Part 5
After receiving the slap Sujal still stood there with his hand over his cheek. He was in shock as he didn't understand what just happened.
The girl looked on to him with a furious look, "This slap will make you remember never to do this again to any other girl." Then she skated away leaving a dazed Sujal.
Pratham, Akshat and Varun burst out laughing because they were right all along. They knew that Sujal won't be able to succeed at all as he just didn't have the luck. Mauli just kept getting irritated at them and then at Sujal for ruining everything. All of them went over to him and were amazed to see him still standing like a statue with his hand over his cheek.
"Abhe eh, kya bandaro ki tarha khara hai? She has left leaving a great gift for you." Akshat slapped Sujal's back.
Varun also joined in, "lagta hai iskee to hawa tight hogayee." All three guys burst out laughing.
"I don't understand what just happened here guys," Sujal looked lost, "I mean bine soche samjhe aise hee thappar maargayee."
"If you tear her clothes, do you think she'll hug you with joy? Of course wo thappar hee maaregee na. I don't believe it that you ruined it all Sujal." Mauli shook her head.
"Now I didn't do it on purpose." Sujal rolled his eyes as he turned around towards them, "yeh aaj kal ki larkiya bhi na I tell you. At first they are so free and all but just as you start showing interest in them they show this attitude or ek dum se aadersh waani ban jaati hai."
The guys were still laughing at him, "I told you Mauli that this is not Sujal's cup of tea. Wo to bus larkiya ko apnee kavita or khawaabo me hee pata sakta hai." Pratham continued mocking Sujal and making him more mad. "Okay ab yeh sab chore or mere paise nikaal."
She gave him a puzzled look, "what money?"
"Very funny, Mauli you lost the bet so stop acting and scoff out my money."
"Are wah shart thi ke Sujal os larki ke gale lagega or wo osne kiya." Mauli showed her tongue to him and made a face.
"My dear he certainly did hug her but oske badle me ose kya mila?" Akshat smirked and Mauli fretted about it. They forced the money out of her and then just started sharing it all. Mauli kept getting angry at Sujal and he gave an apologetic look at her.
Meanwhile on the other side of the ring the girl ran towards her friends excitedly. "Chal Charu paise nikaal." She put her hand out to get the money.
Charu had to hand over the money with less choice. "I must say Kashish you really are something. Kya jore ka thappar maara hai ose."
The group of four friends laughed out loud, (Kashish, Charu, Mahek and Anu). Kashish and her friends had noticed Sujal's gang long time ago and had seen them doing all the mischief. She couldn't stand it and decided that it was time she taught them a lesson and made a mischievous plan of her own. At first when she saw Sujal her heart raced as she recognized who he was. He was the same mental guy she had met that night and now she was determined to teach him a lesson. However there still was this instant liking towards him as she had to admit he was pretty good looking and the way he was pretending not to skate was also cute. The real magic happened when he took her in his arms. That was when she got lost as everything around her changed. The time stopped in its track but he had to ruin it all by ripping her kurta which automatically infuriated her and her hand reached his cheek. It was a reflex action. Now as soon as she got her money she found the whole situation hilarious.
"Dekh kese os bechaare ka chehre ek dum bander kee tarha hogaya hai," Mahek laughed as she saw Sujal trying to please Mauli.
Charu couldn't help but admire Sujal a lot, "phir bhi kitna cute lagta hai."
Kashish couldn't deny that she also found Sujal attractive and couldn't help but steal a glance at him. She saw how his friends kept teasing him and he struggled to make Mauli happy again. He certainly did look cute but still she wanted to have fun. "I guess aag to lag hee chukee hai to chal dhua uraate hai."
All of them stepped down into the ring and began walking towards Sujal and his friends. As they got near they laughed and clapped and began singing a teasing song.
Koi hero yahaa, koi zero yahaaa
They on purpose encircled Sujal and mocked him.
Koi star hai, koi bekaar hai
Kashish went near him and showed herself up
Me kaun hu, tumse me kya kahu
Hai sach to yeh dosto
I'm the best I'm the best I'm the best
Then all of them gave each other high fives and laughed at Sujal's sorry state. Then Kashish waved the money in her hands towards him indicating how she just fooled him and then they left still mocking him.
"I can't believe she just did that." Mauli was out of words as it was just not making any sense.
The guys were also out of words as they didn't expect this from Kashish and Sujal also stood there for a while without any reaction and then suddenly he got this adrenaline rush and he announced. "Ab to me ise pata ke hee rahunga. She dared to mess with Sujal Garewal."
Pratham and Akshat got hold of Sujal to calm him down. "dekh Sujal tu pehle hee ek thappar khaa chukka hai." Pratham consoled him.
"And now we won't be able to bear to see you get more hurt.Hum tujhe or peethe huwe nahi dekh paaenge mere dost." Akshat pretended to be really upset.
Sujal shook them off him, "Very funny. You guys just wait and see how I get her back for this slap." He looked towards Mauli, "What do you say Mauli phirse shart lagaehgee?"
"No ways Sujal," she shook her head, "ek to pehle hee mere 500 rs ka nuksaan kar chuke ho tum and now you want to me to loose more."
"Not loose but win. This time the bet would be for 1000rs. I definitely need to teach this girl a lesson or tum jaanti ho ke Sujal Garewal se koi bhi nahi bacha."
She thought about it a lot and then decided to agree as this time she was confident that Sujal will win. "And please don't ruin me again." She pleaded him.
"You don't worry Mauli." He took her in confidence and then he turned towards the guys. "So guys what do you say?"
"Tu nahi sudrega. Ek thappar khaane ke baad bhi, Okay lets see what happens.." Pratham agreed and the other two also agreed.
"So its done. It's Valentine's Day after two weeks and by then I promise you guys that this girl will be head over heels in love with me.
Varun smirked, "ek tamasha to dekh hee liya hai to ab dusra dekhne me kya harj hai." He put his hand over Sujal's shoulder, "I'm still telling you man, this time she only slapped you but if this time osne tera kaam tamaam hee kardiya to phir ham sab gareebo ka kya hoga." He put his head on his shoulder and pretended to cry and then laughed.
"Ab kaam to oska tamaam hoga. She banged on the wrong door and this time getting out won't only be difficult but impossible." Sujal gave an evil grin as he cooked up a plan in his rather intelligent head.
For the next three to four days Sujal spent his time finding out about Kashish and what she did and where she lived. He found out about her family and then he also found out her favourite pass times. With her friends she loved to go to a Tattapani to relax and just loved the hot springs there. That was the best place to meet her and finally Sujal got his chance.
He reached Tattapani in the afternoon and searched around and at a distance he noticed her. She was enjoying with her friends with that same million dollar smile and the spark in her eyes. He just got lost in her again. How did she wake up to be more beautiful each day? He just couldn't understand. He made his way towards her and kept following her. "Excuse me...excuse me miss..."
Charu and Mahek heard him and stopped and turned around to see who it was. They were surprised to find Sujal there and just giggled amongst each other. Then they nudged Kashish, "Dekh tera aashiq yaha bhi aagaya tera peecha karte karte." They laughed and Kashish turned around to see who it was. Then she pretended not to know him and continued walking smiling. She wanted to know what Sujal's intentions were. He kept following them and finally she stopped and turned towards him.
"Kya aapko mujhse koi kaam hai?" she gave him an innocent smile.
He also gave an innocent grin, "Actually I wanted to apologise for that day." He rolled his tongue in his cheek. "Mazaak mazaak me kuch ziada hee hogaya."
Kashish exchanged glances with Charu, Mahek and Anu and then stared back at Sujal. "It's okay, kyu ke ham bhi to mazaak hee karahe the."
"I know but I still feel very guilty," he showed a remorseful face, "if you'll accept my friendship then I'll consider it your forgiveness."
She thought about his subtle behaviour and somehow wasn't buying it. She thought, "Yeh aaj ulti ganga kese behrahee hai. Something must be cooking up in that devious brain of his. I guess I'll see what happens further." She smiled which indicated to him that she agreed.
He was delighted and then he took a gift wrapped packet out from the back. "I brought this for you."
She looked at the packet with surprise, "What is this?"
"Oh that day I by mistake ripped your dress so I thought of buying you a new one." There was so much innocence in his voice that anyone would think he was such a good lamb.
Charu couldn't help but admire him, "Oh that is so swwwwwwwweeeeeeeeeet." She got excited and goo goo gaa gaaed on him as if she was falling for him.
Kashish accepted the gift and in doing that she had a brief contact with his skin and that send a chill through her spine. It was as if his touch always sent this current throughout her making her slightly twitch out of pleasure. "Really you are so sweet." She blinked her eyelashes at him making him nearly loose balance.
He stood there thinking that his first step was easy and now moving on would be even easier. They just kept staring at each other and giving these funny grins as if they didn't know what else to do or say. Then he remembered that he doesn't even know her name. "By the way I'm Sujal. Sujal Garewal."
"Kashish. Kashish Mehta."
After she said her name Sujal was confident that she definitely was the one as unknowingly he had written about her and here she was right in front of him. His Kashish.
She thought of something and winked at Anu and she smirked. "You know hum sab hai na hamare naye dosto ka kuch alag hee tarha swaghat karte hai."
He was curious, "And how is that?"
She went a bit near him and spoke in an almost sultry voice, "thora paas aaye na."
He was intrigued and he closed the distance between them. Her sudden change of voice put him in a daze and he continued to follow whatever she wanted. He moved closer to her waiting for what was to come.
She nudged Anu from behind waiting for her to hand her what she wanted and then told him to come even closer. He obeyed her like a lamb and came even close. "Now close your eyes." He closed them and waited with anticipation as to what exactly was she going to do. He could feel her getting really close to him and his heart was racing and just as he got to the excitement point he felt Kashish's hand rub all over his face as if she was smearing something on him.
She yelled, "HAPPY FREINDSHIP!" and then she ran away with her friends. She had smeared red powder paint all over his face and now he looked like a complete clown.
He couldn't understand whether to be angry at her prank or to laugh at her innocence. There was something he really liked about her and those were her eyes. As whenever she smiled there was this sparkle in them which lit her whole face up with joy.
Akshat, Varun, Pratham and Mauli were waiting for Sujal at a roadside caf and it had been hours since he hadn't turned up. They sat there passing time as nothing else was left to do.
"Yaar yeh Sujal kaha rehgaya?" Akshat looked around to see if he had turned up but there was no sign of him.
"Are wo wahi hoga jaha ose hona chaheeye." Varun laughed.
Akshat understood the meaning of it, "are you saying he is with that social worker?" When Varun nodded in agreement Akshat also laughed, "I must say he is a stubborn bugger. Haar maana to Sujal ne sikha hee nahi kabhi."
Soon Sujal arrived and joined them all on the table. They got alarmed and stared at him.
"Dekho bhaiyaa hamare paas koi chutta wutta nahi hai, so just get lost from here." Pratham moved away from Sujal as he thought he was a nasty beggar.
"What are you saying Pratham? Satya gaya hai kya?" Sujal scolded him as he moved his chair in the table more.
"Sujal?" Pratham was shocked to find him like that and so were the rest. Sujal couldn't understand why all of them were staring at him like that.
"Yeh kya shakal bana rakhee hai apni?" Mauli touched his face and rubbed the red paint on her fingers to show him. Then he remembered what happened earlier with Kashish and how he was lost in her thoughts that he completely forgot about his face and ignored the paint.
"Kiske saath Holi khel ke aaraha hai?" Akshat asked.
"Of course wo 'I'm best' waali larki ke saath." Varun laughed and Pratham and Akshat joined in.
"It seems like she made you the scapegoat yet once again." Pratham rubbed the paint off Sujal's face and just shook his head.
"Wo oski dost kese kehtee hai," Akshat thought over how Charu said it and then mocked her, "bare hee cuuuuuuute lagte ho Ssssssssujjjjal."
Varun pinched Sujal's cheek, "Really you look so cute." Sujal got irritated and moved him away.
Akshat was not stopping at that, "hey I hope you didn't rip her clothes this time."
"Come on Akshat, agar aisa hota to wo yaha thori na hota," Varun and Akshat gave each other high fives and shared a dirty joke.
"Wah kya baat hai. You've found a best way to touch her man." Akshat kept laughing disgustingly.
It enraged Sujal and he had had enough. He stood up abruptly which pushed his chair back and his eyes had become red with anger. They feasted on Akshat as if he was going to kill him. Mauli noticed his anger getting out of control and she had to stop him before he did something stupid. She stood up and held him back.
"He, he Sujal just calm down okay," she held onto him making him not go further. "Come on lets go from here, wese bhi bohat dair hogayee hai." Then she looked over at Akshat. "Really Akshat sometimes you can be such a jerk.Mazaak kee bhi hadd hoti hai Cant you keep your mouth shut?" she pushed Sujal back making him come with her.
It seemed like Akshat was just not going to shut up, "Or ha Sujal apna mooh zaroor dholena warna aisa na ho ke gharwale tujhe paagal khaane bhej de." He laughed out loud.
Sujal was going to go back and answer him but Mauli pulled onto his hand and made him turn back with her. She had to keep him calm otherwise she knew what anger did to him. He didn't know why he felt so angry when Akshat was mentioning so many things about Kashish but he knew that he didn't like anyone bad mouthing her.
End of part.
Edited by pearlsRaj - 15 years ago
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