FF An ugly truth part 35 pg 97 1.7.11 (new) - Page 24

Her husband was acting rather weird, Bani had noticed. He was actually......nice to her, like he suddenly remembered that she had feelings. There was something strange going on since she had fallen ill. Maybe he got scared? Maybe he was shocked that his human punching bag to which he hurled accusations whenever he liked, was actually a human being.

Bani sat up straight and pulled her annoying pillow from under her head. She punched it a few times until she thought it would be right, and placed it under her head. It was still not right!

'Arrgghh. Bani pounded the pillow into a formless shape and laid back. She wanted to sleep, she needed to sleep badly. This would be her last night in the hospital. She was getting discharged tomorrow and only God knew whether her husband would be nice enough to let her rest without giving her some rather nice and colorful names.

***

Aditya was practically running in the hall when he passed Jai's study. He barely caught a glimpse of Jai when he stopped and barged in without knocking.

'Jai, are you ready. we need to pick Bani up.' He said while closing the button of his shirtsleeve. He had not seen Jai, sunken in his desk chair which looked like it could hide him for the very first time, but refused to hide Jai.

'Jai come on, get up man!' Aditya urged him.

'Jij, mujhse galti huwi hai' Jai whispered so softly Aditya barely missed what he said.

'Kya?'

'Mujhe se galati huwi hai jiju.' Jai spoke, this time a bit louder.

Ow Jai, come one. What happened? Bad deal or something. Aise keh rehe ho jaise aasman sar pe toot para hai.'

'No...jiju I....jiju I cheated Bani.'

The clattering of a pencil case and a paperweight falling on the floor filled the otherwise silent room. Jai felt himself being pulled up by his collar and found Aditya staring at him.

'What the h*ll are you saying?You cheated on Bani?!!! She has been in the hospital for a few days and you have been cheating on her! disgusting.' Aditya hissed and released Jai's collar with force. Jai staggered a few steps back but couldn't look up and meet Aditya's eyes.

'Who is she? That girl!' Aditya demanded to know.

'Pia.'

'Jai, just because uska naam Pia hai uska matlab nahin ki woh wohi hai...Jai, that's sick you cant do this to Bani you get me!!!'

'Jij, I didn't....i mean I did cheat BAni, but not like you think......or....maybe I did like you think but.........'

' Saaf saaf kaho jai!! What do you mean!!' Aditya shouted.

jiju... Bani is...Bani is Pias sister…..my Pias sister Jai closed his eyes. No, Not my Pa, Jij, but Pia,the one I knew. Bani is her little sister. He said in a soft voice.

What!!!

Jai nodded his head. 'Haan, Pia Dixit is the girl I fell in love with Jiju.'

'Wait a second. Pia, Bani's elder sister is the girl you met and loved so many years ago.' Aditya repeated to comprehend what he had heard so he made sure he had made no mistake in understanding his brother-in-law.

'Yes. Jai said softly.

And you are now married to her younger sister?'

'Yes.'

'And you knew Bani was Pia's sister?'

'not immediately, but before I got married....yes.'

'Tum pagal ho gaye ho Jai!' Aditya yelled at him. ' why did you do this??!'

' I don't know..I just wanted Pia in my life Jiju. I was happy when I was with her.. I was feeling good about myself, about my life chaahe mere paas kuch bhi nahin tha. Ab mere paas sab kuch hai lekin khaali-khaali sa lagta hai. Kya mujhe itna bhi haq nahin tha apne baare me sochne ka?'

'Haq tha Jai, lekin yeh haq nahin tha ki tum Bani ko dhokha do. Because I am assuming that you haven't told her any of this. And that is why you were misbehaving with her to say the least.'

With a slight tilt of his head Jai agreed with his brother-in-law.

'Why Jai? And how could you assume that this would be right?And Pia...did she know you were marrying her sister? Why was she quiet all this while? Her own sister for heavens sake.'

'I told her to come to me, we would start all over. She was scared, didn't want to and then......I told her that I would tell everything about us to everyone....she hid this from her sister because.....her family didn't know about me.....she never told them.'

'What??!!!' Aditya gasped again. 'She never…..tumhaari duniya bigaar ke she never told her parents……you left us for seven years..... for nothing!!

The words sounded even more cruel from Adityas mouth than in Jais thoughts. He was right. Seven years of distance for nothing.

Phir bhi. It doesn't explain why Pia didn't tell her sister...sab ke flings hote hai in college. Apni hi behen ko bata sakti thi. Bani wouldn't have told anyone. Aditya mused.

It wasnt just a fling Jiju. I met her again. derh saal pehle, in Delhi. We had an affair while she was married.'

The weight of Jai's words made Aditya slump back. Luckily there was a sofa placed against the wall he could drop himself in when the back of Aditya's knees hit it.

'Jiju, kuch kaho na, please. Jai begged Aditya when minutes of silence had passed.

Kuch kehne ko bacha kya hai?'

'JIju, please...mujhe pata hai maine galati ki hai but i loved her, i still do... please...'

'What do you want to do Jai?'

'hmm.?'

'About your marriage. What do you want to do?'

Frustrated Jai ran his fingers through his hair. I don't know jiju. But I cant live like this. I think....I think a divorce is the best solution.

For you or for Bani? Adityas tone was bitter, but sharp enough to pierce through Jai's heart. Jai kept mum till Aditya stood up.

' I don't know Jiju. But this marriage is a sham.'

'Okay, divorce it is then. But when? You want to harass the girl now when she is getting well?'

'jiju, do you think so lowly of me now?' Jai asked while tears sprung to his eyes.

'I dont know what to think of you anymore Jai. Aditya said truthfully. I wish that you were still that boy I had met when I married Jigyasa. Woh larka jisko mai daant sakta uski galati karne par. But anyways, when will you tell Bani?'

Jai looked at the floor when shame and embarrassment took the power away from him to look at Aditya. 'After she graduates jiju. In two months,

Aditya walked towards the door without saying anything. He didn't even gave Jai a last glance while he stepped away.

Jiju….should I tell Bani? about Pia and me?' even this question didn't make him turn around although the voice reminded him a lot of the small, innocent teenager he spoke about a minute earlier. He remembered making fun of the huge bump on Jai's head when his little brother was playing cricket and was about to get hit by the hard ball. Jai had jumped in between to protect his brother. That was the boy Aditya knew. The boy who made sure that everyone was safe and no one would get hurt. This time he had hurt an innocent girl. Someone who had no fault at all. the teenage boy got lost somewhere.

'Faida kya hai Jai? if I wouldn't have known you or Bani then I would have said: ' tell her' but there is no use. In two months you will divorce her. usko waapas apne ghar jaana hai. why destroy the relationship she had with her sister Jai?Bani loves her family a lot. Usko apni duniya me khush rehne do.'

***

'Mai theek hoon mausi, please..' Bani was being pushed on the bed. Mausi,dadi and Jigyasa had walked her up there and made he lie down now. 'Please, I am all right, aap sab khamokha…'

'Chup kar! Mausi glared at her. Tujhe kuch nahin pata. Lie down here and don't move.

They covered her with a comforter and left the room with the words. Call us when you need something.' It had sounded more like a threat to Bani but she couldn't help smiling. Once they were out of the room Bani managed to get out of the bed. Her head was still spinning a bit and that made her slow down. She made the bed and folded the comforter like it was before. Bani made her way to the sofa and lied down on her own place to sleep. The bed was her husband's. He doesn't like her touching his things. Bani had drifted into an uncomfortable sleep when Jai entered the bedroom. He saw her lying on the sofa. The sofa where she should not have been in the first place.

Bani woke up in a comfortable warmth. Her weight was sinking in something soft. She looked around with a bewildered expression as she was trying to focus in the room that seemed to spin around her. She did get out of bed right? And then she folded the comforter and slept on the sofa. ......right? Was she loosing her mind? Bani was scratching her head when she saw a tall figure in the balcony. He had probably heard her sitting up in the bed with he amount of noise she had made. Jai came into the room with a small tub in his arms.

'My orchids.' Bani whispered.

'Yeah, I figured you might be missing your flowers. Mai tumhaare ghar gaya tha aaj and I took this with me. I hope you don't mind.'

Bani dumbly shook her head. What would she say otherwise to the man who hadn't talked to her in so many days, except shouting a few words, and was acting sugary sweet all of a sudden?

'Your mother told me in the hospital that she couldn't take good enough care of them.'Jai explained. The hesitation was still in his mind but he wanted to be nice to her. Bani was a nice person and although they were not going to be a husband and wife, and Jai would make her life uncomfortable when he would bring up the divorce matter in a few months, Bani deserved to have be treated well. At least in a human way and not like he had treated her before. It might be a small part of his lifelong atonement.

'Get some rest, you need it.' Jai put down the tub next to the door of the balcony and brushed his hands against the legs of his trousers to get the dirt of them. He pushed her back on the bed and covered her with the comforter. He had noticed Bani's large eyes, growing even larger because of the shock, but he chose to ignore it.

Bani turned to her side and put her hand under her head. She felt his large hand brush against her shoulder. Bani closed her eyes and soon fell asleep again.

Jai took her medicines out of his pocket and put them on the nightstand along with a glass of water. Bani would find them when she would wake up, but she would also see that although it was late in the night, her husband wasn't in the room. Jai had shifted into the guestroom next to her.

***

The next day Bani's parents came to visit her. Supposedly they were invited over by Jai to have dinner with them. Her parents couldn't stop gushing about their son-in-law. He was so wonderful, so considerate when he took care of Bani and visited her every day. It was 'Jai beta did this.' 'Jai did that' Jai...jai...jai..their chanting of his name must have made even the Gods envious of Jai Bani thought. Bani kept a close watch on her husband, as her parents were unbelievably hyper at that time that it exhausted Bani. He was the perfect gentlemen. Offered them something to drink, paid her mother compliments, engaged her father in conversations while the women had their gossip. 'What is wrong with this man???!' Bani kept thinking.

The delicious and mouthwatering dishes on the table kept her mind of the curious display for a while. The band hospital food and the soups she had yesterday were not Bani's style of food. She reveled at the sight different achar's and chutney's which she could finally eat after days. While toying with the spoon and trying to decide where to start, Bani remembered something.

'mama, Pia didie kahan hai? I haven't seen her in such a long time. Na mera phone uthati hai. Is she busy?'

'pata nahin.' Her mother answered. ' Maine tere saare messages to diye the usko.'

'naraaz hai kya muhjse?' Bani asked forgetting her food for a moment. Nishikant hugged his daughter siderways. 'are nahin. She is busy. She wants to do something else now. Koi course karna chaahti hai.'

Bani smiled. A genuine and honest smile. 'That is so cool papa.'

her father rolled his eyes. 'I don't know about that sweety, chalo dekhte hai. Now shhhhssh and eat!'

Bani was so busy with the thought of her sister, and later the food on her plate, that she hadn't even noticed two faces at the table go pale and perspiration brake out and trickle down along their hairlines. Aditya and Jai were holding their breath hoping this conversation would end soon. Even the name of Pia made both their harts race, be it for different reason all together. Aditya didn't want to keep Bani in the dark about Jai and their marriage but he didn't thought it was his place to say anything. Getting a divorce would be Jai and Banis decision and Aditya didn't think he had the right to come in between a husband and a wife, be it only for namesake, or two sisters.

Jai, like always, felt his heart beat faster upon hearing Pias name. For a while he was transported in a time where everything was easier, simpler and Pia was at his side. She was his and…..she was no more. At least that is how Jai had experienced her deceit. His Pia was no more in the world he was living in.

Jai was brought back in the world where his family was sitting around the table. He tried to forget the pang of hurt and smiled when he heard the phone ring. He excused himself and answered it as he was sitting the closest to the landline.

Really?' Bani had followed every move of Jai after he stood up from the table. 'That's great!' She heard him say. Sure, Ill tell her. Thank you very much sir! Thank you!

By now everyone had their eyes fixed on a visibly excited Jai. He looked at each and every one of the family members before his unnerving gaze were fixed on Bani. His attitude had been bothering her since the day she got married. His strange behavior was bothering her since she got admitted in the hospital. Now Jais eyes, a mysterious mix of sorrow and warmth, and his enigmatic smile were troubling her.

You got the case at the NGO Bani. Your projectfile was the best and your professors want you to get the necessary experience. After you graduate you might even get to realize the program you have developed.

Loud cheering erupted at the dining table. Bani was engulfed in hugs and showered with kisses.

You have been working for this since last year Bani!Finally!!! Nishikant cheered for her while he did one of his infamous victory dances, forgetting that the was at his daughter's in-laws' house.

Bani had not moved in her chair. Her eyes were ready to pop out of their sockets and roll on the floor.

'are…are you kidding?' tentatively she looked at Jai. She wasn't ready to believe what she had heard. Her source has not been to reliable in the past so many months. What if this was another way to hurt her?

'I'm not kidding. Sach keh raha hoon mai.' Bani covered her hand with her mouth to stifle the high pitched shriek. Her months of hard work had paid off. The only place in an well-known NGO was allotted to her. Even her project was considered the best.

'but I cant do it. Mere paas waqt nahin hai. Mujhe mera thesis bhi taiyyar karna hai, I have to catch up with so many things. I cant do this….' Bani panicked when she summed up everything she had to do. She hadn't even mentioned that she wanted to be there for her family and not spend all her time in her studies and cut the rest out of her life.

'Ow God..i cant do this… I wont make it…. I cant. ' Bani mumbled.

'You can and you will! You are going to do this and I'm going to help you okay!' Jai had pushed Bani back against her back of the chair when he saw her panic like that.

You have worked hard for this and you will do this okay!

Bani nodded like a obedient school girl. She wanted this so bad that she would accept anyone's help. Even Jais.

The rest of family partied on. For Banis recovery and her success while Jai mourned his loss.