Once Upon A Hullabaloo!

CHAPTER 21

By the time we decided to call it a night, Omi had given me a lot to think and introspect upon. I ended up having a sleepless night because of the delay in the preparations for the meeting due to my distracted mind. In all the chaos of injuring myself and rediscovering my past in a completely different perspective, I had forgotten to inform Omi about my change of plans.

Placing the files and laptop in the briefcase, I turned around to check my reflection in the mirror. The well fitted dark blue suit did justice to the corporate image that I was aiming for. I was ready to talk business with the neatly done black tie on my collar that matched with the well polished black leather shoes on my feet.

I ran fingers through my sleek dark hair one last time before stepping out of the room to look for Omanah. As I paced through the corridor, the noise from the sisters' room got louder.

"--- Kshitij lays his eyes----" I could catch some of Miral's words, "He is going to need all of his self control today!"

As soon as I approached the open door, I asked "What's going to make me need all of my self--"

My question died midway because the answer was standing right in front of me. It wasn't a 'what', it was a 'who'. And damn me, Miral wasn't mistaken. I was going to need much more than just the self control.

The sight was beholding. She was in a traditional Gujarati attire of chaniya choli which mom always loved bragging about. She always said that a woman is absolutely irresistible when she embraces her roots and at the moment, I couldn't agree more- Omanah was perfection in gold and white.

The Nanavatis were in luck that it was an all ladies function that I had to miss because I couldn't imagine letting Omi out of my sight looking like that if there were to be men around. Out of her baggy tshirts, she was capable of enticing and pulling all the right chords of any testosteronic male!

And who would know that better than me.

I was having a hard time from keeping my hands off her flushed skin which was a result of a hot-water bath. Miral pushed me towards her to pose for a picture and I found myself being engulfed in the scent of her freshly shampooed hair.

I looped my arm around her tiny waist that was dewed because of the water droplets that had trickled down her wet hair. I felt her hitched breathing as our eyes met for a split second before the camera went off.

"I've some work that urgently came up last night. Some office meeting with a client. Since my elder brother is on his honeymoon and I am already present in Ahmedabad at the moment, dad wants me to go. I will be back by evening. I had come to inform you about it yesterday night but it slipped my mind in all the falling..." I took a meaningful pause and winked, "and growing."

She smiled as she realized my reference to our last night's conversation and my heart skipped a beat. I felt an urge to call up the office and cancel the meeting.

Before I could ponder further, my desire got the better of me. I gently tipped her face and dropped a modest kiss on her cheeks before walking out of the room.

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Women talk. And they talk to each other about everything. Yes, everything!

The fact was universally confirmed when my phone couldn't stop buzzing throughout the meeting with Nanavatis. Finally the madness ceased with a message from Naina saying- 'We need to talk.'

I wasn't ashamed of admitting that the text scared the shit out of me, especially the loud full-stop that it ended with. It just said that I was in trouble.