CHAP 9 -PART B
Gunjan finishes her class and just as she is stepping out of school to find an auto rickshaw to go to college for basket ball practice she finds Samrat sitting on a bike waiting for her. She smiles and goes towards him "samrat tum idhar kya kar rahe ho"
Samrat indulgently answers "chasmish woh kya haina maine suna idhar devi maa ke mandir me prasshad baant rahe the, toh maine socha breakfast nahi kiya toh yahi line me khade hoke style me breakfast kha loon.🤣
Gunjan hits him on his shoulders with the books she was carrying for his flippant answer "samrat"
Samrat "chashmish….nahi toh yeh kya behuda sawal hai…..ek smart handsome ladka ek bike me wait kar raha hai toh iska kya matlab hai?"
Gunjan lowers her eyes shying away from the compliment coming her way and asks in a shy tinged mild voice scratching the handle bar of his rental bike with one hand "kya matlab hai"
Samrat mischievously "yahi ki use kisi abla nari ko lift dena hai joki teekh se auto rickshaw nahi le sakti"
Gunjan's disappointment at his teasing remark is evident from the way her shy eyes turn into fire😡 and she turns around to leave the place just as she catches the wicked smile gleaming in samrat's eyes
Samrat pulls her hand stopping her exit, after witnessing her cute anger filled expression, just as he had anticipated and "iska yeh matlab hai ki woh ladka ek beautiful girl ki aane ka intezaar kar rahi hai, ek angel ki kadmon ke aahat ka wait kar raha hai, ek princess ki raah me nigahen bichaye baitha hai"😍
Gunjan's heart skips a beat at his words and she slowly turns around blushingly and looks him up in the eyes and thanks him with her eyes for paying such a loving complement
Samrat is still not done with teasing her "waise chahsmish ab jawab jaan liya hai toh yeh bhi bata do ki woh Ms Sheela jo is school me padathi hai kab aayengi, kitne der se unka wait kar raha hun, kab aayengi woh" finishes with a innocently devilish look😆
Gunjan is livid now, she snatches her hand away and starts walking to samrat's echoing laughter filled voice trying to stop her with "jawab to deti jao chashmish"
Gunjan starts walking towards the bus stop on the road that was almost deserted in the heat of this afternoon. She can hear a bike following her and almost about to catch up with her but she makes her gait ever more rigid and taut
Samrat is loving the way she easily raises to his bait "chashmish ab Ms Sheela toh nahi aa rahi, tum hi chalo mere saath, college drop kar deta hun tumhe"
Gunjan turns to his side and gives a looks cud burn stare and starts walking rapidly
Samrat "baap re itna gussa, chashmish agar is gusse ko hum conserve kare toh pure India ko tumhari heat energy se kitna faida ho sakta haina?"🤣
Gunjan ignores his taunt and walks ahead
Samrat realizes its enough gussa to last him a lifetime and goes and blocks gunjan's way by stopping the vehicle right in front of her path and gunjan is now looking here and there to see if she could ask someone for help to divert samrat's attention but the stretch of the road is totally deserted.
When Gunjan is about to move away from the blockade he has created, Samrat pulls her hand and jerks her towards him and encircling her waist with his one arm to bring her closer, says in a serious tone "chashmish you know woh beautiful angel kaun hai, you know ki woh princess kaun hai jiska mai wait kar raha tha, u don't need any proof chahsmish coz there's only one angel princess that I know of in this whole world" and saying so he takes her hand in his and kisses it with all the sincerity behind his words.
Gunjan is moved yet again by his change of stance. She can never understand how this idiot takes her heartbeat to 1000 per second with his irritating gestures and within micro seconds makes it soar even higher with his januable gimmicks and professing his heart felt words with a depth that leave you gasping for breathe every time.
Gunjan removes her hand from his and in her usual style pats him lovingly though with a little force this time to show him she's not done with forgiving him for teasing her so badly.
Samrat holding his cheek and feigning a hurt that didn't even start doing justice to his expression says"ouch chashmish, mere honesty ka yeh gift diya tumne, u do my heartfelt statements such great injustice. Now you can make it better only by two gestures, either kiss it better or repeat the gesture"
Gunjan cannot help herself but slap him once again but this time with all love in her heart. She cannot believe how come this guy had kept all his beautiful self locked away in his soul all these years. Why was he in the hiding when he had much to give to others? She knew very soon she would have to broach this subject with him but the time was not right just as yet
Samrat with a wide grin on his face says "chalen ab…warna tumhari friends mujpe toot padengi late hone ke liye…..after all coach late ho gaya tho koi respect hi nahi dega"
Gunjan shaking her head sits on the bike but she is still not out of the questions creating a whirlpool of thoughts in her mind as to how can fate be cruel to such a lovely person whose goodness can easily rub off on others in the most positive manner
Samrat seeing gunjan in deep thought in his mirror asks her "chashmish….tum ab bhi mujse gussa ho"
Gunjan coming out of her world of unanswered questions decides to take revenge and return him the favor and mock glibly says "haan hun…..now u stop looking at the mirror and focus on the road"
Samrat smiling to himself decides to bring her around in a different way and gripping the accelerator he changes gears n kicks up d speed to be followed by imme shriek from chashmish
Gunjan is taken aback by the sudden increase in the speed and hence her involuntary shriek as she is scared of speed, which samrat knew very well "samrattttttt kya kar rahe ho…..bike slow karo"
Samrat is amused at her expressions as he sees them unfurling on her face in the mirror. He purposefully increases the speed further, zig sagging his way through the road
Gunjan is now really miffed and knows samrat is doing this purposefully "samrat…..stop it….stop it right now….or else I will kill you"
Samrat smiling wickedly says "no chashmish not until u say…..u r not angry with me"
Gunjan doesn't respond, keeps mum to show her displeasure at his blackmailing tactic. Samrat increases the accelerator further
Gunjan forced to bow to his tantrums shrieks "okay I agree…."
Samrat shouting above the breeze that's kicking in due to his speed "wat do u agree chashmish"
Gunjan gritting her teeth utters "ki mai tumse gussa nahi hoon"😡
Samrat "kya chashmish…yeh bhi tum itna gussa hoke bologi"😆
Gunjan keeps quite again. Samrat applies a sudden break purposefully and gunjan comes falling on his back. Gunjan knew he did it purposefully and she hits him on his back only to be met with Samrat's chuckle
Samrat "ab bhi time hai chashmish……say it nicely with a hug and I will spare you"
Gunjan knowing that she has no way to make him give in unless she can jump from a moving bike which was definitely not a pleasant idea , so grudgingly she hugs him and says in a reluctant mock sweet tone "samrat….mai tumse gussa nahi hun….how can I stay angry with such a lovable guy"
Samrat is able to deduce her mock honey dripping tone but that still brings a smile on his face, not to forget the charming hug of hers…..God he liked it so very much when she's mad at him
Samrat brings the bike to a halt with sudden break and Gunjan closes her eyes fearing the worst and clutching samrat tightly, but samrat's voice brings her out of her imagined trauma "chashmish college aa chukka hai, ab tum mujhe chod sakti ho……ek hug ko leke tum itni possessive ho gayi"
Gunjan opens her eyes to see samrat smiling at her uninhibitedly thru the mirror. She feels like spanking him like one would do to a spoilt child but she knows that would only rouse him more to bait her. She removes her hand hastily from his chest and gets down from the bike and giving him a fuming look one last time that seem to be saying "am not done with you yet and this in no way is over" and which only grows further on seeing his broad smile, which seemed to be saying he's loving every bit of wat he's seeing
Gunjan feels like stomping her foot on the ground like a tantrum throwing kid, that's how irritated she was and just then she notices Rita entering the college in her all too tight clothes and she looks at her from the periphery for a minute more and an idea strikes her and she says to herself "Samrat Shergill, here I come, You are gonna love this so much Samrat"
Gunjan calls out "rita ….hi …just a sec"
Rita turns around and says in her artificial fake accent "hi gunjan…..wats up"
Gunjan "hey rita…..i just wanted to inform u about the basket ball practice sessions…..woh coach ne tumhe 10 min pehle bulaya hai basket ball court me….he said he had to teach u some special tactics….while we all will be there by 1.15 you are to report in the court at 1 Pm. Okie…chalo gotta go now see u later ….dont forget 1PM in the court with the coach"
Gunjan cannot help but feel a disdain towards rita's evil kinda smile. Much as she didn't want to do it, but she had to, to give samrat a dose of his won medicine. Now to the 2nd part of the plan.
Gunjan approaches the men's changing room and knocks and enters at samrat's call
Samrat is pleasantly surprised to see Chashmish standing at the door with a shy smile. Her smile always does some unexplainable things to his heart "kya chashmish ……missing me already"
Gunjan nods timidly to his query and is blushing at the same time. She moves forward very slowly in a practiced manner, looking at him shyly and then here and there, and when she is finally standing right in front of him, she pulls his hand forward and places the chit in his hand and turns around and runs without saying anything further and just at the door turns around and give him a shy laced bone-will-melt smile and samrat's mouth drops open and then before he cud say anything gunjan runs away and samrat is left holding a note which read
"samrat my sweetheart I have to rush now coz I have to meet a professor, but I would like to spend few minutes with you alone before the practice. Could you pl meet me there at 1PM. Please don't say no or else my heart will break. Just few minutes and then after the practice starts we wont get time. Please…..
Thanks….Bye"
Samrat is smiling to himself after reading that message for the 10th time, waiting in the anticipation of the clock to strike 1PM, only 5 more min to go. He starts off for the court and reaches there at 12.58 and is dribbling the ball without any aim for the basket
Just then he hears a sound of soft crunching shoes sound getting closer and samrat smiles to himself and without turning around and still continuing to dribble the ball he says "aa gayi tum princess….not bad that too before 1PM, must say you have missed me as much as I have missed u"
Samrat gets no answer and assumes she is feeling shy "come on princess….we don't have all the time before the crowd arrives …….now fast give me one hug....and then we will talk" samrat says all this while acting as if he's concentration on the ball and not awaiting the hug
Samrat can sense her confusion rather than see it "cmon sweetheart there's no one around and more over the court is way behind the college and the trees and compound wall hide us well from anyone so don't think much, time is running out" and he finally aims for the basket and hits jackpot and just when he comes to the ground after the junp, he feels two arms hugging him from the back and the moment the arms connect he feels something totally not right just as the voice of those hands confirms it "hi handsome ……didn't know u missed me so much"
Samrat is imme repulsed by those hands and coming out of the arms that had almost shackled him , he turns around and shouts in agony "tum…..tum yahan kya kar rahi ho"
Rita now giving him weird looks "whats wrong…..u r the one who asked gunjan to ask me to meet u at the court saying you had to teach me some special tactics" Going close towards him she brings her finger down seductively on his face tracing his bone structure "must say coach I am loving these tactics"
Samrat moves her hand away n says "gunjan"
Rita now perplexed at his blow hot blow cold behavior "of course is it so tough to understand …..u only called me right or didn't u?"
Samrat having realized what was wrong fobs her off saying "haan woh maine hi bulaya tha, get on with the warm up , I will back in few min and then we will practice
samrat is about to exit when he sees the gang of girls entering the court and realizes its already 1.10 and his eyes are seeking out only face in the entire crowd and his face boils up in anger as soon as he sees her talking affably to Benji
Gunjan cannot control the laughter lurking behind her words and eyes. She had witnessed the entire scene hiding behind a near by tree , much as she had hated seeing Rita's hands on samrat and felt like burning her , she loved every bit of expression on samrat's face. She could not control her laughter at seeing Samrat's incredulously shock dripped face when he found rita instead of her. Now she was trying her best to hide in the crowd knowing for sure Samrat's revenge was going to a be a tough one to escape
Samrat assigns the tasks to all the girls except chashmish and just as he's about to get to her, Gunjan goes towards benji "benji kya tum mujhe yeh move sikha sakte ho"
Benji realizes now something is wrong looking at the way gunjan seemed to be approaching him and was not sure whom samrat was trying to burn to ashes with his fury filled stare, him or gunjan
Gunjan pleads to benji for his understanding with her eyes just as Samrat reaches them and Rita also approaches them
Rita "samrat can we now practice those moves which u wanted to teach me sumtime back" her words laced with subtle seduction"
Samrat gulps and murmurs incoherently "ahmm..woh…not now….i need to spend some time with gunjan to teach her the strategies of defense"
Gunjan cuts him short sweetly "no problem samrat, u please carry on , I will continue to leanr from Benji" in her best normal tone when all wants is to burst out in laughter
Samrat gives her one killing glare and storms off toward the centre of the court followed by Rita
Benji gives gunjan a look conveying I hope u know wat u r doing to which Gunjan responds with an answering smile of her own with a nod
After 20 min samrat again approaches chashmish this time making sure benji was not with her "chashmish, meri baat suno"
Gunjan being taken off guard by his sudden approach quickly rebuffs him "abhi nahi samrat, I need to practice now"
Samrat says in a sulking tone "u can practice with me chahsmish"
Gunjan repeats his own dialogue impishly to him with a mischevious smile lurking in her eyes "cmon samrat the way u have been after me this whole session to practice with me, wud make people think I am not the captain of this team but the weakest player who needs coach's constan attention and we cant afford to do that right," saying so she gives him a sweet smile and rushes away from there taking Samrat yet again by surprise
The training session finally comes to an end. And just as Benji instructs the girls to come tomm sharp at 1.15 PM and just as he's leaving the court having been told by samrat earlier, he will meet him later on.
Gunjan is trying to exit the court along with Benji just when samrat's voice stops her "Gunjan you stay back , I need to discuss certain strategies with u"
Gunjan knew what this was all about and she was just trying to escape so that she can give samrat some time to cool down before approaching him to apologise to him .
Gunjan tires "woh samrat lekin"
Samrat is dribbing the ball and his back facing gunjan and benji, he says"gunjan I said stay"
Gunjan tried to give a helpless look to Benji for which Benji helplessly spreads his hands saying I cant help u out of this one.
Samrat without even turning says sternly "benji, I will see you later in the guest house , thanks, bye"
Benji giving one apologetic look to Gunjan murmurs "bye saamrat, gunjan"
Samrat is still busy with his ball and Gunjan knows she cant put it off any further, she has to calm him down. He was being a spoilsport.
Gunjan starts off "samrat , I didn't mean to…"
Samrat cuts her off "come onto the filed gunjan , and lets compete for a basket, lets see how good the captain is, lets have a best of three"
Gunjan is riled now. Agreed she had taken the joke a little far but there was no need to be so high handed n furious about it. She was determined to show him he cannot provoke her this time.
The match begins and it was not tough to guess first time samrat easily scores the basket. Gunjan ,was as it is, finding it very hard to concentrate on the basket with his proximity getting onto her and on top their accidental brushing was not helping her already excited nerves and heart beats, but during the second point she breezes past him in a whiz and before Samrat can even realize she scores a basket.
Samrat merely smiles at her basket scoring tactic. The third time around Gunjan tries harder, giving samrat no space around herself and controlling her riotous hormones which were playing their own basket ball game the moment samrat comes near her.
Gunjan tries hard to allow him no corner around her and keeps fobbing him off by turning unexpectedly in the opporiste direction
Samrat is more amused by her determined streak and after a decision made in a splitsecond, he merely goes behind her and takes her by surprise and even without holding her he bestows a quick peck on her exposed neck.
Gunjan is left dumbstruck when amidst trying to defend the ball and trying to find a position to score the basket, all of a sudden the cool lips of samrat come in contact with her already burning neck thanks to the heat of the day and in a moment melts her entire body like snow being melted by the heat and a mixed cool n warm feeling envelops her in a jiffy
Samrat smiles at having anticipated Chashmish' reaction and without wasting time he goes forward snatches the ball from the stunned figure standing beside him and goes and scores a basket even without any defense coming from her and turns around in chashmish's direction and says "you are good….but u still need lot of practice….especially u need to work on your focus and concentration" completes with a wink😉
Gunjan comes out of statue like mode and says in a defeated tone "that was mean samrat, u didnt play fair"
Samrat retorts back "well when u can play unfair so can I chashmish"
Gunjan knew what he was referring to and to avoid any further argument she turns and levaes the court.
Samrat tries to cool himself down and after 30 seconds of breathing in n out he runs after chashmish and catches up with her just as she is about to cross a huge banyan tree , he catches her from behind and drags to her to the backside of the tree and pins her to the tree
Gunjan is already in tears as guilt assails her, for having made samrat so cross with her and she makes her way from there determined not to cry but to think a way out to placate him . Just as she's lost in the cloud of her thoughts a pair of hands grab her waist and pull her towards the back of the tree and just as she's pinned to the tree she looks up into samrat's eyes
Samrat gets straight to the point this time "why did u do it chahsmish, I waited for u, I was so much looking forward to meeting u"
Gunjan's control breaks free now and a lone tear escapes her and she says in a timid troubled voice "am sorry samrat….i didn't mean to hurt u….i was just playing a joke on u like u keep doing….i am sorry I should not have involved sumone else …I am really sorry…
Samrat places a finger on her lips and says "Shhhhh…its ok chashmish. "wiping away her tears "there's nothing to cry about ….am not hurt, am just disappointed that I didn't get those few min with u…..u have every right to play a prank on me coz I love playing one on u , all the time, I love the way ur face lights with red fury when I bait u, like as if a matador bull has been provoked with a piece of red cloth"
Gunjan smiles at his choice of words for her expression and hits him lightly on his chest mock playfully for making fun of her and says sincerely once again "am really sorry for disappointing you samrat"
Samrat puliing her closer says in a sweet tone "its ok chashmish…..like SRK says bade bade deshon me aisi choti choti baten hoti rahti hain but yes I wont forgive u completely unless you placate me nicely"
Gunjan a little cautiously says"meaning "
Samrat "well you are a smart girl chashmish…..if you know to make me angry you should know to manofy me as well, think through , u have lots of time in ur hand, I will waiting for it. "saying so he quickly gives a peck of a kiss on her cheeks and runs away from there saying " I have to meet Benji now but don't forget am not done with forgiving u yet, I need my forgiveness gift from you…..bye chahsmish"
Gunjan's expression in the last 30 seconds transforms beautifully from confusion to surprise to blush to an endearing smile, as she waves off to a bouncing samrat crossing the gates off the basket ball court
To be continued
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