Hey Guys! I am back with another OS. Please bear with me because this one is a bit looonngg. You can’t blame! I was just trying to distract myself from all the kachori, paneer, prawns kaand😆. Anyhow, would love to read all your views!!
Movie Night
“Sorry Mr. Kapoor, Bakery pe ek urgent order aa gya hai aur Sara di bhi nahi hain. Mujhe aane mein late ho jayega”
Ram looked at the message for the umpteenth time and frowned. He was looking forward to this evening since last week when Priya had agreed to watch “Maine Pyaar Kiya” with him. Alas, she had crushed all his plans 3 hours ago by texting him about this stupid urgent order. “Saturday night my foot” he cursed under his breath as he paced in his room.
Few minutes later, Priya entered the bedroom and Ram immediately stopped in his track. He observed her quietly as she placed her purse and hand bag on the couch. Priya looked at Ram who was silently standing near her side of the bed. The minute their eyes met, Ram turned the other way declaring Cold war. “As expected, fir ruth kar baithe hain” Priya sighed.
“Mr Kapoor, look what i got for you, aapke favorite cupcakes” Priya picked the hand bag and held it towards him. She had packed some cucpcakes hoping these desserts would help reduce the mooh fulana session she was going to witness at home.
“Mujhe nahi chahiye” he mumbled and sat on the bed with his back still facing her. Priya finally walked to the other side to talk to him face to face. She was already tired from dealing everything at the bakery singlehandedly only to come home to her husband throwing tantrums like a 5 year old kid.
“Mr Kapoor, I told you I am sorry. Aur Isme itni badi kya baat hogyi. Hum movie ab dekh lete hain” Priya said and Ram looked up. “Badi baat. Tumne mujhe promise kiya tha ki Saturday shaam ko movie dekhenge” Ram said angrily. Priya was agitated but she controlled herself when she saw his face. He seemed really angry. She did not expect her being late could be this big of a deal since they could watch the movie anytime.
“Maine promise kiya tha to main nibhaungi na. Hum abhi dekh lete hain” She replied calmly.
“Tumne sab plan khrab kar diya. Maine cinema ke owner se special screening arrange krayi thi. Lekin nahi, madam ki bakery aur kaam beech mein aa gya. Ab nahi dekhni mujhe” Ram revealed his plan. Priya looked at him in shock. Why did he book a movie hall and that too for just the two of them. She thought they were going to watch the movie at home on the TV or laptop.
“Aapne poora theatre book kr diya. Itne paise waste kr diye...” she started her money saving lecture but before she could complete he cut her “Paise maine nahi tumne waste kiye hain. OK! Mujhpe mat thopo ab iska blame”
“Mujhe sapna thodi aayega ki aapne movie cinema hall mein lagwa di hai” Priya explained but it was falling on deaf ears. “Pta bhi hota to kya farak padta. Kaunsa tum dekhne mein interested thi” he taunted her.
Priya sighed in defeat. This conversation was going nowhere. She did not want to argue with him. Yesterday only they were joking about how they had not fought even once this week and within 24 hours it was jinxed.
“Aur Sorry tum kyun bol rahi ho. I am sorry. Maine aapko force kiya kuch acha dekhne ke liye, aage se nahi krunga” Ram said sarcastically. He knew he was being childish but all he had expected was a good evening with her. Was that too much to ask.
“Tumhe nahi dekhni thi to pehle he mana kr deti. Aise bahana banane ki kya zarurat thi” He finally let out the thoughts that were troubling him.
Priya was losing the last bit of patience left in her body. He was being impossible now. “Agar mujhe nahi dekhni hoti to main haan kyun karti” she tried to reason with him. He was driving her mad by throwing all these assumptions at her.
“Haan to tumne 5% ke shares ko bhi kiya tha. Fir badme wapis kr diye. So please jhooth mat bolo. Tumhe nahi dekhni thi movie.” He blurted out his fear of rejection.
“Fine! Believe what you want to believe” That was it. She had had enough of his tantrums. She picked her purse and stormed out of the room.
“Ye acha hai! Pehle galti kro aur fir khud he naraz hoke chale jao” Ram whispered to himself. “5% wali baat zyada to nahi ho gyi” his sane mind questioned. “Ugh, what a mess” he hid his face in the pillow.
45 minutes later, Priya was sitting in her mother’s home chatting with Sandy and Sara who were busy gushing over some relative’s wedding pictures. The rest of the family had gone to attend the wedding in Pune while the 3 sisters had stayed back. She had come to her mother’s house to cool down. “Thank god maa ghar par nahi hain, nahi to mujhe he bol deti ki meri galti hai aur sorry bolo”Priya ranted to herself.
She picked her coffee mug and was going towards the kitchen when the doorbell rang. “God, please not him” she did not want to talk to him right now. She opened the door but was shocked to see the person standing at the door.
“Tarun tum yahan! Sab theek hai?”
“Bhabhi sir ne mujhe naukri se nikal diya”
“What” to say she was shocked was an understatement. “Andar aa jao” she invited him inside and asked him about what had happened. “Bhabhi, maine to kuch bhi nahi kiya. Jaise har roz khana bnata hum waise he bnaya tha. Sir ko pasand nahi aaya aur ghar se nikalne ke liye bol diya. Mujhe kuch samajh nahi aaya to main yahan aa gya” he explained the whole ordeal.
“Nahi, its ok tum pareshan mat...” before she could complete her sentence, the doorbell rang again. Sandy hurriedly opened the door to find Punnu standing this time.
“Ma’am sir ne mujhe ghar se nikal diya” Punnu declared making a sad face. Sandy made way for him to come inside. Priya sat down with a perplexed expression as she looked at the two poor souls. She could not believe Ram was taking out his anger like that. “So immature and childish” she cursed him in her mind.
15 minutes later, as Sandy was serving dinner to the two guys, the doorbell rang again. Priya sighed in frustration. She was sure it was going to be another house help. Most probably Ajay was next in line. She got up and opened the door. But this time it was the man himself. Yup the man who was responsible for all this chaos had now graced them with his presence.
One look and he knew she was hoping mad. “Wo main to ghar wapis lene aaya tha...” he looked at her but changed his course when he saw her staring at him like she would eat him alive. “Tarun ko aur umm... doosre Tarun ko” he completed his sentence stammering and fumbling.
He carefully slid inside from the little space between her and the door because he knew if he asked for permission she wouldn’t have hesitated before slamming the door on his face.
“Kya yr Tarun, aise ghar kaun chod ke aata hai” he said and both Tarun and Punnu looked at the complete 360 degree turnaround of what they had experienced at the Kapoor mansion.
“Are choti si fight ho gayi to bura maan liya” Ram sneakingly looked at Priya who was standing in a corner looking at all the drama. Sandy could not hide her smile at what was happening. It seemed like all the words were directed towards priya but he did not have the courage to say it. Her jiju was one of a kind antic piece.
“Aur yahan aake khaana thoos rahe ho. Tum to aise kr rahe ho jaise apne ghar pe khaana nahi milta. Chalo lets go” Ram continued his rambling
“Sara di main sone jaa rahi hun. Aaj ke liye bahut tamasha ho gaya” Priya interrupted his nautanki and left the hall.
Ram looked on sadly as she went to her room and closed the door. He then looked at Tarun and the other Tarun who were looking at him. “Chalo yaar, bhabhi ke chamche!” he dragged both of them out of the house.
“Kya zarurat thi yahan aane ki. Faltu mein meri image aur khrab kar di” he started scolding the poor servants the minute they stepped out of the house. “khud he to nikala tha naukri se” Punnu mumbled and Ram glared at him angrily.
“To ab main he wapis de raha hun. Sorry, Okay!! Yeh pakdo car ki keys aur jao dono” Ram was agitated. He made his way inside the house after shooing the Taruns away. He slowly opened the door and peeked into priya’s room. She was taking out some clothes from the wardrobe. He cleared his throat and entered the room and she looked at him and then continued with what she was doing.
“Sorry” he said in a low tone but she did not give a reaction.
“Sorry, wo 5% wali baat ke liye. Mujhe nahi bona chahiye tha” he explained himself. Priya looked up to find him making a sorry face and those puppy eyes that saved him every time. She calmed down a little bit.
“I did not want to give back those shares” she said. She wanted to end this conversation once and for all. “ Ghar pe circumstances aise ho gye the ki that was the best decision at that time.” She continued and Ram kept on listening silently. He realy wanted to know the reason. “Shubham ko lagta hai ki mujhe uspe nazar rakhne ke liye ye shares diye hain aapne. Usse lagta hai ki aap usko responsible nahi samjhte. Wo ghar pe drink karke aaya. Nashe mein dhut tha. What was I suppossed to do. Aap bimaar the. Mujhe uss wakt jo sahi laga maine kiya” she finally let it all out.
Ram looked at her stunned. He had no idea what all had happened behind his back. He knew shubhu was reckless but not to this extent that he would blame Priya for this.
“Maine aapko isliye nahi btaya kyunki aapko bura lagta” she told him as he looked a bit shaken
“Bura iss baat ka zyada laga ki tum mujhe iss layak nahi samajhti ki mujhse baat share kr sako” he said and she stared at him.
“Next time bta dena. Saath milke sort kr lenge” he suggested and she nodded without any argument. “That’s it” Priya thought to herself. She had imagined Ram would be broken and he had surprisingly taken this better than she had expected. Realization hit Priya at that moment. All those misunderstandings could have been avoided had she told him everything in the first place.
“And mere bhai ki taraf se main maafi mangta hun” he said and she could see he was embarrassed and ashamed.
“Ab aap tere mere pe nahi atke hain. Last time yahin khade hoke mujhe tere mere pe lecture diya tha” she taunted him to lighten up the mood and he slowly smiled.
“Main movie pe atka hun. Tumhara promise pending hai” he went back to his primary reason now and Priya sighed. She did not like watching movies. She had agreed when he had pleaded her numerous times. But she would bear those 3 hours of torture for him if that made him happy.
“Maine kb mana kiya” as soon as she said that he jumped like somebody had put a spring in his shoes. “ To abhi dekhen. Tumhara laptop to hai, uspe dekh lenge. Kahin to mil jayegi movie netflix, amazon kahin to hogi... haan tum change kar aao main sab setup krta hun” he declared without even asking her.
She looked at him bewildered. How exited was a 38 year man to watch a film and the one he must have already watched more than 100 times. Even though she was extremely tired, she did not have the heart to refuse him again so she quickly picked her clothes.
When she came out of the bathroom, she saw him sitting in the middle of the bed with the laptop in his lap.
“Bas Adi abhi password aur ID dega fir start krte hain” he explained and she simply glared at him. “Seriously, aap Adi ko kabhi chain se jeene denge. Raat ke 12 baj rahe hain aur wo bichara aapke liye account ke password dhund raha hai” she scolded him.
“Yr please ab tum ye taunt aaj ke liye side pe krdo. Mujhe meri movie night enjoy krni hai wo bhi taunt free.” He declared and his phone buzzed. “Ofcourse, Adi found the account” Priya looked at his phone. She made a mental note to ask Adi why he indulged him so much.
She settled on her side and he scooted a little towards her leaving almost no gap between them. “Wo screen dikhti nahi hai properly ispe. Isiliye maine hall book kiya tha”he started again and Priya just hit the spacebar to start the movie before she got the narration about every movie he had watched.
She tried to concentrate on the movie but her mind was diverted by the faces he was making. The glee on his face when his favourite characters were onscreen was worth watching. That childlike excitement just melted her heart. In between the scenes , he would pause to laugh and then go on to explain every little detail to her as if she was language impaired. But she kept on listening because that made him happy. And him happy made her happy in return. She still didn’t like movies but they were more bearable now with him by her side.
Half way through the movie, Ram felt something heavy on his shoulder. He looked towards his right to find Priya lightly snoring while her head rested on his shoulder. He was so engrossed in the movie that he didn’t realise when she dozed off. He smiled slightly as he looked at her. She looked so tired and exhausted. Those cute little snores were evidence of the hectic day she had.
He picked the laptop to pull the blanket to cover her properly while being careful not to disturb her sleep. He then lowered the volume. “This is perfect” he thought. What more could he dream of. Watching his favourite movie while his favourite human snuggled him. “But that does not mean I am going to let you off the hook for sleeping without completing the movie.” He whispered smugly. He was going to milk this promise to get another movie night from her and maybe another if she slept the next time as well. “Amen to that” he chuckled and hit the play button to complete the movie.
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