PicOSthon: 39 OSes | Catch up with the ones u hv missed! :) - Page 45

Originally posted by: aarohi26

waao congratuaions to both writers, shavi di and Maya. both really wrote so beautifully. I really liked ur saree draping version. mihir and Raman in imttimate position. ha ha ha

Originally posted by: whitelily

shravani_2311-beautiful os👍🏼

Cheeni Kum

"Shravan!"

Ruhi put her hands on her hips, her eyebrows furrowed into an angry frown. In her hand, she held a purple chocolate wrapper, which she now threw by the boy's foot.

Confused, Shravan looked up from his jigsaw but when he saw the wrapper on the floor, he quickly drew himself up to his full height, all three feet and seven inches of him. Granted, he didn't know what the Punjaban was shouting about this time but when it came to chocolate, battle lines are always and immediately drawn.

This meant war.

Giant green flags flew in the air as an invisible countdown began.

Three... two... one...

All at once, the fighting began.

"Tune mera chocolate churaya!" ("You stole my chocolate!")

"Maine nahi churaya!" ("No I didn't!")

"Jhoot mat bol! Maine kal raat woh chocolate fridge mein rakha tha. Tune nahi churaya toh aur kisne churaiya?!" ("Don't lie! I left the chocolate in the fridge last night. If you didn't steal it then who did?")

"Arrey, Punjaban, agar mujhe pata hota toh main zaroor churata!" ("Oh believe me, if I had known about the chocolate, I would definitely have stolen it!")

Ruhi gasped in anger and quickly looked around for a way to retaliate. Her eyes zeroed in on a large piece of the jigsaw but Shravan, well acquainted with Ruhi's fighting techniques, was already running out of the door and into Patti's house.

"Chocolate chor! Mujhse bhaagega??" ("Chocolate theif! You think you can run from me?!")

On the other side of the house, oblivious to all the drama, Mrs Ishita Bhalla was experiencing an afternoon of pure bliss. With her feet up on the sofa and a magazine in her hand, she giggled happily as she put the last square of chocolate in her mouth.

* * *

Raman wiped the corners of his mouth with the napkin and glanced at his watch. "It's late. Bill le le?" ("It's late. Shall we get the bill?")

"Yeah... okay..." Ishita glanced longingly at the small menu propped up on their table. The large, golden letters on its front called out to her: Dessert.

"Acha, Raman..."

"No."

"But -"

"Nahin."

"Just one slice."

"Nuh-uh."

"Hum share kar sakte hain..." ("We can share it.")

"Absolutely not. Tumhari dentist ne mana kiya hai. Waise, I don't understand it. Dentist ho ke bhi, tum apni khud ki daat nahi sambhal saki? You'll be out of business if I told anyone, you know." ("Absolutely not. Your dentist said no. By the way, I don't understand it. You're a dentist yourself and you couldn't even look after your own teeth. You'll be out of business if I told anyone, you know.")

"I can too look after my teeth!" Ishita said defensively. Looking at the dessert menu again, she pouted. "Bas chocolate intake..." ("It's just that my chocolate intake...")

"Acha, what if I just order fruit? Khaane ke baad kuch meetha toh banta hai, na Raman?" ("Okay, what if I just order fruit? You need to have something sweet after having dinner, right, Raman?")

He paused dubiously as he considered her words and seeing this as her opportunity, she quickly pounced.

"Fruit is very good for you. Trust me, I'm a doctor."

"Dentist," he corrected absent-mindedly. It would be nice to have some cake...

"Fine." He decided. "But you get fruit and only fruit."

She nodded frantically in agreement. Satisfied, Raman ordered a chocolate mouse for himself and a sugar-free, sweetener-free (and frankly, in his opinion, taste-free) fruit concoction for his wife.

He was feeling pretty good about this; when the dentist had ordered Ishita to cut down on her sugar intake, the rush of heroism that had swept him had caused him to pledge that he, too, would do the same - a decision he'd regretted almost immediately.

But now, given that she had been the one to insist on having dessert, Raman Kumar Bhalla decided that a little bit of chocolate tonight would not be cheating.

He should have known from his wife's near-constant grin, of course, that Ishita Bhalla was always two steps ahead.

When a few minutes later, the host approached the table to let Raman know that he had a phone call, Raman was - quite frankly - pissed.

His cake had just arrived...

He threw down his napkin in a huff and stood up. "Don't worry, babe, I'll be right back."

"Okay," Ishita replied glumly, looking down at her fruity mess.

"Not you," Raman scoffed. He nodded lovingly at the chocolate mousse. "Her."

There is something to be said about a man and his love for chocolate. Beginning in the throes of youth, the bond between a man and his chocolate stretches on - eternal and unwavering.

However, as Raman found out upon his return to the table, there is something quite simple yet infinitely more important to be said about women: they get whatever the hell they want.

It certainly seemed so as he watched Ishita, lips and teeth covered in chocolate, gleefully exclaim, "I'm not even sorry!"

When he glanced down at her phone and saw the still-connected call to the restaurant, he realised how utterly serious she was.

* * *

Raman Kumar Bhalla had had many terrible nights of sleep but tonight was not one of them. Tonight, he slept peacefully, spending the early hours of the morning in a tranquil, dreamless state.

Something told him, however, that the woman next to him was not having a similar experience. Well, not something so much as -

"Ow! What the -". He rubbed his now watering eye. "Did you just punch me??"

He heard a sob and wrenched up to a sitting position to find Ishita shivering with the blanket huddled around her.

"Ishita! Ishita, what happened??"

His panic rose further when she shook her head and sobbed, seemingly incapable of words.

"Ishita, for God's sake, stop crying and tell me what happened!"

"Main... main..." She broke out into fresh tears and buried her head in his chest.

He looked around helplessly. "Main... what do I... uff!"

Defeated, he took to slowly rocking her back and forth and stroking her hair.

"Can you tell me, kya hua? Bura sapna tha, kya?" ("Can you tell me what happened? Was it a bad dream?")

He felt her nod against him. Voice still shaky, she whispered, "He was after me. He said he wasn't going to let me go."

Raman felt his blood run cold. "Who?"

She looked up at him now, her big, beautiful eyes widening ominously. "Him."

She fell back into his arms and continued to narrate the nightmare. "At first I was the one in control. I had him in my bag but I dropped him and when I went to pick him up, he became a giant." Raman felt Ishita begin to shiver again. "He started chasing me down the alleyway and then... then..."

Raman's heart clenched and he sat still as he waited for the big reveal.

"He said he was going to eat me!"

"Oh, Ishita, I'm so sor - what?!" He spluttered.

"I know!" She lamented, misunderstanding his surprise. "The giant chocolate tried to eat me!"

She brought her face right up to his and whispered, wide-eyed, "It had legs, Raman. Little legs and little arms poking out of the silver foil!"

He blinked, trying not to give anything away. Contain it, Raman, contain it...

Nope.

Without warning, he burst into peals of laughter.

Ishita watched in shock, her jaw dropped in anger, but it was too late; she'd lost him now. She waited but when he was still laughing after a few minutes, she jabbed a bony finger into his side. "Aap has rahe ho?!" ("Are you laughing at me?!")

He clutched his stomach as tears rolled down his cheeks. "Toh aur kya karoon?" ("What else can I do?")

Ishita's brows furrowed as she sniffed indignantly. "I'll have you know, this was a very traumatic experience for me, Raman! How can you laugh?"

Her words only served to make him giggle and fall on his side.

"Baap-beti ki chocolate churaogi toh ye hi hoga," he spluttered between laughs. "Hunted by a chocolate bar! Hahahaha!"

That was the final straw for Ishita. Tightening the blanket around her in a huff, she threw herself on to the pillow and gave him her back.

After a few minutes, while Ishita was busy muttering about insensitive jerks, Raman's laughter died down to the occasional chuckle.

"Aye, Madrasan," he cajoled, putting his arm around her.

She pushed him away which only spurred him to pull her closer.

"Tch! Raman. Go away!"

"Mm-mmm." He shook his head and placed it in the crook of her shoulder.

Gently, he rocked her back and forth and sure enough, he soon felt her anger melt away.

"Waise, Madrasan... saari ke saari daat agar chali gayi na, toh bhi main kahin nahi jaane wala. Itni asaani se mujhse chutkara nahi milega tumhe." ("Hey Madrasan... even if all of your teeth fall out, I'm not going anywhere. You can't get rid of me that easily.")

He felt her smile against his cheek and smiled in return when she kissed his palm.

The silence lulled her into a dream-like state and just when she thought he'd fallen asleep, she felt him shake with... laughter?!

She gasped accusingly but once again, he was too far gone. For a few seconds, he tried very hard to contain his laughter but after a while, all she could see were flashes of his teeth.

This time, when she turned away from him in a huff, he didn't try to sweet-talk her. Instead, all that could be heard from Mr and Mrs Bhalla's bedroom for the next ten minutes was raucous laughter, punctuated only by gasps of the words "Giant chocolate!"