“Where are you, girl?” the perplexed Nikhil shouted on the phone waiting for her best friend to come for his birthday party.
“I am just there. Man! I am just fifteen minutes late.” Anvesha said smiling at her friend’s antics as she walked out of the Gate Number 4 of Rajiv Chowk.
“Are you coming?” Neha screamed from the other side making Anvesha jump at her shrill pitch as she started walking hurriedly to the restaurant.
“Yes, I am on my way. Even if I am really not comfortable but I can’t miss my friend’s birthday, darling”, Anvesha said smiling at Neha’s caring nature. She might have not attended the party at Love=Food if that chef had not sent an email to her. She was planning to talk to Mr. Haughty Shoes and try to convince him against his conniving policies of ruining someone’s career. She was beyond angry at the arrogant celebrity chef, Adhyayan Joshi.
“Come fast, dear”, Nikhil said as he clicked on the red icon of the phone to disconnect the phone. He was not even interested to listen her response. His small birthday party with all his close friends was going on in full swing. He was just waiting for Anvesha to come so that he could cut the cake, have dinner and leave on a long drive with his loving girlfriend.
Adhyayan and Nikhil’s family shared amicable relations and hence, the celebrity chef was indeed a part of the birthday party. Realizing this fact, Nikhil thought if his father had not asked Anvesha to shoot at Adhyayan’s restaurant, she would have not faced any awkward moment attending his birthday today. He had no hard feelings for Adhyayan, a big brother like soul to him but he kind of, disliked the fact that this arrogant chef had not even apologized for feeding someone a salty cake in the name of cheesecake. More than that, he was disappointed at the self-entered celebrity chef who not even once thanked his friend, Anvesha, who had not told the reality of the cheesecake on her live show and thus, avoiding the controversy. Even though the reality of cheesecake would have not hampered the popularity of Adhyayan after all, he was quite well-known in the industry but still it was enough to bring a blot at the five starrer reviews of his restaurant.
“Happy birthday”, Adhyayan wished Nikhil smilingly engulfing him into a brotherly hug. Being the elder one, Adhyayan always considered Nikhil as his younger brother. He had an amazing relation with the Khanna family in Delhi. Khannas were just like a family away from his real family. In the unknown city, he was blessed to have got in touch with the amazing Khannas.
“Thank you, brother’, Nikhil said chuckling as he saw Anvesha entering the restaurant from the corner of his eye. Releasing themselves from the hug, both of the boys were talking to each other when Adhyayan glanced towards Anvesha whose captivating smile told that she was lost in her own world.
With a bouquet of orchids in her hand, clad in a maroon colored full-sleeved knee-length dress that was embellished with a shimmering yet, simple silver belt; Anvesha looked breathtaking. Adhyayan was, for a moment, lost in her charismatic beauty when, he realized what was she doing at his restaurant with a bunch of flowers. The episode of salty cheesecake flashed in front of his eyes and Adhyayan let out an exasperated sigh.
Another girl whom Adhyayan presumed to be a guest in Nikhil’s birthday party hugged spectacularly beautiful Anvesha who had her curly locks bouncing on her shoulder. Taking a deep breath, Adhyayan asked Nikhil, “Do you know that vlog girl?” pointing towards Anvesha trying not to feel awkward.
Nikhil chuckled realizing the tension between both of his friends as he said, “Bro, of course, I know her. She is my best friend. That is why, papa suggested her your restaurant.”
Adhyayan face-palmed himself realizing the gravity of his absentmindedness. Khanna uncle had clearly told him that Nikhil’s friend want to shoot for the blog. Realizing that Anvesha was coming towards them, Adhyayan excused himself trying to avoid the furious cat.
His inner conscience mocked at him for calling the reputable talk show host first, ‘a little girl’ and now ‘a furious cat’; but Adhyayan walked away to his restaurant’s kitchen face-palming himself as he chuckled at his ability of giving nicknames. Rushing to the kitchen, he made up his mind to supervise every dish personally today to avoid situations like that of the ‘salty cheesecake episode’.
On the other hand, Anvesha was angrier than before when she saw Mr. Haughty Shoes was avoiding her. She had come to talk about the chef, Mihir tonight and was adamant to that as soon as possible. Organizing her thoughts, Anvesha smiled towards her friend giving him the gift she had brought for him along with the bouquet of flowers.
Cutting the delicious cake, the friends chatted and engrossed themselves to merry-making. Anvesha realized that Mr. Haughty Shoes had not even apologized for the blunder his restaurant, his legacy had committed and blamed everything on a poor chef, who was also the subordinate of him.
Enjoying the dinner, everyone was leaving but Anvesha’s mission was still incomplete. Nikhil and Neha were also set to leave but Anvesha realized that Adhyayan was hiding from her. She waited for the highness, Mr. Adhyayan Joshi to grace the floor of the dining area but the arrogant man was hiding himself in the kitchen. As Nikhil and Neha also left compelling her to get back home, Anvesha made a lame excuse of drinking a cup of coffee. After plentiful of assurances, the host finally left along with other guests while Anvesha sat on the corner table looking at other happy visitors enjoying the dinner.
The clock had struck quarter to nine and Anvesha was getting late for her home. She sighed and stood up when she saw Praveen, the manager of the restaurant. Looking hopefully at her last ray of hope, Anvesha chimed in enthusiastically, “Can I meet Mr. Joshi?”.
Adhyayan had sent Praveen to look into the matter as he saw the bubbly Anvesha sitting on a corner table though he had told his manager that he wanted to avoid her at all costs. Praveen was in the dilemma for what to say and he lied, “Madam, he has left”.
“Sir, I clearly remember him going to the kitchen. It is urgent.” Anvesha said folding her arms. Taking a deep breath, she murmured, “It is about Mihir Negi.”
“What is it?” Praveen asked getting intimidated by the new revelation. He surely knew Ms. Chatterjee and Mihir had no connections except Mihir prepared the ridiculous salty cheesecake and was terminated from his job.
“Ask the arrogant celebrity chef to meet me before I tell the public that he has threatened his employee that he would ruin his career”, Anvesha played her last card. Being a media person, she was capable of showing the email into her channel however, in reality, she would have refrained to do anything like that. She was someone who was hoisting an inspirational show and she was least interested into gossips that shall increase the TRP of channel thereby, making Mihir popular against the popularity of the celebrity chef but she was sure Mr. Haughty Shoes was also not interested into the ordeals of the labor organizations sending legal notices to him.
After one fiasco, Praveen obviously did not need the other one. He knew he was not in a place to say anything despite he wanted to yell that his boss gave an empty threat in anger. He also agreed that his boss was arrogant but he knew if he tells whatever Anvesha had said to Adhyayan situation shall worsen and he loved his job. Trying to stay away from the matter as much as he can, Praveen chose his words wisely, “Madam, I will ask sir to meet you. We are extremely sorry for that day”.
Having said this, Praveen rushed to the kitchen and requested his boss to meet the haughty media person outside in the most diplomatic way possible. Taking a deep breath, Adhyayan agreed to meet the angry bird waiting for him on the secluded corner table of his busy restaurant that was flooded with visitors. Wishing for a simple, polite meeting, Adhyayan removed his apron and moved out of the kitchen.