Not PMed. Network issues. Miss talking to you all.
Chapter 229: The Sweet Surprise
It was still two hours away to lunch when Lord Arnav arrived at the cottage to learn that Kushi had left with Ram for the market.
Mistress Garima had gone to the neighbour's place to ask about some special recipe while Babuji, after his breakfast in bed, was asleep under the administration of an herbal potion.
Mistress Madhumati was the only one in the kitchen and when Lord Arnav chanced upon her, she was surprised to find that he had not gone to the Industry.
"No, I had gone for a walk down the Village."
"Really?" Mistress Madhumati was amazed, looking down his rich attire, "In that suit? Such grandeur is expected to be carried off only in your Industry, I supposed. I worry that I let the Mistress of Mischief get annoyed first thing in the morning by letting her think you'd gone off to the Industry again."
"Is she?" Kushi was angry in the supposition that he had run off to the Industry.
He excused himself to go upstairs and change into his day clothes. As he ascended the stairs, his mind recollected what she had done for his sister and for her unborn child.
A floating feeling rose inside of him:
It was time to give his wife a return of surprise.
After changing into his white shirt and black pantaloons, Lord Arnav returned to the living room and spent some time musing over the books he'd found stacked on the mantelpiece above the fireplace. After a while, he walked about the room, his hands in his pockets, looking at things and trying to think of some possible way in which he could surprise his wife.
His attention was drawn to the kitchen where Madhumati worked tirelessly, humming a song as she prepared the starters for lunch.
Deciding to offer her company in conversation, he marched into the dining hall and positioned himself into the chair at the head of the dining table from where he could see Madhumati set the dishes on the counter.
On noticing him, Madhumati smiled, "Ah, babua! Just the expert I was hoping to find!"
She stepped around the counter with a little plate and a fork in her hand.
Lord Arnav could see that the content on plate looked like a tiny piece of pie.
Madhumati brought it to the table, placed it before him and handed him the fork, "Try this cheesecake and tell me what you think of it."
Lord Arnav accepted the offer with a kind smile and, picking up the fork, he cut out a slice, put it into his mouth and let his tongue savour it.
Madhumati waited keenly for his verdict.
Lord Arnav's brown eyes lit up like a child's, "This is REALLY good! What is it? Apple?"
"Apple and strawberry," beamed a proud Madhumati, "One of my exclusive cheesecakes. Would you like another helping after this is over?"
Lord Arnav was already cutting out another slice with the fork, "Thankyou but I would appreciate it more if it is offered after lunch. Presently, my appetite wouldn't do it justice."
"Then you may begin working up a profitable appetite for there is plenty where that came from," Madhumati moved towards the kitchen, "I always make enough for its Kushibitiya's favourite and she has the habit of taking more than three helpings of it."
Lord Arnav looked up on hearing this and his calculative mind went into a little pondering. It was a slow process for his royal mind had never before contemplated a surprise for anyone.
Eating some more of the cheesecake, he let his mind weigh the idea until at last he reached the conclusion that it was possibly the best way to silently express his apology and his appreciation for his wife.
Instantly, he rose from the chair.
"Would you mind, ma'am," he approached the kitchen with the empty plate and the fork, "to spare a little of your time for my sake?"
Madhumati churned the soup as she looked questionably at him from over her shoulder, "I'm curious! What could you possibly want me to do for you, babua?"
Lord Arnav placed the plate and fork on the counter, "Could you... would you be kind enough to train me in the simplest ways on how..." He paused, suddenly unsure if the plan was wise at all.
Madhumati halted the ladle's churning, "You want me to train you? Whatever for? You are the First Lord and there is no need for you to learn swordmaking."
Lord Arnav felt uncomfortable as he uttered, "I wasn't exactly referring to swordmaking."
Madhumati frowned thoughtfully, "Were you not? Well, if it is not swordmaking, I know no other skill of mine that I can train you by."
Lord Arnav cleared his throat, his eyes studying the stains on Madhumati's apron, "I was talking about... I was hoping you could show me how to make one of...your cheesecakes."
Madhumati gaped at him, losing her grip on the ladle which sank into the boiling pot of soup.
"You want to-" Madhumati was taken aback, "You want me to-" She looked doubtful, "My cheesecake?"
Lord Arnav was quick to be polite, "If it is not much of a bother and if it doesn't offend you in any way."
Mistress Madhumati was flabbergasted and she patted at her violet wig nervously, "Offend me! It is an honour I cannot possibly deserve! I teach the First Lord my special cheesecake recipe..."
Lord Arnav's anxious face broke into a relieved grin, too embarrassed to reply. But there was no going back once he decided on it.
Rolling up the sleeves of his white shirt, he stood prepared to be tutored in a little confectionary.
First, he was given an apron to wear which he was not particularly happy about but Madhumati coaxed him that she would not have any training and baking with apron-less apprentices.
Reluctantly, he put it on and then she handed him a bowl, "We'll begin assembling the ingredients. You can start by filling half of this bowl with a few cups of flour from that sack."
Lord Arnav stepped towards the directed sack and leaned over it.
Fill half of this bowl with flour, he reminded himself as he bent over the sack but, before Madhumati could stop him, he dug the bowl into the flour: the soft flour leapt on the bowl's impact, whooshing white dust that flew over his face.
Lord Arnav coughed at the white fog before him as Madhumati's voice reached him, "Babua, didn't you see the cup inside the sack? You should have used it to add flour into your bowl." She had fetched a soft handbrush with which she began shedding the white dust off his shoulders, face and hair while he stood with his eyes shut, an apologetic expression on his face.
"There!" she announced finally, looking at him, "We'll begin again but this time I'll collect and you'll watch. Being your first time in a kitchen, I think it is only wise if I allot just the mixing for you."
With that decision, she handed him another little bowl and a thick wooden spatula.
"First, we need to prepare the base of the cheesecake," she instructed him as she added the ingredients into the bowl he was holding, "Smashed biscuits, a handful of white sugar and melted butter." He watched as the gold butter was poured over the biscuit crumbs and the sugar.
"Mix them up well," said Madhumati and Lord Arnav obediently churned the particles until they had blended well into a thick mixture.
No sooner had she taken the bowl from him than she handed him another bowl, bigger than the one before, and another wooden spatula.
"This is the most important portion of the cheesecake, babua," she said as she began pouring and dropping into his bowl newer ingredients, "Flour, sugar, softened cheese, cream, a little milk...some white sugar as well...a couple of eggs," she cracked the eggs and deposited the liquid insides into the bowl.
Lord Arnav frowned at the concoction in the bowl. It looked absolutely disagreeable as though someone had gone sick into it.
"And," Madhumati smiled at him, like a magician about to present his master act, "This is the special part. We are making apple and strawberry cheesecake so we add into this... some mashed strawberries... and a little cider for the apple."
She added them in and Lord Arnav was told to mix them all together. As he churned the spatula round and round, every alternate second he would look at Madhumati, hoping she would say he could stop churning.
But she didn't tell him to stop until almost half an hour had passed and she was satisfied with the smoothened batter.
"Alright now, babua," she directed him to the baking pan, "You need to rub butter all over its inside so the cheesecake doesn't stick to the pan."
He conducted the buttering of the pan's inside accordingly, making a great effort to overlook how the butter stuck to his fingers.
Madhumati then instructed him to pour the biscuit mixture from the first bowl into the baking pan. After he had done so, she told him to pour, over it, the batter in the other bowl, which he accomplished easily.
"Now, let's put the pan into the furnace and wait for an hour."
Lord Arnav was grateful the furnace time' had finally come and the moment he popped the pan into the furnace and shut its door, he stripped off the apron and wiped the sweat off his brow.
He had felt quite out of place the entire time, especially with the apron's unlawful presence on him. There had also been that recurrent warning at the back of his mind of how embarrassing it would be if Kushi were to walk in and find him dressed in a lady's apron, churning batter.
Emerging from the kitchen as he brushed off the invisible flour on him, he decided to spend some time reading a book to recover his manliness while they waited for the baking to be done.
Meanwhile, Madhumati carried on with the lunch preparations.
When the hour had expired, Lord Arnav shut his book, kept it aside and marched back into the kitchen, where Madhumati's gloved hands were already taking out the pan from the furnace.
The sweet smell of sugar and strawberries was so overpowering that Lord Arnav felt his insides growl eagerly.
Mistress Madhumati placed the pan on the counter so it could cool down.
Lord Arnav sat before it, watching it and studying it, unable to believe that the terrible looking mess he had mixed up could look so deliciously delectable in that baked state in the pan.
"You don't have to watch it, you know," said Madhumati, looking up from the dish of gravy she was preparing.
He only shrugged and sat right where he was, observing it with a sense of growing pride.
Madhumati eyebrows lowered in curiosity, "Whatever did you want to learn it for, though?"
Lord Arnav took a moment before answering, "For gifting my family when we return."
Madhumati moved towards him, "Is that so?"
He nodded, but didn't look at her.
With a knowing smile, she held him by his ear, "You naughty boy!"
Lord Arnav was amazed by her daring to hold his ear but he was even more surprised to realize that he liked the teasing treatment.
He tried to keep his expression innocent, "What did I do?"
"What did you do!" Madhumati teased him as she walked back to her gravy dish, "Why! You've gone into the trouble of making a cheesecake for her!"
"Her?" Lord Arnav could feel his cheeks heating but he tried to appear clueless, "What are you talking about?"
Madhumati shot him a shrewd look, "Do you think I don't know who you made that cheesecake for?"
"I cannot possibly conceive any specific name," said Lord Arnav, betraying a twinkle in his eye.
Madhumati rolled her eyes and then nodded at the cheesecake, "You can pour jam over it. There's some in that jar at the end of the counter."
Lord Arnav reached forward and retrieved the jar. Opening its lid, he poured the trickling red mixture over the cheesecake until it looked almost blood-layered.
"Bring it over here, babua, and place it on this table with the other two I baked."
He took the pan, the heat of which had resided, and walking around the counter, placed it on the table next to the two cheesecakes Madhumati had earlier made.
Setting her dish of gravy aside, she came and stood next to him, her eyes on his cheesecake.
"You do have it in you what makes an easy learner," Madhumati pointed out, "What a fine cheesecake you made, babua!"
Lord Arnav smiled gratefully, not knowing what words to offer for the gift of a humbling experience.
Madhumati sighed with a smile, "Just to show you love her."
Something snapped inside of Lord Arnav and he stared at the red surface of the cake glistening at him. The words echoed inside in his head and his staggered mind picked on them like they would burn his fingers. You love her...
Lord Arnav closed his eyes and the beautiful face of his wife smiling appeared in his mind. He opened his eyes and looked at Madhumati as he gulped down the emotions that threatened to rise up in his throat.
"Thankyou..." he whispered painfully, "Buaji."
Madhumati's eyes filled with tears and she pulled him into one of her bone-breaking embrace, "Arnavbabua, your love is so pure. My heart rejoices in the assurance that our Kushibitiya belongs to you."
Naagin 7
340