Part 2:
As Bani walked in, she saw Meera with her bags packed ready to go.
"Aap kahan jaa rahe ho?" Bani asked worriedly.
"Just far from this maddening place, the marriage and the man who has less brains than 100 rupees bill" Meera eyed Bani with slight venom. "So why did you reject him, he isn't good enough for you?"
Bani looked at Meera with shock. "Meera-ji…"
"I am sure he opened his heart and crawled back to you, since he came back with his tail between his legs, I am assuming you rejected his love and threw it back on his face." Meera probed into Bani's eyes.
Bani's face took the color of bright red. Meera narrowed her eyes.
"You must be joking, you thought that he should be stuck in a loveless marriage just because he tied a piece of thread with black beads around my neck and took meaningless vows with me." Bani refused to answer her.
Meera raised her hands to applaud. "Bani, you and I are the biggest fools, actually I think we are the epitome of the Indian martyred wives. I sacrifice him to have sex with you for his child, and you sacrifice him for staying with me because he is technically married to me." She laughed, her laughter painfully harsh to hear.
"So you successfully turned him away from you, or at least that's what you think, but he sure didn't turn to me. I am leaving him, Bani…do what you would do with him, I could care less. At least, I won't be hear to see you go bed with him." She turned and walked proudly away from the house. She gathered her sister Pallavi on her way out, vanishing without a last look.
+++++++++++
At the breakfast table, the Walia family sat slightly depressed. They didn't know what the hell was going on, they heard of Meera's departure, but Bani didn't look any happier than before. Surprisingly they saw Jai at the table piling on paratha after paratha, with ghee and dahin, then he helped himself to a large bowl of kheer. Bani looked at Tony angrily for serving the food to Jai. But Jai appeared blissfully ignorant and carefree.
Bani prodded Maasi to talk to Jai about his excessive eating.
"Jai beta, you shouldn't be eating all that ghee with your parathas, your doctor said that you should control your diet."
Jai broke a piece of the Alu paratha and dipped it in Dahi, munching on it happily. He looked at Maasi and smiled.
"Maasi, why are you worried about me? Both my wives left me, my daughter has her mother to look after her, she has done it successfully without me for the last 6 years, and I am sure she will be able to look after her for the rest of her childhood. My sister is waiting for me to kick the bucket so she can have my money and you gave me the shraap twice so far that I would never have happiness in my life. So why should you worry about me?" He continued eating, leaving a shocked maasi and the rest of the family staring at him.
Bani choked the sob and ran away from the table. Jai smiled again, this time triumphantly, oh! Really? My wife is in love with her brother-in-law?
He washed his hands and walked to the guest room where Bani was staying in. He saw her lying on the bed face down, sobbing uncontrollably. For once, he didn't want to go and comfort her.
"Bani!" she stiffened and quickly wiped her tears.
"I know that you are planning to go and spend time with your lover, but we do have an obligation for our daughter. Much as it pains me, we have to do the deed. And believe me when I say this, it is not easy to make love to you while I imagine you with your lover. As it is I am out of practice, and if I need to get on the horse, I need a bit of encouragement. I heard Roshni and Sonali are in town, so I am going to go and see if I have better luck with them." He smiled as he noticed the stiffening of her shoulders. He waited for her to get up and scream at him, but when she didn't, he walked away whistling.
He took time getting ready, black suit, black shirt, a slim black and gray striped tie, he knew that he looked good. When he came down, he saw her standing in the hall, pretending to arrange the flowers in the vase.
"Bani, I have been out of the dating scene lately, could you suggest the kind of flowers I should order for a night with full of promise?" He blandly asked trying to put on his watch.
She didn't turn and mumbled something incoherently under her breath, it seemed like a curse to him.
His shoulders shook with laughter. "Did you say something, Bani? Well, I should actually be asking this question to Daksh, I am sure he has experience in ordering flowers for his lover, right?" This time, she turned, a dangerous glitter in her eye worried him slightly but he ignored it.
"I will be coming in late, don't wait up for me! And tell the driver that he can go home, I will probably be spending the night outside." With a click of his expensive shoes, he was gone.
She wanted to choke him and whoever the bimbo he is going to go on date with, she shared a good rapport with Sonali before, but right now, she wanted to kill her and Roshni in hundred different ways. She told him to go to Meera, not Roshni or Sonali.
If she knew that Meera was getting out of his life, she would never have told Jai that Daksh was her lover. She wrung her hands in desperation.
She waited precisely for half an hour and rang him on his mobile.
"Mr. Walia?" the music she overheard was slow and romantic on the other side.
"Yes, Bani, I don't like to be disturbed when I am on a date, it's embarrassing."
She seethed in anger, how would it be if I came there and bashed her head in? She wanted to scream at the top of her lungs.
"I called because Ganga wanted you to read her a story before she went to bed." She crossed her fingers and hoped she wouldn't be caught in a lie. She looked at her daughter sleeping peacefully on the bed.
He was silent for so long, that she thought he disconnected the phone.
"Roshni, I am really sorry, but something has come up, but we will continue our date tomorrow. How about lunch in my cabin, I will cancel all my appointments." He didn't cover the phone so Bani could hear his plans. He hung up the phone and looked at Adity who looked at quizzically.
"Don't ask!" he commanded sharply and left a confused Adity sitting at the bar.
++++++++++++
"She is sleeping? I thought she asked for me!" Jai rubbed it in gently.
"She did, she just fell asleep." Bani became defensive.
"You ruined a perfect date for me!" he accused her softly. "I was about to kiss her."
She stomped her foot in frustration and left the room in a huff. "I am sure, you must have done that several times, with your lover!" his words trailed after her.
++++++++++++
"Bani, I need help with these buttons, none of my goddamn shirts fit, and all the buttons are popping out." He screamed at the top of her lungs. He eyed her standing outside his room, undecided about coming in.
"well, since you successfully drove away my wife, I need some one to look after my needs until I find a suitable replacement." He looked at her mockingly.
"May be you should eat more, Mr. Walia, then you can shop in the giant warehouse, for big and fat instead of in a regular department store." Her anger got the better of her.
"Some women find my girth sexy!" he smiled unabashedly at her.
"I don't, I find that it's dangerous for your health and I want you to be like the man I married, fit and handsome." She realized what she said and moved away from him.
"You are not married to me anymore, you have a young, handsome lover, so why would you care?" he took pleasure in rubbing it in her face.
"Because you are the father of my daughter, because Maasi would hate it if something happens to you and Aditya uncle will miss his drinking buddy. That's why!" she flung her pallu in his face and left him standing with a smirk on his face.
"And because you love me and can't see me being unhealthy!" he finished what she was thinking and a tender smile washed over him.
He started to go to the gym regularly in an attempt to reduce some of the girth…secretly of course!
+++++++++++
"Bani, so when is the wedding going to take place?" Jai asked her nonchalantly as she walked out of Ganga's room after feeding her.
She looked shocked. "What?"
"When are you getting married to Daksh? Is it after you get pregnant with my child or before, is it after you conceive my child but before you deliver or after you deliver the baby?" it galled him to talk about Daksh and Bani in the same breath, but he had to let her see how she hurt him.
"It's none of your business!" Bani screamed at him.
"You know, it's hard to make love to you after you are married to Daksh, you might not have any issues with it, but I do!" Jai stepped in front of her deliberately.
She glared at him, and he flinched in a mock fear.
"Also, I have some conditions, you have to conceive and deliver before you marry Daksh, I want this baby to have my name, not Randheria's and we seriously have to talk about your wardrobe." He enjoyed seeing the flaring of her nostrils and the color rushing to her face.
"My wardrobe?" the question popped out in astonishment.
"You know, despite of what people say, guys can't just make love on a whim, they need to have the right setting, the right attire in the woman and of course the right mood in the woman!" he knew he was being audacious and incorrigible.
"You.." She sputtered with rage.
"And I have become older, so it might take more than once to get you pregnant, my legendary fertility might not be so legendary and we might have to do this over and over again to accomplish it successfully."
Her face bloomed into a perfect pink.
"No comeback??" she heard his chuckle before he turned and left.
She stared after him in a daze, what's come over him?
+++++++++++++++
"Ganga, you want to go out bowling?" Jai asked Ganga who was bored out of his mind.
Ganga flew from her bed and kissed him until he put her away laughing. "I see that you approve of my plans!"
"Oh papa, I love you so much!" she started jumping on the bed, "When? When?"
"How about you go and invite Vidya, Varun and we will go out, have dinner outside and go bowling later?" Jai looked indulgently at his daughter and watched as she ran out of her room in a hurry.
"She needs to rest!" Bani spoke up. "you are going to tire her out."
"She needs to get up and have some fun, stop mothering her, you are suffocating her!" Jai answered her calmly. "Ah, but you would miss the mothering, won't you? I mean first you did it with your sisters, and then you transferred it to me, then to the kids." He continued sarcastically, "You do take the suffocation bit to extremes, don't you?"
She reeled at his accusation.
"You know, Bani, I think you suffer from this obsessive compulsive disorder, you think you can make decisions for other people, you think you know what's best for the other people, you think you can manipulate people and circumstances, so people think how 'mahaan' you are!" his voice was bitter.
She stared at him in shock. Was this about Ganga or something else?
"Mr. Walia!" she burst into tears. "You are not being fair to me!"
"For the first time in my life, I am being fair to me and you, Bani! Ganga will be back in a minute, wipe your tears and get ready, you are coming with us." Jai ordered her and left the room.
++++++++
It was the kids against the adults. The adults admitted defeat gracefully, especially since Bani didn't know how to bowl. Jai took the opportunity to teach her how to bowl, touching her deliberately on her waist, adjusting her posture, shaping her arm, bending along with her so that he leaned against her back. By the time they ended the game, Bani was shaking with the sheer tension between them. Every nerve in her body screamed and she admitted to herself that if he continues in this vein, she would crumble very soon.
After the ice cream, they went home exhausted. The girls hugged him exuberantly and kissed him good night, while Varun smiled and acknowledged his thanks.
"Momma, aren't you going to kiss daddy goodnight too?" Ganga asked innocently, a little too innocently.
Bani blushed and looked down.
"Ganga, she is a little shy, I think she will thank me privately, OK?" Jai had a twinkle in his eye before he shooed out his daughter, niece and nephew to bed.
Bani made an attempt to slip past him behind them, but a muscular hand reached and grabbed her hand.
"Not so easily, my pet!" he pulled her into his arms. She struggled to get out his tight embrace.
"First, I want to say I approve of the attire! And I liked how the evening went, I also like the mood setting!" he rubbed his thumb over the throbbing pulse on the side of her neck.
"I didn't dress for you and I was not in a great mood!" She lied, his cologne was doing strange things to her equilibrium.
"I like the dress, black suits you! And the collar is very tantalizing, showing the right amount of cleavage." His finger continued foraying down her blouse.
She stumbled, her breath stopping altogether.
He caught her easily, "…and the mood you are in, just perfect…" his lips pursued where his finger left off.
"What mood are you talking about?" Her reply was muted and husky.
"This one, the racing pulse, the pitch of your voice, the heaviness in your eyelids and the slight perspiration on your upper lip!" he swooped to kiss her upper lip lightly.
Her hands came up to grip the lapels of his shirt and touched the skin at his throat. He groaned.
His fingers combed through her open hair, clutching her scalp, trying to keep her head at an angle before closing over her lips in a devastating and open kiss. His tongue pried her lips open and he tasted the praline fudge ice cream and the honey nectar that was entirely her own.
She lost weight, he discovered when his fingers splayed over her ribcage. Her waist was so tiny, and the frail bones of her body shook him to the core. He was responsible for this. He rested his forehead against her shoulder, he had an urge to cry and be mothered by her all of a sudden.
She was shivering with the overwhelming desire for him. He was the only one for her who could make her burn with desire. She went on her tiptoes to kiss the column of his throat and laughed as he caught his breath.
He scooped her into his arms and carried her to his bedroom.
+++++++++++
She woke up with a start, she was lying on his chest, naked – the sheet was covering their lower bodies. She remembered the night, the lovemaking, the intensity of their kisses, the long and scorching caresses. She had no idea how she survived the six long years without him. She tried to extricate herself from him, but he held her tightly, even in his sleep. She wondered if he made love to Meera on this bed. A solitary tear slipped down her cheek on to his chest.
"The answer is no, I never slept with her, here or anywhere else!" he pulled her head to look at him. His eyes were clear and bespoke honesty.
She didn't know how he did it, but he always read her mind. "Our eyes speak to each other, Bani! We don't need to say things verbally to each other." His words came to her mind.
"And I know that you don't love Daksh! If you really did, I would have hired an assassin to take him out." He kissed her eyelids.
"You do?" she pushed him to come up on her elbows. He eyed the perfectly shaped br**ts and stopped breathing again. She gasped as he pulled her atop of him, kissing her chest, circling her b***st with his tongue.
"I do, I know that you lied to me to make me stay in a loveless marriage because of your idiotic gratitude to Meera. You would have walked away again, if I let you…if it hurts you so much to even think about me and her in one bed, how do you think I felt thinking about you and Daksh as lovers?" his hand tightened on her wrist, making her whimper.
He eased the grip. "The last two weeks, I wanted to show you that you cared, you cared about my food, my health. You were jealous about my nights out with Roshni and Sonali?" His chest pumped with pride. "I didn't really go on those dates, just wanted to see your reaction." Bani hit him sharply on his hand eliciting a yowl from him.
"What would you have done if I actually went through with this marriage to Daksh?" Bani asked him with an annoyed expression on her face.
"I would have switched places with him at the Mandap." His mouth closed in, sucking her ****le, making her squirm.
"Are you still married to Meera?" she pulled him up by his hair as he resisted.
"No, we got an annulment, the day after she left. But that still leaves one thing incomplete." He pulled her face closer so he can take her bottom lip between his teeth.
"What's that?" between kisses, Bani asked him breathlessly.
"We have to tie the knot again, otherwise the baby might be conceived out of wedlock."
"I thought your legendary fertility days are gone and you needed to do it multiple times to achieve the results." Bani laughed at he looked at her insulted.
"Tomorrow, in front of every one, and as the family head, I am ordering Rano to get married to Daksh immediately." Jai's authoritative expression made her laugh.
"Ganga would like that!"
"I would love it! And I love you! You love me too!" he mumbled before grasping her head and pulling her down to receive his kiss.
"Oh! Really?"
"Yes, really!"
++++++ A Happy Ending ++++++
I was in a happy mood, even if KS is stupid..so I thought, why not?
Thanks for all the comments, folks...really appreciate it!
Please go ahead and drop in a line or two again... 😃
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