Prescribed Insanity

Chapter 10: Red Alert

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"Your home is very nice. So is this chicken-tikka appetizer," Aakash said, after trying to think of something to say to the woman in front of him who he thought was looking almost intimidatingly beautiful that night. "Who made this?"

Payal smiled at him. "I did. You know, when I'm not teaching kids why calling each others' dads bald is impolite, I try my hand at cooking sometimes."

"Incredible," Aakash said, a little too gushingly perhaps, he thought, cringing inwardly. "And you are so amazing with the kids. You clearly love kids. So do I. I mean I really love kids."

"Oh. How nice." Payal replied politely.

"Other people's kids, of course. Not like I have any of my own. Thank the Lord for that."

"....."

"Not that I wouldn't want kids ever. Some day, why not. I mean I like kids, but I like other people's kids for now is what I am trying to say."

"...."

"That came out really creepy. I meant I like kids—"

Payal, who was trying very hard to remain polite, couldn't help the laughter that escaped through her throat finally.

"—It's, it's fine Aakash. I understand your general sentiment. To be very honest, I personally like kids just a healthy amount. That I happen to get along well with them is a stroke of fortune given that it's part of my job."

"Right," Aakash replied, wishing for the floor to swallow him whole and wondering whether Garima Gupta's forceful thumps on his back had caused his brain to drop out of his head onto the floor at the threshold of the house or something. So much for all that celebration last week on having set a fantastic first impression with a falling flag pole and everything! Damn it!

The first thing Arnav Singh Raizada had done upon entering the main door of Gupta residence was to touch Garima Gupta's feet. His toothache had only just subsided, and he had no intention of restarting the whole hellish nightmare with another pull on the cheek. Garima Gupta had to make her peace with thumping him ferociously on the back while giving him loud blessings of living a hundred years, which given what she was doing to his back, did not hold a very high probability. Aakash had given him an empathizing look from afar during the ordeal.

A little while later he sat on the couch in the living room facing the stairs that spiraled upwards, eating a chicken tikka that had been served to him. It was after some fifteen minutes that his cousin came and sat with a thump next to him, sporting a tragic look upon his face.

"Bhai! Help me!"

"What happened Aakash?" he asked, not used to seeing the ever jovial Aakash in so much distress.

"I had an episode of verbal diarrhea in front of the last person I would have wanted to witness it. So you know how I told you I met Payal, the older Gupta sister, in that sports fest right?-" Aakash began, but unfortunately for his woes his timing was horrible, because just then, Khushi Kumari Gupta began to descend down the stairs behind him, and Arnav Singh Raizada felt any and all oxygen leave his body in one clean whoosh.

Khushi was wearing a red anarkali suit. The bodice was red lace on red chiffon, with a net dupatta to go with it. There was no great ornamentation on the flair of the anarkali, the self-on-self intricate lace patters in itself gave it a simple yet classy look- perfect for the occasion. She had left her naturally straight hair loose, and the chestnut expanse of it ran down the length of her back like molten bronze. Wearing simple earrings in her ears, and with light makeup on her face, Khushi Kumari Gupta was looking like a sight to behold.