SICILIAN PART 8:
He lay staring at the ceiling in his room for the umpteenth hour since the wee hours of the morning.This was getting crazier by the moment. All he was doing these days was thinking...thinking, thinking, thinking. Worst of all, it was about her!! A woman he had met only twice now in his life and yet, she was all over him. Well technically, he let he get all over him. It had been four weeks since he saw them but he just couldn't stop thinking about them. There was nothing he could do about it. Jai turned over to face the window as he lay in bed early that morning, glad he didn't have to go to work today. The early morning sun peeked through the slits in the blinds which were still drawn across the windows.
Lord she had a lovely colour when she blushed like that, he thought with a small smile as he thought of the way she hid her face from him after he tasted the kheer made by her. It had taken all of his own will power not to do likewise, the willpower fuelled by the knowledge that Tarun was right there watching them. She was truly a beautiful woman, even with the bit of pregnancy fat she still carried, she looked radiant. He thought of the boys and another smile crossed his lips. They were getting to be so big for babies who were only what, two months old? He had shamelessly asked Tarun how they were doing the last time he had seen Tarun and Tarun had proudly shown him pictures of the boys.
Uncomfortably however, his thoughts also turned to Roshni. She was an amazing woman too, thought she lived life to the fullest, she didn't have the wildness that would make him think she was not wife material. It did bother him that in spite of being with a woman like her, he still couldn't shake the thoughts of a woman he had only met a couple of months ago. He feared to think what would have happened if she had returned and seen him with the kids and Bani. There would have been some uncomfortable explaining to do and he really wasn't up for drama at this point in his life. It was a little upsetting that he of all people who had the clearest business minds in the business world was in a bit of a dilemma with these two women.
One mind was clearly going to say Roshni was the obvious favourite as she had the upbringing that the rich people of Mumbai were expected to have, a fusion of both companies would be more than welcome and they enjoyed mostly the same things and moved in the same circles. His family though reluctantly at first had now even accepted her and they all got along just fine, especially as she was friends with Jigyasa. She even had room for growth! There was Bani on the other hand who didn't have much to her name, had gotten pregnant and dumped by the father rather unceremoniously with two children to show for it. And he was the one to bail her out! Well, not that she asked for his help, and he had a sneaky feeling that either way she would have found a way to provide for herself and the children. A woman of substance, that. A woman he couldn't stop thinking about.
The chirping of the birds outside told him someone would soon be in to check on him, as usually on Saturday mornings like this, he would be out running the grounds. Treadmill didn't always do it for him. He loved the early morning feel of the earth under his feet and the smell of dew in the air. As if hearing his thoughts, there was a soft knock on the door. He turned to face the door.
"Come in," he called softly.
The knob turned and he watched with a small smile as his mother entered with a glass of orange juice. She was always the first one up among them all, only beaten by the servants.
"Good morning Ma,"he said, sitting up as she set the glass down and sat beside him.
"Good morning my child," she ruffled his hair as had been her custom for years.
"Sleep well?" he asked her.
"As well as can be expected," she said with a happy sigh, "You?"
"As well as can be expected."
"You were a bit late last night."
He thought of the late night call he had had to make to his Head of Department who was a computer genius. They had business to take care of and that couldn't wait. He had to pay someone back in their own coin.
"It was business as usual Ma," he said in a quiet voice.
His mother looked at him and he knew what was coming, "Who are you after this time?"
"What makes you think I'm after someone?" he asked, trying to downplay what he knew his mother already knew.
"Need I remind you you're talking to your mother?" she asked with a raised brow.
"That's not fair Ma," he said, as this was the same way he always got him to talk...not emotional blackmail as he was more than immune to that, but more the no nonsense 'don't mess with me attitude'.
She was quite the formidable woman when she put her mind to it and he really didn't like it when she resorted to arm twisting. He had seen her do it to his father severally and never wanted to be on the receiving end. She could be quite without mercy when she was mad and that starkly reminded him that she was from the old country.
"I'm not ready to talk," he said finally, hoping she would leave it alone.
Surprisingly, she did. "So no running today I take it?"
He didn't miss a beat, "No, not in the mood."
"What's bothering you?" she asked again, this time looking him in the eye.
"Ma!" he said in protest. He really was like a little boy when he was with his mother, and well, little wonder. The woman could be intimidating!
She laughed now, "Okay, Obviously my little boy is all grown up and doesn't need Mommy to soothe his wounds anymore."
"Too true," he said in a dry tone.
She smacked his head and rose, "Get ready. It's almost breakfast time."
So saying, she glided out of his room soundlessly, softly closing the door behind her. Jai released a sigh of relief as he ran his hand through his hair. Now his mother smelled a rat she would wait as much as she could before actually bludgeoning the truth out of him, but one way or another, he was going to have to tell her about Bani. Voluntarily or otherwise.
Bani sat down with the newspaper, a bunch of red circles scattered all over the page. She was looking for a suitable job that would allow her to work from home and take care of the kids basically. Tarun was helping her too but she had a feeling he was deliberately taking his time with it so she had taken it into her own hands. Several of them looked interesting and she could have her kids with her if she chose to work in those places, but she also didn't want any high profile place where she would be likely to be recognised by some person as the ex-girlfriend of Aparajeet Deb. If she never crossed paths with that lowlife again it would be too soon.
She stretched on the high bar stool and glanced around her kitchen again. Her kitchen....it did strike her how easily she had come to call this place her home. She truly loved this place and it was increasingly difficult to stop mentally thanking her benefactor for all he had done. It had been more than amazing what he had done for her, helping birth her children notwithstanding. This place was amazing and she would never have dreamed of such a place being called hers....but here she was.
She thought back to that day in his office. She kicked herself mentally for having reacted to him the way she did. I mean, after Aparajeet you would think she had learned her lesson about taking people at face value right? But there she was, blushing like a virginal school girl at the way he looked at her after she had fed him the kheer. It was too much really....and Tarun hadn't missed it at all. He teased her endlessly about it and ignored her threats to throw him out of the house if he persisted. He just shrugged and told her he would tell Jai on her, to which she always fell silent while he smirked in victory.
A soft cooing sound reached her from the monitor that was next to her on the table. Yep, it was about time they woke up. They had been good little boys and had been asleep all morning. She supposed it was time they woke up, the time being almost noon. She hopped off the chair and headed to the nursery. Naturally as expected, it was Atharva who had woken up and was restlessly moving his arms and legs as he tried to announce the fact that he was awake. Krishna was still very much asleep.
"Hiya darling,"she said, picking him up from the cot, "Did you have a good sleep?...sure you did,"she said in a gentle voice, kissing his ruddy cheek as he struggled to find a resting place for his feet.
She took him to the changing top where she dressed them and first of all checked to see if he'd done a poo. He hadn't but she decided to give him a bath before Krishna woke up too. She put out the bath and after mixing the water to the right temperature, gave him a bath. It always amused her how much he enjoyed the water. She had just finished with him when the doorbell rang. She frowned and lay him down to go see who was at the door. She peeked through the key hole and frowned further. Cautiously, she opened her door.
"Hello!"
Taken aback slightly, she stammered, her curious frown still in place, "Er...hi."
She gazed at the woman in front of her who seemed unable to stand still for even a second, panic as well as excitement on her face.
2I'm terribly sorry to bother you, but I'm over here checking out apartments and I'm afraid I really need to use the bathroom right now so if you would please please please be so kind as to let me..."
Bani now smiled in understanding as the girl really couldn't stand still from the pressure on her bladder and Bani opened the door wider and let her in.
"It's the third door on the right, going down the hallway."
The words were barely out of her mouth as the girl rushed past her and made a beeline for the hallway without a backward glance at Bani. Bani couldn't help but chuckle as she thought what the girl would have done had she not been home. Bani heard her grown in relief as she relieved herself. Atharva began to protest being left alone and she hurried to pick him up. She checked and Krishna was still asleep so she hurried back out when the girl emerged from the bathroom.
"You are a life saver," she said, giving Bani and Atharva a hug, the little boy trying to look around at the new comer.
Bani laughed, "Not at all."
"That stupid agent, told me he would he here by one and here I am, almost peeing on myself waiting for him."
"He's probably just running late," Bani tried to soothe her.
"Running late my foot!" the girl stamped her foot, causing Atharva to look at her again and she glanced at him, "Sorry love, but that man is getting on my nerves."
Bani smiled at her, bouncing Atharva and froze when she heard the shrill cry of Krishna coming from inside the room. She groaned and looked apologetically at the girl who was looking at her in confusion.
"That'll be his brother. Excuse me."
"You have twins?" the girl's curiosity was peaked and Bani turned to see the pure excitement on her face, "Oh would it be presumptious or too bold to ask if I could see them?"
Again Bani hesitated for a moment, but deciding what harm could it possibly do, nodded for her to follow as Krishna was getting more insistent. She allowed the girl follow her and she placed Atharva next to the crying Krishna who quieted down the moment she picked him up.
"Wow, how cool is that?" the girl said, looking from one to the other in complete awe, "How do you manage?"
"Well I have unofficial help," Bani smiled, thinking of Tarun. It was obvious Krishna had done a poo and she had to get him changed, "If you don't mind er...."
"Rano," the girl supplied with a bright smile, "Rano Verma."
"Rano," Bani tried the name on for size, "Nice name. I have to change him....2
"Ohhhhh, can I watch?" Rano rushed on.
"Okay," Bani shook her head in wonder as she turned to the baby lying before her, regarding Rano through wide eyes as though wondering who she was as he had never seen her before.
Bani made quick work of the soiled diaper and proceeded to give him the bath she had been preparing before Rano had entered her home. Rano kept up a lively chatter as she worked on Krishna,and had gone to pick up Atharva when he began to protest the whole attention being poured on Krishna. Bani found out in the space of the fifteen minutes it took to bathe and dress her son that Rano was a free lance writer for The Mumbai Mirror, and Bani had felt a bit uncomfortable when she said that but the girl had continued chatting in her flighty voice, oblivious to the change in Bani's attitude. Bani later figured if she was here for a story she would not have told her what she did for a living. Bani found out that she was moving out of her parent's house as they wouldn't stay out of her business, always nagging her about her future, asking her to give up her career and basically become a house wife to the son of one of their acquaintances. She had said that was the last straw and had walked out. She'd been living in a rented apartment somewhere but there was no privacy so she basically wanted a better place to stay and that's what her silly agent was delaying her from doing.
She had began feeding Krishna who was hungry and basically listened to Rano all the time. She had made a pot of tea and though she tried to join in the conversation, she noticed that Rano just asked a question and answered it herself before Bani could open her mouth and Bani basically decided to just let her talk. She sure loved to do that. She talked about her last relationship in which the guy had turned rather abusive with classic apologies that had melted her heart until he had almost tossed her out the window from the fourth floor of a building in a drunken rage after she had danced with some random guy. She had taken out a restraining order on him and though he had tried, his last stunt had put paid to their relationship.
"You are strong," Bani commended her, as she knew most women would be too scared to do what she had done.
"I had to be," she said in her chirpy voice, "It was either me or him and Lord knows I'm not ready to go to heaven...or hell."
Her expression of horror made Bani laugh, though it was a touchy and severe subject they were discussing. Just then, her phone rang. She went to her bag, balancing Atharva in her arms as she reached for her phone, then muttered in irritation under her breath.
"Where the hell are you?!" she barked into the phone, causing Atharva to freeze in shock and she turned to him, "Sorry love."
She turned back to the phone to listen to what the man was saying, "This is highly unprofessional. This is no way to do business. Your one should be your one. This is an hour and half later...."
Bani listened to her tell the man off and realized for all her seeming sweetness, this woman housed a solid backbone underneath her skin. No one should be deceived with her gentleness. She was sure a lot of people underestimated her.
She snapped shut her phone and turned to Atharva, "I'm sorry I scared you honey, but the silly man seems to have arrived. And now I have to go."
The last part she said with an apologetic look at Bani, "Not at all, you have more than made a good day of it for me."
"Really?" Rano asked with a bright smile.
Bani nodded in the affirmative, "Glad to be of help, and thanks for saving a life earlier."
"You're more than welcome," Bani said, "And for what it's worth, I hope you do take the flat here. It would be good to have some adult company around here."
"You know for that reason alone, I just might," Rano said as Bani walked to the door and took Atharva from her, "Bye now darling, see you around!"
She had placed a kiss on Atharva's forehead at which the boy blinked and she hugged Bani quickly before Bani turned to see the so called agent a little distance from them, looking nervously at Rano who schooled her expression into one of business before turning to the man. Bani shook her head and re-entered her apartment. She placed both her boys in their swing and began to draw on the string to lull them back to sleep. She continued till both of them were asleep and then she went back to her paper. She remembered Rano telling her she could hire her to be the one to type up her written work if Bani was fine by it.
Bani had laughed and said she was just about ready to do so as she needed a job badly. She just might take Rano up on it she couldn't find anything at the end of the week. It was not as though she lacked anything but she needed something other than waiting for her boys to wake up so she could bathe, clothe, feed and put them back to sleep. Besides, she felt the burden of how good Tarun was being to her though he had declared himself her big brother and wouldn't take no for an answer. Almost immediately, her mind turned to Jai Walia as it seemed to do quite a lot these days. She had given up trying to resist the thoughts that flooded her mind.
She rationalized it as he had been the one to help her through an extraordinary time in her life and she so needed that to be the reason that she ignored the little voice that asked her what part of the birthing experienced they had shared entitled her to think of him as being the father of her boys and she his wife in some alternate world.
On an impulse she picked up the phone and dialled a number. She had no idea what she was getting herself into but she sure was not going to not do what she was about to do.
"Hello..." she said, when the person at the other end picked up.
Jai had had a hectic work time in his study as he had some stuff to catch up on and it had taken longer than he had envisaged. He was stretching when there was a knock on the door and when he called for the person to come in, he was first taken aback to see the huge bouquet of flowers that appeared first, then he recognised Tony's feet behind them.
"I'm sorry Sir, but these came for you a while ago," Tony set them down on the table and turned to go.
"Thank you Tony," Jai said, frowning at the exquisitely arranged flowers, wondering who would send him flowers. Weren't the tables supposed to be turned the other way?
He got up and went to the bouquet and picked up the stark white mini envelop that had only his name behind it. He opened it and read: The little we can do to say Thank you.
It wasn't signed and he frowned a little, wondering who this was. His mind went over several people and finally settled on the one person and a slow smile spread across his face as he realized who 'we' stood for. Well well well, he had found the in he needed to do the needful. He picked up the flowers and left the study. He ran smack dab into his mother.
"Wow, who are those from? Roshni?" she asked.
"No," he said simply, trying to get away before she probed further, but he was blocked by Jigyasa who was munching on some cakes.
"Wow Bhaiya, who are those from? Roshni?"
He groaned and his mother laughed, "Apparently not Jigyasa, it seems my son has a secret admirer."
"It's nothing like that Ma, now will you let me go put these in water?" he asked in mild irritation at their meddling, and also because their meddling was concerning someone he wanted to protect from any kind of publicity.
Jigyasa watched him go and frowned, "He's taking them to his room."
"Is something wrong with that?" Krishna asked.
Jigyasa continued to frown, "If they're not from his girlfriend, why is he taking them to his room?"
Krishna gave a dramatic sigh, "Stranger things have happened.2
She left Jigyasa standing there, who was staring at the stairs up which her brother had disappeared. Something wasn't right and for her friend's sake she needed to find out.
Later that evening while Bani had just put the kids down for their night's rest, she again heard her door bell ring. She wondered why Tarun would not just let himself in as he had a key. She went and peeked through the key hole and gave a rather audible gasp. He was here!! She ran back to the room at lightning speed and brushed her hair in several frantic strokes, shook some loose powder on her face and slathered on a small sheen of lip gloss and tossed the tube when the bell rang a second time. When she got to the door, she grabbed the knob, took a steadying breath and pulled open the door. The distinct smell of his designer aftershave hit her senses and she took a deep breath, taking an involuntary step backward.
"Hello Miss Dixit," he said, his smile flashing the pearly white teeth that lay beneath.
Her pulse quickened and her heart race literally borrowed wings and began to fly. She was speechless at the sight of him in casual slacks and a simple knit sweater. That it was straining against the expanse of his chest didn't help matters.
He started to speak again, "I come in peace, I promise."
She stared at him in confusion the first few seconds and then realizing he was mistaking her silence as something else quickly spoke.
"Oh no Mr. Walia," she said quickly, stepping back to let him, "I didn't mean to be rude....it's just..."
"I should have called first," he said as he turned to face her as she stood with her back to the door.
"No...it's perfectly alright," she assured him, and after the awkward silence that fell rushed on, 2How about you come this way while I check on the kids?"
She needed anything right now to calm her nerves and he seemed to need the same as he readily agreed with her.
"I'll be right here," he said as she ducked into the room.
Bani entered the kids room and shut the door softly as she exhaled a long breath she wasn't aware she was holding. This was crazy..where was Tarun when you need him? Lord what was she going to do? She couldn't handle him on her own, this was crazy! And what had she been putting on making up for?! She opened the door a crack to see him looking at the pictures she had arranged over the fire place on the mantle. As if sensing she was watching him, he turned and caught her red handed peeking at him! She fell away from the door in horror, slapping her hand over her mouth.
This was not happening.....this was just not happening!!!!!!!!!!!!
GUYS, ONCE AGAIN BARE WITH ME, IT'S REALLY HARD HAVING TO DO THIS BUT I GUESSED IT WOULD BE OKAY TO DO ONE AT A TIME AS I DON'T HAVE THAT MUCH TIME ANYMORE.I WILL UPDATE SECOND CHNACE NEXT WHEN I CAN SO PLEASE, WAIT FOR IT. THANKS, AND DO COMMENT!!!!!!!
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