Arranged Roommates

|12| Apologies

"I just need some time alone. Please." I glanced up at him, my eyes begging him to go away.

"Okay. Take a little while to settle yourself okay? I will be back in a bit." He appeared to be hesitant to leave me alone but finally got inside his room and shut the door gently.

I did some breathing exercises to compose myself. His comment about my weird temperament kept ringing in my ears. It wasn't as if I wasn't aware of myself. I had heard that comment for my entire life now.

Control freak, Miss know it all, robot-like, moody, dominating, judgemental and hundreds of such degrading terms.

But it hurt a lot more to hear it from him. And I don't even know why was that.

A shower would be good to clear my mind. Also, I was feeling extremely uncomfortable in this tiny lingerie. I went inside Aryan's room and immediately walked towards the closet area, with my eyes downcast. My legs remembered the route to the closet from yesterday.

Before I could walk into the closet, I heard my name being called from behind.

"Ria, wait. Are you alright now?" He asked, worry evident in his voice.

I just nodded with my back still facing him.

I started to walk away when he grabbed my hand and turned me towards him.

He took hold of my chin and titled my face up, "I wanted to say that I am sorry too."

"But you didn't even do anything wrong. You shouldn't be apologizing. It was all me, with my rude behaviour. You had every right to be mad."

He shook his head in denial, "There was my mistake too. I shouldn't have pushed your buttons when you were obviously so tired of everything. And you must have felt so uncomfortable in a new place. I should have shown you around. I am sorry that you had to sleep on the couch last night."

"I deserved that after my crude behaviour yesterday," I said, shrugging.

"Nobody deserves to sleep on a sofa after such a long day, that too without any comforter and in such a flimsy thing." He glanced down at my body and shook his head as if clearing some thought before saying, "You were shivering from the cold."

"It's fine," I said curtly, still feeling a little out of place.

"Also," he cleared his throat, "Mom had called to tell me that she, Rohit and some of my relatives will be here in the afternoon."

"Is something wrong?"

"Oh, no, no. They will actually come for lunch. She told me to remind you about the pheli rasoi rasm."

"Hmm...At what time will they be here?"

"Around one o'clock."

I kept my reply short, "Okay." 

"Are you comfortable cooking? Because I can't cook to save my life. We could have ordered from the restaurant, but Mom would immediately catch that," He babbled apprehensively.

"Don't worry. I will manage." I peeked at the clock behind him which showed the time to be ten thirty. "But I would appreciate some help if you could do that. Since the time is too less."

"I can try."

I waited for him to leave my hand after that, but his gaze kept flickering from my face to my body as I shuffled from one foot to the other, nervously. He seemed to be in a daze, so I snapped my fingers to break his spell.

"You can leave me now."

He dropped my hand quickly as if it was emitting volcanic lava, his cheeks acquiring a crimson tint and the place where his dimple normally appeared twitched slightly. "Yeah, right, okay."

So many affirmations in a single sentence. I looked at him, amused.

"So, do you have a quick vegetable chopper in your kitchen?"

"I don't know?" He said, confusedly.

I sighed, "Who does the cooking for you?"

He scratched the back of his head and let out, "I actually eat at the restaurant. The chef makes me whatever I say according to my diet plan."

Such a man-baby.

"You don't have any groceries at home right now?"

"Mom had been living here for the past week for the wedding preparation so she might have stocked the fridge, I don't know..."

"Okay, I am trying hard not to panic right now. But this situation isn't helping much."

"I could order someone to bring whatever you need."

"Hmm. Let's see what we have in the kitchen." I clicked my tongue, heading towards the kitchen.

I opened the triple-door fridge, and fortunately, it was filled to the brim.

Searching through the sea of items, I asked, "Why do you have such a well-furnished fridge and kitchen when you don't use them?"

He shrugged nonchalantly, "It's essential for the vibe of the house, is it not? And it looks good too, so no harm in that."

Such a rich people's response.

"And not to mention, it keeps my beer chill."

I just rolled my eyes.  

I took out all the necessary items and searched for the cabinets. There were all the kitchen appliances present inside, and all were in brand new condition.

I always wanted to have such a spacious kitchen all to myself and with such modern devices it was equipped with, this was a dream come true for me. I would have kissed every inch of this amazing kitchen if I was alone right now.

Placing all the ingredients on the countertop, I picked up the onions.

"You need to chop the vegetables. Can you do that?" I questioned.

"Don't onions make you cry? How will I chop it with hazy vision?" He asked with utmost sincerity.

I chuckled at the question, "Soaking the onions in water for a couple of minutes gets rid of the crying."

"Really?"

"Yes, Works like magic!" I filled a bowl with water and submerged the onions in it.

"After about three minutes, take them out and then you need to cut the onion into roughly two pieces, place them inside the chopper and just press it down, as it is shown here." I showed him the picture which was at the back of the chopper packet. "And after the onions are done, chop the tomatoes the same way, Simple."

He nodded sincerely, "I can do that."

"Okay, I will be using the bathroom in the living room."

He didn't answer me as he was busy reading the instructions at the back of the chopper like a dutiful student.

*** 

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