Hello, Mr. Major General (1)

Chapter 43: A Thick-skinned Guest

At the age of thirteen, Shehnaaz had flown to Scotland on a holiday with Sidharth. While there, she had had fish and chips at the famous Caroline Tavern, the very best in town.

She had fallen in love with it, and never forgotten the taste.

She had even gone so far as to learn to make the dish for herself after returning from Scotland, but Sandeep had eventually imposed a ban on it; it was just too greasy, too unhealthy, and much too fattening…

The look in Parth’s eyes had grown even more sympathetic.

To him, fish and chips were nothing more than fast food, the kind served at McDonald’s and KFC. It was not
worthy of being served at a proper restaurant. Anyone with money or any sort of social standing would never choose to eat something like that.

“…I think you better get fried onion and calamari rings instead.” Parth gently squeezed Shehnaaz’s hand as
he said to the young waitress standing at the door, “I’ll have two more fried onion and calamari rings, please.”

Shehnaaz did not like either onions or calamari.

But before she could object, the waitress had already served them. She could not very well raise a fuss now, so she politely took a few bites. It was easy enough for her to pretend to like them.

Everyone else at the table devoured their food happily. Shehnaaz merely sipped at her milk tea, smiling at everyone over the cup.

After they were done with the appetizer, it was now time for
the main dish.

They were having Italian tonight,
which meant that the food was served on individual plates, Western-style.
Everyone had their own plate of food; it was not necessary for anyone to get up and serve from a sharing platter.

Parth had ordered two dishes for Shehnaaz: Veal Milanese, seasoned with onions and bay leaf, and grilled cod in tomato sauce.

Shehnaaz surreptitiously quarantined the onions to one side, then cut a
small piece of the beef to taste.

“Sana, a toast to your admission to B University Law School!” Parth was all smiles as he raised a glass of Moscato d’Asti – a sweet white wine from Italy – in Shehnaaz’s direction.

“What? Lil Sis, you got your admission letter?! When?!” said Little Temptress, surprised and happy. She immediately
lifted the glass in front of her.

The alcohol content for the Moscato d’Asti was only 5.5%; it was more of a carbonated drink, barely qualifying as an alcoholic beverage. Parth had chosen this because he was going to be driving later.

“Just this morning. Professor Sen sent me the letter of admission right after the interview. It’s just an email,
though. He said I’ll get the official letter in three days,” said Shehnaaz happily as she, too, held up her glass.
She was over the moon right now.
It was one of her dearest wishes to study under Professor Kartik Sen at B University Law School.

“Well done!” Green Tea Sharma had also raised her glass; she smiled gracefully as she said, “When you missed the interview because you were sick, I almost died of nausea
watching that Arti Sinha from the opposite dorm strut around campus. Thank god she got herself into trouble. Otherwise I would have to graduate knowing that Arti had been admitted to B University Law School – that would be such a distasteful stain on my college memories.”

Shehnaaz had been worried that her roommates would be mad at her for keeping her interview a secret.

But her roommates were not bothered by that at all. They smiled and laughed as they congratulated her.