Chapter 352

Diya kind of lost balance and almost fell on the door that closed on it own with a noise. As he was holding her by her waist she landed on his hands. She thought of avoiding his kiss in the first place but she realized it was a little too late and gently tried to relieve herself from his grip. But his grip only tightened and kiss intensified. He opened his eyes for just a second and looked straight into her eyes and winked at her. Diya had not expected that and she felt a chill go through a spine. It was more like the excitement when a child gets when holding an ice cream in hand that she had longed for ever to get it. She closed her eyes and for a minute lost herself in his arms and in his kiss. He let go of her after a passionate kiss and asked, “How are you? How is everything back home with your brother and all? You seemed to be extremely busy lately.” It took her a few seconds to come back to her senses and she smiled and gently walked towards the room. She was not sure if her eyes were not adjusting to light or if things had actually changed between the time she had closed her eyes and opened it. He walked behind her and hugged her from behind and kissed her cheek and said, “Surprised. The switch was just next to the door. I adjusted it so it gives a nice ambience. For the candles they were there when you showed up, but were too bright for you to see. Sometimes our mind plays tricks on us, just used it to my advantage. Do you like it? I wanted to do something nice for you even though it was a last minute thing.”

Before Diya could say anything the oven beeped indicating that it was time to take what ever that was cooking inside was done. He walked towards the oven and reached for the mittens and opened the oven door carefully and said, “I prepared lasagna. As you are a vegetarian I made some vegetable lasagna. I hope you like it.” She said, “You cooked. Wow! It smells wonderful.” She walked over to the kitchen asking, “Do you need any help?” He placed the Pyrex glass tray in which he had baked the lasagna in the center of the dining table. She moved things around to make some space. He said, “It would be great if you could join me for dinner and I really hope my first experiment in making vegetarian lasagna has come out good. Let me get the salad from the fridge and we can start.” Diya slowly opened the aluminum foil that was covering the lasagna. She said, “You have got to be kidding me. This looks amazing. You presentation… are you sure you are not a chef?” He laughed and bowed and said, “Thank you for you compliments Madam Monsieur.” They both laughed and while Diya helped cut the lasagna so that it is easy to serve, Akshar asked, “Would you care for some wine?” She nodded and said, “No. Thank you. I would rather have some orange juice instead.” Akshar replied, “One orange juice coming right up”. Just then Diya noticed, "I thought this table was much bigger?" Akshar said, "That is right. It was an oval table that seats six. I removed the leaf and made it small so that it gives a romantic touch to it when the two of us sit opposite to each other and have a nice romantic dinner. That is the best I could do in a short notice." Diya didn't say anything but it was obvious that she was very impressed.