It's a special day today as it is our very own gif-queen aashi0403 birthday!😊 I hope you have a great birthday Aashi!❤

The chapter is slightly shorter than the others because I wanted to write this chapter and the next as one. But the word length was too much so I decided to break it down as two chapters according to what I thought was the best. Hope you like it!😀 Also, I have posted a spoiler collage at the bottom of the story. Any guesses of what's going to happen next?

The chapter is not edited

Rudra and Akash exchanged a look when they were asked to move the heavy royal blue and golden divan sofa for the third time by Dhara.

“Move it here!” she said from the other side of the terrace.

“Move it here.” Akash mimicked under his breath mockingly.

“What's taking you so long?” Dhara asked, with her hands on her hips.

Rudra smirked. “Why don't you say it a little louder? Maybe then she'll hear.”

Akash rolled his eyes. “I think I want to live a little longer,” he said as squatted and placed his hands underneath the divan. “Come on!”

Rudra hid his laughter and assisted Akash with moving the furniture as per Dhara's instructions.

“This is perfect!” Dhara clapped and smiled to display her approval.

Both the brothers let out a sigh of relief. The three of them looked around the terrace that they had decorated to cheer Soumya up. Considering they did everything themselves in an hour, they were proud of their success.

“We are here!” Manoj announced as Reena and he walked in with three bags which they all knew contained bottles of alcohol and snacks.

“Wow! This looks so beautiful!” Reena commented as she looked at the arrangement the trio had made.

“I know, right?” Dhara proudly grinned at them. With a sigh, she added, “I just hope Di likes it and we can cheer up a little.”

“I am sure she will,” Akash said nudging her playfully with his elbow.

Dhara smiled up at Akash before she turned her attention to the rest of them. “You all remember your dance moves?”

When everyone except Rudra nodded, she rubbed her hands together. “Perfect! Now, all we need to do is get Soumya Di here.”

“Yay!” Reena clapped.

Rudra sat down on the divan with a smile with Sweetie on his lap. Rubbing her belly, he looked up only to find the others looking at him expectantly. Realization dawned upon him after a few seconds of confusion. “Why am I responsible for this?”

“Because you didn't want to be a part of the dance routine, so I signed you up for this duty,” Akash informed with an overly sweet smile.

“But,-”

“If you want to take my spot in the routine, I'll do your task.” Akash offered, still grinning.

Dhara crossed her arms and gave him an accusatory glare. “I thought you wanted to help us cheer Di up?”

“I do, but... Okay, I'll try and go get her up here,” he said as he stood up.

“You're the best, Bhaiya!” Dhara grinned and moved out the way for Rudra so he could leave.

“But, what if she says no?” Rudra asked, looking at his mission comrades for suggestions.

“You're a surgeon,” Dhara rolled her eyes. “I am sure you can figure how to convince someone.”

He took a deep breath and nodded. “I'll try.”

Rudra dragged his feet through the second floor of the Awasthy house. Hoping that this will buy him some time to plan all the different avenues the conversation could take. Everyone had been walking on eggshells around Soumya for the past three days. Not because they were upset with her or she was being rude to them. It was just an unsaid arrangement to give her space and time to heal. Even Soumya knew she needed some time by herself which was why she stayed in her room any time she was at home.

He waited for Soumya to open the door with bated breath. He could hear some shuffling on the other side and after a few moments, she finally opened the door.

She placed one hand on the door and the other rubbed her eyes. “Rudra?” she said his name in a hoarse whisper. It was just one word, but he could hear her exhaustion, confusion and irritation of being woken up in the middle of the night.

“Were you sleeping?” As soon as the words left his mouth, he realized how stupid his question was.

She reached for the switch on the wall, flooding the room with white light. They both flinched as their eyes got used to the brightness. “Is everything okay?” she asked, as she squinted and then opening her eyes wide to stay awake.

When she raised her eyebrows in confusion, he realized he had been gawking at her. Clearing his throat, he fixed his glasses and looked away from her face. “Uh... Yes, I just wanted to speak to you. You have a moment?”

She continued to frown as if she was processing his request. “Right now?” she asked as turned her attention to the clock on the wall behind her. “It's 1'o clock.”

“I know, but... please? It won't take that long,” he reassured as he tried to put on his best persuasive expression as possible.

Soumya exhaled deeply through her mouth before nodding at him. She leaned against the doorframe and crossed her arms over her chest as she waited for him to say what he wanted to.

“Not here. On the terrace.”

Taken aback by his request, she opened her mouth to protest, but he beat her to it. “It's really important. I really wouldn't have bothered you otherwise. What I want to show is on my laptop and it needs strong wifi.” he lied, hoping she wouldn't catch on to it.

Soumya sighed before turning off the lights and closing the door behind her. He pointed the flashlight of his phone to help navigate through the dark hallway.

“All ready to leave tomorrow?” he asked.

Soumya let out a muffled yawn before replying. “I think so. You?”

Rudra looked at her, but he couldn't see her face well enough to see her expressions. “Physically, I am ready to leave. Mentally, not so much.”

“Really? Why?” she asked, surprised.

He glanced at her once again. Thankful about the lack of illumination because he was sure his expressions at that moment would have given away why he wasn't ready to leave yet. Truth be told, he couldn't wait to tell her how he felt about her. However, confessing to anything would be really off timing and he didn't want Soumya to misunderstand his feelings for something else. So, he was going to wait till he felt like she was ready to at least hear him out without getting overwhelmed. It was a huge risk he was taking, but she deserved this. Trying to keep his tone light, he said, “Who wants to go back to work in their four white-walled cabins when I can work with a beautiful view?” This time he didn't need to see her face to know that she was smiling.

Just as she was about to tug on the knob of the terrace door, he wrapped his hand around hers to stop her. “Hope you like it,” he said to her when she looked up at him questioningly.

“Like what?” she asked as her gaze moved between him and the door.

He smiled and used the hand that was on top of hers and unlocked the door.

It was completely dark on the terrace and even the light from the staircase wasn't enough for Soumya to see what was going on. He reached over to the switch and turned on the fairy lights.

He groaned and covered his face with his hand when Dhara's iPod and Bluetooth refused to connect. All while Dhara, Akash, Manoj and Reena were in positions for the dance.

“What's going on?” Soumya whispered to him as Dhara tried to subtly pass the iPod to Akash, but failed miserably.

“We were trying to cheer you up with a dance number,” he informed shaking his head at the failure of their plan.

The ‘dancers’ moved from their positions and tried to get the music to work while Soumya just stood there still watching everything in confusion. Rudra could hear Dhara and Manoj arguing about whose fault it was which made him shaking his head.

“Are you a part of this dance as well?” she asked, looking at him with the corners of her lips quirking in amusement.

He scoffed involuntarily. “You wish.”

She tittered before turning her attention to the rest of them who had almost given hope due to technical difficulties, but suddenly the notes of tumbi began playing and they all rushed back to positions while Soumya and he sat down on the divan. It was adorable to see them try so hard to perform a dance reality TV show standard performance on Heer to badi sad hai.

While Soumya's eyes were trained on the dance, his eyes were on her. He picked up on every subtle nuance of hers.  The way her body relaxed, a smile played on her lips, her slippers gently tapped the floor in sync with the music. It was only when Soumya nudged him with her elbow that he realized the performance was over and he was meant to applaud.

“Thank you! This was very sweet of you.” Soumya said as Dhara hugged her.

“I know you are really upset with what happened,” Dhara spoke as pulled by from the hug but held her sister's arm. “And you have all the right in the world to be upset. But, we just hoped that this made you happy and cheered you up a little.”

Soumya smiled and nodded. “It did.”

“Great! We also have a little party planned out,” Akash grinned, raising his eyebrows. “If you are feeling up for it.”

Soumya's smile dropped and she looked around puzzled. “We have to leave early morning tomorrow. Shouldn't we all get some rest before the long drive?”

“That has been taken care of!” Dhara announced with a smug smile. “We'll take the bus instead of driving, this way we won't have to worry about anything and can just relax on the bus.”

Soumya chuckled. “That's genius.”

“Right? What can I say? I am the sister of a genius.” Dhara said, hugging Soumya once again. Must be nice! He thought.

“So, let's get this party started?” Manoj asked as he wrapped his arm around Soumya's shoulders. This must be nice as well! He thought with a sigh.

Soumya looked around at everyone with a small smile before smiling and nodding. “Let's get this party started!”