It was a slow Sunday afternoon in Mumbai — the kind where everything felt drowsy and golden, and time walked lazily instead of ticking by.

Zoya was curled up on the couch with a book when Aarfa rushed into the apartment, cheeks flushed and eyes glowing.

Zoya looked up. “You met him, didn’t you?”

Aarfa grinned. “He made me late on purpose.”

---

Flashback to earlier that day:

The café near Xavier’s campus was half-empty, quiet enough for whispered conversations and loud enough to hide heartbeats. Ayaan was already there, sitting with two cold coffees and a grin that said I missed you.

Aarfa slid into the seat across from him, rolling her eyes. “You said it was urgent.”

“It is,” he said seriously.

She narrowed her eyes.

He pushed a tiny box toward her.

She opened it.

Inside: a delicate silver bracelet with a single tiny ‘A’ charm.

Aarfa blinked.

Ayaan leaned forward. “I know you hate loud things... so here’s something quiet. Like us.”

She didn’t speak.

Instead, she reached across the table and held his hand.

“You’re getting better at this, boyfriend,” she said.

“You make it easy,” he replied.

---

Later, they strolled through the park, his hand around her shoulders, her fingers playing with the bracelet now circling her wrist.

“You know,” she said softly, “we’re so different.”

“Obviously,” he smirked. “You’re loud, fiery, and you walk like you’re storming a castle. I’m chill, lazy, and emotionally dramatic.”

She laughed. “And yet it works.”

He stopped walking.

“I think it works because… with you, I don’t have to pretend to be anything else.”

Her heart fluttered.

“You don’t scare me, Aarfa,” he added. “You make me brave.”

She touched his face gently. “You make me soft.”

He kissed her forehead. “Then I’m winning.”

---

Back in the apartment, Aarfa lay beside Zoya on the bed, her feet up on the wall.

Zoya smiled. “You’re glowing.”

“I think I’m in love,” Aarfa whispered.

Zoya looked at her. “I think he is too.”

They both giggled.

Outside, the world kept spinning.

But in their small corner of

the universe — it was all love, laughter, and the beginning of forever.

---

Pheww~ one more adorable couple. I think now I should get wild right? I mean the slow-burn already burned so much should I let Akif confess to zoya already?

Comment your answers!