I looked at my steaming cup of hot chocolate decorated with floating marshmallows, drizzled with chocolate sauce. It looked almost ethereal to drink. But it would be a shame to let the decadent hot chocolate go waste, so I took a dainty sip of my drink and stared out the cafe window onto the busy streets. After the storm two days ago, the weather was still slightly breezy. The days weren't as hot as normal in the summers. But people weren't complaining. It was not everyday that Delhi had a pleasant weather and not running in the extremes. I sighed and took out my copy of 'The Viscount Who Loved Me', and caressed its cover lovingly.

It was a Thursday, and I had done everything possible to finish work early and drop by the one place I loved Delhi the most for. I was sitting in Gaiety, a book cafe. It was a perfect place for a food freak and bookworm like me. The cafe had this homely ambience to it, with pieces of vintage utensils and cutlery strung on its walls, along with rows and rows of books. It was chic, it was homely, it was basically perfect.

Twice a week they would have a book discussion with all their customers, giving it the feel of a book club accompanied with appetizing food. While frequent discussions had been held for thrillers, young adult, romance and mystery genres, it was a rare occurrence to have a historical fiction book being discussed. I was all pumped. I usually only took part in the book discussions that happened on Sunday, but I had to come this time. It was historical fiction, my favourite genre being discussed! The fact that the novel being discussed was 'The viscount who loved me' from the Bridgerton series made it even more amusing.

I usually sat near the window but today I chose a table right in the middle so that my voice would be heard clearly. Not that it wouldn't from the window. Abeer always teased me when we spoke on the phone saying that if I raised my voice a little more we could save on the phone bill as he would be able to hear me without one. I chuckled as I remembered the time Abeer had once come with me to a book discussion here, and could only whip his head from person to person, trying to understand what they were saying. It was that moment that I had thought to take pity on him and never drag him here. He had never been more relieved.

The cafe started filling up, copies of the book peeking from their hands. I adjusted myself and waited for the event to begin. The person who was conducting the discussion took her place on a high stool in between. I waved to a few familiar faces and exchanged some pleasantries.

Just when the session was about to begin I saw Dhruv entering the cafe. His lanky built and square-framed glasses were hard to miss. He looked about the cafe before his eyes landed on me, and to say he looked shocked would be an understatement. Eyes wide, he took a full minute to assess me before finally passing me a feeble smile. I smiled back and waved him to come and sit beside me.

"Hey," he almost whispered and he drew his chair closer to our table, looking anywhere but at me.

"Hi," I replied back, opening my copy of the book. "So," I leaned forward, elbows on the table, smirking at him. "You are a Bridgerton fan? You didn't mention that on the biodata you sent after the lunch. All it said was that you're a Dan brown fan," I teased him.

"What, what's that? I just came here to have a cup of coffee. I had no idea that there was an event going on here," he chuckled nervously, still not looking me in the eye.

My eyebrows hopped up in surprise. "Don't tell me you haven't even seen the series!" I said, bewildered at his lack of knowledge about Bridgerton. He shook his head intently, making my eyes pop.

"You do live under a rock," I commented which earned me an eye roll. We sat in silence for a minute before I spoke up again, unable to contain myself.

"You seriously hadn't heard about the series before?" I couldn't believe my ears. "Sure, its no Peaky Blinders, but damn everyone has at least heard about it." Sometimes I forget all people don't watch and read things I do. It's a bad habit. A very bad one.

"You sound like a fan to me," Dhruv quipped, sipping his glass of water.

"Die heart fan! It's a really beautiful series. I binge read the entire eight books of the series in nine days. My apartment hadn't looked pretty for those nine days." He grinned at my words and ordered for himself.

"Anyways, now that I'm here I'm just going to sit here and listen you all talk about this series. You don't mind, do you?" He asked, handing back the menu to the waitress.

I nodded my head absently at him as the discussion had commenced.

The room was soon bustling with opinions. While I personally felt the book did not offer too much to contradict, it was almost second nature for me to react to opposing statements. Not a very charming attribute, but I had too much of a debating obsession than I cared to admit. The crowd, it seemed, wasn't a lackluster one either. It was vibrant, heated and pumped. We were behaving like small kids, all of whom wanted to answer and have their say. The lady who was conducting the session seemed to have attained nirvana for the patience with which she was handling us.

While most of my attention was on the discussion, careful to not miss a word, I could see Dhruv constantly shaking his leg and looking restless in general from the corner of my eyes. He had burnt his tongue with the his coffee twice and almost spilled it the second time.

When I couldn't bare another minute of his restless antics, I butted in, worried. "Dhruv, are you okay? Do you feel unwell?"

"No... I... I am quite fine," he said and shut his mouth in a tight line.

The lady conducting the session decided it was only appropriate to take a break in order to have the adrenaline running in everyone's veins calm down. I concurred with her decision.

"Are you sure? You look restless," I commented, finishing the last bite of my sandwich.

He gulped the water he was drinking before nodding in affirmative.

"I'll use the washroom," I said and excused myself, another round of comments and points running through my mind. After finishing my business, as I was pushing the washroom door open, I could see the discussion had already started, and a female voice was blabbering a rather annoying opinion. "Kate was being too proud, in my opinion. It was the viscount, he was a family man through and through, the entire ton knew that, give or take a few flaws. That makes him human. She did not give him a fair chance to prove himself worthy of Edwina. And it did help that he was easy on the eye, right?"

Before I could go inside and counter the opinion, a decidedly male and rather familiar voice spoke up, his voice clear and firm.

"She wasn't wrong. True, she was a proud woman, but that was the character in itself. But she wasn't so proud as to come in between her sister's happiness. Anthony the viscount wasn't really the most trustworthy suitor considering his history with women and the number of mistresses. She was just trying to take care of her sister and ensure that her sister didn't just marry to provide her and their mother a comfortable life. And mind you, there are hideous souls hiding behind handsome visages. If you were in her place you would be cautious too. Him being a family man didn't necessarily show how he would treat his wife, did it? And the fact that Anthony made a huge mistake by comparing her to her sister didn't exactly earn him brownie points." He was breathless by the time he finished his monologue, clearly having a lot on mind and able to express his opinion just now. I raised my eyebrows in surprise.

Dhruv? How does he know that?

I entered the cafe and the moment Dhruv's eyes met mine, his face portrayed the expression of what is commonly known as 'the deer caught in the headlights'.

Nobody spoke for a moment after I had taken my seat again.

I broke the silence. "So, heard anyone lying lately?" I muttered dryly.

He looked at me guiltily, playing with the fork on the table. "I am so sorry, I don't know why I lied and why I was embarrassed about the fact that I like historical fiction, particularly romance," his voice dimmed at the end, embarrassed.

"Yes, you had nothing to be embarrassed about. I find it amazing. You had no reason to lie," I said firmly, crossing my arms against my chest.

He sighed woefully. "I know. It feels silly now. I just lied at first and then continued with it."

"It's...fine. I think," I muttered and had a fry from the food he had ordered.

"But now no more," he said with intent and unzipped his jacket. My eyes widened with shock and then a humorous smile spread across my face seeing his t-shirt. It had the book's cover printed on it. He flung the jacket on the chair and sat down.

I couldn't help but laugh.

"See, you are laughing now," he frowned. "This is what I thought would happen," he spoke like a disgruntled child.

"No, you misunderstand me," I managed to say between my laughs. "I am not laughing because you like historical romances, you have full right to. It would be sexist if anyone judges you because of that. Look around, There are quite a few men here," I flashed him a kind smile.

"Then why are you laughing?" He almost pouted, making me giggle.

"I am laughing because you are looking too cute in your Bridgerton t-shirt," I said sincerely but when his cheeks turned pink at my honesty, I realized that I should have kept the sincerity in check.

The session proceeded and this time Dhruv was the star. Stating his opinions at every chance. It was almost eight when we came out of the cafe, discussing the other books of the series. Dhruv had seen the show and read the entire series too. I couldn't say I wasn't happy at finding we had a mutual interest in historical romances. I often found it difficult to find pals sharing my lunatic obsession of historical fictions. I was ecstatic that I could now send book recommendations and memes to a person as crazy about historical fiction as I was.

I breathed a sigh to calm myself and said, "It was fun. Now I should get..."

"Aashi," I suddenly heard a very familiar voice call me loudly. My eyes widened as I remembered that my parents were going to pick me up from the cafe, after which we were going to watch a movie.

My mother got off from the cab, calling for me when her eyes fell on Dhruv. I groaned internally.

"Oh, we didn't know you were with Aashi today, beta," my mom said kindly, a wicked twinkle in her eyes. Before he could say anything, mom called papa out to greet Dhruv.

"Hello Dhruv," my father greeted Dhruv, a grim expression on his face.

"Hello sir," Dhruv beamed and asked after their health, to which father gave him a curt nod and let mom take the reins of the conversation. My brows furrowed. Why was dad being cold to Dhruv?

"You should have told us you were with Dhruv, Aashi," my mom reiterated, making me groan.

"Mom, we weren't together. I didn't know he was coming here. We ran into each other," I said, irritated, but my mother ignored me and continued chatting with Dhruv.

"We should go," I said loudly, making all the three heads turn towards me.

"Yes, I agree. Otherwise we will miss the movie," my father said and rushed to the cab. I had never seen my father act like that before. I shook my head and followed him, forcing mom to end her conversation with Dhruv and hurry back in the car.

I waved at him politely from the car and sat back without waiting to see him wave back.

I had to be careful around him, or else everything will be doomed.

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