Part 2: Antara stepped out of the bathroom after taking a long, hot shower in an attempt to drive away her grogginess. Last night certainly had proven to be sleepless. And even though she had tried to stay in bed as long as possible, she had to finally get up before everyone started worrying she was sick.
She had stood under the hot sprays of the shower until her skin had turned pruney, letting her tense muscles slowly relax. As she made her way over to the cupboard, Antara sheepishly glanced at the closed balcony doors and drawn curtains. Clearly, even they weren't enough to keep him out so what was the point? And yet they continued to remain closed...
With a sigh Antara opened her cupboard knowing full well she had nothing to wear. Ab main kya karongi? Sare kapde toh voh le gaya, she cribbed as she shuffled through what was left. Nahi, sare nahi, kurte aur duppatte toh rakhe hai, sirf patloon le gaye. Ugh, ab main iska kya karoo, she thought, completely baffled as she held up what was left of her clothes. She literally had nothing else to wear. Everything else that wasn't a chudiddar was formal wear, for functions...she didn't even own any salwaars! What the hell was she going to wear; she couldn't even fit into any of her family's clothes...
*****
Raghu woke up to a beautiful morning with a content smile on his face. He leisurely stretched his arms immediately rolled over on his charpai to face her balcony. Of course everything was closed, locking her away from him but the thought didn't bother him today. No, instead it brought a devious grin to his face. Time to put the next phase of his plan into action...
*****
An hour later, freshly dressed and for once with combed hair, Raghu made his way over to Antara's house. He gave a firm knock and wondered if maybe, just maybe Antara would open the door. However it was her mami that answered, "Raghu tum? Kuch chahiye," she asked with a twinge of irritation at finding him at their doorstep. She had always been kind to him, even when others had misunderstood him; she had been like an older sister who always had a kind word for him. Noting the disappointment and slight anger in her voice reminded him once again of how callous a thing he had done.
"Je Aunty. Voh, mereko kuch baat karni thi. Antara ghar pe hai," he asked knowing full well that she was.
"Dekho Raghu, mujhe nahin lagta voh tumhe abhi milna chaahti hai."
"Mereko patta hai keh voh naraaz hai, aur apun ki galti bhi thi. Par yeh bohot zaroori baat hai, Aunty ke ilaag ke baare mein"
She looked at him for a minute and then with an almost unnoticeable softening in her sternness she replied, "hum abhi khaane pe hi baeth rahe the. Tum bhi aa jao. Saath mein baat bhi karlena."
Raghu breathed a sigh of relief as he stepped in. He easily intimidates and beat up men three times her size on almost a daily basis and yet he feared that if she had denied his entry, he would have been unable to do anything about it; being on the receiving end of her disappointment for the first time, he realized it really bothered him.
He walked over to the dining table, ignoring the disapproving glances Noor Aapa threw at him and quickly noting that Antara was not present and probably hiding out in her room like she had been the past few days.
"Antara! Dekho toh kaun aiya hai, aur nashta bhi lag gaya," her mami called out at the foot of the stairs. "Jee mami, abhi ayi," she called out. A few moments later, he heard her as she bounced down the stairs, "Aaji, main theekh hoon! Aap phirse kyun..." She never had a chance to complete her sentence as she rounded the stairs and saw who had actually come.
Raghu turned around immediately the moment he heard her but what he saw left his breathless. The cocky smirk slipped off his face and instead was replaced by his jaw hanging open. Before him, Antara stood in a beautiful sea blue sari?! He gulped hard as he forcibly tore his eyes from her exposed waist, already memorizing the curve and imaging the feel of that smooth skin against his rough hands. When he looked back up at her face he noticed the carefree smile that had been there a moment ago had been replaced by shock and horror upon recognizing him.
She literally stood there frozen, barely blinking until her mami shock her out of her state and told her to come sit for lunch. Reluctantly, she walked over and took the only seat that was left, directly across from Raghu, avoiding meeting his eye. He watched her with hawk-like precision as she took her seat. Well, he had known this wasn't going to be easy; when did Miss Kaul ever make anything easy? So he pulled up his socks and jumped in with both feet. "Voh, ab..tera pair kaisa hai," he asked directly looking at her. Antara's eyes flashed up to meet his, she clearly had not expected her to address her so directly. Although she had been disappointed with her own actions during the competition, she was still angry with his ruthless behavior. "Theekh hai," she curtly replied.
"Kya theeth hai. Abhi bhi dressing karne par khoon nikalta hai," Noor Aapa reproached shooting a scornful look at Raghu. "Doctor ne kaha hoga kuch tight nahi pehne ka magar shehzaadi ko itno dino baad yaad aya. Tabhi toh aaj apni mami se sari maange aayi thi," she continued, now directly her scorn at Antara.
"Aapa voh..."
"Vaise Antara, sari main tum bahaut pyari lagti ho," her mami quickly piped in, saving her from Aapa. "Aaj subeh tumhaare mama ne hume kaha bhi ke jab bitiya sari main itni achi lagni laga, toh iska matlab hai ke uske haath peele karne ka waqt aa gaya, kyun Didi?"
Antara choked on her water while Raghu literally froze mid-bite as he processed what Aunty just said.
"Ha! Main bhi yahi soch rahi thi! Dr. Sahab waapis aate hi hum baat karlenge," her mother said with a bright smile.
"Ha Didi, unse toh baat karhilenge," mami gently added. "Par aapke bhai apne dost ko bhi phone karne waale the. Unka beta CA hai aur toh aur, voh guitar bhi bajaa ta hai! Shayad voh aaj shyam khaane pe bhi aaye."
"KYA!?! NAHI," Antara and Raghu simultaneously exclaimed. All three women turned to look between the two with puzzled faces.
"Voh, aaj shyam Aunty ki appointment hai. Toh aaj shyam koi Antara se milne nahi aa sakta...yehi kehne ke liye aaya tha," Raghu quickly explained. "Shyam ko? Itni daer," her mami asked. "Ha, Aunty ki followup appointment abhi karne ki bohaut hi zaroori hai, toh doctor ne saare appointments ke baad Aunty ko bulaaya hai. Saath baje jaana hoga," he lied smoothly. Actually the appointment he had forced the doctor to give them during this morning's threatening phone call had been for 3pm today; guess he would just have to make another threatening call to push it back because there was no way in hell he was going to let her meet this guitar playing joker, he resolved.
"Accha? Teekh hai, toh shayad inhe kal-parson bulaa lenge," mami said with a frown.
"Nahi mami, mujhe shaadi nahi karna chaahti," Antara insisted.
"Shaadi nahi karna chaahti yah ISS ladke se shaadi nahi karna chaahti," Noor Aapa teased. "Bhai, pooch to le. Aisa na ho ke hum ladke dhoondhne lage aur patta chale ke yeh kaam to Antara ne pehle hi kardiya ho," she laughed. Raghu looked at Antara with a slight smile. She did say no to meeting the guy, could he be the reason, he hoped. But his hopes were brought to a crashing halt with Antara's next words...
"Nahi Aapa. Aisi koi baat nahi, meri zindagi mein koi bhi nahi hai. Bas abhi shaadi karna nahi chaahti," she said firmly. He shouldn't have been surprised by her answer; Raghu knew he had given her every reason to hate him especially over the last couple of days and had never made any indication of his feelings before, but hearing her flatly deny having feelings for anyone truly upset him. And yet she had looked at Raghu once she had said that, almost guiltily so. Of course, he was too busy trying not to outwardly show his disappointment to notice or scrutinize that.
"Haan, toh shaadi abh kaha karni hai. Aur vaise, aaj-kal tum bache, voh kya kehte hai, dating karna pasand karte ho na? Toh bas, sirf milne ko toh keh rahe hai, dosti badhao, bas. Shaadi ki baath hum nahi karengi, pakka," her mami argued.
"Par mami..."
"Mil lo na Antara." "Ha beta, sirf dekh toh lo." "Voh bilkul tumhaari pasand ka hai," all three women piped in. Poor Antara, she really didn't have a chance when all three ganged up on her like that...
"Teekh hai! Teekh hai! Ab hum nashta karle," she asked annoyed. The three had such victorious smiles on their face you would have thought they just won the lottery.
Yeh saala ho kya raha hai, Raghu thought as he stabbed his fork into the food with unnecessary force. Ladki ne sari kya pehni, seedhe shaadi karne ki sochli! Sab yaede hai! He quickly scarfed down his food registering his quickly rising irritation at the whole situation. He needed to get out of there ASAP if he wanted to refrain from pointlessly yelling at someone. "Acha Aunty, apun saade paanch baje aajayenge. Aur waapis aane main daer ho jayegi toh aap log khaa lena, hum raaste mein kuch khaalenge," he said as he got to head home.
"Koi baat nahi beta, hum khaalenge. Par tum bhi yaha khaalena, bahar kuch matt khaana. Hum daer se hi khaate hai," mami said. He gave her a slight smile as he noted her slowly coming around. She had always had a soft spot for him and even though this time he had done something truly grievous, she couldn't stay upset with him for long. "Theekh hai," Raghu said.
As he turned to leave their house, he was left with mixed emotions. He was happy that he had not only succeeded in seeing and speaking to Antara but also that he had ensured them spending some time together, even if it was on the pretext of her mother's appointment. Yet, knowing that her family was looking for a guy for her and had apparently already found someone absolutely perfect for her made him burn in jealously for a guy he didn't even know. Of course that guy was perfect, any guy would seem perfect in comparison to him. Really, what could he offer her? He had never gone to college, he spoken such broken English it was laughable, and he took pride in his chosen career of being a goon (at least in the eyes of Antara). Why would she ever want to settle for someone like him when she had so many better options? The morning that had started out with such promise had rapidly turned south with these new developments.
Raghu made his way directly to the balcony and began mindlessly throwing punches at his punching bag. Should he just let her go? Yes he loved her, but what was the point of telling her if they had no future together...?
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Edited by simisworld - 12 years ago
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