Bade Achhe Lagte Hain | ✓

25. Revenge

"Hey," she heard her husband from behind.

As soon as she turned around, she gasped. "Mr. Kapoor!"

Mr. Kapoor had placed his arms on the edge of the kitchen counter, caging her at its corner.

"What are you doing?" she stuttered.

He shrugged his eyebrows, saying, "It's couples things. This happens in the next episode of Meera Maa's serial. Maybe you didn't watch; I did."

Priya glared at him with a frown.

"Funny!" she scoffed, ignoring her pounding heart.

"Very funny," he grinned.

"Fine, you proved your point," she said, pressing herself back against the counter corner.

He was really close to her. It is true that she held his hand unexpectedly, but they had held hands before. Unlike his behavior right now, doesn't he feel this proximity?

"Not yet!"

"Someone might come."

"No, they won't," he replied. "I told Tarun to tell everyone you don't want anyone to come in. And when they do, I'll hide behind the counter."

She shot him an angry look. There's no way she will tell him that he stopped her in the kitchen. Well played, Mr. Kapoor!

"This is wrong," she fumed at him while he was beaming with victory.

"Everything is fair in love and war, and this is," he slowed down, perhaps on purpose. Her heart pumped blood faster, waiting for him to finish. He added dramatically, "A war."

Well, Mr. Kapoor. Though she hadn't watched the shows and series, she knew what you did there. And you're so going to pay for it.

Pissed off with his smug smile, Priya looked away, and her eyes fell over the plate of fresh croissants. She glanced over at him again, confirming, "So you won't move, will you?"

He bobbed his head, the smug smile not leaving his face.

She caught him in her gaze, waiting for the right moment, and stuffed the croissant into his mouth, then tried to escape.

In Vain.

Mr. Kapoor—she thinks out of reflex—pulled her back. He took a bit from the stuffed croissant with his other hand and said, "Not so easy!"

Priya didn't respond to it; she was numb. She wasn't able to feel anything except his touch as he grabbed her around the stomach and pulled back. Soon after, she sensed his smirk fading, finally realizing that the prank went too far.

They stood in that position, her body pressed against his, awkwardly like a statue, wondering what next. She felt his grip loosening around her, not knowing exactly how to withdraw, as she too had unknowingly clasped his hand. Her mind was cluttered with thoughts, whether or not to leave his hand and how, when suddenly she noticed her phone.

"Oh, no!"

She pushed away his hand at the sight of her phone in the water jar. She has been keeping her mobile phone on the rim of the jars for ages, and it never fell. Until today. As she stepped back, she might have nudged her cell into the water.

Her phone wouldn't start. She turned to her husband, who was now evidently scared.

Before she could speak, he grabbed the bowl of poha and fled out, stuttering, "Everyone... table... hungry."

****

Brinda pulled her inside the elevator and said, "Because your husband is a certified idiot!"