FF: Ishq Masoom Hai, Last Part Page 16 - Page 3

Nice update 👏

Atharva is so cute and innocent, Simran also sounds cute.

Waiting for next update 😃

Waiting to know the mystery behind B's separation from J & A... Love your writing style ;)

Thank you for the comments. Much appreciated.

Happy Reading!

Anam

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Part III

Bani pressed the heels of her hands to her eyes, trying to stem the flow of her tears, but it was no use. Jais' words hurt her, to the very core. When she removed her hands and reached for her forgotten glass of water to ease the ache in her throat, there were black mascara smudges on them, and she stared at them because there was nowhere else safe to look. Her voice was rough around the edges, wobbly, when she finally replied to Jais' charge. "I never got the chance to be his mother."

"Don't," Jai warned. "Don't blame Pia. You got a second chance. *I* gave you a second chance. You threw it away. You threw our son, and me, away like we were yesterday's trash."

Bani saw red at the mention of Pia and her mind briefly revisited the months of agony when no one, not even Jai, had been her own. She latched onto the anger those memories dredged up and took strength from it, drying her tears with her sleeve and drawing herself up to stand in front of Jai, to meet him face on. "I do blame Pia. Jai, she cost me so much. She put me through hell. She took away the only thing I had called my own in this world." she grit out.

"And you never forgave me for that," Jai snapped back, stalking across the room and putting distance between them. He braced his forearms against the wall, hanging his head. "I destroyed your faith in me." His hands clenched and unclenched in fists until he finally slapped his palms against the wall in frustration. "By the time I had gotten the courage to tell you the truth, to ask for your forgiveness, I was too god damn late."

"Jai," Bani tried to speak, but Jai wouldn't let her.

"No," Jai cut her off. "No. It WAS too late. For God's sake, Bani," he growled. "You were at the altar. Ready to marry *him.* How do you think that made me feel?"

"The same way it made me feel to find out you'd slept with Pia, my own sister and then hid the truth from me especially after we promised to always be open with each other," Bani hit him where it hurt. "After everything we'd been through together, I never expected you to go back to that same person who'd left you at the altar. Especially after I was expecting our baby! Tarun and his family…they kept me going when I wanted to give up. Don't you see, Jai?" she pleaded thickly, her emotions getting the better of her again. "I thought you'd moved on with Pia. You'd gone back to your first love, and I had no one else. No one. I was drowning, and I needed someone to cling to, someone to care for again. I never loved him, Jai."

"If that's true, tell me something," Jai demanded.

With only the slightest hesitation, Bani nodded.

"Why weren't you the one to call off the wedding?"

Softly, Bani pressed, "Would knowing why change things between us?"

Jai looked at her for a long moment, unable to muster a response to her question. It was a simple question with a difficult answer, and the truth was, he didn't know the answer. He searched his mind and his heart, but he didn't want to listen to what his heart was telling him. His heart had only served to hurt him so far.

The hope in Bani's eyes slowly died as Jais' silence stretched on, and she hung her head, unwilling to let him see how much his non-answer had upset her.

The need to comfort her welled up within Jai again, even stronger than before. His fingertips skated across Bani's chin before his palm curled around her jaw, and her name left his lips on a soft sigh. "Bani."

For a brief moment, Bani allowed herself to pretend that Jai still loved her, and his gesture was more than just a gesture of kindness from a good man. She nuzzled his palm, pressing her lips to his warm skin, as her eyes burned with tears once again.

Unable to stop himself, Jai brought his other hand up to cup Bani's face and his thumbs gently brushed the evidence of her tears from her eyes, his concern growing when the action only seemed to generate more. "Don't," he tried to hush her. "Damn it," he cursed as he folded her into his embrace, hugging his arms loosely about her.

"Jai," Bani cried softly into his shoulder.

Jai stroked her hair awkwardly at first, then with growing confidence. 'Shh," he soothed, lapsing into a role he knew by heart—that of her protector. "It's okay. It's okay."

Bani clung to him and pretended to believe the lie.

"Jai sir, your mausi's a lifesaver."

Bani stiffened and removed herself from Jais' embrace as Pushkar burst through the door, shattering the illusion she wanted so much to believe in. She wiped her tears away with a discreet hand.

Jais' arms dropped to his sides, and he closed his eyes at the sensation of regret that washed over him; Pushkar's timing had never been the best. "Pushkar," Jai finally spoke. "What are you doing here?"

"Nice to see you too, you know," Pushkar grinned, his brown eyes dancing playfully as he drew Jai in for a fatherly hug. He released Jai and gathered Bani's hands in his own, giving them a warm squeeze. "Some welcome, huh?" he winked at Bani before leaning forward to press a kiss to her cheek. "Hey, Beautiful."

"Pushkar," Bani answered with a genuine smile.

"You know I didn't mean it that way," Jai protested. "I'm just surprised to see you."

"Not as surprised as everyone else," Pushkar chuckled. "You should have seen their faces when I showed up. If I didn't know better, they'd almost forgotten what I looked like."

"It's been long enough," Jai fell quickly into their old routine. "I thought you were off flirting with god knows who now!."

"You mean bumming around?" Pushkar kidded, encouraged by the slight smile on Jais' face. "That stuff gets old after a while," he said, casting a glance in Bani's direction. At her imperceptible nod, he continued, "Besides, don't go accusing me of being a sentimental sap, but the holidays are for families."

"Pushkar," Bani questioned with twinkling eyes, "Where is your family?"

"In the living room with everyone else," Pushkar answered matter-of-factly. "It's a long story. Let's just say Babhi's no Martha Stewart, and the fire department arrived just in the nick of time."

Jais' eyebrows shot up to his hairline.

"I hope everyone's alright," Bani said sincerely.

"They're fine," Pushkar waved off her concern. "Bhaiya's pretty handy with a fire extinguisher."

Bani stifled a laugh at the mental image.

"Lucky for everyone involved," Jai was unable to resist smirking.

"Lucky was I remembering mausi's invitation to come celebrate Diwali with you guys," Pushkar replied. "I shudder to think what was on the menu at Jigayasa di's house."

Bani was unable to resist laughing at that comment.

Jai found himself equally powerless.

Maybe Pushkar's timing wasn't so bad, after all.

To be continued...

2nd

uh oh. wrong timing by Pushy.

gr8 update👏 👏 👏

plz cont soon

great part.....liked the dialogues....Pushkar interupted at the right time 😉 😆....please continue...

Hi Anam,

Another great update 👏.

The puzzle is coming together slowly. Seems like Pia played a big hand in this seperation too.

Please update soon...loved the conversation between Jai and Bani.

Nikita

wow nice part


plz cont soon

Taj

hey aman.
why does pushy..
always.. come at the wrong time..