Chai and Tea

12 - Arriving Soon!

Shaurya was laying in bed contemplating the events of last night. Devi had been right after all Anokhi would not be able to deal with a hidden relationship. He stretched a little to grab his phone from the night stand.

Next to him Anokhi stirred a little, then promptly turned to the other side to sleep. Shaurya adjusted his position in bed to sit up against the headboard. He pulled up his photo gallery and went through some of the pictures from last night. He selected the selfie they took before Anokhi went down to the party. They both were smiling at the camera and you could tell they were hugging each other. Quickly he opened Instagram and posted the picture and captioned it: My favorite ❤️. He tagged Anokhi in the picture too, knowing that her account was private.

As the picture posted he hoped that history wouldn't repeat itself. He placed the phone back on the nightstand and stepped out of bed and went to shower.

He walked out of the room to see Devi busy in the kitchen.

"Good Morning Devi!"

"I don't know about morning but I am sure you had a good night"

"That I did sweetie, are you jealous?"

She whirled around to face him holding a knife.
"Do I look like the jealous type?"

Shaurya raised his hands in surrender. "No you look like the murdering type."

"That I am, so when is your mom coming?"

"Today at 7. Please don't create drama?" Shaurya folded his hands in front of her. He knew how devilish Devi can be.

" Why would I create drama?"

"Really? Did you forget the time you came out of my room holding a pair of woman's underwear when my mom was here?"

Devi started laughing. "That was a good day. Your mom was not happy."

"I know I had to hear about for the rest of her trip. So please don't do stuff like that. Anokhi is already nervous meeting mom"

"You should have told me before. Because I already made plans for a girls night."

"What!!!" Shaurya who had just taken a bite of buttered bread spit it out.

"Oye!"

"Why....why...why?"

"So that we can all bond and talk about you?"

"Did you tell Anokhi?"

"Of course...not! The girl is already nervous. I didn't want her to be even more nervous. I am not mean you know" she winked at Shaurya.

At that moment Shaurya really wanted to strangle her, but he feared his own safety so just left the kitchen to warn Anokhi.

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Anokhi dropped the ladle in the pot of sambar for the second time and cursed out loud. For the past hour she had been making stupid mistakes all because she was nervous about meeting Shaurya's mom. Since the morning she gave herself a million pep talks yet she was still nervous. It wasn't as if she hadn't talked to her before.

Since the surprise FaceTime talk the first time she had periodically talked to her when Shaurya called her. Since she and Shaurya spent all their time together it was inevitable that she would be present during the mother son calls.

She found Shaurya's mom super sweet and little crazy. According to Shaurya she was insane, especially since her favorite activity was driving Shaurya crazy. Anokhi remembered a particularly funny FaceTime.

———————flashback—————————

"Mom please!"

Anokhi was seating on one side of the sofa eating popcorn. While Shaurya was talking to his mom on FaceTime. They were watching a movie on Netflix when Shaurya received a text message from his director. Immediately he paused the movie and called his mom. Since then Anokhi was have the time of her life just listening to the conversation, especially since Shaurya still hadn't told his mom why he called. We

Not that the poor guy hadn't tried.  His mom was on her own war path. Anokhi went to back to listening to the conversation.

"....but I mean Karan and Deba just got married rather than having a normal honeymoon stage they are fighting about family issues."

"Mom it's a tv serial hence drama is required"

"But right away after they got married? It's so stupid and irritating!" Anokhi smiled she was secretly glad that there was no more romance and couldn't wait until the leads were separated. She has even heard that there was going to be a leap in the show.

"What do you want me to do mom?"

"Throw a tantrum and have them make a change in the script. Aren't you the male lead? Why can't you be like other actors and demand a script change?"

"Yes that's a great idea mom. I will talk to the director again. We might have to cut out your cameo role to adjust with the new script but that's okay". Anokhi laughed at Shaurya's sarcastic tone. It was exactly the way Karan would get when the ACP was near Deba. Her favorite was the line about ACP giving Paani to
Deba.

"What cameo??" She could hear the excitement in her voice.

"Well I just got a message that there is a 5 minute cameo role for a professor needed and he offered it you!"

"Whattt!! I am booking my tickets. When do they need me. Do you have the script? What's the premise? What saree should I wear? Oh why didn't you tell me earlier. I need to get my hair done, my nails too. I need to get a facial too. Shaurya!!!!"

"Are you done now?"

She didn't say anything. So finally Shaurya smiled.

"I will book your tickets. I was thinking Saturday to Wednesday? They need Monday maybe Tuesday if there is a problem. Is that fine?"

"That's perfect. What about the script? And everything else?"

Shaurya rolled his eyes. "Mom it's a cameo. It's not like a 10 page script you need to memorize. They will tell you what to do on the day off. Just wear your regular clothes and please don't go crazy with the salon. It's not a wedding." At the end he was shaking his head.

"You leave all the rest to me. Just send me the ticket information. I have to go call the family and my friends."

Anokhi heard the disconnection before Shaurya even had a chance to say bye. When he place the phone down and looked at her. She started laughing.

"I am really going to regret asking for a cameo role for her."

All Anokhi could do was nod her head in agreement because she was still laughing.
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As she set all the food on the table a little of her nervousness went away remembering how big of a fan girl Aastha is. If nothing else they could bond over that. She made sure everything was setup properly on the table and did a final sweep of her house to make sure everything was in order.

Checking the clock she realized there was still 30 mins before they arrived. She turned on the tv and tried to relax some more. Silently praying that everything goes smoothly and his mom likes her.