SS: Waves and Particles [Completed] - Page 24

Chapter 6

"So…how was your date?" She asked slowly. He glared at her. Khushi had always been there for him as his own personal hero with cape and spandex swooping in with a phone call when he wanted to run. And previous night was nothing less than hell.

"You have the gall to ask me after setting me up with that…that…thing?" He hissed. She looked at him carefully without divulging the fact that she had a fair idea about the happenings of previous night. She wasn't there as primary witness to the whole thing but that didn't mean that no one was! The BOMB website was too crucial to let ASR fly solo.

She had asked the spy an anonymous guy from the company as per plan, to do video recording of the whole thing. The spy had dropped the mini SD with the said video in a sealed envelope in Khushi's residence mail box to maintain spookiness. It was whole different deal that the spy had lost his way around her house and had called her four times to figure out where her house was. She had let out a dramatic exclamation of surprise and shock when she found the envelope in the morning. She had immediately called the spy and confirmed acquired intelligence. She loved the whole spy game though anonymity was completely and totally bogus to start with.

"You know, I thought she was just using her goat as a tool to get close to grandma but looks like it wasn't all an act. She really loves animals," he said putting hands in his head.

"That's good right? What's wrong being an animal lover?" She argued.

"She explained to me very much in detail how two African dwarf frogs mate," his voice raised an octave.

"You think she was hitting on you?" She asked dumbly.

"She was making weird croaking noises and said that it was the frogs' mating call!" He yelled.

"Was it gender specific?" She asked rubbing it in.

"I had to freaking stop her from hopping around the table and she wanted to try to show me the mating dance of those frogs," he yelled some more.

She couldn't control anymore and burst into laughter.

"Good that you stopped her," she said once her laughter had reduced to chuckles.

"I didn't stop her on time. She did manage to show me few steps," he replied dully. Her ears perked at that. The spy was right. The video was THE bomb. She bit her lip to burst out into another bout of laughter. The poor man was scarred for life.

"Why frogs though? I mean there are many other animals out there right?" she asked him innocently.

"She has half a dozen of those frogs as pets. She apparently studied them and wrote down their behavioral patterns over course of three months." He replied offering a more naive explanation.

"How did you get out?" She asked wondering who he had called for an emergency rescue operation.

"I asked that idiot who was recording the whole thing." He replied narrowing his eyes at her. "You asked him to record my date, didn't you?" Oops! She was caught. But she was a wannabe spy. Lying through teeth was now engraved in her that her DNA had probably mutated by now.

"I have no idea what you are talking about," she said. Her ears tinged a bit red. Okay, DNA was not fully mutated. But she was getting there and that was important.

"Khushi, that moron works in accounts section and I see him every week during meetings with finance department." He said flatly.

"Really? Are you sure? I think you are mistaken," she said flailing her hands all over. Alright, she couldn't lie properly without losing it a bit.

"I asked him to call me and he did. I excused myself from table to go to wash room and I intercepted him on my way. When I asked him second time what the fu*k he was doing there recording my date, he started telling me everything; including the fact that he has hots for you and thus agreed to do this kind of stupid work," he replied nastily.

"What does having 'hots' mean? Does it mean spicy? Or boiling?" She asked thoughtfully. He looked at her as if she had grown another head.

"You are joking correct?" He asked looking at her baffled. She shook her head and looked at him expectantly. "Never mind but you are missing my main point!"

"And what was it?" She asked finally sitting down in chair opposite to him.

"You recorded everything," he said suspiciously.

"I do lot of things Mr. Raizada and sometimes my alter ego takes over and performs duties that only a justice driven vigilante can perform." She answered with words borrowed from at least three different dramas.

"Bullshit. You asked him to do because you weren't around to see it firsthand. That reminds me. How was your date?" He asked raising an eyebrow.

"It was alright I suppose," she said chewing her inner cheek. He looked at her with mixed feeling. It was the traditional conflict of heart vs. mind. Mind asked him to fu*k off from this conversation but the heart was transfixed on her downcast eyes. After easing out the battle between mind and heart where he had to pacify hid mind and not take extreme measures like, for example, stopping his heart entirely due to its constant winning state.

"What happened during the date Khushi?"

"I told me that he liked me as I was but when we get married he would prefer me…err…less flat and would happily invest in making me…umm…less flat by…enlargement process," she reddened. His eyes widened comically. His mind cackled maniacally.

"Where does he work?" He asked casually ignoring the building temper. There was a sudden need in his blood to find that ass and physically hurt him. He raised an eyebrow when she said the name. He knew the CEO and that was a good starting point.

"Do you like him?" He asked gently. It didn't matter how untactful or tasteless or pathetic the guy seemed to be but if she liked him, then all bets were off. Somehow that left a bitter taste in his mouth.

"I don't," she answered immediately. "For two hours he talked about himself and also about all the imaginary friends he had till date. He creeped me out by saying that one of them was sitting right next to me and admiring my beauty," she said and added a shudder for good measure.

He grinned. Little intimidation to the fly who tried bothering his Khushi and all will be back to normal.

"Your Khushi?" His subconscious was suddenly back online.

"Fu*k off," he said calmly.

"I told you so. I told you so. I told you so," it danced and pranced happily.

"Really. Fu*k off," still calm. His subconscious knew (obviously!) what had just gone through so it went off mumbling incoherently – "You should start listening to me. This story would have been over in first chapter itself" "I knew it five months ago." "You are so obvious dude."

"Okay then. Here, I have finalized one…case study," he said suddenly changing subject. She grinned immediately.

"That was fast," she said taking the folder from him. "Oooh! I know this one," she said and waggled her eyebrows unnecessarily.

"Dance in rains, white dress, car broken down in middle of nowhere, barn with lantern surprisingly filled with ample amount of kerosene just so that it runs till sleazy item song is finished and fresh set of clothes that are equally sleazy made available for girl only in that barn." he spat.

"I don't know why you are getting irritated. Isn't this your fantasy?" She asked him seriously going through the case file.

"It's the most decent one of the lot," he replied dully. "Your imagination is astounding. Where did you get these ideas from? Some are….umm…" He trailed.  

"I read a lot of fan fictions," she said. "I just took printout of the chapters and trimmed it a bit here and there," she said reading through the case study.

"Let's have a dress rehearsal tonight. Monsoon is set and rain is given. Even if it doesn't rain, it's fine. We can buy few liters of water. Hang on," she said thumbing through her Blackberry. He didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He hadn't expected she would actually make him do it.

"You remember one of the warehouses and retail outlet that is poorly constructed?" She asked. He shook his head. "It was the place where I was kind of locked and you came to get me," she said narrowing her eyes. Their initial interaction was still a touchy subject so he let it slide.

"What about it?" He said quickly.

"We can go there today evening. Construction is halted for some reason and I'll arrange for the rest. We may not get a barn but an abandoned building. Does that work for your fantasy?" She asked him seriously. He wanted to bang his head on the table.

"It's not my fantasy your nincompoop! It's your bloody case study!" He shouted, losing it.

"Let's leave this place at seven in evening. I don't have a ride so you have to drop me home after the…enactment, okay?" She said.

He dropped his head which hit the table with a bang. This was all his doing and deserved a royal kick.

*****

"You have pinned your sari," he said noting her white sari.

"Everyone pins their sari. It's weird otherwise," she said walking towards construction site. Weather forecast was in their favor as rains were expected shortly.

"But your scenario clearly said the veil of the sari should be flying," he argued.

She picked up the veil and waved it around.

"See? Flying," she explained.

"But…but…" He stammered. He couldn't bring himself to tell her that she was dressed conservatively. Or to be specific, not item song-ish.

"What?" She turned around and snapped. And then he observed her hands.

"Why are you carrying notebook and pen?"

"I am going to make notes," she said calmly. "I should have brought in blood pressure monitoring device and a thermometer also. Is it too late to turn back and buy them?" She asked him seriously. His eyes bulged at the very idea of what she was insinuating. He spluttered and mumbled but didn't bother her with a response.

She set her stuff on the portico where it was safe from rain and opened her notebook and made few initial notes. He stood there watching her half flabbergasted and half endearingly. He shoved off his subconscious and had begged it to take a paid vacation and two instances where he would choose his mind over his heart. It was a fair deal, he thought.

"What do we do now?" He asked giving her the upper hand.

"Let's waltz and then we will see how it goes," she said. He shrugged.

"This is how you want to learn seducing? I could have lent you few movies," he said taking her waist and pulling her to him. She lost her breath momentarily but gained foot when first drops of rain fell on them. She had insisted on him wearing a white shirt too and had unbuttoned first three buttons irritated with him not doing his part right.

"There are movies that teach you all this?" She asked him wide eyed. Okay, this wasn't all that difficult. He looked down and grinned.

"Of course there are," he said. She wouldn't be too happy if he gave her those movies.

"So? Are you getting seduced yet?" She asked hopefully after three full minutes of intimate waltzing. He glared at her for ruining the mood. They had been dancing to a magical violin tune played on his Blackberry and gentle rain was operating as another instrument thus making the sound more lovely and…intimate. And the doofus had managed to screw it up.

"Look, if you keep asking me and treat this as an experiment, it's not going to work," he said. "Let go of yourself, Khushi," he said sounding incredibly cheesy.

"Go where?" She asked. He stopped dancing for a moment and stared at the girl in his arms. He smiled wanly and dropped his head on her shoulders and finally chuckled.

"Stop thinking about this as an execution of a scenario. Assume that I am your…boyfriend and this is our first date," he said looking at her. She held his eyes for a moment and shrugged.

"You are the expert and you are the seduce-e while am just the seducer," she said promptly. "I used the appraise-e and appraiser buzz words we use at our company," she said. He rolled his eyes.

He restarted the music and the pitter patter of the rain increased to a heavy drizzle. He could feel from the way she sighed and breathed out that she was as affected by this as he was. And he also knew that she had been staring at his throat from time to time.

It was incredibly sensual.

And then as usual, Khushi struck.

She was incredibly close to him and raised her chin a bit. Her breath caused ruckus on his exposed skin, just below the throat and he let out a throaty growl.

And then she poked his Adam's apple with her finger. What she didn't know that he was ridiculously ticklish in that area. One moment later the two of them had fallen in a heap.

"What the heck was that you dolt?"

"I am sorry okay? I always wanted to poke but had never gotten close to any guy to do that. My instincts took over and I ended up poking your throat." She said untangling herself from his embrace. He sighed and tightened his hold on her. She looked at him with wide eyes as all her efforts to getting out of his embrace were halted.

"Sir…" She said and looked. He was on his back, eyes closed.

"Let's stay like this for a bit," he said. There was something in his voice or it was water in her ears that made her stop struggling and relax. He sighed deeply and held her close.

Five minutes later, she lost her patience. "Are you seduced or not?" She asked plopping her head on elbow. He opened his eyes and looked at her. He laughed.

"I am not," he said swallowing and begging his heart to go a little slower. He could hear the damn beats in his ears already. Her disappointment was obvious on her face.

"Oh? I thought I was doing a good job but then again, it's my first time. Then let's try another scenario later then okay? I am sorry sir, I thought I was a good learner," she said sitting up.

"That's okay Khushi. I will finalize the next best case study of the lot and give it to you." He said patiently. She smiled wanly and nodded vigorously.

"Let's go eat some spicy snacks and drink really hot tea," she said skipping towards building. "I have fresh set of clothes for both of us and an umbrella in there." She said.

"And sir, thank you very much for giving me another chance," she said sincerely and walked inside.

"Fuc*ing moron," his heart chided him.