Maskari ani Vikri
He would follow through Sunday morning and ask for her apartment number
She would look at the text for an hour and respond politely "C-305, third floor par hai"
"Aap 1:30 baje aa sakte ho?" she asked politely
Inadvertently she found herself checking her appearance longer than usual after
her shower, without clothes on, and later with her lingerie on.
The foolishness of the whole idea struck her real hard when she unbolted the bathroom door without wearing her top layer of clothing
Shocked she shut it back again and wore her clothes, cursing
She didnt own bindis or make up she just wore kajal
She went down three times, once to get hari mirchi, once to buy lemons once to buy PAO
By 1 she was a tired sweaty mess
She changed from her skirt and tee shirt
She wore yet another sleeveless cotton chudidar, this time the kurta had a collar, it was lime yellow with green vines on it, bottoms up, teamed with a green chudidar
They were not there at 1:30, but a lil past two
When the door bell rang Tai relaxed
"Oh there he is"
Neel stood at the door, smiling warmly
"Aapko Sunday ke din bhi boss se chhuthi nahi milti?" he joked
Nihar hid behind him
"Namaste karo beta" "Yeh kya baat hui, kal miley ho aap inse" Neel scolded
Nihar wore shorts and a sleeveless tee
Neel wore khakhis and a cotton shirt, looked clean and fresh... and handsome?
She hadnt "looked" at him... looked at him
She did NOW
Much to her chagrin, and admonishment earlier, she did look
Aadhya came running
"Nihaaa" she said and then ran in again, and then brought her ipad
Suvi invited them in
"Pack kar diya?" Neel asked
"Abhi finish kiya" Suvi said
He took his sandals off and lingered
Tai sat up and stared, open mouthed
"Tai, this is my boss" Suvi introduced
He did a Namaste, Nihar did too
Aadhya dragged Nihar to the bedroom saying it was very hot in the living room
Neel sat down on a sofa
"I made pao bhaji today so I told him I will send some for Nihar" she explained to Tai
Tai shrugged coldly "Fine by me lady... why the hell are you telling me?" shrug
Suvi hadnt located dabbas to pack, she cursed herself thinking she should have bought those
She only had her and Aadhya's lunch boxes and some old fashioned stainless steel dabbas that belonged to Aai
When she emptied the Nasik house
She packed a generous helping of bhaji, she didnt put any spice in it, thankfully she had ziploc bags for Aadhya's school snacks
She packed lemon, and cilantro and onions and hari mirchi, she packed 20 pieces of toasted pao
She took it to the dining table and turned the fan on so it would cool down a bit
Aadhya chased Nihar and Nihar bumped into the dining table tipping the container a bit, around 10% tipped over on to the table
Neel shouted at Nihar
"What are you doing?"
Nihar immediately cringed and curled up emotionaly
Tai watched with her mouth open
"Aapko yaha kha lena chahiye" Suvi offered
"Are u sure?" Neel asked
"Barobar" she smiled
She retoasted the pao and sat everyone down, she didnt sit down with him
Just served
She didnt have juice or coke... just served water
The guests were sweating, she turned the bedroom AC on and left the door open
He talked about the Mumbai campaigns and how difficult it was to hire A list actors and how everyone B onwards begged for endorsements
He talked about things she knew and things she didnt, in pure impeccable Hindi
Tai served herself grumpily and ate on the couch
She packed more to be sent home
Showed him her bathroom and handed him a towel
"Aap to pao bhaji ek dum chowpati waale ki tarah bana leti hain?" he said smiling
"Hoon Mumbai ki na?" she smiled
"Mujhe laga Nasik ke ho aap" he said
Something SO TAME, and harmless suddenly was teetering on unknown territory
She didnt lie, she didnt know how to flirt, she sucked at both in fact
No wonder a liar conned her
"mera matlab, haan Nasik, par Mumbai mein... mujhe" she mumbled
He stood by her wash basin she stood by the open door
"Suvechha" he said
to her that sounded like he could have said something utterly inappropriate ...for her face reacted that way
"Mazaak tha" he said softly
"Aunty yeh hamare liye?" Nihar asked, shaking a bag of pao, she packed bhaji, and the packed condiments
"Jee shakara" she said spontaneously
They left in 20 minutes or so she didnt go down since it was too hot they watched from the balcony and came in
"Its no longer money for services, it looks like" Tai mumbled
Aadhya ran in with the new game Nihar had downloaded with Suvi's permission a few mins ago
"Tai, Remember one thing, the day I have to sell myself for money will be the day I will throw you out on the street,
because you are not so special that I will sell my self to take care of YOU" she said calmly and began to pick up stuff from the dining table.
Tai's face crumpled in a second like one of those time lapse videos.
Edited by Nisha0604 - 8 years ago
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