Hey,
Thanks for your comments, don't worry it will be a JB story, but not just yet. Pronita has to go missing and return as Bani.
Part 2
Two weeks later Bani was standing in front of the mirror nervously trying to assess herself, she didn't look any different from when he left to be with his grandfather. Jai was due back today and she was preparing to tell him about the baby, not sure of how he would react to the news. Gone was the cool model Pronita, all she saw in the mirror was Bani Dixit…who was terrified.
She heard his key turn in the lock and braced herself. But all the pep talk she had been giving herself went out the window when she saw him…she could only think about how much she had missed him.
"You look beautiful."
She turned from the mirror to face him, for a moment she forgot her nervousness, her condition and the truth that she had to tell him. In a moment she was hugging him " I have counted the minutes since you left!"
Strong arms locked around her in an almost convulsive movement while his body remained strangely stiff "It has only been a month and you have been busy with your work. You cannot have missed me that much."
His words reminded her how he had resented her refusal to quit modeling when they had become lovers, but she had not wanted to be any man's kept mistress. Nor had she had the option of quitting her job. She needed the money she made to support the family he knew nothing about.
"You are wrong. Nothing can keep me so occupied I do not notice your absence. A day. A Week. A Month. I grieve them all." She grimaced inwardly at her blatant vulnerability. Where had her sophisticated cool gone, the career model faade that had initially drawn Jai to her?
The first crack had appeared when he'd told her he was going to be in Pune longer than anticipated and she had cried. After more than two weeks of morning sickness, a positive pregnancy test and her mother's horrified reaction to the news, the Pronita Das persona was in definite risk of extinction.
Jai tried to hold on to his self- control, not an easy thing around Pronita. And this was Pronita as he had never seen her. Clingy. Almost vulnerable, but he knew that could not be true. They had become lovers a year ago and although she shared her body with him with a generosity that moved him, she kept her heart and parts of her life hidden from him. Their relationship was modern and free of long term commitment, something she had made clear by her actions. She wouldn't let him support her , making it obvious she would rather spend time away from him than give up any part of her career. None of this however, made it easier to say what needed to be said. In fact, he was sure it would be harder for him to say the words than for her to hear them. His sophisticated girlfriend would not appreciate a long drawn out, or emotional goodbye any more than he would.
His thoughts were disturbed by her pressing closer to him in blatant invitation. "You mean you have grieved my absence from your bed, do you not?"
She shook her head , stretching up to link her hands behind his neck and brushed the hair at his nape " I missed you, Jai. There was no joy in cooking for myself alone, no pleasure in watching the IPL matches without you to mutter when your team kept making mistakes in the final over."
He frowned, remembering the play. She smiled at him with a look that spelled his doom if he didn't get his news out quickly. It had already brought an instant response in this body. " I have news I must tell you."
Her arms went stiff in reaction to the seriousness of his tone." Can it not wait darling?"
He reached behind his neck to remove her hands, but she locked her fingers with surprising force. He clasped her wrists. "We must talk now."
Bani laid with her hand over Jai's heart. It still beat with accelerated pulse of recently spent passion.
" Such a strong heart," she murmured, " such a strong man." Would the news she had to share direct that strength toward her or against her?
His body tensed as if he had some premonition of what was to come. He rolled away and got off the bed. "I need a shower."
She stared at him and felt tension emanating off him in waves.
" I'll join you."
He shook his head. "Stay there, I will be quick."
Her heart squeezed at the small rejection, but she smiled and nodded, " All right." Coward that she was she gladly accepted another excuse to put off telling him her news.
He came out fifteen minutes later dressed, his choice of another business suit over something less formal made her pause.
" Do you have a meeting?"
His face was set in an unemotional mask " Pronita , there is something I must tell you."
Pulling a sheet over her she moved to sit up " What?"
" I am getting married."
Everything inside her went still. Had he said what she thought he had said? No, it wasn't possible. " M-married?"
His hands fisted at his sides, his body stiff with tension she could no longer ignore " Yes."
She could not take it in. It had to be some kind of joke. " If this is your idea of a marriage proposal, you have a lot to learn"
" Do not be ridiculous" he grimaced.
" Ridiculous?" she wished her brain would start working again, but she couldn't think in the face of his words.
" You are a career woman as you have shown time and again over the past year." He slashed the air with one cutting hand. " A woman with your ambitions would not make a proper wife for the heir to the Walia empire."
"What exactly are you saying?"
" I am getting married and naturally our liaison must come to an end." The sick paleness of his features did nothing to alleviate her personal pain.
" You told me our relationship was exclusive. You told me I could trust you. You would not see anyone while we were together.' She jumped out of the bed, feeling dirty and used. The passion they shared soiled with his revelation.
" I have not been with another woman."
" Then who are you marrying?" she shrieked
" No on you know."
" Obviously." Bani glared at him, wanting to kill him, wanting to scream, very afraid that she would cry.
" Her name is Roshni Chopra."
" When did you meet her?" Though the pain was tearing her, she had to know.
" I've known Roshni most of my life. She is the daughter of a family friend."
" You have known her most of your life and you just decided you love her?"
A cynical laugh erupted from him. " Love has nothing to do with it."
He spoke of love like it was a dirty word. Though she had never said it, but she did love him, she had hoped that he had returned those feelings at least in some small way. Enough to have a future together….to have a family together.
" If you don't love this woman , why are you marrying her?"
" It is time."
" You say that like it is something you had always planned to do."
" It is."
Blood roared to her head , making her weak , she started swaying.
He said something vicious in Hindi and grabbed her upper arms to steady her " Are you all right sweetheart?"
What planet was he from? How could she be all right?
" Let . Me. Go," she got out between clenched teeth.
He dropped his hands, his face registering affront and she wanted to slap him so hard that it was an ache in her muscles. " Let me get this straight. You always planned to marry another woman?"
He narrowed his eyes, he didn't like repeating himself " Yes"
" Yet you seduced me into your bed. You made me you t*rt knowing you never intended our relationship to be anything more than s*xual?"
He reared back as if she'd struck him " I did not make you my t*art. You are my l*ver."
"Ex- l*ver"
His jaw clenched " Ex- l*ver"
"Why…..why did you make l*ve, I mean have s*x with me just now?" there she had asked him the one question she could not.
He spun away from her, not able to face her " I couldn't help myself."
" I don't belive you want to let me go." He couldn't…..not now?
" It is time." He said again, as if that explained it all.
" Time to marry the woman you had intended to marry all along." She needed to get this clear.
" Yes."
Suddenly she felt dirty and moved away from him, going into the bathroom, she slammed the door, hoping that it will blank out all the unpleasant realities she had just heard.
By the time she forced herself to calm down and came back he was gone.
Jai leaned against the wall in the hallway outside the apartment. He had forced himself to leave then Pronita went into the bathroom. If he hadn't he would never have made it out. Even now, the temptation to go back to her and tell her it was all a mistake rode him hard.
But it was not a mistake. He had no choice. If he did not marry Roshni an old man whom Jai loved more than his own life or personal happiness, would die. His grandfather had refused to back down from his ultimatum and even now sat weakly in a wheelchair, refusing necessary surgery until Jai set a wedding date.
Why did Pronita have to mention marriage between them now? Why taunt him with the impossible? She did not want marriage. She could not. If she had, at least one time over the past year, her career would have come second and he would have come first. It never had. Not once.
She was angry now, her pride bruised. She was upset that he planned to marry someone else, but he could not take seriously the idea that she thought their liaison would end in marriage. She made her independence too much of an issue for that. However, she had obviously believed he had no plans in that direction.
His guilt was taking over his rational thoughts, but he couldn't be weak now. He had to think of his grandfather…the man to whom he owed everything. He won't let anything happen to the man who had been a mother, father and mentor to both him and his brother.
He forced himself away from the wall and toward the lifts. Yes, a clean break was the only way.
to be continued..... ( in the next part Jai and Pronita's the last meeting!)
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