OS- SALTED COFFEE

Salted Coffee

"Madhu just meet him once and then decide." Padmini spoke with agitation, trying to put in some sense in her daughter's mind.

"No mumma, i don't want ti marry him, then what's the point in meeting." If her mother was trying her best to make Madhu agree to her terns, she was no less in fighting back.

"But beta, you are not understanding. He's a nice guy. Well settled, running his own business successfully and is even good looking." Shamsheir who was quiet for sometimes thought of intervening between his wife and daughter's argument.

"Papa i would have definitely met him, but you know i won't marry him. Then what's the point in wasting his or my time." Madhu turned towards her father as she spoke. "You know I'm waiting for Him. I've always been waiting for him." A smile appeared on her face just by thinking about Him.

"Madhu i doubt he even remembers you. Its been 15 years since that incident. They have not even contacted us once, so how do we assume that they are still interested in this relationship. " Shamsheir very politely tried to make ger understand. But he knew when it was about him, Madhu never listened to anyone, but her heart.

"I don't know about his family papa, but i know he would come for me. One day he will. " Saying so Madhu left the room, leaving behind a smiling Padmini and Shamsheir.

"Don't worry Padmini ji, she'll go today to meet him. After all is ladki ko bhi to pata chalei ki kuska rishta aya hai iske lie." Shamsheir laughed as he squeezed his wife's hand.

--

"Mumma papa ko kya yeh bat samajh nahi ati ki mei Rishu ke alawa kisi aur se shadi nahi kar sakti." Madhu spoke as she stormed out of her car angry and walked her way inside the restaurant to meet the guy whose proposal had come for her. " Vo jante hain ki mei Rishu se kitna pyar karti hun, phir bhi papa ne mujhe blackmail kia."

"But don't worry Mr.-who-so-ever-you-are, tang to mei aaj tumhe itna karungi ki mujhe to kya kisi aur ladki ka hath mangne se pehle sau(100) bar soochoge." She smiled with a naughty glint in her eyes.

--

FLASHBACK

MADHU 7 & RISHAB 8

Madhu and Rishab were best friends. Though the two never understood te meaning of best friends, because they gad loads at that time, but they knew that their friendship was special.

The two were small, but the amount of love and care they had for each other did not go un-noticed by their elders and hence because of the children, their families had also developed a bond of friendship towards each other.

Their friendship had started not on a very good note, but sometimes such small incidences are required for something major to take place in future and that is what we call as destiny.

Madhu and Rishab lived in the same neighbourhood in Munbai , but had never talked to one another . They even went to the same school but Madhu had always been scared of Rishab and that was the reason for the alofness from him.
Rishab was a year senior to Madhu and was a bully in school . Well that was what she thought . But her misconceptions broke one day and that was the start of their friendship .

"Oye ladki!" Madhu turned to look at the person who had called her . She recognised the group as Rishab's classmates . Scared , taking small steps , she moved towards him holding her tiffin in her little fingers as a protection.

"Kya naam hai tera ?" One boy spoke as he snatched her tiffin.

'Madhu .. Madhubala Malik." she trembled and tears starting falling from her eyes.

"Madhubala.. Chee ye kaisa naam hai." They all laughed as they made fun of her and started eating her tiffin.

This was the first time somebody had behaved in such a way with Madhu . Being the only daughter of her parents, she had been pampered alot. But seeing people make fun of her , she couldn't help herself from crying .

And that when the hero of her life , Rishab entered and punched the guy(obviously not so hard, c'mon they are kids) who had Madhu's tiffin in his hands.

"Say sorry" The young Rishab spoke in an authoritative tone ordering the boys .

'But rishab you are our friend and we are just having fun.' one of the boy, seeing Rishab's anger tried to defend the act.

"I said, say sorry to Madhu." Our hero spoke with so much of determination which forced Madhu to look up at him with admiration and this one look was enough for her to know that Rishab was not what she thought he was earlier. A smile appeared on her lips as the guys went up to her and said sorry , holding their ears.

"Chalo Madhu." Rishab said as he held Madhu's hand , picked up her tiffin and walked with Madhu following .
Madhu had never liked anyone calling her 'Madhu' other than her parents . For everybody else, she prefered the name Madhubala. But she liked Rishab calling her Madhu with so much of authority .

''Rishab" She spoke his name for the first time and like the way it felt. He looked at her and waited for her to continue. "Thank You." She spoke and kissed his cheek.

Rishab blushed. He had always found Madhu sweet and wanted to be friends with her. With todays incident he was sure that they would become good friends.

"Ab chalo mere sath canteen tak. Tumhare vo friends mera sara tiffin kha gaye." Holding hands the two ran towards the canteen.

And this is how their friendship started. After this there was no end. The two were always together. Madhu made sure that Rishu gets all he wanted and Rishab made sure to always keep Madhu happy. Their care, love and bond towards each other was like none. It was beyond special, so much so that Rishab had started drinking salted coffee, because when his Madhu had prepared something for him for the first time, by mistake rather than putting sugar, she had added salt to it. When Madhu had got to know about this she had felt bad and was on a verge of crying. And so our Rishab had drank that coffee to please her and from that day he would only have the SALTED COFFEE.

Two years went by and their friendship bloomed. But then it was time for Rishab to leave as his parents were shifting to California to expand their business.

Though both the children were sad, cried and fought with their patents, but once they got to know that their separation was inevitable, they promised never to forget each other and their friendship.

.The day before Rishab had to leave, the two families attended a common marriage together. Over there the two children had asked their parents the meaning of marriage.

"Beta marriage is a promise of life long friendship between a man and woman. It is a promise of care, trust and live throughout life." Radha Rishab's mother had explained the two.

And of course with this the two had decided to get married when they grow up.

So it was then when Maliks had gone to airport to see-off the Kundras that Rishab had spoken, " Madhu wait for me, i'll be back to marry you."

Though the parents had laughed off this situation, the children had taken this marriage thing seriously and over the years this thought and wait for him had turned into love for Madhu, and she knew the same would have happened with Rishu.

After reaching California the children had been in contact but upon shifting from Mumbai to Delhi, Madhu had list the contact. But she knew when right time would come, her Rishab would find her.

--
As Madhu entered the restaurant, she was shocked to see a single table in centre with rest of the space empty. Candles illuminated all over the place. She was confused as to whether this was a date or first meeting.

Gathering herself she moved towards the table where that 'ghochun' was sitting, facing his back towards her.

"Ahem!" Madhu cleared her throat to capture his attention. As the man turned, she stopped breating.

Oh my God! He's...He's so dam handsome.

Madhu drooled over him, checking him out. His heart-shaped face cut, light brown eyes, and what a body man. John bhi ise dekh kar sharma jaye. Aur iske hoth...he wouldn't mind if i kiss them...right?

Madhu kya kar rahi hai. Tu yahan ise takne nahi aye. Get on the track girl.

With her antar-aatma to get back on- line, Madhu suddenly realized what she was doing. Getting angry on herself and the man standing in front of her, who made her forget her Rishu for a second. Composing herself, Madhu smiled at him.

Ab dekh bachu, agar tujhe is sadhi ke lie na nahi karwaya, to mera naam bhi Madhubala Malik nahi.

"Hi" The man spoke as he put forward his hand in politeness.

"Hi baby!" madhu spoke in her ever polite tone, in a flirting manner and kissed his cheek. A current passed through her body, which was shocking for her.

The man blushed. " Wow! That was...fast!"

" Of course baby, we should be fast, after all we are getting married soon!" She saud sarcastically, with an evil smile playing on her lips.

" You bet that!" The man spoke under his breath which went unheard by Madhu.

The two sat and started chatting with the man asking questions and Madhu trying her best to answer them in a bold fashion. She knew, no matter how much a guy likes a girl with a bold personality, he would never want to marry her, due to obvious reasons.

Though the man was shocked by her behaviour, he maintained a cool front facing her.

"So don't you think we should order something?" The man spoke. " What would you like to have?" he asked like a gentle-man and eyed the waiter to bring them the menu.

Seeing menu in the waiters hand, Madhu snatched it and

opened the drinks section and ordered for Bloody Merry.

This was the first time she was going to drink and hence was scared. But she had no other option to make this 'not- ghochun' ( obviously he didn't look like a ghochun ;-)) saying no to her. So praying to her babaji to take care of her after the drinking session, she waited for him to order the food. ..

" So you drink?" He asked amused.

" I love drinking baby! It makes me open all the knots in my mind." She leaned towards him and held his hand. With an innocent looking face and fluttering eyes she asked, " I hope you don't have any problem with me drinking after marriage?"

The man just cleared his throat in response to her touch. He was about to answer with a no, when the waiter disturbed them with food and 'drink for Madam'.

Since it was her first time, Madhu had no clue that one need to munch something with the drink or else it could cause vomiting. She was about to take a sip of her drink when a sudden electricity passed through her body. Shocked she looked at the hand which was holding her, preventing her from drinking neat.

" Oh baby, yeh to mera rooz ka hai. I'm a wild cat, both in and out of bed." Saying so she took her first sip as the man coughed while digesting ger words about being wild in bed.

Yuck kitna gand taste gai. Kadwa bilkul. Na jane lig kaise peete hain ise.

Seeing her amused expression, the man smiled about realizing that it was her first time.

Pagli he thought and smiled to himself.

Seeing the smile Madhu mistook him for making fun of her and gulped down four glasses inspite of his protests to stop.

--

" Tum mujhe four-four kyu dikh rahe ho?" Madhu asked childlike, amused. The four drinks she had had and that too without food, were definitely showing their effect.

" Kyuki Madhu madam apne kuch zayada hi pee li hai, vo bhi pehli bari mei." The nan smirked.

"Tumhe kaise pata yeh meri 2st time hai?" She adked amused again and smiled in wonder. "Kya tum bhagwan ho?" Saying so she folded her hands in front of him.

The man laughed at her childish behaviour. He held her hand and spoke, "Madhu chalo, late ho gaya gai. Mei tumhe ghar chor deta hun. Waise bhi is halat mei tum drive karo na karo, kisi na kisi ko upar zaroor paucha dogi." Saying so he started moving, pulling her with himself.

Madhu snatched her hand and spoke in fake anger. " Mera naam Madhubala hai. Aur sirf mumma, papa aur Rishu hi mujhe Madhu keh sakte hain. Samjhe tum." Pointing her finger, she tried to scare him.

" Don't worry madam, sirf mumma, papa aur Rishu hi tumhe Madhu kahenge. Happy?" He smiled at her and dragged her towards the car.

As he was about to make her sit inside, she kept her hands on his cheeks and spoke, "Vaise tumhe pata hai ki tum kitne good-looking aur sweet ho. Na jane kyu tumhe touch karti hi mere angad electricity aa jati hai." Laughingly she continued. " Agar mei apne Rishu ki wait nahi kar rahi hoti, to pakka tumse shadi kar leti." And with this she kissed his cheek again. (Twice tonight now:-D. )

The man smiled at her as he called her Pagli.

"Oh by the way...tumhara naam kya hai?" She looked into his eyes waiting for a reply, when suddenly she felt his lips on her and BLANK!

--
Padmini entered Madhu's room and started drawing the curtains. She was very angry with Madhu's behaviour from last night.

"Aaahhh! Mumma sone fo na. Mera sar phata ja raha hai. " Madhu spoke as she pulled the quilt on her face.

""Sar to phatega hi beta. Kaarnama jo tumne asa kia hai. ' Padmini went and removed the quilt from Madhu's face. "What do you think you were doing yesterday Madhu." She spoke with anger filled voice. " Vo to ascha hai ki ladke ko tum pasand aa gai aur unhone shadi ke lie han kar dia, varna to tumhari us harkat ke bad hum kusi ko aona mooh dikhane ke layak nahi rehte."

As Padmini's words went upto her cortex and realization drew upon her, Madhu sat up straight with a jerk, forgetting the throbbing pain inside her head and the kiss that was playing inside her mind with that 'not-ghochun' .
"What!" She shouted loudly.

"Zara dheere se bol. Vo log neeche bethein gain. Jaldi ready ho aur aa ja. Sab wait kar rahe hain." Padmini took out a beautiful pink Lakhnawi for her and went out.

Meanwhile Madhu cursed the 'non-ghochun' for saying yes to this proposal. She couldn't understand, after so much of drama, that man had the audacity to say yes to her.

"Babaji please help me out!" She prayed and went to get ready, simultaneously thinking how to get out of this mess.

--

After a lot of thinking she had come up to the conclusion so tell truth to that 'not-ghochun' as she walked upto the terrace where he was waiting, talking coffee in a tray.

"Hi" He smiled and said.

Madhu looked down as she spoke hurriedly. " I love someone else. So please say no to this marriage." Saying so she looked at his face to find any hint of shock after her confession. But upon finding none, she continued. " He's my childhood friend and I'm waiting for him."

"So has he spoken to you about marriage?" The man asked as he started taking small steps towards her.

Madhu's heart started racing, seeing him moving towards her.

Oh God! Why the hell he has to be so dashing. She thought as she checked him out, yet again.

"No i've not met him, seen him or talked to him for the past 15 years."

"And still you are waiting for him." He purely stated the fact.

"Hmmm" Was all Madhu could say as she started taking steps backwards seeing him coming closer.

"What is he's not good-looking?" He questioned her as he kept moving forwards.

"For me no body can ever look better than him." Madhu spoke with confidence as she continued her pace of moving backwards.

"Not even me?" He challenged her. " I saw you checking me out twice." He smirked. Madhu went on a halt feeling uncomfortable- in -a- good- way with the question.

"What if he does not love you anymore?" Again a challenging question as he moved towards her. Now standing only inches apart.

"I believe in our friendship...our love. I know he loves me and would love me throughout his life." She spoke with confidence, ignoring his closeness, which was creating an unknown pleasant feeling inside her body. Madhu cursed herself for such feelings towards him.

"You believe in our love!" He smiled as he picked coffee from the tray which Madhu was holding.

Taking a sip, he smiled at her. "To ab tum mujhe cheeni wali coffee pilaugi." He smirked. "Kya jaan mujhe nahi pata tha ki meri Madhu coffee mei ab namak ki jagah cheni dalne lagi hai.' He kept the coffee back. " Mujhe to apni Madhu ke hath ki vo saltd coffee hi pasand hai." He smiled at her.

"I told you before not to call me Madhu. Only mumma, papa and Rishu can..." She stopped in-between as his words registered in her mind. SALTED COFFEE.

She looked at his face, shocked. "Rishu!" Her gaze fixed on his eyes.

"Kal ki meri wild cat, aaj bheegi billi kaise ban gai. " He smirked. Taking the tray from her hands and placing it at the nearby table, Rishab pulled Madhu towards him, keeping his hands on her waist. " Ji bilkul. Rishab Kundra. Tumhara Rishu." He winked at her and seeing her smile back he took her lips within his and kissed her passionately.

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