One Day At A Time

Chapter 41 - Ablaze

Awesomest chai! I am taking this old man with me to Delhi, bas! I'll stay on a tea diet. I can live on this!" Anjali finished off her buttered toast and the dregs of her brew. Glancing at Khushi, who was sitting across the large dining table sipping on her coffee, she frowned. "Why did you change into a kurti? Did your bike wala friend pass out seeing you in that or something?"

Khushi's eyes fell on Anjali's 'I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy it!' t-shirt. "That tee is you, Anj." She mumbled, shaking her head. "And that Bardot top was a stupid bloody idea. I wasn't comfortable at all. The things you make me do!" Leaning forward, she was about to pick up the last cookie from the plate in front of her when Anjali caught her hand.

"Puppet, aren't you, my darling? All I have to do is pull your strings, and you do exactly what I want you to, hain na?" Anjali smiled, unable to hold back a tinge of sarcasm." And by the way, all Kayani cookies have the Anjali stamp over them. Don't you know that by now?" She tried to grab the cookie from her hand but felt the resistance and frowned. "Let go, Khush. I am serious. There are no more left, and we are practically living in a jungle! This might just be the last cookie of my life!"

"You are mad!"

"Mad as in My Adorable Darling?" Anjali grinned and burst into a song. "My adorable darling...I think of you every night every morning!" She sang off-key, off-scale yet proudly and animatedly. "There are only two truths in life, Chandramukhi! Anu Malik is the God of music, and this is my cookie." She declared, still holding Khushi's hand and giggled, looking at her stricken face.

"So let me get this straight. You both are fighting over a cookie now?" Payal asked as she walked into the room and pulled up a chair for herself. "You both need therapy."

"Oh, the queen bee has arrived!" Anjali sighed and glanced at Payal. "Don't even for a second think of pushing those glasses over your nose and throwing that condescending look on us poor unmarried souls! Akky might get turned on because of it, but –"

"Alright!" Payal raised her palms in surrender. "Why don't you two toss the coin like you always do instead of wasting time? We can do better things over here than squabble like kids! I feel like a walk right now."

"I am game." Anjali said quickly, letting go of Khushi's hand.

"I don't mind." Khushi shrugged, returning the cookie to the plate. "It's just that I don't see a point in doing this silly exercise!"

"Ever craved the zing of a good fight, my love?" Anjali's mocking voice drawled. "It's the adrenaline rush any strong warm-blooded woman seeks while trying to get what she wants in life! You catch my drift?"

Khushi raised a brow while rolling the sleeves of her kurti up to her elbows. "Shut up and get ready. Because I am."

"Heads –– I eat." Anjali declared, pulling her chair close to the table.

"Never have truer words been spoken!" Khushi giggled and saw Payal raise her hand for a high-five.

"Very funny!" Anjali said, rolling her eyes. "If you are done giggling like schoolgirls, will you toss the damn coin, Pi?"

Payal pulled out a coin from her purse and flipped it in the air, but it didn't land on the table. Someone had caught it mid-air. And Khushi had felt that someone's presence in the room even before he had stepped into it. Arnav was standing behind her, perhaps a few inches from her chair, but she could feel her pulse stir up to life. It was such a natural reaction that the thought brought her nervous fingers to her forehead in exasperation.