Part 30

Word spreads fast and word about celebrities spreads even faster. It was less than a couple of minutes that THE ASR had entered the Purple Orchid premises that all the staff had come to attention and the floor manager rushed to receive him and told him to call the Manager and inform him about the arrival of a VIP.

The company had just settled into the beautifully arranged waiting area sofas with ASR standing around and on the verge of a fit of anger, it had been long too long since he had been asked to wait to be seated. He did not remember when the last time it happened actually, he glared at the host who had asked the party to wait. His ego gave a satisfied purr when he noticed that the host was literally shivering in his boots. He started walking towards his prey to yell at him to get his manager right now!! When the floor manager stumbled into the waiting area followed by the head waiter and smiled widely and said extra politely

“Good Afternoon Sir…”

ASR acknowledged the managers wishes with only his eyes he did not even move his head. He did that to make sure the manager got the message that he was highly displeased with being asked to wait.

The manager faltered at the reply but recovered fast and said “It is a pleasure to serve you this afternoon sir.. this way Sir to your table..”

The waiter led and the guests followed. They were seated at one of the best locations in the restaurant which on one side gave a view of the entire restaurant and on the other side gave a view of the beautiful back gardens of the restaurant. On the third side they had a view of the dance floor and on the fourth it was a gorgeous ravi varma painting on the wall.

This table could cater to anybody’s needs privacy/nature/people/entertainment. People could chose a side depending on their interests. But ASR chose his seat based on his….hmmm he didn’t know what to name it… opposite HER.. this way she was locked in his eyes if not in his arms.

“Sir here are the menus and Subhash here will be your waiter for this afternoon” the manager said.

ASR nodded and said “Give us a minute.”

The manager and the waiter moved away but the waiter hung around at a polite distance waiting to be called upon. As soon as the waiter moved away chatter burst out.

“Nannav!! OMG…are you famous or something or have you been here before and yelled at them for something and now they are terrified of you and are treating you like a king…”

Lavanya hit him lightly on the hand and said “ASR is a celebrity.. he is pretty famous not only for his money and power but and mostly for his good looks…”

Payal and Aakash stared at her for saying something like that to NK, ASR looked up from the menu and his eyebrows raised in amusement and a small smirk playing on his lips. Khushi was too busy reading the menu to care for anything else. NK was shocked and said “LAVANYA!! How could you…say..”

Lavanya frowned and said “Ooh Come on NK, I didn’t say I was into his looks … but NK you have to agree he is handsome….”

NK thought about it for a second and said “hmm.. ya I would marry him if I were a girl.. or.. if both of us were gay….”

Lavanya and NK smiled at each other and went back to looking at their menus holding hands. Aakash and Payal could not believe the two and ASR was trying to decide how he felt about being discussed as if he were not there. Khushi was not in this world.

Just then the waiter came up and asked if they were ready to order and Khushi immediately said “Yes, I will have gobi manchurian, palak paneer, aloo parathas, paneer rice and…hmmm mango lassi” she concluded and put the menu aside and said “Please bring the Manchurian first”

Aakash, NK and Arnav stared at her as they were listening to her order. But NK and Aakash noticed Payal and Lavanya were not surprised the least bit and hence stopped staring so they would not embarrass Khushi and continued to get ready to order. But when Khushi finished her order and looked up and she was looking at HIM looking at her as if she were crazy.

“hmmmph Khushi Kumari Gupta… you can’t keep away from being crazy can you.. you and your big mouth.. now he thinks you are a mental case and after he sees you eat all that food he is going to think you are some rakshas in human form.. good going…” the chain of her thoughts were broken by Lavanya saying “Khushi you didn’t order dessert did you see, they don’t have jelabi’s but they have rasgulla..”

This time Aakash and NK joined ASR again and stared at Khushi for her answer she awkwardly replied “I don’t want any dessert”  and kicked Lavanya under the table before Lavanya could say anything else.

Lavanya glared at her but gave up she had earned long back to not question Khushi’s craziness, it was not good for anybodies health.

When the waiter moved to NK and Lavanya and then finished taking orders around the table and left. Before the waiter left NK said  “hey dude… please take these two’s orders to a different table, a table for two with some privacy.”

Aakash thanked his stars for bringing his cousin along. Payal was about to say something when Lavanya cut her off saying “We are here so you two can talk and what can you two share in front of all of us? But if you think you want to talk in front of us we would love to listen to everything..” which shut up Payal immediately.

The Manager came and brought an appetizer tray with him and said sir the table for two is ready and ASR looked at Aakash. Aakash nodded and stood up and helped Payal out of her chair and walked away behind the manager.

Meanwhile Lavanya and NK had turned towards each other and had started discussing about something and intermittently giggling about something. They started holding hands and talking about their wedding stuff even more excitedly.

The waiter came with the drinks that the party had ordered and served them and before the waiter left, NK said “Hang on one sec…” to the waiter and then turned to Arnav and said “Nannav me and Lavanya want to talk about somethings and spend some quality time together, would you mind keeping Khushi company for lunch, we want to get a table for two..”

Khushi who was enjoying her Mango Lassi almost chocked the drink as it went down the wrong pipe when she heard NK’s words. Lavanya got up from her seat and thumped Khushi on her back till she settled down and then said “Khushi we will be right over there…ok NK lets go..” she finished.

Khushi was silently begging Lavanya with her eyes to stay but Lavanya mercilessly ignored her plea though she understood completely that Khushi didn’t want her to go. Lavanya had decided that if there is a chance that ASR was interested in Khushi it will be very good. He is capable of taking care of Khushi… yes Lavanya knew ASR had a reputation with the ladies… but she also knew from how he looked at Khushi that it was not just lust that he felt for her…she wanted to give this a chance to develop into something…but she also decided that she would be there behind Khushi every step of the way in case it was going to be a disaster.

 

*****************************

Khushi watched Lavanya and NK follow the waiter to be seated and then looked everywhere but at him for some time and then decided she cann’t ignore him forever and looked in his direction… and their eyes met as he was patiently waiting for her to look at him… and when she did ….Time stood still for both of them…