Faasla

Six

An hour later, The Darshan Raval showed up.

"Hello!", he exclaimed, cheerfully, the moment he walked in. His smile reflected in his eyes, as if he was the happiest man on Earth.

He walked over to his mom, and swallowed her into a hug, before squishing Payal.

"I'm so sorry I took forever. I promised Navya that I'll buy her favourite cheesecake on my way back and there was a long queue", he utters and the way my jaw almost dropped open in shock. I simply stand to my ground, utterly stunned at the lies he has baked on his way home.

"But nevertheless, here you go", he holds out a bag towards me, with a small smile. He's smiling at me? This man has come prepared.

I wonder how terribly this must hurt for him - the fact that he has to hold his bitterness in, and fake his kindness and love towards me.

Without uttering a word, I take the bag from his hand because honestly, I'm too stunned to speak at the drastic changes in his mannerisms. Until last night, this man didn't even want to look at my face!

"Aww! I always thought Darsh would be be one of the best husbands ever, and I was so right", Payal's honestly buying this act. This man must be a good actor on-screen; he's convincing. At this point, even I'm falling for it.

"You're so lucky, Navya", Payal smiles at me and I laugh internally, giving him a stare. He looks away, probably in guilt because he's worse than the worst! "I cannot deny that. Honestly got too lucky", sarcastically, I utter, keeping the bag aside.

"I'm thirsty!", he exclaims in a panicky tone, out of nowhere and draws everyone's attention towards him.

Don't worry, Darshan Raval, I won't expose you. But I'll definitely test you until you're pushed to the edge of the cliff.

"I'll get you something to drink", I force a smile at him and fade into the kitchen, stranding him with his family.

It doesn't take me a more than a moment to pick a packet of green tea from the cabinet. The other day, I overheard the servants talk about how Darshan never drinks any of the green tea he receives from sponsors, because the taste of it makes him want to throw up. And in today's episode of Chaos with The Rockstar, guess what we're going to do? Make the Rockstar nauseous, or even worse - throw up.

"Here you go", I walk back into the living room with a mug of sugar-free green tea and with a wide grin, he takes a mug from my hand.

Without even glancing at what's inside, he takes a sip, between his conversion with his mom and cousin. The next second, he takes an abrupt pause and I watch the look on his face slowly change. He turns towards me with a piercing stare, and I simply smile at me, pretending to be absolutely clueless about his reaction.

"All okay, Darshan?", I furrow my eyebrows and he forcefully gulps down the tea. "This is---really good", he compliments and I honestly want to burst into a fit of laughter, but contain everything in.

While his mom and cousin are engrossed in a small talk, he leans in towards me and softly whispers - "I know you're doing this on purpose".

"What were you expecting from me? A sugary cappuccino with coffee art on it?", I answer back, still wearing a smile. "Everyone has their time", he utters, furiously. "Exactly, Darshan Raval. And today is yours", I whisper back. "By the way, do you realise that you're fussing over a green tea? Can you imagine how I would have felt after what you put me through?".

Something goes off in his eyes for a moment, evidently. He licks his lower lip and look around, hesitantly, as though looking for an answer. And eventually, he looks away.