Sonakshi gasped out loud.😲
The lights in her kitchen were all ablaze. They were not supposed to be, though. Her family had gone over to Hyderabad for the weekend, to visit some relatives.
An intruder? A hungry thief 🤢perhaps? One that had broken in, stolen things and then had stopped to grab a bite?
Sonakshi gripped her umbrella tight and dialled her neighbours' number. Mrs. and Mr. Dalmia lived next door, had known her ever since she was a child and were family friends. Hearing her predicament, they and their son, Rajesh, who was her Rakhi brother and childhood playmate immediately came over. Three of them, peeked in at the lit kitchen window wired with mesh. Rajesh started dialling the police.
Sonakshi suddenly shot out her hand to stop him. Rajesh gave her an incredulous look and elbowed past her to peek in too. The sight that met his narrowed eyes, peering with difficulty through the netting was a dangerous one.
A very dangerous one.😕
Blood lay splattered all over the kitchen walls. A big, well built man stood in the midst of the crime scene, murmuring crazedly to himself "Damn it! Show them who's boss!"
Rajesh started to dial the police again, when Sonakshi's muffled laugh stopped him. "What?" Rajesh stared at her.
"Thats my fianc. He has a key to my apartment." Sona spluttered amidst peals of laughter😛.
The Dalmia family knew her fiance well by sight. Dev. A well-dressed, good-looking businessman, polite and suave. How he had transformed into the madman in the kitchen they simply could not, for the lives of themselves, imagine.
Sona's chortling had by now attracted the attention of the criminal inside. He plastered his nose to the wire netting and cried desperately "Sona? You're home�"
"Hmm. What are you doing Dev?"
"Making food. But.."
Sonakshi stopped him and they all went inside, the Dalmia family with their mouths identically open. A very sheepish Dev pouted at her.
"Woh, I wanted to surprise you by cooking you a meal. I knew nobody was home and you would have to cook for yourself...but then..." he tailed off, gesturing hopelessly at the kitchen walls. Closer scrutiny revealed the blood stains as ketchup.
"umm Dev...exactly how did you make a ketchup bottle blow up ?" Sona ventured, trying to find the contact number of the emergency home cleaning and restoring services.
"I dunno..." Dev scratched his head🤔. "I opened the bottle and it flew straight out. By then I had put some veggies on the gas and in the middle of this fiasco, they got burnt. So, no meal and extra cleaning. Sorry Sona."
Mrs Dalmia piped in."Sona beta, you probably left the ketchup bottle near the window in the sunlight. Ketchup ferments and when it does, it shoots up and ..." she gesticulated at the stains..."that's what happens".
Rajesh gave Dev a friendly wink.."bad luck bro!" and bundled his parents out of there. When they were out of the door, Sona rounded on Dev.
"So, Mr. Surprise Cook messed up big time today."
"Well yes. Here I wanted to give you a nice surprise dinner..and I guess I surprised myself with the ketchup's antics.." Dev's face fell.
"Take off your shirt."
"What?" this sudden change of direction left Dev utterly speechless😲. "Sona, the cleaners will be coming soon, let's do this later?"
"No. We'll do this now. Here."
"But, shouldn't this be a more romantic thing?...I mean I want our first night to be special..and"...Sona's eyebrows had rapidly ascended into her hairline, effectively shutting Dev up.
"Take off your shirt, I will put it in the washing machine Dev😆. Then you can take me out to dinner." Sona smiled at him mischievously."
"Oh." Dev went red 😳and handed over his shirt.
After the cleaners had restored the house, they went out to dinner...and had a nice time in each other's company they so craved. That's another story for another day.😊
Note: Ketchup bottles do 'explode' that way when fermented ketchup is opened suddenly. A genuine sufferer wrote this straight from her heartðŸ˜.
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