One Day At A Time

Chapter Thirty Six - Point of Return

"Watch out!" He rasped, watching her clasp the hot wok with her fingers accidentally. She let go of it with a sudden jerk and would have almost toppled it over had he not rushed to steady it with its handles. The searing pain in her fingers made her gasp, forcing the air to rush from her lungs. Watching her face contort in pain, he took a step towards her with a fierce urgency, but she stepped away from him quickly.

"It's nothing. Happens all the time." Her voice quivered in her throat.

"Hold it under the cold water tap for a few minutes, for God sake!" He said with gritted impatience. "It might blister."

"I said it's okay." She snapped.

Arnav resigned, closing his eyes for a moment but then changed his mind quickly. Refusing to take no for an answer, he walked towards her resolutely and grabbing hold of her hand, yanked her over to the sink. Cold water gushed over burning hot skin, sending shock waves shooting through her fingers. Her eyes closed as she stood next to him. But not because of the pain. It was because her world seemed to shrink to those few square inches of warm, vibrant skin wrapped around her wrist at that moment. It was a long time since she'd last felt the warm strength of this man standing this close to her. Four long lonely years. Suddenly she wasn't sure what was burning more - the skin on her fingertips or the one around her wrist.

Turning off the tap, he bent over to inspect the damage without saying a word, his face cast in stone, his mouth nothing but a thin tight line. She watched his fingers move gently over the reddened area at the tip of her fingers and watched him carefully cover it with the hand towel.

"It's okay, really." She mumbled, wishing to fill up the tense silence with some words. "Keeps happening all the time to me. You know me, Arnav. Aai says you don't get a good home meal without burning fingers, which is true in a way. How can one—"She stopped. His proximity was making her garrulous again, she told herself and snatched her hand away as if by breaking the connection, she could somehow get her brain back in gear.

"I'll be back with the burn cream." He said in a clipped tone.

The moment he turned, her thoughts went back to the tablet Shaila had mentioned. And just like that, her pain was forgotten as the worry, and fear for his health took over her mind.

"Oi ladki!" Kabir barged into the kitchen, giving her no time to recover from her thoughts. "Jaldi karo! I am running late." He walked towards the refrigerator next to her and leaned his shoulder against it while munching on an apple.

"What's the hurry about?" She asked in a startled voice.

"We all have jobs unlike you two who are on a nice holiday! Yaar, I need to wrap up things in the studio before we leave tomorrow."

"Is Shirley coming with us tomorrow, Kabs?"

"I need a plus one." He grinned.

"Achcha?"

"Of course! Seems like a couples outing! Kabir akela kaise jaayega?"

"I am going alone too."

"But so is Bhai. So you are counted as a couple." He said quickly and saw her eyes widen. "Dekh na! Akash has Payal, Rajiv has Anjali, Aarav has Shweta, Saahil has Alpana, Vicky has Roshni, Tony has Vanessa, Nikhil has Naina, Bhai has —"

"And Kabs has Shirley!" She said quickly.

He laughed." I guess. Well, she will have to do for now."

"So tell me." She turned to face him, "Do Kaka Kaki know about Shirley?"

"There is nothing to know about her as such, Khush. We do manage to spend some time with each other, but we both are busy with our career at the moment. A proper committed relationship is not feasible. We are somewhere in the middle right now. But yes, she does come over sometimes." He picked up a hot samosa from the big plate. "And I think they like her. You left, and she took your place. And I am glad, else Ma would have felt the void."