Part 2
As she left in the taxi, she handled the business card he gave her and bit her lip. How was she going to tell Pia and Rano that she was engaged to be married to the hotelier and business tycoon Jai Walia? Jai had briefed her on who he is and about his business. He told her about his family that consisted of his sister and her estranged husband, three kids, his friend Adi's mother and his maternal aunt, who he seemed very fond of.
He told her that they should see each other privately, sort of on fake dates for a week, to get to know each other before they announce their engagement. He also told her that he would get her a ring. She had immediately jumped in saying that a fake one would be fine for a fake engagement. He looked at her funnily and nodded.
Rano and Pia were confused at Bani's announcement and didn't completely accept it at first, especially Rano who can count the intestines if you yawn. Bani thought smilingly, that girl was too smart for her own good. Pia on the other hand didn't see anything amiss and thought that her di totally deserved the prince of Mumbai. Bani felt her guilty conscience kick in for having to lie to her sisters.
When she went to buy the clothes that he wanted her to buy, she took pains to buy clothes that were moderately expensive, of good material, simple yet classy. She bought artificial jewelry, bangles and shoes to match. She spent less than 1 lac, and she decided to give the rest back to him. Pia was of course her fashion consultant.
When he showed up on the first date, she was dressed in a mustard colored sari with a red blouse with small leaves. The sari was lined with red embroidery to match the blouse. She just wore red hangings on her ears and no other jewelry. Pia helped her to wear light makeup and she helped to put her hair up in a bun with a few loose curls framing her oval head. She wore two inch high heels to overcome her height. She didn't want to appear like a dwarf in front of his 6 foot tall frame. He was dressed in black trousers and a Donna Karan black shirt. Sweat broke out on her upper lip, even the black Gucci belt and botticelli shoes he wore were sexy. No one had the right to look like that.
He couldn't help staring at the transformation of the girl, she was beautiful before, but now she was breath taking. He stared at her so intently, a dark blush tinged her face and she stepped aside to get her reeling senses back in control.
Pia and Rano were stunned at Bani di's new beau. Jai took time to spend an hour with the girls, joking with them, giving them advice on their school and assuring her that he will indeed take care of their sister.
When they finally stepped out in to the sultry Mumbai night, they were both nervous. Bani slid into the backseat of his Mercedes SL 500 and sat stiffly next to him. He silently handed her a bottle of water to drink and talked in a calm, soothing manner about his day, about his friends and inane things that sounded completely interesting and intriguing to her. She listened with a smile on her face and contributed very little to the conversation. He took her to a restaurant on the waterfront and she hardly noticed what she ate or drank. He didn't touch her or made advances toward her and she let her defenses down. She talked to him about her family, her childhood in Mt. Abu. When he dropped her at the house, he just touched her cheek lightly and bid her good night. She touched her cheek wondrously as she locked the door behind her and waited for her racing heart to come back to normal.
Jai enjoyed the night with Bani very much, more than what he ever expected. It was a very difficult thing for him not to reach out and touch her, take her into his arms, dance with him. He told himself over and over again to take it easy and slow – something he never did in his entire life.
Tarun and Aditya squealed about the girl in his life to Maasi and Dadi who pestered him like hell to bring the girl home. He came up with all kinds of excuses as to why he could not. He just needed time alone with Bani, he wasn't going to let them push him into doing something he didn't want.
The next one week went like a dream. He felt he couldn't wrench himself away from Bani with each hour he spent with her. Her innocence, her pleasure at the smallest things, her fragile body, her liquid dark eyes seemed to squeeze his heart and wake him in the nights sweating like crazy. The nightly cold showers became a habit and at the end of week, he would die if he didn't see her every day.
Bani on the other hand felt scared where this relationship was going, she didn't think she would survive being with him for a month and letting him go at the end.
Both of them breathed a sigh of relief when it was finally time to go and visit the Walias. The intimate dates with each other were definitely taking a toll on both of them.
Dadi and Maasi were taken in with Bani's simplicity and innocence. Dadi was ecstatic that Rani Mukherjee was going to wed her Abhishek Bachhan. Maasi gave her family jewelry as an engagement present. The party was small and intimate, with close friends and family. When Jai slipped a huge diamond ring surrounded by red rubies, Bani protested saying that it was too expensive.
"Bani, this is my mother's ring, she wanted my bride to wear it on my engagement day!" Jai caressed her fingers sensuously.
"But, I can't wear this ring, it's nor right for her memory." She untangled her hand from his in order to stop the butterflies flying in her stomach.
You don't know how right it feels! Jai groaned inwardly.
"Bani, wear it for me, Please?" his voice was very close to her ear as they danced together.
She placed her hand on his chest to push herself away from him. She couldn't discern the emotions that flitted across his face. "But I don't want…" He stopped her talking with a finger on her lips. He traced the bottom lip that was full and quivering.
"Shhhhh" he parted her lips with his finger and touched the pearly white teeth. It was all she could do not to close her lips on that long finger and kiss it.
The music stopped and he kept dancing with her as people looked on with amusement.
When they started applauding he reluctantly parted from her and smiled at her, letting her walk away from him.
She met Meera who looked like a lovely young woman, simple with a sweet smile. She wondered why Jai didn't want to marry the young lady, who had it all, beauty, brains, money and class. Meera and she talked and Bani understood that Meera had no only brotherly feelings toward Jai. Meera teased Bani about how Jai could not unlock his eyes from her and Bani slid a sidelong glance at the object of their conversation. The desire she saw shimmering in his eyes made her almost drop the plate in her hand. He appeared miraculously on her side and took the plate from her, placing it on the counter and taking her back to the dance floor with a murmur of apology to Meera.
"Mr. Walia, sab log dekh rahe hai" Bani looked embarrassed.
"They are jealous about what a great pair we make!" He smiled at her, making her skin break out in goosebumps.
"Do you think what you are doing is right? Dadi and Maasi are too nice to be deceived like this." Bani looked troubled.
"How about we make it real?" His voice was flippant, but his eyes were serious.
She stopped dancing and stared at him in stupefaction. "What did you say? Have you been drinking? We agreed that it will just be for one month!" her fingers caught his lapel in a tight grip.
"I have been drinking, but not enough to be drunk with alcohol. I seem to be drunk just looking into your eyes! You wouldn't begrudge me if I want to hold on to that heady feeling, would you?" he husked in her ear.
"Mr. Walia, stop it! You know that I am only doing this for money!" even as she said it, she knew she was lying.
Was it hurt or anger that she saw in his eyes! He hid it too quickly for her to dwell on it. As the music stopped, he wheeled her behind a large pillar in a secluded corridor.
As she backed away from him, she hit the pillar and his hands came up to frame her face.
"What are you doing? Mr. Walia, Please, you are scaring me!" she struggled to free herself.
"What was it you said earlier, that you are doing this just for money? Can you tell me how much each of those smiles we shared were priced at? How about those emotions I saw in your eyes and the emotions I can't control anymore? What were you selling those at? How much was the love that my Maasi and Dadi showered on you? What about all those cold showers I had to take for the last few days? What is this kiss going to cost me?" His head descended and he took her lips, hard and punishing. As their lips touched, it was like they both went in flames. His lips softened slightly and the kiss took a different turn, warm, sensuous and passionate. She sighed and brought her arms to lock themselves around his neck. She kissed him back with all the pent up desire she felt. It went on and on until he finally pushed himself away from her.
"The contract is over, you get your money, I don't want to see you anymore – I am not interested in going through this charade anymore!" His words hit her like arrows. As he turned away from her and walked away, she broke down, her devastation complete and utter.
When she finally returned to the party, he was no longer there. She excused herself from everyone saying that she has a headache even though Pia and Rano protested they wanted to stay there longer.
Rano who was more sensitive of the two realized that something was wrong and tried to talk to Bani but it was like Bani shut herself off behind a closed door. She didn't want to talk about it.
The next week passed by with doom falling over both the DIxit and the Walia houses. She heard about Meera's engagement with Tarun and was happy that at least the two lovers were together finally.
She packed all the sarees carefully and put the ring in a registered post and sent them back to Jai Walia along with a check for 24.8 lacs. She just took 20,000 Rs for the tuition fee and wrote a letter to him explaining that she will pay him back in installments that amount.
She was called back to the river casino but this time as a receptionist at the front desk, away from the smoke and away from the old lechers. She went back but with reluctance.
Jai was a taboo subject in their house. No one talked about him even behind closed doors. Her pillows drenched every night her tears.
A week passed by with may calls from Dadi and Maasi, which Bani refused to take, each time asking Rano or Pia to tell them that she was not home. She didn't want to hurt the elderly ladies.
+++++++++++++
It was one of the busy nights again, just before diwali, people came in droves to gamble and lose money willingly. She was handling the phone calls, when she saw a jewelry box slide by close to her on the granite counter. She looked up in surprise to see him leading indolently on the counter. He was devouring her with his eyes.
"Mr. Walia!" Her pink tongue came out to moisten her lips, and his eyes darkened into glittering coals that burned through her uncertain face.
"You lied to me!" he accused her softly.
She looked at him confusedly. "I don't know what you mean!"
"You said that you agreed to go along with me for the money." He searched her face carefully.
"Yes, of course! I needed the money, you know that, you are the one who made the proposal, you said it was just for a month!" Bani stuttered helplessly.
"And you broke your promise. You broke it just after 10 days and you didn't accept the money. I can sue you for a broken contract, you know" his eyes didn't leaver her face.
"I can sue you too, you said there was not going to be any physical intimacy, but you kissed me!" her hands gripped the telephone receiver in her hand.
"I am going to insist that you fulfill the contract this time!" He ignored her last time, "Except that this time, there will lots and lots of physical intimacy, in fact every day, every night, I want those passionate, burning, searing, sizzling kisses! I want lot of touching, touching bare flesh, caressing intimate places, embraces that melt us like hot butter." Each word he spoke shook her to the core, her insides melting, perspiration breaking out. She laved her drying mouth with her tongue again.
"And you are not allowed to do that anymore, unless it is in my bedroom, where I can kiss that luscious mouth. I want to you to sleep with me, make love to me, lust after me!" He continued with determination.
"If you think that my last proposal was indecent, then this one will blow your mind off!" He walked lazily to behind the counter where she stood in a trance, taking the phone from her hand and replacing it gently back to its rightful place.
He flipped open the jewelry box and removed the ring from inside. He pulled her to stand in front of him and reached for her hand. He stared at it for a long time and then slowly brought it to his mouth, kissing it lingeringly. Then he pushed the ring on to her finger.
"Bani, will you marry me and fulfill all my wishes? I am tired of taking the cold showers, of you coming into my dreams and not in to my arms. I want to propose you everyday but this is the most decent proposal you will ever get after you get married to me!" He grinned at her shocked face.
"Are you going to say something? I am not a very patient man, you know!" he bent to softly trace her wide lips with his tongue. "If you don't say 'Yes', I am going to kiss you senseless in front of all these very rich, very elite people of Mumbai and your reputation will be sullied forever." He enjoyed seeing her eyes haze in a display of desire.
"Why do you want to marry me, this time?" she hoped that she wasn't reading the expression in his face wrong. Could that be love?
"I love you, Bani…I loved from the minute you spilled the drinks on me and stared into my face angrily. I love everything about you, your simplicity, your integrity, your love for your family, your respect towards Daadi and Maasi and I love the way you make me feel, protective, strong because of your presence with me and weak at my knees at the same time. If you don't say yes to me now, I am going to promise you that I will sit on your footsteps everyday until you do." He opened his mouth to go on.
"Shhhh!" She covered his mouth with her hand. "You always did talk too much! Yes, the answer is yes." He dragged her into his hands and kissed her until she was breathless.
She pushed him away and looked at him mischievously. "So how much are you going to pay me this time?"
"How about all my love? Every moment of my life, my incredibly hot, king size bed and at least two of my kids?" he touched the corner of her lips with his mouth.
"Let's discuss it over dinner, downstairs at the open deck restaurant." She took his arm and led him downstairs.
The End.
Edited by Sheena_Row - 17 years ago
CID
