When Indu met Rohan

Two

Indu

When I made biryani this morning, I unintentionally added extra rice.

I didn't plan on sharing food with him.

Somehow ended up doing it though. Had I known his friends were home, I would have not ventured such a thing.

I had meetings all day and was pretty occupied with work.

Had to hit the bed early.

It was 8:30 AM the next morning, and I was already on a meeting....I know my life sucks.

Just hang in for today Indu and then you have the weekend to relax that's what I have been telling myself.

I heard the doorbell ring. I wasn't expecting anyone.

Excusing myself for a minute from the call, I went to open the door.

There in his full glory was Mr. Rohan standing at my doorstep.

"Hey"

"Good morning" he was cheerful.

"Listen, I am in the middle of a meeting, can you please come back in an hour? I am sorry about this"

"No problem. Your box" he said, giving my tupperware back.

It was heavy.

"I made breakfast for you, returning the favor. Go ahead, I will see you later" he said, turning around.

I thanked him and closed the door.

Since my video was turned off, I opened the box to find poha, nicely garnished with dhaniya and peanuts.

Looks good.

My meeting went on for an hour and I finished the box of poha he got. Didn't realize I was that hungry.

At around 11 when I had a break for an hour, I went to his house.

I rang the doorbell twice but he didn't open it. I was about to walk away when he finally opened the door.

Looks like he just showered.

"Hey, sorry I was in the shower"

"I can see that," I said.

"Get in" he said, moving aside to let me in.

He closed the door behind me.

"Your day starts pretty early I see," he said, settling on the couch, across from me.

"I had an early meeting today. I usually login around 10"

"What do you do?" he asked.

"I am a product manager at Microsoft"

"Wow. Smart"

"Not really, all I do is attend calls all day and listen to people speak"

"But Microsoft is...good," he said.

"What do you do?" I asked him.

"I am a full time chef. I also write music for independent artists and short films"

"So last night, the song you were singing, did you write it?" I asked.

"I just started writing. I need to finish it by tomorrow, which seems difficult"

"I am sure you can pull it off"

"Thanks, that confidence helps"

"Where do you work?"

"JWM Juhu"

"Marriott? Woh sea facing waala?" I was shocked.

He is not your normal restaurant mediocre chef.

"Yeah. Why do you look so surprised?" he asked.

"That's impressive. I mean you must be really good at cooking"

"I have heard people say that"

"Oh I bet you are. But I am not letting you off the hook with Poha now that I know you are a chef at JWM"

"At your service, let me know what you want to eat," he said.

"What's your specialty?"

"I assist the executive chef who is also the head chef in layman terms. So I need to be pretty good at everything. You name it" he said.

"I see self praise there" I taunted.

"If you say so. I mean I obviously take pride in what I do"

"Fair enough. So with all the lockdowns, how is it going? I mean you must not have had a lot of guests?"

"Yeah, the hotel is closed for dine-in. We have people staying in though. And then occasional take-aways"

"Take away from Marriott? That sounds crazy"

"Well, there are people who do it. You're right though, the staff is less busy these days. However we tied up with a few charities and trusts to deliver food. That's going to start from today, so yeah back to the grind, catering meals for about 500 people thrice a day"

"That's a nice initiative"

"Yeah. Tough times"

"So what time do you have to leave for work?" I asked him.

"In twenty minutes if I don't want to be late" he said looking at the clock.

"I will take a leave then. You have a good day" I said getting up from the couch.

"You too!" he said walking behind me.

I stepped out of the house, with a little more information about my handsome neighbor.

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