Part 20:
Bani wakes up from the bright sunlight in her room and sits up in bed. All the events from last night come flashing through her head, and she smiles delightfully. Bani examines her left hand with her engagement ring on it. "It's true….I'm really engaged to Jai. Soon,…I'll be Mrs. Jai Walia," she says smiling. She gets out of bed and goes into the bathroom, to get fresh.
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Muskaan had woken up at 6:00, feeling very well rested. She quickly had gotten fresh and changed back into her original clothes. Once she stepped out of the bedroom, she saw that Vijay was still fast asleep on the couch. Her eyes wander around the house and sees what a mess it is. Since she had nothing to do, she might as well clean it up, it's the least she can do for Vijay. As she makes her way around the living room, she hears a mumbling from Vijay, saying , "Bani…". Muskaan watches him move around in his sleep and continue to mumble the name, bani. "Whose bani?," she thinks to herself, but forces the question out of her mind. She makes her way into the kitchen to make some tea.
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Bani covers her face with her hands, hiding away her flustered face from Pooja Bhabi, Suraj Bhaiya, and her two sisters, as they continue to tease her about jai. She gets out of her seat to leave, but suraj pulls her back down.
Suraj: Where are you going, Mrs. Walia?
Rano: Maybe she's going to call Mr. Walia!
They all continue to giggle and bother a very flushed bani. The phone rings and pia leaves to the kitchen to attend it. She comes back out with the phone in her hand.
Pia: Bani di, it's your future husband!
Bani quickly runs to pia and grabs the phone from her, ignoring everyone's remarks. She goes into the kitchen, away from everyone.
Bani: (breathless) hello?
Jai: Hello, Mrs. Walia.
Bani begins to melt just by hearing his voice.
Bani: (flirts back) Hello, Mr. Walia.
Jai: (laughs) how are you? Did you sleep well last night?
Bani: yeah, I did.
Jai: what did you dream of?
Bani: (lightly says) you of course.
Jai: (chuckles) hey, can you get ready in about 10 minutes?
Bani: yeah, sure. Why?
Jai: because I'm going to come over to pick you up to take you to my place. Everyone's bugging me about wanting to meet you.
Bani: (giggles) yeah, sure. I'll be ready.
Jai: ok, I love you.
Bani: (whispers) I love you too, bye.
Jai: bye.
Bani cuts off the phone and runs to her room, in excitement.
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Vijay wakes up from a very nice aroma of tea. He quickly stretches before getting off the couch, and then goes to the bathroom to get fresh. When he comes out, fully dressed and ready for a new day, he sees Muskaan right in front of him, smiling and holding a cup of tea in her hand.
Muskaan: (sweetly says) Vijay ji, aph kiliye chai. (English Translation: Vijay ji, tea for you)
Vijay looks from Muskaan to the tea. A huge grin emerges on his face.
Vijay: Thank you, Muskaan, but you didn't have to do this.
Muskaan blushes and hands the tea to him.
Muskaan: (smiles back) I wanted to.
Vijay takes a sip from the ready made tea.
Vijay: It's good, thanks.
She feels delighted. Vijay walks out of the room, with muskaan following behind.
Vijay: I'm going to go to work and won't be back for awhile, so help yourself. And when I come back home…we'll figure something out. (indicating her)
Muskaan: (a bit sad) I'll be here by myself?
Vijay: yeah. Don't worry, I'll try to come early.
Vijay makes his way out of the door.
Muskaan: You won't have any breakfast?
Vijay: no, I'm not hungry. But you help yourself with anything. I'll see you in the evening. And just call me if you need anything.
He hands her a card with a phone number on it and leaves. Muskaan looks around in the house, feeling lonely.
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Mausi, Dadi, and Jigs hover around bani, making her feel very nervous and shaky. They ask her many questions and don't give her anytime to answer them. Bani felt tongue-twisted. .
Mausi: So what are you favorite hobbies?
Jigs: Where are you from?
Dadi: What kind of movies do you like? 😆
Jai comes to bani's rescue.
Jai: You guys are scaring, bani. One question at a time.
Mausi: (to bani) I'm sorry, beti. I'm just want to know everything about you.
Jai's cell phone rings and he walks out of the living room to attend it. Bani watches him leave her, looking very desperate for help. Mausi, Dadi,and Jigs watch jai leave and move closer to bani, talking in whispers.
Jigs: Forget about all the questions we were asking you, what we really want bani is to know what happened on Saturday?
Bani could feels her cheeks burn red.
Dadi: how did puttar propose to you?
Mausi: Where did he take you?
Bani: (looks down shy fully) um, he took me to a restaurant.
Jigs: And?…
Bani: (blushes) and well he proposed.
Dadi: how?
Bani starts to feel embarrassed and remains silent, not wanting to give them all the details. She smiles with relief as she sees Jai walking back towards them and sitting down next to her, making mausi, dadi, and jigs leave her alone.
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Muskaan finds a library in the house and looks around, searching through books. Vijay had an awful lot of books around. She pulls out a brown covered book, and a picture slides out with it. Muskaan picks it up from the ground, dusting it off. In the picture she sees Vijay with three nice looking girls and they are outdoors. Vijay is hugging one particular girl. Muskaan hears the doorbell ring, places the book and picture down, and walks to the front door. "Maybe it is Vijay ji checking up on me?," she says to herself. She grasps the metal doorknob and pulls the door open to find two strangers standing in front of her. They both look confused. "Who are you," a man asks her.
part 21 pg. 34Edited by indian_godess - 18 years ago