Prem Vivah

• Chalte Chalte •

The girls were chatting about the fun they were going to have, and the boys were wandering here to there after placing the order of what they'd like to eat. Sameer was looking up at the azure sky and the smokey shades that surrounded the clouds made it look like it'll rain anytime, they should hurry up or else they'd be stuck in this unknown place. He turned back to look at Naina and smiled as he saw how animatedly She was talking and making actions through her hands. He sighed slowly, and soon the food arrived on the large wooden table.

"OMG this is so spicy," Anjali exclaimed while drinking water from the bottle.

"Have this." Anshuman forwarded his bowl of Gulab Jamun to extinguish her acidity, and Anjali looked at him with a thankful smile, eating the juicy and spongy sweet.

"Do you want one more?" He asked her.

"No, I'm fine." She said in a soft voice.

"Itna teekha kisne banwane kaha tha?" Radhika asked everyone with a scrunched-up nose.

Sameer momentarily glanced at Naina, and Anjali deciphered that it was Naina's wish to have spicy food.

"Tu apne liye alag se banwaya kar behen, yaha andar aag lag gayi hai," Anjali said in a double entendre, and Anshuman looked at her wide-eyed, whilst others tried to stifle their smiles.

"Sorry, but why are you guys looking at me like this?" She asked them with a clueless face.

"Nothing." Naina chuckled, efficiently dismissing the topic.

They all began to eat again, and Anjali and Radhika requested the cook to add sugar to their meal as they can't digest this extremely spicy food. Ankita and Satvik were sharing the same plate and this caused Sameer to ask Naina in a deep voice - "Hum bhi ek hi plate me khaye kya?"

"No." She said sternly.

"Why?" He looked at her disappointedly.

"Because I'm a very slow eater aur tum bahut fast khate ho...Mujhe toh kuch aayega hi nahi fir bas isliye." Naina gave him a genuine reason for refusing his idea, and Sameer couldn't help but smile a little.

"For you, I'll try to eat slowly." He assured her.

"Pakka?" She asked him hopefully.

"Yes," Sameer said in a split second.

He happily transferred his spicy food to Naina's empty plate and started to chew ever so slowly. Naina was dipping the soft pav in the Zhanzhanit Misal with namkeen mixed inside the thin gravy and ate her food peacefully. Sameer's jaw started to hurt as he never took so much time to swallow one piece, whilst Naina was taking years to finish her leftover morsels. He mentally made a note to never ask her to eat with him henceforth...and She surreptitiously glanced at his miffed face.

"Anyone wants to drink Chai?" Aditya asked them with a sweet smile.

"Hum sab peeyege," Radhika told him enthusiastically.

"I don't drink chai," Anjali said with a sheepish smile.

"What? Aaj se tu meri dost nahi hai." Naina looked at her friend with a goofy smile, and Anjali glared at her.

"Why don't you drink chai?" Anshuman asked her strangely.

"It affects our health." Anjali reasoned with him.

"I didn't know tu science student hoke yeh sab me believe karegi. Din me ek baar chai doesn't affect our health or skin." Naina looked at her school friend with a disbelief expression, and Anjali pouted.