A LIE TO LOVE ❤️

Part #20

The competition commenced at sharp 10 A.M. Randhir stood beside the cooking station, where Sanyukta began her work. To the contestant's surprise, they were asked to cook the same dish, which they had uploaded. They would be judged accordingly and the five most impressive dishes would move on to the next round.

Sanyukta began chopping the herbs for her flavored rice. Randhir smiled looking at her as she bent almost half of her height, probing her head into the chopping board .

An hour passed in a jiffy.

Randhir noticed Sanyukta speaking to the organiser during the last thirty minutes . Her face had turned grim. He sensed that something went wrong.

His mind raced, as he thought what it could be.

He checked her cooking station . All elements were in place. It looked as though, plating was the only thing left to do.

'What else could it be?', he wondered.

'With only plating left, what is she checking with him?', he forced his mind to think hard.

'Plating..... Presentation..... plating...", his mind raced and then it struck him.

"Plate!!!!"

He remembered she used a peculiar plate. He couldn't remember it's name but it was missing.

He met her fret filled eyes..

He did not want her to lose her confidence . He smiled and nodded his head in assurance . She smiled back, as if she got the assurance he gave.

He approached the organiser and checked with him, if they would allow him to bring the plate now. The organizer, who did not expect this to happen, had to accept Randhir's request to let him go and get one for her.

Randhir checked his watch. He had exactly 27 minutes left. He couldn't even think of taking his car as getting his car out of the parking area itself will cost him more than 15 minutes.

He thought for a while and pulled out his mobile. He used his map to find a shop where the plate was available. The shop was just 15 minutes away by walk. He took an auto and reached the location. The shop keeper took a lot of time to locate the plate and much more time to make a bill.

Randhir checked his watch. He had only 10 more minutes remaining. He urged the auto driver to drive as fast as he could. Traffic jams and red signals delayed him by a few more minutes.

'Bangalore traffic!', he sighed.

Sanyukta had only three minutes left when the wooden plate was handed over to her. Randhir stood there panting and wiping the sweat off his face. Sanyukta looked at him as she placed the sizzler plate on the stove top.

Few of his hair strands stuck on his forehead while his shirt was completely drenched with sweat.

'I have troubled him way too much', she thought.

She noticed that the time was ticking away. She had only few seconds left. Sanyukta removed the plate off the stove. She knew it was not hot enough to sizzle. As she carefully plated the rice, the aroma did not rise as it did at home. Her face fell .

Randhir , from a distance, could sense that there was a problem. He could neither hear the sound nor smell the aroma. He cursed himself for not getting the plate to her on time. He should have been faster. He was worried thinking whether it would cost her some points. He was petrified to think that the deciding scores were cumulative.

"3,2,1. Your time is up. Wow. That was spellbinding cooking, isn't it?", the organizer spoke, marking the end of the first round.

The judges were then called upon for the taste test .

"We really appreciate your effort. The plate should have been hotter to spread the flavor across the dish. You see the cabbage leaves, they are still raw, which implies there was no heat and without heat, it is just a plate of few independent dishes put together. Unfortunately, heat is the binding element here", the judges pointed out to Sanyukta , to which she just nodded her head controlling her emotions.

"But, nevertheless , every dish in this plate tastes amazing. I love the potato wedges, they are still crisp and finely roasted. We really understand the amount of techniques that has gone into this one plate of food. But I must say one thing, Whether you win this competition or not, but you will definitely make it big in the food industry", the judges added.

She smiled and made sure not to show her emotions which would in turn hurt Randhir . She wanted to be sensible and wise.

The taste test was over.

The organiser came back with a mic in his hand .

"Thank you so much all of you for the wonderful dishes here . There were five dishes which impressed our panel of judges. And nevertheless to say, the makers of those five dishes would be competing in the final round.
The winner of the final round would get a cash prize of 5000 rupees, a free one year subscription of Flavours magazine and an opportunity to own and write a column in every edition." , he completed his announcement eliciting the contestants to win the competition.

One of the judges took the mic from the organiser to call out the names of contestants who would be entering the final round.

"The first person to enter the final round is......", he paused in an attempt to build the suspense.

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So what do you think???

Did she lose the competition??? Is this the end of all her dreams??? Why is Randhir helping her ?? What is his motive??

Stay tuned to find out....

It's an Unedited part... It's 12:15 in the night. ... I'm too tired to edit it now.. so please ignore grammar and mistakes. Do vote and leave in your valuable comments.

-Farah -