"Need an invitation"
I looked at Jeevika and twisted my face to show my disinterest in the card she held.
"C'mon Manvi it would be fun" she tried again changing my mind. But I was adamant on my decision. I didn't really blend in well with social life and moreover not with the business parties. Who cares about the economies of a country rising up or going to drain when your own life is a mess? A complete mess. I shook my head again and tried explaining things.
"I'm nervous" I cursed myself for letting out my feelings. There goes an arrow of questions shot in my direction. I made myself ready to answer those.
"Nervous...For what" she asked. I looked at her and then handed her a bowl of steaming kheer.
"Nervous for what" she asked again gobbling a spoonful of kheer and widening her eyes. Her eyes demanded an answer. I twisted my face again. I hate answering. I hate parties that include high socialized people who knew nothing other than business, moreover I hate explaining things to others. As I thought about the things I hate, I found myself reciting a big list under my breath. "I hate this house and moreover I hate Virat".
One hour back
"I need an answer Manvi" he said as he flung the towel on the bed.
I looked flabbergasted at him. He had been so friendly the night before, I thought he..."Answer me dammit" he marched towards me with full force before I could complete my sentence.
"You need to work on your anger issues" I scornfully remarked at him. "You can't be hurting me all the time" I showed him the mark on my arm. He left my hand in an instant.
"I'm sorry" he said with utmost decency. I looked dumbfounded at him. Is he really apologizing or am I imagining things? I stared at him open-mouthed. "What" he asked through his eyes.
"Is the great Virat Singh Vadera is apologizing to me? To Manvi Chaudhary? I asked him faking surprise. I turned around to find him smirking at me. "What" now it was my turn to ask him.
"You ain't a Chaudhry now" he said walking to the washroom leaving me cursing myself for letting him go that easily. As he was about to lock the door, he called out my name and asked me to answer him after he comes out. I sat gazing at the wall. The wall looked the same it was everyday but I saw it teasing me and making faces at me. My fate has deceived me again. I felt the urge to punch the wall hard and all those hurting me at once.
"Virat" I called out as he came from the washroom, he turned around expecting an answer. "I will tell you when the time comes; for now I need some time. Some time to settle down and to look for an alternative house and a job". "TIME" I felt like my whole life revolves around time. I raised my eyebrows indicating him to speak up. All the while he was hell bent on hearing an answer from me but when I finally tell him; he is gawking like an owl at me.
"Err...That's great! Ask me if you want any help" he said earnestly but I can't just look at him and smile sincerely. I faked a smile at him and left the room urgently.
Present
Manvi, wake up from your dreamland" I found Jeevika waving hands before my eyes.
"Is the dreaming session over" she asked smirking at me. I laughed uneasily and mentally smacked myself for being a dumb head all the while. She finished eating completely and looked angrily at me.
"What...What have I done?" I asked making sense out of her expression. What was she looking at me angrily for? I sighed thinking about the people in this house. They give scornful expressions and expect the other person to understand them. Strange but even Jeevika is having an effect staying in this house.
"Will you speak up? I ain't a machine to know the reason behind your expression instantly.
"If you keep making these yummy things, soon I'd become fat" she sighed taking my bowl of kheer and gobbling up it to. Unbelievable. "Believe me you look like those children in Somalia who get nothing to eat and starve for their lives. I mocked looking at her and falling into fits of giggles. She laughed as she started hitting me.
"Let's talk something useful- are you coming or not? She asked looking deeply at me. "I...Get nervous" I spoke instantly after stuttering for a while. "I had heard the same thing before; tell me something I don't know" she asked flipping her hair and giving a bored expression. I sat on the chair and grimaced in guilt; I hate it when people rely on me. I hate when they decide something according to my response.
"Nervous that I won't fit in well with you people, I get jittery when I see those high socialistic people. I just cannot act all cool before them and nod my head to everything they say and discuss about business. It is so not me Jeevika." I vented out my frustration banging my head over the table. My life has changed for nothing good, it has worsened by time.
"Oh leave it to me" she said talking like a fairy god mother who had come to rescue a helpless girl in need. I trusted her. I nodded my head indicating my response as a yes to her. "Great I've got some company now" she squealed comfortingly. "Viren- why won't you take him with you" I asked as a matter of fact his being her husband.
"Oh forget it; he is always busy in work" she said disoriented and scrunched her nose showing her displeasure towards her husband.
~~~
"What do you like about these parties? I asked her as we entered the venue. The whole arena was drenched in with while silk curtains and tables around with chairs for people to sit down. At the other side of the room, a bar tender was serving drinks. The atmosphere looked so dull, the people present there were mostly either oldies or children. "Looks like I need to change my opinion about you" I asked her fluttering my eyelids pointing her out the party for which she was so much excited. She pulled a face and pulled my arm.
"Looks like I need to change my opinion about you" she spoke meteorically and raised her eyebrow. I furrowed my eyebrows and looked at her mockingly. "Do you really think I love coming here because I'm interested in the budgets about who purchased a sari or which designer has designed it or...who's getting divorced because the man is having an extra marital affair...or who used to race the car at 150 km/ph during their twenties" she giggled looking at my open-mouthed struck stance.
"Just look at the man over there...She pointed out a young fellow dressed in a posh suit. "And over there...She again pointed out a bunch of young fellows having a drink all looking handsomely dashing. They looked like the replicas of Hollywood heroes. I stared at them in amusement.
"I know you can't take your eyes off them. They're the sons of these old businessmen. I come here to drool over them". She chuckled leading me to Virat...wait Virat, I turned her around in a moment before he could see any one of us. What's he doing here? Dumb...Of course he is a part of the company himself then he ought to be here. What the hell am I doing here? I laughed at myself.
"Man you're married and you haven't told us, scared that we'd ask for a party" I heard distant voices from where Virat stood. He was surrounded by his friends who were greatly amused at this piece of information. "It's not like that" Virat tried explaining himself before a girl spoke clearly shocked, "Here's a man who had told us he don't believe in commitments and is more focused on his career stand before us who had married a girl whom he barely knows." All his friends agreed with her and looked puzzled at him.
"We need to meet her soon; who had flown all your age old commitments talks in a whoosh" one of his friends said highly interested to see me. "Tough luck man, she ain't here" Virat said running his hand through his hair.
"Here is she" Jeevika dragged me to his friends and presented me before them as if I was a new car model that needed their remarks to justify Virat's taste. Virat looked dumbfounded at us, his mouth wide opened. "Bhabi" he called to her giving her a side hug lovingly still in the trance of getting the biggest surprise of the evening.
"You can give your wife a hug too; we won't see...Turn your head guys" one of his friend teased him as all the others turned their heads away and burst into fits of laughter. I smiled uneasily at them.
"Must admit Virat, Manvi looks gorgeous." All agreed in but Virat stood staring at me all the while, and one of his friend Rohit, offered drinks to us. At first I felt hesitant then I instantly took it as Jeevika indicated through her eyes.
"Cheers!!!!" All the glasses bumped making a sweet crackling sound. The time faded away slowly. I took the support of the chair nearby and got settled myself near the bar counter as I felt a bit dizzy. What have I drunk? I looked at the people having a slow dance. The image started to blur before me. As I tried keeping my eyes wide open a hand startled me.
"Would you mind a dance?" Rohit asked as he hunched forward leaning towards me.
I rolled my eyes, "Of course not, why don't you go ask my husband for the same" I said faking a smile. I felt a little dizzier, I bent down and did breathe in, breathe out so as to avoid this feeling.
"Manvi are you alright? Jeevika asked snaking an arm around me in order to make me stand upright. "Yep, I feel a bit dizzy" I admitted as there was no way to hide anything when I couldn't stand straight on my own. "Looks like you had too much, Manvi I need to leave. Viren has just called me and he had arranged for a date. Could you believe it? She asked excitedly holding me up and shaking me. "See you don't need to worry, I've already told Virat about this, you can go back home with him" Before I could say anything she hugged me tight and left saying a goodbye. I looked around for Virat, but luck was against me this time I couldn't spot him anywhere. I preferred sitting there for a while as I'm in no state to move any further.
"Bored" A husky voice spoke vanishing my sleepy mode in a second. I looked at the owner of the voice and found Virat. I breathed a sigh of relief as I could now finally leave for home without much ado.
"Nope, I'm enjoying myself here" I lied.
"You're bad at lying" he said sitting opposite me.
"How do you know that?
"The way you turn and twist your face when you don't like something tells much about you. Actions speak louder than words sometimes" he said smirking at my expression. He took my hand in his and dragged me out the hall.
"Where are we going" I asked him instantly as I saw the car moving in a different route than it was supposed to. "Call it a long drive" he said accelerating the car through the empty roads. I kept staring out of the window as the cold breeze washed on my face. The dizziness felt soothing now. The car suddenly halted in an open place on a mountain with no one around. I quickly got down the car and ran to the elevated part of the mountain. The cold breeze felt tingling my body. I turned around to find him sitting on the front clip of the car. I moved towards him with feeble steps. I sat beside him.
"Are you happy? He asked looking at me or rather staring.
"How do you know? I asked him surprisingly. How could he be so observant? How does he grasp my sudden mood swings so swiftly? I guess I should be stop asking him "How-do-you-know's" from now.
"Your eyes sparkle when you like something as they did now" My eyes brightened hearing to this. No one has ever told me this. Sometimes these small details which a person notices without you telling them makes them special. I nodded my head vigorously at him. How right he is!
He traced his hand on mine and turned me around so as to make me sit opposite him. "We are going to be together only for a small time, ain't it? So why fight or hate each other, after sometime we'll head in our respective lives when we don't even see each other. Let's spend this short time joyfully, let's make these moments worth memorable. Let's share all our secrets, past if you have one and share every joy of our life. On a conclusion let's be friends! He smiled brightly at me taking my hand into his and shaking so as to be friends.
"Conclusion means end- and there's never an end to any relation and most importantly not for friends" I said silently shaking my hand. I felt the need to mention this. There's never an end to any relationship.
"But ours has" he said getting down from the front clip and barging into the car. He started the engine and indicated me to come in. What do I name this relation? Is there a name to this?
~~~
Super long this is! Consider it as a compensation for the late update. I have holidays but still I'm late as always, god knows why! I know a lot of behna stuff (Note: they are certainly not behnas in this one) but it is needed for the future scenes. So finally do read it and tell me how's it! Thanks for the comments, thank you so much!
And please don't give one line comments, not when I write such a long update.
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
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