Mission Lattoo
Part 1
“Ghevar is my favourite sweet too,” the smile on Ronnie’s face grew wide as he leaned back on the kitchen slab, munching on the cashews.
“Really?” Mannat placed the ice tray on the kitchen island and turned to him, amazement radiating from every inch of her being.
“I love ghevar. It’s been long since I had it. Do you know how to make it?”
“Of course. I’ll make it for you.”
“Thank you, beta. And I’ll send you that special recipe of phirni we talked about.”
“Thank you.”
“What’s going on guys?” Vikrant walked into the kitchen and stood across the kitchen island. In that Friday evening, his face lit up at the pleasant sight. Two of this favourite people vibing. That too in the kitchen of the great Saluja Mansion! His home.
“We were…” Mannat started only to be cut short by Ronnie.
“We were gossiping about you,” a playful smile grazed on his lips.
“You two? Gossiping about me?” his eyebrows arched up.
“Why not? You’re quite an interesting topic yaar. Isn’t he Mannat?”
“Am I, Ms Mannat?” Vikrant folded his arms, all eyes and ears on her.
Mannat felt like being pushed onto the stage in front of a thousand people. She was kind of trapped in the banter between the father-son duo. She wondered if it’s appropriate for her to conform that her boss Mr Vikrant Saluja is indeed an interesting topic in front of his father. Plus, she was worried if Vikrant would get offended if she denied it, politely.
“Umm… yes. He’s… interesting,” Mannat swiftly diverted her gaze to the ice tray in front of her on the kitchen island.
“See?” Ronnie chuckled.
As Vikrant was about to counter his father, Anisha hurried into the kitchen chanting a string of sorries.
“Sorry Mannat,” she placed her mobile phone on the counter and stood beside Mannat.
“It’s okay. No worries.”
“Actually, Mannat is tutoring Anu,” Ronnie said noticing the confusion hovering over his son. “Vikrant, Mannat has made mohabbat ka sharbat. Would you like some?”
Every part of Vikrant went to a pause. And in the very next moment, he burst into laughter, much to the surprise of the onlookers. Mannat squinted at him and soon proceeded to serve the said sharbat into glasses. Anyways what’s so funny about asking someone if they would like to have mohabbat ka sharbat! Mannat underlined that her boss Mr Vikrant Saluja is wired in a weird way. For the past few days, he has been acting all weird. Lots of smiling. Lots of slips of tongue while talking. Lots of zoning out, anytime anywhere. Weird!
“But Anu, why this… mohabbat… ka sharbat all of a sudden?” Vikrant managed to stand straight and bit back the laughter.
“Actually bhai, I thought I should brush up my cooking skills. Nikhil’s mom is a bit tough. I don’t want to give her any more ammunition against me or our family. Nikhil loves mohabbat ka sharbat. So, I thought to start with it. For some brownie points,” Anisha blushed.
“Does your Head Chef brother know that Ms Mannat is tutoring you?”
“Not yet bhai. He’s busy. And I’m more comfortable with Mannat. She gets me.”
Ronnie gleefully watched the shades of mischief shimmering on his son’s face. It’s been long he had seen that teenage glow on his face. His boy in love is indeed a treat to watch and fun to be around with. Before he could ponder more, Mannat brought him a glass of mohabbat ka sharbat. His face lit up at the scoop of vanilla ice cream and crushed dry fruits on the top. A piece of art! Ronnie let out a sigh of contentment.
“Mohabbat ka sharbat with the vanilla twist,” Mannat said in her usual chirpy tone only to earn a loud chuckle from Vikrant.
She looked back at him. This time, not bothering to mask the clouds of irritation huddled up on her face. What the hell is wrong with him?!
“What’s going on?”
All of them turned to the entrance of the kitchen. Puneet stood there clueless, still debating if he should walk in or just stop by for a couple of seconds and proceed towards the comfort of his bedroom.
“Ah… Puneet! Bro, these people are gossiping about you and me,” Vikrant was quick.
“Puneet sir, would you like to have some?” Mannat hurried to the kitchen island and held out a glass of the special drink.
“What’s it?” Puneet asked half interested.
“Mohabbat ka sharbat,” Mannat smiled.
“…with the vanilla twist,” Vikrant chipped in quick.
“No, thank you.”
Vikrant’s smile grew bounds wider at the amalgamation of panic, embarrassment and many more that flooded Puneet’s face for a millisecond. He was truly impressed at the way Puneet masked all of them so gracefully and found his feet in the Puneet Saluja regime, real quick. Vikrant was already so drunk in the excitement of the lover boy in him. Moreover, the righteous Babaji Da Banda version of him often got side-lined these days. That particular evening, Vikrant Saluja was so up for fun.
“Have some na Puneet bhai,” Anisha insisted.
“No Anu, I don’t want it.”
“It has mohabbat in it,” Vikrant put an extra emphasis on the word mohabbat. “You used to love it, didn’t you Puneet?”
“Used to, Vikrant. Used to,” Puneet put on a fake smile.
“Try some, Puneet. It’s divine,” Ronnie was already halfway through the sharbat and was moaning in delight at every scoop.
“Divine…” Vikrant seconded and burst into another fit of laughter.
“What is so funny Vikrant bhai?” Anisha was puzzled.
“Just…uh... something came to mind,” he drew a sharp breath blocking all that laughter to the back of his throat. Still, the playful glint remained stubborn in his eyes.
“Share it with us yaar. We’ll have a good laugh too,” Ronnie said.
“I think Puneet will be able to narrate it better. What do you think Puneet?”
Vikrant turned to Puneet only to get an ‘are-you-serious’ look from him.
“Okay fine,” Vikrant began. “It was a new year’s eve. We were twenty. We went to this party, Puneet and me. His friend Abeer…”
“Vikrant…” Puneet jumped in, “aren’t you getting late? For the meeting with Mr Singhania?”
“Right! But this will just take a moment,” he smiled at Puneet and turned to Anisha. “So where were we? Ah… so Puneet’s friend Abeer was…”
“Vikrant,” Puneet interjected. “Time… Don’t you remember the ‘talk’ we had? The other day? Huh?”
Mannat took the tub of ice cream, stuffed a generous scoop into her mouth and settled on the kitchen slab next to Ronnie. She needed at least to be high on the sugary ice cream to make sense of the chit-chat the Saluja children are engaged in. Her brain waves were brought to a pause when Ronnie carved a scoop from the ice cream tub and laid it down in his glass, unbothered of the scene unfurling in front of him.
“At least someone is enjoying the mohabbat ka sharbat with the vanilla twist,” Mannat sighed to herself.
“Okay fine!” Vikrant finally obliged. “The meeting is important. I guess the story is for some other time. Right Puneet?” Vikrant patted on Puneet’s shoulders.
He told bye to no one in particular and paid a glance at Mannat. She rolled her eyes, royally stating her annoyance. He didn’t even care to have a spoon of the mohabbat ka sharbat she made and that’s non-bailable. She bookmarked it in her head.
As soon as Vikrant disappeared from the sight, Puneet excused himself and proceeded to his bedroom upstairs. He let loose the air of gracefulness the moment he stepped into his bedroom, flung his mobile phone onto the bed and sprawled on the bed. He squeezed his eyes shut in frustration. After a long time, the Saluja Mansion was devoid of the Raisinghs. He was relieved that the Raisinghs were out of town for the wedding of some friend. He was overjoyed for the Raisinghs-free week. But as usual, in the morning itself his mother dumped another load of family trauma into his head. He has had enough of that.
He was aware of the fragment of jealousy breathing inside him for his cousin. He was also aware that his parents, especially his mother has been giving air to it. She never left an opportunity to compare him with his over-achiever cousin. He admits that Vikrant deserves all that he has gained. Vikrant is a kind righteous person. Master of his own mind. He can’t argue with that. He admires that quality of Vikrant. And also envies the way Vikrant’s parents rooted for him. Although he was born into luxury and has been leading a lavish life, Puneet always had the burden of expectations of his back. Always had to have ‘the talk’ with his parents before committing to anything in life. Even in choosing the career as a chef, it was not his parents but his uncle, his father’s elder brother who backed him. He’s indebted to his uncle for that.
Once he rose to the title of the Head Chef and gained glory, he did have a bunch of detours. Looking back, he is not proud of that phase of his life. Every time it was either his uncle or Vikrant who bailed him out of such difficult situations. He remembers all of that. After the recent turn of events, all he expects from life is just peace of mind. He had made up his mind not to punish himself for something he hasn’t done. If his father is behind the bars, it’s for a reason. Despite of knowing the true colours of his father, the way his mother supported his father hit Puneet hard. His mother’s understanding of the whole situation is wrong. It’s neither Mannat, Vikrant, Vikrant’s parents nor Shalini. His father is in jail because of his immoral deed. He is a criminal who deserves to be in jail. Puneet does realise that. God forbid, if anything of that sort happened with his little sister Anisha, he was sure that he would tear that person apart with his bare hands and won’t even blink an eye.
But it took some time for all these realisations to dawn on him. He has been acting like an ignorant person all the while. He didn’t care about anyone but his reputation. It was when he saw his sister breaking apart in front of him, the mist finally cleared from his eyes. He realised how unfair and heartless he was to Mannat and Shalini. He let his mind be corrupted by Aishwarya Raisingh. But not anymore. Somewhere in his heart he realised that his sister’s suffering is the karma hitting them back for all the atrocities they had unleashed onto the poor girls.
Amidst the chaos, what surprised him and made him ponder is the way his sister dealt with all these. He did feel ashamed that he didn’t have half the maturity and guts of his little sister. She stood for the right thing. Never filled her mind with any sort of revenge, for anyone. Within these days, she even gelled up with Mannat. For the plotting going on from his mother’s side, he finally made mind to handle her in her own way. Nodding at her every word is the only option. Rest, it’s up to him to act upon it or not. His sister’s marriage is fixed, Mezbaani is back on track, there’s no point for him to be the bad apple now. He realised that he should be focusing on himself, on his career. He has to keep up the mask in front of his mother and he’s up for it. He has already sworn to himself, he won’t be corrupted by anyone anymore.
“Sir…”
There was a knock on the wide opened door. Puneet titled his head to the side. The house help waited at his doorstep, with the stubborn mohabbat ka sharbat. He clenched his jaws and sighed in exasperation.
“Anisha ma’am sent it for you.”
“Leave it on the table.”
Puneet propped himself up on his elbow as soon as the house help left. His gaze fell on the glass of mohabbat ka sharbat. The love drink. His eyebrows furrowed recalling that teasing smile on Vikrant’s face. Vikrant’s behaviour in the kitchen was totally unwarranted. The incident at the party was the most embarrassing thing in his life. It is something he would take to the grave. He would do anything to delete that one hour of his life. Years ago, they had this mature man-to-man talk regarding the incident. They had a deal. Vikrant promised him not to dig it up at any cost, no matter whatever happened between them in the future.
Considering the way Vikrant has been acting these past few days, Puneet was sure that his cousin has finally accepted the fact that he’s in love with Mannat. Vikrant has never been this carefree or mischievous. Not even in his teenage years. He has no interest in Vikrant’s love life. But it surprised Puneet how love can change a person. He couldn’t shrug off the fact that Vikrant teased him on expense of that incident. The deal meant something. He got up from the bed, walked to the table and took a clean scoop of the mohabbat ka sharbat with the vanilla twist. His uncle was right. It tasted divine. He has never been a fan of Mannat. He knows that she is talented. It’s true that there were times when he felt overshadowed by her and it irked him to no end. But now there’s no point in holding grudges. He has learnt to live with the fact that she’ll be a part of the family some day. He has lost count the number of times he spotted Vikrant all smitten by her.
Every time he saw them together, he could hear the echoes of the inevitable high voltage drama waiting to be unfurled in the Saluja Mansion. With Aishwarya Raisingh on the side-line with the bear trap, Puneet knew that it’s going to be epic whenever it’s going to be. He took another scoop. As the sharbat laced vanilla melted in his mouth, something struck in his mind. A mischievous grin blossomed on his face. For the violation of the man-to-man deal they’ve made, Vikrant needs to be taught a sweet lesson. If Vikrant could have a fit of laughter at his expense, he could also have a little fun at Vikrant’s expense. That’s fair.
“Dear cousin, buckle up for Mission Lattoo,” Puneet whispered to another spoonful of the treat and stuffed it into his mouth.
“I knew it! I knew you won’t be able to resist the mohabbat ka sharbat,” Anisha barged into the room, making Puneet almost choke on the said sharbat.
“Anu… with the vanilla twist.”
Puneet heard Mannat chipping in from somewhere.
~ to be continued...
Part 2 : Page 4
Mannat Har Khushi Paane Ki has completed 100 episodes. So happy for the entire team of Mannat and the whole fandom. 
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
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