Malaal- Chapter 14

CHAPTER 14

It had been some months now since disaster struck the two hearts and every member of the Modi Family had accepted the new norm: Seeing Jigar occasionally. And quiet. 

Jigar used to leave home very early in the morning, even before Gopi would wake up. Because he never slept. He silently did extra work in the office; sitting patently in his cabin for hours, doing everything to distract himself from Rashi’s memories. But it hadn’t made a single difference. After whatever little sleep that came to him, everyday he would wake up anticipating Rashi around. And around she was, on all walls. 

To Kokila’s dismay, Jigar had started to avoid every function, from as small as a pooja to as large as a business party. He would just work; no talks, no discussions, no expectations, no explanations. Just loneliness.

Jigar was roaming around the house in silence at midnight. He sat at his dining chair and looked at Rashi’s chair. He imagined Rashi there, like old times, eating like a maniac, keeping an eye on every conversation going on, and making a jealous face whenever Gopi was being praised. He would always make her mood better later every night. She loved being held, and he loved holding her.

“Jigarji please, I am not in a good mood today.”

He would hold her from behind and  her expression would melt as he would say, “That’s why I want to make it fun for you tonight.”

Her vulnerability in bed never ceased to surprise Jigar. She would act all strong and bossy during the day, but the moment he would touch her, she would get into his control, waiting for him to love her in any way, as much as he would want to.

“Jigarji stop teasing me now!”, she would beg in a desperate voice.

“And?”, he would ask, irritating her more.

“Love me for god’s sake now! Or else!”

“Or else?”, he would ask in a low voice.

“Or else I will-“, she would say and kiss him hard, and push him under her, exploring his body in a hurry and touching him till he couldn’t control himself.

“Or else you will what?”, Ishan asked. Rashi and him were sitting in the balcony of Ishan’s house, and Rashi wasn’t a guest there anymore, she paid rent to him every month(to Ishan’s displeasure), because Ishan and her were besties now. Because probably they were the only people in each other’s lives.

“Or else I will buy a small apartment or something.”, Rashi answered, shaking the glass in her hand slightly.

Ishan shook his head. “Rashi you really blackmail me yaar! See, everyone needs some fun you know, some escape from daily chaos, and my hookups are just a part of it. Like this glass of alcohol in your hands, it’s your escape.”, he tried to make her understand.

Rashi looked at the glass in a ‘whatever’ way. “Hookups are cool Ishan. But in this house, I cannot tolerate drunk girls wrapped around an aroused you, leaving a trail of clothes in the hall and voices from your bedroom. It would be too ewwww for me.”, she said and made a disgusted face.

“Okay fine. No girls here. I’ll keep this stuff out of this house. But you can bring your man here.”, he said casually. Rashi choked on her drink.

“What? I’d never hookup with someone.”, she replied awkwardly.

Ishan smiled. “You want to hate love no? Trust me, casual hookups are the best ways to do that. But seeing your pace of moving on, with that ‘Don’t disturb me Jigarji’ in the morning and that ‘I love you so much Jigarji, you are my weakness!’ statements when you are drunk, I think you got a long way to move on.

Rashi laughed. On herself. “Yeah long way. But will happen.”

“Uff, let me do my work now! Bye.”, she got up and went to her room.

Rashi had transformed into an unbelievably workaholic person. She used to hustle during the day at the office, keeping all financial records checked, well managed and elevating in the eyes of her boss Harshad, but her evenings and nights were idle, but busy in crying, busy in missing Jigar, busy in fighting with her feelings. She knew that she had to fight it somehow, so she put all her free time in sketching fashion designs as a hobby. She was getting better at it by the day, even leaving Ishan in awe. 

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“You have drawn them?!”, Harshad asked her surprised, as he looked at the sketches in his hands. 

“Yes Sir.”, Rashi said awkwardly. She scolded herself in her head for keeping the sketches in her office file by mistake.

“Sir I am so sorry, I must’ve left them while working yesterday. Won’t get repeated.”, she said quickly.

Harshad looked at her in disbelief. “Are you crazy or something? These are one of the besy desgins I have ever seen. Wow.”, he exclaimed, his eyes going back to the designs.

Rashi smiled in surprise. 

“Oh, thank you sir.”, she managed to say. Harshad looked at her and smirked.

“A thank you isn’t enough.”, he replied. Rashi’s eyes widened.

“I hope he doesn’t say ‘What about a coffee?”, like every man I have met here.’ , she wished silently.

“Work hard in the Fashion designing department. The letter would be on your table.”, he said confidently.

Rashi couldn’t believe her ears. “What? Sir, but how can I-, umm, I don’t even have a degree-“, she was saying when Harshad raised his hand a bit.

“Nobody would ask for your degree when model’s will rock on the ramp with your designs. Besides, would you prefer a 9 to 5 desk job over a job that would allow you to travel, create and meet new people? I know the answer already. Now leave and join the new department from tomorrow.”, he said and turned around.

Rashi couldn’t believe her luck. She felt like dancing. Or hugging someone. But Jigar wasn’t around. Her joy mellowed down on his thought. She smiled a bit and walked away slowly.

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“What Rashi! You really thought that he would ask you for coffee?”, Ishan asked and laughed. Rashi was narrating the days happenings to him and he was extremely excited that she would work with him more than often.

“Whatever.”, Rashi said and rolled her eyes. Ishan continued to talk amongst his laughter.

“See I know that everyone at the office is falling for you. But Harshad Sir? He’s way out of your league, girls get weak in the knees for meeting him once and you thought -“, he continued to laugh.

Rashi received a text message and now it was her turn to laugh. At Ishan. Ishan made a face.

“What? Laughing on yourself?”, he asked in attitude.

Rashi showed him her phone screen. It was a message from Harshad.

“Hey Rashi. Thought that you would need some guidance for the new task. What about coffee at noon tomorrow?”

Ishan looked at Rashi and exclaimed, “WHAT! He too?”

Rashi raised her glass to mock Ishan, saying “Cheers.”

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Here’s a link to another RaJi FF written by me:https://www.indiaforums.com/fanfiction/915

You will love it! 

Please comment.