ArHi SS: Do Deewane | COMPLETE | Link to Thread 2 | PAGE 1 | (4/10) | - Page 44

Originally posted by: anaidama

*saying slowly* Dirty fellow

Originally posted by: cineraria

One minute. You mention NK in line one. And then mention @bold in line two. Whom may this 'their' refer to? As long as it is wonly Arnav and Khushi, they sure as hell can eat each other. If you are trying to force that Non-requisite Kentity in their choti si duniya, this is what you get.

Originally posted by: 1chilly

You giving me ideas now! 😉

Thanks to Ruchi, we caught on on the mystery behind the dal chawal.

Dal and chawal will never be the same for us again. 😳

Originally posted by: thumbi

Ente kutteee!!!(malayalam) As if you don't know !!! 😉😆

I saw you playing on that link... 😆

Originally posted by: thumbi

Yeah... nailed it!! Our kinda DIRTY 😉

Just thought of something...how will they cook the dal...is it in cooker for sure...also who is cooking here...arnav or khushi...please tellz...

Chapter Four

"Nitin Khurrana. But you, sweetheart, can call me NK."

He stuck out his hand, and Khushi placed hers in his, giving it a firm shake. His grip was strong, and she could feel her face heat up when he held on for just a little too long.

"Khushi. Khushi Kumari Gupta."

"We'll have to change the Kumari part, won't we?"

Khushi giggled when NK winked, holding the door open for her.

"Khoosie! You twenty meenutes late!"

A round woman with pursed lips hustled over to them immediately, her hands on her hips as she stared Khushi down.

"My name is Khushi."

"Khoosie! How many times I tell you! Today mayor come, and you late!"

"Khushi."

"That is what I said! Khoosie!"

"It's Khu- oh, never mind."

She heard a chuckle of amusement from behind her, and suddenly remembered that she had a guest.

She whirled around, hoping that NK would see her apologetic look, and quickly moved to introduce him.

"NK, this is Priscilla, my boss. Priscilla, this is-"

"Khoosie! You don't tell me you brought mayor!"

Mayor?

NK was the mayoral candidate?

NK gave her a charming smile, and Khushi could practically see Priscilla melt, a beautiful red ringing her cheeks.

"I'm not the mayor quite yet, but if beautiful women like you vote, I hope will be."

Priscilla swooned, batting her eyelashes at NK. She turned to glare at Khushi, addressing her with a commanding tone.

"Hmph, you stand there like gaping fish, Khoosie. Be polite! Show our mayor around!"

"Please, call me NK."

Khushi broke out of her reverie, nodding robotically and gesturing for NK to follow her.

"You'll have to excuse me, Mr. Khurrana, I didn't quite-"

"My statement goes for you too, you know. Especially for you- call me NK, please. Or Nitin, if you like that better."

His voice was husky and seductive, and Khushi struggled to keep herself from repeating Priscilla's performance.

She had to look dignified. But he was making it extremely hard to focus by talking in that voice.

"Um, uh... Mr. Khur- NK. I'll call you NK."

She fled to the other side of the room, trying to get a grip on herself as she turned on the projector.

"EnviYourMent, as you know, is committed to making our Earth greener and cleaner. We've worked on numerous projects with a great degree of success, and we hope to be successful here as well."

She threw herself into the presentation, outlining their goals for the future and explaining why the park should stay.

NK was attentive throughout, unlike most of the people she gave presentations to. He asked pertinent questions, often pausing her to clarify.

He seemed to genuinely care about the environment, and Khushi noticed that he never once brushed it off as a hopeless cause.

That, was a rare and valuable trait in a person.

"Khushi?"

She started, refocusing back. She was embarrassingly flustered, and she could see a small smile on his face as he met her gaze with warm, brown eyes the color of molten chocolate.

"Uh- sorry, I was distracted by your eyes."

She clapped a hand over her mouth immediately, completely mortified. She couldn't believe she had said that aloud.

She glanced around the room, thanking Devi Maiyya profusely that no one else was around.

"My eyes are distracting?"

She could see the amusement on his face as he walked closer, and she took a step back, swallowing thickly.

"Um, I uh, hope I convinced you to uh... support our cause in your uh... campaign."

NK stepped closer still, placing a hand on her upper arm and turning her towards him gently.

"You know... I'm not quite convinced. I think... we should discuss this over dinner sometime."

Her eyes flew up to his, shocked that he had asked her, of all people.

"Like... like a date?"

He smiled, a genuine, real smile that sent Khushi's heart into overdrive. This guy was single, hot... and he liked her.

A rare combo indeed.

"If that's what you want to call it, I'm not complaining. Does Saturday at 7 PM work for you?"

She couldn't stop the smile that spread across her face, and she nodded bashfully. He handed her his phone, silently asking her to put in her number.

He leaned in, pressing a soft kiss to her cheek before turning and walking away. He paused in the doorway, turning around and giving her a brilliant smile.

"I'll see you then, Khushi Kumari Gupta."

She stood frozen in her place, staring after him, her fingertips touching her cheek lightly as he disappeared through the doors.

***

Khushi stared at her phone blankly, staring at the message.

Arnav: Your damned best friend is holding me captive. The dal is already soaked, you just have to make rotis and actually cook it. Sorry. 5 sec ago

She hadn't actually cooked in the weeks she had been living with Arnav. He always ended up cooking, since he worked from home anyway.

Not that she was complaining.

Arnav's food was easily comparable to her mother's. She would often walk in to delicious vapors wafting through the house, from chewy brownies to spicy Thai food.

And the nights he didn't cook were few and far between, she could just order in.

Which is why his message today had put her in a conundrum.

Khushi Kumari Gupta did not know how to cook.

Unless making microwaved Maggi counted.

But it couldn't be that hard, could it?

She shuffled through the refrigerator, hoping to find pre-made roti atta.

Cursing when she came up empty, Khushi grabbed a cooker, pouring some oil into it. She peeled the onion, slicing it in half.

She attempted to cut it into smaller pieces, wincing as her eyes began to water. There were tears streaming down her cheeks before she had even made it a quarter of the way through, and Khushi paused, blindly reaching for the paper towels.

She regarded the onion with distaste, before deciding that she could do without it.

Dal didn't need onions anyway.

She couldn't find any garlic, so she just took teaspoons of the masala and put it into the oil, hoping it would have enough flavor.

While that cooked, she could make the roti atta.

Khushi lugged the huge container of atta, taking out two cups and dumping it into the bowl.

She poured two cups of water into the flour and began to knead it, coughing as puffs of dust flew up.

As she was kneading it, she became aware of a distinct... burning smell.

Her eyes widened, and she looked into the cooker to find the masalas completely burnt, sticking to the bottom of the pot.

Swearing, Khushi reached for the soaked dal, rubbing at her fingers in a pathetic attempt to get the sticky atta off of her fingers. She threw the dal into the pot, and oil spattered all over as the mixture sizzled.

She quickly put a lid on the cooker before placing a tava on the next burner, pulling off a portion of the atta to roll into a ball.

She sprinkled a generous amount of flour onto the counter, trying to mimick her motions as she rolled the atta out.

But it just rolled itself over the rolling pin.

She pulled it off for the fourth time as the first whistle of the cooker blew, muttering choice words underneath her breath and rubbing at her sweaty forehead.

"What the hell is going on here?"

She turned around to see Arnav standing in the doorway, looking completely horrified at the scene in front of him. She looked down at herself, noting the way she was completely covered in a layer of flour, her fingers sticking together because of the atta.

"Is that... burning?"

"I may have slightly burnt the masala..."

He stood there for a moment, staring at her as she looked at the ground in embarrassment.

"Why didn't you tell me that you can't cook?"

"I didn't think it was that hard! I've seen my mom do it a million times, but-"

Before she could finish her sentence, Arnav had already walked over to the sink, washing his hands and turning the burner with the cooker down to low. He grabbed a paper towel, wiping up the floury mess on the counter with a practiced hand.

She watched in amazement as he added flour and water to the sticky dough, turning it into a perfectly round ball that was just the right consistency.

He turned to face her with a piercing gaze, gesturing for her to come closer.

"What? Me? Um... I don't think that's-"

"Khushi, you have to learn how to feed yourself. Mircowaved maggi can only go so far. I might as well teach you."

She tentatively stepped forward, pulling off a piece of the dough.

"Smaller, that's too much dough. It'll never cook."

She huffed, placing some of the dough back and rolling it into a neat ball.

She placed it on the counter, beginning to roll out the dough.

And just as before, it stuck itself to the rolling pin.

"Khushi, you're not trying to steamroll it into the counter. You're trying to roll it out into a semi-decent circle. Use a lighter grip."

She loosened her fingers on the rolling pin, and instead found that the atta now barely rolled out.

"Not like- here, I'll just show you."

Before she could move her fingers away, Arnav had placed his hands on top of hers, pressing gently. He was pressed up against her back, and she could feel his muscles tense as they came into contact.

Khushi suddenly felt like the kitchen was entirely too warm, and she gulped audibly as the scent from the t-shirt hit her full force.

"There you go, nice and easy. You want it to float across the atta so that it molds to your liking."

His voice was low and deep, and she could feel goosebumps erupt on her skin as his warm breath washed over her ear. Her eyes unwittingly fluttered shut as he guided her hands, his fingers sliding between hers.

She could hear the blood pounding in her chest, all of her nerve endings on fire. She felt herself leaning back against him, and heard him bite back a groan.

She felt his hands stop hers, and opened her eyes, looking down to see an oval piece of dough on the counter.

Her eyes widened in delight, and she turned around in his grasp, a wide smile stretching across her face.

"I did it! I rolled..."

She trailed off when she realized she was trapped between his body and the counter. His hips were pressed against hers, and she could feel the pounding ache in her lower stomach as his lips hovered over hers.

"Khushi..."

The harsh whistle of the cooker sent them flying apart, breaking the moment. The air was thick with tension, and Khushi fumbled with the cooker as she placed it in the sink, leaving Arnav to make the rest of the rotis.

Khushi fled from the kitchen, grabbing random silverware as she hastily walked out.

"I'll just- I'll just go set the table."

***

"Oh my god Khushi, what did you do to this?"

Arnav winced as he put another spoonful of dal into his mouth, forcing himself to swallow.

"I... I just did what my mom does!"

"Did you add onions?"

"... my eyes watered."

She heard Arnav groan in frustration and disbelief.

"Seriously?! That's what onions do! You live through it."

"I had tears streaming down my cheeks!"

"What do you propose, never use onions again?"

She slumped back in the seat, pouting.

"Why do we need onions anyway?"

An uncomfortable silence settled on the table once more, and Khushi stuffed the remainder of the food in her mouth, determined to get away from Arnav as soon as she could.

"It's your turn to do the dishes, Gupta."

"But I cooked!"

"Cooked, my foot. You could poison someone with that, and for my sacrifice of eating it, I shouldn't have to do the dishes."

She glared at him as he dumped vessels into the sink.

"Fine, we'll flip a coin later. I hate doing the dishes too, you know."

The two of them settled on the sofa, each with their own laptop. There was silence for almost half an hour as Arnav typed away, with Khushi staring at her screen blankly.

The clicking of Arnav's keyboard stopped as Khushi finally broke the silence, fiddling with her fingers.

"Arnav? How do you... kiss someone?"

He looked up at her through his glasses, shutting the laptop and placing it on the ground as he regarded her.

"You've never been kissed?"

"No."

Arnav opened his mouth, and Khushi pinned him with a fierce, defensive glare.

"Don't."

"I wasn't going to say anything."

"Sure you weren't."

"Why do you ask?"

"NK... asked me out to dinner... and I want to be prepared."

She didn't see the flash of irritation that Arnav quickly hid, replacing it with a stoic expression.

"NK?"

"The... the mayoral candidate I met with today."

"Ah."

There was an awkward silence, and Khushi began to regret her hasty question.

"Well, you sort of... lean in..."

"And?"

"Uh... it's hard to describe. It just sort of happens..."

"That's not helpful!"

"You... kind of pucker your lips? And you tilt your head to the right. So there's no nose bumping."

Arnav looked up to see Khushi with a duck face, head tilted dramatically to the right. He stifled the laugh that threatened to erupt, biting his lip hard.

"No, not quite that much. Just a little. And don't pucker your lips that much, you're not five. Barely-"

She comically twisted her lips, trying to follow Arnav's instructions.

"Don't leave your arms limp at your waist- okay, Khushi, that looks weird. Stop fondling the air. No, Khushi, that's not- like this!"

In a swift move, Arnav cupped the back of her head, placing his lips over hers.

Khushi's eyes widened in shock as his arms slid down to her waist, tugging her closer.

His lips were insistent, molding to hers as his hands caressed her waist. She leaned in closer, her eyes closing as her hands slid around his neck.

His tongue gently brushed her lower lip, coaxing her to open her mouth underneath his. She whimpered quietly, her mouth parting as he thrust his tongue in, stroking hers languidly.

He pulled back to breathe for a moment, before placing another lingering kiss on her lips, letting go of her.

Her eyes opened slowly, and he struggled to control himself as she looked at him through half lidded, drugged eyes, her lips swollen from his kiss.

"And uh... yeah. That's... that's how you... kiss someone. With a mouth. And lips. Yeah. I should sleep."

He snatched his laptop up, disappearing into his room as the lock clicked ominously.

She stayed rooted to her spot, reaching for her phone mindlessly.

Happyness: Shit. I just... I think I just made out with my roommate.

IFaraq69: You... think?

Happyness: I don't know, okay! I'm supposed to go out on a date and I asked him how to kiss and it just... happened.

IFaraq69: Is this... a bad thing?

Happyness: I don't know! How do I get myself into these situations? Harry was right. A guy and a girl can never be just friends.

IFaraq69: That's not necessarily a bad thing.

IFaraq69: Was he... a good kisser?

Happyness: What?! How could you ask something like... yes. He was.

***

Note: And that's where I'll leave you for today! I figured we should get some action for a page 69 update, right? 😆

I hope you enjoyed it! Sadly, Khushi's struggles with cooking rotis are based on real experiences- unfortunately, I do not have an Arnav. Or an NK 😉

As always, please follow @ipkchotidesi or buddy me for PMs.

Love always,

Choti

Maiii