doctors?"

Petrified with the mention of administrator, all of them left from there, giving an apologetic look to her, hoping her to not complain to the administrator or else they are were dead.

Once they all left, Anaisha turned to face Kabir. Giving him one last glare, she started to leave from there when Kabir held her hand. Still full of fury, she tried to jerk her hand out of his grip, but his grip only tightened. Sighingly, she said, "Let me go, Kabir! I guess we had a great time and I don't want to be yelled at, again. That one time was enough for me."

A sigh escaped Kabir's lips as he realised how highly irked Anaisha was with his behaviour. And why wouldn't she be, after all he had shouted on her when it wasn't even a big deal.

Having known her for past few months, Kabir knew well, one of the things that she hated the most was being yelled at for no apparent reason. And frankly, Kabir avoided pissing her off because if she became angry with someone, then no matter what she won't talk to that person again until that offender give her a proper apology.

Without leaving her hand, Kabir took her inside his office. He made her sit on the visitor's chair.

Looking at her, he softly said, "I'm very sorry, Anaisha. I didn't mean to yell at you. It's just that, that picture is very personal, and something I don't want to share with anyone. I'm very sorry, Little Kitty."

Though, Anaisha was upset with him but they way his apology sounded, her anger melt away. But then something clicked and she realised that he called her Little Kitty again, the nickname, she didn't even know why she was being called by.

"Your apology is accepted, Dr. Kabir Thapar, but please don't call me Little Kitty. That's annoying," said Anaisha with grimace.

"Okay, I won't. Acha tell me what's your new problem?" said Kabir, chuckling a little.

Surprise flashed through Anaisha on hearing him ask her for her new problem, making her wonder how come he knew that she had a problem. Recovering from the initial surprise, Anaisha asked, "How do you know that I have a problem?"

To her response, Kabir passed her a loop sided smile, and smilingly said, "Well, whenever you're cranky and in my office with that grumpy expression of yours, it's easy to guess that you have a problem."

"Really? I never noticed," murmured Anaisha.

"Yes. Anyway, tell me, Madam, what's your new problem and how can I help you," said Kabir, still smiling, the same smile that he has now reserved only for her.

Although Kabir wasn't a people's person, but when it come to Anaisha, he was always ready to help. Even his friends had noticed this but Kabir brushed it off by saying that she was his friend's sister so he help her out, which he found quite reasonable and valid. But certainly, that wasn't the real reason, Kabir didn't bother to know.

Taking a deep breath, Anaisha explained her entire situation, who calmly listened to her. Once she was done explaining, with hope heavy in her tone, Anaisha said, "Kabir, will you please help me with this? Like, you know you can become my new dance partner. How cool that will be, haina?"

But Kabir didn't say anything for a few minutes. Instead, he continued to gaze at Anaisha with amusement. He wasn't paying much attention to what she was saying, rather he more occupied in observing the way she was moving her hands like a kid to narrate her tragedy.

"Dance ... me ... with ... you, not really sounds like a good idea," said Kabir, at last, in a amused tone.

"But, Kabir, what's the problem with that? I'm sure you can help me," said Anaisha, not in the mood to take no as an answer.

But it had no effect on Kabir, who gave Anaisha a disapproving look and politely said, "No, Anaisha, I really don't dance. You can go and ask someone else who can dance with you. Dancing is not my forte!"

"Nor mine, but I still want to do something very special for my brother. Don't you wanna do something cool for your best friend?" asked Anaisha.

"I'd love to, but not dancing," said Kabir plainly.

Anaisha's face fell on hearing Kabir's refusal of her request. She made a puppy dog face, and very dramatically said, "No one can help me now. I've asked everyone. You were my last hope! I thought that I will make my Bhai happy with my surprise dance performance but that's doomed now. I'm really a bad sister!"

A twitching pain erupted in Kabir's heart as he saw her fallen face. Not wanting her to be upset more, despite knowing it was fake, Kabir tried to interrupt, but Anaisha didn't let him.

"No, Kabir, don't say anything. It's my fault. I should've known that you can't always help me. I trouble you a lot na with my problems. I'm sorry for all the times I've troubled you," said Anaisha, wiping her invisible tears. "Anyway, I should go and think what wrong have I done to deserve this. I'm so unfortunate that my partner is grounded and no one else is ready to help me. Poor me!"

All the while she spoke, Kabir stared at her with amused expression, understanding well how dramatic she was. And on the to of that, this girl surely knew how to fish out a yes from him. Such a drama queen! Though they'd been friends for few months only, but Anaisha had found tactics to make him say yes for something which he won't agree to otherwise.

Unable to hold his laugh, Kabir chuckled slightly and gently said, "Okay, you can end your drama now. I will dance with you, happy?"

As soon as Anaisha heard this, her sad face quickly turned into a merry one, and she squeaked like a kid.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you so much, Kabir!"

"Don't thank me now, Anaisha," said Kabir smilingly.

"Okay! Listen now, we can't practice at my home or in hospital, because my detective like brother will find out about it," said Anaisha briskly, "So, we will do that in your house. I'll make up some excuse to Bhai for coming over to your house every day for this one week. My parents won't have a problem as, they know about the dance thing. Bhai's engagement is on next Sunday and today is Saturday so we have a whole week for practicing, and I guess all is sorted out! Now I gotta go! It's 7 now, I'll reach your home by 8. I have to arrange a few things. Bye! See you at your home at 8!"

Saying so, she left Kabir's office, without giving him a chance to say anything. Once out of his office, she jumped like a kid as she knew he'd help her. Though a little drama was needed but at the end, Kabir agreed to help. She praised him in her heart, this again of his again made her feel special.

As he watch her jump outside his office, Kabir laughed at her antics. She was such a kid, and he liked that about her. Pretty much like Aarav, he was quite sure that except Advay, the other two Gujral kids were crackpots. Anaisha being the craziest of them.

Once she was out of sight, something crossed in his mind, and he gasped. She'd be coming over to his house, that too everyday for this entire week! Oh no! His GM, he knew what she will think. Damn it!

His parents were out of station again, so he had nothing to worry about them, though it wouldn't make a big difference even if they were home. They'd be back only for Aarav and Leher's engagement, so nothing to worry. But his GM and her imagination were something to worry about. And only God only knew how Kabir'd handle her.

Shaking his head, Kabir realised that there was nothing he could do now. The only thing he could do was to pray that GM won't make a big deal out of this, or else he'd have a lot of explaining to do. And then he remembered that GM was going over to her friend's home for a get together, which atleast would save some trouble for tomorrow and would give Kabir enough time to think of a way to explain to his GM that it was all platonic between him and Anaisha.

Just as Anaisha said, she reached his home exactly at 8, just few minutes after Kabir reached home. While Anaisha was leaving for Kabir's home, Aarav had inquired the reason for going to Kabir's house, to which she had told him that Kabir had some books on medicines that Aarav didn't own, and as Kabir would need those books so she will go to his place and make notes from the books. Though Aarav was a little skeptical about it but Arnav handled it, dropping Anaisha, himself to Thapar residence.

The doorbell rang and Kabir went to answer it. He opened the door and found Anaisha standing with a big smile on her face. She looked too cute in her baby pink summer dress with her brownish black hair pinned at one side. The view infront of him, mesmerised Kabir. He only came out of the trance when he heard Arnav, who told them that he will come to pick Annie at 9. Kabir was left embarrassed with Arnav's look which clearly meant, 'Do only what you're supposed to do! Anything apart from that will be considered a crime!'

Kabir easily understood, Arnav and his protectiveness! No matter how much he trusted people or how long he had known them, when it come to his daughter, then all these things just didn't matter.

"Kabir, we'll be dancing on this song. I think you know why I'm choosing this song, right?" asked Anaisha, playing the song on the music system.

Kabir's lips automatically curled into a smile as he recalled his crazy best friend's behaviour when Leher accepted his proposal, which Aarav had done while ballroom dancing with her in one of the parties hosted by the hospital management for the hospital staff.

While thinking about this, from the corner of his eyes, he noticed how Anaisha was biting her lower lip, something he realised she did every time she was stressed or worried over something. His eyes stayed fixed on her, taking in her beauty and the grace with which she carried herself.

Baby pink really suits Little Kitty, Kabir smilingly told himself. But then it hit him, and he wondered why was he thinking like this about Anaisha. That's stupid, he told himself.

"Yes, I know that. I remember that party really well. I must say you both resemble each other very much. Like you, he's also crazy and a big time nataunki (overtly dramatic person)," chortled Kabir, only to earn a glare from Anaisha.

"I guess, Dr. Kabir, you have a lot of spare time to waste, but I don't even have a minute to think about anything than this dance," said Anaisha sternly. "So, please let's get to work!"

Anaisha played the music and moved closer to Kabir, who took Anaisha's right hand in his right hand, and hesitantly wrapped his left hand around her waist. The music of the song filled the room, and a weird sensation passed through Kabir.

Not wanting to feel more awkward, he decided to keep the conversation going with Anaisha. With a question he had always been curious to know, Kabir said, "Er ... Anaisha, I got to know a while back that your best friend Zaina and Aarush are dating each other."

"Yes, they are," replied Anaisha, twirling in Kabir's arms.

"So, how do you feel? I mean your best friend and your brother are involved with each other, isn't that awkward?" asked Kabir quite curiously.

"Well, at first, I did feel awkward because Zaina and Aarush were spending a lot of time with each other. And then I had this fear that what if they broke up or something went wrong between them and it affected my friendship with Zaina. But then it all became fine when I realised how much Zeenu and Dodo love each other. So now, I don't have any issue with them being involved with each other. I'm very cool with it," said Anaisha, her focus on her dance.

"Oh," said Kabir, his curiousity increasing. He felt his heart thumping loudly against his ribcage, and with every gut of his, he asked nervously, "So, your brothers won't mind if you get involve with their friends? Or is that just you who's the lenient one?"

In her reply, Anaisha gave Kabir a thoughtful look and then shortly said, "Well, I don't think my brothers would mind, though me getting involved with their friends is least likely."

"Really?"

"Maybe, I mean see, Advay Bhai has least number of friends, and I hardly ever talk to anyone of them. As for Aarush, we have the same friend circle since our school days. So as far his friends are concerned, I don't think I'd ever want to go out with any of them. Now Aarav Bhai's friends, I'm not sure of his other friends, but as far as you and Dr. Anuj are concerned, I don't think my brother would mind me dating either of you two. He trusts you both a lot, but I don't think that would ever happen, because my brother would drive my boyfriend nuts with his constant nagging and overbearing behaviour," said Anaisha, laughing slightly at the end of her sentence.

Neither of them spoke again for atleast some minutes. It was when Anaisha started laughing looking at Kabir that the silence between them broke and Kabir asked bemusedly, "What's so funny?"

"Nothing," said Anaisha, "It's just that you were asking me about dating when you, yourself are single for God knows how long. Don't you think it's high time that you get a girlfriend. Even Dr. Anuj has found a new girl, when you finally date start dating someone?"

"Anuj finds love every month, since his relationship never last more than a month; some because of his workaholic nature and some because of his craziness. So let's keep him aside," said Kabir little irritably.

"Acha, okay, let's keep him aside. But still, you should find a girl for yourself. How many times have you went on dates? Or what was the last time you went out with anyone?" asked Anaisha intrusively. She did wish to know about Kabir's dating history, for a reason unknown to her own self.

"I guess in college, and around some 5-6 times. But it never worked out with anyone ... I don't want to date anyone. I'm better alone. I'm used to it," said Kabir quietly.

"And you never liked anyone?"

"No, never!"

A sense of relief went through Anaisha and she felt relaxed on knowing it Kabir never liked anyone. Somewhere, it felt nice to know that there was no one in Kabir's life, now or earlier.

"So, are you planning to stay single, like forever?"

"I don't know, maybe."

"Maybe?!"

"Maybe."

"Have you ever liked anyone, teenage crush or something?" asked Kabir intriguingly, then added, "Apart from Ranbir Kapoor, please!"

This made Anaisha giggle. Then smiling, she replied to Kabir, quite calmly. "Well, I had had teenage crushes, but it never culminated into anything serious or even a date. It was like, I liked a boy till he started liking me. Once he start to reciprocate my feelings, I would just distance myself from that boy. I don't know but I never felt great on being liked back by my crush, weird I know but that's how I am."

"Oh, okay," said Kabir, heaving a sigh of relief. And the conversation ended there.

They continued dancing for some more time. As the song reached its end, Kabir twirled Anaisha around and she landed in his arms. The black eyes stared intently into the brown ones, and slowly Anaisha's face turned red, Kabir understood why.

Feeling self conscious, Anaisha lowered her gaze, blushing hard. She didn't have any idea why the way he stared at her made her blush so hard. It was something very different and new to her, and she couldn't understand the reason behind it.

The song ended, but neither of the two led go of the other. Slowly, Anaisha lifted her gaze from the floor and found Kabir's intent gaze on her intact. Neither of them knew how to react, and stayed transfixed to their position, only to let go of each other on hearing someone's gasp.

"Oops! Don't you both think I'm too young to witness all this stuff?"

As soon as they both heard the voice, their trance broke and they quickly left each other. Maintaining a good distance between themselves, they turned their faces in the direction of the owner of the voice. Seeing whom, Kabir was gobsmacked, and Anaisha, embarrassed.

His GM, Gayatri Thapar, who was now smirkingly staring at her grandson, had only returned from her friend's house after a get together when she heard the romantic song which was being played on the music system kept in their living area.

It was strange as she knew her grandson didn't like these sort of songs. Curious to know the reason behind this song being played in her house, she headed toward the living area, only to find her grandson gazing at a cute girl, whom he was holding in his arms.

Thinking the girl to be her grandson's secret girlfriend, this sight made her feel as if her wish of seeing her grandson getting married would be fulfilled soon. But as Gayatri found no sign of them coming out that trance, she covered her eyes and broke the silence to bring them to their senses.

"GM? When did you come back?" asked a bewildered Kabir.

"I came just a few minutes back while you guys were ... er ... never mind," said GM innocently, though Kabir could guess her childlike enthusiasm, "Anyway, you could've told me that your girlfriend is coming over then I would've stayed longer at my friend's house and wouldn't have spoiled your date."

So this was what Kabir feared. His GM and her habit of assuming the girls he hung out with as his girlfriend. The first time he brought Shaina home, his GM was quite ecstatic and embarrassed Kabir by asking Shaina how long had she been dating Kabir. Shaina being very sensible, handled the situation well, though Kabir was sure his GM was upset to know that Shaina was just a friend. He had made a mental note of it that time only, and when the next time he brought Leher home with Aarav, he immediately introduced her as Aarav's girlfriend.

Mortified, Kabir covered his face with his palm, leaving Anaisha to look around awkwardly, wondering what a great first impression she had on her. Awesome!

Kabir didn't open his eyes for few moments. Already almost everyone in the hospital doubted him and Anaisha to be a couple and now his GM too. He could handle the entire hospital staff but not his GM. Her imagination and thoughts were way too dangerous, and this scared him.

Seeing him not react, Anaisha elbowed Kabir and signaled him through her eyes to clear his GM's doubt. Kabir cleared his throat and nervously said, "GM, you are having a misunderstanding. She isn't my girlfriend. She's Anaisha, Aarav's sister. She's here for practicing her dance which she's going to perform at Aarav's engagement ceremony."

His GM nodded and he added, "Er ... let me introduce you both. Anaisha, she's my GM as in my grandmother, and GM, she's Anaisha, well I just told you about her."

"It's really lovely to meet you, beta. The last time I saw you, you were young, I guess 5 or 6 years back, so that is why I couldn't recognise you," said GM, passing Anaisha a warm smile.

"It's okay," said Anaisha, "Waise I forgot to greet you. Namaste ..."

"GM! You can call me that as Kabir and all his friend's call me that. You know dadi and all is so old fashioned and I'm not that old to be called a granny! So GM would do," suggested GM, still smiling.

"Okay, GM," said Anaisha with only respect in her tone, "It's nice meeting you too."

"Well, I have heard a lot about you from Kabir, especially about your first day of internship. He shouldn't have been so rude to you that day," said GM, passing Kabir a cold look.

"No, it's okay. He apologised. And it wasn't just his fault. We both were at fault. It's fine now," said Anaisha politely. And at that moment her cellphone buzzed, and Anaisha excused herself to end the call. She went and stood near the door of the garden, getting involved in the call of her bestie Zaina.

Once she was out of sight, Kabir looked at his GM and irritably said, "GM, what was that? How can you call her my girlfriend without even knowing her? That was embarrassing!"

"Acha that was embarrassing?" said his GM, frowning, "Coming back home and finding your grandson gazing at a girl whom he's holding in his arms is so casual and normal na?"

"We were practicing our dance, GM! That wasn't such a big deal," said Kabir irritably.

But the next moment he regretted saying this as, his GM face's turned awfully astonished and she said, "Our dance performance? What does that mean? When did you started dancing, Bir?"

Mentally cursing his own self, Kabir tried to handle the situation by saying, "Er ... she didn't have a dance partner and she really wanted to do something special for Aarav, so I said yes to help her."

GM narrowed her gaze and stared at Kabir while Kabir just gave her blank look, unable to understand what was going on in his GM's head. She was one unpredictable woman, Kabir could never figure, pretty much like Anaisha.

"Dancing with her, looking in her eyes with that sweet looks, bringing her to our home! I know what all this means," said GM enthusiastically, pulling Kabir's cheeks, surprising to core.
Unable to understand, Kabir raised his eyebrows and gave his GM a quizzical look. In his heart, he sort of knew what his GM was thinking, but still hoped against hope that it wasn't true.

"It only means one thing, I'm soon gonna become a grandmother-in-law! And hopefully a great grandmother too! Aww my grandson is finally fulfilling my wishes! I'm so happy!" said GM gleefully.

Kabir eyes bulged out when he heard what his GM said. He and Anaisha ... a couple ... marriage ... kids? Damn! He knew well what his GM would think, that was why he was apprehensive of letting Anaisha come to his place. But he never imagined his GM would think of so far. And it was necessary to clear her misconception.

Passing her a stern look, Kabir said, "GM, you are getting too carried away in your imagination. There's nothing like that between me and her. So please stop thinking all that thing!"

But his confident GM passed him a smug and coolly said, "Acha chalo, I accept that there's nothing going on between you two, at least from her side. But you, the way you were looking at her na, only those people who are in love look at their someone special like that. And then, she's the first girl you brought home apart from Shaina and Leher, both whom are your just friends. And dancing with her, like when have you ever danced before, that too with a girl? What am I supposed to make out of it?

"C'mon yaar, GM, you're just assuming wrongly. I told you there's nothing like that. Anaisha's Avi's sister so she came here to practice her dance with me. That's it! You have misunderstood everything. How can something happen between me and her when we've known each other for only four months?"

GM calmly heard him out, then very softly said, "Bir, I have seen life more than you, and obviously have much more experience. So, don't say that I have misunderstood anything. These old eyes of mine can see even the things which you are not ready to accept, one of them being your feelings for Anaisha. And talking about knowing her for only four months, that is certainly not a great excuse!

"Sometimes you can spend your entire life with someone and still don't know them enough. But sometimes only a few moments spent with someone are enough to know them if they are the right person. Looking at you two, no one can say that you both have known each other for only a few months. You can deny to others as much as you want, Kabir, but I'm your grandmother, I know you better than anyone else."

His GM's words slowly made themselves acknowledged in Kabir's brain, which was just as confused as Kabir appeared. Still not wanting to accept what his GM just told him, Kabir opened his mouth to speak, but couldn't do so as Anaisha came back toward them.

"You guys carry on with your practice. I'll be in my room," said GM. She patted Anaisha cheeks and left for her room, leaving Kabir in utter confusion.

Unaware of what happened between Kabir and his GM, Anaisha resumed her practice with Kabir, who appeared cautious, but Anaisha didn't notice.

The whole week went quite fast with their practice and engagement preparations. Their dance performance was awesome, which took place after Aarav and Leher exchanged rings.

Everyone was shocked to see Kabir dance with Anaisha, something completely uncharacteristic of him. Their dance was just splendid and both, Anaisha and Kabir were just flawless.

Their dance made Aarav and Leher very happy and both were pleased with Anaisha's surprise, and praised her and Kabir a lot. And it also gave fire to Kabir and Anaisha's linkup rumours, which Anaisha didn't care about, but Kabir seemed affected.

All the things that his GM had told him on the first day of practice, seemed to still confuse Kabir. He just couldn't accept that he had some feelings for her. Anaisha was, after all, just a really good friend, and nothing more.

After the dance and the session of compliments was over, Kabir settled in the most isolated corner of the engagement hall, trying to get a grip over his haywire going emotions, something which hadn't happened before.

Some minutes later, his GM joined him and took the seat beside his. She stroked his hair and gently said, "I know, Kabir, you won't accept it now, but you do have some feelings for Anaisha. I don't know why you are unable to see how calm you are when you are with her, because it's so obvious. In last one week, whenever you were with her, I've seen a different you, a calmer, happier and peaceful Kabir. Though I can't say the same about Anaisha as I don't know her much, but she's a really nice girl and gives you the peace you wanted in your life. This sort of calmness and peace only comes when you are with the person you have feelings for.

"I know because of your parent's strained relationship, you have lost your faith in love and marriages. But, Kabir, your parents' condition doesn't mean you should distance yourself from love because it will do no good to you, and only would hurt you."

"GM, I ... "

"No, don't try to interrupt me and tell me that I'm wrong, because it's of no use," said GM, "Just remember, whenever we try to distance ourselves from something, we end up being even closer to it than we were before. I'm sure you're not realizing this now but one day you will see how much she affects you. I hope that day comes soon. You're my grandson, Kabir, and all I want is your happiness and an assurance that after I'm gone there's someone to look after you. Anyway, don't be so stressed, everything will fall into places on its own, just give it some time."

Once she finished speaking, Gayatri got up and left from there, with a puzzled Kabir transfixed on his seat. What if what GM said was right, and he really feel something for Anaisha. What if he was really different when he was with Anaisha? Could that be true, he didn't know, nor did he want to. But what if GM's right ... then?

No! Kabir told himself sternly. He couldn't let this thing affect himself. Calming himself down, he brushed the thoughts away and glanced at Anaisha, who was giggling and talking with her brothers. She was just too naïve and sweet to ever be linked to him, a guy who had never been happy in his life. Anaisha was just too good for him, and he would never let his miserability affect her. He'd do everything to keep her happiness intact, even if that meant, distancing himself from her. He would do anything, for her and to save himself from another broken relationship.