Part 13 Heer was up before the crack of dawn; she had been tossing and turning all night. Since she didn't have to worry about getting Aarav up and ready, she decided to go for a jog. Ever since she was in high school, and all through college she had been a jogger. Every morning, rain or shine, she was out and about, either along the sidewalks of the city, the grass of the parks, or the track around campus. Even when she had been dating Prem she had jogged; be it in his state-of-the-art in home gym. She had missed the feel of the early morning air when she jogged. Then she got pregnant and stopped jogging. Even after Aarav was born, she never got back into the habit of jogging because taking care of a baby was plenty of work out for her.
Over the years she jogged only if she had an hour to spare here or there, which wasn't often at all, but also when she was stressed or upset. Jogging helped calm her down, get her nerves back on track and open her mind.
This morning it was a particularly cold and foggy morning. She was already dressed in her track pants and a t-shirt, but she grabbed her old college sweat shirt on the way out. It was still dark when she left, but they lived in a safe community, there was nothing to worry about. Heer found her old path that ran along the shores of the ocean and the beaches of Santa Barbara. She had been jogging and sprinting for nearly an hour when she saw the first signs of sunrise at the far end of the horizon.
Her lungs and chest were hurting, her feet and knees ached; so she found a spot on a large rock on the beach and sat down. As her rapid heart beat began to return to normal, she watched the sun bring on the lights of a new day. The power of the sun was so strong as it colored the once gloomy sky with vibrant colors of orange, red and pink. When Heer glanced at her watch it read 6:30 am. Her car was quite a distance away form where she was sitting, so she dusted herself off and began the jog back to her car.
Once she got home she headed straight for the shower, she didn't want her family to see her, not yet; she wasn't ready. She took a long, leisurely, hot shower that soothed the muscles that had begun to ache. She came out with only her terry-cloth robe wrapped around her. The first thing her eyes fell on was the little velvet box that still rested on top of her bed side table.
Heer had been going through her closet for the past half hour, not being able to decide what to wear. She was in no mood to go back to that house and work with that man, but she had no choice; she had to. After what seemed like ages, she finally settled on an outfit. She had chosen a pair of blue, stone wash capri jeans with a black and white top, paired with black flats. Opening her jewelry box she pulled out simple silver hoop earrings and a simple silver chain with a 'B' pendant. She was almost out of her room when she decided to add one more thing to her list of accessories.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Heer had managed to evade a conversation with her family this morning. She knew that they would have had a million and one questions for her; where was she last night, what happened, why did she look so upset, did she get Preet's message and the flowers? She just didn't want to deal with all that now. When she had come down in the morning she just yelled a quick "Good morning. I'll see you later because I'm running late" and sped out of the house.
When Heer pulled up to Prem's house she saw a car there that she wasn't expecting – Preet's. Getting out of the car she saw him leaning against the frame of his car with a cup of coffee and a single long-steamed red rose in his hands. She walked up to him and with out one word, she flung her arms around him, causing him to stumble back a bit. She had never done anything like that before, but for some reason she needed to do it now. After a few seconds she pulled back and looked at him.
"Preet what are you doing here?"
"Well I figured that if I wanted to see my fianc I would just have to come to her, seeing that she isn't taking my calls," He joked, as he handed her the Star Bucks cup. "And if this is how you treat me after ignoring my calls…well then…ignore my calls more often."
"My phone died last night," Heer said as she giggled under her breath.
"Yeah, that much I figured. I called your house this morning and Ashlesha told me that you went jogging. Now, tell me, what happened?"
"What do you mean by that? Nothing happened, I'm fine," Heer said, not looking him in the eye.
Preet folded his arms in front of him and crooked one eye brow up. "Come on Heer, I can't reach you for nearly 24 hours, Ashlesha tells me you went jogging first thing in the morning. There is only one meaning for that – you are upset."
"No really, I am fine. I…I just miss Aarav that's all. It's his first time away from home." Heer could feel the tears stinging the back of her eyes as she thought about her boy, being away from her.
"Hey…" Preet threw his arms around her, gathering her into a hug, "…I am sure that he is fine and having a blast. Like I said, he will be home before you know it."
"Thank you" Heer whispered.
Pulling back Preet held her by the shoulders and asked, "What for?"
Heer snuggled up to his chest, "For the flowers, for the song…for everything that you do for me."
"Hey, no thanks required. I like doing them. If they bring a smile to your face, that is all that matters." Preet trailed his hands along side her arms, and then slowly took both her hands into his, when he suddenly stopped. "Uh…Heer…"
"Yes?"
"Um…is it just me or are you…I mean really…you did…" he was completely lost and flabbergasted.
"Oh Preet, don't be so shocked. It's not just you, and yes I really did."
"Are you kidding me? How can I not be shocked? I am shocked, happy, but still shocked. You're wearing the ring, your engagement ring."
Preet lifted Heer's left hand and placed a kiss on her fingers and the ring simultaneously.
"You don't know what this means to me."
He then proceeded to bring his head lower until the tips of their noses were touching. Whispering a soft 'I love you' he brought his lips down to hers. The kiss was soft and tender and first, just getting used to the taste and feel of each other; but soon it became more. Heer kissed him back with much more fervor than she usually did, she was the one that took the kiss to another level. She was the one that was coaxing his lips apart and she was the one teasing him.
It wasn't until a few seconds later that she realized where they were. Heer broke the kiss first and found Preet looking up at her with astonishment. Heer nervously looked around and Preet understood her message. He gave her a quick kiss on the lips and forehead before he told her to go inside and get to work, before Prem came out to get her.
As Heer walked in looked back at Preet, who was once again leaning against his car. She had left the rose with Preet because she didn't want to flaunt it in front of Prem. She had reached the top of the steps when she turned back and blew him a flying kiss, which Preet pretended to catch and place on his heart causing Heer to giggle as she entered Jhuneja Mansion.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
He had been watching them from upstairs since he had heard the car pull up. Almost fifteen minutes ago he was sitting in the study across the hall from his room when he heard the rumble of a car engine. He glanced at the clock and saw that is was still twenty to 9 o' clock; he figured that Heer was coming in early to make up for the time she had lost the day before. Prem went to the window and peered down expecting to see Heer, but was surprised when he was a man get out of the unknown vehicle. Once the mans full face came into view, Prem recognized it to be Preet, the fianc.
Seeing Preet's face reminded him of what had happened the day before. After the kiss with Heer, all Prem could think about was that kiss…the kiss, no matter what he did. He spent a good two hours on the treadmill in his gym, he tried to cook to take his mind off of it and ended up burning a perfectly good chicken, he tried to watch movies and even take a long hot shower to relax his tensed muscles; but nothing helped. Finally at nearly 12am he thought about listening to the radio and letting the music help him drift off into sleep. He turned on the radio to the first station it caught, which happened to be 109.6 KFOZ. The DJ announced the beginning of the dedications hour, and Prem thought, "Oh great, just what I need; a bunch of high-on-pot-or-hormones teens dedicating sappy songs to their 2 day boyfriend or girlfriend." Prem powered through it, however, until it got to the last dedication, the DJ announced…
This is our last dedication of the night. This is for a Ms. Heer from her fianc Mr. Preet.
Hearing that Prem sat straight up in his chair in the study, then the DJ continued.
Here is a message from Preet…and I quote…
Coming out of his revere, Prem couldn't take it anymore so he turned the radio off with a quick jab from his fist. Not knowing what to do, he decided to hit the gym…again.
Prem was confused as he watched Preet just stand out there up against the car, in front of his house. Minutes passed by but Preet did nothing and it was beginning to annoy Prem. He was about to go down as ask Preet what he was doing here, when he heard the rumble of another car. This time, it was Heer.
As she exited the car, Prem couldn't help but notice that she looked beautiful in such a simple get up. After what happened the day before, Prem knew that it would be awkward to work together again, maybe even hard because he had enjoyed that kiss. He had no idea just how hard it was going to be, if Heer looked like that all the time, he was going to have serious trouble keeping his hands and lips to himself.
A wave of anger washed over Prem setting every fiber of his being on fire, and not the good kind of fire. He watched as she almost ran into the arms of another man, so what if he was her fianc, Preet was still the other man. They hugged for what seemed like an eternity, to Prem. He let out the breath he had been unknowingly holding, when they finally broke apart. It was then that he saw the coffee cup and single red rose that Preet handed over to Heer.
As he watched them talk and smile, his face grew into a frown, when he saw them hug, his hands formed into fists, when he saw them kiss, his blood boiled. He had kissed those lips less then twenty-four hours ago, and here she was kissing someone else. Prem didn't know why but he felt rage like he hadn't ever felt; he and Heer were not together, they hadn't been together in over four years, what was wrong with him?
He saw Heer break apart from the embrace and turn to head into his house. Prem moved away from the window in an attempt to not see anything else that was to happened between them, but he was too late…he caught that last flying kiss she blew to the other man.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Heer took a deep breath before entering the Jhuneja House again. She wished, oh how she had wished, that she didn't have to come back here after what had happened yesterday. More that not having to come, she wished, hoped and prayed that what happened yesterday didn't really happen. She hoped beyond hope that she would wake up and it would have all just been a bad dream; no such luck. The moment was permanently seared into her brain, she couldn't forget it. How could she forget that she behaved like an animal in heat when Prem had kissed her? She didn't know how far it would have gone, if it hadn't been her own shameless moaning that had brought her back to reality.
How could she betray Preet like that? How? Yes, she hadn't been intimate with Preet, but that was her own choice. Everyone knew that she wasn't a virgin, she had a child after all; so if she chose to have sexual relations with him before they got married, no one would be any wiser. However, she had chosen not to get into bed with Preet, partly because she wanted to actually wait until they got married, but also because on some level, she knew she hadn't forgotten Prem. No matter what it was, the point was that she should have been faithful to him, because she knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that he had been nothing but faithful to her. He had never brought up the topic of sex while they dated, not once. When Heer had brought up the topic herself, Preet made it clear that he wasn't after that in their relationship, he respected her too much to even think about having and intimate relationship with her until they were married.
Heer had already dumped her purse in one corner and gotten straight to work. She wanted to work as fast as possible, the sooner she started, the sooner she finished and the sooner she was out of the house. It had been a good 30 minutes later when she heard the floor boards creaking form behind her. She didn't need to turn to know who it was.
"Are you getting along ok in here?" Prem asked as he stood by the door frame.
"Yes, just fine. Thank you."
"Well, if you need anything I'll be in my study attending to business."
"Ok" was all she said, before getting back to work.
"Ok" Prem repeated, before he turned to go back up the stairs.
It was way past lunch, and into the heat of the afternoon before they had another encounter. Prem popped in as Heer was putting the last of some small figurines into a box filled with Styrofoam peanuts and bubble wrap.
"Soda?" Prem offered, as he held out his hand which held a cold Pepsi bottle.
"Umm…thanks." Heer said as she took the bottle from him.
When she put the bottle to her lips and took a sip, something flashing in the suns light caught Prem's eyes. When she brought her hand back down, Prem saw what it was…a ring…an engagement ring. The ring that she hadn't worn was now on her finger, the ring that he had pointed out had been missing was now right where it belonged.
"I get it" he said, not being able to fight the urge.
"I'm sorry?" she asked confused by the remark.
"I get it. Preet is your fianc, I get it. You didn't have to wear the ring to prove anything to me."
Heer placed on hand on her hip as she said, "My, my Prem Jhuneja…lets not have that ego of your getting any bigger now or else we will both suffocate in this room."
"Excuse me?"
"I wore this ring because I wanted to, it is my ring, I will do as I please. I wore this ring for me and for Preet because it makes him happy. YOU, have absolutely nothing to do with it."
"If you say so," Prem said, with a bit of a cocky attitude.
"I do say so."
Prem went back upstairs into his study, as Heer continued to work in the room downstairs.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The next week passed by some how. Prem and Heer had kept to themselves most of the time. There was the occasional conversation here and there, if either one of them had questions, or if Heer needed something that only Prem could get for her or give her. They both avoided being within 5 feet of each other, and that was no easy task, especially for Prem.
He would watch her when she was really engrossed in her work. Her clothes sticking to her like second skin, the sweat glistening off of her arms and bare waist when she worked, the valley between her breasts becoming deeper when she bent down; it took every fiber of his being to keep from grabbing her and taking right then and there.
Heer had managed to get ahead of schedule that week. She catalogued most of the items that were in the main room; she still had to work on his mothers things in the library upstairs, but she was going to tackle that later. At the moment she had boxes and boxes, almost twenty, filled with fragile and valuable items that needed to be taken out to the guest house, which was on the premises, so that she could properly appraise them.
There were just too many boxes that needed to be taken out, too much for her to do by herself, still too much for both her and Prem. It was a Saturday, but it was the Saturday of the Santa Barbara Fair, everyone went there. Preet offered to close the shop and come and help, as did Ashlesha and Meher. So far, it was just her and Prem, however, Heer soon heard a car pull up.
She knew it must have been Preet so she prepared a box for him to take out. She heard the floor boards creak, so she got to her feet and turned as she talked to Preet. "Ok, so let's get right to work. I want…" Heer's sentence died before it got all out.
In front of her stood Preet with a hand full of balloons, the other hand held a bouquet of the most gorgeous baby pink roses she had ever seen, and under one arm was a small teddy bear holding a large Heresy's Kiss.
"Preet! What is this?"
"Happy Birthday Babe," he said as he quickly kissed her, and handed her the gifts.
"What…Oh My God...I forgot!" Heer confessed, not being able to believe she had forgotten her own birthday.
"You may forget, but I never do." Preet took into his arms, "How can I forget the day that God sent you down for me?"
"Preet…" Heer's eyes got misty.
"No, no crying business, I'm here to work, so let's get to it." Preet had his hands on his hips, and looked around the room then back at Heer. "I thought we were going to have help for all these boxes, where are they…the help?" he asked, looking around the room for everyone else.
As if right on cue, Prem walked into the room.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
As soon as Prem entered the room he saw Preet and the balloons. Confused he blurted out, "Is there a party going on in my house that I don't know about." The tone of his voice was not happy, angry even.
Heer was about to say something, when Preet jumped in, "No, no party. It's Heer's birthday so I thought I'd surprise her with balloons and flowers. I hope you don't mind that I did this in your house, if not I can take these things and put them in my car." Preet's tone was genuine; he didn't want to offend Prem.
"Oh no, it is fine. I didn't realize it was Heer's birthday. I don't mind."
There was an awkward silence, which was broken by Preet. "Ok then, let's get to work."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Soon Preet and Prem were both lugging boxes in and out of the room. Heer was packing the artifacts into the boxes so that they could be shifted to the guest house. There was not enough room in the actual house to sort through everything. Prem was kind enough to remove all the furniture from the guest house so that Heer would have enough space to work in.
It was getting hot because the guys were carrying the heavy, fragile boxes; on top of that the sun was beating down on them. Heer was so engrossed that she hadn't noticed what both men had done. Heer was just about done packing and labeling one of the boxes containing figurines. Once everything was in, she stood up to stretch her muscles.
Heer walked out to the hallway stretching out her legs when she saw both men enter the hallway through the back door; and then her jaw dropped and her eyes became wide with amusement and shock. There they were, both Preet and Prem, in all their glory…shirtless. Heer felt the temperature of the room rise at least an extra ten degrees. Both men were bare chested; they both had great bodies, six pack's nice and toned; their pec's…those alone were making Heer blush one hundred shades of red; their jeans were riding low on their waists, accentuating the 'V' of their pelvis; their toned arms were just calling out to her, she didn't know which one looked more inviting. She just couldn't take her eyes off of them.
"Is something wrong?" asked Prem, as he looked himself over once.
"N…no…not a thing." Heer said shamelessly as she drooled over the men.
"Are you sure, you keep staring?" Preet piped in and then also gave himself a once over.
Before Heer could respond two voices echoed in their presence.
"Hello Abercrombie!"
Preet turned towards the main door as did Heer, and Prem turned towards the back door. At the front door stood Meher and at the back door stood Ashlesha. Both girls had their mouths literally open and their eyes glued to the half naked males as they made their way to the group. Meher and Ashlesha were laughing at their reaction to the guys. Meher was coming from the front after having parked the car, Ashlesha from the back because she figured they would be working in the guest house that day.
"Well, well…what do we have here?" Ashlesha said as she looked the men up and down.
"Di I cleared my schedule so that I can help you," Meher said, not taking her eyes off of the men.
"Oh yeah, help doing what?" Heer teased, knowing exactly what her sister was getting at.
"You know, looking at people…I mean after people…I mean things." Ashlesha said, as she blushed a bit.
This time it was Prem and Preet's turn to blush under the gazes of the three females. They felt naked and tried to cover up their chests with their arms.
"Umm, my shirt…I'll just go get it," Preet said as he headed out.
"Me too, I'll come with you," Prem said as he followed behind Preet.
They men practically ran out of the hallway back to the guest house, where they had left their shirts.
"Don't be shy boys! We are harmless…sort of!" Meher yelled as the guys disappeared outside.
The girls fell into a fit of laughter as they saw the men react to their looks. The sisters filed into the room where Heer had been working.
"Wow Didi, I must say…wow," Ashlesha said as she found a place to sit.
"Yeah, I mean who knew that both of the men in your life looked so…so…yummy!" Meher said.
"Stop it! One is going to be your brother-in-law!" Heer exclaimed.
"So, it never hurt anyone to look, now did it Didi?" Ashlesha chirped.
The guys came back in to join the girls, this time fully dressed.
"I must say Mr. Singh, nice…very nice," Meher said, "You too Mr. Jhuneja…nicely done."
Prem and Preet just blushed even more, which earned them a heart felt 'Aww' from Meher and Ashlesha.
"Who knew that my Jiju had such hidden treasures?" said Ashlesha.
"I'm sure Di knows," Meher said and she poked Heer with her elbow.
"Meher!" Heer said, her eyes popping out of her sockets. "What are the two of you doing here?" Heer asked.
"Well we came to tell you to come home early; we have a surprise birthday party for you."
"Meher it's supposed to be a surprise!" Preet said, clearly annoyed with Meher for spilling the beans.
"Oh chill Jiju, we have a theme so Di has to know about it. The theme for today's party is Desi."
"Desi?" they all asked in unison.
"Yes Desi…" Meher said, "…you are all required to wear Indian style outfits, and yes that means you too Jiju."
At first Preet made a face, but then agreed and gave into Meher's puppy-dog looks.
"Have any plans for tonight Mr. Jhuneja?" Ashlesha asked.
Prem looked up at Ashlesha and was confused at her question, why did it matter to her what he did or didn't do?
"No, not really. Why?" he asked.
"Well then it's settled, you are coming to our Di's party." Meher said.
"Me? No, thank you but no. It wouldn't be right," Prem said, as he thought of his and Heer's past.
"You should come. We are all adults here and we all know about your past with Heer. Don't refuse the offer because of that reason. I am perfectly ok if you come. You are most welcome," Preet said. "As long as it is ok with Heer."
Heer looked up at Prem, now what was she supposed to say. "Yes, you should come. We would love to have you."
"Ok then, I guess." Prem said.
"Ok good, don't forget Desi attire required." Meher said, "Ok, now we have to go set up, see you at home Di."
Meher and Ashlesha gave quick hugs to Heer and Preet as they exited, and said bye to Prem as well.
Preet went to put the last box into the guest house, leaving Prem and Heer behind.
"If you are not ok with this, I can make an excuse and not go to you party. I wouldn't want to ruin your night."
"No, it is fine, really. We would be happy to have you." Heer said, after all, what could happen at a party; a party where her fianc, sisters and parents would be at. Nothing was going to happen…or so she prayed.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
JAZ
Bade Achhe Lagte Hain
Anupamaa
Hindi TV Shows
Cricket
