Dil Beparwah | ✔

forty six

||CHAPTER 46||
《¤》

┊V A R U N┊

Tea served in the finest crockery hit different. I rarely used the expensive china myself, had been conditioned to possess them as shelved art since birth. But Mihir's impromptu visit this afternoon allowed me to balance the guestly tray for a lady as sophisticated as Adrija Mukherjee.

She only had amusement to respond with, casually dropping her suave disposition to hold the heavy tray and placing it on the center table, "Itni formality ki bhi zarurat nahi hai."

Mihir snickered next to her, grabbing a saucer and a cup. "He's practicing his etiquettes, let him na."

"Mihir," Adrija warned. Then turning towards me, she sat down. "By the way, you've got a very nice place here, haan. The locality looks respectable."

I knew what she was thinking. Familial localities seldom rented out rooms to bachelors or, in my case, divorced and single men. "My grandfather knows the landlady. Her late husband was a good friend."

"He is also planning to buy a flat soon," Mihir added. Now that BizNest was a fairly stable platform, I had told him about my intentions.

Sipping my tea, I asked about her daughter. "You could have brought Pritha along." Though I wasn't sure how I'd have entertained a six year old.

"She has school. By the way, she is obsessed with the Scrabble."

I was honestly glad she liked it. "That's great to hear."

With the pleasantries lulling down, the couple exchanged a subtle, but wary glance. "So Varun," Adrija started, setting her cup back on the tray, "I have been meaning to apologize for the other night."

I had a feeling this was about the book discussion. "Please, you don't need to. Abhi toh kaha, formality ki zarurat nahi hai."

"No, I know, lekin... I'll be honest, I was shocked to see Arvika. After seeing you both together and seeing how comfortable she was with discussing the book, mujhe laga she knew. I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to cause any tiff between you two."

"Adrija, seriously, don't worry about it," I replied. She looked so guilty that I felt slightly uncomfortable. "It's not a big deal."

"So... how are things between the two of you then?" Mihir asked.

"Good, good."

"Serious wala good or good good?"

Mihir had always been appalled by my casual dating approach post divorce. I chuckled, slapping my ankle over the other knee.

"Living in the present wala good." Sounded more serious in my head. To compensate, I added, "It's been a month, give or take?"

"I'm curious though," Adrija said, "Did you meet her through work or somewhere else? Jaante kabse ho tum ek dusre ko?"

Scratching my head, I shrugged. "You could say that. My reporters couldn't get through to her. Got to speak with her properly earlier this year by coincidence. We were both flying to Udaipur."

"Wait, she is the someone you met on the plane," Mihir quoted an earlier conversation.

"Yeah."