FF: Flowers of Despair Last part 13-pg17 - Page 8

Part-8

"Eta kaimon aache… (How is this one)" Lolita asked bani putting a sari across herself…

"Why do you want it now…?" bani asked surprised at why Lolita wanted to dress up at night…

"Umm…" Lolita bowed her head…

"What???"

"I am meeting Girish tonight…" Lolita said in whispers…

"You are allowed…"

"No baba…secretly…after dinner…"

"Oh!!!" bani said lamely…she felt a surge of anger inside her, breaking jai's heart she is enjoying herself…

"This sari is nice…" bani pointed to a green silk sari… …

"Wow!!! Thanks…I will go and change…"

"You carry on…I will go…"

"Okay…"
XXXX
Elokeshi checked herself in the mirror one last time, she looked perfect, Bikram wanted her to do a special dance performance for the groom's side, since by tomorrow the ship will land in its destination…tonight was her performance…

Her anklets tingled as alighted the stage in the sheeshmahal…the men were already seated in their respective places with bikram engaging the groom's father in a conversation…she sat in the middle of the stage, began to sing a thumri…all the voices fell silent as the men were bewitched by her elegance and grace… …

Girish quietly slipped away… …
XXXX
"So how do I look…?" Lolita twirled in front of jai…jai kept staring at her tongue-tied; she was looking like a goddess…

"Girish will be coming, bye…" Lolita said hurriedly…climbing the stairs…

Girish leaned over her, caressing her face…

"You look beautiful…" he whispered, Lolita blushed, but feeling a bit uneasy by his advances…

"Who is the boy you talk to…Jai…?"

"Jaidev, jai…my friend…"

"I heard he is a good for nothing…"

"No, he will be a great lawyer…"

"Lolita, you will be my wife, you should maintain a standard…you will be a Roy Burman, I don't want you to talk to such useless people…"

"He is my best friend…"

"Not after marriage…"

"But…"

"Sshh…" girish opened his lips to kiss her…Lolita moved away…

"I am sleepy…good night…" Lolita swiftly walked away… …
XXXX
Bani saw jai walk towards the basement of the ship…she could still remember the sad and vacant eyes with which he saw Lolita…

Jodi tor dak shune keu na ashe tbe kla chlo re,
kla chlo, kla chlo, kla chlo, kla chlo re…

He sang in a coarse, breaking tone…

"Jai…why are you doing this to yourself…for a girl you are hurting yourself…" bani said from behind…but before she could even comprehend jai had jumped into the water… …

"JAIII…." Bani shouted leaning over the railing, peeping to see his face, her body was shaking… …

"Jai…come out…please…JAI…" bani screamed panicking…she breathed when she saw his head plopping up…

"You go and do your work…I am fine…" jai shouted flapping his hands and feet…

"FINE!!!! You are mad…come up NOWWW…" bani shouted…

"Okay…" jai held the railing and came up standing before bani, dripped from head to toe…

"Are you mad…?" Bani shouted at him…

"What I was just swimming…" jai shrugged his shoulders…

"Swimming…" bani gaped at him… …

"Who told you to follow me…?" Jai said removing his shirt…bani turned around…

"You have no shame jai…go inside, change and come…"

A few minutes later jai stood beside her wearing a fresh set of clothes…

"At night does anybody go swimming…pagol hoyegacho tume…? (Have you gone mad?)"

"I was so scared…I was about get the ship stopped… " bani held the railing to steady her shaking legs…

"Thanks, you did no such thing…" jai walked past her…

"In life you meet many people and then they separate, that doesn't mean you stick to those things, life goes on, and moreover there are so many better girls than Lolita, why are you wasting your life for someone who doesn't appreciate you…"

"I know…I know all this…"

"Then why did you do that stupidity…if something wrong would have happened"

"Oh!! Bani…then what I would have died…" jai turned around to see her distraught face… …

"I have seen enough deaths jai…it's horrible…horrible…" bani's teary eyes overflowed, causing her to cry…jai looked stumped…bani ran away… …
XXXX
"Baba kuthai ache…? (Where is baba?)" Lolita asked as she entered her mother's room…

"Must be somewhere…" Indirani mumbled averting her gaze…Lolita plopped herself on the bed, laying her head in her mother's lap…

"What happened…???" indirani asked caressing Lolita's hair…Girish's words kept running in her head, for a moment they were on her lips ready to be spoken, but she kept quiet… …

"Nothing…just like that…" Lolita replied…

"Can I ask you something…?" Lolita asked…

"Hmmm…"

"Are you happy??"

"What you mean????"

"Simple are you happy…?"

"Of course I am, a wonderful family, a pretty girl, my mother like maaji…a wonderful house…of course I am happy…"

"And baba…"

"He is a wonderful husband…" indirani said in a choked voice…Lolita looked up… a lone tear fell on her forehead… …

"Maa…ki holo…? (What happened)?" Lolita sat upright…

"Nothing…" indirani shook her head vehemently… …

"Tell me…" indirani broke down crying… telling her the darkest secret of Bikram's relationship with Elokeshi which she had buried in her heart a long time…

"I can't believe baba can do such a thing…" Lolita sat zapped…

"At that time I was not conceiving and I buried myself in the housework to keep myself busy, I was very upset…"

"But still maa…"

"I don't blame him after all he is a man…but tonight he is with her…" indirani covered her face with her palms…Lolita hugged her wondering if her future would hold something like that…
XXXX
Bani squatted on the wooden plank, chewing her nails, trembling under the cold sea breeze…suddenly she felt the warmth of a shawl around her…

"I am sorry…" she heard jai apologize…she turned her face…

"You know…you look very cute when you get angry and chew you nails…" jai said, bani retreated her thumb…and threw away the shawl…

"Bap-re…so much anger…"

"I am sorry…look I catch my ears…" bani looked at him through the corner of her eyes… a slow smile appeared on her face…

"There you smile…Huh…"

"You should have drowned in the river…" bani said…jai threw back his head and laughed…this time there was no sadness in his eyes, she noticed… …

hey dhani

jai apologised to bani- so cute! lolita is having second thoughts abt her "perfect" fiance after hearing her mother;s tale???great part