Siddharth stood there a flabbergasted, staring at Pari's face trying to comprehend what she had just said. He was looking at her like she didn't belong to this planet, scrutinising everything little about her. Seeing him gaze at her made Pari's breath hitch, his chiselled face and muscular body made her feel weak on her knees and her body responded in a way that it had never before. Pari tried very hard to catch her breath, shifting nervously on her feet waiting of him to take the chocolate box from her still extended hand. Unable to wait any further and wanting to leave as soon as possible Pari finally extended them further, which seemed to break Siddharth away from his trance as he finally took them.
"Thank you." Siddharth mumbled examining the box of chocolates that Pari had given him clearly not very impressed at having received chocolates.
"No problem, enjoy eating them." Pari said, having nothing else to say but immediately feeling like facepalming herself for having sounded so silly. Wanting to save herself from further embarrassment, Pari quickly turned around on her heels to escape the uncomfortable situation.
"Hey, wait." Siddharth called out making Pari turn around to come face to face with him, his deep caramel eyes looking intently into hers.
"I am Siddharth". he said extending him arm.
"Oh, nice to meet you" Pari said, taking his arm and shaking them. The warmth from Siddharth hand seeped into hers and it felt like Pari never wanted to let them go. His hands were strong and as his slightly calloused fingers brush against Pari's, she could feel the world around her spinning.
This mysterious man was indeed something to have this kind of effect on me. Pari though to herself as she pulled back after one firm shake.
Having nothing more to talk about Pari simply waited for him to say something but that never happened. An awkward silence loomed in the air as they stared at each other. Not that Pari minded because looking at him wasn't that bad either. Pari fumbled but then decided to finally break the silence.
"How long have you been living here." Pari asked Siddharth smiling meekly at him hoping this would keep the conversation going on for some time longer.
"Six years now." He said reminiscing his stay in the apartment. " Not a bad place to live I suppose, and you get to see the whole city dressed up in lights at night right from the balcony." Siddharth said smiling back at Pari.
Damn, that smile could light up the entire room.
"Have you gotten a chance to get familiar with the city?" Siddharth enquired.
" Not yet, I have actually spent my entire day buying and arranging furniture." Pari said pouting disappointed that all she did was work all day long. "But hopefully I'll get a chance in the next few days"
He nodded understanding her predicament and once again Pari found herself at a loss of words. No matter how much she tried, the conversation seemed to end every time and she knew it was futile trying to slog something that was clearly not happening. Pari was disappointed that she nearly struck up a connection with the people she met before but not with the one who was her immediate neighbour. Pari was about to take her leave and head back to her apartment when she heard Siddharth clear his throat.
"Why don't you join me for dinner tomorrow night?" He said rubbing the back of his neck debating if he did the right thing asking Pari for dinner. He definitely couldn't let himself invite random girls for dinner.
"Shouldn't I be the one who should be throwing a house warming party and not the other way round?" Pari asked furrowing her brows and then playing with them as she beamed at him.
Seeing Pari do that made him chuckle and Pari could swear it was contagious.
"Well, I can if it's no problem," Pari said smiling meekly as she clutched onto the fabric of her skirt nervous even from the thought that we would share a meal together.
"Okay then, see you tomorrow night and I will be sure to serve these up." Siddharth said gesturing to the box of chocolates in his hand.
By the time Pari was inside her apartment, her heartbeat was heightened by a thousand times. Pari couldn't believe that she was invited to dinner by the mysterious guy who had appeared so fascinating, topped with the fact that he was so handsome and charming. She felt like she had won a little game where the person who had ignored her ended up inviting her to dinner at their place but then she lost all her enthusiasm as her mind went back to the fact that he must have done it only for good gesture and didn't mean anything. It was obvious, why else would handsome guys like him even care about plain jane like herself?
Though a little upset at her sudden realisation, Pari was also glad because she didn't like to interact with people much or get to know them much. Introvert alert! So, this was just going to be one friendly dinner and then they would be normal neighbours, thank god for that, who would occasionally smile at each other or talk about the weather when they were in the elevator together or came across one another in the hallway
Yes, this was too much overthinking but Pari couldn't help myself because she had been this way for as long as she can remember.
Pushing all sorts of thoughts of her next-door neighbour aside, Pari quickly unlocked her phone heading over to the food delivery application and ordering herself some dinner. Having paid for the dinner, she then dialled the people who she probably loved the most in the world, her best friends back in London Harpreet and Louise. Pari had missed them a lot, and even a day apart felt like ages, so, she couldn't wait to update them on whatever new was happening with her life.
Pari called Louise first, which after a few rings she received with much excitement wanting to know about India and how Pari have settled down there. Pari asked Louise to wait and dialled Harpreet as well intending to set up conference call so that she didn't have to repeat herself for details and he too had the same sort of excitement. Pari could imagine them on the edge of their bed, excitement filled to the top waiting for her to even start so that they could flood her with thousands of counter questions, but Pari was not ready to deal with any of that. After asking them to calm down numerous times their excitement was now in control and Pari informed them that she was in a hurry since it was late in there so she would just fill them up on certain details and they would have to wait for later for their queries to be answered.
Pari told them all about her apartment and how she planned on renovating it. She told them how she could see so much of the city right from her balcony and how the beach was only twenty minutes away which she was yet to check out. Pari also told them about the gossiping aunties in the neighbourhood and she could hear them bursting into out in a fit of laughter, the laughter that she now missed and couldn't wait to hear in person again.
Next, the topic changed to if there were any hot guys in the neighbourhood all thank to Louise, always hunting for drool worthy guys. Wanting to tease her a little and make her jealous Pari told them about Siddharth and how he had invited her for dinner at his place, at which Pari could imagine Louise pouting upset that it wasn't her who was invited.
"So, do you think you like him?" Harpreet asked mischief in his voice.
"She definitely does." Louise chimed in screaming on the top of her lungs, making the other two go deaf over the phone
"Is he hot?" Louise asked obviously curious to know what was she missing on.
"I don't know." Pari lied not wanting to prove Louise's suspicion right that she might already like him.
Yes, he was so freaking damn hot. Greek god hot. Brad Pitt in Troy hot!
Pari carefully changed the topic without them suspecting that she was doing it on purpose by asking them about how things were back in England, their families and the new things in their life. She also told them about what she planned on doing while she was in India and how she planned on settling in here.
"Wow Pari, I can't wait for you to work in Bollywood." Louise said excitement evident in her voice.
"Yeah, Bollywood is my favourite." Harpreet said blankly quite obvious that they already knew because he was a brown kid after all but that didn't stop him from saying it out loud either.
The next morning the movers were back and had gotten back to arranging Pari's furniture. Pari was happy with how her apartment was turning out to be. But halfway through she realised that she wasn't really happy with the bland colours of the apartment and that she should head out and grab some paint of her liking to colour the apartment, it would also provide her with an opportunity to unleash her creative side on these mundane walls, it would be the perfect canvas. But her furniture was already set up so Pari had to be extra careful while painting to get no paint on them, which would make the work harder and more time-consuming.
Way to go Pari. Realising important stuffs later and making your work harder. Careless as always
Pari called Manish and asked him to get the car ready while she slid into a coral coloured summer dress and headed out to execute her new plans. Pari was half expecting to bump into Siddharth in the elevator again like the last morning, hoping to strike up a better conversation but unfortunately that didn't happen. She was kind of disappointed but looked forward to meeting him later that night. The driver soon arrived with the car and Pari headed out. She also felt that she should get something to wear that night, subconsciously wanting to impress her new neighbour and also something as a thank you gift for Siddharth for inviting her for dinner.
It was late at noon when she reached the apartment building after grabbing the tonnes of paint cans and brushes and also a lot of decorating accessories. As Pari exited her car carrying two huge paint cans in both her hands she saw Siddharth heading out in his casuals, and he looked hot. Siddharth stopped as soon as he saw Pari and smiled his million-dollar smile.
"Up for, tonight right?" Siddharth asked eyeing the paint cans in Pari's hand but not questioning them.
"Only if there is good food." Pari said slyly trying to mess with him which she could see he didn't mind as a loud chuckle escaped his lips.
"What are we having?" Pari asked him wanting to know
"Scallops and Pizza." Siddharth said as his smirked. This was the first time Pari had seen him smirk and he looked good doing that too.
Pari scrunched up my nose at the thought of having scallops and pizza and shivered at the thought of being served up scallop pizza. God forbid that was the case.
"Isn't that a weird combination?" Pari enquired pouting certain that she didn't want to taste those two together.
"You'll see" Siddharth said and then headed out not waiting for Pari to reply.
The thought of having to try something new, let alone something that was already a weirdly matched food made Pari scared, she was just not the person to try new things, Pari was already set in her ways and she didn't like breaking away from those set conventions but she decided to have faith in Siddharth on his choice of flavours. Was it just her faith on his choice of food or had Pari decided to trust him on different things too? Only time could tell that but for now having faith regarding this little thing was also a first time because trusting people was very unlike herself.
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