Ready for a mushy part...here we go.
Thanks for the mushy comments too...still not had enough of JB... 😳
Meherbaan – Part 3
Bani stared as the car waited for the large ornamental gates to open. Few hundred metres away a large house, not a house but a building which looked more like a hundred room mancsion, at the moment decked up with glittering lights. When the gates opened fully the car drove through smoothly towards the house. It was too dark to see clearly the gardens, but the scent of flowers drifted into the car. Bani felt Jai's eyes on her, she felt warm shiver run down her back. She turned her head and cast a questioning look at him.
Jai just shrugged and smiled at her. The car stopped at the grand entrance of the house. Columns of carved pillars rose from marble steps leading into the house. The doors were wide open as people drifted in and out. Couple of doormen ran down the steps and opened the car doors for them. Bani stepped out and stood hesitatingly. She clutched at her sari, which was crumpled and soiled now. How could she go inside looking the way she did?
Jai held his hand out for her. Bani shook her head, "I can't…I can't go in looking like this." He stepped up to her and gently brushed a wayward lock of hair from her forehead, "You can change inside. My masi will find you something suitable to wear. No one will say anything. " Bani hesitated a second and then put her hand in his and they walked into the house. A man looking slightly agitated, walked up to him.
He gave a worried look, "what happened Jai? Oh God, did you get into an accident?" Adi looked from one to the other.
"Calm down Adi. Nothing serious happened, just delivered a baby in my car," Jai said casually. "Where is masi?" he asked Adi.
"Munna…kahaan chala gaya tha? Adi keh raha abhi ayega lekin tune toh badi deri kardi." A pleasant looking woman, in a lemon coloured sari came up to them. Her round face beamed with smile as she looked at Bani. "Aur yeh kaun hai?"
Before Jai could answer, Adi piped up, "Apki bahu masi."
Bani threw a glare at Adi while Jai coloured and looked embarrassed, "Nahi masi, Adi ki mazaak kar raha hai. Yeh Bani hai. Woh din charity function mei hamari mulakat hui. Pia ki badi behen."
Masi gave him a mischievous look, "haan samaj gayi mei. Chal Bani, meri saath aye."
"Masi." Jai stopped her by putting his arm on her shoulder. "Masi, Bani ko guest room mei lejaye usse sari change karni hai…kuch Anu ki sari de dejiye. Bani please go and get changed." Masi was curious but she refrained from asking anything now, she will find out later.
Bani followed masi, all the while feeling two pair of eyes following her. As they went up she heard soft laughter as Adi teased Jai. She could not hear what he said but she felt embarrassed guessing what he was saying to Jai.
Masi showed Bani the room and left her inside the bathroom to freshen up. Bani looked at her hair, messed up and clinging to her sweaty face. Good thing she did not wear any make up. When she came out, a young woman not much younger than her sat on the bed. A pile of saris and dresses lay beside her.
"Hi Bani. I am Anu. Jai Walia's niece and you met my dad, Adi. Actually my mom is Jai Walia's sister. Jai mama told me what happened. How exciting! Wow…to actually have a baby in the car. And Jai mama…did he faint?"
Bani laughed at her excitement and was glad Jai did not faint. What would she have done? "No your mama did not faint. Good thing too, otherwise I don't what I would have done."
Anu patted the pile of saris, "Mama said to give you something to change into. You can pick whatever you like. There is more if you don't like anything."
Bani picked up the first sari from the pile and walked towards the bathroom, "This is fine. Thanks Anu."
"You are welcome. I will go and get some jewellery to go with that sari." Anu was out to the room before Bani could protest. When Bani came wearing the blue sari, Anu held out some matching bangles and jewellery set. "This will look great with the sari. I must say, you look great in that colour."
As Bani brushed her hair, Anu watched her, "I think I have seen you before. Where was it? It was recently. I think I saw your picture in a magazine…yeh now I know. You did some modelling at a charity event mama went to with mom. "
Bani nodded her head, "I don't model but just did to help my sister out as the model who was hired fell sick."
"It's hard to believe, because your pictures looked great in the magazine. Maybe you should think of taking it up."
Bani scrunched her face, "No, it's not for me. I hate wearing makeup and those kind of clothes. My sister Pia is the one for fashion etc. Shall we go?"
Anu linked her arm through Bani, she liked her mama's latest girlfriend she thought. Yes, Bani was much nicer than some of those stuck-up girls who went gaga over him. Hmmm, she and masi will have fun teasing Jai mama tomorrow.
All eyes turned on her when she stepped into the ballroom and Jai walked towards her. He had been missing for the good part of the party and people had been gossiping where he was hiding. Some one who had seen him walk in with Bani had started spreading rumours about him being involved in some sort of accident and walking in house with a mystery girl.
Anu let go of Bani's arm as Jai reached them, "There you go mama. She is all yours. I am going to go and join my friends. See you later Bani." Anu winked at Jai as she left. Bani felt nervous feeling people watching her. Bani shifted nervously, " I don't like being watched. Where is Pia"
Jai who was used to being stared at thought nothing of it. But he felt at least she should not be subjected to stares just because she happened to be with him. They found Pia in conversation with one of Jai's friend, who happened to be in fashion industry too. "Pia." Bani called out softly.
"Oh Di, you are finally here. I was wondering what happened? Mr Walia you were gone a long time." Pia flashed him a smile. "I am sure your di will tell you why we got delayed. If you will excuse me." Jai gave Bani a smile as he left. "I will come back later."
Pia linked her arm through, "Di, gosh there is almost all the high society here. He knows a lot of people. It's a great party. Have you eaten yet? I am starving."
They walked towards the buffet table and Bani filled Pia in why she was late. Of course she left out her outburst at Jai early on at home. Pia went squeamish, "Gosh Di...baby in a car...that's yuck...all that..." Bani stopped her from saying anything more. "That's enough Pia. It was great. I mean to see a baby actually being born."
There was all kind of food at the buffet table, Bani just took couple of items to try. She wasn't really hungry. Her stomach still felt a little queasy. "Di is that all you are going to eat." Pia asked, eyeing her plate piled high with food. "It's not going to fill you up. Have something else."
"No Pia. I really am not really that hungry." They found some empty seats to sit down. Bani nibbled at her food and just gazed around. There were couples dancing on the floor. She gazed at Jai dancing with an attractive woman. He really was a good dancer, even though his partner was more interested in being seen dancing with Jai Walia. Suddenly Bani felt him turn and look at her. She blushed at being caught staring at him and quickly looked down at her plate.
For the next few minutes Bani tried to finish off the food on her plate and did not see Jai walking up to her. "Why don't you come dance with me, instead of playing with your food."
Bani looked up a little flustered, "I am not playing with my food. And I don't dance. You can ask Pia, she loves dancing." Jai arched his brow and looked at Pia, who groaned and said, "No di, I can't dance after eating all that food. Why don't you dance with Mr Walia? Do you know how many women would love to be in your place right now?" Pia giggled and took Bani's plate and nudged, "Go on. Don't give him a hard time."
If looks could kill, Pia got one from Bani. Jai held his hand out to her, "I promise I will behave. Please don't give me one of those looks." Bani felt like stepping on his toes purposely. She ignored his hand and walked towards the dance floor followed by Jai. She only took his hand when he stepped on the dance floor and held herself stiffly when he placed his hand behind her.
Nazar Ke Saamne Jigar Ke Paas
Nazar Ke Saamne Jigar Ke Paas
Koi Rehta Hai Vo Ho Tum
Nazar Ke Saamne Jigar Ke Paas
Nazar Ke Saamne Jigar Ke Paas
Koi Rehta Hai Vo Ho Tum
Nazar Ke Saamne Jigar Ke Paas
Betaabi Kya Hoti Hai Poochho Mere Dil Se
Betaabi Kya Hoti Hai Poochho Mere Dil Se
Tanha Tanha Lauta Hoon Main To Bhari Mehfil Se
Mar Na Jaoon Kahin
Mar Na Jaoon Kahin Hoke tumse Juda
Nazar Ke Saamne Jigar Ke Paas
Nazar Ke Saamne Jigar Ke Paas
Koi Rehta Hai Vo Ho Tum
Nazar Ke Saamne Jigar Ke Paas
Tanhai Jeene Na De Bechaini Tadpaaye
Tanhai Jeene Na De Bechaini Tadpaaye
Tumko Main Na Dekhoon To Dil Mera Ghabraye
Ab Mujhe Chhodke
Ab Mujhe Chhodke Door Jaana Nahin
Nazar Ke Saamne Jigar Ke Paas
Nazar Ke Saamne Jigar Ke Paas
Koi Rehta Hai Vo Ho Tum
Nazar Ke Saamne Jigar Ke Paas
Nazar Ke Saamne Jigar Ke Paas
Koi Rehta Hai Vo Ho Tum
(aashiqui)
They danced in total silence for a while until Jai said, "Please Bani relax. It's much more enjoyable when I don't feel as if I am holding a wooden pole."
His remark made her blush, she gave a wry smile and tried to relax. After a minute or so, she felt his hand move in gentle circle on her back, her skin tingled with warmth and she found herself loosening up and did not react when Jai pulled her a little closer to him or notice that he slowly led them out the open door onto the patio. It wasn't until he stopped dancing that Bani realized they were alone out in the garden in semi darkness. "Why did we come out?" Bani asked him, feeling a little dazed.
For a moment Jai didn't answer but just stared at her, ever since he held her while dancing all he could think about was being alone with her, telling her what she did to him, how fast his heart beat when he looked at her, how she was the most beautiful woman in the room and how he hated when men stared at her with that certain look in their eyes. She took a step back, his eyes were too intense and her heart was behaving crazily, she needed to escape she thought as Jai came forward.. Before she could turn and run inside, he held her arm, "Don't go...Bani, please stay. I just...we can just..." With slight hesitation he held her face and rubbed his thumb over her lips, his eyes resting on her shimmering golden brown pool. He brushed his lips lightly over her once and when she didn't try to stop him, he kissed her again slowly.
If Bani felt queasy before now her stomach just curled tight, a shudder ran down her spine as his fingers tangled in her locks. The warm tingle from their lips spread across her face and down the column of her neck. She could feel the vein throbbing at the side of her neck and she found her hands creeping up his back towards his shoulders. The few seconds that they kissed seemed like few minutes. Jai pulled back and rested his head on her forehead. "You drive me crazy Bani. I haven't stopped thinking about you since that night." Bani put her fingers on his lips to stop him, "Please Mr Walia. Don't say anything else. We don't even know each other, I am not even sure if we can get along. I have reasons...I am scared of getting involved with some one like you. We come from two completely different worlds Mr Walia." Bani stepped away and looked towards his house, "Look at your home. The people inside all belong to your social circle. I come from a working class family Mr Walia. My father was nothing but a clerk in a bank. I grew up in a small town, Mt Abu." She looked back at him, smiled and said softly, "I don't fit into your world Mr Walia."
"I don'tcare where you come from. And how different is my world from yours Bani. Just because I have a big house, fancy cars and money, doesn't make it different. What matters is how I feel about you, how you feel about me? I like you as a person Bani...not just because you are beautiful. You are just different. You can get to know me if you allow yourself. But you try to shun me at every opportunity. I was really taken by the way you helped Roshni today, I know some other woman in your place would have just left here there on the road." Their was a tinge of pride in his voice as he said that and Bani felt herself melting towards him. He liked the fact that she spoilt his evening by stopping to help someone. When she looked at him she couldn't help but say, "But I spoilt your evening..."
Jai shook his head, "No you did not spoil my evening...in fact I don't think I will forget this evening. Will you let me take you out to dinner one evening? I promise just a dinner and nothing else. We can get to know each other better."
Taking a deep breath, Bani knew she couldn't say no again, not after what he just said, "Fine, but nothing fancy and I have to know few days ahead."
Jai grinned back at her, happy she had not rejected his dinner invitation. "Munna...tu idhar. Mein kabse tujhe dhoondh rahi hon.. Oh..." masi looked at Bani and then, "Meine kuch disturb kiya tum dono ko."
Jai sighed, "We were just talking masi."
"Good. Andhar chaliye? Kuch log jaane wale aur tera intezaar kar rahe hai." Masi indicated with her hand to follow her inside. Bani smiled at Jai, "I think I better go to. It's quite late. Thank you for everything Mr Walia."
"Couldn't you stay few more minutes? I will drop you." Jai asked hopefully.
"No, I think you have done enought running around for one night. I will go with Pia." Bani replied.
Inside Pia was looking around for Bani. "Oh Di there you are. Lets go home. Mr Walia thanks for inviting us. It was fun. Met lots of interesting people." Pia babbled on.
Jai walked them to the door, aware of the few people still lingering watching them. At the door he called one of his driver, "Could you drop the ladies home? Make sure they are inside the building before you leave."
Bani protested, "Mr Walia, please don't trouble yourself, we can get a taxi."
Jai held her arm and walked her to his car, "You are not taking a taxi this late in night. And it's no trouble. Now sit down."
Bani got inside with Pia and before closing the door, Jai bent and kissed her cheek. "Goodnight Bani. Bye Pia." and he slammed the door and watched the car drive away.
Pia eyes danced with glee, "Hmmm...Di, it's reached the kissing stage is it?"
Bani just glared at Pia.
TBC...
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