The moment the music stop I rushed with my cousins to went down of the stage but,

I saw Raj jiju coming towards the stage with a man, so I paused and stayed at the edge of the stage because the next performance is my couple dance,

I shifted my eyesight to have a look, on the face of that man, with whom I will be dancing,

The moment I saw his face, my eyes became wide in shock and I turn around quickly,

'Oh God Kareena,

Thinking about him is okay,

Having dreams of him is also okay, But having hallucinations of him,

It's not okay, not at all okay,

you have to control your emotions', I wishpered to myself while biting my nails nervously,

After sometime, the same guy came up on the stage and stand beside me, without moving my head, I moved my eyeballs towards his direction to have a look on him,

"And our next performance is a couple dance by none other than else groom's sister with one of her friend", announced the anchor while interrupting my trial to have a look on my partner,

The moment that anchor made the announcement of our performance, that guy extended his hand for me to hold,

I hesitated but whatever I will have to perform, I can't back out now, so I place my hand on his and lowered my head,

We both went towards the centre of the stage and the music begins signalling us to start our dance,

Dehleez pe merey dil ki

Jo rakhe hain tune kadam

Tere naam pe meri zindagi

Likh di mere humdum

Haan sikha maine jeena jeena kaise jeena

Haan sikha maine jeena, mere humdum

Na sikha kabhi jeena jeena kaise jeena

Na sikha jeena tere bina humdum

Sacchi si hain yeh taareefein

Dil se jo maine kari hain...

Sacchi si hain yeh taareefein

Dil se jo maine kari hain...

Jo tu mila to saji hain

Duniya meri humdum

O aasma mila zameen ko meri

Aadhe aadhe poore hain hum

Tere naam pe meri zindagi

Likh di mere humdum

Haan seekha maine jeena jeena, kaise jeena

Haan seekha maine jeena, mere humdum

Na seekha kabhi jeena jeena kaise jeena

Na seekha jeena tere bina humdum

Throughout the performance, I avoided looking at his face because I don't want to ruin our performance and make fool of myself by again hallucinating Rahul instead of jiju's friend,

I was only looking at his shoulders or towards the audience,

Then came that part of the dance, which has been haunting me all the time, the lift,

I squeezed my eyes tightly and started murmuring,

"Please don't make me fall, please don't make me fall, please, please, please",

He pulled me closer to him and kept his hands on my waist and jerked me up, while I curled up my legs backward and spread my arms in the air,

He started twirling and I squeezed my eyes even harder while trying to keep my facial expression neutral, because I don't want anyone else to notice that I am scared,

After the rounds he started lowering his hands and the moment my foot came in contact with the floor, I breathe in relief,

"Now you can open your eyes Kareena, I didn't make you fall", he said,

Why his voice seems so familiar, I thought and opened my eyes,

I froze on my place the moment I saw his face,

Is he really Rahul? or I am hallucinating again?, I thought while everyone started clapping and I came out of my trance,

_______________________________________

It's been more than 24 hours, I have landed in India and still not met with her, it's all because of Raj and his stupid surprise,

And these choreographers are eating my head and draining all my energy because of continuous rehearsals,

'Tring Tring',

I heard the ringing sound of my cellphone and halted my dance rehearsal,

I went towards my cellphone and saw that it's Raj, who is calling,

I picked up his call and said,

"How long I will have to wait Yaar?"

"Ohho! Someone sounds desperate", Raj tease me,

"Urrrrr! Raj, I swear, I will kill you", I threatened him irritatedly,

"Hahahahahah", Raj laughed,

"Raj", I warned him,

"Okay, okay, get ready and come soon", said Raj,

"What! Really?", I asked,

"Yes Rahul, now go", said Raj and hung up the call,

I said goodbye to the choreographers and went to have a quick shower,

I get ready as soon as possible and went towards my car,

I drove my car at an illegal speed and reached the destination,

I parked my car and saw Raj already present there in the parking area,

I rushed towards him and gave him a friendly bro hug,

"Good, you are on time, now let's go, your have to perform in just 5 minutes", said Raj,

"Yeah, whatever, I am ready, let's go, I can't wait anymore", I said,

We both rushed towards the auditorium where Sangeet ceremony is going on,

Raj directly took me towards the stage while I keep on looking here and there to have a glimpse of Kareena,

"There she is", said Raj,

I excitedly turned towards him and followed his gaze, I thought he is referring to Kareena but what he said next crushed all my excitement,

"Your dance partner", said Raj pointing towards a girl,

She is standing at the edge of the stage, her back was facing towards us,

I climbed on the stage and stood beside her,

I turned my head to have a look on my dance partner and the moment I saw her face, a wide smile crept up on my face,

I turn around to look at Raj and he nodded his head,

Oh my God, my dance partner is none other than else but Kareena, I can't express how I am feeling now, I am in cloud nine,

The anchor made announcement for our performance,

I offered her my hand, she hesitated initially but grabbed it and my heart did a flip flop,

Now I will never leave your hand ever, I made this resolution and went towards the centre of the stage,

The song played and we both started dancing,

I noticed something is wrong with her, she is avoiding me, she didn't look at me once throughout the whole performance,

Our performance is going to end with a romantic lift, initially, I was against that part of this performance, but now, when I know that I am performing it with Kareena, I am very happy,

"Please don't make me fall, please don't make me fall, please, please, please", she wishpered and closed her eyes tightly,

I smiled and reduce the distance between us,

I secured my hands on her waist and pushed her up, she curled her legs and spread her arms, her eyes were closed throughout the lift, she tried hard to hide the traces of insecurity from her face and maintain the neutral expression,

I kept her down safely and said,

"Now you can open your eyes Kareena, I didn't make you fall"

The moment she heard my voice, she opened her eyes and the moment she looked at me, her eyes grew bigger in size,

I looked at her confusedly while trying to figure out the reason behind her sudden reaction,

Was she is also not aware that who is her dance partner?, Or maybe she is not happy with my presence, maybe she didn't want me to come back,

I came out of my thought after listening the clapping sound,

"Thank you for such a lovely performance", said the anchor,

We both went towards the stairs to get down from the stage,

I extended my hand towards Kareena as if I want to support her for going down the stage but the actual reason is, I want to hold her hand,

She looked at my extended hand intensely,

I thought that she don't want to hold my hand and I started pulling my hand away but what she did next amazed me,

She grabbed my hand and the moment we came down, she pulled me forcefully with her and started walking fastly,

I followed her pace and was enjoying this moment with her and was smiling sheepishly,

She took me out of the auditorium and went towards a garden, no one was there, only me and her,

She left my hand turn towards my direction and then slapped me hard on my left cheek,

"Aauuuu", I cried in pain,

"Dare you leave me again, I swear I will kill you with my bare hands", she threatened me,

I looked at her scaredly while rubbing the cheek with my finger to ease the pain and nodded my head like an innocent kid,

Suddenly her eyes widened and she rushed towards me and I jerked back scaredly, I don't know what she is up to and what else she will do to me,

"Oh God! What have I done, sorry Rahul, I am extremely sorry, I didn't want to hit you, but I don't know what happened to me and I did that, please don't get angry on me, please don't leave me after this, I can't stay without you", she apologized,

I smiled after listening to her and hugged her tightly,

"Marry me Kareena", I said,

I can't stay away from her and I can't bear to lose her, after staying away from her for 10 days, I realised that I don't want anything else in my life, except her presence, marriage is the only way when she can be with me forever and will be mine,

"What?", She said while breaking the hug and looked at me questioningly,

I took a step back and kneeled down on one knee,

"Will you marry me Kareena?, will you accept the honour to be Mrs Rahul Mittal?, will you be my better half?", I asked while praying silently that she accept my proposal and won't push me away from her,

She looked at me shockingly, her eyes get filled with tears and soon started rolling down her cheeks,

She too kneeled down Infront of me and started nodding her head in approval,

I crawled closer to her and hugged her,

"I love you Kareena, I love you so much, I can't stay away from you, last 10 days was no less than hell for me", I said while tightening my grip around her,

"I love you too Rahul", she said,

I instantly pull her away slightly and looked at her shockingly,

She blushed and lowered down her head shyly,

"Why didn't you tell me this earlier?", I asked while grabbing her cheeks and made her look at me,

"You were not here, how would I have told you this earlier?", she asked,

"Don't act innocent, I know you are the one who call me daily and without saying anything disconnect the call", I said and her eyes widened in shock,

"You knew that it was me?", She asked,

I nodded my head and she glared at me angrily,

"Haww! You knew that I call you daily and still you made me suffer for so long, I am not talking to you", she said and stood up angrily,

I too stand up and hold my ears while looked at her apologetically,

"Please forgive me Love", I said,

She looked at me shockingly and then blushed,

I grabbed her hand and pulled her towards me, she lost her balance and falls on me, while I hold her tightly and encircled my arms around her waist, she grabbed my shoulder for support,

"You know what, you belong here, in my embrace, I missed you so much Kareena", I wishpered close to her ears,

She grabbed the shoulder part of my kurta tightly and hide her face in my chest,

"I would love to be in your embrace for the rest of my life", she mumbled slowly to herself but I hear all those words clearly,

We remain like that in each others embrace for sometime when I heard someone coughed as if trying to gain our attention,

I lifted my head to look who is it, it's Kareena's parents,

I moved away from Kareena while they looked at me with serious expression,

"What's going on here?", Asked her father on serious tone,

"Nothing...Paa...wo...umm..", Kareena tried to say,

I hold her hand and she looked at me questioningly, I nodded my head and said,

"I want to marry your daughter",

"Are you sure?", Asked her Paa,

"I have never been this much sure in my life ever", I answered honestly,

Her Maa and Paa looked at eachother then towards us and then they both smiled,

"We are happy for you Kareena", said her Paa,

She looked at them questioningly and they nodded their heads in approval,

She ran towards them and hugged them tightly,

_______________________________________