Chapter Four:
And soon, over the course of the next few weeks, Heer was settled in as the personal secretary of Mr. Prem Juneja, learning the ropes of the business as well as getting to know the family. And everyone loved her.
That morning, Lalit and Gayatri had other work to attend to, so the daily briefing meeting consisted only of the three boys and their secretaries. The clock was ticking away, it was past 8:30 and Prem was frantic with worry. Heer was never one to be late, ever, no matter what, so what was taking her so long today? Glancing up at the clock every five seconds, he hardly paid attention to anything that was going on around him. Meanwhile, Preet, Harman, and Ashlesha were each sitting in their seats, amused at Prem's apprehension when it came to her.
"PB. Why don't you just tell her you love her? I mean it''s so obvious anyways" said Preet, snapping Prem out of his thoughts and bringing his attention back to the people around him.
"I don't love her…..I mean, who are you guys talking about? I don't love anyone" replied Prem quickly, stuttering over in his response, as he tried to cover up his words.
"Oh Prem no need to lie. Whichever girl you said that you don't love, that's the girl you definitely do love" smirked Ashlesha, while Prem just rolled his eyes out of exasperation.
"I don't love anyone guys, so if could leave now, that would be great."
"Sure sure. We're all great at coming up with excuses" laughed Harman patting Prem on the back before the three of them headed out of the room.
Immediately after, Heer knocked on the door to Prem's cabin and entered the room.
"Hi Mr. Juneja!" smiled a happy Heer as she entered the cabin, balancing her cup of coffee with the piles of files in her one hand and her purse and some gift box in another hand.
Prem, who was flipping through the files, looked up instantaneously on hearing the voice, and his lips turned up immediately into a wide grin. "Heer! You're finally here! I was wondering where you've been for the past thirty minutes" exclaimed a happy Prem, no an ECSTATIC Prem, as he got up to help Heer with all the things she was carrying.
"I..I can manage Mr. Juneja" Heer stuttered, surprised at how unusually nice he was being. He looked at her raising a single eyebrow, asking "Seriously? You would much rather carry all this stuff, by yourself, rather than having someone help you?"
Realizing he was correct, she sighed, and handed over some of the things in her hands for him to carry.
"See? That wasn't so difficult, now was it?" Prem questioned, a smile on his face after they placed all that stuff on Heer's desk. She just rolled her eyes in response, "Humph, I could have done everything myself."
"I may your khadoos, and serious boss Ms. Heer Maan, but I'm still a thorough gentleman" he winked, as he picked up her hand a placed a kiss on it.
"Wow. Mr. Juneja is being too kind today" smirked Heer, her hands on her hips. "So what do you need from me now?" she questioned, her face looking at him with suspicion.
"Oh c'mon Heer, it's not ALWAYS that I'm nice only when I need your help" he whined, a small pout appearing on his face.
"Really?" she asked, an accusatory look appearing on her face. "Remember when you brought me flowers? Hm. That was because you wanted me to prepare one of your presentations. Or wait! That time when you offered to drop me off? Well, because you wanted me to bring coffee for you from Starbucks the next morning. The other time!"
"Sigh. Fine. But this time I really really really need your help. I promise, and after this I won't be nice like this every again" begged Prem, his eyes gaining a puppy dog look.
"You won't ever be nice to me?" she asked, confused and annoyed.
"Heer. You know what I mean. So just stay with me here. I know that you're not required to go on these site visits with me, but well everyone else is busy, so could you please come up with me to the new site, to check it out and see how the progression of the hotel is coming along?" Prem asked, his voice suddenly serious and back to usual, the typical bossy Mr. Prem Juneja.
"Mr. Juneja, I…I can't go today. Woh…Gayatri Aunti knew that you would be visiting the site, and so she's asked me and Ashlesha to come down and help her" answered Heer. She was slightly miffed though! Oh darn! I would have gotten a chance to spend time with him, but sigh, my bad luck.
"It's just Ma? Oh that's ok then. I'll talk to her and she won't have any problem. Just get the files ready and we'll leave in about ten minutes" Prem told her, as he picked up his phone to call his mother and tell her the change in plans.
Yes, over the past few weeks, the initial awkwardness in their relationship had died down, even though they were still pretty far from a friendship, their professional relationship was definitely doing much better.
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After tons of teasing by both his mother and Preet, Prem and Heer set off to visit the site, just the two of them. Sitting in the car, just bored out of her mind, Heer decided to play the radio, and sat there switching the radio stations constantly, deciding she didn't like any of the songs that were playing. "Heer, what are you doing? Just stick with one radio station" sighed an exasperated Prem.
"But these songs are all so boring, who listens to these songs?" she answered back, still concentrating on trying to find a nice song.
And just then, Prem put his hand out over hers, stopping the radio at one station. A jolt went through the two of them as their hands touched, but neither made the effort to move away. Prem gazed intently at the woman next to him, as a faint red appeared on her cheeks.
Pehli Nazar [Race]
Pehli Nazar Mein
Kaise Jaado Kar Diya
Tera Ban Baita Hai
Mera Jiya
Jaane Kya Hoga
Kya Hoga Kya Pata
Is Pal Ko Milke
Aa Jee Le Zara
The song starting instantly pulled the two of them out of their thoughts, and Heer immediately pulled her hand away, as she opened the window and pretended to be looking out.
Mein Hoon Yahan
Tu Hai Yahan
Meri Bahon Mein Aa
Aa Bhi Ja
O Jaan-E-Jaan
Dono Jahan
Meri Bahon Mein Aa
Bhool Ja Aa
Prem and Heer were each lost in their own thoughts, smiles faintly appearing on each of their faces as they thought about each other, and their first meeting. How perfect this song seemed, to describe that, how the two of them had been in each other's thoughts since the first time they laid eyes on each other. How special it was for the two of them, just etched perfectly, second by second, in each of their memories.
He looked over at her, still smiling, her face turned to the window, her hair flying in the wind, as she softly hummed the song to its tune. She looks so beautiful. I'll tell her one of these days, just one of these days. He promised himself, as he turned his attention back to the driving and the two remained like that silent, each immersed in their own thoughts, with the radio running in the background.
They hadn't gone much further, only about ten minutes later, when the car stopped. Yes. The car had broken down in the middle of the road. "Goooooosh. This had to happen right now" groaned Prem, slouching his shoulders and looking over at Heer with a look of misery and annoyance.
She just laughed looking at him in his pitiful state. "Go, you have to check whats wrong with the car. Otherwise, we'll never ever get to the meeting on time" she told him, as he just sat there not moving.
"Ugh.. Let's just cancel the meeting, We'll reschedule for another day and get Preet or someone to pick us up from here." Said Prem, just sit around here.
"But this is so boring, how long are we just going to sit here, waiting for someone to come pick us up?" asked Heer, her eyebrows furrowed in annoyance. Although she just wanted to shake him and wake him up, she knew she couldn't do that and held back.
"Heer, if you want to go outside that much, just go. I'm just better off sleeping here" he replied, not opening his eyes as he reclined his seat back, and put his hands behind his head, and went off to sleep, or at least pretended to do so.
"Sigh Prem. I'm going to go stand outside. You can just stay here as long as you want" Heer answered, disappointed, and she stepped out of the car, and standing in front of it. The cool breeze against her cheeks, the clouds darkening above, she loved it all, as she closed her eyes, and twirled, the dupatta flying in the wind above her.
She was so lost in her own world that she didn't notice someone was watching her very intently, dazzled and mesmerized by her beauty. Prem had opened his eyes by then, as he watched Heer twirling away outside, dressed in a dark yellow salwar, wearing no makeup, her eyes twinkling with happness and her smile radiating the brightness of a thousand suns.
The thunder rumbled loud and crackly, as the rain just began pouring down, without any seeming warning. But rather than running back towards the car like Prem expected her to do so, she giggled happily, cupping her hands in front of her to catch the rain and then splash it away. A childish smile evident on her face, thoroughly enjoying the beautiful rain as she danced away, Heer paid no attention to the fact that she was there with her boss, until she heard the car door close, and him scream "Heer! Get inside!"
"Come on. So soon? Dance in the rain! It's amazing, and I bet you've never done it before!" she yelled back, not wanting to go back and sit in the car, even though she knew that was the right thing to do.
"Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeer" Prem called out, as he walked over to her and led her back towards the car, with her struggling in his hands and trying to get away, but himholding her tight and not allowing her to do so. Suddenly, Heer, in all her twitching, stumbled and tripped over her own heels, falling forward in Prem, causing him to crash and fall back onto the car door, pulling her against his chest. She clutched his collar tightly, seeing that they both might be headed to wards a fall, but he had gripped her waist tightly and her head was already buried in his chest. When she felt themselves stop moving, she slowly moved her head up to see Prem staring at her eyes, and she couldn't help herself but stare back.
Her wet hair, falling across her face oh so beautifully, her cheeks a dark red, her eyes still dazzling with the childishness, she was a beauty to behold, and he couldn't look away. Both of them were lost in each other, unaware of the rain that was still pouring down, or anything else. Either he moved his head up or she bent hers down, but their lips slightly grazed against each other, sending electric shocks through each of them. Prem and Heer separated, both wanting to intensify that mere brush across the lips, and Prem looked at her, a questioning look as if asking whether he should continue, and she merely closed her eyes in response.
However, luck was not in his favor, as the honking of a car nearby brough both of them out of their trance, their distant world, and back to reality. And looking at the positions they were in, they pulled away from each other instantaneously. Heer looked away everywhere, but just not his eyes, knowing that it would just be awkward between the two of them. And Prem moved away back to the driver's seat and sat down, while Heer settled down in the passanger seat, both not saying anything to each other.
Prem, trying to ease the tension, reached out to the back seat, pulling a spare blanket, as she was shivering and handed it to her "I…You look like you're cold, I think you might need it" he smiled.
She graciously accepted it, still not daring to look into his eyes, muttering a soft thanks while covering herself with the blanket.
"Hmm. I knew you shouldn't have come outside when I told you to, see now you're probably going to get sick" Prem said, still desperately trying to break down the bridges that seemed to have instantaneously formed between the two of them.
And her response a distant "Hmm" told him all that was needed. That they both had made a mistake, and distanc between them already growing. Sighing, he looked away out of the window, gazing into the dark clouds that were looming above.
Precap: An Angry Heer and An Apologetic Prem
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Hi Everyone!
How was it?! Yes, I know that we will never ever get enough Premeer, but this is somewhat of a preview. Once things get rolling there will definitely be more of them :) And for those of you waiting for Preet/Meher meeting, it will happen soon. I'm still trying to figure out how and whatnot, but it will definitely happen in the next few chapters :)
As always, please do read and comment :) It means a lot to any writer, and the comments always always serve as motivation 😆 If anyone wants to be PM'ed do let me know, and the next update will be coming soon, probably on Saturday or Sunday =D
Hmm, I think that's it, and do let me know what you thought :) Any comments, suggestions, criticism always appreciated!
Lots of Love,
~Naina
