I slowly look up at Arjun.

"A sexual what, now?" He asks me, a sly smirk forming on his face.

I'm in some deep shit now.

•

"Nothing. Sexual nothing. She said something special maybe." I immediately try to cover up.

"Oh?" He asks, raising an eyebrow.

I remain silent.

"Okay then, a special what?" He asks, a playful smile on his lips.

"Nothing special , nothing." I say.

"Come on now Shravya, say it. What was your friend talking about? I'm damn sure I heard the word sexual." He says.

"No." I tell him.

"You assumed that I was going to kill you, you thought that I was capable of doing such a thing. I'm supposed to stay mad at you, Shravya but I'll let it slide if you tell me what exactly was your friend saying. And if you don't then you're going to make Arjun Mehrotra sad, very, very sad." He says in a baby voice.

"Too much exaggeration." I mumble under my breath before deciding on telling him what Sneha wanted to say.

"Okay fine I'll tell you but you will listen to it and then drop it, okay? We won't discuss about it." I tell him.

"Of course." He replies.

"Well when you first told me you wanted something in return for pretending to be my boyfriend I thought that you are most probably going to ask me for a sexual favor in return." I tell him.

I expect him to react immediately but he doesn't instead he seems to be thinking something.

"Say something." I tell him.

"Shravya, do you have trust issues in general or is it just me?" He asks.

"Well it was just you, because I expected you to be this rich brat who always has his ways and gets what he wants. But after I met you and saw you behaving so nicely with me, I had my doubts. I thought you had some ulterior motive behind agreeing to be my pretend boyfriend." I tell him.

"So that's what it is. Has it changed? Your opinion on me." He asks me.

"To a great extent, yes but don't let that get to your head." I tell him and he chuckles.

"So what do you think of me now?" He asks.

"Now I think that you are genuinely nice and a total gentleman." I answer honestly.

"Wow, I feel good hearing that." He says with a wide smile on his face.

"As you should." I answer.

"We're here." He announces a few minutes later and the car comes to a halt.

I have a look at the road in front of me.

Kulfi Centre.

The board on the shop located a few metres away, says. There's a large number of people having kulfis.

[Kulfi : Kulfi is a traditional frozen dessert in South Asia, sometimes referred to as "Indian ice cream."]

Couples, young and old, teenagers, kids with their parents. Everyone is present. I couldn't have even imagined that such deserted roads would lead to such a crowded Kulfi shop.

"They make the best kulfis in Mumbai and what better way to compensate you than treating you to these heavenly kulfis?" Arjun says from beside me.

"Arjun, you..you did not have to." I say.

"I know I didn't have to but I wanted to." He replies as he unfastens his seatbelt. When he's done he looks up at me and passes me a dazzling smile.

My heart warms and I unfasten my seatbelt too.

"You stay inside, I'll go get the kulfis here. We can't have it outside." He tells me.

My brows furrowed in confusion.

"Why?" I ask him.

"I am kind of known around the whole of Mumbai and if someone spots me having Kulfi with a girl, you do understand what they will think right? The next morning's headlines will be, Arjun Mehrotra spotted with a mystery girl. I have no problem but the media can cause you a lot of problems..." He trails off.

"I get it, you're quite famous Arjun Mehrotra so I am okay with staying inside the car." I tell him with a smile.

In response he passes me a cheeky grin.

"Should I go get it?" I ask him and he immediately stops me.

"No, I'll do that. It's my treat, Shravya." He says.

"But won't people recognise you when you go and buy it?" I ask him.

"This will help me." He says and takes out a disposable mask from the glove compartment.

I look at him in amusement as he wears it and when he's done he winks at me before leaving the car.

I have a look at him going towards the shop. Ten minutes later he's back carrying two plates in his hand.

"Here." He says as he hands me both the plates through the window on my side and then walks over to the other side, getting on the driver's seat.

He switches the light on the roof of the car on and rolls up the windows after which he switches the air conditioner inside the car on.

I hand him his plate and he begins having it straight away. The moment the first spoon goes inside his mouth his eyes light up.

"Mhmmm this is pure deliciousness." He mumbles. I cannot help but chuckle looking at his expressions. Arjun Mehrotra looks no less than a child eating his favourite candy.

"Shravya, it's going to melt if you're going to just stare at me instead of enjoying it." He tells me as he takes another bite.

I quickly look away and begin having the kulfi. The moment I take the first bite my mood lifts up too. When he said the kulfis here are the best in Mumbai he wasn't exaggerating at all. It's actually too good.

I wonder how I did not know of this place till now. Sneha and I definitely need to come here when we hang out next.

"How's it?" He asks me, having completed half of his plate.

"Heavenly." I answer and look at him.

When I have a look at his face I cannot help but laugh. He's got some of it smeared on his nose.

Hearing me laugh he immediately stops eating and looks at me.

"What is so funny?" He asks me.

"You Arjun Mehrotra, have got some of it on your nose." I tell him.

His ears turn the slightest shade red and he immediately tries to wipe it off with the back of his hand, spreading it all the more.

"That just made it worse. Wait, let me do it." I tell him and pick up a tissue from the tissue box in his car.

I don't know what takes over me as I lean closer towards him and wipe the top of his nose.

"All gone now." I say as I move away from him.

"Thank you." He replies a couple of seconds later.

"Ah no problem at all." I say in response and go back to enjoying my kulfi.

When we're both done I take his plate from him and offer to throw both our plates inside the dustbin that I can spot outside the shop.

"I'll do it, Shravya." Arjun says for the tenth time.

"And so can I." I answer and quickly get out of the car.

When I return back, Arjun is speaking to someone.

"Oh yes, fuck, no, wait I'm on my way. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Try to keep them there for twenty more minutes. I'll be there by then." Arjun yells.

The moment he finds me inside he starts driving.

"What, you don't know what to do? Tell me again why have I hired you? Buy them dinner, arrange a dance for them, do whatever the fuck you can and keep them there. Ayush, I'm going to give you a bonus, just do it brother." He adds.

"What was that all about?" I ask him as soon as he's done with his call.

"I had a meeting scheduled for seven today and it's already ten minutes past seven." He says as he begins driving.

"Oh no." I utter as I realise the meeting he told me about at his doorstep.

I look at my phone and see it's indeed 7.10 right now.

How did time fly away? I wonder to myself.

Had it not been for him bringing me here to have kulfis he would have been on time for his meeting.

Arjun takes a glance at me and then says, "I know you're thinking you've caused this, but Shravya, listen, it wasn't because of you, okay?"

I nod my head in response.

"Now tell me, did you enjoy it?" He asks a moment later.

"Yes." I immediately answer.

"I enjoyed it too. We both enjoyed it and that's what matters. As for the meeting, I'm sure my assistant will handle them. In the five years of training I've given him, he knows how to handle any situation, okay?" He says.

"Okay." I reply feeling a lot better after hearing him.

"Now, I'm going to have to drive a little faster, okay? Make sure you have your seatbelt on." He tells me.

"Aye aye captain." I reply having a look at the seatbelt fastened around me.

Within the next fifteen minutes Arjun reaches my complex gate.

I get out of his car and thank him through the window.

"It was a sweet compensation Mr. Mehrotra, I thoroughly enjoyed it." I say with a smile.

"It's a pleasure, Miss Arora. Good night." He replies with a smile himself.

I turn around and enter inside.

Through the gates I see him begin driving as soon as he sees I'm inside.

I have a wide smile on my face as I enter inside the building and make my way to my flat.

The smile for sure was the courtesy of Arjun Mehrotra, the one and only.

•

Next evening when I ring the doorbell of Arjun's flat he opens the door with a smile on his face.

His smile is contagious and causes me to smile too.

"Hi." I utter as he steps aside to let me inside.

"Hi, I have some good news." He tells me.

"Really? What is it?" I ask him, excited.

"I've got back entry into the Mehrotra mansion. In fact I'm just returning from there. From tomorrow I officially shift back there." He says.

"Wow, that's great." I answer feeling happy for him.

"That also means, today is the last day you cook for me, Shravya. After today I set you free from cooking dinners for me." He announces happily.

Listening to him say that doesn't make me as happy as I expected to be when I first thought about how happy I'll be when this week finally gets over.

"Oh yes." I answer, trying my best to match his level of joy.