The Quill Part 3 - Page 44

I am camp Taaruni for sure.

Pradyut is just shelling his ego.
Taaruni had made mistakes, is egoistic as well. Nevertheless, she has no reason to take liberty to think Pradyut was invested irrespective of the deal.

Gopal and Sumedha would be dream in-laws for any girl.
Not sure, what you plan for these two Nisha 🤔.

But this anticipation of their next step makes us look forward every morning.

The dude refuses to set foot in the house but the parents have no such hangup. Its good to see them over there.

Why is Nidhi avoiding leaving Tara alone with Gopal and Sumedha? What is she afraid of?

Tara has everything positive to say about the dude. Can she say it to him directly?

Parts…

They spent over two hours walking a mall and chatting about each others’ life. Gopal shared funny stories from home and the office. He told her how much his assistant and Pradyut’s assistant miss her

Taaruni realized there were so many that liked and loved her in the brief 8 month period

“Sohail and your Biz Dev Mgr both miss you too”

“Ya I kind quit abruptly”

“You were a good employee”

“I am I was ur family so, you could be biased”

“I don’t like impasse bache, at work neither at home. Sumi knows this and so does Pradyut. This is the happiest time for the Munjals and yet its not”

“I promise to visit you when ever I can I will bring the baby, you should come see me whenever you want.”

“I know that should be enough. But it is NOT” he said gruffly

“Pradyut is OK…. He seems fine” she couldn’t hide her sadness

“Did u tell him he could come over whenever he wants?”

“He wouldn’t even come in that other night”

“Oh so u met him?”

She quickly realized they don’t know about the ugly incident

“He was here for work”

“I will talk to him”

“No don’t… he knows what he is upto”

“Aap kaho… u have always be outspoken beta”

“I don’t want to be… I don’t think he cares”

Gopal sensed she wanted Pradyut to care

“There has got to be something more than just an agreement here” he thought

“Chalen beta?” “U must eat”

“I am hungry” she smiled shyly

“Usne is time motorcycle khareedi hai he should have bought a mini van”

“He rides it here a lot”

Gopal looked at her stunned

In laws came and left and left went on for a couple days

Tushar stopped by one evening, after she returned from work, “Did ur in laws bring a motorcycle part?”

“No”

“Hmm… Dushyant is looking for a part and Pradyut found it and we were hoping to get the bike fixed this e\weekend”

“Are u doing bikes for a living now?” she rolled her eyes

“Dushyant is a friend yaar”

“Jaanti hoo” she said glumly

“MERA Friend bhi hai”

He was staring down at his text

“He is saying his parents should have brought a black tote?”

“Arey Baba, I don’t know… Bhabhi took a bunch of stuff that night itself”

“Are ur in laws still in town?”

“I think so they went to see Dad’s cousin”

“Itne time I am calling them in laws tu chir kyo nahi rahi”

“Because I know u are doing it”

“Eye roll band kar”

“Chal anyway, give this bag to them, this is the part that needs to go back to Delhi for a repair job on another bike”

“Like you and his family cannot afford shipping?”

“Yeh parts rare hain, kho gaye na, we cant get these bikes running”

She went to bed early after eating the dinner Tushar brought

Door bell rang

It was Pradyut….

Waiting eagerly now 😂

Bikes bikes bikes…. Bikes are taking more effort than their family to bring them closer…. Be it the restriction to drive one, or hiding the keys or a rare part😎😎😎

Pradyut has the habit of showing up unannounced,at ungodly hours

Lets see what he is up to,. Pls Nisha make this to turn out something positive for the couple

Butterflies

In lounge shorts and a cami, with a hoodie covering her bulge she opened the door to stare at him confused, the dog was barking like crazy back in the bedroom upstairs, the door was shut so he couldn’t get out

He was outraged she didn’t check, ask who it was, didn’t open the window near the door, just opened all the locks and stared at him straight. Butterflies flew all over her tummy and up her heart….

Famous Chandigarh aandhi was in progress she was confused why he showed up when the winds were picking up

“Kya hua?” she asked him curiously

“Nothing” he growled

“Is time mein yaha kya kar rahe ho?”

She opened the door and followed him inside, the dog started to howl

“Are u going to let him out first?”

“abhi nahi” she said defiantly

“Will you at least shut the door?”

“It’s a safe neighborhood” she mumbled rolling her eyes

He looked for the lights and hit all the switches

“I am sorry I know its late, I am here to check if my parents brought back a motorcycle part”

“Are u kidding me right now?” she growled

“No”

“Tushar ko bhi yahi part chahiye” “He took

“Well we both are fixing the same bike”

“Dono Naukri chhod chuke ho?”

“Go get the lil guy Taara” he ordered

He hadn’t addressed her as Taara for over month now

“Koi bag nahi hai” she stood ground

“You haven’t looked”

“Tum raat ke das baje ye lene aaye ho, kaun sa workshop khula hai ab”

“We work in Dushyant’s garage” he was sheepish

“You can check in my brothers’ room over there, all the stuff your parents brought is there”

“Get Harold please” he begged

She went up and the second she opened the door

The dog flew down and headed to the brothers’ room

The next 20 minutes was a love fest

Pradyut on the floor by the mountains of rare books boxes, and Harold scampering all over him

She leaned on the doorjamb arms across her chest, zipping up the hoodie over her belly

Drumming her fingers on her arm

“I have to look for something will you help me?” he cooed to the dog

“Oh sure,

Go upstairs and see what he did to a basket of old clothes” she scowled

Pradyut got up and looked at the boxes and looked at her, some were overflowing

She left the room, he returned to the living room and paced it

Her heart was pounding, she was home alone with him, and he was looking for a darned bag.

She checked her face in a living room mirror

It was flushed and healthy

She lowered her hoodie zipper up until the Rupee symbol tattoo.

She looked through the living room drawer to find her Papa’s bank locker keys. She was hoping he had some documentation in there for how he wanted his assets divided. Purohit was having her come over soon, whatever remained after giving Harkeerat Uncle, she wanted Tushar to be aware of how much was available for both

He returned to the living room with the mute Harold

They were supremely conscious of each other suddenly after the intense bickering a few minutes ago

She leaned on the chest of drawer feeling those butterflies again

“I cant find it”

“To laaye nahi honge” she shrugged

“They did” he said softly

“Umm.. maybe it was too precious to be forgotten at Taaruni’s?”

The familiar glint was back in his eyes

“Its precious and its here”

“Tushar ko bhi nahi mili” she said somberly

“I know he texted me, I assumed he didn’t look real good”

“Text your parents? Maybe?”

“I did”

“Tum dono us bike ko lekar itne deewane kyon ho rahe ho?” she asked genuinely

“It’s a great bike, we hope to fix it so we can take it for a spin”

“Do you ride your bike everywhere?” she asked shocked as the wind whistled outside

He nodded

Nothing was said for a few minutes afterwards but much was assumed

He approached the chest of drawers to pick up his keys.. he set Harold down who started.

He looked at her phone’s home screen it was a picture he had taken on their trip to Vienna

She quickly turned the phone face down, he looked down at her tattoo… and looked away

He walked out into the storm,