Flames Of Fire ✗ (A PaNi FF)

Chapter 17

*Pic above is not mine, I got it from Instagram: infinitymanan*

Heyyyyyy! It's January, happy new year! Hope y'all had a great one, being with your significant others, hehe. I was with my papa at the Air Force, playing with his friend's pup! It was awesome!

There's a lot to this chapter and all I can say is... hang in there! Parth and Niti are eternal and beautiful! :") Hehe! It is gonna get better! Embrace the shades. Happy weekend! <3

*

Niti

"Parth Samthaan, a reservation was made. We need a table for 10..." He was the tallest of us all and standing at the podium talking on behalf of all of us, he looked like the leader of the pack. There was an exuberant vibe about him, that made him look importunately hot for me. He was compelling and under full command, taking the lead over several people in the group, even those who were older.

"Welcome to Min Yang! This way please..."

We were taken into one of the dimmer spots in the authentic restaurant, possibly away from public mobbing or anything. Lights hung like mini-Chinese lanterns over every dining table. The walls looked salmon peach under the lights, with white Chinese letters printed on them indicating their gothic history. One thing I noted was the furniture in the room was perfectly symmetrical and straight cut, enhancing the medieval Chinese ambience. Just approaching the wood would whisk out a strong mahogany scent, while the air around smelt like oranges. There was something about the restaurant that I appreciated, but couldn't put a finger on.

I took the couch seat, I don't know why but I love the luxury of couch seats in a restaurant, after which everyone wanted to sit on the couch! We shifted to a more high-end ranged table, where I voluntarily squashed myself into one edge and Parth sat opposite to me across the table on the corresponding edge.

Apparently, Parth, Charlie and Fenil worked together in a show called Best Friends Forever, and Ayaz, Vikas and Fenil also knew each other through Fanaah. She was a mutual friend to everyone but Veebha and I, which was why I chose to sit next to Veebha. Fenil sat opposite to Parth, with Ayaz on one side. Utkarsh jammed himself in with Veebha and I, and together we three were more jovial amongst the squad. Charlie sat next to Ayaz and Pam Di sat across the table. Vikas and Mangesh sat at the ends of the table, right where the orders could be taken. We were a total of ten people, as counted per head.

Let's skip the ordering part and get to the details.

It all started when Parth and I wanted the same dish, the infamous Min Yang tender chicken! Only God knew what it was but I was always up for the signature specials.

"Oho! Manik and Nandini are redefining couple goals, haan?" came Ayaz's voice. He was the only daring one of the lot who could pass such comments regarding the two of us. In a more private environment, it would've been Veebha too.

There was definitely no harm getting two of the same, but after last night... I didn't want to be actually paired even the slightest with Parth. There was already a lot going on about MaNan and 'PaNi' being a real thing. We were strictly professional in the eyes of everyone else and for some unknown reason, I was glad to keep it that way for public at least.

I sacrificed my choice for something else and read it out to the waiter when my phone pinged.

*You can have a bit from mine.*

As far as I knew, especially with matters concerning food, Parth was a selfish little toddler. Food was his first priority, always and he wouldn't dare trade it for anything else. I pressed my lips together in a line, to avoid showing off the growing smile after flicking through the text. I glanced at him from over the table, while he was awkwardly huddled towards the edge, so that nobody would peek into his phone. Every now and then he was throwing in random 'haan, I'd like one of those too', while I just exhaled at the haywire ordering going on.