Chapter 22: 21

A heavy sigh left Vrishali's mouth as she stared at the work. She has been working on her final project for one month now. The only thing left is to finish the final parts before packing the project and sending it to Hailey.

Her stomach grumbled. Glancing at her watch, shock swept over her as she quickly looked out of the window. The sky had darkened. She had been working since morning and had skipped lunch. Massaging her face, she left her work and exited the room.

She thought about Padmanabh. He had been busy with work, and they hardly ate dinner together. However, he tried to have breakfast with her and even dropped her off at her college. She missed his presence at dinner and felt lonely having dinner alone. She stopped in her tracks when she heard the noise from the kitchen.

She walked in and was surprised to see Padmanabh. "What are you doing here?" He turned around. Her gaze went to the apron and the wooden spatula he held. "Ah— I was going to call you once I finished making the dinner." Vrishali crossed her arms and leaned against the door frame. "You are making us the dinner?"

Padmanabh's cheeks flared. "We didn't have dinner together in a while. I decided to prepare dinner tonight." She nodded. "That's nice. Please don't mind me. I will just grab a snack. Do you want me to help with anything?" Padmanabh shook his head. "I got everything covered."

Vrishali went over to the fridge and pulled it open. She took out an apple and washed the grapes she had stored in a container in the morning. Padmanabh continued mixing the vegetables that he had sauteed for the vegetable stew. "What are you making?"

"I decided to make a vegetable stew with coconut milk and appam." Vrishali's brows frowned in confusion. "Appam? What is that?" she took the knife from the knife stand and started chopping the apple. "It's a soft dosa-type dish. Prepared with rice flour and coconut milk. It is a Kerala dish."

"I'm excited. here," Vrishali handed the fruit bowl she just made to Padmanabh. "Thank you." She took a seat and watched Padmanabh work. He gracefully moved around the kitchen without disturbing anything or making any noise. It was a fascinating sight. Padmanabh glanced at Vrishali, and she immediately looked at the stove. Smiling to himself, Padmanabh brought his attention back to the cauliflower.

'He looks like a snack..'

'Nah, he is a snack...'

'Did he workouts?'

'I think he does.'

'Did he get a six-pack?'

'Are his thighs thick?'

'Wha-'

Vrishali shook her head, and dirty questions started playing in her head as she watched Padmanabh's body. "Are you okay?" Padmanabh asked in concern when he saw Vrishali shaking her head continuously. "Yes, I just felt ticklish in my nose."

"So, how is the project going?" she asked. They haven't spoken about Harika, and the topic has never come up. Vijay is taking time off due to an emergency. They will return to work on the designs next month. Once the designs and changes are complete, the project will continue."

"Do you usually cook?" Padmanabh shook his head. "Not usually, but on certain days when I'm not tired or when my evenings are free." Vrishali hummed. "How did you learn to cook?" Padmanabh glanced at her with a small smile. I—I lived in London. I was not a fan of their vegetarian options. I had to prepare meals and enjoyed cooking except for the washing."

Vrishali let out a chuckle. "I understand. My Dad loves cooking, and my mum bakes a lot for our restaurant. I was never responsible for cooking; it was just cleaning up the kitchen after them. Oh, Boy, how I hated washing the utensils sometimes. The turmeric stains don't go away easily."

"My dad usually cooks Indian food while mum likes to bake a lot," Vrishali said, and Padmanabh listened.

"Do you bake?" Padmanabh asked. "I did once, it didn't come out well, and it just doesn't interest me. Cooking in general." Padmanabh hummed. "Your parents were the head chefs at their restaurant?"

"Oh no, we have Uncle Joshi and Uncle Param as head chefs. My dad loves cooking for us. We added a small pastry corner three years ago where my mum loved to sell her baked items. Her strawberry shortcake is a bestseller. Oh, how I miss her cakes." Padmanabh mentally made a note of calling his mother-in-law for the recipe.

"Have you done any baking?" she asked. "I did once when I was visiting Akshita and Akshay. They had a new oven, and they both wanted to bake cupcakes." Vrishali watched his arms flex as he chopped the coriander. She gulped down the lump as she felt hot. "Cute."

"What is that?" Vrishali asked. His gaze went to where she was pointing. "Oh, I made the coconut milk first for the stew." When Vrishali is done eating her fruits, she glanced at his bowl; he had finished it. She stood up from the stool, went over, picked up his bowl and hers, and washed them in the sink before drying the bowls.

"Hmm, we can make coconut pudding with the leftover milk," Padmanabh said. "Oh, that would be nice." Padmanabh moved swiftly around Vrishali to grab a steel vessel from the upper cabinet. She leaned back, watching Padmanabh with widened eyes as he stepped closer without much thought. He wasn't looking at her. He was there for the vessel. When Padmanabh looked down, he was taken aback by the presence of Vrishali. He had thought she was over the basin.

"I—I wanted to see how you would make the pudding." Vrishali moved a bit. Padmanabh quickly pulled the vessel out and closed the cabinet. He stepped away with both of them flushed. Padmanabh went over to the stove and focused on cooking.

*

Vrishali set up their small breakfast table of two people. She arranged the candles in one of the cabinets and brought the flower vase from the drawing room. Padmanabh glanced at Vrishali, who was photographing the setup table. He couldn't help but smile as he brought the appams to the table.

Padmanabh took the seat. "Do you mind if we take a picture of us?"

"Do we have to?" Vrishali nodded. "That would be a good memory." Padmanabh nodded. Vrishali stood beside Padmanabh and opened the front camera on her phone. She smiled brightly while Padmanabh gave a small smile. It was awkward. It had never posed for a selfie before. Vrishali took her seat and placed the phone down. "Thank you for dinner. I appreciate it."

"Can I have the coconut pudding first?" Padmanabh shook his head. "No."

"Why?" Vrishali crossed her arms and stared at him. "No, you can have the dessert later."

"But I want to eat first."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"I will have my dessert first."

"Vrishali. . ."

"Padmanabh. . ."

Padmanabh's eyes immediately met hers. "Did you just call me by my name?" Vrishali recovered from her shock. "Yes."

"You can't call me by name." Vrishali's brows frowned. "How should I address you?" Padmanabh opened and closed his mouth. He isn't sure about how he wants Vrishali to address him.  "You— You can address me as ji."

"Sure! Can I have dessert first, ji?" Padmanabh held her gaze. "That would spoil the taste of appam and veg stew. And, if the appams get cold, they don't taste as good as they would."

"Hmm, okay." She waited as Padmanabh started serving their plates. Vrishali waited patiently, and the smell was heavenly. Padmanabh waited as Vrishali took the first bite; he waited as she savoured the taste before meeting his gaze. "You are a good cook, and your food is a wonder."

"Thank you."

*

"But why are you going to Australia?" Padmanabh asked Vijay. "To meet Tania."

"Tania?"

"I told you, my girlfriend Tania. Don't tell me you don't remember her." Vijay picked up the salad and looked for the waiter to ask for another salad. They were dining at Paros. "I only knew that you have a girlfriend."

Vijay smiled. "Yes, we never got time to talk about my relationship. Anyway, she is doing her masters in Sydney, and I will see her for a week."

"How did you meet her?"

"I met while I was in Munich. She was there for a trip, and we connected through Tinder. I wasn't sure it would work out for long. We spent our holiday together, and I liked her company. Long story short, we decided to give it a shot. Meaning— Long distance relationship."

Padmanabh nodded. "Does it concern you? The long-distance relationship?" Vijay nodded. "Well, in the beginning, it did. Like being committed to one person and going long distances. We— We decided to be in an open relationship; I know the concept sounds too Westernized, but it worked for us. We were two individuals in our prime age and concentrating on our future. Could we both adjust according to the dynamics and settle down in one place?" Vijay shook his head. "If that happened, we would've had a hurtful breakup."

"It was like right person wrong time. . . Thankfully, we both are okay with the concept of an open relationship. We weren't exactly committed, nor were we exactly cut off the string." Vijay sipped his drink. "I'm not ready to settle down, nor is she. We are focused on our careers for now. My relationship with her makes me happy, and we both are happy with our decision. And when we both finally feel like settling down together somewhere, we will. But the day isn't now yet."

"That's brilliant. I respect you two for the decision that you took."

"Thanks, man." Padmanabh considered his words. "You go to Sydney to meet her every time?"

Vijay shook his head. "Not all the time. She comes to India, or we both plan on visiting a different country on our important dates and birthdays."

"Good,"  Vijay observes Padmanabh. There's unsaid stress and tension on his face. "Is everything okay at home?" Padmanabh glanced at Vijay. He doesn't have to worry about speaking about his personal with Vijay. He had been the one with whom he had shared a lot of personals.

Padmanabh played with the spoon. "It's about Vrishali. She is missing her family back in New York. She misses life, and I do not know how to make her talk about it. I found her crying last night. I— I was helpless."

"Have you tried to talk about it?

"I did. She didn't open up and said she was trying to adjust. I'm not happy about this situation. We were in a situation where we couldn't say no to the marriage. It's a messed up situation. We are trying to make it work, but I see the distant look in her eyes. I'm keeping my distance; we are getting to know each other, and it doesn't feel right."

"I understand where you are coming from. But, are you unhappy with your marriage?"

"God, no. I'm happy. . . I'm happy being with Vrishali, but I'm unhappy with how we were thrown together into this. I do not have any complaints about our marriage. But, Vrishali— She is young, has dreams, and hasn't seen the world yet. There's so much the world could offer her, and she's here. I'm not sure what her plans were or if she wanted to move to another country for her masters." Padmanabh massaged his forehead.

"Vrishali is an artistic and creative person. She can't be here. She doesn't have to adjust here, not for me, not for this marriage. She must be free from this and return to her old life. I don't want her to lose herself just because she married me."

"Padmanabh. . . Are you— Are you thinking of getting separated from Vrishali? That is a big thing, considering you two have married recently, and I have seen how you see her, man."

"No, I— I have not thought of divorce. I'm going to be supportive of her decisions. I do want her to choose herself and her career. It's just I don't know how to approach her. Even if I did, would she be able to take it positively? If she did, would she think of me? Whatever connection we were building when she left?"

Vijay patted Padmanabh's hand. "She is not going to take it negatively, and ofcourse she would think of you. She will think of the relationship, and whatever happens, will happen for the better. You are thinking and not being selfish, keeping her here. I'm happy about the realization. Talk to her before it's too late."

"I already have the idea of asking her to return to New York to finish her studies."

"That's a good idea." Vijay looked at him. "Hmm— Knowing your family, do you think it would be a problem if they oppose." Padmanabh sighed heavily. "I have never spoken against them, but if the situation arises. I don't think I will sit back, but I will stand Vrishali."