FF: Separate Journeys, EPILOGUE, Page-20 - Page 3

Regular updates, sorry guys, I am busy studying and then I am too lazy to write. Usually I write at least ten parts beforehand and then post but this time I am writing simultaneously, so I am writing at a snail's pace. Sorry, but I will try to upgrade myself.

And no jai is not attracted towards bani. The scene was very normal, obviously when you see someone you don't know you are curious, that doesn't mean the person is attracted.

Part-4

Ranveer spotted bani watering the plants…he was feeling bored…clearing the inbox of his mail, he shut down his laptop…waiting for a minute for the process to be complete he kept aside his laptop and got up…

"Hey bani…" he greeted her, peeping over the low boundary wall…

"Hey…Good morning…" bani waved at him…

"Looks like I am forgiven…" ranveer said…

"For what…" bani asked confused…moving over the water pipe farther so that the roots are wetted properly…

"That day…I just commented casually…I had no other intention…"

"Oh!! That's okay I forgot that…"

"So we can be friends…" he gave her a flirtatious smile…

"Well…don't you think it's too early to be friends…" bani played along, beating around the bush…

"Umm…"

"Okay… friends…" she smiled…

"So…what are you doing, in college…?"

"Finished college this year…"

"Which subject??"

"Commerce and economics…"

"Wow…great…"

"Thanks…"

"Looking for a job then…"

"Not really, I am still contemplating…"

"Well, you can join the Walia group anytime…"

"Thanks for the offer but I would rather get it on my own…"

"Quite self-respecting…"

"One should be…" bani grinned…

"Hey ranveer…" pia waved at him, clad in a skimpy top over her skin-tight Capri tracks…

"Hey…"

"I and pia for going for a jog…wanna join…" pushkar asked from behind, thumping ranveer's back…

"No you both carry on…" ranveer said, bani nodded…

"There is news…di ke liye ek rishta aaya hain, the boy is nice…hope that everything falls into place…" pia said excited… bani looked surprised…pushkar looked happy while ranveer looked thoughtful…

"Come pia lets go…" pushkar and pia jogged out…

Bani noticed ranveer pondering over something…he quietly walked away…bani mused over it but then continued with her work…

*******

Ranveer sat thinking intently…he didn't know how but he was feeling jealous, actually terrible after hearing that there was a match for rano and she might just get married, he hated the very thought… he liked rano, always had, the shy girl, but he was shamelessly trying to flirt with bani but bani very cleverly chided him by sticking to only formal conversation…she had spunk, the way she retorted back to his comment, he had liked that fearless attitude, but she was too high-handed he thought, too self-respecting and independent, rano's shy smile appeared in front of his eyes…his face lit up into a smile…may be he knew what he wanted… …he picked up the phone…

"Hello bua…"

*******

Bani sat on the steps…staring into the garden blooming with flowers…

"You have your mother's eyes…" a rough yet soft voice reached her ears; she turned to look her father bending down to sit near her…

Bani helped him sit down and said nothing… somewhere she was angry with her father, angry for letting her go, angry for not bringing her back…that's why she was not able to come to terms with this newfound family… because for her it never existed, she had always grown up alone, of course masi was very loving but then…during holidays her sisters and father had come to see her, but then that also decreased due to pia and rano's studies…it was almost like a faded color…there but not…she had hated her father for being so mean and selfish, for shunning his responsibility towards her…bani felt tears well up in her eyes, she closed her eyes to avoid them from trickling down, oh! She hated to cry… …

"I am sorry bani…" came his apology…

"For what??" bani's voice became hoarse…

"For…for letting you go…" he said with a lump in his throat…

"You realize it too soon…" bani said sarcastically…looking away…

"I know bani I have been unfair to you…but…" he coughed…

"At that time loosing kiran was…I was broken…rano and pia were at least manageable but you had cried all day, it was only vasudha who finally quietened you…she was also going through a rough phase, when she asked that she would like to take you with her…I thought maybe in this way you will be able to get proper love and care as I was neglecting not only you but rano and pia also… too embroiled in my own heartbreak…"

"But you…took away my father and sisters in that process…" bani choked…

"I realized it too late bani…I…" nishikant took a deep breath…

"I am sorry…so sorry child…I…" nishikant cried out…holding his chest…he felt a sharp pain in his rib…

"Baniii…" he gasped…bani quickly held him…

"Papa…papa…what happened…papa…" bani shouted…

"Rano di…pia di…" she screamed on top of her voice…

*******

Ranveer tried his best to pacify rano but she had been crying for the past hour or so…nishikant dixit had collapsed on the steps when he came in along with pushkar upon being called by a frantic pia, they had immediately rushed him to the hospital; he was being treated in the ICU…

Pia sat numbly with pushkar by her side…

It was bani who wasn't able to emote anything; she was standing in a corner… with her hands firmly held against her chest…her father's words hit her back again and again…was it the guilt he was carrying since years that had deteriorated his health…had her hatred being so potent that it was consuming a life…she cursed herself…praying desperately to save her father…at least she would be able to say that she wasn't angry with him, that she loved him and had always wanted to be with him…she clutched the sleeves of her shirt tightly, digging her fingers into her elbows…

"Rano…please shaant hojao…maine bhaiyya se baat ki hain, a specialist doctor is coming, sab theek hojayega…please…rano…" ranveer tried to make rano stop crying… she had been inconsolable…

Just then jai arrived with the leading heart surgeon; he was on his way back to Mt. Abu when he got a call from ranveer explaining the state of affairs…he was more than willing to do the needful and had flown down with the heart surgeon who was luckily in Bangalore for a medical conference…

The doctor briskly walked into the ICU after having a brief chat with the treating doctor…

"I hope everything will be fine…" jai said looking at ranveer…his eyes fell on the frail figure cuddled to herself in a corner…her face was red, but she wasn't crying…he remembered she was the girl he saw on the terrace some days ago…

"Bhaiyya…she is bani…rano and pia's sister…she had come a few months ago forom Mumbai…" ranveer said as he saw jai's gaze lingering over bani… he nodded slightly…pacing near her…

"He will be fine…bani…" he said softly…bani didn't reply…

*******

Rano was shattered with the news while pia looked pale; it was bani who had ran out of the doctor's office shocking everybody…Nishikant Dixit had suffered from a heart-attack due to extreme anxiety and mental turbulence, his condition was under control but was still critical…

Jai personally thanked the doctor for his kind help and was escorting him out to the car…when he saw bani sitting on the bench…he quietly walked and sat beside her…

"He is fine bani…"

"Its…it's because of me…he feels guilty…he…Oh God!!!" bani covered her face, weeping…jai let her be, confused at what she was blabbering…

*******

God bless

Dhani