Posted:
PART V
Pi, like u suggested this will be in..... parts 😆
Bani slams the door shut and walks out in a daze. She cant believe what Mr Aggarwal has just said to her. It just cannot be true. Her face is ashen. She slowly walks back to her desk and sets her lap top. Mr A had just revealed that the Rs. 25 lakhs personal loan he had granted her a month ago was actually funded by JW.!!!!!! Bani was not prepared for this. Another shock was to follow, Mr A had finaly convinced JW not to lease part of Darjeeling but to go out and buy it all (read part 2). Mr JW had agreed! Now Mr A and his comapny and his employees INCLUDING HIS WIFE were all part of the Walia Group. Mr A had also informed her that JW wanted the loan to be paid off in a month
Bani did not know what to do. She had taken that loan for Pushkar. He was setting up his first business, a florist in Mumbai's famous biz district..... Pia had pleaded Bani for support despite knowing she doesnt live with Mr JW anymore, with great difficulty Bani had approached Mr A and requested a loan. She knew commercial banks wud not lend her such a high amount considering her non-existent credit history
Now Bani was pushed to a corner.............. And Oh! Mr A told her as a favor Mr JW had informed his assistant that he wanted a "personal meeting with Ms.Bani Dixit" later that day so that Bani can plead her case and may be buy more time.
The thought of meeting Mr W made her sick with fear. Bani's mind was working overtime, doing a quick assessment of her financial situation and where she cud come up with that kind of money. SHE DID NOT WANT TO GO MEET HER HUSBAND. the animosity had increased in the last month or so. She knew what JW was capable of, . But she had not expected things to come to this this quickly. She was aware that her husband desired her physically and he had made it apparent many many times. There wud be too many akward moments, too many opportunities to surrender to the guilty feelings that lay so shallowly beneath the veneer of her detachment
She checked her watch it was 2 PM, her meeting with JW was at 4. She had not seen him in over three weeks now after the HUGE showdown with Jigs at a mutual friend's wedding. Bani had vowed never to see the Walias again if she cud. To top it off JW had seen her lunching with Tarun more than once, she was happy Tarun was alive......
The cab pulls outside JW's hotel. Gets off pays teh cabbie, walks in with her head held high. Tells the lobby mgr she has an appointment with Mr JW at 4. He sends her off to his elevator. Bani hits the floor, cruelly she amuses herself by thinking that a cat 5 tornado probably wud spin less than her stomach right now.
Steps off at the 15th floor, Mr JW's assistant Ms. Singh greets her with a pleasant smile.
Bani excuses herself to use the rest room, goes off splashes water on her face, hides it in a towel until eternity, wipes off, starts counting to calm herself, gets herself a drink of water.
Steps out and is greeted by the big brass W facing teh reception desk at the lobby, sends her stomach back into a spin.
Ms Singh smiles as she walks towards JW's office overlooking the Arabian sea. She knocks.
J: Come in
does not lift his head from looking down at the lap top
J: Yes?
B: Uhhmmm.
(that's ALL it takes for hubby to swing his head up and lock eyes)
J: Mrs Baneee Walia!!
Bani childishly wonders for a second why that doesnt sound too bad at all...... Jolted back to the real world trying not to fall on the floor in a nervous heap wishing her face would NOT take on a newer shade of red each time he said her name like that:
B:Aap mujhse milna chahte the?
J disconcertingly was watching her from under his lashes, swivelling in his chair elbows on the hand rest......fingers linked his solid platinum watch gleaming in the Mumbai mid day sun coming off the window.
Bani wonders if that Rolex costs more than her personal loan. I probably did she concludes angrily............
It was his eyes that really disrupted her carefully composed indifference, Oh how she hated those eyes!!
