"Oh my God! Happy Birthday Honey! And you are officially in love." Kim blurted out.

"I am not sure about love, but I am in trouble. I think I am physically attracted to him, which may or may not end in love." I said trying to recover myself.

"Really, why do you think its not love." Kim was now serious.

"I don't know. I never rated myself as the lovey-dovey type."

"So you are sure its just physical attraction?" she was determined to get to the bottom of this.

"It has to be. You know, we both are young, living under same roof. His room is right across mine. Over the last few days, we ran into each other many times, came into contact with each other. Hot young blood and bursting hormones. Its possible." I tried to sound reasonable.

"What! you ran into each other?"

"Yeah! ... you know .... small space .. accidents happen."

"Really, what kind of accidents?"

"Well, once I slipped while going down the stairs and he caught me and carried me back to my room. You know in the process, my hands were all over his body and his on mine - wink .. wink. So it is natural to get excited and aroused and have physical feelings for each other."

"Oh! I don't think it was a space issue, maybe an accident. And how many times did you slip before Yudhi came to live here?" she was now being Sherlock Holmes and a pain.

"I am not telling you anything. You will just end up criticizing me and fault me, but I am sure its not love." I put on my puppy face.

"Ok, ok ... please please ... pretty please tell me .. tell me. I won't judge you, promise. I am your best friend and buddy, so please share with me." She was all nice now.

"Ok, so every time we come into contact with each other, I am getting desperate and feel the attraction. Just today morning it happened again."

"No kidding! you slipped on the stairs again and he caught you?"

"No idiot! I fell on him when I went to his bedroom to wake him up."

"OMG! you and him on the same bed...did you loose your v-card?"

"Eeew!! no ! I came very close, but nothing happened, because the idiot was still sleeping"

"What are you saying? Even after you fell on him, he was sleeping?"

"Yes, he kind of looked at me and then went back to sleep, as if it was normal for me to be sleeping on him."

"Ah! he must be dreaming about you, so didn't realize you were real." she confirmed my doubts. "So what did he do to real you in his dreams?"

"Well, you know, regular stuff." I didn't want to give the details.

"Ha..ha I am not letting you off that easy. I need details baby."

I described the entire episode to her.

"So are you going to talk to him? You should talk and continue where you left off." she winked naughtily.

"No, he is mad at me. Something else happened and he is kind of mad right now." I couldn't keep off the disappointment in my voice.

"What happened?"

"You know we went to temple in the morning, there I had to meet someone , a doctor, a potential future husband. My mom arranged it. It didn't workout though, but Yudhi looked pissed off when he saw me talking to someone else."

"Oh! Aru, I cannot believe so many things could happen in less than 24 hours. Why is your mom in a hurry to get you married?"

"Well, what can I say, Moms will be Moms. She wants to start the process now, so that by the time I finish the course, she can plan the marriage. What about your mom?"

"I am lucky, because Kat is in front of me. She wants Kat to marry Roger asap. She likes Roger a lot."

"Then what is the issue?" I knew they both were going strong for some time now.

"They are having issues and are not on talking terms." She said waving her hands towards God.

"I hope they work them out."

"Me too."

"See, that is the reason I don't want to get into the love business. I am hoping once I get to campus, I can forget about Yudhi and get back into my routine. So I am sure it is a short term phase and the cure is get away from here. Ok, lets go downstairs." I changed into jeans and t shirt and went behind her.

Me and Kim were coming down the stairs, when I heard everyone shout ..

"Surprise !!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!"

"OMG! Thanks guys, I can't believe this." All my friends were there.

I looked at Kim, "Did you do this?"

She didn't had to answer as her eyes were beaming with laughter.

Looks like my parents were also involved as I could see lot of food was ordered. I was quickly surrounded by my old school friends and we started chatting and catching up with all. It turned into a big party.

We went downstairs where we had a karaoke bar and soon we all started singing songs. We had all the popular hits going on and soon everyone started dancing.

It had been some time since I danced, so I put away all my worries and started enjoying the music and dancing with everyone. There was so much energy and dancing going on that we forgot time and kept on dancing.

One of my all time favorites "Cheerleader" song was going on and I was slow dancing with Kim, when she tapped my shoulder.

"Look at your 9'0 clock."

"What are we doing at 9?" I asked moving my hands in the air.

"Dumbo, I am asking you to look at your 9'0 clock casually."

"Oh! Sorry, got you now." And I turned slowly left and suddenly my heartbeat went up.

Yudhi was standing in a corner with a glass in hand and watching me dance. Not sure, how long he has been watching me, but our eyes met and he smiled.

"Hmm.. looks like you are both in the same boat." Kim was saying.

"How would I know?" I said turning towards her and then turned back and he was gone.

"Perv, Idiot .." I started cursing him, as he always does that, enjoys watching me from a distance.

"Take my advice and both of you get a room and get over the physical thing. Then only you will be able to decide if you are in love or not." Kim said rolling her eyes.

"Ha! My Mom is waiting for me to do that, so she can get me married to him very next day. I am not falling for that."

Finally the party was over and all my friends left except for Kim and Kat. I got lot of presents, even from Kim, who told me she was not buying me anything for my Indian birthday. I was still not satisfied as I didn't get anything from Yudhi, the only one which matters me to right now. It really bothered me that he didn't give me anything, all I was looking for is a hug or kiss.

Kim's sister Kat was with us, but she looked as if something was bothering her. I thought she was down because of her on-going issue with her boyfriend, Roger. We were sitting in the living area along with my mom and dad.

"Kat, What's going on ? You look as if something is bothering you. Are you ok?" My mom asked her.

"Nothing Mrs Rao, I just missed the cut for my dream job, so just disappointed with myself." She answered.

"Oh! I am so sorry. You shouldn't worry about it. It is their loss not yours." My mom countered.

"Oh! Was it a NASA job, your dream job?" I was hearing about it for the first time. I looked at Kim, as she never told me about it.

"Yep", she answered. "But don't bother about it, I will try another time."

"What was the selection criteria?" My dad asked.

"Well, I don't know. NASA appointed a project manager to work on this new cutting edge space technology project and he made the selections."

"I think you should talk to him and present your case. If you need any sort of help from us, let us know. By the way who is the project manager?" my dad likes space related projects and tries to keep himself up-to-date on all NASA projects.

"Well, its Yudhi." Kat announced slowly.

"What!" we all almost screamed.

"How come we don't know about this?" my mom asked.

"Well, he wrote a paper which NASA liked and Google and NASA are working together on this project. So they appointed Yudhi as the project manager and he is collecting a team from Berkeley and other top universities." Kim explained.

Just then Yudhi walked in.

"Yudhi, are you working on a project with NASA?" my mom asked.

"Yes, auntie. Just started the project, but am not supposed to talk about it, bound by legal agreements. It is in very initial stages and we are securing funding and putting a team together. Was planning to tell you after things settle down."

"How come you didn't pick Kat for the project?" I asked Yudhi, unable to keep quiet anymore.

"Well, I didn't make the actual selection. I provided the professors with a formula and they sent me the list of candidates who made the cut. There are still four more positions available and I believe if she can improve her scores in number theory, she can make the cut."

"Wow! So you are officially a rocket scientist now." Abhi was excited.

"Yudhi, so you think if she can improve her scores by next month, she can make it." Mom asked.

"Yes, I checked her scores, if she can improve her math score, she can be part of the team. Kat, you should work with your math professors to improve your score if you are interested".

"Yudhi, it's my weakest area and am already working with the professors but its not helping."

"I think Yudhi can teach you, he is an expert in math." I said putting Yudhi in a spot.

"Well, I am so busy right now with the project and hardly have time." Yudhi looked at me seriously.

"She is willing to come and work with you whenever you have time. Please Yudhi, its her life dream." I pleaded with my puppy face.

"Ok, be here on Sunday 8:00 PM with your books and we will go over the course material." Yudhi told Kat and left.

"Yay, Arohi thank you so much. I owe you a big one." Kat jumped out and hugged me.

"Thanks Arohi, you made Kat happy again." Kim came over and hugged me.

After that everyone left and I went back to my room and put on my night dress. Wow! It has been a wonderful day. I couldn't believe so much happened today. For the first time I wore a saree on my own and dressed up to impress and then the encounter with Yudhi was priceless. After that meeting Rahul and family was another first for me, then the mind blowing party and helping Kat, a great finish to a great day. However one thing is still bothering me - Yudhi didn't give me any present. My expectations are high but I would settle for anything small. A hug would do, but a kiss would just crown my day.

Just then someone knocked on the door.

"Hey, you have a second ?" I heard Yudhi's voice.

I froze, "OMG! OMG! OMG! he is here. Is it a hug or kiss?"

"One second Yudhi." I ran into the bathroom and rinsed my mouth, put on a fresh t shirt , adjusted my dress and did a quick comb through my hair.

Walked up to the door and opened it slowly, giving time for my nerves to calm down. He was just leaning by the wall looking at something. Hearing the door open, he looked up at me. He was just staring at me and I was afraid to open my mouth. After waiting for 60 seconds I asked him with my eyes "What's up?"

"Hey! You wore the t-shirt backwards, but looks cute." His voice was enough to put my nerves on fire.

"Oh! I am still a baby, remember it's my birthday."

"I am really sorry, I didn't get a chance to buy you a present, so got you a greeting card. I will make up for it next year." And he handed me the greeting card he was carrying.

"Sure, thanks." I felt like punching him. Really a greeting card. What am I ? a school girl ! Idiot!

"Hey, babies scare easily in the night, so if you are afraid, you know where to find me."

"Don't count on it." And I slammed the door shut.