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“Then what’s your grand plan? Hang there until gravity takes over?” he snapped. “Or call your 75-year-old grandfather to pull you up, which I am sure he would do all alone, without any outside help,” he mocked.

She groaned, swinging slightly.

“I wish Daadu was home. He’s gone to the community hall for the New Year’s event prep! If he was here, he would’ve helped me!”

Shaurya’s patience was wearing dangerously thin.

“Great. Then you have two choices—either jump now or keep hanging there until your grandfather returns.”

And then, just to prove his point he turned to leave.

“WHAT THE HELL?!” she screeched. “You can’t just leave me hanging here!”

“Well, you don’t seem too eager for my help, so…” He smirked knowingly, his arms crossed over his chest.

Her teeth clenched.

“I swear, I have NEVER met a man as infuriating as you!” she ranted.

Shaurya sighed dramatically. “And I have never met a woman more stubborn than you. Bratty kid!”

“You called me a bratty kid again?”

The moment he called her a kid again, her anger spiked, and before she could stop herself, she shifted in frustration and immediately regretted it. Her grip faltered. She yelped as her fingers slipped and she lost her hold. And in the next instant, she fell.

Shaurya moved on pure instinct. One second, she was flailing in the air, and the next, she was in his arms. But the force of the fall was such that it sent them both crashing onto the ground. With a startled grunt, he toppled backward and hit the earth, his back colliding with the grass and Nandini.

She landed right on top of him, her body pressing completely against his.

For a moment, everything was still. The world around them blurred. Shaurya’s breath was knocked out of his lungs, not from the fall, but from her.

Nandini’s face was mere inches from his, her hair cascading freely, loose tendrils falling against his forehead. His eyes traced the flush of her cheeks and the way her lips parted, the irritation in her expression somehow making her look utterly bewitching.

And when his hands snaked around her waist to hold her securely, Nandini’s breath hitched.

She had planned to yell at him, but why was he looking at her like that?

Like he was actually seeing her for the first time.

Like she was… something more than just an annoying neighbour.

For a long moment, neither of them moved.

It was only then that she processed the fact that she had landed right on top of Shaurya Ahuja—the man she argued with more than she breathed.

Shaurya, on the other hand, was experiencing something far worse. A woman—this woman—was sprawled over him, her body pressed against his in ways that were making his brain malfunction. The scent of her shampoo mixed with the fresh grass beneath them was clouding his senses.

He really needed to get up. But for some reason, neither of them did.

A few strands of her damp hair had fallen over her forehead, and one of them tickled his face as she shifted slightly. The sensation made his pulse quicken and he fought the ridiculous urge to close his eyes and inhale deeper. Instead, he reached up and gently tucked the errant strand behind her ear.

Nandini was still fuming.

“You called me a kid, AGAIN!” she accused.

“If you behave like a stubborn child, what else would I call you if not that?”

“Aren’t you behaving like a bratty kid too? Fighting over silly issues like mango leaves in your pool?”