Twisted Souls

Chapter 35

Aathira

When did he get a glimpse of me and when did he first see me years back?

I was thinking our first communication was when I called him to alert but here he is saying years back. The question of when did he first see me, raised in my mind when I read his note with the saree. But now he is confusing me with revealing my voice had an effect on him.

"Have you been to Chennai before?" We stopped in front of the dining table which was set and ready for dinner.

"No." He shook his head. "House tour or dinner?"

"Dinner. I have a lot of questions to ask you." Enough of the hide and seek between us. As I'm here for dinner, I'm getting answers for all my questions.

"Sure." He went around me and pulled the chair for me.

"Thank you." I sat on the chair and he opened every casserole revealing the dishes for dinner. My eyes went wide looking at the dishes, Vegetable Biryani, Bisibelebath, Chapathi, Paneer Tikka Masala and Appalam.

"Wow, you have ordered all my favourite Indian dishes!" I looked up at him.

"Cooked." He flipped my plate and served the Vegetable Biryani on it.

"You too sit, we can serve ourselves." I flipped his plate up and took the casserole from him.

He shook his head and went to sit opposite me as I served him the vegetable biryani. He didn't listen to me and served the Bisibelebath to me before serving for him. I served the Chapati and Appalam on his plate before serving me and he glared at me as we both reached the Paneer Tikka Masala at the same time.

"I will serve on a feasible spot on the plate so that it won't mix with Bisibelebath." I looked at him challengingly and he took his hand off the casserole. To avoid the bisibelebath and biryani getting mixed with each other, I had placed the Chapati and Appalam between them, so I served the Paneer Tikka Masala in the space above Chapati and Biryani. I gave the casserole back to him and he served it to himself.

I pulled my bangles down before breaking a piece of appalam and converting it into a spoon to eat the Bisibelebath. "Hmmm. Delicious." I couldn't control myself from complimenting him. "Seriously, you cooked all these?" I mixed the Paneer Tikka Masala with Veg Biryani and tore a piece of Chapati to eat them together.

"Thank you." He watched me and dropped the spoon before removing his cufflinks and rolling his sleeves. "I might have watched some cooking videos." He joined me in eating with hands.

"I thought it's your mother's or personal chef's recipe." I started having Bisibelebath to finish it first before I moved to Veg Biryani and Chapati.

"I don't have a personal chef. I cook for myself or eat out on weekdays. My former nanny and my family mansion's head of staff cooks for me on weekends. I haven't seen my mother cooking." He shrugged as he continued to eat but I looked at him confused. "I lost my mother the moment I was born." He smiled at me faintly.

"Sorry." I shouldn't have brought this question.

Dev shook his head. "Don't be. She had some complications and hid it from my father, so that their symbol of love could live." He took a sip of water from the glass and nodded at me to continue to eat. "You wanted to ask me some questions."

"Yeah." I took my mobile out of my purse and opened the notepad app where I have noted down the questions.

"Someone has come prepared." He commented with a raised eyebrow.

"Of course." I handed my food with my right hand and navigated through my left hand. I clicked the checkbox at the why-me and have-you-been-to-chennai questions.