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Next Morning

“Are you blushing?”

Oh God! Jaya’s sudden intrusion into my kitchen halts me. I just finished preparing meals and was stuffing them in the tiffin.

“Hi,” I smile at heer. I know she’s going to ask whom I am packing this lunch for.

“I called your number; you didn’t receive it, so I called Darcy and she told me you took an off today. I thought you were sick or something, but it seems like you had other plans. This smells yummy. You made Paneer?”

I nod. Yup, I made Paneer gravy, Dal Tadka, Naan and Jeera Rice. In short, a heavy Indian meal.

“You will eat some?” I take off my apron, which has stains of my efforts all on it.

“So, this tiffin is not for me?” Jaya mocks. “I thought you cooked for me.”

“I cooked for you too. That’s why I asked, will you eat?”

I turn around to ignore facing Jaya and her curious gaze, which has begun to read my mind.

“You cooked for Aarav? Unbelievable. Six days you guys work together and he seems to have a good impact on you. Not bad!!”

“It’s not like that. You won’t understand.”

“Then make me understand.”

She turns me around and grins.

“Gosh. Look at your face. It’s tomato red. What has he done to you? Don’t tell me you guys kissed again? Or was it more this time?”

I hit her arm and tried walking away, but Jaya being Jaya, pins me to the spot.

“Nope, baby. You can’t leave without telling me what’s happening. I have fought with him to give you peace of mind. Now you are telling me all that was for nothing?”

“You are thinking a lot. It’s nothing. I just felt like cooking for Aarav because I heard him telling Aman the other day, he is missing Indian food.”

“Well, you could have suggested good Indian restaurants then. Why cook?”

I roll my eyes.

“Seriously Jaya? He missed home food. I can do that much for my charity partner, can’t I?”

“Oh darling,” she hugs me from the side. “You can do a lot more than that. I am sure he won’t mind.”

My face heats at her remark. A lot more with Aarav felt tempting and a desirous sin. I don’t know why suddenly my hormones are so lively and kicking, but I can’t help. Ever since I have seen this other side of Aarav, which is so caring, humble and loving, I’m unable to hate him much.

“Anyway, go and give him the food before it turns cold. I will see you tomorrow at my birthday party. Don’t forget our entire gang of friends are coming and since we have also invited Aarav and Aman, sure they will have questions. But I will handle them stating they are my new friends. Is that cool with you?”

I nod in acceptance. Yeah, sounds cool to me. I really don’t want to introduce Aarav as my husband right now because that will add more queries from my friends’ side and presently, I wasn’t ready to talk about it.

CHAPTER 33

Aarav

Jhanvi messaged me a while ago not to order lunch as she cooked for me and is on her way to my hotel. Ever since then, I’ve been doing nothing but waiting to hear the doorbell. It’s been a pleasant week since I came to London. Working together with Jhanvi has turned fruitful. She’s slowly coming out of her shell and giving me a chance to open up my feelings and know hers, though she hasn’t been clear about them yet. Someday she will. I will make sure when I leave London, it will be with Jhanvi. I won’t step back into my country until I have wooed my wife.

A phone call from Aman breaks my reverie. He’s busy working on something I’ve been so impatiently waiting for.

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