Chapter 4- Knowing each others' number

"Ma'am there is a crisis. The factory in which our new project's products are manufacturing had a short circuit yesterday which led to outbreak of fire. There are no casualties but all our products are in remains."

Alice rushed to the site to see the remains of her product. Everything was burnt five days before the launch. As there were many celebrities and businessmen from different parts of the world scheduled to arrive, it was impossible to delay the launch. Alice immediately contacted some of the factories that were vacant and finalised the deal with one that was 200 kms away from New York City. She immediately transported all the workers and their families to the new place and started contacting people and making arrangements for the new factory. She had a hectic schedule and was busy working to solve the crisis.

Edwin completed his shoot for an ad and reached home at nine. He was exhausted and lied on the sofa. Suddenly, a maid came in.

"Sir, would you like to have Vegetarian Tortilla Casserole or Bean, Kale and Egg Stew for dinner?"

"Hmmm. I will have the stew. Has madam finished the dinner?"

"We don't know sir. Madam went out in the afternoon. She is not home yet."

"She is out? Well, did she tell anyone about where she is going?"

"She went to her office perhaps after receiving a call from her assistant."

Edwin nodded and the maid left to bring food for him. He sat in the dining table and started having his food. He was thinking about Alice. It was the first time he was waiting for someone for so long. He wanted to call her but then thought that it was a bit awkward for him to call especially after their sudden marriage. He finished his meal and went to sleep.

Next morning, he woke up and went to exercise. He came home all sweating. The maids brought towel and he went to have his breakfast. He asked the maids about Alice to which they replied that she was not home yet. He nodded and decided to contact Alice. When he was about to call her, he remembered that he did not had Annie's number. He made a call in Alice's Bay.

"Hello, this is the reception of Alice's Bay. How may I help you?"

"I want to connect to the CEO of your company, Ms. Alice Arora. I have something very urgent to discuss with her."

"Sir can you please tell us your name and occupation before we pass this call."

Edwin thought for a while as he couldn't reveal his identity.

"I…I am James Winfrey from KM Finances."

Luckily, he knew that Alice's Bay's IPO and Financial planning was all from KM Finances. Even his father's companies took financial help from same finance company.

The call was soon passed on to Alice's office. Alice picked up the phone.

"Hello?"

Her voice made it seem that she was extremely tired and weak. Edwin finally spoke.

"Alice, it is me Edwin. Well… I need to visit my family with you after marriage. Shall we go this afternoon?"

"Edwin, actually I might not be able to come home. There are some things in company which are urgent and I may not be able to ignore it. You can go ahead with the visit. I will try to finish this matter and come home soon."

"Okay. Did you eat your breakfast?"

"Not Yet….. Nadia, keep these files in the conference room. I am coming."

The call was disconnected. Edwin did not bother further especially after knowing that she was busy.

Fifteen minutes later after the meeting was adjourned, Alice came back to her office being especially tired and hungry. She was awake for the whole night and had her last meal yesterday in the afternoon. Suddenly, Nadia came in.

"Ma'am your tiffin has arrived."

"Tiffin? I didn't order anything."

"But it came under your name. "

"Uh. Okay. Give it to me."

She opened the tiffin to see one of her favourite Indian Dish- Paneer Paratha. She happily had her meal and she knew that the one who sent her the food was Edwin. She wanted to call and thank him. But she remembered that she did not have his number. She smiled as if she got a way to contact him.

Edwin went to his company. His assistant started discussing some matters.

"Sir, today there were nearly ten thousand personal messages on our official Instagram. Fans sent you various edits and wrote beautiful lines for you. However, a message amongst them was quite weird. "

"Is that so? Is it a hate message? However, I don't mind accepting criticism."

"No Sir. It is not a criticism. The user has sent you a photo of food and there is a message saying that I hope you teach us to make Paneer Paratha next time. Maybe in a live session?"

Edwin jumped and took the tablet. He knew from where the message came. It was Alice. He found the way she messaged him unique. He also admired that she guessed the food made by him. He was smiling crazily. He then looked a Jason and said,

"Let's have a live session in an hour. We will call it Edwin's Kitchen. Today I will teach my fans the recipe for Paneer Paratha."

Edwin had the live session and fans were filled with joy and supported the live stream. Soon the live stream became a trending topic. Fans were elated to know an amazing idol and fan clubs were reposting the live stream on various platforms.

Nadia was helping Alice with the project's work. Soon, the work ended and both got free and were about to leave the company. While Alice was packing up stuff, suddenly Nadia chimed.

"Ma'am, you know that today Edwin had a live session. He taught his fans how to make Paneer Paratha. Augh, he was so handsome. I wish I could eat the paratha he made. Augh, I won't be able to digest such heavenly thing."

Alice smiled thinking that Edwin actually got serious after receiving her message and even went live. She was quite happy about it. When she reached home, she saw Edwin lying on sofa and checking his phone.

"I heard that your live was quite popular. Congratulations!!! Now even I know your recipe. Well thank you for parathas. "

"Well, I am happy to know that you enjoyed eating the parathas. Well, how did you know that I made them?"

"It was based on logic. See, you have 10 housemaids. Five of them are American, two of them are Italian, one is French and other two are Indian. All of them are skilled cooks but they specialise in the foods from their locality. Now the recipe could not be from the two Indian Cooks because they belong to Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra. Those two might know how to make it but the dish could not be so authentic as they have learnt it from somewhere and not had it since childhood as staple dish. The paratha seemed as the cook had the idea of the authenticity of the dish. So, it would have been you."

"Wow. Your logic is impressive. Well I hope that you can enjoy food I make. Though we don't have a relationship based on our choice but I will try my best to make you comfortable."

"Well, even I will try my best to help you. Now that you will be making food for me, let's exchange our phone numbers so that I can call you from office whenever I am hungry."

Edwin smiled and they exchanged their numbers.