Laddoos, with Love (Diwali Special)

Chapter 4

"I am so certain your laddoos tasted very bad. That's why you threw them into the sink, right?" He said, laughing at me. He was standing in front of his house, and I stood against the door of my house.

"Shut up, it was an accident." I said. It wasn't an accident at all.

"Don't worry, one can always improve their cooking." He said gently.

"What needs improvement is your personality, stupid." I pouted.

"Yours needs more than mine, sad rude girl." He countered. Thinking about it, we were always arguing like little children. Oddly, that was comforting in a way. There was no need to pretend like most people did.

At that moment our downstairs neighbour Aunt came up to us and looked surprised. "You've both have become friends already?" She asked us. He waved at her.

"Not particularly." I said immediately. Did he know her before?

She came up to me and held my hand and pointed towards him. "This guy is my sister's son, dear. He's a sous chef. He is a nice man." She said. 

"But he doesn't talk very much." She said, and I tried not to snort. Except, when he does, he's really rude and picks a fight with me all the time.

"He is very shy." She added. My mind voice was working overtime. Except that he keeps inviting himself to my house.

"He is very humble." She continued. Yeah, despite being a professional he got into a contest with me just so he could win.

"So, I hope you become friends." Aunt said, as she finally finished speaking the obvious lies. Seriously, if she was speaking the truth, this guy was either an expert liar in front of his family or was behaving differently just towards me. Now what did I do to deserve the second option?

"I am so glad I met him." I said with a fake smile. "He's too shy that he doesn't even open his mouth to eat the laddoos that I make!"

"Your laddoos don't deserve to be eaten." He countered. His Aunt was observing us silently. "Laddoos..?" She asked, as she looked at him questioningly.

But just then, her phone rang, and someone asked her to come somewhere immediately. She apologised and went way, promising to talk to us later. Even his family was weird.

"My laddoos don't deserve to be eaten? Are they that bad?" I asked him angrily.

"It's not that they're bad , it's just they are horrible." He said, as he came inside my house, as usual.

"Well, instead of being rude, why don't you just give me some tips about cooking?"

"What? Cooking must come on its own. You must prepare it with love. Just think about how happy the other person would feel if they tasted your food. You must prepare it, keeping that in mind. Its a motivation in itself." He said.

Wow that was surprisingly deep, for him. "Wow, even though your personality is unlikable, you are surprisingly passionate." I said.

"Why, you little....!"

So with renewed energy from his speech, I began to make laddoos with the recipe he had given me during the competition. I followed them precisely and made them with a concentration I'd never had before. I would make such laddoos that would be so tasty that they'd wipe that smug look off his face.

I looked at the finished product. And even I had to admit that it was mediocre. They looked like deflated tennis balls and that was not a good sign. All my hard work was a total waste and tears flurried out of my eyes. I felt so horrible. Perhaps I wasn't to be a good laddoo maker. I ran to his house clutching the plate of laddoos and launched an epic rant when he opened the door.

"No matter how much ever I try, they taste so horrible! Perhaps I'll never be a good cook. No one will look forward to my laddoos! Perhaps I should go back to the time before I met you, when I thought my laddoos were spectacular! No one will marry me now! I should just go and become a nun."

I was making no sense! But I really felt bad, and needed it to get out of my chest.

"I'll eat your laddoos." He said simply.

"What?"

"Give me, I'll eat them all."

A/N: 

One more chapter to go!