"I've finally found a great match for you Akriti, one that you cannot reject and neither should you. Dare you to deny this boy too, because if you do then I'm done with... I'm leaving this house and going to some monastery and will never be back", Akriti's mom, Mrs.Richa Reddy spoke more like blackmailed her own daughter while cutting the apple with force as if the poor apple had stolen Mrs.Richa's entire property.

"You've started all over again, early in the morning Richa?", Mr.Prakash Reddy scowled, irritated with his wife's same usual bickering since the past few years. Prakash was the head manager of Aqua Industries and with only few months left to retire, he only hoped to get his one and only daughter married as soon as possible.

"I'm telling you, she has decided to become a nun", Akriti's younger brother Arjun spoke getting out of his room, while pulling Akriti's hair, he sat beside her eating from her plate.

"Get your own food, always stealing mine you idiot!", Akriti grumbled and got up to leave. While leaving the house, she did tell her mom that she'll think about this new proposal with an open mind and give it a chance, to which her mom smiled brightly. Her mom had never smiled like this, not when Akriti was awarded as the youngest and brightest professor in the most reputed college nor had she ever said she was proud of her daughter. Did Akriti have mommy issues? She wasn't sure but it never seemed as if she had. It's not like her relationship with her father was any good, she barely could talk for 2 minutes with her father. Her relationships in her life were as messed up as she was in her head.

Looking at her daughter's retreating figure, Richa spoke, "What shall I do of this girl? She rarely speaks nor does she show any emotions. But thank God she finally agreed to see the boy." Her mom prayed to the god for all good things and left to do her work.

While driving her car, her mind roamed around how nobody in her life understood her, how no one cared enough to ask her what she wanted or needed, if she even wanted to marry or not, hell they never even thought if she was happy. But after all these years, she got used to it, it didn't matter to her at all if she was cared for or loved for, everything seemed vague to her and she became this cold heartless woman one could ever encounter.

Reaching at the college, she moved ahead to her designated class and began teaching to her students.

The day went on pretty smoothly like everyday, she was exhausted by the end of the day nonetheless she was pretty satisfied.....teaching was the only thing that made her feel like living in the moment.

And as usual, in the evening while returning to home, she stopped by her favourite cafe and bought her usual order. This place was her comfort. The little crowd and the peaceful laughs of humans filling the cafe made Akriti, this was her. She always envied and loved when people laughed and smiled a lot more, a great contrast to her personality though. Akriti rarely smiled and even rarely laughed, she was always found to be in her own world, humming to her own self, minding her own life.

"A hot black coffee and a sweet pineapple pastry to go with it", the teen girl handed Akriti the tray with a toothy smile, delighted to see her regular customer. Muttering thank you to her, and holding the tray in her hands, Akriti started walking to her usual seating arrangement when a lady bumped into her and the coffee spilled on her soft kurti. The lady apologized sincerely and Akriti shrugged while making her way to the restroom. Glad that the restroom was empty and she could comfortably pat dry her dress.

Patting the tissue onto the wet patch on her kurti, Akriti groaned looking at her now spoiled very transparent fabric. She walked towards the hand dryer hoping for it to work and not fool her like it did the last time. But ofcourse, the hand dryer hated her and she too hated it with if not the same intensity but more. The hand dryer creaked and produced no sign of air. She hit it and went back to the mirror looking at herself.

Her luck was also a menace ,she had chosen to wear a lavender bra underneath to top it with a grey kurti. "Should it have happened today only god?!" She muttered breathlessly. She grabbed her shrug from her sling bag and tried to make it work...the futile attempt to hide the display of her assets with a small piece of shrug. She hated how she was helpless at the very moment. Tired, she stared at herself in the mirror dejectedly. Her eyes sparkled looking at her reflection.

"So hot! You look so ravishing Akriti." She mumbled to herself.

"If I were a guy, I'd have squeezed these...", she traced her left hand upwards slightly touching her boobs. "Wow..." She said mesmerized with her own beauty.

"Have some shame you woman, you're in a public restroom!", a voice erupted from behind Akriti and she turned to find a man staring at her dumbfounded.

Akriti did not attempt to hide her form, she just stayed there analysing the guy in front of her, what was he doing in the ladies restroom? Was he a pervert trying to have a peek at ladies? Or was he a psycho serial killer and public restrooms were his common go to spots? Was he a...?

"I'm not a pervert or whatever you're thinking, alright?" , his voice interrupted her thoughts.

He had a handsome face...noted her mind. "Funny how you say that while you're standing in what is mainly designed for women to use unless..." Akriti's voice trailed as her eyes casted below looking at his crotch area and he followed her gaze and instantly barked at her, "I'm a straight man!"

She instantly looked at his face waiting for his explanation but, he abruptly pulled her towards him, kissing her mouth as Akriti's eyes widened but soon got closed on their own accord embracing a strangers lips, for the first time, her first kiss.

Taking in her upper lip, he nipped at it then he took in her lower lip...nipping again, sucking slightly while slowly giving more pecks to her soft supple lips. He continued his assault, now taking her full lips inside his mouth, gently sucking them and having a soft grip on her lower back tilting her little more for better access. He rotated them, making her face the door while he had his back to the intruder present along with them inside the restroom.

Akriti seemed to neither care nor mind having a presence while a total handsome stranger who could most possibly be a murderer, a rapist, a psycho, etc...was ravishing her mouth without her consent but...

'oh god, how lovely he kisses....' the voice in her mind echoed.

"I'm so sorry!!..", the woman squeaked out and left away hurriedly, closing the door behind.

The man turned them around once again as soon as he heard the door shut, he opened his eyes to see that the other woman was gone and heaved a sigh of relief as he realised his lips were still in between her teeth and very much attached to the woman in front of him. This time it was her pulling at his lips and sucking them, he held a strong grip on her shoulders, pulling away his lip nd steading her, while slightly shaking her to get her out of the dizziness. Akriti looked at him and her foggy mind started registering everything that had happened within few seconds.

She jerked him away and spoke, "First you be in the wrong place and second you have the audacity to kiss me? Even though I reciprocated the kiss doesn't mean it was okay and that you'll be able to go without any repercussions of your actions. And stop looking at me like that."

Akriti told him calmly as she breathed heavily, the aftermath of their shared kiss clearly showing on her. He looked at her apologetically and began speaking, " I'm sorry, I agree I did wrong and I'm ready to face any punishment you want to be implemented on me but please try to understand, I'm usually not like this. Today, the circumstances were as such. The lady that just came in has been behind me for too long, I just needed to escape her which is why I did what I did. This really might sound absurd to you and you might not believe me but this is the only reason I was hiding here in the restroom. And trust me I'd never have said that it's okay just because you reciprocated the kiss, it still is wrong that I kissed you without your consent so any punishment is justified from your side, we can go to the poli..."

Akriti showed her palm to him making him stop mid sentence. "When did you have your last meal?"

"At 8:30 I had breakfast."

"What about lunch"

"I didn't have it."

"Alcohol?"......"3 days back.", he answered not knowing where this conversation was going and his expression turning from his earlier embarrassment to great confusion.

"I need you to come with me, will you be free for another 30-45 mins ?" Akriti asked him glancing at her wrist watch and looked at him for his answer. Getting no reply, she raised her eyebrow which got the man awestruck at how simply beautiful she looked at the moment. He snapped out of it and taking mobile phone from his pocket, he made a call taking the rest of his day free.

Akriti who heard that, shrugged thinking it's evening already... 'what's more rest of the day he's talking about, the day's gone Mr.showing that you're busy'

She grabbed her sling bag and was about to make her way out, when he took hold of her arm, and she immediately swung her arm... slapping him hard across his face. His hand flew to his cheek surprised, "your kurti is still wet..."

His words reminded her of why she was in the restroom all this while, and she internally felt sorry for slapping him.

"Don't be sorry, you should've done this long back when I kissed you. I totally deserved it, it's alright."

Akriti felt a little surprised when he read her mind.

He unbuttoned his suit jacket, and stepped closer to her as he placed it on her shoulders. Akriti wore it and soon enough buttoned it, glancing at her reflection in the mirror. The Navy blue jacket complimenting her dusky skin tone. She set her hair properly before beckoning him to follow her.

Akriti sat in her car as she drove and the man was seated beside her with no words exchanging all through the ride.

Was the ride awkward?

For Akriti, it wasn't. But on the other hand, the man sat uncomfortably glancing at her every now and then, mesmerized and terrified by her at the same time. She looked amazing as she hummed to a song playing in the background, but at the same time he was confused by her behaviour. This wasn't how ladies behaved when a stranger kissed them. To her, it seemed like an everyday event of kissing strangers...he thought.

The car came to a halt, as they both stepped down and looked at the hospital in front of them.

"Why are we here? I thought we're going to the police station to report the complaint..?" He asked confused, she ignored him and walked ahead as if she knew he would follow her. And he did.

The man looked around as Akriti spoke to the receptionist.

"What's your name?" , Akriti asked glancing at him.

" Vihaan Shrivastav"she wrote it down and handed him the paper.

"Fill the form."

He read it and asked," Why this?..." His words dying out as he now realised why she got him there. He looked at her in disbelief.

"What? You're a complete fucking stranger and we had a real freaky kiss out there. I need to know if you're infected or not, and if yes I'll have to immediately get on meds, so just fill the form and give your blood sample.", she told him nonchalantly.

He sighed and started filling the form, quite amused by the woman's behaviour. His blood sample was taken and they were told to wait for a while before the reports were being handed to them.

Exactly an hour later, the report was in her hands as she read through everything, relief washing over her tensed face, her knitted brows slowly getting back to their normal place.

He stood there watching every detail of her expression, completely astonished and pleasantly entertained by her antics which he thought were definitely a smart move.

She then handed him her report, which he pushed back gently and patted her head as he smiled.

"You are one of a kind, hope we come across each other again."

With that he walked away while Akriti watched his disappearing figure thinking to herself, "Innocent guy, hopes to meet me?...has a death wish definitely." She scoffed and left.

Next day, guests aka the prospective marriage proposal was going to arrive at Reddy's house, and Richa's excitement knew no bounds. She made sure that her daughter wore a saree by repeating the same monologue for the past hour. "They should know how beautiful you look, and you look absolutely gorgeous in saree, wear a dark coloured saree too, would look great for your complexion. And these gold jewellery I picked out for you, don't forget to wear them."

Akriti got bored of her mom repeating the same rant about sarees and other stuff. She dreaded this whole meeting of the 'possible prospective partner'.

She never understood how her parents, especially her mom could find joy in presenting their one and only daughter to strangers as if she were a trophy they could earn, ofcourse that is, if she liked the guy, only then would they proceed with the arrangement.

But what's the use? Many guys wanted a fair skinned woman and Akriti was dusky, to be detailed she is brownish gold, the complexion of majority of the Indians. Her mom was always disgusted by guys who they themselves looked crazy brown and yet demanded for a fair wife.

But Akriti never seemed to mind that, she always thought most of the times, people want the things which they themselves don't possess. As in case of dark- skinned guys, they naturally leaned towards wanting a fair wife, so we can't judge them. But it is not right either if anybody shames another person regarding their appearance. Some people who could stoop as low as to make another person feel bad about how they look, such people were the ones Akriti disliked greatly.

Clad in a soft silk tropical teal coloured saree with minimal makeup and a pair of good sized silver jhumkis, bangles clinking as she moved her wrist tugging her hair behind her ear, her anklets producing a beautiful melody as she descended down the stairs, all eyes were on her while her father proudly introduced their daughter to the guests. Talking about her achievements and other stuff required to get each other known.

Akriti was seated across the guy, facing him but still she couldn't get to see him. Why? because her lovely mom had chosen the perfect time to glare at her daughter for not wearing the heavy jewellery,

Her mom went as far as leaning into her daughter's neck and saying, "you always belittle me, for once you should have listened to me and worn the necklace I gave you but no, you had to show up with this bare neck of yours and nothing clasped around it, look how empty it looks and they'll think we don't provide enough for you!"

Richa gritted all those words all while plastering a fake smile on her face, how could someone be so good at acting was beyond Akriti's imagination. She found it funny in fact, like come on if she had worn the necklace her mom had given to her, she'd look like a clown, too heavy for her simple saree.

Akriti spoke lowly audible enough just for her mom, " I look presentable and nothing about me would scream less mom, just because I didn't wear a piece of something on my neck doesn't make you bad providers or not good enough parents. I have this beautiful gracious confidence exudating from within me which is more than sufficient to make other people feel envious thinking 'how amazingly must have they raised their daughter for her to be so elegant, confident, graceful and beautiful. Trust me mom, it's their loss if they don't see beyond this dusky shade of mine."

Akriti looked ahead as she finished speaking while her mom nodded giving her daughter the time and space to look at the guy.

Her eyes widened a little to see the same guy from earlier, what was his name again? Vihaan, right.

He seemed to notice her stare as he looked towards her, and he smiled. To Akriti, his smile appeared to be awkward although he was great at masking his uncomfortableness.

"Mr.Redddy we are very much interested to go ahead with this marriage. We all like your daughter very much", spoke an elderly man sitting right beside Vihan. Probably his dad thought Akriti.

"Yup Richa, your daughter is lovely, I'm deeply hurt that you hid such a beauty from us for so long, she's absolutely perfect for my son...I'm glad we could finally do this, I can't wait to take her home with me.", the elderly woman, who's definitely the mother of the guy spoke walking towards Akriti and applied the little black kajal behind Akriti's ear, that she took from her eyelid, a gesture known to get rid of the evil eye.

Akriti smiled and stood up, making everybody's eyes shot up at her.

"I wanna talk with him" her words were immediately followed by his abrupt way of standing up and going near her...which made the entire crowd burst in laughter.

"Wedding is not yet done, and he's already started following her orders", the old lady said to which people laughed even more.

Akriti felt embarrassed as she scurried to her room knowing very well he would follow her....just like the last time.

As soon as she reached inside her room, she turned to face him and planned to give him an earful for not only making himself a laughing stock out there, in front of everybody but also managing to embarrass her in the process....somehow the timing of her turning and him stumbling upon something on the floor didn't go well, making him fall on her, and her body landing on the bed with him right above her.

Their faces just inches away as they stared into each other's eyes, their lips were begging to be connected, and this time she initiated. She pulled at his hair and tugged him closer bringing his lips on hers, and she knew he loved how their lips moulded perfectly.

Her fingers touching the little skin of his neck, erupting wild sensations within him, and he glided his hand towards her bare waist, touching it and trying to remember its shape. Immersed in kiss, they didn't even notice the teen girl standing outside, she giggled while closing the door shut.