Better With You ✔️

9. A not-a-date date!

Aisha returned to her hotel room by 9 am. She was restlessly waiting for the clock to strike twelve. That's when she was going to meet Kabir!

Aisha went to the gym, not finding anything constructive enough to utilise her energy for. She returned to her room in about an hour and played songs on her speaker. The room was sound proof and Aisha danced to the tunes of some catchy Bollywood songs.

Later, she freshened up and sat on her bed, vaguely thinking about what to wear, what to say, where to go. She was just nervous for this but she was never just nervous for something like this.

To distract herself she changed the songs to Comicstaan episodes!

Kabir on the other hand couldn't stop regretting the fact that he told Aisha to meet him at 12 pm. He was excited. He told her to meet him at 'ELITE', one of the best cafes in London where they could also get their own privacy.

He dressed in a pastel green hoodie and blue jeans. Kabir was really looking forward to meet her but his strings of thoughts was broken by a ring on his phone, flashing the name, 'Veer Bhai'.

He picked the call, " Hi bhai! Whatsup?"

"Hey Keeshu. I know it's our day off, but the team was planning to meet at the ground for some extra practice. You weren't reading the texts on the group so I thought of asking you myself."

Kabir couldn't run away from his captaincy but he really didn't want to cancel on Aisha , especially when he was the one who called her.

" Bhai is it absolutely important for me to be there? I already had plans actually. I don't want to cancel them..."

"Keeshu....the only people you know here is technically the team. What plans do you have?" veer asked him in a teasing tone.

"Bhai...just answer my question" Kabir laughed it off. Veer told him that it was okay as the practice was only for about three hours and Kabir could come practice later, the team would notify the ground manager about it.

So Kabir kept down the call only to realise it was already 11:30 am and he should be leaving his house then.

Aisha was applying light makeup to complete her look. She was living through the whole 'dress to impress' situation. She was keeping it casual by wearing denim ripped jeans, with a pastel pink shirt with a denim jacket.

She looked absolutely perfect.

She smiled at her reflection, satisfied with her look. She saw the time, it was 11:30 am and she realised too, that she should be leaving.

Aisha had reached 'ELITE' and as it was a private property, she didn't have much problem with the media. She asked for the reserved table and was directed to a really cosy cabinet table where she saw Kabir. He took her breathe away.

He looked so prefect.

  As Kabir saw Aisha coming, all he could think about was "why should I allow my insecurities to come in my way to her?"

  They both gave each other a friendly hug and settled down. They both were constantly smiling and Aisha broke the silence by asking," so..? Whatsup? Honestly saying, I didn't think you would call me after the awards night. You seemed to forget about me."

"Nothing like that. I had a great time then, but the practices are sometimes so time consuming yaar. Kabhi-kabhi it just gets tiring to do anything else."

"Isn't it a holiday for you and the team Abhi?"

"Yeah but the practices are pretty regular. Can't keep those waiting!"

"So you didn't have any today?"

" I do. But I talked Veer bhai into it" he said, embarrassed.

Aisha smiled at his honesty and innocence.
He looked cute. The waiter came to ask what they would want. Kabir ordered himself a green tea and a chicken salad whereas Aisha looked at him like he was an alien but also with admiration.

This was short lived when she ordered herself fries and chicken sandwiches, conveying what she meant.

IT WAS A HOLIDAY!

Kabir laughed with her when he realised why she looked at him like that. His diet. He didn't want to cheat but, eh. He could always exercise extra! So he changed his order to the same as Aisha's.

She smiled at him and nodded and said" so kabir, i am being honest with you. veer is my favourite player of the cricket team but I know very less about cricket. I mean bachpan mein Dekha tha because of papa and bhai, but I was never a cricket addict. Just don't unfriend my after this!" She laughed.

Kabir laughed with her and said that all his friends shouldn't know too much about cricket. He said that he could use her as an escape from cricket once in a while.

To this she retaliated by saying that she wanted to know at least the basics, so Kabir generally told her a few rules.

Aisha seemed genuinely interested. She looked adorable when she asked questions like," if there is a third umpire why are two other umpires standing in the heat?" He couldn't help but like her more for her cuteness.

Aisha seemed annoyed. She wanted to understand the situation of having two umpires standing at the ground when there was a third umpire.

She let the topic go as Kabir didn't have the answer to her question but couldn't help feel proud of herself for asking such a 'smart' question.

When they were done with their brunch the ordered coffee to go. They were strolling in the streets of London when Aisha got a call from Ranveer. She picked the call on speaker as Kabir could then greet  Ranveer too, but before anyone could say anything Ranveer screamed through the phone,

" BITCH. Why did I just get to know you are on a date with Kabir?"

Aisha had specifically told Kabir that it wasn't a date when he had called her. Even though now it did feel like one and she wished she would have just gone with the flow, she had already told him so.

She replied to Ranveer saying, "Ranveer, it isn't a date. We are just hanging out. What's wrong with you?"

"If going for lunch and strolling in the streets with a really cute guy who seems to like you  and you seem to like him isn't a date, then I don't know what is."

Both Aisha and Kabir seemed to be caught off guard by that. Ranveer had just cleared the fact that they both seems to be into each other, romantically.

Embarrassed, Aisha screamed into the phone," YOU ARE ON SPEAKER SO SHUTUP. Now keep the phone down and tell Khushi that I am killing her for telling you the details."

She cut the call, slowly looked at Kabir with an apologetic sweet smile, who already seemed to be looking at her with a smile.

He then slowly slipped his hand into hers and continued to walk as if confirming the fact that he actually did like her.

It was already evening but none of them wanted to leave. So they didn't! They talked and talked and talked.

Later, Kabir got another call from veer, just confirming his plans. He asked Aisha if she wanted to meet veer and the team on the ground for a short while and after he could drop her back to her hotel.

aisha was uncertain but didn't want to say no to kabir and moreover, she really wanted to meet Veer!

Kabir told veer that he was coming but not to practice, just to make him and the team meet someone special. He looked at Aisha as she blushed. It was established that they liked each other.

Before today, they wanted things to be slow but, could that be the case?