So, in confession promo, if anyone noticed, Anuj wore the exact same outfit I mentioned him wearing in the Night Out Pt1".

And before that, he called Anu 'baby' after I mentioned him calling her that in Not So Silent Night.

I know it's not that serious, just a happy coincidence, but its tempting me to manifest more for Anuj lmao.

Turning away, Anuj instantly fished out his phone from his pocket and began scrolling idly through his e-mails, a guise to conceal his true feelings. He had just glanced at Anupama, before he immediately averted his eyes as he wasn't prepared...at all.

He barely had a glimpse of exposed legs and shoulders, with beautiful long, black tresses falling freely. And then he had turned away, to properly digest those attributes before checking her out any further.

A crazy part of his brain suggested that it could be one particular wild fantasy of his. He instantly dismissed that thought. Because even in his wildest imaginations, he never pictured Anu in a dress. His brain had accepted her as she was, and what she wore, suits earlier and sarees now. He never tried to widen the scope beyond it, and loved her wholly the way she is.

His mind never ever expected to witness her in a clothing beyond it, so it was impossible that his conditioned brain could be imagining it.

Besides, even if he tried, still his brain isn't capable enough to picture up an enthralling beauty of such degree.

No, NO! It's real....VERY VERY REAL..!!

As if he needed any more evidence, he heard Samar gushing, "Wow Mummy, I never expected to ever see you in a dress. You're a rockstar! I'm so proud of you, you look around my age!"

"Samar, stop it, will you....!" Anupama reprimanded lowly in embarrassment.

But without a care, Samar continued to praise his mother while Anuj's eyes remained fixed on his phone. It was getting really hard to not turn towards her...

Anuj had mastered the art of concealing his emotions & expectations for a really long time. He had continued to do so if he hadn't felt the shift in their friendship.

They had gotton closer, too close that he had almost started believing that she belonged to him. This belief had started forming since the usually distant Anupama had started exercising her rights on him. Unlike before, nowadays she didn't hesitated from touching him.

On the contrary, nowadays she never left an opportunity to touch him. From tantalizing brushes over his back and biceps in order to get past him in the kitchen; to holding his hands to pull his workaholic-self away from his laptop.

The constant and lingering touches, bright smiles and coy gazes only intensified his emotions for her. Expectations began brewing and inhibitions ran low.

He eventually stopped holding back his feelings and lost control on his words. The flirtatious remarks began slipping unknowingly, and he would've stopped them the first time it happened, if only Anu hadn't blushed instead of getting uncomfortable.

Anupama had been showing some interesting reactions to his flirtations lately, and that had encouraging him to go further. He sometimes let his mask slip around her, and let her have a look at his intense gaze to divulge her in the depth of his love. The flirtings and slipping masks had been happening a lot these days, especially because they are becoming mutual, albeit slowly and barely. Or that's what he thought...

And that's what he feared. He was afraid that his poker face will slip away revealing his intense love the instant he looked at her clad in a dress.

He knew, for a fact, that she must be looking absolutely dazzling. He find her extremely mesmerizing in her daily-wear cotton sarees. And now....she had to go and wear a short dress to increase his daily struggles with self-control.

Moreover, Samar's praises were only testing his thin patience. He wanted to look at his Anu so bad that it was painful. He was dying to drink in the sight of his Anu's first appearance in a dress. His urges had gotten so worse that his betraying eyes were continuously drifting towards her, and he had to forcibly turn them before they could capture the vision in front of him.

The problem wasn't that he didn't wanted to look at her, the problem was that, they weren't alone.

The last thing he wanted is their kids witnessing him making 'those eyes' at their mom & bhabh- NO! A mother-figure, not bhabhi.

All of their kids, including Mukku, considered Anu as their mother. He didn't wanted to scar them by his inflamed gaze.

So he kept his eyes on his phone and mentally tried to block out the compliments, everyone was busy throwing at Anu.

It felt like his favorite food was in front of him, teasing him, testing him, but he couldn't taste it. Just because he's on a strict diet and the said food was dangerous for his health.

And that she was...really dangerous for his health, for his heart. But still his favorite food, and he could never get enough of her.

Suddenly Devika's whining cut through his musings. "Anuj, tuu kahan busy hai? Bta na Anu kaisi lag rahi hai!"

Shit....

~~~~

Anupama was scared... Although she was loving the thrill of wearing a dress after decades, but the thing was, she wasn't a girl anymore.

At that time, she wasn't taunted for her appearance, her self-esteem wasn't reduced to bits, and she hadn't lost her identity.

But slowly and steadily, she had started letting go of her inhibitions, her shackles in the name of toxic relationships, and now she truly felt like her wings were growing and spreading.

A huge part of credit goes to her Anuj.

Today, as her favorite bunch of people showered her with praises, still her heart anticipated and yearned for Anuj's reaction.

She absolutely loved this new lingering tension going between them lately. Over the time, her love just deepened for him, and now it reached to that point where she could no longer keep her hands off him. Her mind and soul yearned for his presence, and her body craved for his touch.

Her eyes always looked forward to see him, and her body always came up with opportunities to be close to him, while her hands always found ways to feel up his existence.

And her mind, well her mind was now officially 'Anuj's Kapadia's territory'. He solely owned her brain and she was more than happy to let him.

And as exhilarating as this feeling was, still she wanted...more?

She knew she could just confess her love and she will get all of him, but the issue was, she's just too shy....

Her love for him has gotten so intense that now, her mind was busy fantasizing about him, about them. Picturing up various scenarios involving them together, some being so extreme that she had to control that bashful smile, that pretty much resembled to those of young brides in movies.

Though she dressed for herself, but apart from that, she also dressed up for him...

Although the game of meaningful gazes, lingering touches and innocent flirtation, hidden under the veil of friendship was exhilarating in its own ways. Still she craved for more...

Every now and then, they tested & tried to push and pull the limits of their supposed friendship. And by dressing in this attire today, she wanted to elicit some reaction from him, and was excited to find out just how far her Bholuram Kapadia will push the limits of their friendship.

But all her plotting went down the drain the moment she stepped outside and saw Anuj...

Well...it seemed like she would be the one pushing the limits of their friendship tonight.....

Decked up in a black shirt with sleeves rolled up, alongwith dark blue denim jeans, he looked devilishly handsome and sinfully appealing.

As she ogled at him, checking out the most handsome man she had ever seen, he happened to glance in her direction. Then he had instantly turned away, and urgently scrolled through his phone.

Maybe he just remembered some urgent office work...

She wondered as nervousness shot through her. She was already feeling immensely shy to face Anuj in a revealing dress. Then observing him pulling off his outfit with such perfection, had her insecurities seeping in. She thought that she wasn't worth a stare.

Feeling exposed, she lifted the dropping sleeves of her off-shoulder dress up till her shoulders, but it went falling again.

Her eyes kept on scanning the handsome specimen in front of him with wonder while everyone crowded around her and kept praising her looks, right in front of Anuj.

She just wanted the ground to swallow her whole...

She distantly heard Samar's compliment, and feeling embarrassed, she hushed him with a reply, but still he paid no heed to it.

Feeling uncomfortable in her own skin, she tugged the skirt a little lower, and again tried to pull up her off-shoulder sleeves. Nervously, her eyes drifted again to the set of eyes she craved attention from, but felt disheartened to find that they were not looking at her.

Her heart dropped and she thought if her planning backfired. If she elicited the wrong kind of reaction from Anuj, or if Anuj only prefers her in sarees?

Before she could dwell more on that thought, Devika called, "Anuj, tuu kahan busy hai? Bta na Anu kaisi lag rahi hai!"

Eager for his reaction, Anu watched with bated breath as Anuj slowly lifted his gaze from his phone. Then, instead of turning towards her, he turned towards Devika."Nice..", he replied, smiling tightly.

Devika fixed him with an annoyed look, "Meri taraf nahi, uski taraf dekh ke bta kaisi lag rahi hai."

"Haaaan!" All the youngsters whined in agreement, pressuring him.

Shit.....he's doomed.

He thought, 'today's his funeral, for sure.'

Accepting his fate, he took a long breath, and lifted his gaze towards her as slowly as he could.

As his gaze fell on her, his breath hitched, brain froze, and his eyes had no idea where to look...!

She really took his breath away...

His hand instinctively went to his erratically beating heart, trying to calm it from bursting from intense emotions.

His mouth dried up and his adam's apple bobbed as his astonished eyes took in the breath-taking vision right in front of him.

Standing right there, wasn't a living, breathing human. But an angel. An angel descended from heaven.

Because that's what she was, a divine, heavenly beauty. The light, frilly white dress complimented her flawless, fair skin in the most radiant of ways.

Her long, silky black tresses, were curled up in loose locks, falling on her body, were nothing less than artistic.

And her face...he never had any doubt, but still, it goes without saying that...it the most beautiful face to ever exist on the face of earth.

With minimal makeup, her natural porcelain skin looked divine. The winged eyeliner were highlighting her pretty doe-eyes and long eyelashes. Her ears were adorned with white, long chandelier earrings; and her cheeks were tinted with its natural pink-ish blush.

And her lips...damn!

Her lips looked nothing less than ravishing. They were colored in a lipstick a shade or two lighter than red, maybe peach, staying true to her whole angelic look.

She looked way younger than her age, like a pretty, little doll.

After hurriedly having the once-over of her whole angelic look, his still shell-shocked eyes and brain slowly processed and took in every detail of hers once again, starting from her doll face.

She looked like the human form of one of those dolls, Mukku used to play as a kid.

All of them watched with excitement as they both checked out each other without blinking for once.

"Asar ho raha hai, asar ho raha hai." Samar whispered in glee as he watched the exchange between his most beloved couple.

"Inki lovestory finally aage toh badhi. Yess!" Malvika whispered back to Samar and offered him her hand for a high-five.

"Hum yahin rahenge toh lovestory aage kaise badhegi? Lets go guys." Devika added, tapping Samar's shoulder.

"What? Why?!" All of the youngsters let out in hushed tones, not wanting to miss the romantic scene of their favorite duo.

Devika fixed all of them with a look. "You guys, I get it that your parents share some sizzling chemistry. But don't forget, they are still your parents."

All nodded dejectedly. "Yeah we shouldn't watch their moments like that." Nandini replied, while Kinjal hummed in agreement.

Listening to them, Devika waved her hand in dismissal. "No I didn't meant that. I've no issues to let you kids watch your parents romance in front of you, I'm cool like that. Infact, I myself enjoy watching them." She smirked.

All of them perked up at her comment, while Kinjal tried to suppress her smile. Devika then added, "As I said, they are still your parents. Still too shy and 'sanskaari' to romance in front of us. So we should give them some privacy."

All agreed at her reasoning. Then Devika called out to them, "Anuj-Anu, we're going out to click some pictures. You guys lock up the door and meet us outside."

Thankyou...!

Anuj instantly nodded in response, without tearing his gaze away from the heavenly vision in front of him.

When they slowly trickled out from the living room, leaving them alone, then their eyes met, resulting in the pink-ish tint on her cheeks to darken, and she lowered her eyes in shyness.

Then without warning, her one hand quickly went towards her neck, then brushing through her collarbone, it tantalizingly trailed down her exposed left shoulder. Her pretty little fingers grasped the off-shoulder sleeve, and lifted it up to cover her shoulder. But that sleeve, when released, immediately trailed through the same path, and fell down, uncovering her shoulder yet again, giving him a full unblocked view of her flawless skin.

Before he could fully process, let alone recover from what just happened..., her other hand brushed past her waist, towards her thigh, then trailed down towards her leg. His intent eyes watched without releasing a breath as her little fingers grasped the hem of the dress, falling above her knee. Then she stretched the skirt down, covering her legs till knees, but as her hand released the cloth, the strained fabric instantly went back up, uncovering her knees and exposing the skin above them, giving him a full show of her pretty legs.

He gulped. Damn! Is she trying to kill him..?!

That gesture by her, although done out of sheer innocence, still appeared like such a goddamn teasing move..!

By that move, she not only diverted his attention from her irresistibly beautiful face and eyes, but also made him focus on the other...'interesting' attributes of hers, which were hidden from him behind layers of clothing, since forever.

His eyes slowly roamed on her form, that were gracing his eyes, drinking in her proportions in that dress.

He always found her insanely beautiful, but watching her figure for the first time, he now found her as an irresistibly appealing woman to ever walked on earth. For the first time, he craved for her, he craved for 'all of her'...

Her voluptuous body was making him feel things he never dared to feel for her. Her curves were enticing and inviting him and he hated how he couldn't get a hold of his thoughts. And her limbs....well...

Those dance classes did wonders on her shapely legs and arms.

His gaze flitted over to her shapely legs, enhanced more by the strappy nude-pink high heels, looking more like ballet shoes.

As their eyes met again, more color rushed to her cheeks, giving them a red-ish hue. And shyly, she again repeated that fruitless gesture, lifting her sleeves and lowering her skirt, thus, unintentionally adding more troubles to his self-control struggles.

Well, speaking of his favorite food...she certainly does looks like a meal–

He halted his thoughts right there, appalled by the direction they were heading.

What the hell! She decides to wear a dress for once and all he does is lose his sanity! He's having such....carnal thoughts about his Anu?! For real?!

There she is, his Anu, like a doll, looking angelic....a pure, innocent angel in white and light pink, and he's having sinful thoughts...

'Calm down Anuj...aajkal kuch zyada hi frank ho rahe ho.' He tried to calm his racing heartbeat.

But spoiling his efforts yet again, Anu unintentionally repeated that nervous tick of pulling her dress and lifting her sleeve.

Having enough, Anuj at last covered the distance between them in three long strides and grabbed her hands, halting their stimulating routine effectively.