If anything, Viraj's smile only widened as he misunderstood her response, as usual.

"I know. I am far greater than your expectations, right! But, it's alright...You will get used to me." He said happily making Sneha go dumb on hearing his response. She couldn't help but look at him with a poker face.

'I think I will get used to your narcissist nature!' She sighed internally.

Sneha thought for a while before replying...something that wasn't a lie.

She looked up in the sky and spoke.

"I want someone who is simple, humble and polite. He should respect my parents as his own. And, he should..." She trailed, searching for an apt word.

"Should?"

Sneha thought for a while before replying.

"He should love me selflessly...without expecting anything in return." She finally spoke her heart out.

"That's impossible!"

"What?" She asked.

"Everything in life is a bargain in one form or another."

"Not relationships." She argued.

"Even relationships. It is impossible to enter a relationship without expecting something in return." He instantly responded.

"It will not be love if we'd expect something in return!"

"Love is just a hypothetical overrated term."

"Love is the base of every relationship."

"No. It is loyalty that is the base of all relationships. Without loyalty, everything is baseless. And, loyalty demands loyalty in exchange." He placed his point making her go speechless.

"You don't believe in love, right?" She asked after a short pause while turning to face him. This is the only conclusion she could draw from his arguments.

"I told you. Love is an overrated concept which is nothing but fiction." He asserted.

Sneha took a deep breath and turned towards the sky again.

"It's a good thing." She mumbled after a slight pause.

"What?"

"It's a good thing that you don't love me." She gathered the confidence to say it aloud.

"I am loyal to you. What more do you want?" He asked, a little annoyed.

"As I said, I want someone who would love me." She said so that he'd understand that he wasn't the one she desired.

Viraj sighed. It was so difficult to please her, he knew.

"I guess, we can have a balance here. You can love me and I'll be loyal to you." He said.

"You are proposing it as if it is a business proposal."

"I am a businessman...Isn't it obvious for me to think like that?"

'If only loving someone was this easy.' She thought but externally, she only nodded.

They laid there for a while before Viraj spoke first.

"You didn't ask about my expectation from my wife." He asked while looking at her sideways.

"I know it now." She mumbled still looking at the sky.

"You do?" The surprise was evident in his tone.

"Loyalty...it was clear from what you just said." She said.

"You are a smart girl." He praised and took the liberty to graze her cheek with his free hand lightly. She only lowered her eyes.

"Oh, I almost forgot to show you something. Take out your ring." He said out of nowhere, confusing her yet again.

"What?" She asked.

"Take it out." He urged and pulled her hand upwards.

She hesitantly held her ring finger and gently pulled the ring out of her finger.

"Now look at the back of the ring." He gestured and she looked at it.

Initially, she didn't see anything but then on looking carefully, she could see something engraved on the metal. So, she brought the ring closer to her eyes to read the word.

Her brows frowned when she comprehended the word.

The name Viraj was written in beautiful calligraphy.

"Why is your name engraved here?" She couldn't stop asking.

"I saw you smiling at that customer who asked the attendant to engrave her husband's name on her ring. So, I got you one too." He explained proudly, hoping at least this would make her happy and smile.

However, she turned to look at him with a frown.

"I was smiling at them because they looked cute together." She explained herself.

His brows raised in realisation.

"Didn't you like it?" He asked.

"It's not like that. But, why should only my ring has your name?" She asked, wondering about equality unnecessarily.

He chuckled.

"I knew you would ask me this." He said and began removing his ring from his finger. Taking it out completely, he showed her the back of his ring.

She could see her name engraved beautifully on the metal, in the same calligraphy.

Seeing her expression, he added.

"I told you, loyalty demands loyalty in exchange. Hence, we are even here." He said with a content smile and slid the ring on his finger again.

Sneha looked at him for a second. She just didn't understand what he meant or why was he so obsessed with the term 'loyalty'.

Before she could insert the ring back, Viraj took it from her finger and slowly slid it on her finger again.

"You know...while I was sending our names to the artist for engraving our names on our rings, I realized that our names have the same number of letters. 5." He said and then looked at her.

Sneha looked at the ring that had gone back to its rightful place.

"Do you know what this means?" He asked as he successfully did his job.

After a short silence, she shook her head negatively. What could it possibly mean?

"It is the only thing that is common between us." He answered.

Without realising it, she started pondering about it. It, sort of, was true. They were poles apart and perhaps this was the only thing that they both had in common.

She nodded, wondering what was so unique about it.

"So, I decided that our children's names will also have 5 letters. What do you think?" He asked casually while looking at her. However, a chuckle left his lips when he saw her expression.

Sneha was taken aback by hearing him and she didn't even try to hide her expression as she looked at him with strained eyes.

"What? You don't like kids?" He asked while loving her expression, as always.

It took her a while to answer.

"It's not like that. I..."

"Then?"

"Nothing..." She mumbled, knowing all too well that he won't understand her point of view anyway.

She definitely wanted her own child. But, neither now, nor with him.

"Tell me." He asked again.

When she still didn't say, he slowly grabbed her right arm and pulled her closer to himself. As she forcefully faced him with her right hand lying on his side, he caressed her cheek.

"Sometimes, I desperately want to know what is going on in your mind. It always makes me curious and I hope for someone to invent the mind-reading machine so I can know what you are thinking...about me and our conversation." He said gently.

'In that case, your father will kill me and my family, if you would know about how I feel about you!' She thought to herself.

Noticing his intense eyes on her, the shyness resurfaced in her eyes and thus, she suddenly took a seating position by freeing her hand from his.

"It is quite late. I should go home." She said and attempted to stand when he held her wrist firmly and sat close to her.

"I'll drop you home in time. Don't worry. Stay with me a little longer." He intentionally whispered near her ear...not even trying to hide his desperation for being with her.

In his own world, he had started trusting her with his emotions and feelings. And, he wasn't ashamed of it.

Sneha looked at her lap again. His words were slowly getting into her nerves now. Not in a million years had she thought that he was this kind of a man! He had always appeared strict and dangerous when she had not met him personally.

But this person...he looked the complete opposite of the Viraj she once knew.

When she didn't say anything and continued looking at her hands, he took it as a 'yes' and smiled.

"Are you hungry? I saw you eating a very small portion at the lunch." He asked and then grabbed the other metallic box from beside her.

Sneha nodded, thinking it was a better distraction than listening to his romantic confessions again and again.

Viraj smiled at her response.

Opening the box, he withdrew two glass boxes and paper-wrapped sticks. She recognized the dish to be noodles, but the sticks confused her.

As he passed the box and the wrapped sticks to her, she held them with narrowed brows.

"What happened?" He asked.

"No fork or spoon?" She asked while still eying the sticks.

"Use the chopsticks." He asked and tore the wrapper of his chopsticks to reveal the wooden sticks.

"Uhh...I..." Sneha fumbled with her chopsticks.

"What, Sneha?" He sighed when she had still not taken the chopsticks out.

"There must be a fork in the kitchen." She asked him.

"You will only find a microwave, an oven and a refrigerator. And some wines, of course. But not plates or spoons. What is the problem with chopsticks?" He answered.

"I don't know how to use chopsticks." She finally answered.

It took a while for him to digest the news. A chuckle left his lips as he processed it.

"You, what? You have never used a chopstick before?" He asked, completely surprised.

"No."

"That's weird!" He laughed.

"There is nothing to laugh about. 90% of Indians do not use it." She defended herself by speculating the fact.

"Well, in that case..."

"It's okay. I'll have something at my home."

Viraj shook his head.

"I'll feed you." He declared and opened his box.

"I'll eat at home, Viraj. You don't need to..." She instantly protested but he was quick in bringing the noodles entangled chopstick towards her mouth.

"Eat." It was his only instruction as he placed the sticks gently in front of her lips.

Sneha first stared at him and then at the noodles and then towards his fingers. He was holding the chopsticks so casually...as if it was glued on his fingers.

"Maybe, I should try using the chopsticks." She said and tried to tear the wrapper of her chopsticks. But, Viraj quickly snatched it from her hand.

"Don't be so stubborn, Sneha. Eat. You are the only one to get this special treatment from me. I have never fed anyone." He sternly added, since her habit of not listening to him emerged suddenly.

It was sort of difficult for him to understand her these days. Sometimes, she would be highly cooperative while the other times, she would be back to her older attitude. And, this juggle was difficult for him to understand as well.

With a sigh, she slowly opened her mouth and let him feed her their supper.

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As promised, Viraj dropped Sneha at her residence on time.

"I'll call you in the morning and evening. Don't miss it." He said as she was about to exit.

She nodded and removed her seatbelt.

Her fingers had only touched the door handle when she heard his dominating voice again.

"Aren't you forgetting something, fiancee?" He asked making her face him with raised brows.

She gave a questioning look that clearly meant that she couldn't figure out his puzzle.

"I have heard about something called a goodnight kiss between fiance and fiancee." He said and slowly unbuckled himself.

Her brows narrowed partially seeing his actions.

'Oh, no! Not again!' She internally screamed in frustration as she saw him approach her with ease.

Sneha closed her eyes when he placed his hand behind her head and slightly tilted her head as he closed the distance between them.

His kiss was, as usual, soft and gentle. She waited patiently for him to finish his torture but he seemed to take his sweet time.

Finally, when he was done loving her lips, he distanced himself a little and looked at her with a blank expression. She still had her eyes closed when he spoke.

"I know your father has convinced you to accept our marriage proposal. And I am glad that you have started to accept it too." He mumbled and his breath hit her face.

Viraj kissed her nose and added.

"So, I will wait patiently for you to kiss me back." He said and smiled at her confused expression.

'Keep waiting forever, then.' She thought to herself.

"Go." He said and came back to his seat.

Sneha immediately stepped out of the car and was about to close the door, when he spoke...again.

"Good night, Sneha." He said while looking into her eyes.

She met his gaze and slowly nodded. Closing the door gently, she turned around and started walking towards her house.

'God, why is he not letting me go? Why does it feel like he is only liking me more than getting bored of me? Am I not faking being clingy enough?' She asked herself with a sigh.

She knew he had not gone yet. He'd go only after he sees her enter her house completely. So, as she walked along the muddy path to her house's door, she kept on blaming her bad fate.

'What more should I do that would make him not like me? I have already let him kiss me! I am doing everything that he wants. What more?" She asked herself with a sigh.

Suddenly a feathery thing fell on her head and instinctively, she caught the thing before it would fall to the ground. Looking at her hand, she realized that it was the wild yellow-coloured flower that had recently started blooming on the tree in front of her house. It was a medium-sized flower and still looked fresh as it parted with its source.

'Oh yes! Flowers! He hates flowers!' She chirruped internally and immediately turned around.

Viraj raised his brows as she looked at him with an intense expression on her face.

Sneha walked in his direction and stood near the driver's door. Seeing her standing there, Viraj too came out quickly.

"What happened?" He asked, looking at her and then at the flower that she slowly extended towards him.

Her confidence grew many folds when he looked at the flower with a blank face.

"Good night, Viraj." She said and placed it carefully in the small pocket of his T-shirt. Without waiting for his response, she turned around and almost ran towards her house with a content mind.

'I should do this often. It really pisses him off.' She concluded while remembering his blank gaze on the flower.

As she entered her house and closed the door, Viraj finally looked at the flower and grazed the soft petals with his finger gently. They were as soft as her lips and it made him smile.

'She remembered.' He thought to himself with a content smile. After all, he was missing the moments when she would tuck a flower in his pocket.

In a way, he loved it.

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Hey all! I am extremely sorry for the delayed update. And, I wanted to inform you that the updates will be slower now.

I have been given more responsibilities and duties this session in school. So, I am unable to find the leisure time to go creative and write the chapters.

I am so sorry! But, I assure you that I have not abandoned the book. This story is complete in my mind...to every little detail and the ending too. I just need to write it.

I'll post the spoiler on Instagram soon. Let me know your views there also!

Bye!

Till next update!