Chapter-36🌜 Eruption
William's POV
I open the door to see who knocked this early. "Mom?"
My mom is standing in front of me and she is looking kind of-well off, a little bit worried. I mean technically she has that look whenever she's around dad, but it's looking worse today.
Her eyes take in my appearance and then widen as sees something behind me and she says, "urm, I'll come back later." She looks a little embarrassed as her face flushes.
"Huh?" What's up with her, what did she see that made her-
I turn around and see the half naked Zane visible from here, and then I look down on my nightsuit. The top buttons of my shirt are open and it's falling a little bit from my shoulder.
"Sorry to disturb." She turns around, as she leaves.
A bulb lights up in my brain, as I realise-seeing the ocassion and our appearance, to an outsider it will look like we had a wild fucking night.
What the fuck? It wasn't an actual first night for god's sake!
"No, ma, you can stay!" I say hastily. Panicking she will think something else. Something wrong.
I look back at Zane with a sneer, and he has the back of his neck in his hand as his biceps flex with a tilt of his head. Is he actually fucking confused now? It's his fault!
But thank god, mom doesn't leave and comes back to me as she apologises again and gives a sorry look to Zane too. "Come inside." I ask her, before I shut the door behind. I thwap my head on the wooden door softly. Fuck.
I pull back and then fix my pajamas as I turn around. Thankfully, Zane has gotten the hint and he has wrapped a bathrobe around him. He comes forward and now all the balance back to his appearance. "Good morning, Ms. Oberoi." Ugh, the way he cannact so fucking charming is beyond my wits.
My mom, looking already charmed, says with a smile. "Call me Shimona." To which he nods. Call me jealous of his superpowers or the fact my mom seems to already like him. I am kinda bitter.
Kinda.
"Well I will leave you two alone." He says as he steps back to leave.
Before my mom says, "no-no, it's fine." She says kindly. I roll my eyes, is it though?
"Don't worry mom, Zane was just about to leave for a shower, right?" I tell her, but I keep my eyes on him and he raises his brow, as his face shimmers with victory, but he bobs his head in reply.
Childish asshole. So what, he won this time? Next time will be mine, period.
"Oh, okay." My mom says, Zane leaves with a polite nod. My eyes follow him as he walks back to our room. And I have to shake my head to look back on my mom. She's already staring at me as if she can see something going on in me, but I ignore it. "Let's have a seat."
I walk towards the sofa in the living room area, and flop down on it. I put the cushion in my lap as I hold on to it to get in a comfortable position. My mom sits formally though. "Why will you come this early?"
I wince as I realise how rude I sound, so I try to soften up. "Is everything okay?"
The damage has been done but she conceals it with a motherly smile. "Yes and no." She sighs. "There's been a volcanic eruption at Mount Etna, and the government has announced a red alert." She rubs her chest. She has always been the one to easily worry about things and then it impacts her health.
My eyes widen. "A fucking volcano eruption?" I lower my voice as I realise I cussed in front of her. "Are we gonna die?"
I mentally facepalm. Why the fuck am I this dramatic for no reason? But hey it's not my fault! The lady in front of me is the exact same. Plus I watched this movie in which both the main characters fucking died making out, while the lava absorbed them. Dumbasses.
"Urm, it's not that harsh..." I release a breath of relief. "Until we stay inside this hotel, we are safe."
"'We' as in who?" I question her.
"As in, both of our families and some guests. As most of them have already left, and the ones who haven't... can't leave because the government has put a strict ban on flying so flights are cancelled. Seeing the worsening of fumes and the destroyed pathways."
"This much damage is done?" What the fuck, we just slept for one night and I didn't even hear any sound or something. But then again, the walls are probably soundproof.
"Yeah... Many important highways are blocked, runways are damaged. But don't worry, we will be fine inside." She says as she comes forward and puts her hand on my shoulder, and gives it a gentle rub.
But somehow, I am not that worried now, I mean I already knew I am gonna stay here for five days so...
It doesn't make much difference. "Okay... is that all you wanted to discuss?"
She breaks eye contact as she stares at her hands, telling me there's definitely something more. Something she wants to discuss but she is hesitating. "What is it?"
She raises her head back as looks back at me. "I just wanted to ask you something, but before that-how are you doing?" Her eyes go back to looking concerned.
"I am good, and now don't deflect." I put my face on my palm as I eye her.
"What is it?"
"It's a silly request and you can deny it." She tells me beforehand. " I just-you know in our culture there's this rasam called pehli rasoi?"
I narrow my eyes, seeing the amount of Indian daily soaps I have watched...
Of course I know it. "Yeah, the one in which the newly wed wife cooks for the first time for her husband's family."
"Yeah that one... but it's not just about cooking, it's about the beginning of new life and domesticness." She tells me. "It's not about food, it's about a rasam which has been passed down generation to generation in our culture."
"Mom I know all that, but why are you telling me that? That is done by the wife-and your husband didn't let me have one." Fuck, why am I being such a douchebag? "I am sorry..."
She shakes her head, "it's okay."
And then she continues, "It's not just about the wife, I mean traditionally it's done that way... but things have changed, now many husbands help their wives and they both cook together." I still don't see how this is related to us.
But I let her complete this time, "moreover, it brings good luck and prosperity to the family."
"So if it brings good luck, does the lack of it bring bad omen then?" I smirk, but she doesn't look amused.
"Yeah... and seeing how things are going on..." She doesn't name them, but I do-
"You mean, this marriage and now this volcano? Hmm, is that enough of a bad omen?" She hitches with my cruel but true words.
"It's already going so bad, so I just wanted to ask, if you will be okay with doing this rasam?" She murmurs, her voice almost inaudible.
"Me??" I exclaim. Does she think I am the motherfucking wife?! "I am not the woman!"
She bursts out laughing, "Oh Willy..." She giggles softly, and I have seen her laughing this freely after a very long time. My heart tightens, I want my mom to laugh like that again. Like she used to in my childhood.
"It's not funny!" I pout pathetically.
"You are not the 'wife'." She quotes it like it's a punchline. "You both are men, and if you are doing this rasam, you both can do it together." She says and then as I narrow my eyes, she adds. "It's only an if-situation."
I groan loudly. Cooking with that fucker?
Hell no.
Does he even know how to cook?
Seeing the privileged man he is, I doubt that.
"Mom, it will be chaos. We are both in a kitchen-only chaos will be served and that's not edible, as far as I know.
" I tighten my hold on that cushion. "Plus, I don't think he knows how to cook. "
"Oh don't worry about that, I have talked to Bianca, and she talked highly of his cooking skills. She said Zane knows pretty much every domestic skill and quite nicely." She says, already sounding awed.
"A mother will always defend her son, that doesn't mean he actually does." I grumble. "And wait a second, since when are you and Bianca on talking terms?" I narrow my eyes.
"Just last night." She smiles from just her mention. "She sounds like a nice woman. And no, she didn't seem to be defending anyone, in fact she sounded quite proud of him. Nonetheless, you do know cooking right?" The last one isn't actually a question.
Of course she knows the answer. "I do."
"So, you can cook. And if he actually is such a nice cook, he will be a great help. Either way, you don't need to stress about making something over the top. Literally the smallest thing will be more than enough."
"I haven't said 'yes' yet." I bite the inside of my cheek with deep thinking.
"You haven't. But you didn't say 'no' either." This clever woman, I swear!
"If we do cook, for how many people will it have to be?" Cooking for just one person is out of the question, because if there are so many people present, and all of them are our families only, it will be weird.
"Hmm, it depends on you guys mostly. But if you do make food for enough people, then you will have to make it by 9:30. Then you can serve it with breakfast." She's sounding like she knows I'm already on-board.
"How many people are there?" I ask.
"Both of our families, and two-three people more. But you don't have to make that much, because some people might prefer the buffet. Just make enough, quantity is not the point here, efforts are."
"What will we even make?" I think of all the dishes I can make. I haven't cooked for these many people. I have cooked mostly for myself only, so this will be a little hard.
"Anything you want." She gives me a thumbs up. Just happy in my agreement.
"Even instant noodles?" I smirk. That would be yummy, right?
She shakes her head with a small laugh, "yeah, Willy. Even ramen will work."
After discussing the whole menu and deciding what we are gonna make, I see her off. But just when I shut the door behind her, the door of overthinking opens.
It's going to be a shit-fucking-show.
Fuck.
I shouldn't have agreed.
I massage the bridge of my nose, my glasses coming in the way.
Zane comes out of the room, and he's dressed in a light blue dress shirt now and his ash gray suit pants on. His hair is styled and not like it was when he woke up. Hmm, I kinda preferred it.
He comes closer and looks at me still leaning on the door. But I pop the question without beating around the bush, "can you cook?"
My question catches him off-guard as if he wasn't expecting that. Well I like this dumbfounded blinking face and not the face of a masked mastermind. "I mean, I can... but why will you ask?" He comes even closer. "Is everything okay?"
"Apparently, the volcano was angry at you and it farted so hard, the flights were cancelled."
"Huh?"
I titter a little, because damn, I am so funny! "There was an eruption at Mount Etna." I recall everything my mom told me.
He clenches his jaw as I finish. Looks like someone doesn't like natural disasters much. "But how's that related to my culinary skills?"
"Culinary skills?" I cover my face with my hand as I burst out laughing. "Don't ever say that!" God, who is he? A chef at a fucking Michelin star restaurant?
"What? They are literally called that." Oh, he is sounding a bit defensive hmm...
"They are, but it's kinda nerdy." I shrug.
"Look who's talking." He gives me a once over. And I gasp, did he just-
"Excuse me?"
"You are excused." He grins wider. "Now will you tell me or not?"
My nostrils flare with a huff. "My mom asked me if it would be okay to do a rasam-a traditional ritual."
"Okay... what is it about?" He treads carefully.
"Long story short, it's about cooking. And we gotta cook for a few people." I look for some irritation or instant denial on his face, but he's looking engrossed.
"So what did you tell her?"
"I said yes." I bite my tongue, I already regret it.
"You said yes to cooking with me?" He's sounding a bit surprised, almost cheery.
I grunt, why the fuck is he sounding happy now? "I did."
But I shouldn't have.
A/N???
Not Bianca and Shimona already becoming besties and plotting the ship ??
Anyway it was a light chapter, and gosh they gonna cook together...
Something will definitely get burnt...or someone ??
Urm, lessgoo clichès ??
Thoughts? ??
Comments? ??
Votes???
Mt. Etna be like: