Love Bites

Sweet Heaven (3)

Avni had spent the whole winter break lousing on her couch while trying to write some chapters for her book. Trying being the key word! 

She was writing a grumpy x sunshine romance & had a lot of ideas when she had started writing the first draft of the story, however, halfway into it, she had lost track. A certain not-so-grumpy-but-always-sunshiny-man with gorgeous hazel brown eyes had messed up with her mind. She no longer wanted her hero to be a grump. She wanted him to be sunshine! She wanted him to drop his love interest home! She wanted him to bake! She wanted to settle in a town! She wanted him to be Neil! 

Avni had thought that she'd get to see Neil on Christmas or after that, may be. But, she had been robbed of the opportunity. Shreya had gone to Panchgani to spend the holidays with her family, & Neil was too busy with the hectic work schedules at the bakery because of the Christmas season. Shreya had invited Avni to join her to Panchgani, but she politely denied giving excuse of the half-finished first draft of her book. It was not even an excuse, at this point, she really had to finish it, but that stupid baker just won't leave her thoughts. 

It was New Year's Eve today. Shreya had finally come back from her home & had invited Avni over for a dinner at their place. As much as Avni wanted to sulk, she knew that she needed this outing to take her mind off of things to help her with the writer's block that she was facing. 

Dressing herself up in simple brown knee-length dress, she was just going to book a cab to Shreya's place when her phone ringed. 

Shreya had asked her to drop by the bakery first so that she could collect the cake from there. Sometimes, she thought that God actually wanted her to keep thinking about Neil, because it was exactly what she was doing on her way to the bakery. 

Avni stepped out of the car after paying the driver & the moment her eyes landed on the bakery, a small smile graced her lips. It was simply mesmerizing with beautiful fairy-lights decorated all around. The delicious aroma of freshly baked goodies hit her nose & she closed her eyes in ecstasy. 

She was still standing near the entrance when Neil noticed her from the counter, where he was packing a cake. 

N - Hey! - he waved while smiling at her. 

A - Hey! - she waved back in a shallow voice as if feeling shy all of a sudden. Clearing her throat once, she continued - Shreya asked me to grab the cake on my way! 

N - Oh! I was just packing it only. Here you go! - he said as he finished packing the cake with the cardboard box. 

Now that made Avni frown! As she walked up to the counter to stand near him, she could see that he looked tired, exhausted even. He had sleepy eyes, however, the smile was still there, intact. 

A (sighs) - You are not coming? - she slowly asked while biting the corner of her lower lip.  

N - Uh...Actually, since its New Year's Eve, so there will be quite a lot of customers. I...uh, well, I gave off to the helpers because they'd been working so hard the whole week & they'd have wanted to celebrate New Year too! So, I thought I'll just stay for a while. - he smiled a little. 

In that particular moment, all Avni wanted to do was to kiss him, with all her might & strength. He was not only hard-working & passionate about his work, but also just so understanding & thoughtful. In that moment, she thought that he was better than any fictional hero ever written. 

How was she supposed to stop thinking about him when all he did was give her more reasons to think about him, in rose-tinted-pink-fucking-light, for god's sake!