"Come on! You should be swaying your hips and twerking your booty right now. You can't miss this song for God's sake!"

Alishba had to literally scream at Zayn as the loud deafening hip hop music was blasting through the hall. The ultramarine colours that were flashing around the hall made the room a bit dim and did no justice to her eyes, making her squint her black eyes every now and then. Everything seemed to be disturbingly shadowy but Zayn's face was clear to Alishba in that unclear space, as the boy with ocean blue eyes turned towards her.

"Hell no! Parties aren't just about swaying and twerking. There are other fun things to do as well. And I know that better than those bunch of crackheads," Zayn said, pointing to his friends who were bopping to the pop music, a few with their partners and the rest going solo.

"Really? Crackheads? Mr. Zayn, should I really remind you that you are the one who's hosting this party?" asked Alishba.

"So?"

"So, basically and obviously, the bunch of crackheads you are referring to are your goddamn friends!" Alishba said, showing her iconic diplomatic smile.

"I know!" Zayn said, throwing his hands in the air. "But it's a fact, they really are crackheads."

"You are unbelievable." Alishba rolled her eyes, being done with him.

"Yeah, I know."

"Oh please! Don't flatter yourself, boy. By the way, what's that fun thing you said earlier?"

"What fun thing?"

"The thing you said earlier. About doing something that is way more fun than just dancing at parties. God, do you have amnesia?" asked Alishba, cringing.

"That one! Well you know, you can do something like this."

"Something like what?"

"Just sit and talk to a beautiful girl and get to know more about her," Zayn said, leaning forward with his elbows propped up on the table and resting his irresistible charming face on his hands with a smile playing on his lips.

"Smooth!" Alishba said with a sarcastic tone and avoided his gaze to obscure her smile which she was toiling to, along with her blushing face.

She could feel the butterflies in her tummy going wild with happiness and shyness and fluttering its wings, matching the pace of her pounding heart.

Alishba's eyes went through the frenzied crowd of students that were dancing, drinking and grinding on each other. She looked at the girls who barely covered any of their skin. Her eyes then fell on herself, taking in the floral cocktail dress with full sleeves. She heedlessly compared her outfit with other's skimpy ones, making herself stand out as a misfit.

The smoke, the heat, the closed doors and windows made her pat the sweat that formed on her forehead at times. Eyes from here and there made her more insecure than she already was. But she knew she was getting frowns and stares at the fact Zayn Zayat, the college heartthrob, was talking and flirting with a normal brown Indian girl, Alishba Hussain.

"Well, come on. I'll show you something," Zayn said after sharing a few minutes of silence between them, making Alishba's head snap towards him.

"Where?"

"Just come. Trust me," Zayn said, holding his hand out to Alishba.

Alishba looked at him and then his hand. Inside, she was having a battle between her mind and brain about taking his hand and going with him. She already broke a promise by coming to this party, but how could she say no when it was Zayn holding his hand out?

"Well?" Zayn nudged Alishba from her daze.

"Oh, okay," Alishba said with a small smile and then taking his hand.

He was taking her away from all that loud music and their friends who were now drunk and trancing. They climbed up the stairs, passing by the smoke rings and couples who were making out on steps and reached Zayn's room. Standing in front of his closed bedroom, he turned around and smiled at Alishba. She faked a smile as she was burning up inside as the thought of whether she would do something wrong was running on her mind endlessly. But she knew that it wasn't too late to stop herself.

"Don't worry. It's just something I have wanted to show you for so long." Zayn reassured her as if he just read her mind.

Alishba nodded and smiled once again. But this time a genuine one, as she had faith in him.

Zayn opened his bedroom door and moved aside to let Alishba enter the room. As soon as she entered his room, Alishba went dumbstruck. She knew that Zayn's family was loaded, but she didn't expect his room to be this huge and beautiful with large windows, a king size bed along with a wide television and a mini refrigerator. And don't even start with his extravagant wardrobe that was neatly stacked up with nothing but branded clothes of Gucci, Valentino and Armani.

Alishba thought to herself that if she could trade half of his clothes, she didn't have to work the part time job of a waitress in that restaurant she called the rat hole. The size of his room was that of Alishba's whole apartment, the one she shared with two other girls that often complained and whined about trivial things. Every day, it took every fiber of her being to not kick her roommates. Of course, being an international student had its snags.

"Wow! Your room is so good," Alishba said, her black orbs wide open.

Zayn chuckled seeing her face. "Yeah, I know."

"So, this is what you wanted to show me?" asked Alishba to stop herself from admiring his room to keep up the image of that carefree and sassy girl and immediately regretted complimenting.

"Nope. Follow me," Zayn said, taking steps towards a small door near his study table.

"Wait, why are you taking me to your bathroom?" Alishba asked, brandishing her finger at him. "I swear Zayn, if you have any creepy intentions of-"

"Hell no, Ali," he cut her off. "This is not my bathroom for fuck's sake. That one is the bathroom," said Zayn, pointing to a big door, opposite to where they were standing.

Alishba paused for a second as she was surprised by Zayn's reaction. She took a glance to where he was pointing.

"Just stop blabbering and follow me. And most importantly, trust me. Please."

By seeing those eyes, Alishba knew that he was a bit hurt. And that obviously tugged the bottom of her mind.

"Sorry, I was just worried," apologized Alishba.

"Oh, who is saying sorry? Alishba Hussain? I didn't know that the word sorry could roll off your tongue easily." Zayn joshed her.

"Alright, can you just stop it and hurry up, Zayn?" asked Alishba, controlling her smile.

Zayn laughed at the annoyed but cute Alishba. "Yeah, ok!"

Zayn resumed his steps towards the door that kept Alishba on tenterhooks as she silently followed him. He opened the small door. Alishba peeked through Zayn's broad shoulders and all she could see was pure darkness. She got inside the room past him while Zayn closed the door behind her.

"Can you put on some lights please?"

"Sure, just wait a sec."

And then Zayn hit the lights.

Alishba blinked her eyes for a fraction of a second due to the sudden light in that dim room. After adjusting to the light, Alishba looked around. It looked like the room of an artist who had spent a good amount of time in there. There were canvases, pencils, paint brushes, paint bottles, charcoal and whatnot scattered around.

Alishba frowned to herself as she wondered to whom all those belonged to, as she never took Zayn for an artist. As far as she knew, he was always into soccer and gaming.

Alishba turned around and looked at Zayn, waiting for an answer. Zayn kept his silence along with that beautiful smile, showing off his left dimple which made girls head over heels for him and his hands tucked inside his pockets. He then pointed his finger towards a spot, making her eyes follow to where he was pointing at.

The moment she looked over there, her breath stopped for a second. Her heart skipped a beat. Her eyes were widened and her jaw was dropped to the floor. Her body and mind were frozen at where she was standing. She couldn't believe her eyes. She couldn't believe what was right there in front of her. And above all, she couldn't believe that something like this would be in Zayn's room.

There were portrait paintings of Alishba. There were more than at least five and the yellow bulb dangling from the ceiling, hanging above the paintings, added more aesthetic and ethereal beauty to it. Alishba slowly took steps towards her portraits to see if it really was there or was it just her hallucination, a fragment of her imagination. She stood in front of the paintings and looked at it for what felt like hours. She slowly lifted her post numb hands to feel herself portrayed. She gently ran her long slender fingers through the paintings and found herself smiling with glittery tears in her eyes that threatened to fall anytime. She turned around and saw Zayn standing behind her, smiling at her.

"Did you do this?" asked Alishba.

"Yeah," replied Zayn, looking down at his feet and smiling with his hands going to his nape.

He was a bit shy rather than being proud of himself.

"Really?"

"Yeah, it's me. I did it. What? You don't believe me?" scoffed Zayn, raising his eyebrows.

"No. I don't," deadpanned Alishba.

"What? Are you being serious right now, Ali?" asked a shocked Zayn in disbelief.

"Yeah, I am. I am dead serious. I'm just not gonna believe blindly that you painted me. Like, why?" Alishba threw back.

Zayn was silent for a few seconds and was staring at Alishba. His eyes scanned her beautiful face- those big black eyes, brown taunt cheeks, soft rosy lips and the dimple chin. The strands of her black curly locks falling on either side of her face alone took his breath away.

Realizing that the time had come at his heart's doorstep that had been yearning to open to the girl standing in front of him, he swallowed the small lump that had formed in his throat before talking, making his Adam's apple bounce.

"Because that's what a boy does when he loves a girl. He always has her face in his mind because he's always thinking about her. He wakes up with her smiling face as his first thoughts and goes to bed dreaming about how wonderful it would be to hold her hands, waist and to claim that she is his. A boy that loves a girl would go to any extent to show how much she means to him, even if it means to step out of his comfort zone because he knows that his girl is the safest place for him. He knows that his home is where his girl is," said Zayn, looking at Alishba.

He was deeply looking at her that she felt he was looking at her soul. At that moment, Alishba saw something in Zayn's eyes. Something she hadn't seen till then. She felt something she hadn't till then. At that moment she asked herself, 'Why was I oblivious to this?'

"What do you-what are you trying to say, Zayn?" Alishba stuttered after clearing her throat, seeking for more clarification.

"I'm saying what I have been longing to say, Alishba. I love you. I don't know when and how and please don't ask me. All that matters is I love you. All that matters to me is you, Alishba. I know that I'm really bad at words. So I thought I would do this to show my love for you. To tell you how much I love you," said Zayn with so much sincerity in his eyes.

Alishba wanted to tell him things, many things. But she felt like she was choking on her own words, as a bizarre feeling was exuding from her.

"And I know that our feelings are mutual. I know that you also love me, Alishba."

Alishba's eyes went as wide as saucers. All this time she thought she was doing a good job at bottling up her feelings towards Zayn. But she wasn't, as Zayn did espy her catching glimpses of him, the scarlet tint on her cheeks that formed natch when Zayn passed her sweet gestures, the way her eyes twinkled when she talked to him and her smile, that raving smile that made Zayn go frantic.

Alishba couldn't say anything as she was so numb to all that was happening in the room.

"I-I don't even know what to say, Zayn. All of this is too much for me. I..." she trailed off.

She turned around and faced her own portrait, avoiding his intense gaze on her. She couldn't look into Zayn's eyes for any longer.

Alishba was searching for words. And even though she had them, she didn't know what to tell Zayn. She was absolutely clueless. She wasn't ready for a relationship as she didn't want any type of commitments with anyone. Well, that was what she promised her father before coming here, to Canada all the way from a South Indian state, to study.

She avoided as many guy's company as possible but everything became turbulent the day she met Zayn Zayat. Those ocean blue eyes pulled her into a whirl hole the day she laid her eyes on his. First days were fun for her but then, things began to take a turn. And she wasn't sure if that turn was for the best or for the worse.

She started to have a crush on him. Soon that bloomed into something she wished didn't turn to. She tried to control her feelings but she couldn't. And at that moment, she hit the realization that once you stepped in, there was no way out. Even if there was a way, it would be with beds of thorns scattered and that was what we call love. That infinite loop of sweetness, laughter, breaking rules, taking risks, heart break, blood, sweat and tears.

She was drowning in her own thoughts until she was distracted by Zayn's touch on her arms. Her breath hitched as this touch was foreign to her. She felt sparks running through her veins when Zayn slowly and gently ran his fingers upwards and towards her shoulders. His touch was sending shivers down her spine. She gulped the lump in her throat and tried hard to normalize her breath. But it only got erratic when Zayn slowly moved her smooth curly locks to the side and started placing soft and small kisses on her shoulder. His delicate lips trailed towards her neck and then to her ears, biting her earlobes lightly. Alishba shut her eyes, clenched her fists that made her nails dig into the skin of her palm and bite her lower lip to stop any sounds coming from her mouth.

As Zayn's hands found their way around Alishba's small waist, she turned around slowly with her eyes closed. Their lips brushed against each other, hot breaths feathering their lips that awaited to feel the sweetness of each other. He wanted to cup her cheeks and capture her lips by his then and there but he refrained himself from doing so. He wanted to make sure whether Alishba wanted this, just like him.

As Zayn continued to look at Alishba, memorizing her beautous face and carving it in his mind, she opened her eyes, eyelashes batting realizing the proximity they were sharing. Zayn caressed her cheeks with the back of his fingers to which Alishba leaned for more, for more of his touch, warmth and comfort. Locking her black orbs with his ocean blue ones, she said, "Zayn, I love you."

As if thousands of shiny pearls were floating on a blue ocean, his eyes sparkled hearing those three words. That too from her, from his Alishba.

"I love you too, Alishba. I love you today, tomorrow and forever."

So many kisses, so little time.
- Atticus