Karmjeet was very happy with Arjun when he brought home his niece. He was preparing to go pick her up when they showed up. He noticed that there was a slight smile on Aida's face which greatly surprised him considering her aversion for Arjun, so after he had thanked Arjun and seen him off, he turned to go in, but found Aida sporting a much larger smile which she quickly extinguished as she saw him.

"What's funny, Aida?", he asked, clearly perplexed.

"Funny?", she asked in pretense. "I have no idea what you mean."

"I saw you smiling."

"Me? Smiling? No. You must be mistaken, uncle. It must be the weather confusing you a little."

With that, she hurried into the house, trying her best to hide another smile that was threatening to take over her face. She didn't want her uncle to have a clue of the reason for her new found cohesion with Arjun. She was scared of him teasing her with it.

Arjun had, instead of taking her straight home, taken her to a big restaurant that was so warm that Aida could hardly be reluctant. While they were seated and waiting for their order, he publicly apologized for bumping into her. Being very shy, Aida quickly forgave him in order to avoid a scene. Afterwards, Arjun treated her to a luxurious and semi-romantic lunch.

Aida enjoyed herself so much that she was a little disappointed when it was time to leave. As if he had read her mind, Arjun promised to come take her out for dinner the next day. This was the first time she had received such a nice treatment from someone in her age group of the opposite sex and she wanted more. As they made the second and final journey home, she knew that her perception of Arjun had changed forever. She would never look at him the same way again. She glanced at him with a bright smile on her face and he smiled back at her, making her turn away shyly. Looking back in time, she had to admit that the bumping was just an accident and that she had judged him harshly. One day, perhaps very soon, she would ask for his forgiveness too, but not today. She wanted to sit back and enjoy the exquisite feeling, taking things one at a time.

*****

At home, Aida was trying hard, but failing miserably to hide her increasing likeness for Arjun. She would try to look indifferent any time his name was mentioned while in fact, her heart was beating loudly and her cheeks increasing in brightness. He kept his promise to come pick her up for dinner the next evening. They had arranged on a particular time and throughout the day, she anticipated and couldn't wait for the time to come. She hurriedly completed her chores at home and never forgot to check the time every few minutes. The clock seemed to be moving too slow, but when the arranged time approached, she was filled with so much anxiety that she was totally restless.

Uncle Karmjeet noticed all this, but he thought it wiser to keep quiet and mind his business. Some minutes before the arranged time, Aida quickly asked leave to visit some friends and her uncle assented readily. She dressed up and hurried over to the turn close to her house which she knew Arjun must pass through. At exactly the appointed time, Arjun drove through the turn, but she hailed him to a stop and joined him in the car. He didn't bother asking why she waited for him there. He simply smiled at her and she smiled back, shyly. She was not very conversational and he didn't want to push her, so she would not recede into her silent moods.

*****

Aida's constant 'visits' to friends were beginning to attract the attention of her uncle and his children, but any time they asked her about it, she always had an evasive answer to provide.

"Why don't you bring them home?", Karmjeet asked as she was preparing to step out for another visit.

"Who, uncle?", she asked, feigning ignorance.

"Your friends of course."

"Oh! Them. Um... very soon. I'll bring them home soon. I have to go now, uncle. See you later."

She hugged her uncle and the girls too, but she noticed that they were all trying to stifle an amused expression. She didn't bother to find out more since she was already getting late for her date. Arjun had now been accustomed to wait for her at the turn. She hurried off to him and after a quick hug and a sweet compliment on her dress, he opened the door of the passenger side and was rewarded with a shy smile as she settled in. He smiled back, bowed courteously and hurried over to the driver's side and promptly drove off.

Aida enjoyed herself that evening. She ate a lot, laughed a lot and drank a lot. Arjun took her to visit a lot of nice places. They sampled a lot of foods and tasted a lot of wines till Aida grew exhausted. She felt it would be rude to ask to be taken home and also, a large part of her wanted to stay a little since she was having a lot of fun. She was still contemplating when Arjun spoke into her ear. "Had enough?", he whispered.

"Hmm," she hummed, trying her best to keep her eyes steady. "I surely have had enough drinks for one night, but I can't have enough of the fun."

"Then maybe we should head home; there's always tomorrow. Your uncle may be getting worried already."

"Yes, it's very late."

Without another word, Arjun helped her up and said goodbye to the few friends they had made throughout the evening. Aida was feeling a little more than dizzy, but she managed to walk steadily all the way to the car with as little help from Arjun as possible.

They arrived at Aida's home very late at night and she reasoned that her uncle and the kids would be fast asleep since the lights in the house were turned off. Feeling dizzy and exhausted, she asked Arjun to stop at the house instead of the turn. Arjun didn't ask why, he simply drove straight to her uncle's house and parked directly in front of it. Aida was still reclining in her seat when he stepped out of the car. He could see that she was tired, so he helped her out and escorted her to the front door and stopped there.

"See you tomorrow?", he asked with a smile.

Aida did not respond. To his surprise, she promptly stood on her toes, wrapped her hands around his his neck and kissed him full on the lips. At that moment, as if it was a well rehearsed show, Karmjeet and his daughters suddenly opened the door and shouted at the top of their voices.

"Got you!", they all chorused.

The kids engulfed the smiling and blushing Aida who was hiding her face in her hands while their smiling father watched, clearly satisfied with the success of their plot.