SS: Empty Vows-2! Part-12, Pg-10, LAST PART, Pg-11 - Page 4

jai stop showing bani attitude!

very touching conversation between jai and krishna.......hope he soon forgives his father also.

I said ranju, we are karmic cousins… About Ramayana, I have strong differences but I am too superstitious to vehemently oppose it!!!! Sita truly inspires me…

PART-9

Bani hurried out hearing the commotion at the entrance…to her amusement Rano and Ranveer were squabbling like little kids…

"Rano…" bani called out stopping her friend who would anytime pounce on ranveer…

"Thank god bani you came…warna yeh toh mujhe maar hi daalti…" ranveer said grinning…

"What is this monkey doing here???" rano fumed…she was in such a good mood, and she saw ranveer when she came in…

"Jaaii…" ranveer went towards him…

"How are you doing?? You look good…" ranveer thumbed his back…looking at Krishna he squealed…

"Wow!!Hello gorgeous lady…" ranveer exclaimed…

"She is my wife young man…" they heard uday's voice…

"And I must say old man you have a very pretty wife…" ranveer replied back…

"Ranveer will you shut up they are my parents…" jai interrupted him…

"Oops…I was just being silly…hello aunty…hello uncle…I am Ranveer Bali…unfortunately your son's best friend…" ranveer introduced himself…

"Hello beta…" they said in unison…

"And the biggest jerk on earth…" rano added…

"RANO!!!" bani reprimanded her…

"Leave her bani…some people never change…by the way how are you beautiful…" bani blushed by his open admiration…much to jai's irritation at how his best friend shamelessly flirted with his wife…

"I am fine Ranveer…I am glad to see you…"

"Chalo at least someone is glad to see me…"

"Beta…lets have breakfast… rano come…" Krishna called out…

"No aunty…I have work…I will leave…" rano lied blatantly…

"Jab dekho kaam…nashta kiye bina I will not let you go…chal andar chup chaap…" ranveer grinned even more…
******
Ranveer kept on talking boisterously… making everyone laugh…except rano who continued to fume in anger…

"Jai I have seen an office…finalize karna hain…tu aayega…" ranveer asked helping himself with another paratha…

"Ya!!I will just change and come…" jai excused himself…

"Bani we are getting late…" rano got up…

"I will get my things…wait…"

"Thank you aunty…I will see you later…" rano got up, glaring at ranveer who smiled back at her…

"Let's go then…" jai came down…

"Can you guys drop us???" ranveer asked rano and bani…bani was about to say yes when rano replied back…

"No…sorry…"

"Ranveer rehne de na…we will find a taxi…" jai suggested not wanting to share a ride with bani; his father's car was in the garage…

"No ranveer…rano aise hi bol rahin hain…come…" bani said…

"Actually baba ki gaadi garage main hain…warna you people could have taken that…that's why rano came to pick me up…" bani said as they walked out…

"Its okay bani…I will sit in the front…don't mind…" ranveer slipped into the front seat much to rano's irritation…bani and jai sat farther from each other at the back…feeling uncomfortable…rano started the engine...

"Tum kya hamesha hi gusse main rehti ho…you should smile you know it's good for health…" ranveer didn't leave any opportunity to tease rano who bore him patiently without replying to any of his stupid queries… …
******
"I like it" jai said looking around…he loved the open space and the sea view from the room which was on the fifteenth floor…

"I will buy it then…" ranveer said…

"Hmm…" jai stood by the window…looking down…at the sea…it always amazed him… as a kid and even now…

"So…" ranveer asked…jai turned around…

"So what…"

"How is it going…?"

"Good till now…I need to open up to dad…I am trying…"

"I can see that…"

"It's strange…but it feels good…" jai said honestly, feeling light-headed…

"And…"

"And what??"

"Bani…" jai turned around, he was not yet ready to face those frozen question… …

"What's about her???"

"Jai, stop it now…either you accept her or you free her…there is no middle path…"

"I know…"

"I think first you should thank her at least…after all she had done so much for you…"

Jai didn't reply…

The next morning he didn't hear the melodious music or the soft footsteps moving in a perfect rhythm… …
******
Jai typed on his laptop, making a few calls…uday was sitting at a distance reading a book… jai heard him cough…first lightly but then the cough grew stronger…

"Maa…" jai got up calling but remembered that she was out…

"Dad…dad…easy…" jai went up to him…making him drink water…

"You are fine…" jai looked at him worried…uday gave him a watery smile…

"Yes…" uday took deep breaths…he fished out his phone, his mother didn't carry a cell phone…thinking for a moment he dialed bani's number, it was stored under bharati's name…he made a mental note to edit it… bani was surprised to get a call from jai…

"Hello…" she said meekly…

"Hello…bha…bani…woh…"

"Kya hua…"

"Nothing serious, dad ko khaasi ho rahin thi…maa nahin hain abhi…shall I give him something…" jai asked…

"Is it too bad…" bani asked with a bit of panic…

"Nahin he is fine now…" jai said glancing back at his father who was back to reading the book…

"It's normal…he will be fine…see that he doesn't eat anything spicy…" bani said…

"Okay...thanks…" jai held the phone…a prolonged silence filled between them…

"Banii…"

"Jee…"

"Do you mind to have dinner with me tonight…?" he asked after mustering up a lot of courage…

"Jee…hum…"

"It will be a normal dinner…?" jai rushed his words…a smile spread on her face…'normal dinner'…he sounded rather cute at the moment… …

"Okay…" she agreed…

"But I will get late tonight…" she added…

"I will pick you up…just give me the address…" jai said searching for a pen and paper…he hung up noting down the address… thinking more and more about the dinner which would follow tonight…stuffing the paper in his pocket he returned to his father…

"Are you okay dad?? Why don't you rest…??" jai said…

"I am fine jai…" uday smiled weakly…jai nodded his head walking back…

"Jaii…" uday called out to him…jai turned around facing him…

"I am sorry for everything… …" he said…jai looked at him unmoving…he felt a pang of pity for his father…the anger which he held turned into something else…yes he had suffered a lot…but he had conveniently forgotten that his father had suffered too… …

"Can't everything be normal again…son…" uday asked with hope…

"I will try…" jai said walking away…that was enough for uday…he can die peacefully now…but there was one thing still left…his darling daughter… …
******
Jai stood strolling outside bani's office…"The Banyan Tree" the huge name plate read…she had messaged him that she was coming out… he saw a few people coming out…going to their respective homes…he stopped as he saw bani coming out…wearing simply an all black cotton salawar kaeemz with a white ikkat dupatta… her long hair held in a low bun… she looked tired…

"Nikhil I want all the costumes ready by next week…" bani said to her companion…

"Yes bani…I will make sure of that…"

"And please…make sure they are a correct fit…I don't want any mishaps…"

"Okay baba I need to run…" Nikhil said…

"Kyun is someone waiting…???" bani teased him…

"Banniii…byee…" he shouted as he ran past jai…

"Have fun…" bani waved at him, passing a smile towards jai, he looked simple yet very handsome in a pair of denim jeans and black shirt…

"Why didn't you come in???" bani asked…

"It's okay…shall we leave…" jai said

"You need to excuse me…I am not dressed appropriately…" bani said walking towards the car…

"No…you look good…" he said getting inside the car, leaving her quite stunned by the causality with which he stated that…

"I…I wanted to thank you…bani…" jai said as they silently ate their dinner…

"Thank me for what??" bani looked amused…

"For everything…" he said genuinely…

"I am just repaying maa and baba for their kindness…"

"And…about us…" jai said with reluctance…bani looked at him…

"I will talk to maa and baba…you don't have to…it isn't fair on you…" bani said…

"It wasn't fair on you too…" jai said gazing at her…

"Only if you had listened to me jai…" bani said with regret…

"I never wanted this…" bani continued…

"I would have gladly given you whatever you wanted…let's just not speak about it now… we can get divorced…it's not a problem…" bani said…

"You have every right to live your life…don't you have anyone in your life…" jai asked, trying to sound disinterested, he felt stupid asking his own wife if she had a lover…bani laughed out…coquettishly, her eyes dancing…

"Fortunately no…" she replied, still smiling…

"I mean why…??? You are a pretty woman…I am sure there must have been many men running after you…" he said with an embarrassed chuckle, remembering how he pursued her with solid determination…bani remained silent…her eyes turned solemn, hearing the word 'pretty' from his lips hurt her somewhere…she sipped some water…

"Even I pestered you in America…" he finished his sentence grumpily… she wasn't expecting him to confess that… but he always managed to surprise her… …

"May be the other men didn't look at me like that…" she said eating her food…jai stared at her…

"They must be blind…"

"You never give up do you???"bani said…jai smiled, for the first from his heart maybe…

"You should smile more often…you look good…" she replied without feeling abashed…

"Nobody told me that…till now…" he said cheekily…she shook her head…

There were too many questions in her mind…chaining her down… it wasn't easy as it sounded to be… not as simple as plain words…not as uncomplicated as simple sentences…there was too much to sort out and too little to begin with…and she didn't want to dig all those questions again…it took her a great deal to bind herself…she couldn't afford to break again…

Jai lay wide awake…he picked his phone, dialing ranveer's number…

"What is it jai??? Let me sleep…" ranveer said in a lazy voice…

"I don't want to lose her…" jai said…

"That's the most intelligent thing you have ever said to me…now goodnight!!!" ranveer ended the call…

Jai couldn't stop thinking about bani….he knew it wasn't going to be easy…she might look steady and mature but he knew behind that ever-smiling face there was a very vulnerable girl who needed to be taken care of…
******

God bless
dhani