MMZ – Her Perfect Imperfections (Part One)

Her Perfect Imperfections – Part One.

I remember once during my parent’s wedding anniversary party a couple asked them how they found love, I remember my mom smiled and looked at my dad ever so lovingly, you could tell they loved each other by the way they looked at one other. Both my parents came from rich families, in fact they were business rivals until my dad laid his eyes on my mom and the two fell in love merging their businesses into one giant multi-billion dollar company that was now passed on to me and my cousin. The story about how they found love was my all time favourite, since the first day I heard it I had waited for the day someone would ask me the same question and I would narrate them my amazing love story. I was 12 then and I am 28 today but I haven’t been asked that question and who would ask when I didn’t have a story to tell. My life revolved around my work, I loved my job, business was in my blood after all. I often appear workaholic to some but I wasn’t, work just comes naturally to me. Just like Shakespeare couldn’t live without enchanting the world with his magical words I couldn’t breathe a day without working, I was like the Pablo Picasso of the stock market. Sitting in my office for hours staring at my computer screen was like finding nirvana for me, work took my stress, work made me forget.

Lip syncing to Ed Sheeran’s ‘Thinking Out Loud’ I pulled up into one of my many parking spots in the basement of my building like any other day, there was nothing peculiar about that Thursday. I didn’t have the heart to leave the song midway so I stayed in the car, music was my favorite pass time. A girl knocked on my window, she was slender, neither short nor tall wearing a black T-shirt over grey torn jeans .Her long black hair falling loosely on her face which I found kind of messy. I pulled down the window keeping a ‘not so happy with your intrusion’ kind of expression on my face.

She smiled raking her hand in her hair “Hi…”

“Hi”

“I kind of locked my car keys in the car, could you please help me out?” She bit her bottom lip hesitantly.

I sighed, it’s not like I was a mechanic or something but she said please and I had to help “sure”

“Great” She smiled again this time even wider.

I stepped out of my car and she was already leading the way, she staggered and almost fell on her face but I caught her at the nick of time “careful” I warned.

She gave me a crooked smile “thanks” she said on my face and I had to scrunch my nose for a second, she reeked of alcohol now I know how she locked the keys inside her car. We stopped in front of a brand new red Aston Martin ‘what a beauty’ I thought to myself I always had a thing for cars “I’ll need you to wedge a gap between the door and the car” she said breaking my admiring gaze on the car. She took out a wooden wedge from her fringed sling bag that I didn’t notice her to carry till now and and gave it to me, she herself picked a thin rod that was lying on the floor, for a second I was scared how she was all prepared for this, probably not her first time. “ready?” she asked with a scrutinizing gaze on me, I nodded and we got to business.

A few attempts and we got the door to open “there you go” I told her feeling proud of myself, hitting the gym wasn’t useless after all.

“Thanks’’ she mumbled while inside her car without giving me a second glance, few seconds ago she was all smiling at me and now that her job was done she was not even looking at me, what an ungrateful. Sighing in disappointment at her lack of manners I walked back to my car, you can’t help strangers nowadays.

I locked my car and I was walking towards the elevator resisting the urge to turn to my right to see if she was still there when a loud banging sound halted my steps, my jaw dropped in horror of the scene before my eyes, my feet froze to the ground with the shock “what the hell?” I whispered confused. The girl I had helped was holding a baseball bat which she got from God knows where smashing her car, her brand new car “what the hell?” I repeated this my voice had gained a little strength because she heard me.

She gave me a glance her lips curved into a smirk and that’s when I noticed her wearing biker gloves, was she wearing those before? I asked myself “fun right?”

I walked to her “what are you doing?” I asked though I was not expecting any assuring answer from her, because she was hammered and asking me if I found her car smashing act fun. She swang the bat towards me and I took two steps back not wanting that baseball bat anywhere near my head, you can’t trust a drunk girl with a killer machine in her hands.

She laughed “just practising my batting skills” and the side mirror hanged on dear life with her one swing “also teaching this piece of shit a lesson” she added before plunging a hole in the windscreen. I stood there watching as she poured out her frustrations on the poor car, mirrors broken, one side mirror on the floor and one almost touching the floor, the beautiful model dented for life.

As if she hadn’t had enough of torturing the poor car that couldn’t defend itself she stepped onto the front hood in attempt to scar the top ceiling, what a sadist. She slipped but steadied herself the next second and took one strong swing on the car, I wondered how come she still had so much energy in her. She slipped again but this time I ran to her rescue holding both her feet “get down before you hurt yourself”

“No” she tried to kick my hand off her feet only to fall off the car but I was ready to catch her like a Bollywood hero, another proud moment of the night.

“What if you had hurt yourself?” I asked her though it came out as a scolding. She threw the baseball bat away taking the hanging side mirror down finally, she smiled her crooked one again before falling limp in my hands and her eyes shut. “miss… miss….” I called out concerned “are you dead?” I screamed shaking her a bit to no avail. I pulled her face close to mine and relaxed feeling her breath on my face, she was still alive must have dozed off from the alcohol. I looked at her broken car and then at her, what was I supposed to do with her I didn’t even know her name but figured she must be staying in the same building since her car was parked here. Sighing I walked with her to the elevator hoping nobody finds me with her sleeping form in my hands.

I took off her boots and bag and placed them on the bedside table, I tucked her in and she pulled the blanket closer instinctively. She looked like an angel sleeping, no one would believe she could do damage to a fly and to think she just made a brand new car look like junk minutes ago. My stomach grumbled and I realised I hadn’t had dinner yet, switching off the lights I left the guest room of my condo and strode towards the kitchen, what a night.

****

I had set the alarm at 5 and I was in my home office since then, I had completely forgotten about last night, it didn’t occur to me that there was a certain someone I had to invite into my house last night until an hour later when I stepped out for some coffee and I found my not so wanted guest wearing my t-shirt and only my t-shirt, in my kitchen making herself breakfast with my groceries, what the heck?

My high school basketball jersey covered enough of her and I wondered if she was too small or the jersey was too big “good morning” she greeted with a beaming smile and I couldn’t help but smile back at her, it was that contagious.

I quickly wiped the smile off my face when I remembered I had to be mad at her “what’s so good about this morning?” I tried to sound angry though I knew it was a great morning since I had just made my company 10 million dollar in the past hour, but I wasn’t going to tell her that.

“I made breakfast” she told me setting the dishes on the breakfast bar, scrambled eggs, toast, fruit salad, freshly squeezed orange juice and coffee, when did she have the time to make all of these? “come or I’ll start without you” as if she was going to call me if I hadn’t come out myself. I sat on the stool next to her and watched her attacking the food as if she hadn’t eaten in decades “I was starving” she said as if she read my thoughts and asked me why I wasn’t eating anything.

I kept a nonchalant face faking to be unaffected by the aroma that was teasing my senses and weakening my stance but gave up finally taking a sip from the mug. I groaned in satisfaction as the hot coffee travelled down my throat, it was one the best coffee I have ever tasted. I drink coffee all the time and I know a good coffee when I taste one and her coffee was one of the best and I knew she had made it because my coffee machine doesn’t do miracles like this “nice coffee” I complemented her genuinely.

“Thanks” she smiled.

I didn’t know when I picked up the fork but all I knew was that seconds later I was ravishing the most amazing breakfast I have ever had in my condo. This girl could have a drinking problem or somewhat crazy for thrashing her car like she did last night but she was an amazing cook, I had got to give her that. Fed up with the eerie silence hovering on us I decided to ask the question that was bugging me for some time now “why are you wearing my t-shirt?”

“I had accidently poured water on my jeans so I took it off to dry and my t-shirt was too short unless you wanted to roam around your house in my underwear” Yeah I wouldn’t have wanted that though it would have been a spectacular scene to watch.

She picked up the dishes after breakfast and was to wash them but I stopped her “I’ll do it” I wasn’t going to let take charge of my house like it belonged to her plus she had made the food so it was my duty to wash the dishes. I washed the dishes as she went through my music collection giving her not so asked review about every album I owned. Well it’s not everyday you get to be told how your choice is very blunt or how the way you have arranged your CDs defines your hygienic habits, if someone thinks am not patient then they should be admitted to a mental hospital.

“I’ll get it” she announced when we had a knock.

“who is it?” I shouted from the kitchen.

“don’t know, it’s some girl” she replied equally screaming from across the hall.

A girl? What girl could come at my house this early in the morning? Then it struck me “oh no” One of the reason that made me rise in the stock market is my gifted sixth sense, I always get a feeling of what is going to happen but in that moment I wanted my gift to be a curse, I wanted to be wrong but alas I wasn’t very lucky probably because I had myself brought bad luck home that was standing in nothing but my t-shirt talking to my fiancé. I’m screwed. “Natasha.. ” I walked towards her

“Go to hell, Arjun” she spitted and am sure I saw her eyes water. Somebody shoot me. Natasha stormed out of the house and I ran after her but not before giving my guest a “I better not find you here when I come back” kind of look.

I missed her, I got to the basement when she was already in her car driving away, am such a mess. I’ll explain to her later she will understand. My curiosity was drawn towards a crowd surrounding the smashed car, some of my neighbours and the security guys were gathered around it and I pulled my feet till the middle of the crowd. “What’s going on” I did my best to sound as casual as possible.

“Somebody vandalized his car” answered Mrs. Spencer my neighbour from the fifth floor.

I didn’t think that can be called vandalism, the damage is irreparable here. But did she say his? Oh My dear Lord. “Whose?” my voice cracked a little from nervousness.

“Phil, Philip McGill of the sixth floor, that baseball player” she told me “he bought the car just a week ago, poor thing and they used his own bat to do this heinous crime” she shook her head disappointed.

My heart was pounding so hard that I was sure Mrs. Spencer heard it too that’s why she gave me a weird glance. “any suspects?”

“Not that he knows of but the police are on their way, am sure we will get something from the CCTV footage” Mrs. Spencer said.

The security cameras, why didn’t I think of that before. Am going to be all over that footage looking like her accomplice, nobody is going to believe with me when she slept in my house. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. I’m so screwed.

I’m not going to ask for her explanation, am just going to throw her out of my house. I told myself all the way to my condo. As if nothing else existed I found her dancing around my living room, you have got to be kidding me. I switched off the music system and she gave me an annoyed look, like I even care. “You need to leave” I tried to sound polite.

“Natasha said that?” Her brows furrowed quizzically.

“Get out” my tone was ten notches higher than my usual one.

“Okay” she shrugged and hopped to the guest room. That was easy.

I called my lawyer and told him to get on the cctv footage asap. I tried calling Natasha but she wasn’t picking up and I couldn’t blame her, I would have probably reacted the same way. I slumped on the couch waiting for my guest to leave, what have I gotten myself into. She came out wearing the clothes I found her with last night, I sighed, finally the nightmare is going to be over.

She came and stood before me, I watched her silently in anticipation, you can never know what to expect with this girl. She threw her bag on the couch and sat on my lap straddling my waist, my whole body tensed up, that was not a good position to be in. “You worry too much Arjun” She rubbed her hand against the back of my neck “you are so tensed” She fluttered her lashes.

“Listen.. ”

“Shush… ” she placed her index finger on my lips “you’ve talked too much now it’s my turn” Like really? She is the one who has been blabbering all this time. “You a good guy Arjun, for no stranger would have tolerated me they way you did” Oh! So she knew she was a headache, kudos to my patience. “and no man would have taken care of me like you did, I was under your mercy the whole night and I woke up unharmed. You were such a gentleman” Of course I was a gentleman, I’ve been brought up well, neither was I a spoilt brat nor was I a pervert. “Natasha will be a fool to let go of a gem like you, men like you are rare”

I smiled coyly, I could feel the top of my ears getting warm, I was so flustered. One because I was flattered with her constant praises and two because of the compromising position we were in. I have never been as nervous in my life as I was to have her that close to me, her breath fanning my face was making my heart jump. Her thin fingers softly brushing the side of my neck was creating a radiating heat travelling down to my stomach, it was getting hotter by the second. This kind of nervousness was completely foreign to me but unconsciously I was enjoying every bit of it. “Thanks” she told me and I nodded silently unsure of what to say.

Her lips curved into a sly smirk and her eyes sparkled with mischief, my heart raced with anticipation of what she might do next “I should give you a thank you gift” Her hazel brown eyes locked with mine and little remaining breath was knocked out of me. I followed her gaze as it dropped to my lips then to my eyes and back at my lips again. My breath hitched.

OH.MY.GOD. She kissed me. And I don’t mean a simple peck on the cheek, am talking about a French kiss, a real grown up kind of French kiss. It was not my first kiss but those butterfly like sensation that came with it were the first one for me. Her lips so soft moving in a perfect rhythm against mine sending wave after wave of electrifying shiver throughout my body that made me curl up my toes and froze my hands on either side of hers. I was the boss of a multi-national company leading more than a million of employees, I have never lacked self confidence but that little girl on my lap had me trembling like a wet kitten. I had many reasons to pull back, I had plenty of reasons to push her but I didnt, maybe it was the shock or maybe it was because she was an amazing kisser but I found myself melting in her kiss like butter on a hot pan. Temperature was running high, my heart was beating so fast I was scared it would burst and ultimately I caved in, I kissed her back. God she tasted heavenly.

I had just let go of all my inhibitions fighting the very last bit of sanity left in me but she pulled away immediately. Her eyes had surprise sparkling in them and I smirked, she wasn’t expecting that move. I was too far gone, I had to taste her lips again, putting my hand at the back of her head I pulled her face close to mine ready for another round, our lips were merely inches away when my stupid phone thought it was the appropriate time to ring, did I mention I was unlucky?

It was work and I had to pick up, she got off my lap and I immediately missed her warmness “be right back” I told her before running and I mean literally running to my home office. I came back running again five minutes later but the living room was empty, she was gone, was it a dream? I brushed my thumb on my lips and her taste still lingered there, it all felt too blissful to be a dream. I probably just had the best kiss of my life and I didn’t even know the girl’s name, talk about being unlucky.

****

A week had passed, my life fell back into its routine, it was still summer my favourite season of the year and I was in my office just like any other day, working. Natasha understood, I explained to her and she was no longer mad at me, so yeah everything should have gotten back to normal but it hadn’t. Something felt amiss but I couldn’t exactly put my finger on it, all I knew is that I had to find her. McGill couldn’t press charges because there was no cctv footage of the culprit, somebody had tampered with the security cameras before the deed happened but am sure he must have forgotten about it already because two days earlier he bought a new Ferrari, money talks. About the girl who caused the damage nobody but me had seen her apparently, there were no traces of hers, it was almost like she was a dream, a trick of the mind but I knew she was real and I really had to find her. Every night I would wander around the basement area hoping to get a surprise from her, every time I thought of of her craziness I smiled, she was no less than an adventure and when I recalled how her lips felt like on mine I would get the same butterfly sensation in the pit of my abdomen. God I have got to find her.

“she could be a thief or a lunatic” said Neil my business partner, my cousin and my best friend. With our mothers being sisters Neil and I grew up pretty close to each other, he was the person I trusted the most in my life so it was obvious I would tell him about my encounter.

“Or… She could be a spy” I tried to lighten up the mood Neil was getting too stuck up these days and to think that he was the jovial one between the two of us. I guess my comedic skills weren’t that great because he gave me a glare instead of a smile. I sigh and got serious like him “I need to find her Neil” I know I appeared stupid considering the circumstances I met her in any sane person would have said “good riddance” but I was captivated, her one kiss had changed everything. Picture this, my life was like a calm cool day at the beach, the ultimate vacation and she like a hurricane came turned everything upside down and now that she was gone I was stupid enough to miss her chaos.

Neil leaned forward resting both his elbows on the table “Arjun you are still naive, you trust people too quickly but times have changed, she could be a psychopath for Gods sake” Since he was a year older than me Neil has always taken his role as my big brother too seriously but unfortunately he got a brother who was in every way a good boy, not to toot my own horn but I have never gotten into any trouble, not as a kid nor as an adult and to Neil that was a definition of naive.

“I thought you will support me” I whined like a kid, if I wasn’t going to get him help me the easy way then I was going to resort to the hard way, emotional blackmail.

He let out a heavy sigh leaning back on the chair, that was score one for me and zero for Neil. “I want to support you but think about Natasha too” he said softly. He was right, Natasha was a really nice girl and it was stupid to hurt her for a girl I didn’t know what her first name was. Natasha was beautiful, smart and ambitious just as I was, in fact she and I had a lot in common that I found out from the few dates we went to. Few because till one month ago Natasha was just an acquittance, I was engaged to her solely thanks to my parents. When my parents told me it was time I settled down and that they were thinking of fixing my alliance with the Kapoor’s heiress I readily agreed, one because I trusted my parent’s decision and two because I felt it was the right thing to do, it’s not like I was waiting for someone special or anything.

Neil had put me in deep thought, bringing up Natasha did shook me a little, well played Malhotra the score was now draw. “Neil you were a playboy before you met Sam, if you could get a chance then why not me? What if this girl is my chance to finding true love?” Neil gasped, I knew I shouldn’t have talked about his past, Neil’s bad boy days were supposed to be “that which we don’t talk about”. Growing up Neil was quite the lady’s man, always surrounded by beautiful girls and this playboy never took any of his relations seriously until he met Samaira and his world turned upside down. The bad boy found true love and became a good boy just like in the movies.

“That’s a low blow” he sneered “and it’s not my problem that you were a monk back then” he teased. I also never lacked female attention, we brothers were chicks magnet and why wouldn’t we be, we were the boyfriend material, good looking and loaded with money. The only difference was that I never was interested in that kind of lifestyle, my priorities were straight,I was a good boy after all. I dated twice but both my relationships failed since I had gotten into them for the wrong reason.

“Truth hurts”

“Whatever” He shrugged. “So how are we going to find your mystery girl?” And the score read two one, ding ding ding winner.

I smiled my best one “mystery girl” I said dreamily. The name suited her.

“will you wipe off that cheesy smile off your face? You look more stupid than you already are” Classic Neil, can’t form a sentence without insulting someone. I laughed “well…” he said impatiently, I was irritating him big time.

“Well…” I started “she is beautiful… She is an amazing cook” I leaned on the table “you have got to try her coffee, Neil” but he just rolled his eyes. “And she is spontaneous…”

“You forgot one tiny detail, she can break into cars” He mocked, told you that was Classic Neil.

I threw a file at him but he dodged damn his cat like reflexes “not cool Neil”

He got off his seat “Truth hurts lil bro” he teased, story of my life. “will go find your mystery girl” he air quoted the last two words, I rolled my eyes and he laughed stepping out of my cabin. I smiled ‘mystery girl’

*****

Days passed, it had been a month now and my mystery girl had remained a mystery. Neil kept insisting for me to move on and after all these days I had given up, maybe it was better to let her be a dream, an uncomplished dream. Drown in a world of slumber I subconsciously felt a silky warmness on the left side of my shoulder, considering it was mid summer and I was sleeping without a shirt I stirred up a bit and moved away from the warm thing disturbing my sleep. Sweet slumber was taking me in it’s arms again when I felt the warmness again this time a little closer, I groaned but then felt a cold wind on my neck making my skin tingle that I stirred up some more. That hot and cold feeling kept coming and going in intervals until I force my sleep deprived eyelids open but what I saw on my bed resting on my left made me jerk the hell onto my feet. What a terrifying way to start a morning.

There was a girl lying on my bed, how in the world did I wake up with a girl on my bed. Her long hair was all over her face and I couldn’t see who it was. Wait a minute, could she be… Could it be her? My heart started to race as if it wasn’t beating fast enough already. I kneeled on the bed and moved the curtain of black long hair off her face, I gasped “mystery girl” my mind screamed, what a beautiful way to start a morning.

If God was human he would surely have been a comedian, granting my wish when I had decided to give up was funny but I freaking loved it. I sat on the bed resting on my heels as I watched her sleep, she looked as angelic as the first time, so calm so innocent and watching her made me smile. Then it hit me, how did she get into my house and onto my bed, if she could break into a car she could definitely break into a house, I thought. I needed to change my security system. I tapped on her shoulder waking her up her eyes instantly shot open, she relaxed a second later having me before her eyes “Oh it’s just you” she said groggily turning away from me.

“What the… ” I refrained myself from cursing so early in the morning and took one deep breath. I pulled her by the shoulder that she was now lying on her back “you can’t break into my house and pretend as if it’s nothing ” I warned her and she opened her eyes only to shot me a lazy look but I wasn’t going to let her get her way with me this time “when did you get here?”

She rolled her eyes, like really? She has the audacity to roll her big hazel eyes at me, unbelievable. She must have gotten the hint that I wasn’t playing she let out a sigh and answered “last night, late last night when you were asleep” I think its needless to say that I was a very deep sleeper, so deep that I once slept through an entire pool party, laying on a float that was in the pool.

I sighed “who are you?” I asked the million dollar question I should have asked first thing a month ago when I first met her.

“I need to use the bathroom” she told me and tried to get off the bed but I wasn’t having any of her tricks today. I pulled her back on the bed pinning her below, I held both her wrist in mine above her head and came on top of her. She smiled, why was she smiling? She was supposed to be scared that I was angry with her, why wasn’t she affected? “never knew you had this in you Richie rich?” She smiled amused.

I leaned to her face “am not letting you go unless you tell me who you are” I gritted, trying hard to sound mad, the fact that she was avoiding to answer me fuelled my curiosity to know her, it was impossible to be mad at her especially when she was giving me a lost puppy look.

“Okay” she sighed dramatically “am Radhika”

“Radhika?”

“Yes Radhika”

“only Radhika?”

“Yes…” she dragged, I see I was getting on her nerves.

“No surname?”

She looked away trying to mask some kind of pain that I was too quick to notice thanks to the fact that I was on top of her staring right at her “don’t need one”

I didn’t want to push her more on that subject, it seemed to be a very sensitive topic that I didn’t want to touch at the moment, she could be an orphan for all I know I thought “what do you do for a living?”

She turned to look at me again “I’m an artist”

“what kind of an artist?”

She let out an irritated groan “I paint… Sculpt… And anything related to art”

“And why are you in my house?”

“Because…. I needed a place to crash for a few days so I thought of you and I brought my own clothes so Natasha can’t be mad”

My heart leaped “you thought of me?” I grinned ear to ear.

She rolled her eyes again “yes, now can I use the bathroom?” I let her go laying on my back to her right, she rubbed her wrists getting off the bed “blo*dy caveman” Her little nose had turned red with anger and I found it very cute. I couldn’t stiff a laugh and she gave glared at me before storming into the bathroom, she was super cute.

I opened the shutters letting light into the room, it was 7 in the morning, nowadays everything in my life was turning weird, I woke up late and woke up with a beautiful girl besides me. My eyes fell on a camouflage backpack by the foot of the bed on the side she was sleeping on, must be hers. I contemplated whether to check it or not, its bad manners to disgrace someone’s privacy but wasn’t she the one who broke into my house and got into my bedroom and onto my bed? My mind reasoned, it was like stealing from a thief, nothing bad here, I convinced myself and opened the bag, let’s see what secrets she kept in here. Except for her clothes and phone I didn’t find anything suspicious, I called my number from her cellphone and deleted the call log immediately, now if she happens to disappear again I will be able to trace her. I looked in the small side pockets and Eureka! I found my house keys, that’s how she got into my house so easily, I thought I lost them. She stole from me, she stole my house keys, I couldn’t believe that all these days my fortress was vulnerable, it only took her one key twist to violate the privacy of a place I called home, I can be dramatic sometimes, I know.

The sound of the shower stopped and I prepared myself to confront her but when the bathroom door opened I forgot the simple ABCDs. Wrapped in my towel that barely covered anything of hers she walked out running her hand through her wet hair. A drop fell from her hair to her neck nape and I watched as it made its way down ever so slowly. It took me every ounce of self control to not moan out loud at the thought of where the drop will end, she looked in every sense of the word, s*xy. My heart was betraying me again thudding as hard as ever, I felt the same butterfly sensation in the pit of my stomach. She without care of the world went about doing whatever she was doing as I felt the temperature in the room to rise about ten degrees higher than normal even with the air condition on. Just then my phone rang, thank God my phone rang.

My secretary had called to confirm my 8 o’clock appointment, I was supposed to have an important meeting with one of our rival companies the Elite Enterprises, I had scheduled the meeting to find a middle ground between us, the world was big enough for two giant companies. Anne my secretary waited for my answer, I looked at my closed bedroom door and with a heavy heart I did the unexpected “cancel the meeting Anne and all my appointments for the day am taking a day off.” Am sure I heard Anne gasp before I ended the call, I never cancel a meeting let alone miss a day of work, I haven’t even taken a leave since I joined the company and that was seven years ago. I wanted to solve the puzzle called Radhika, I wanted to know why I missed her and why she affects me so much. I have girls throwing themselves on me every time, hey am handsome after all. But with this girl, with Radhika, she doesn’t even have to try and I would go jelly before her. My body starts to behave weirdly, its a feeling very new to me and I wanted to know why. Curiosity, I convinced myself that the reason I was not throwing her out of my house its solely because of curiosity and that once I get the answers to my questions I will know what to do next, simple logic.

“I’ll make breakfast” she announced breaking my chain of thoughts, she stepped into the kitchen wearing blue faded jeans and a black tank top her hair was damp falling over her shoulders and she wasn’t wearing any make-up though she still looked beautiful and as fresh as ever “you won’t get breakfast if you won’t shower” Stop trying to be my mom woman, I thought nonetheless I went to shower.

Breakfast was smelling good just like the last day she made it, she had made pancakes and coffee no juice this time, I wondered how was she so comfortable around my house, was it something that I did or said that made her feel that this was like her home or was she just shameless and didn’t know how to respect other people’s personal space? Deciding on the latter I took a seat adjacent to her on the huge dining table. The banana and cinnamon flavoured pancakes were exquisite, they melted in my mouth and that syrup on top of it, DELICIO. Till now aloo parathas were my favourite breakfast but after tasting those pancakes I had a new favourite, sorry mom. Halfway through the breakfast I asked her “so where do you live?”

“Is that important?”

“You came into my house uninvited, took my kitchen hostage and made breakfast so I think it’s indeed important that I know more about you, anyone with a rational mind would” I explained and stuffed a huge piece of pancake in my mouth. “You could be a psychopath for all I know” I repeated Neil’s words with my mouth full.

She let out a mock laugh “funny you would say that” I cocked a brow in confusion, what was she talking about “because you shouldn’t be eating something a person you don’t know made, especially when that person could be a psychopath” I froze, she was right, what if she had the food poisoned and planned to rob me after am dead, she did steal my keys on the first place? “nobody with a rational mind would do that” she taunted and sipped her coffee leaving me more confused.

She wouldn’t be eating the food if she poisoned it, would she? But come to think of it she had already plated her share of the pancakes and the coffee, she could have poisoned the coffee too. I looked at her and saw smug all over her face, I looked down at the food and took a fork full of pancake in my mouth. If am going to die at least I would die with a full stomach and that with an amazing breakfast and even if she robs me its not like my family will be poor or anything, so yeah I took the risk. I saw her eyes widen in shock, I do have the guts to surprise her too. “So are you going to answer or what?” Nonchalant plastered all over my face, it was my turn to give shocks.

“You are not going to quit, are you?” I shrugged unaffected “she sighed sagging into the chair “Hell’s Kitchen, Midtown Manhattan” she finally answered my question.

Not very far from here, I calculated the distance in my mind “so… ” I dreaded to ask the unquestionable ” why did you steal my keys, my house keys”

She was unresponsive for a second but then gasped “you opened my bag?” her tone accusing.

“Because you stole my keys”

“That’s the stupidest explanation I have ever heard, you opened my bag”

If she thought she was going to turn the tables on me and I will let her then she has got another thing coming “don’t try to play innocent with me missy, you stole my house keys”

She gasped again this time so loud that I thought she was having a panic attack “are you calling me a thief?”

Hell yeah “you said it not me”

“And I thought you we’re a decent man, you invited me to your house and then you start accusing me of theft. And you opened my bag, you opened a girl’s bag. Who does that?” She ranted.

I was at lost of words, have I been interpreting the situation all wrong? The atrocities of this woman “let me remind you I never invited you here, you invited yourself and that after stealing my house keys” she was really getting on my nerves, I was not short tempered but this woman knew the right buttons to push to piss me off.

She collected the empty dishes damping them in the kitchen sink, she will pay if she breaks any of those “I didn’t steal your keys, I just took them without telling you” Umh! Wasn’t that the definition of stealing? “I was leaving your house when I saw your keys lying around near the candy bowl, I took the candy and the keys. If anything it’s your fault”

My fault, how was it my fault? “My fault… How?”

“Who keeps their keys next to a candy bowl, we are supposed to take the candy since the keys were there too I thought I was supposed to take them too” she smiled sheepishly.

“That’s the dumbest explanation you could ever come up with”

She sighed defeatedly “Look, am sorry, you were really nice to me and I shouldn’t have taken your keys”

“Stole.. ” I cut her in with a smirk.

“Same thing… ” she was not ready to admit.

“Not a same thing, taking and stealing are totally different terms with different meaning, you stole my keys”

She groaned irritated rubbing her palms on her face “okay I stole your keys and am sorry, I didn’t mean any harm it was just me being crazy”

She was crazy alright, I laughed at her irritated face, it was fun to annoy her “apology accepted”

“Thank you”

She started on the dishes and I helped her drying them and putting them on a rack. She later very politely asked me If she could stay at my house for a few days and I let her but asked her to move into the guest room I wanted to sort out my feelings for her before any more of her dramas. I didn’t want to ask her why she wanted to stay at my place if she had a place of her own, I didn’t want to scare her and make her leave, I was starting to know her and didn’t want our adventure to end so soon, in all honesty I did enjoy her company a lot. We didn’t talk much after that, she kept herself busy and I couldn’t work peacefully fearing she would flee like the last time, so for the rest of the day I kept loitering in the corridors of my own home to not leave her alone while she comfortably ruled my place.

At one point of the evening I saw her in my living room leisurely watching the big screen TV mounted on top of a fire place laughing and giggling throughout. It was some reality tv show about a bunch of sassy women living together, deadly combination. In the episode she was watching the sassy women were having a get together party and it was going good until one blonde girl splashed a glass of red wine on another’s face for whatever reason my attention was on the watcher rather than the screen, she was brunette with a short bob hairstyle. The short bob girl snapped her left fingers while wiping her face with her right one and I knew a fight was going to follow. Radhika must have had the same thought too because she rubbed her hands excitedly watching the show at the edge of her seat, literally. I was right, after a few curses here and there the blonde girl leaped on the short bob girl pulling both of them down on the floor while the sassy friends cheered on, one black heel flew to the table and the sassy friends cheered some more, it was like a live WWE match. I saw some clothes get torn exposing the short bob girl’s purple bra and when I saw a blonde wig fly across the room and Radhika gasp like she was oxygen deprived I had had enough, the things channels would do for ratings these days.

“It’s all staged, there is nothing real about this show” I told her grabbing the remote and changed to news channel.

“I know” she told me grabbing the remote from my hands but I snatched it back before she changed the channel. She huffed.

“My tv, my remote” I told her proudly and crossed my legs watching the news. The awkward silence prevailed again, it felt like I have been sitting for an hour when it was not even two minutes. She started to tap the couch twitching her mouth creating an annoying sound, I increased the volume and so did she, that’s it. I switched off the tv “What..?”

She shrugged, I shook my head she was impossible. Again silence came between us, why was it so hard for me to initiate conversation with her, you can do it Arjun, you can do it “do you always do this? I mean drop into other people’s homes uninvited” really Arjun that’s what you asked?

She turned supporting her back on the arm of the couch “no, only to those who are prudes” she answered me.

I nodded, wait what? “Prude?” I screamed. Radhika smiled “am not a prude”

“only a prude would say that”

“take that back, am not a prude”

“I sneaked into your house and into your bed but you didn’t sense a thing. For someone to sleep that deep must either be intoxicated or too tired, I haven’t seen a sign of alcohol in this house and you don’t look like a person who abuses drugs which concludes you were too tired” she explained.

“How is that relevant?”

“You get tired because you work so much, what young man of this century would drown himself in work and only work?” Me, my mind screamed “since you work so much it means you don’t have a social life and since you don’t socialize it means you are a prude” She was talking as if it was scientific when it was a bunch of bullshit “I won’t be surprised if you are still a virgin” She smirked.

“am not a virgin” I replied quickly, much too quickly for her amusement. Of course I wasn’t a virgin, I lost my virginity to a striper two years ago. Yes I said it, a striper but don’t judge too quick, it was Neil’s bachelor party and I had too much to drink but the point still remained I wasn’t a virgin.

“And how often do you have s*x?” Like I was going to talk about my s*x life with her but she continued anyway “A, three times a day?” 3 times a day? What am I, a dog? “B, three times a week? Or C, three times a month?” I sighed, my answer was none of the above but I wasn’t going to tell her that and give her a chance to mock me, just because I was a man didn’t mean I should be sleeping around with a every woman I come across with, my mom taught me better than that. “Let me guess, none of the above right, I knew it” she gave me a winning smirk.

“wow, you’re so smart” note the sarcasm.

She laughed “how in the world did you get a girlfriend like Natasha?”

“She is my fiancé, our parents arranged our marriage” She looked concerned “what?”

“She wont marry you”

“Why…?”

“I dont think she is a kind to marry a prude” She joked and laughed at my expense while I frowned “but seriously I don’t think she will marry you, girls like bad boys and you are good, too good for your own good” What kind of logic is that? But come to think of it, Neil was a bad boy too, so bad that he once made his dog chase our professor for ten miles and that after sleeping with his daughter, Neil was a hard core definition of rebellious but he ended up marrying an angel like Samaira. Maybe Radhika was right, maybe girls did love bad boys, could that be a reason I have been single almost all my life? Will I never find love? She cupped my face puffing my bubble “stop exaggerating” she told me softly.

How did she know what I was thinking “being bad its not bad at all, you should try it sometime” I knew she would say that, of course she knew all about being bad “yes I know all about being me” she snapped. How could she read me so easily? “because you are as transparent as water” she answered my unspoken confusion.

“You are scaring me now” she did kind of creep me out with her reading my thoughts so quickly.

She smiled a cute one “my definition of being bad is not hurting others but letting go, letting go of your fears and living your life freely” That was quite an elaborate definition “you think too much, consider every move but you can’t truly live unless you learn to let go first”

“Nice philosophy professor Fraud” I mocked and she laughed, that was a first one for me, as far as I knew I didn’t have a sense of humor.

“You don’t have it in you” She got off the couch.

“Don’t have what in me?”

“The guts to be bad” she gave me a crooked smile “you are a prig you can never be bad”

There she went again rubbing salt on my wounds, her eyes were challenging me and I didn’t back out “what do I have to do?” I asked standing up that I towered over her, something told me this was going to be a night to remember.

*****

A/N
Just a mmz fan and an amateur writer trying to entertain you all. Am new here hoping for a warm welcome. I would love to see your reviews about this.

Thanks for Reading.