JB: Zindagi Ka Safar (2) Imp. Note Pg 44 - Page 6

Chapter 112

Anjali sighed in frustration as she hung the phone up for the eighth time in an hour. "Where could he be?"

"Anjali!" Ryan called as he approached her office door. Anjali looked up and frowned when she saw Ryan standing there waiting for a progress report. "What have you found out about Rishab?"

"Nothing I'm afraid" Anjali admitted. "I've called four hospitals, three emergency shelters and the county morgue and no one has a record of Rishab Singhania being there."

"Did you try the numbers I wrote down?" Ryan asked. He was sure Michael was overreacting when he talked to him earlier, but now he wasn't so sure.

"I got voice mail when I called his house and left a message. When I called his cell phone I received an automated message stating the cell phone customer can not be reached at this time."

"What about John Does?" Ryan asked, really hoping that wasn't the case.

"The four hospitals I called all have at least a half dozen John Does. They wouldn't give out any more information at this time about them. They say I'd have to come down there in person. They're positively swamped."

"Keep trying Anjali" Ryan said. "Stay on this assignment until you find out something."

"No problem Ryan" Anjali readily agreed.

"Let me know if you have to go check out the hospitals."

"I will" Anjali told him. Ryan turned and left. Anjali immediately picked up the phone again and dialed the next number on her list. She was more determined than ever to find Rishab.

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"Nurse, can you tell me how our John Doe number 6 is doing this afternoon?" The doctor making rounds in the ICU asked.

"He's still unconscious, but stable" she replied, handing the doctor the latest vitals on the patient.

"I read his EEG" the doctor said, frowning as he examined the young man. "It appears normal."

"That's good news doctor" the nurse said. "He should be waking up shortly then."

"I have every reason to believe he will be" the doctor said. "Then maybe he can tell us his name and we can contact his family. He's in much better shape than John Does numbers 1 and 7. I wish we could find their families soon."

"Have you had any inquires?" The nurse asked.

"Too many" the doctor frowned. "The phone lines are crazy. The operators have been instructed to have people searching for loved ones stop in and fill out a form. So far we've managed to identify four of them. This man here and the other two I mentioned are the only ones we have left."

"I'm sure we'll find out who he is soon," the nurse said with a hint of a smile. The doctor nodded and continued on his rounds of the other patients.

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"Okay Bani" Ruchika smiled. "One last tape and I think you know who this person is."

"Hi Bani!"

"Anjali! It's good to see you" Bani laughed.

"I hope you can see me ok. I decided to make this tape outside so you can enjoy a little California sunshine. I just hope I got the lighting right."

"It's perfect, Anjali" Bani grinned.

"She's just trying to make us all jealous" Anu smiled. "Notice the palm trees swaying in the background?"

"Yeah, she's wearing a short-sleeved shirt as well" Yukti laughed.

"Anyway, let's get you started opening some presents."

Khushi bounded over to Bani with three boxes in hand. They were each labeled with numbers 1, 2 or 3. "Anjali, what have you done" Bani chuckled as she started opening box number one.

"The first box has some items that I had custom made for you and Jai" Anjali said, as Bani pulled out two shirts and pairs of shorts. "Yep, it's a matching set. Made out of the same special absorbent material that I had Jais' batting cage fund raiser shirt made out of."

"Thanks Anjali" Bani blushed, remembering distinctly how Jai had looked in that shirt after he'd been in the batting cages for a while. "These are really nice."

"I figure between the two of you, you can come up with something besides batting cage practice. Something so you can get all hot and sweaty so these outfits can do what they're designed to do - mold to your body." Anjali smiled sweetly at the camera, while the guests there that remembered how Jai looked in the batting cages tried unsuccessfully to stifle their laughs.

Bani was laughing as well, her cheeks redder still. "I'm sure your Jai will make sure he thinks of something!" she said good-naturedly.

"Keep it moving now, time to open box # 2" Anjali smiled.

Bani immediately complied and opened the second box. A smile immediately adorned her face as she pulled out two huge rolls of tickets, the kind used for raffles or carnival events.

"The blue roll is for Jai and the red roll is for you" Anjali smirked.

This time Bani really turned red as she remembered vividly the wad of tickets Jai had produced when she was manning the kissing booth at the Mumbai festival last summer, courtesy of Anjali of course. "Anjali, this is perfect" Bani said, shaking her head in wonder. "Where do you come up with these ideas?"

"As you can see from the stamp of a pair of lips, every 5th ticket is redeemable for one kiss - remind you of anything?"

"Oh, it reminds me of something all right" Bani laughed. Bani saw several of the ladies looking at her with quizzical expressions. "The first time Jai kissed me was at the kissing booth last summer. Anjali bought him a dozen tickets to use while I was there."

"I knew I always liked Anjali di" Anu laughed.

"Bani, you know I'm always available to help you and Jai out. But, in this case, I think that you and Jai are just going to have to decide all on you own, what each of you get, when you turn in the other tickets."

"I can think of a few things she can turn them in for" Yukti said with a mischievous grin."

The room erupted with laughter. "Yukti!" Bani said in shock.

"What?" Yukti said innocently. "Don't tell me you haven't been thinking about all the naughty little things you and that hunky fiance of yours can do?"

Bani didn't know how to respond to that one. The truth was, she'd already formulated several ideas on how to use those tickets, but she wasn't about to admit that out loud.

"Man I hope you're blushing right about now. Bright pink cheeks! If not, I didn't do a very good job with this whole shower present thing."

"Oh, she's blushing all right" Rano laughed, staring at Bani's blushed cheeks.

"Is she ever" Raashi smiled in agreement.

"Darn! My time's running out. I've got to go back to work. Sorry. Wish I could have been there. I can't wait to see you both. Now hurry and open box # 3 ……. Bye."

Bani turned her attention back to box number 3. She opened it carefully and revealed a set of 6 crystal heart-shaped candleholders, with Bani and Jai neatly engraved with the date December 24, 2007, their wedding day. "Oh! They're absolutely exquisite!" Bani said as she handled one of the candleholders.

"Beautiful" Raashi murmured smiling.

"Oh they are! Simply beautiful" Shilpa commented.

Bani passed one of the candleholders around for everyone to see. "This has been an absolutely wonderful day" Bani said with a heartfelt smile. "I can't thank you all enough for this absolutely wonderful shower."

"It was our pleasure, Bani di" Anu smiled warmly. "I want to give you my gift now di" Anu smiled.

"Anu, you really didn't have to get…"

"Bani di, you are going to be my mami soon" Anu stated. "I want to do this."

"Thank you Anu" Bani smiled accepting the packages she gave her. She opened the first box and found absolutely beautiful antique leather bound family Bhagwad Geeta. The trim was hand painted as were the first few pages. The Walia and Bali family trees were complete and Bani's name had been added right next to Jais' name as his wife.

Her eyes welled with tears upon seeing her name written next to that of her fiance's. "Anu, this is the most precious gift I've ever received" she cried, tears visible on her cheeks.

"That was the gift that Dad, Daadi and Mausi wanted to give you. I'm looking forward to the day we add a few more names under yours and mamaji's" Anu smiled. "Can you tell I am impatiently awaiting the arrival of my first nephew or niece?"

Bani blushed and laughed through her tears. "Thank you"

"Open the other one Bani di" Anu said giddily.

Bani smiled at Anu as she held the second box in her lap. "This one is heavy!" She grinned as she lifted the lid off the oversized box. As she pulled the tissue paper aside, Bani gasped. "Anu!"

Anu smiled watching Bani lift the corner of her gift out of the box. It was a hand-made patchwork quilt. "It's not finished yet di" Anu explained.

"I remember this!" Bani said excitedly as she glanced at one of the squares. "I had a dress made from the same material when I was a little girl. As a matter of fact, I think I ruined that dress playing one day and my Satish threw a fit. He told one of the staff to throw it out."

Anu chuckled. "Di, that square is from that dress" Anu said. "All of the squares are from something either you or mamaji have owned or in some way holds a special memory for you."

Bani was in shock. Every time she thought she couldn't be happier, something happened to change that. "But how…I mean, how did you get all this?"

"Haarsh helped me get all your stuff. He and I have been working on this for weeks now. We wanted to give you something you will always cherish and what better gift than your childhood memories".

"Anu, this is the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me."

"Look at this one Bani di" Anu said, walking over to the quilt. "This was from mamajis' favorite PJ's when he was little and this one is from one of his jersey's in school."

"Thank you Anu" Bani choked out through tears of happiness. "I know Jai is going to love it as much as I do."

"You're welcome Bani di" Anu said as she hugged her.

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"It was really nice of Anu and others to host that shower. I had a blast." Bani said as she snuggled up close to Jai on the couch. He'd just built a roaring fire for the two of them.

"She was happy to do it Bani" Jai said, kissing her sweetly on the top of her head.

"That quilt was absolutely beautiful Jai" she said dreamily. "It's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen."

"Anu sure outdid her self this time" Jai chuckled. "I can't believe she put so much effort into it. Finally she did something other than shopping"

They both laughed at that. Bani knew how true it was.

"Anu is a very special girl, Jai. I wouldn't imagine of having better niece than her."

"She sure is" Jai agreed. "You never told me what Anjali got you?"

Bani started to laugh. "Well, her real present were gorgeous engraved crystal candleholders" she said. "I think you'll really like them."

"I assume that means she gave you something else?" Jai asked with an impish grin.

"She sure did" Bani chuckled. Her cheeks were getting red just thinking about it. "Remember the shirt she had made for you last summer? The one that you looked so sexy in?"

"So you thought I looked sexy in that shirt?" Jai said wriggling his eyebrows.

"Oh yeah" Bani said seductively. She could picture him right now wearing that shirt. "Well, she got us matching shirts and shorts made out of the same material. She had a few suggestive comments to go along with it."

Jai laughed. "I like the sound of the outfits" he said. "And I can only imagine what comments she made to go with them."

"Let me show you what else she sent" Bani said excitedly. She jumped up and ran over to a bag she'd brought with her from Walia mansion. From inside the bag, Bani pulled out the two rolls of tickets Anjali sent. "The blue roll is for you and the red roll is for me" she grinned handing Jai the blue roll.

Jai couldn't stop laughing when he saw the tickets. "She is too much" he finally said. "You do realize I plan on using every one of these, don't you?"

"I hope so Mr. Walia" Bani said, her eyes shining. "Because I plan on using all of mine as well."

"What do you say we start using these right now?" Jai said, wriggling his eyebrows in a very suggestive manner.

"We're supposed to wait until after the wedding to use them Jai" Bani giggled. Her heart was pounding wildly just from the looks she was receiving from Jai at the moment and she knew if he pursued the issue she'd eventually cave, just a little. "I'm going to put mine back in the bag" Bani said, moving away from Jai slightly and opening the bag to put her coupons back. Once she opened it she saw something she nearly forgot about.

"Oh, it's the gift from Kali" she said taking the wrapped package out.

"You didn't open it?" Jai asked in surprise.

"No, she strongly suggested I open it with you" Bani grinned. "I'm almost afraid of what's inside."

"Come on Bani" Jai said with a playful smile. "Open it. It sounds intriguing." Jai moved closer to Bani again and she just smirked at him.

"Okay" she said. Under the watchful eyes of Jai, Bani carefully undid the wrapping and pulled out another box. Her face went completely scarlet when she saw the picture on the box and she couldn't even look at Jai.

"Oh Bani" Jai said, his voice thick with desire, "I think you and I are going to have an awesome honeymoon." Jai leaned in and began kissing the nape of Bani's neck, driving her wild.

"Jai!" Bani squealed, her body coming alive from Jais' tantalizing gestures.

"Come on Bani" Jai smirked devilishly. "Why don't you try them on? You know a preview for our honeymoon?" Jai knew Bani was embarrassed beyond words, but he really was enjoying the sweet torture he was bestowing upon her.

Bani flipped the box over and saw a note attached to the box from her friend. "Jai, there's a note here."

"Why don't you read it?" He asked, still planting kisses on her neck and shoulders.

Bani was having a difficult time concentrating, but she managed to read the note.

Hi Sweetie,

I saw these when I was shopping for your gift and couldn't resist. It was a pair just like these that helped conceived baby number two for me, LOL. I hope I didn't embarrass you too much. I got mine at my shower too but I opened mine with my mother- in-law there. Talk about embarrassing!

Oh and BD, don't let Cuddly try and talk you into a preview! LOL.

Have fun! ;)

Love,

Kali

"Did you hear that?" Bani said laughing, her cheeks still crimson.

"I heard" Jai said pouting. Bani could tell by the glint in his eye he was enjoying this immensely.

"Sorry Jai but you'll just have to wait until after we're married" she chuckled.

"Okay Angel" he relented. "I need to get going soon anyway. Just the thought of you in that silk lacy lingerie is driving me insane. How does Kali expect me to survive after that?" (http://www.2cutelingerie.com/silk-lacy-bridal-5699-prd1.htm)

Even though Bani wasn't ready to display the gift from Kali, she really didn't want Jai to go. She reached into the bag and pulled out the tickets she received from Anjali and ripped off a kiss coupon. "I know I said we should wait" Bani began, a twinkle in her eyes, "but I don't think it would hurt anything if I redeemed one of these tonight, do you?"

Jais' face lit up, his million dollar smile practically melting her heart. "No, I don't think it would hurt at all" he said with approval.

Jai readily accepted the coupon from his fiance. "I love you Angel" he said before pulling her into his embrace once again.

"And I love you too jaan" Bani returned with a brilliant smile. She caught his gaze for a moment and then closed her eyes as Jais' lips met hers in the most romantic kiss they'd shared to date.

To be continued…