Here is the next chapter guys. I really do love writing this story. Hope you guys like. For those of you who take the time to make comment, Thank You. I love reading your comments and I really appreciate it.❤️
Simply Irresistible - Chapter 7
Astha finaly got out of bed after the horid draeam.
Never! Belching inwardly at the dream, she cleaned up and hurriedly got dressed, then belted out the doorway and raced to the living room, where the other two girls were eagerly awaiting Parvati's arrival.
"I'm excited," Rose declared. "I want to know how he is in the sack. All this speculating, and never finding out! I can't wait!"
"Oooh, Rose," Radhika responded with a small chuck, more like a giggle, these girls couldn't quite laugh any other way.
"He had to go visit Parv's parents! You honestly don't think they can find a safe place to have a go when her parents are around!"
Astha sniffed to announce her welcome. And then sniffed again, just a wee bit louder. When neither of these times worked, Astha decided both of them were quite deaf and barged right on into the conversation (something she would normally have considered rather rude).
"I agree with Radhika," she said acidly. "It is horrid to think of them, consummating, while her parents are just downstairs discussing politics over a cup of nice herbal tea."
Rose looked at Astha with a small frown. "You did not just say 'consummate'," she finally stated.
Astha was unnerved. "What is wrong with 'consummating'?"
"Astha, Astha, Astha. Am I going to have to tell you about the birds and the bees, too?" Rose said with a wicked grin.
Astha, ever the scholar, was terribly confused. "Rose, if I said 'consummating', which I still think is an acceptable, er, way to, um, state the act, then obviously I already know about the birds and the bees. And in all accuracy, what the birds and bees do to flowers is absolutely nothing compared to, the, eh, intimate thing that happens between humans. In fact, it is beli""
"Astha. You're boring," said Radhika with a small grin.
"Yeah, seriously Miss Consummate, it's just a saying no need to go into it, okay? We're all clear here; especially me, bet you don't know what to do with a can of yellow spray paint in bed, do you?" Rose said, looking utterly and completely bored.
Astha did not even want to imagine what one could do with a can of yellow spray paint while consummating. And what was wrong with that bloody word anyway?
"You never told me what was wrong with 'consummate'," she said crossly, glaring at Rose.
"Uh, except for the fact that we're talking acts of intimacy and not breeding of lab rats?" Rose said, wiggling an eyebrow delicately.
Astha was taken aback. She didn't think Rose would know that many scientists, such as herself, used lab rats. Interesting.
"When I refer to my lab rats, as you call them," Astha replied haughtily, "I merely say 'breeding'. Thus I have belied your argument, in other words, Rose, you got served."
Astha basked in the wonderful silence that followed her little slang-moment. Oh yeah, she thought happily, it would certainly get her point across marvelously. Cracking a smirk at Rose, she soon burst into laughter.
Radhika joined in and eventually the mildly good-natured sex-fiendish Rose joined in as well.
"That was a really good one, Astha," Radhika said warmly. "You're the bomb, dudette!"
Astha sincerely wished she was studying languages. Oh what a wonderful thing it would be to delve into the world of slang, something she tended not to use, hmm, the bomb. Now who had come up with that? And dudette! It was such an interesting compliment! Wishing she had a pad to jot down notes she turned towards Radhika to say something but was cut off by the slamming of a door.
Parvati marched in, a frown set on her pretty face. Astha wondered what had gone wrong. Parvati really liked Shlok, and lately, Astha had been paying extra attention to Shlok, and she knew that Shlok had no problem with Parvati.
Nobody needed to ask Parvati, because the girl started her tirade the second she dropped her bag on the floor.
"Oh, it was absolutely awful!" she cried unhappily.
Rose and Radhika and a reluctant (only because Astha always felt awkward with this comforting-crying-people business) Astha rushed towards her and patted her.
"What went wrong?" Radhika murmured soothingly.
"I'm sure it was fine!"
"It was so not fine," Parvati mumbled, and sank down on the closest couch. "He spent the whole time talking to my mum and dad and my sister!" A
stha was flabbergasted. "He obviously likes your family, Parvati," she said wearily, "why in the world would you be upset?"
"Because he spent more time with them than he did with me!" Parvati snapped viciously. "Especially my sister. It was Rani-what-do-you-study and Rani-are-you-married and Rani-do-you-like-cats. Nothing but questions for Rani and compliments for my mum and political debates with my dad! Nothing for me! Nothing at all! The only thing he said was "Parvati's a really nice girl with an interesting fashion sense!" That is IT!"
Astha reckoned now was a pretty damn good time to leave. Parvati was obviously just a couple of tantrums short of epileptic fit, and Rose and Radhika seemed to realize this as well.
"Why don't you go have a rest," Rose comforted. "You'll feel loads better."
Parvati nodded, picked up her bag, and marched up the stairs.
"Oh, and Astha," she called down, "he talked about you, too! He hates me!" she sobbed melodramatically and disappeared into the bedroom.
Astha could not have felt madder at Parvati than she did at that moment. How could she just leave without explaining what Shlok had said! Of course Astha's mind couldn't help but contemplate what he might have said. Parvati had not even mentioned if the comment was flattering or not.
Perhaps he'd said, "Parvati's fashion sense is so much more interesting than some of the girls, like Astha."
Now that was derogatory.
But maybe he'd said something nice. But Astha had an awful tendency to be pessimistic as hell and thus could not help but think he must've compared something or the other in which Astha got the short end of the stick. Bugger!
Rose looked forlornly at the empty space where Parvati had been a few seconds ago.
"Well, I'll be darned, no nooky?"
"Rose!" Astha erupted. "You may be Queen-of-Copulation-With-Handcuffs-And-Strawberry-Shortcake but I am tired of hearing this conversation with only one topic! No more talk about this stuff!" Astha turned a bit red in spite of herself. Why was it that she always had so much trouble talking about the, er, forces of nature?
Astha expected Rose to be slightly offended, at least, but Rose just laughed.
"Sure, Astha. You know you enjoy it; because deep down inside, you are dirty. Scratch that, you're just filthy! You animal!" she joked.
"Me! Animal! I'm the only one here that hasn't got some animalistic lust for our bachelor!" she huffed. Couldn't Rose understand that Astha was itching for a nice, organized, big-worded fight here? None of this Rose-joking-Astha-yelling business. That just didn't cut it.
"No, Astha, you don't have animalistic lust," cut in Radhika, "but I think you have a little literary lust going here, don't you?"
Oh, damn Radhika and her observant ways, Astha fumed. Damn them all!
"No, Radhika," she said coldly. "Just because I think that Shlok is an excellent source of botanical knowledge, not to mention an avid reader, not to mention intelligent, does not mean I am head-over-heels-in-literary-lust with the kid."
But even as she said it, she knew the feeling extended just a wee bit past lust. Bugger! Stupid pheromones in her brain, telling her who to like and who not to! And why in demon jewels did Shlok have to read!
He'd look really rather sexy with a nice pair of specs.
Clamping her hand over her mouth, even though she was positive she hadn't said it out loud, Astha mumbled something about having to pack and raced up the stairs.
By the time she got up the winding path, not only was she out of breath, but she realized that if she kept reacting like that every time her traitorous mind (ooh, it was absolutely awful!) decided to go and say something a bit inappropriate about Shlok Agnigotri she was going to go berserk. She'd have to be calm and cool about it.
Calm, and cool.
Ignoring the bleeping noises her mind was now issuing, Astha decided that because she was up here anyway she might as well pack. She grabbed her suitcase, threw in some clothes and shut it with a snap. Checking her watch she soon realized she only had half-an-hour before she was scheduled to meet Shlok and visit her darling old mum and dad. It was going to be torture she knew it. Against her will (well, maybe not so much) Astha settled down to spend the last half-hour reading the damnable yet horribly interesting romance novel that Parvati had recommended.
Before she knew it, time was up.
Grabbing her suitcase, she lugged it down the stairs and out the front door, calling quick byes to the other three, who wished her interesting aspects, in Rose's case, involving that can of yellow spray paint.
Shlok was waiting for her, looking handsome as ever (she had not just thought that! It was the heat!).
"Got quite a load for one night," he commented lightly as she struggled with the stupid bag.
"Well, um" Astha said intelligently. Was she being a hypocrite when she said that all the girls only cared about clothes and make-up? Wasn't her bag filled quite heavily with clothing?
"Want to help me?" she finally mumbled.
"Now maybe want isn't the best word," he teased her lightly, and deftly took the suitcase from her grasp and swung it into the car, next to his tiny duffel bag. "But I will help you."
"Why thank you for your generosity," Astha bit back, inwardly slapping herself. Now why did she always have to be sarcastic? Maybe Shlok didn't want her to be sarcastic. She slapped herself again. Since when did she care what others thought? She was going to be herself, no matter how much her murderous heart protested.
"Anytime," he replied easily, and soon they were in the car, traveling down to city, which was actually only an hour's drive away from the mansion.
Astha leaned forward and told the driver, who looked rather amused at the situation, where to go, then turned back towards Shlok.
"So," she began. "Read anything lately?"
He nodded. "I read this book with a fantastic approach to the solar system. "
Astha was, needless to say, instantly captivated. "Really?" she breathed. "Tell me about it."
And so he did, and Astha found herself loving every millisecond of the wonderful, intellectual conversation, a real relief from what she'd been hearing (the 'dudettes' and the 'nookies'), and not to mention, it was making her heart beat faster and faster. The ride felt like five minutes and Astha felt a familiar sense of nostalgia as her parents' house became larger as they drove up to it.
"Well, here it is," she said, feeling a bit silly. " 'Course it's probably as big as your pool house, but this is what we have."
He smiled. "I never was one for big houses."
She laughed her hyena-horse-giggle-laugh, the one she'd resigned would come out if she was in near vicinity of Shlok (horrid, embarrassing thing that it was).
"I suppose it would be," she replied and rang the doorbell of the quaint home.
Astha hadn't been back home since the show started, and it was really nice to see it again, although the circumstances were downright awkward.
Her mum threw open the door and greeted her daughter with not a "Dear!" not a "Lovely!" not a "Hello!" but a tight hug which caused Astha to trip back on her suitcase, which Shlok had placed on the porch, and fall right into Shlok himself.
He staggered under her weight for a second but caught her and righted both of their footing.
"Wow, there, Astha, how much have you been eating?" he asked.
Astha smacked his left arm and turned towards her mother.
"Thanks, mum," she said sarcastically, but she couldn't stay mad at the woman for long. "It's been forever, hasn't it?"
Her mother nodded. "I agree. I'm soo happy you went on this show, Astha! You know what I'm looking forward to!"
Astha was mortified. Surely her mother was not planning on bringing up the "Grandbabies or I'm stabbing you with my dinner fork!" routine. Oh, please no. For the moment Astha successfully avoided it by introducing Shlok.
She had made her mom and dad promise that they will not be watching the show on T.V as she would only feel more embarrassed. So her patterns have kept their words and had absolutely no idea what was happening or even who the bachelor was.
"Oh, mum," she said, "this is well, the bachelor of the show Shlok Agnigotri." Her mother's smile faded a few notches and she looked at her daughter, then to Shlok, then back at her daughter.
"Do come in," she finally said, and the two stepped inside the well-lit house. Her mother smiled warmly at Shlok but when she turned away Astha noticed the puzzled expression on her face.
"You both are a tad late," she told them, "so let's get dinner started right away, shall we?"
Shlok told her that would be lovely (and Astha nearly melted at the manners! Manners! Wonderful!) and said he would be right back; he had to go wash up. Astha smiled to herself. He was awfully conceited about his good looks; that was certain.
As soon as Shlok had disappeared her mother turned to her. "Astha, darling, wasn't Shlok Agnogotri the boy you absolutely despised?"
Astha turned beet red and shrugged. "Heh, heh, I had him pegged all wrong. He's really all right, I've had to get used to him for these last five weeks, and he's a nice boy."
Her mum grinned happily. "Nice enough to marry?" she asked excitedly.
Astha swatted at her mother's arm gently and walked into the kitchen.
"Don't talk like that," she warned, "I don't think he reciprocates the way I feel about him."
"You like him then?" her mother squealed.
"Oh, Advoot, come in here! Astha likes a boy! Astha likes a boy!"
Astha wondered if a pot of cold water would make her melt, because right now being dead seemed a better option than carrying out with this dinner. Gods, if this was her mother, then what was dear old daddy going to be like?
Speaking of the man, he sauntered into the kitchen with a huge grin on his face.
"Omelet! It's wonderful to see you again! Come here, you, give your old man a hug!"
Astha smiled and complied; it was great to see dad again although she hoped she'd heard him wrong with that stupid pet name from her early, early, early years.
Of course, the gods were out to get her, because her father did it again. "So, Omelet, where's the boy? I need to beat the pulp out of any boy who's going to take away my daughter!"
"Dad," Astha said very patiently, although she felt like she was walking in tar, "He is not going to take me away. He might not even pick me. I just think he's a nice, literary boy, okay? So none of this business tonight!"
Her father laughed but before he could reply, Shlok walked back into the kitchen.
Astha and her mother both froze. Neither had alerted her dad about this insane possibility that Astha oddly fancied the one boy she'd rather hated.
Sure enough her dad reacted with some surprise.
"Shlok Agnogtri?" he echoed softly.
"I think I've heard some unpleasant stories about you, young man."
Astha marveled at Shlok's ability to not turn red. He handled it very calmly, actually.
"Well, Astha and I were, needless to say, not the best of friends when we first met. Just the ritual boy-girl teasing that goes on, I assure you, unless Astha was too sensitive about it?"
Damn him. Forget anything she'd ever said about his looks, or his derriere, or his books; he was not going to blame this on her sensitivity.
"Not at all, mum, Shlok really did have a razor tongue in those days," she said, glaring at him.
"I did not. And if I recall, Astha was none too pleasant either," he retorted.
Astha's mother sensed some sort of yelling-each-other's-heads-off that might follow and quickly changed the topic.
Her mother ushered them all into the dining room and Astha sat down across from
Shlok, who unfortunately was sitting right next to Astha's father. Well. So much for pleasant dinner conversation.
Shlok complimented her mum's cooking and thus began the interesting conversations that were soon to follow.
"Thank you, Mr. and Mrs. Kiloskar, for letting me eat dinner with you tonight," Shlok said politely.
Astha noticed he ate very cleanly. Maybe it was because Shlok had been brought up in such an environment. Whatever it was it was beautiful to look at.
Her father was still tenced about Shlok being the bachelor and her mother sensed it.
"We should forget about the past, Advoot dear, it seems they're nice friends now!"
Luckily for her, Astha's father got the hint. "All right then, Shlok, I'm sorry. I just hadn't expected Astha to turn right around and fancu the boy she once hated!"
Astha looked down at her potatoes like they were the most fascinating book in the entire world.
The whole table laughed politely at the joke but Astha, still sour, did not.
"Oh, I'm not so sure she quite fancies me," Shlok said amiably, "We have a different sort of relationship, beyond all of that silly stuff."
Well, at least he said the "I'm keeping her for advice" in a very nice way.
For a while, conversation was nice, neutral, and norma politics and sports and dinner and other stuff that Astha could handle but when they got to dessert (strawberry cheese cake) the awkwardness intensified.
"So, Omelet, you think you're ready to settle down?" her father asked.
"You know how I feel about grandchildren," her mother added passionately.
Astha felt sick. "Er, I'm a free-spirited person, mum and dad. When I'm ready to settle I'll let you know."
Shlok was smirking from the other end of the table. "Oh, Omelet, I don't know, I think you should give marriage a chance," he said.
Astha faced him, anger bubbling like soda pop in her veins, but she decided she should just let it go, take it easy, ignore this mortification from the other three people she was dining with.
"Actuall, yes, you're right. If someone I really, really liked, loved, I guess were to propose to me, I most certainly would get married."
She hoped he understood the hint. Then again, she didn't love him. She merely fancied him. A whole lot.
The rest of the time with her parents went by nicely, as Astha controlled any reaction she might have to some of the things said.
As the evening drew to a close, her father stood up and said, "Well let me take you two to your rooms; Astha, you'll just have your room and Shlok can have the guest bedroom next to it."
Fifteen minutes later, Astha was dressed for bed and ready to sleep, when she heard a knock on her door. She opened it and in front of her stood Shlok, wearing just boxer shorts. She firmly told herself that salivating was for dogs and gave him a weak smile. "
Yes?" she asked.
"I wanted to talk," he said. "I really liked your parents"
Astha shrugged. "Well they are."
"Yeah, well, it's nice," he said, and plopped himself down on her bed.
Fudge crackers, she thought to herself, what if her mum and dad found out he was sitting on her bed? What would they assume? What would she tell Rose? Gingerly she sat down next to him and stared at her carpet.
"So what did you think of Parvati's house?" she found herself asking.
"It was awfully nice," he said, "but I don't know. I don't think Parvati and I could get along that well, if we, you know, got married."
"Your mum is probably thrilled though, that you actually utter the word."
He nodded. "She must be. You know I have to take the top two girls that I pick to visit my family. Won't that be fun?"
She laughed. "It won't be that bad. I'm sure the lucky two girls will love it." She wished she could see his house. He nodded.
"Yeah, I guess so. I like Radhika; we get along fantastically. Rose, Rose is dirty! But it's entertaining. And Parvati is nice as well. And then of course there's you."
Astha yearned to find out what implications were in "there's you". Was it good? Was it bad? Was it neautral? Did he fancy her? Maybe he hated her. No, he couldn't hate her; he'd kept her far too long.
"Well, I better be getting back," he said soon. "Wouldn't want your parents to get the wrong idea now, don't you think?" he asked with a laugh.
She giggled. "Yes, I shudder to see their reaction to that one."
He walked out the door, blowing her a kiss as he ambled out.
She fell asleep that night dreaming of a flying kiss. What did it mean? Oh, damn him!
The next morning dawned clear and before Astha knew it they were in the car ride back home. It was just as fascinating as the one there, for starters, and Astha could feel some sort of chemistry between them. It was awfully nice. Astha hadn't felt this way about any boy before and she, being naturally curious, wanted more.
For the next two days, she had plenty of time to think about romantic possibility between the two of them. It would be nice, but it would also be terrifying at the same time.
What if his idea of a good time was vastly different than hers? But no, it couldn't be, she reminded herself. He liked books. He was all right.
Radhika came home from her overnight family date overjoyed, claiming that he really liked her parents and found her little sister to be entertaining. She also said that the two of them had made out in the closet, although it wasn't for very long because he said he was tired.
Rose came home from her overnight family date happy but a bit disappointed because she didn't get what she wanted from Shlok. She blamed her family, saying that they were too inquisitive and wouldn't leave them alone for one second.
Soon the dreaded rose ceremony approached and Astha was quite unhappy with herself, because unfortunately she was nervous. Shlok hadn't said anything about needing her any longer, but now she wanted to stay more than anything.
She knew that just a few days ago she had contemplated leaving but, wouldn't it be fun to see the end? Even if he didn't pick her she knew he wouldn't, but it would be awfully nice if he did.
Shlok got up there and began the traditional speech.
"All of you have wonderful family," he said, "and I thoroughly enjoyed every visit. But I felt more of a connection, more of a closer fit, with some of you than with others." He took a deep breath and called out the first name.
"Radhika." She smiled broadly, went up and hugged him, and accepted the rose.
He took another deep breath and called out "Parvati." She did the exact same thing as Radhika, only she emitted a very tiny squeal before she went up.
Shlok took the customary minute and a half before he called out the last name.
"Astha." Astha couldn't believe it, but happily she went up, and was instantly nervous.
There was a customary hug that she had not yet given to Shlok and she kind of, very nearly wanted to. She took the rose in her hand and slowly turned towards him, really hoping he'd get the hint.
He didn't.
She hugged him, fast, furious, and fanatically, and then went back to her spot, looking at the floor so nobody would see the red patches on her face.
But of course sooner or later she had to look up, and when she did, he winked at her.
Damn it! Yet another thing she had to dissect and decipher. Oh well maybe it was like a puzzle! And puzzles were fun! Inwardly groaning, Astha sat down and began to contemplate.
Originally posted by: pt311288
i want to see love blooming btwn the two
plz
plz
plz
update sooon
loved it
comment:
p_commentcount