Part 2 page 3
Part 3 page 4
Part 4 page 7
Part 5 page 9
Part 6 page 11
Part 7 page 16
Part 8 page 19
Part 9 page 21
Part 10 page 23
Part 10B page 27
Angels and the Devil
Ganga held tightly onto Bani's dupatta and peeked up at the dark face of the stranger in front of them. The stranger stared into the two innocent eyes looking up at him. She must be about five, the angelic face at the moment showing fear caused his heart to constrict...his Krishna looked just like her when she died. The thought of his dead child suddenly aroused his anger, he suddenly remembered why for the last five years he had been trying to trace his ex-wife. The day he threw her out of his house flashed before him...it was the same day he had buried his two children...Atharva and Krishna...he had thrown their mother out when he found out that he had left them to go and meet Daksh. She had broken her promise to him severing relations with Daksh. He did not believe the lies Jigyasa had thrown at him about Bani having an affair with Daksh...this was one thing she would never do, but what had hurt him most was that she had carelessly left the children with the driver and gone off to meet Daksh. Daksh he had taken care of him.
Jai Walia's wrath had almost anhilated the Randherias, they had fled out of the country except for Daksh who for some reason had been resilient and had bore all the hardship caused by the bankruptcy of the great Randheria empire. Jai Walia had been forced to give up on him only when his board had demanded that he stop his personal vendetta from affecting the Walia business. Majority of the businesses were refusing to do business with them because of what Jai Walia had done to one of the oldest and respected business in Mumbai.
Secretly Jai Walia had turned his attention toward finding where his ex-wife had disappeared to. He had no notion what he would do when he found her, but for once in his life he wanted to face her.
Jai Walia looked away from the Ganga and stared hard into Bani's face, "So Bani..." He gazed around at the small room holding just a small bed, a chair and an almari...far removed from the bedroom they had shared in the Walia mansion. "Not exactly a replica of your last home is it?" Looking her up and down, noting that the cotton dress hung loosely on her small frame...in fact the collar bone jutted out too much making him aware of a considerable weight loss suffered by her. Taking a step nearer and noting a slight flinch of her frame, he peered into her eyes, "Do you know it took me three years to find you? Three years of waiting and wondering where you were hiding. I can see you have moved on. Whose child is that?" he asked pointing at Ganga. With a sneer, "Mine or Daksh?"
Bani's hand flew up towards his face, but he gripped it hard, bringing tears to her eyes and the pain visible on her face. He growled in her face, "Oh no you don't. Don't you ever dare raise your hand at me! Just answer my question."
Bani remained silent. She would rather die than admit to him Ganga was his child. The only reason why she was still standing in front of him is because of Ganga. The day she had got on a train in Mumbai without a ticket, without knowing the destination the train was bound for, the only thought in her mind had been to go far away from Mumbai as possible. In fact when she had jumped as the train passed over the bridge, the only thought had been for the river below to swallow her up and free her from the pain...the pain from losing everything that had been dear to her life. But God had other plan for her...he did not abandon her in her hour of misery, she had washed up on the bank of river to be discovered by a kindly old priest. Months that followed were a blur to her, she had no idea how she had lived or what she had done, all she remembered was the kind faces of the people who had helped her survive and bring Ganga to the world. The years following Ganga's birth had floated by as she had finally realised she needed to do something with her life not for herself but for the little girl was dependent on her now. The small teahut that she had set up and soon grown into a small dhabba that she ran with the help of the same people who had always hung around her. Not once had she given thought to returning to Mumbai or even of meeting Jai Walia...yes, he had always been there in some dark corner of her heart who now and then made his presence felt in her dreams but never in flesh and blood.
Jai Walia understood the stubborn look on her face, the same look that had initially taken him by surprise when they had first met. She had been the first person who had actually defied him openly...most people never dared look him back in his eye when they met his anger but she had not only looked him in the eye but had challenged him. He smirked at her, "So we want to be stubborn do we? What would you do if I took her away?"
Bani clasped the child close to her and with fear in her eyes, "You would never do that? Why would you take her, she is not your child?"
Having heard the answer, he ran a finger down her cheek, and brought his lips near her ears, "Pray do tell me whose child she is. Did you take another lover after me? I know it's not Daksh, because you would never have slept with Daksh while you were still warming up my bed."
Bani looked at him with slight derision, "You can assume what you like Mr Walia and who Ganga's father is none of your business. Our relationship terminated the day you threw me out of your home and your life. I am free to live my life how I choose. I do not have to answer to you or anyone else."
Jai Walia felt the same tug at his heart as he had whenever she had tried to defy him before. The shock that she could still affect him after all this time unnerved him slightly...that familiar need of taking her to his bed seemed to be stirring up in him. He tried to block out all thoughts from his mind. This was not what he wanted when the private eye had informed two days ago about finding Bani. He had been elated, he had hastily made arrangements to travel down to Meerut not informing anyone...not even Meera his wife, whose repeated questions about where he was going he had rudely brushed aside. It wasn't as if he didn't trust her, it was just this was his own private business, something he needed to put a closure on. Just one meeting with his ex-wife to laugh in her face, to ridicule her...to tell her he had survived without her...he had wanted to see how her face looked when he told her he had remarried. But now looking at two of them in front of her he could not tell her about Meera...he did not want to tell her about Meera...he wanted to take her away with him, with her child...he did not care who had fathered the child...all he wanted was to hold her close to him.
Pulling up the chair he sat down and held his hand out to the little girl. Ganga looked up at Bani, tugged at the dupatta to get Bani's attention. When Bani gave her reassuring smile, Ganga let go of the dupatta and took couple of steps close to Jai Walia. A shy smile formed on her face and as she gazed at him, he felt his eyes misting as he felt as if Krishna was smiling back at him. He rose from the chair and picked her up and sat down with her again. Bani watched with trepidation, she felt confused. She was sure he would leave once he felt he could not do anything more to hurt her. She wanted him gone. In this confined space, he dominated the room and charged the atmosphere which did nothing to nullify the knot in her stomach.
"Would you like some tea?" she asked just to escape from the room for few minutes.
He just nodded his head without looking at her. He seemed to be lost in somewhere and Bani had no intention of finding out what his thoughts were. When she returned with a cup of tea, she found him in the same position...holding Ganga and staring ahead. She tapped him on the shoulder and said, "Tea Mr Walia." Jai Walia took the cup from her and Bani held her hand out to Ganga to get down so he could drink his tea, but he refused to let her go. Bani dropped her hand at the side and stood looking away.
She sensed him drinking the tea and looking at her but she refused to meet his eyes. She wished there was someone else in the house, but at this time most of the people living around her were busy with their own work. Involuntarily her hands twisted the end of dupatta. It relieved some of her nervousness. Jai Walia took in her nervousness...so she wasn't immune to his presence either. She made a brave attempt to hide it, but he could see the pulse beating rapidly at the side of her neck, the flickering of the eyes...just her body stance alone gave her away. He put the cup down on the floor and let Ganga down from his lap. He stood up and moved purposely towards her. When he was close to her, he removed the dupatta from her shoulder and let it slid down causing Bani to jerk her head in his direction and their eyes clashed. Pushing her hair aside, he fingered the pulse beating rapidly, "Tell me Bani, what do you feel really. Do you really hate me as much as I hate you?"
A small gasp escaped her and she tried to brush her hand away, only to find his fingers grasping it. With a look of pleading in her eyes, "Please Mr Walia, stop it. And I do not hate you. I have never hated you. What do I have to hate you for? I have accepted what fate has in store for me and you were never meant to be part of my life. Please just go and leave us alone. I don't have anything to give you and I do not want anything from you. I can manage to take care of myself."
Jai Walia not letting go of her hand or averting his gaze mocked, "Brave words Bani. But let me tell you something different. You are as affected by me as I am by you. The only thing right now I want to do is make love to you. Do you understand that Bani? After all this years...." and tugging at her cotton dress, "even in this flimsy dress, I find you desirable. If this child was not here, I think I would be making love to you right here, right now."
Colour flowed over her cheeks and she tore her eyes away to look at Ganga. He had read her like an open book. Had she made it so obvious he was creating havoc within her? She stood still but did not say anything. Jai Walia took a deep breath and his voice turning slightly cold, "Pack up some stuff for you and the child and let's go. This wasn't what I had planned on seeing you, but I can't walk away without you. So you have no choice but to come with me.
Tears fell down her cheek as she folded her hands in front of him, "Please Mr Walia don't do this to me. Leave me alone. I do not want to go with you. Please just leave me alone."
Ignoring her plea, Jai Walia brushed her folded hands down. "Just get your things otherwise I will take just as you are."
Bani moved stonily to the almari and taking a small bags out, took whatever little clothes they had and put them in the bag. She took out the small box which held her manalsutra which she had put away all those years back and put it inside the bag. She picked up the bag and came and stood in front of him. Jai Walia took the bag from her and took Ganga's hand and walked out the door to the waiting car outside. Bani followed him silently. Outside she could see couple of the neighbours staring at them. Wordlessly she slid into the back seat of the car and took Ganga in her lap. Jai Walia got in on the other side of the car and told the driver to drive off towards his hotel. Bani stared out at the familiar streets and faces as the car sped by. Her mind refused to think about what lay ahead of her. What did fate hold for now? Why had he come back into her life again?
to be continued....
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