gulaal looked at panba stunned, for she was holding her arm very tightly, she tried to smoothen things out
'aaj bhi kaam par, lekin aaj toh sunday hai' paanba stared at her with a look of madness across her face, and sqeezed gulaal's arm even tighter.
'haan ab toh usse hamesha kaam hi karna parega, abhi bechare ki umar hi kya hai, sirf bees saal ka hai aur itni jaldi uss ke upar shaadi jaisi zimidaari aagayi hai, aur yeh sirf teri galti hai gulaal', gulaal looked at her with tears in her eyes,
'baa aap mujhe sach mein maaf kar dijye, mera aisa koi iraada nahi tha, main toh sirf'
'ek shabd aur bhi mat kehna, mujhe pata hai ki tu kal raat kesar ke kamre mein soi thi, voh toh abhi itna chota hai, aur tu usse apni zaroorte puri karne ke liye istaamal kar rahi hai' she spat out.
'baa aap please aisa mat kahiye, agar kesar ne sun liya aap ko aisi baatein karte hue, toh uske ke dil ko bohot dard pohonchega'.
'tu kaun hoti hai, mujse yeh sab kehna waali, kesar mera beta hai aur uska accha bura sab mein janti hoon, samjhi kya, aur ab meri nazron se door hoja'.
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gulaal ran back to her room and sat on the bed and wept, paanba had become like a second mother to her in the last few weeks she had been staying here, so why so much venom now, gulaal stayed in her bedroom for most of the day.
first her mother came in and looked at her daughter sitting on the bed, looking at something on the laptop, she looked beautiful as a suhaagan, gulaal looked up and caught her mother staring at her, 'maa aao, idhar aakar mere paas baito'.
'nahi beta main betani nahi aaiy hoon, voh mujhe jaana hoga, tere daada ki tabiyat kuch theek nahi, toh main kuch dino ke liye jaa rahi hoon, itne din nahi rahoongi, tumhe pata hai na voh log kaisi baatein karte hain' said poonam rolling her eyes.
gulaal giggled happy to have her old mother back 'tu khush toh hai na gulaal'. gulaal's memories flashed back to a while ago when paanba was shouting at her but then she thought of last night and laying in kesar's arms, she looked at her mother 'haan maa mein bohot khush hoon, mai ab kesar ko hi sweekar karongi, lekin aap mere faisle se khush toh hai na'.
pooonam looked at her daughter and smiled 'gulaal aaj, teri ankhon mein aisi chamak hai, joh pata nahi kaha koh gayi thi, main tere liye bohot khush hoon, lekin beta tumhe samajh na hoga, ke paanba aur motaba ke liye yeh kitna mushkil hai, aur voh bohot time laga ke tumhe sweekar karenge'.
'main jaanti hoon maa'. 'accha theek hai beta, phir main chalti hoon' and she kissed gulaal's forehead and left.
near evening gulaal went back down motaba and paanba were sitting talking about something, they stopped as soon as gulaal came in so she realised it must be about her. gulaal rushed to the kitchen got a glass of water and came and handed it to motaba, he took it from her greatfully and said 'thank you beta, tumhara din accha guzra'. gulaal looked over at paanba who was looking away 'jee motaba bohot accha guzra' as she turned to leave, paanba called out to her 'gulaal kal talli aur jumna aa rahe hai, theek hai na beta' paanba said smiling sweetly at her, gulaal wondered why she was saying it like that 'jee bilkool theek hai, main kal subha kam par nahi jaoongi, main ghar par reh keh unke liye khane tayaar kar doongi'. paanba just continued smiling as if something was on her mind. gulaal wanted to ask motaba where kesar was but thought better of it and left.
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gulaal spent most of the evening waiting for kesar, rewa and devika came in quite nervously 'kya hua' gulaal said smiling at them, 'main koi booth toh nahi ban gayi, ke aap mujhe aise dekh rahe hai'.
rewa and devika burst out laughing and the tension was gone, they spent just over an hour together gossiping about there college and gulaal's job, they spoke about everything apart from kesar until rewa finally said as they were leaving,
'gulaal ab hum tumko bhabi keh sakte hai na'
gulaal just smiled shyly and looked at the ground 'haan'
'theek hai phir goodnight bhabi' they both said in unison and left.
gulaal smiled to herself thinking how beautiful these relations could be, she had got joined to one person and made so many other relationships at the same time. lekin jis ki waja se yeh rishte mujhe mile hai she thought voh pata nahi kaha hai.
time passed and gulaal became more and more frantic, usse sach mein meri ki fikar nahi hai, pure din us ke liye yeh saree pehen kar ghumti rahi aur abhi thak nahi aaya, ab main isko utar dethi hoon, she thought angrily.
she stood infront of the mirror trying to undo the knot, 'uff kya museebat hai', suddenly she felt a soft kiss on her back, she turned and there he sood, smiling and loking adorable, she tried to be angry at him
'time mil gaya aane ka, main na tujse baat bhi nahi karoongi' and she turned her back on him
suddenly she felt him untying he knot for her and her blouse fell loose she quickly turned and hugged him tightly, he started laughing 'bohot ajaab hoh abhi keh rahi thi ke baat bhi nahi karti aur abhi mere saath aise lipat gay'.
'chup kar kesar' she said breathing softly into his shirt, 'tune yeh kya kiya, agar maine tujhe chor diya toh mera blouse hi ghir jaayega'.
'sorry jaanu everything's fair in love and war' he said running his hand along her back
'na kar,mujhe aise mat hath laga, pehle yeh baata tu subha mere uthne se pehle kyun chal gaya' she said still clutching him softly
'kya bataon, tune mujse poocha hi nahi ki motaba ne raat ko kya kaha, unho ne kaha ke shaayad mera faisla itna bhi bura nahi hai, aur teri zindagi bhi aise sawar jayegi, lekin unho ne kaha ke muhe pehle apne aap ko kabil sabit karna hoga, kya baton subha se kaam kar kar ke takh gaya hoon'
gulal was touched by his words he was working so hard only for her she took her head off his shoulder and said 'im sorry mai aisi his gussa kar gayi, waise tune bataya nahi ke main iss sari mein kaisi lag rahi hoon'.
'beautiful, really beautiful, kaisi lagi meri choice'.
'bohot pyaari hai, par tu laya kaha se'
'par var baad mein gulaal, abhi tu jaa kar change kar le, warna mujhe yeh bhi batana parega ke tu iss sari ke bina bhi kaisi lagti hai' he said smiling at her cheekily.
she started panicking 'par main jao kaise'
'main apni ankhe band ka leta hoon'
'nahi tu dekhe ga, tu apni ankhen band kar ke room se bahir jaa kar wait kar'.
'theek hai' and he gently unattaatched her from himself and began to retreat backwards, he suddenly hit a table that was on the side and shouted out in pain 'ouchhh', gulaal nearly forgot to hold her blouse and was about to move foward, when he suddenly opened his eyes and said 'nahi tu rukh jaa, main theek hoon' and quickly left the room.
kesar came back into the room and she sat on the bed shyly with the laptop in her hand 'mujhe tujko kuch dekhana hai'
and he moved foward and joined her on the bed, gulaal began showing him all the marriage wished she had got on Fb, 'pata nahi sab ko kaise pata chal gaya'. kesar looked down like he was caught doing a crime
'tune yeh kiya na kesar, kyun' she said smiling at him lightly
'gulaal when every girl gets married she has dreams na, aur phir tum bhi ladki hoh jiske kuch armaan honge, maana ke hamri shaadi sahi thadeke se nahi hui, leking phir bhi itni khushiyon ka hak toh tumhe hai na' he said smiling back at her.
'she looked at him greatfully and he stared back at her, 'aur ek gift bhi aaya tha voh meri ek dost ki choti behen hai na voh rewa ki acchi dost hai toh usne bhi rewa ke haathon kuch bejha'.
'kya bejha'
'pata nahi abhi tak open nahi kiya'
'chal phir open karte hai'
gulaal walked over to the wardrobe and took out a large box, she came over and handed it to him, he opened the paper and gulaal saw what was inside, a big pair of pink and fluffu handcuffs, gulaal felt like she was going to die from embarressment, kesar looked at her and she looked like she was going to burn to death
'yeh janvi bhi na, usko main nahi choroongi' she muttered looking down. kesar tried to lighten up the atmosphere
'inki zuroorat toh nahi paregi' he said smiling at her, and then he added 'atleast abhi toh nahi, shayd kuch din baad' .
gulaal looked down and kesar started to laugh lightly 'tu itna serious kyun hoh rahi hai'.
he then opened the other side of the box and there was a box of choclates 'yeh toh bilkool safe hai, inko dekh kar to nahi sharmogi.
gulaal looked down for a long time and he was quite, then she shyly looked back up at him again, he was holding the chocolate beetween his lips 'leh loh agar chahiye toh'.
gulaal decided to get him back for luaghing at her. she moved away from him and quickly lay down.
kesar got scared he had hurt her feelings, 'im sorry' he said quickly swollowing the chocolate whole.
she turned back to him giggling, she then moved up and slowly kissed him 'hmmm accha taste hai'.
he looked at her 'abhi tune taste hi kaha kiya hai' and he bent down and kissed her fully, after a while she moved away 'mujhe neend aa rahi hai' and she got comfortable in his arms and slowly put her head against his chest. he slowly started stroking her arms, until he noticed a deep red red mark on her arm; she caught him looking and remembered what paanba had done,
'idhar kya hua', he said looking at her concerned
'pata nahi, chor na, aise koi cheez ke saath lag gaya hoga' and she took her arm away 'chal abhi soja, kal jaldi uthna hai na, talli aur jamna kaki aa rahe hai '
kesar agreed and put his arm around her and she fell asleep. he couldn't stop staring at her bruised arm.
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the next morning kesar felt little sprinkles of water on his face, he awoke to gulaal giggling and standing above him
'sorry' she said smiling
'tujhe kitni der se uthani ki koshish mein lagi hoon, per tu uth hi nahi raha tha, toh isileye'.
he grinned at her and pulled her down 'accha toh aisi baat hai, ab main nahi choroonga'
'jaane de koi aajayega'
'nahi, pehle bol, i love you'
gulaal looked at him, and then towards the door 'arrey motaba aap', he quickly let go of her and she ran laughing.
'jadi tayar hoh ke neeche aaja, talli aur jamna kaki aa gai hain' and she left laughing.
kesar looked after her, pata nahi kab sab humse khush honge, he thought grinning.
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kesar made his way downstairs and saw talli jamna kaki and paanba sitting on the sofa, as he walked towards them, talli ran over to him and hugged him tightly 'kesar, main agayi'.
just then gulaal came out of the kitchen, saw them both and looked down embarrassed.
Ye Hai Mohabbatein
Mangal Lakshmi
