There was a small pause on the line before Maria replied. “No, ma’am. Sir does not have any dinner plans outside.”
Mishti frowned slightly. “Okay…”
“In fact, he has asked me to call and inform you that he wantsyouto cook dinner for him tonight,” Maria continued. “Alone. Without any help.”
For a moment, Mishti did not respond. The words took time to sink in.
He wanted her to cook for him?Her fingers tightened around the phone.In all these weeks of their marriage, Karan had never once eaten anything she had cooked. The only exception had been the gajar halwa that Rajat had tricked himinto tasting. So this sudden demand made no sense…unless he wanted to keep her busy tonight. On purpose.
If she were cooking for him, she could not be out having dinner with Rajat and Abhimanyu. If she were in the kitchen, her evening belonged tohim. It was not an invitation. It was a planned move.
A small smile tugged at her lips.
Seriously, Karan Wadhwa,she thought.Is this what you have come down to now?
What would it have cost him to simply accept her invitation and join them for dinner? Nothing. But that would have meant sharing space, sharing attention, letting others see her laugh. And that, apparently, was unacceptable for the broody Wadhwa.
“Well,” Mishti said calmly into the phone, “no problem, Maria. I will be home after work, and I will cook dinner for your Karan sir.”
She ended the call without another word.
Just as she lowered the phone, her gaze drifted to the small table lamp on her desk. The same lamp Karan had pointed out earlier, and said it housed a camera and a voice recorder, quietly feeding everything back to him.
She was certain that even now he was watching her. Even listening. The thought did not make her uneasy anymore. If anything, it stirred something stubborn inside her.
She turned slightly so she was facing the lamp and muttered.
“Grow up, Karan,” she said.
Then she turned back to her files and continued reading, as if nothing unusual had happened at all.
In Karan’s cabin, the live feed still played on his laptop screen. He had seen her answer the call. Heard every word. Watched her expression change, confusion giving way to realisation, and then to that faint, infuriating smile when shelooked straight at the camera and spoke those two words‘Grow up’.
His first instinct was irritation. Who did she think she was talking to like that? And yet the irritation never fully formed. Instead, a weak, fleeting smile that surprised even him curved at the corner of his mouth.
She had understood his move instantly. More than that, she had accepted it without protest. No frustration. No argument. No wounded pride. She had simply agreed to cook for him, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
Finally, her dinner plans were foiled exactly as he intended. She would not be out with Rajat and Abhimanyu tonight. She would be home.With him.
And if keeping her there meant letting her cook for him for the first time, then so be it.
Karan leaned back in his chair, with his eyes still fixed on the screen. If this was the price of control, he would pay it.
Even if it meant letting her into spaces he had sworn would always remain closed for her.
****************
Night – Wadhwa Mansion
It was well past nightfall when Karan finally stepped into Wadhwa Mansion. The day had drained him. As soon as he crossed the threshold, Maria hurried forward to take his briefcase.
Karan did not acknowledge her immediately. Instead, his gaze moved instinctively toward the kitchen corridor.
She should be there.
That was the whole point, after all. He had let Mishti leave work on time without protest, had ensured the house staff were sent away, had made arrangements that would leave her with no option but to stay back home and cook for him.
Abhimanyu had already left earlier for another meeting, which suited Karan just fine.
