Sakshi OS:*A midnight Biriyani tale*sequel part 2 and note on pg 8 - Page 4

Sakshi sat up in her bed, her hands covering her sweaty face, breathing heavily, recovering from the bad dream she woke up from. This was the third time she has woken up, panic stricken, from some scary dreams. In the dream she was trapped in a maze full of mirrors, and she didn't know the way out. And every one of the mirrors showed her reflections of her team members', her friends' faces. One wrong turn and you see one of them getting shattered into zillion pieces taking away the smiles and happiness from her.

"You are undergoing a trauma of what happened to you on your birthday. Those are just dreams. They are not real. Remember, you are safe and sound now, so are your friends. You were victimized to some dirty mind's ill plans. You are not the one who should suffer. Calm down." She said, taking deep breaths ,consoling herself.

She stretched her hand to reach for the water jug which was nearly empty by then. "This is going to be a tough night" she thought as she gulped down what was left in the jug. She cannot sleep any more as any more of such bad dreams will completely drain her out. She cannot afford that. She had to pose a "I'm alright" look in front of the team the next day. Or else they will get worried for her, the noble souls they are.

"I need something to kill time." She thought as she walked to her kitchen to fill in the jug. That is when her eyes fell on the cookery book lying on the table.

An idea stuck her and after doing a quick search of her cabinets she made up her mind.

She is going to cook food for her friends.

She did not have anything else to do. She had completed all the pending articles and she was given a day leave after the not-so-good bomb incident.

Thankfully she had her cabinet nearly full since she rarely get time use all her stationery. She always keeps it full so that she can cook whenever she feels like cooking. Cooking was a pain relief for her and she enjoyed making new dishes.

"Now, what will I cook?" she pondered, sitting down, going through the recipe book.

Once she reached the last page of the book she had decided on what to make for her dear friends. She knew everyone of their tastes' and knew the exact dish to prepare for each one of them. but she was still confused on what to make for him- Arjun- the enigmatic man.

She had never had the guts to prepare anything other than cutting chai for him. But the equations between have changed after her birthday and the incidents on her birthday triggered that. She found a courage from nowhere and she had decided that she will definitely thank the man for saving her life by cooking something special for him. she may get scolded for that, but she did not care.

That is when it her. Arjun Suryakanth Rawte loved biriyani. Something she had come to know during a case investigation. Arjun and sakshi had gone to meet an informer of his who happened to be a wise old man who runs a hotel at Juhu. He had made Arjun eat nearly two plates of biriyani, all the while talking about Arjun's biriyani prem to everyone present over there.

"That is it. I'm gonna cook biriyani for him" sakshi stood up determined. She then got busy with cooking the wide variety of dishes that she had planned to make.

No one had reached office when Sakshi made her way to her desk. She thanked her lucky stars for that. She didn't want anyone to see her coming in with a bag as big as her to the office.

She kept the bag on her desk and took out one particular tiffin so carefully as if she was handling a bomb. Well, the tiffin was not dangerous, it's whom she was going to give it who was giving her all those scary thoughts.

Sakshi drew a deep breath and walked in his cabin's direction. She saw Liza and chottu having coffee at the far table immersed in some discussion. She was so engrossed in hiding from them that she didn't notice Aisha coming in her direction until they banged on each other.

"Yeh kya, hain" asked Aisha removing Sakshi's duppatta from over the tiffin box which Sakshi was so desperately trying to hide.

"Sakshi, tum mere liye kya layi ho?" asked chottu stretching his big hands towards the tiffin box.

"Yeh tumhaare liye nahin hain" sakshi said snatching the tiffin from him. Everyone were giving her confused looks and she answered them hesitantly, "yeh arjun ke liye hain"

A smile formed on the three faces and they exchanged "i-so-knew-it" looks.

"voh .. main .. biriyani bana rahi thi aur maine socha ki kyu na arjun ke liye bhi bana doom. Kyunki use biriyani bahut pasand hain" she blabbered seeing their mischevious glints. They just shook their heads meaning "vah kya baat hain" to which Sakshi gave her cheeky smile.

It was short... i'll come up with the last part tomorrow.😊 till then keep commenting..😊