Candle In the Wind; Note Pg160;New Thread - Page 4

Originally posted by: Rani Rx

that is good! 😊 i wonder how jai and bani meet? hmm!cant wait plz update soon!

HI Rani,

welcome aboard, thanks for the comments, Jai and Bani will meet a few times before the present day.

Keep reading....

Originally posted by: aNsHu_tEjPaL

tht was really great part!!! 👏 i am positive BD is bani...right??? 😉 i cant wait to read more........i cant wait to see how bani slowly melts jai!!! 😳 i feel so bad for jai!!! 😭 ur an amazing writer!!! pls pls update sooon

Anshu, Thanks yaar, I guess you are right about BD, she will be the light of his life and melt him surely but softly....

Thanks again,

Originally posted by: bugs_bunny

wonderful start.. and i love ur title.
hope u continue soon.

Hi Bugs, what's up doc!! 😆😆😆

Thanks for the encouragement and comments,

Luv,

Udai Walia resented his son for his holier than thou attitude. He resented his wife, Krishna Walia whose high standards and values made him feel less of a man, her silence and disapproval suffocated him. Over the years the distance between them stretched like thin ice. Udai knew Jai resented him for his many extra-marital affairs. Udai looked curiously at the aloof teenager in front of him, Krishna was always more worried about Jai than Jigyasa saying that he was the more sensitive of the two and that he took things more to the heart. Shobhana Sharma, Krishna's sister came and stayed with them after her husband's death. She had no family of her own except for the daughter who eloped five years ago with a boy the parents considered unsuitable. Jai seemed to have bonded very well with his aunt, Shobhana Mausi in the last five years. Shobhana had been a great strength to Krishna during her manic depressive episodes but seemed to have influenced Jai and turned him against his father. Udai knew his sister-in-law disapproved of him and put the blame squarely on his front door for Krishna's mental and physical illness. It was no wonder Jigyasa wanted to escape the madhouse and got married at the age of eighteen. She was four years older than Jai but already had two children and pregnant with one more. Aditya, his son-in-law seemed like a decent guy but he doubted if the boy could rein in the strong-willed Jigyasa. Ranveer and Sahil already were turning out into Mama's boys and ignored their father completely.

As he chewed a piece of bread that tasted insipid, Udai glanced at his son who looked equally uninterested in the food before him. Jai seemed to be unaware of his mother's terminal condition. Udai played with his food on the table for a couple of minutes more before giving up the exercise.

"Jai, your mother is very sick" he started without the preliminaries. He didn't have the guts to look into his son's face. "She has only couple of months to live."

From the corner of his eyes, he saw the fork falling with a clutter on to the table from Jai's nerveless hands. He looked up into his son's face. For a fleeting moment, Udai saw unbearable pain flash in the normally placid brown eyes. He reached out to touch Jai's hand but felt it withdraw. The emotions he saw flitting just a moment ago were completely wiped out as Jai sported the expressionless faade once again. He nodded imperceptibly.

"I knew there was something wrong, she made me promise that I would attend Stanford this fall, no matter what happened." Jai whispered, his voice had a slight break that he tried to control.

Udai Walia looked surprised at Jai's confession. "Are you going?" He felt proud of his son's achievement but he was sad at the same time that Jai didn't tell him about it before now.

Jai nodded absently, "Do you think we should get a second opinion on mom?" His Adam's apple moved up and down. "I want her to see the best doctors in the world!!"

Udai rubbed a hand on his eyes, "she has been seeing an oncologist who is the best in the country, but the cancer is in the final stages"

Jai got up abruptly from his chair, almost toppling it with his haste. He wanted to get away from his father. As he turned to go, he saw a young woman with a eight to ten year old boy in tow heading their way. He recognized her immediately, Bernali, his dad's mistress!! What was she doing here? He turned to see Udai Walia accusingly, "You brought her here? You couldn't wait till mother died? You are disgusting!!" Angry color slashed across his high cheekbones.

Udai paled at his son's outburst. He didn't expect Bernali to show up with Nachiketh here. He wanted to spend a little bit of time with his older son alone, get him over his grief and then deal with the subject of his younger brother. Damn Bernali!! He always knew her to be ambitious, but now she has become hard as nails. She seemed to stop at nothing to get her son a fair share in the Walia fortune.

Jai and Udai stared as she approached them. Jai couldn't take his eyes off of the boy. He looked like Udai Walia's photograph at the age of ten on the mantle of the Walia mansion. He looked at his father bitterly, "Damn you!! I hate you…I wish you were never my father" He walked away stiffly without looking back at his dad, the woman and the child.

+++++

Jai sat under the tree, leaning against the huge trunk, he had a cigarette in his hand and a bottle of beer in the other. He didn't have problems buying either, no one asked him what his age was when he bought the "India King" and the two large "Taz Mahal" Beers. The beer tasted awful, the smokes tasted worse. But he continued to drink. His mood didn't get any better!! He got up and picked up couple of pebbles and threw them into the small pond in front of him. As the rocks fell in the pond and sent ripples across the water, he kicked the exposed root of the tree with his shoe and winced sharply.

"My mom says if you are angry at something or someone it helps to talk" A child's voice rang out, clear and confident. "My teacher says that smoking and drinking are bad for health"

Jai sent an irritated glance in the direction of the annoying voice. The annoying voice belonged to none other than the resident, imbecile, wannabe jockey of Cottonwood stables.

"Get lost, Kid" Jai ordered harshly – "Don't you have something to do? Such as feeding the horses or cleaning the barn?"

"I finished feeding the horses and cleaning the barn before you got up", BD answered without rancor. "My father always told us that we have to get up before sunrise"

"Look, your parents look like they are equally annoying as you are, can you get lost and leave me alone?"

"My mother is dying soon!!" The words were blurted out before realization struck.

Jai looked up in shock, "what did you say?"

"My mother is dying, that's why my dad sent me to Sunny uncle, my sisters are staying with my father's cousin who is helping my mom." BD's face was impassive. "They think that I am going to cry and be a distraction to my dad by asking too many questions"

"Aren't you? I mean aren't you going to cry or ask questions?" Jai gripped the beer bottle tighter. All of a sudden he wanted to sit and get to know the boy.

"No, I don't think that will help my mom and dad." BD replied. "I need to be strong and take care of my sisters. My dad is helpless, he doesn't know how to take care of us and the house, that's why I have to be there for him"

Jai looked stunned. The cigarette fell from his hands and on to his blue jeans. He flicked the ashes away and dropped the beer bottle on to the ground. Together they watched the dark amber liquid gurgling out of bottle as it rolled to the pond's bank.

"My mother is dying too!!" Jai whispered, he looked stunned as the confession came out without his conscious volition.

"You and I have something in common!! Our moms are both dying, we are abandoned by our fathers and we both love horseback riding" Jai voiced cynically.

"My father didn't abandon me!!" BD immediately rectified his statement. "He just doesn't know what to do!!"

Jai changed the subject, "how old are you, kid?"

"I turned eight last month"

"Oh, I thought you were six" Jai teased the lad gently, for some reason, he wanted to protect this kid. He felt a deep connection to him already.

BD looked at him reproachfully.

"And you look old, like you are thirty!!"

"Really?" Jai relaxed visibly, he caught BD's fulminating glance and grinned.

"In fact, I thought that you still needed a child's saddle for your rides on the horse" Jai enjoyed the color creeping up into the kid's face.

BD bristled as Jai continued goading him about his size.

"I have to eat less, if I want to be a jockey like Sunny uncle" BD felt that Jai needed an explanation. "Jockeys have to be small in height and light in weight, so I am dieting"

Jai looked surprised, "Are you serious about being a jockey?" He was amazed at the determination in the child's voice.

"Yes, I am!! I will be the best damn jockey – I am going to win the derby ten years from now. But I have to train for a long time" BD looked at him steadily.

Jai nodded. "I wish I knew what I want to be ten years from now" A sigh escaped him. "I don't want to go to America and leave my mother" Jai closed his eyes tightly.

They both sat in companionable silence neither wanting to break it.

"BD, do you want to go for a ride?" Jai interrupted the silence finally.

BD nodded eagerly, "Are you going to ride Jugnu?"

"Yes, do you have a horse of your own?" Jai asked quietly.

"I have my mother's horse, it's a little old, His name is Junoon! It's a pretty fast racehorse. It's a gray, but Mr. Singhania doesn't like me riding it!!" BD looked heartbroken.

"Why won't Mr. Singhania let you ride your Mom's horse?" Jai was curious.

It was almost like some one zipped BD's mouth shut, "I can't tell you about it"

Jai didn't pursue the conversation, he respected the child's privacy. Together they walked to the barn silently.

They untied the horses and walked the horses out from the barn. They saddled them expertly. If Jai found the eight year old's dexterity amazing, he didn't express it.

They rode the horses, the rider becoming one with the horse – each trying to out maneuver the other and trying to win the race. Jai had the faster horse and more years under his belt, but he subtly let the boy come close to him several times, letting him feel that he is in the competition.

He advised on the reins and the seat and looked pleased when the boy caught on quickly.

From the day forward BD and Jai rode every morning for the next month.

Then Jai got a call saying his mother was on death-bed, he left abruptly without saying goodbye to BD. He left clear instructions to Sunny saying that only BD could exercise Jugnu, but with strict supervision from the older jockey.

That was the last BD saw him until four years later.

Originally posted by: TINK

ha!!! first 😆 😆 will be bck....hahahahaha......... 😆 😆 😆

Heyy Tinks,

you are the first!! Awesome Babe!!

Talk to you tomorrow!!

see i told u i knew tht these will be getting close
didnt jai still recognise tht bd is a girl????
well great bonding
anyway waiting for 4 years leap until they meet agn
nice part
continue soon
waiting for next parts

Aww....Shoba,👏

Too good, really wonderful and fantastic stroy dear.👏😃

Poor Jai at a very young age he has to endure so much and be an adult.😭 He really such a darling, that I feel like going and hugging him.🤗

So Barnali😡, had to came and ruin any chance of the father and son getting close, and at a time when his mother is on her death bed.

So he and BD become s close friends in a way but he still does not know that she is a little girl😉 and not a young boy.😛😆

Cant wait fo the next update from you soon and BD and his meeting each other 4 years later. She'll be 12 and he will be 22 right.😛😉😃

Till the next update dear.😃

Love

Krishna

hmmmm ....interesting ff 😉 😉 con so0o0on 😊 👏 👏