Arching a brow and with a smile that tells how impressed he is, Rajveer ponders at Naina's words.
"I wouldn't dare!",
says Rajveer, looking anywhere but towards Naina.
Reaching the other side of the table, Naina places the stick on the table and tucks the lose end of her saree into the waist part of her saree. Rajveer couldn't help but stare at her waistline for some seconds and quickly lowers his eyes.
He steals glances towards her, into her eyes, his look turning dark and intimate. But a thought spins his mind and his mood turns the exact opposite. He remembers Dr. Mishra!
He remembers the day when he met her on the basketball court and she did the same - tugged her lose end of her saree into the waist part of the saree. He remembers how he was hesitating to look at her doing that. Unconsciously he compares Naina with Dr. Mishra! He realizes how he is not feeling uncomfortable around her in spite of being in almost the same situation. He feels weird at his own thought that he had just now, that he and only he has all the rights to see Naina this way. He realizes that he needs to clear out his mind instantly!
While Naina sets herself to strike the ball, Rajveer stands on the other side of the billiard table, resting his arms on the billiard table, bending forward. His eyes gauge each of Naina's reactions.
(Slow Rajveer-Naina violin tune begins)
Naina strikes a red ball and it falls into one of the pockets successfully. Naina gives a satisfactory and a victory smile, looking towards the ball.
Standing at his place Rajveer raises his brows and says,
"I am impressed!"
Naina beaming with joy and happiness looks towards Rajveer and says,
"Thank you!"
Smiling, looking straight towards her, he says,
"I am impressed by the fact ke tum janti ho ki main kab kya bolunga!"
His words skip Naina's heartbeat. Her smile and blush on her victory get converted into the reactions of horror and surprise.
(Slow Rajveer-Naina guitar tune begins)
Nervously, she looks towards him, wide eyed. She doesn't dare to ask him what is he talking about because she understands! She tries to reply but fails miserably. Her vulnerability makes Rajveer to laugh, no not out of fun but out of many other things!
Staring her throughout, Rajveer slithers towards her, bearing a naughty smile on his face. He asks whilst walking towards her,
"Acha batana, ab main kya bolne wala hun?"
Naina lowers her eyes slowly. Her heartbeat picks up pace with his each step towards her. Naina tries to think of a way to get out of this awkward situation. Lowering her eyes she tries to think of a quick way.
"Ye ki ab humein party mein wapas chaley jana chahiye",
she comes up with this reply and looks up into his eyes, giving him a slight smile.
Rajveer throws his head back and laughs at her reply. Naina enjoys seeing him laughing.
(Slow Rajveer-Naina guitar tune begins as Naina stares him lovingly)
"Kyun darr gayi kya iss khel se?",
he asks looking into her eyes as he gets back his composure.
Arching her brow, taking it as a challenge, she replies,
"Bilkul bhi nahi".
Her reply swells his heart.
(Fast Rajveer-Naina happy tune begins)
"Pehle ye game to khatam kar lo!",
Rajveer dares her.
Accepting the dare Naina arches her right brow and turns back to the game. She bends down to play when Rajveer interrupts,
"Jab khel khelne ke rules hi na pata ho to khelogi kya?"
Naina creases her brows unable to understand what did she do wrong. As she was about to get up and look towards him, she feels the warmth emitted by his body, behind her! This wakes up her each and every sense. The anticipation of what's coming up next makes her to tighten the grip on the stick as a way to support her body weight as her legs turn jelly.
He bends down on her from behind and stretches his hand on her hand, correcting her way of holding the stick. Naina closes her eyes slowly, sensuously and takes a deep breath. Rajveer whose eyes are on the balls laid on the table notices her each reaction and loves all of it!
"Naina!",
he addresses her lovingly.
The way he mutters her name reflects his possessiveness towards her. She opens her eyes. The possessive addressing sends shivers down her spine. Rajveer doesn't fail to feel the stiffening of her body.
"Hmm..",
she struggles to say as she goes short of breath, thanks to his hovering her and her mind!
Lowering his voice, he suggests her,
"Apna aanchal to theek kr lo, main theek se haath nahi rakh pa raha!"
He deliberately chooses to end the line here. Being a master of 'Strategies and Communication' he knows how to play with words!
And as expected, his words skip Naina's heartbeat. She lowers her eyes out of shyness, with no smile on her face. Only her cheeks starts heating up out of shyness.
(Slow Rajveer-Naina guitar tune begins)
Smiling a little, Rajveer gives her space, getting a little away from her. And being a gentleman, he suggests her, his eyes lowered,
"Ahmmm... main bahar hun..."
But as he turns to leave, Naina says,
"It's okay!"
She keeps it short as she knows he would understand that she means he doesn't have to go anywhere. Rajveer with a little hesitation and doubt turns back and looks towards Naina. Giving a last tug to the saree she looks towards him, smiling. But as she finds him staring her in that way which makes her go rigid at her place, he smile vanishes gradually and her cheeks start warming up again.
After enjoying the stare for sometime, Rajveer lowers his eyes, followed by Naina. Clearing his throat, he asks looking back towards her,
"Shall we?"
Naina looks back towards him, smiling, she nods her head.
Positioning back, they begin the game.
The first shot lands successfully into the right pocket. Naina smiles seeing that. Rajveer smiles too. On the second shot, Rajveer asks out of blue,
"Waise... tumhe aisa kyun laga tha ke main tumhara intezaar kar raha hunga?"
His sudden question, that too this one diverts Naina's mind and they miss a shot.
Exasperated, Rajveer mutters,
"Ohhh we missed it!"
He looks towards Naina as he feels the losening of her hold on the stick.
"Hmm...?",
he prompts.
"Ahmmm... nahi mera matlab...",
Naina tries to think of a reply but fails in doing so.
Smirking, he continues,
"Party mein itne sarey logo ke beech tumhari yaad...",
eyeing her, to gauge her reaction, he continues,
"Mujhey nahi lagta mujhey ati!"
Naina realizes that she is being teased by him repeatedly. She chooses to retort back. With a new determination, she asks,
"Waise lagta hai aap mujhey yahan dekh kar bohot surprised hue. As if apko bura laga mera yahan aana?"
This certainly skips Rajveer's heartbeat. No he wasn't expecting her here that's true but it surely didn't make him feel bad or sad on finding her here. Hell, why would he feel bad on discovering Naina around him?
"Nahi bilkul bhi nahi!",
comes his honest and immediate reply.
Naina arches a brow, smiling.
"Actually.. maine... kabhi... tumhe... aise... college mein... I mean... KMA mein... you know...",
he says, uttering bloopers again and again.
"It's the first time so...",
Rajveer takes a deep breath reminding himself that he needs to breath now! He keeps staring her to know her reaction, blushing out of embarrassment, throughout. Blushing Naina lowers her eyes too.
Looking back towards him, smiling throughout, she asks,
"Shall we continue?"
"What?",
Rajveer arches a brow, giving her a naughty smile.
(Fast Rajveer-Naina guitar tune begins)
His question skips Naina's heartbeat. The smile on her face vanishes gradually.
"This game of ours!",
she replies, looking straight into his eyes.
Broadening his smile a little, he asks, never ending the eye contact,
"Do you enjoy playing this game?"
He arches a brow, as Naina doesn't reply immediately, and keeps staring him. After few moments of silence, Naina says,
"Abhi abhi to seekha hai khelna. And let me tell you aap bohot achey teacher hain!"
Naina broadens her smile. Rajveer's smile broadens too. His heart fills with so much love for her!
They turn back again towards the game, Naina eyeing the balls on the table, deciding which ball should she hit next, says,
"Waise ek baat hai..."
Her words catch Rajveer's attention.
"Mujhey lagta tha ke aap mein bohot himmat hai, but alas...",
looking towards him, she gives expressions of frown and quickly looks back towards the table.
Rajveer lowers his eyes out of shyness and embarrassment. Looking back towards her, while she plans which ball to strike next, completely oblivious to his stare, Rajveer positioning himself behind her holds her hand and bends her down on the table such that they are again in the playing position. Naina feels the tightness of his hold on her hand this time.
"Baat mere himmat ki nahi, baat tumhare himmat ki thi!",
he says and strikes a ball which lands perfectly into a pocket.
Naina creases her brows as she fails to understand what did he mean.
"Matlab?",
she asks, looking towards him, her brows knitted.
Rajveer gestures with the stick to walk towards the left corner of the table as to hit the next ball they need to change the direction.
As they walk and position themselves, he asks,
"Kya agar main wo karta, to tum accept karti?"
(Fast Rajveer-Naina tune begins as Naina keeps staring him, who is standing behind her but a little to her left. Naina's face which is turned towards him, shows the sign of disbelief!)
Did he really ask that? How could he? How could he even think otherwise?
Taking a deep breath with a determination, she asks in order to tease him,
"Aap mujhey kyun kuch gift karenge by the way?"
(Slow Rajveer-Naina guitar tune begins)
Getting away from her as if hurt by her words, Rajveer smiles sadly, with his eyes lowered and says,
"Right main tumhe kyun kuch gift karunga?"
Naina's heart clenches and she realizes how hurt he must be right now especially because she indirectly compared him with Huda!
"Ahmmm... mera matlab...",
she tries to rectify.
"It's okay Naina. I completely understand",
he lowers his eyes again.
Suddenly Rajveer remembers how she was sharing her feelings about Naveen, moments ago.
"Tumhe wo gift yaad hai Naina, jo Naveen ne bheja tha tumhe? Ek blue dress?",
he asks her, with a new enthusiasm, looking towards her.
Naina boils with anger as she remembers. Looking somewhere in the infinity, she says through her clenched teeth,
"Haan yaad hai! Unke kisi dost ne uss dress ko side se kaat diya tha, jiske barey mein mere bechare bhaiya ko pata hi nahi tha!",
she turns soft as she reaches the last line.
Shying away from her, ignoring to look towards her, Rajveer says, controlling his laughter,
"Tumhare bechare bhai ka wo dost... main hi tha!"
This comes indeed as a shock for her! Finding it hard to accept this fact, Naina stares him in horror and blurts,
"Aap???"
Rajveer very innocently looks towards her, smiling, lowering his eyes every now and then.
"Naina I know tum saree mein bhaag nahi paogi so don't give that look as if you are going to chase me and kill me right here!",
teases Rajveer.
"Oh that's a great idea and that's exactly what I am going to do!",
says Naina, as sweet anger surges through her.
"No of course you are not going to do that?",
asks Rajveer, widening his eyes as if he is scared of her.
And chase is exactly what she does. Rajveer tries to escape from her reaching the opposite side of the billiard table.
(Fast Rajveer-Naina piano tune begins)
"You know Naina, you should really drop this idea of catching me!",
suggests Rajveer, laughing.
"Kyun darr gaye kya aap?",
smirks Naina, arching a brow, looking straight into his eyes.
Rajveer arches his brow too,
"Darun aur wo bhi tumse?",
laughs Rajveer.
The truth that he is making fun of her irks Naina and she runs for him. Rajveer is no less, he succeeds in escaping from her.
(The tune continues throughout)
They both laugh whilst playing this game of chase. Naina doesn't realize when she trips because of her saree but Rajveer who was fully alert that she might trip because of her saree reaches her at the right time, engulfing her waist by his left arm. Naina who gets nervous and terrified by the thought of fall looks flustered as her mind registers that he is holding her by her waist - a skin to skin touch!
Their heartbeats which were beating at an exhilarating rate because of the excitment of chase, pick up pace as this intimate position comes as a surprise for both of them!
Naina tries to calm down her rate of heartbeat and starts shuffling in the engulfed position as a gesture of indicating him to let go off her. It becomes difficult for her to keep their precious eye contact intact when standing so close to him as a result she lowers her eyes but he continues with his stare, smiling a little.
"Ahmm... mujhey change karna hai, chalna bhi hoga wapas",
she says, lowering her eyes.
(Slow Rajveer-Naina guitar tune begins)
When he neither replies nor let go off her, she looks up into his eyes and finds him staring her lovingly, smiling. Broadening the smile a little, he let go off her. Getting away he nods his head in affirmative.
"Jao jakar change kar lo!",
says Rajveer, politely.
Tugging one particular strand of her hair behind her ear, nervously, her eyes cascaded down, she nods her head.
She looks towards him one last time, he stares back lovingly.
(Slow Rajveer-Naina guitar tune begins)
She leaves.
As she leaves and Rajveer gets assured that she is out of earshot, he mummers, looking towards the door from where she exited,
"Main Naveen ki kami to puri nahi kar sakta Naina, par ye mera waada hai tumse ke jab tak main tumhare saath hun tumhare chehre par ye khushi barkarar rahegi. Ye badlaw jo tum mein main ab dekh raha hun, ussey main kissi ko tumse cheene nahi dunga ab. Kisi ko bhi nahi!",
Rajveer promises himself, more than he promises to her.
~*~*~
Huda at last succeeds in walking into the KMA corridor, towards the games room.
"Phoolan ne to meri jaan le leni hai. Kitni der se intezaar kara raha hun main usse. Mummyji please bacha lena apne Huda ko Phoolan se",
mummers Huda.
Suddenly he meets Naina on the way, smiling, running towards him. But to his dismay she is not aware of his presence in front of her, she looks lost.
"Arey Phoolan?",
he addresses her.
Naina gets out of her trance and looks towards Huda. Her smile vanishes gradually as she remembers for whom did she actually get ready for.
Huda keeps staring her, mesmerized by her beauty.
Naina realizes she needs to keep all the thoughts, running through her mind right now, at a bay. Quickly she holds her waist from either side and arching both her brows she signals him, asking him with her this gesture,
'How am I looking?'
Huda looks at her from bottom to top and then top to bottom again. His eyes twinkle with love and admiration for her. A smile creeps on his lips while he admires her beauty silently. Staring at her face, he smiles again.
On the other hand Naina creases her forehead in anxiety to get out of this situation soonish as she needs to change and get back to the party too. Pooja must be waiting for her. She becomes anxious.
Quickly she walks to him. Holding her waist from either side she asks him,
"What?",
as she finds him staring her without blinking his eyes for once.
Getting out of his trance, he smiles and says,
"Phoolan, Mummyji ki kasam, agar wo tujhey abhi aise dekh leti na to turant humari shadi tayye kar deti".
Knowing his flirtatious self, Naina rolls her eyes and says, getting anxious and irritated,
"Huda tu chahta tha ke main iss saree ko pehn kar aun to main aa gayi. Dekh liya na ab tu ne. Ab main ja rahi hun, wahan party mein Pooja mujhey dhundh rahi hogi. Aur tu to janta hai ke agar usse pata chala ke main tere saath hun to wo mujhey tease karne ka ye mauka bilkul nahi choregi. So please ab mujhey jane de".
Saying that, she quickly turns away to go when Huda holds her hand and refrains her from going away. Naina turns to look towards him.
"What?",
she asks getting anxious to change and quickly return back to the party.
Holding her by her wrist Huda takes her to a near by vacant classroom and makes her sit on one of the front benches.
Sitting on his feet, he lets her know,
"Phoolan, jab tujhey pehli baar dekha tha na , dil de baitha tha tujhey"
Naina sighs looking heavenwards as she understands he is back with his Hudagiri.
"Mummyji se shart lagayi thi ke tujhey to main jeet kar hi rahunga",
he continues nevertheless.
"Par uss shart ko jeetne ke koshish mein... kab tujhse pyar ho gaya, pata hi nahi chala!",
says Huda, his words reflect his pure love for Naina.
Naina turns to look towards him. His words touch her heart.
He continues,
"Huda... Huda na reh kar kab jogi bann gaya ye bhi malum hi nahi chala!"
Naina smiles.
"Tu bohot achi hai Naina",
smiles Huda.
Naina looks towards him, smiling, unable to understand what he wants to say.
"Tu kya kehna chahta hai Huda?",
she asks.
Smiling at her innocence, Huda shakes his head and says,
"Bus ye ke ab tujhey jakar change kar lena chahiye, Pooja tera wait kar rahi hogi",
he smiles again.
Naina shakes her head, smiling, looking towards him.
"Bye! Party mein milte hain!",
saying that she leaves for her room.
As she leaves, Huda talks to himself,
"Phoolan, ab ye Huda tujhey kaise samjhaye ke tu uske liye kitni khaas hai",
smiles Huda, sadly.
Real Estate
14