The way I used to live

Daksha's POV:

I asked Sarada Aunty about Arjun's favorite cuisines. She informed me that he likes South Indian and Italian cuisines. So, I spent the rest of my day thinking about what dishes to prepare.

I didn't send any reply to him. I knew that he would have been waiting for my reply but I wanted to say everything in person.

So, I planned a small dinner date (if it is considered as one) for the next day. I already had some dishes in my mind. With those thoughts, I drifted into a good night's sleep.

The next day, after I woke up, I hurriedly had my breakfast. After that, I rushed into the kitchen to see whether all the ingredients for the dishes were available or not. Fortunately, everything that I needed was present in the kitchen.

Till afternoon, I spent my time with Aaru and mom. I told them my idea and they agreed to it instantly while grinning widely.

After having lunch, I and Aarna headed to the kitchen. Even though I was good at cooking, I really sucked at baking. So, I asked Aarna to bake a cake for me as baking is her favorite pastime. She decided to make a simple chocolate truffle cake and I agreed to it.

While she was busy doing her things, I started the preparation for my dishes. I decided to prepare Italian cuisine.

First, I started making the dough for the pasta, precisely heart beet ravioli pasta, and another dough for pasta sheets to prepare lasagna.

It is named like that because the pasta which we use for that dish will be in heart shape and it has beetroot powder as one of the ingredients. I prepared it and let it rest for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, I started preparing the broth for Mushroom risotto. After the broth got ready, I headed with the further process of risotto by adding all the required ingredients. The mushroom risotto was ready.

I took the pink dough for pasta and cut them into heart-shaped ravioli. I also prepared pasta sheets for lasagna. As Aarna was baking the cake in an oven, I kept the pasta sheets aside and started preparing the pasta.

By the time I was done with the pasta, the cake was baked and Aarna was preparing the pipings and chocolate ganache for decorating it.

So, I took a casserole pan and placed the pasta sheets one by one by adding vegetables and paneer on each layer after applying the Ragù and sauces as a layer. Finally, I added the cheese and put it in the oven to bake it. It would take another 25 minutes or so. I looked at the clock and saw that the time was nearly 4:30 pm. After informing Aarna to keep an eye on the lasagna, I went to my room to freshen up.

After freshening up, I wore a simple salwar kameez and left my hair loose. When I went to the kitchen, Nom and Aarna had already packed everything into containers. Mom even made carrot halwa after she got to know about it being one of his favorites. Mom asked one of the maids to place all the dishes carefully into my car. Meanwhile, I messaged Arjun to know out about his whereabouts. I came to know that he was in The Empire Corporations along with his sister. So I headed there after bidding bye to my Mom and Aarna. I reached there and after parking the car, I went towards the office. Wow! That was the only word that left my mouth after seeing the relatively grandiose view of the skyscraper from the outside.

I went inside and stood in the waiting area to call him. I told him that I was in his office and I asked him to come down. At first, he was surprised a little, nonetheless, he came to the first floor.

I saw him coming towards me along with a beautiful girl, probably his sister. Before I could greet them, I was attacked with a bone-crushing hug by that girl.

"Oh my God! Finally, I got to see you. Woah, Vadhina(sis in law)...you are so beautiful. My brother is so lucky to get you," she gushed in an excited tone. I smiled at her behavior. "Nice to meet you. Amrutha, right?" I asked her.

"Yeah and nice to meet you too. You can call me 'Ammu'. Vadhina, I heard a lot about you from my Mom and even from my brother too," she said with a laugh.

I looked at him and he turned his head to another side without meeting my eye with a small smile playing on his lips.

"Ammu, are you gonna continue your blabbering here itself? Let's introduce her to Dhruv too." After saying this, without waiting for any reply, he held my hand and took me towards the elevator.

I just followed him silently with Ammu tagging behind me with a pout on her face.

After entering the elevator, he pressed the designated floor number of their office. When we reached the floor, Ammu excitedly rushed outside before us and went into a room.

Arjun shook his head at her behavior and passed me a helpless smile with a sigh. I returned that gesture with a laugh after seeing his face.

We went to the room which had the name Dhruv - CEO on the nameplate. Before we opened the door, it swung open from the other side.

It was Ammu who opened that door while holding the hand of a man(probably dragged him forcefully) who seemed to be of the same age as Arjun. I realized he was that infamous Dhruv.

He had an irritable expression on his face but it changed into a teasing smile after seeing us, precisely after seeing Arjun with me.

He passed me a warm smile and introduced himself as Dhruv. I smiled back at him and shook his hand.

After that, we settled in his office and got ourselves involved in casual talking and occasional teasing of Ammu. Seeing the time, I signaled to Ammu with my eyes.

She understood my gesture and asked us to go if we had any plans to which I stood up immediately. After bidding them goodbyes, I held Arjun's hand and strode out along with him. When we were out of the elevator, I could still hear the gossip that stirred due to my presence among the employees.

I could hear the hushed voices of asking each other about who I was and what was my relationship with Arjun, etc.

Arjun might have noticed it. So he removed his hand from mine and held me close to him by placing his hand on my shoulder.

After that, he passed me a smile and placed a kiss on my palm by holding with his other hand, making me blush a little.

This one action from him was enough to answer all their questions. He indirectly announced my position in his life. He was making me go gaga over him. I smiled sweetly at him. When we reached outside, I insisted him to drive my car to which he obeyed immediately. I told him to drive to his favorite secret place.

He agreed to it, though, I could guess he had a lot of questions in his mind. I smiled to myself after seeing his face.

Even though the area was deserted and far away from the city, it was a well-maintained area with good security as it consisted of private estates of so many influential people. That was why I asked him to drive to that place as I was sure that it was safe to go there anytime.

We reached that place. He parked the car aside and opened the door for me to get out.

After getting out of the car, I gestured to him to help me with the things that were placed at the backside of the car. He nodded at it.

I took out the mat and the adjustable table from the car and placed it on the grass. After that, I also brought some containers.

I placed them on the table and arranged them neatly along with the cutlery that I brought.

I think he understood after seeing the setup. After seeing the dishes, he smiled at me gleefully and sat opposite me on the mat while rubbing his palms together.

I smiled at him and served him a piece of lasagna and some pasta. I also served him mushroom risotto in a bowl.

When I was about to serve myself, he held my hand to stop me. He took my plate and served a little bit of everything on my plate.

He placed it in front of me and gestured to me to have it. I smiled at his gesture and also asked him to have his share.

We had the food in silence. I only brought the food that was enough for two people, so there were no leftovers. After having the food, I served both of us with the carrot halwa.

He had it like a child who got his favorite candy. I smiled at his behavior. After that, I took the box which had a cake on it.

"Another dish!!" He exclaimed after seeing the box and I shook my head negatively at him and gestured to him to open it. He nodded and opened it.

After reading what was written on that cake, he looked at me with a hint of surprise and amusement on his face.

"Really?" he asked and I nodded at him shyly to which he laughed loudly and pinched my cheeks.

When Aarna was done with preparing the cake, I wrote a sentence on the cake i.e., Anch'io Penso sempre a te which means "I also think of you always." in Italian.

"God! You are so cute. Then I will assume that you liked the flowers that I sent and understood the meaning behind them," he said in a happy tone. I nodded at him.

"Yeah. I liked them. In fact, I loved them. That's really a meaningful gesture. Thanks for the flowers. I am so impressed. That's why I asked Sarada Aunty about your favorite cuisine and prepared all of them. By the way, this carrot halwa is prepared by my Mom, and this cake is prepared by my friend Aarna," I told him and handed him a knife to cut the cake.

He took the knife and came to my side. After that he made me hold the knife and placed his hand over mine. I understood his gesture and we both cut the cake.

"I am glad that you liked them. Actually, it was Ammu's idea. She was beside me when I received your message and asked me to send those flowers to change your opinion about me," he said with a somewha embarrassed expression.

"Hahaha. It's okay. I don't mind whose idea it was. Only your effort matters to me," I told him and he released a relaxed sigh.

I didn't tell him about the fact that the message was sent by my mom to not make him even more embarrassed than he was.

After that, he fed me a small piece of cake and I too did the same. We sat in silence until I decided to break it.

"Aren't you feeling nervous about this marriage? I don't know about you but I am pretty nervous. I have to leave everything behind and have to get adjusted to a new place. It's really not an easy task," I told him with a worried expression marring my face.

He sighed and held my palm, "Do you think it is easy for me? Same as a bride, the groom also has to adjust to everything. I agree it is not easy to live comfortably in a completely new place. But trust me, it is also not easy for the groom to share everything with an unknown person, especially in arranged marriages like ours. He has to share his room, bed, and closet, everything. So, just like how the bride is new to things after the marriage, the same will be the case with the groom too," he said and side hugged me before continuing.

"So, what I want to say is, we both are on the same boat. We will work through everything together. If you are new to everything then so am I. Don't worry unnecessarily. Luckily, you already know my mom very well and now met my sister too. But think about my condition. Poor me. I never met my in-laws and don't know anything about them," he said the last line dramatically in an attempt to make me laugh, to which he succeeded.

After that, we placed everything back into my car and started to my parent's house. While we were halfway through the journey, he called me to which I looked at him.

"The carrot halwa and the cake were awesome. I liked them a lot," he told me.

Though I was happy that he liked them, I was somewhat disappointed that he didn't say anything about the dishes that I prepared painstakingly. So, I turned my head towards the window after passing him a tight-lipped smile.

Soon we reached my house and I told him to take my car with him to reach his house, without looking at him. I got out of the car.

When I was about to go to the gate of my house, suddenly I got pinned to the car and I was greeted with the hovering figure of Arjun over me. He passed me a mischievous smile and pressed me more to the car. I looked at him with a frown, clearly showing my earlier dissatisfaction. "Oh, looks like someone is throwing a tantrum," he said to which I scoffed. He suddenly held my face closer to him and held his gaze on my lips. He inched forward still looking at my lips, making me close my eyes in anticipation.

My breath hitched when I felt his hot breath near my lips. I thought he was going to kiss me on my lips but he again surprised me by placing a soft kiss on both cheeks and finally on my forehead, making me a little disappointed.

After that, he smiled at me smugly after seeing the look of anticipation on my face earlier. So, I pushed him and moved a little away from him.

"As you have loved the flowers that I sent to you, you returned the gesture by making my favorite cuisine. As I have loved the dishes that you made for me with so much effort, I appreciated it with a kiss," he said with a smile.

After that, he pulled me into a hug and kissed my palms while looking at me lovingly.

"Thanks for the lovely dinner date. I loved it a lot," he told me and released me from the hug. All the while I was looking down to cover my blushing cheeks.

"Daksha? Are you blushing?" He asked me to make my blush even more prominent.

I slapped him lightly on his chest and made a quick run to the main gate of my house while covering my face with my hands. I could still hear his heartfelt laugh from my behind.

After seeing that none of the devils were out there to tease me further, I rushed to my room and closed the door with a thud.

I leaned on to the door. After that, I placed a hand over my racing heart to calm it down and smiled while remembering his antics.00☐☐☐☐☐☐