Chapter 21
Jalaal was thinking about Jodha after hanging up the phone dissapointedly! Couldn't this call come later? Did it have to come when I was talking to Jodha...he thought sulkingly!! Now I can only see her tomorrow. Tomorrow, Oh yes, tomorrow is Monday...I will see her in the morning...only a few hours more and then I can see her beautiful smile, he thought excitedly. Thinking about her made him feel better. He closed his eyes and imagined her face in his mind and that brought a big smile on his face. He slept that night in excitement and anticipation of the next morning. He was waiting eagerly for the morning to see Jodha with her beautiful smile on her beautiful face.
Next morning Jalaal woke up feeling excited, he quickly got ready and left home! The whole way he kept thinking about Jodha, one side he was happy that he will see her but on the other he was sad thinking that everyday he is getting one day closer to the day when he has to go to US leaving Jodha behind with no way of knowing if he will ever see Jodha again.
This thought made him sad but he thought that 'I should just enjoy the time I have with her now instead of sulking about the future. I have left everything on God already, so I will just keep faith in him and let him show me the way to my destiny. If she is in my destiny then she will be mine.'
With these positive thoughts he reached the school and went to the supervisor's room and greeted everyone. He sat there looking at the door thinking Jodha will come any moment to get the keys from Mr. Kohli.
After some time he started getting anxious and thought...'Why is Jodha taking so much time today?? How come she didn't come yet?? She usually comes by this time, no actually she comes much earlier than this.' He kept waiting and wondering but Jodha didn't come.
Then Mr. Kohli got up to go to the class. Jalaal thought how come he is going before Jodha came, may be I should ask him why Jodha hasn't come yet?? I hope he knows.
"Mr. Kohli where is your assistant today??" asked Jalaal curiously.
"Who Jodha? She came sometime back and took the keys. She must be done with the attendance by now, that's why I'm going to the class now." replied Mr. Kohli.
"Oh!" said Jalaal and got annoyed knowing he has missed seeing Jodha.
"I'll also walk with you, I need to go to the lab" said Jalaal and quickly got up to walk out with him. They both walked towards the class while talking to each other with Jalaal hoping to see Jodha.
They both reached outside the class and stood there, still talking. Jalaal looked towards Jodha but she was busy doing something while looking down and didn't see Jalaal. He lingered around for a few more seconds waiting for Jodha to look up but she didn't. He thought and consoled himself that she will come to the lab soon and then I will see her smiling face. So what if she didn't see me, atleast I saw her. Thinking this he turned his attention towards Mr. Kohli and said "Ok Sir, I'll see you later at lunch." Then he turned and walked away.
Hearing this Jodha quickly looked up and saw him walking down the hallway. Her eyes followed him as far as they could and then sadly she looked away.
Soon it was time to go to the lab. Jodha reached there last and sat near the door at her usual place.
Jalaal was writing on the board, he turned to see Jodha but she was busy opening her register and getting ready to write. He turned back and started writing again.
Jodha looked up and saw him writing on the board, she could only see his back.
Then he started explaining what he was writing and in between glanced at Jodha and noticed she was concentrating on the board. He kept explaining further and during the whole class whenever he looked at Jodha she wasn't looking towards him. He felt sad and a bit odd and annoyed as usually she meets eyes with him and smiles at him, atleast once but today for some reason she didn't.
Soon the class was over and before Jalaal could say anything Jodha left as she usually sits near the door and is the first one out the door.
Jalaal was on his way to the supervisor's room a bit before lunch break as usual. He thought Jodha will look at him when he passes by her class as she usually does and finally he will be able to see her beautiful smile which he was missing very badly!
He left the lab very optimistically and when he was walking down the hall he saw Jodha sitting on the front desk, her usual place. He could make out that Jodha was looking in his direction but as he reached closer and closer he realized Jodha was not looking outside, infact she was busy studying and didn't see him coming at all. He still had to walk some more before turning left and totally passing Jodha's class, so he slowed his walking pace thinking Jodha might look up. But to his disappointment his slow pace didn't make any difference and eventually he turned left without getting to see Jodha's smile which he was now getting desperate for.
Jalaal thinking 'Something is different about Jodha today, why is she not looking at me or smiling at me?? Is she doing this purposely or is it just a coincidence?? Am I reading too much into nothing or is there really something going on?? Did I do something?? Is she mad at me?? Surely not! I don't think I did something she would get mad at me for!! How am I suppose to find out?? Can I ask her?? Should I ask her??' His mind was running with the speed of an express train with all the questions and he was getting more and more panicked with every passing second. He was getting confused with her behavior and his own reaction to it. He didn't know what to do??
He tried to calm himself down by taking long breathes. 'I should not panic like this...maybe IT'S JUST A COINCIDENCE. Maybe I should wait and see at the end of the day when she comes to return the keys to Kohli Sir if she still doesn't look at me, then it will be confirmed that something is definitely wrong. Till then I should stay calm.' Staying calm at this point was easier said than done for him but he tried and consoled himself and patiently waited for the last period.
Jalaal was trying to finish some work as soon as possible because it was almost time for the last period. The bell rang but Jalaal still had some work left. He thought 'Should I finish this quickly and then go?? Jodha always comes few minutes before the end of the period so I still have some time left.' He decided to quickly finish and then go.
After finishing his work, Jalaal headed to the supervisor's room. As he reached near Jodha's class and looked towards the class, he remembered 'Oh no! Today is Monday and every Monday Jodha doesn't come to return the keys. She hands them to Kohli sir in the class only, as he has the last period there only. Gosh, now I will have to wait till tomorrow to find out if is she mad at me for something or was today just a coincidence?? How the heck am I supposed to wait till tomorrow now? Maybe I can call her in the evening if I finish early.' He crossed his fingers in the hope that he will finish his paperwork early and atleast be able to call and talk to Jodha in the evening.
Jodha thinking in the bus while going back home
Why am I feeling guilty? I didn't talk to him coz I was mad at him for hanging up the phone on me but now I feel like I took my anger out on myaelf and punished myself...it was so difficult to avoid talking to him like this, I won't be able to do it for long.
Actually, I don't wanna do it, I really really missed seeing him smiling at me. He might not have even noticed what I was doing, so basically I just punished myself for no reason. I don't have much time left with him anyway and I wasted the whole day today.
Oh this is so confusing...part of me wants to be mad at him and ignore him like I did today but part of me says you are being crazy. If I keep this up...I don't know if it will make any difference to him or not but I will surely drive myself crazy. Who knows if he even noticed anything or not?? May be he didn't, coz if he had he would have asked me or said something.
With a deep sigh Jodha decided to behave as normal as possible. I'm just gonna pretend that his ignorance doesn't affect me, even though I hated it.
Tuesday Morning
Jalaal left home a bit early so he can reach school early and not miss seeing Jodha like yesterday.
He went straight to the supervisor's room and met everyone and started waiting for Jodha. He looked at his watch and thought 'I shouldn't have missed her today, I am way earlier today.' He was right, he didn't have to wait much today, as soon as he finished thinking, he saw Jodha right in front of him asking for permission to come inside.
Seeing her Jalaal breathed a sigh of relief and looked at her with a big smile.
After coming in Jodha wished Good Morning to everyone there and looked at Jalaal with a smile. Soon she took the keys from Mr. Kohli and left.
Jalaal thinking after Jodha left
Ok now I am even more confused than yesterday. I thought today I will find out if she is avoiding me on purpose or was yesterday just a coincidence!! Yesterday it felt like we were playing hide and seek, when I looked at her she wasn't looking towards me, when I waited for her I missed seeing her as she came early, but today I didn't miss seeing her as I reached early and she even looked at me but still something was amiss.
Her smile was different today, I don't know why I felt that, but I did. Seemed to me like she was trying to hide something, her smile looked forced and not a genuine happy smile as usual. But what exactly is she trying to hide??? What is going on?? How do I find out???
Hmmm maybe I will observe her during the class and try to talk to her.
In Lab
Jodha reached the lab and saw Jalaal looking at her. She gave him a smile and sat quietly.
Jalaal noticed that it was the same forced smile just like in the morning. I have to talk to her now, I need to think of something fast. Maybe I will stop her and ask after the class.
Soon the period was over and everyone got up to go.
Jalaal quickly said "Jodha"
Jodha turned back surprisingly and said "Yes Sir!"
"I wanted to check if you told everyone in your group about the cancellation of the class today?" Jalaal asked hesitatingly as other students were still around, walking out slowly.
"Yes Sir I did" Jodha replied confused as she noticed the hesitency in his voice.
"Ok Good! Did you check when they want to do the replacement class??" asked Jalaal scanning around as some students were walking out and some students from next class started walking in.
"No, actually a replacement class won't be possible. I tried to tell the other day on phone too." Then she added bitterly "But you hung up on me before I could tell. Anyway we all have accounts tution with Kohli sir on the other days at different times so it will be difficult to find a suitable time. Maybe we can just skip this class or something, I don't know how else we can go about this?" said Jodha looking around and noticing her whole class gone.
Jalaal saw her looking around and understood that she was getting late for her next class. He couldn't ask anything anyway as his next class was also there so he said "Ok fine, we can discuss it on Thursday during the class, you can go now" and he gave her a smile.
"Sure" said Jodha giving him her new reluctant smile and left.
Jalaal watched her leaving and thought 'I couldn't ask her in front of others but even though she talked to me quite normally, I still felt like something was amiss...the only problem is I don't know what??'
Jodha thinking while on the way back to class.
I think I did better than yesterday but as I had decided that I will behave normal...I sure wasn't able to do that. Hopefully he wouldn't have noticed, she thought while crossing fingers.
Tuesday Evening
Jalaal quickly finished his paperwork and reached home and tried calling Jodha but no one picked up the phone.
Jodha had gone to her mom early as she wasn't expecting Jalaal's call thinking he would be busy.
Jalaal got disappointed but decided to wait patiently for the next day. He didn't really have any other choice anyway.
Wednesday went by pretty much the same as Tuesday with Jodha looking and talking and smiling at Jalaal but Jalaal could still feel the difference.
Thursday in school
In supervisor's room Jodha behaved pretty much same as the past two days, she looked at Jalaal, wished him Good Morning, gave him a small smile and left.
During the period Jalaal noticed that Jodha was not looking well, she was sitting very quietly. A little before the end of the period Jalaal saw Jodha touching her left temple a couple of times. But before he could realize her problem the period finished and she left.
Before lunch break when Jalaal passed by Jodha's class she still looked unwell. Seeing her like this made Jalaal feel very uncomfortable. He was getting worried and wanted to call and ask but as he was already confused about her behavior from the past few days he decided not to explicitly call her to ask, instead he thought he will ask her what is going on in the evening.
During the last period Jalaal went past Jodha's class towards the supervisor's room and saw Jodha was not in the class, her seat was empty.
'Oh no, she already went to return the keys to Kohli sir. I better get there fast' thought Jalaal and walked quickly towards the room. He entered the room in haste but to his surprise Jodha was not there either. He wondered where she can be?? Then he thought wherever she is now soon she will come to return the keys. He waited and waited while glancing his watch every now and then.
'Where is she? Why is she not coming, it's almost time to go home!'
"May I come in Sir?" a voice came from the door.
Jalaal quickly looked up but it wasn't Jodha, in fact it was Jodha's friend Moti.
Moti went to Kohli sir and handed him the keys saying "Sir Jodha asked me to pass the keys to you before leaving."
Kohli Sir asked confusingly what Jalaal also wanted to ask "Where is Jodha??"
"Sir she wasn't feeling well so she went to the nurse" told Moti.
"What happened to her??" asked Jalaal concernly.
"Sir actually she had a headache and felt like puking too, I am going to get her from there and will go with her to drop her home" said Moti.
Jalaal became really worried knowing her condition and wanted to meet her but since it was almost time to go home he couldn't meet her.
Jalaal went to his first tution class. He was extremely worried and wanted to reach Jodha's house asap. The whole time his mind kept roaming around Jodha's thoughts. As he reached the second tution he could barely concentrate. It was getting really difficult for him to wait till it was time to go to Jodha's house. The worry and the wait were killing him. As he left the second tution and was driving towards the third, an idea came to his mind. 'What if I skip the third tution and go straight to Jodha's house. I can call and tell them I have to urgently go somewhere.' He thought for a minute about his plan and then he stopped on the side of the road and called the third group and told them that he needs to go somewhere so he has to cancel the class for today. After canceling the class he started thinking what excuse he will give to Jodha for coming so early and not calling beforehand. He stood there on the road thinking for a few more minutes and then decided that he will tell her the same thing that he had some work and because it got finished early he came early.
He sat on his scooter and left from there for Jodha's house. Soon he reached her house and parked his scooter and climbed up the stairs and reached the main door. He was about 40 mins early. He rang the bell and waited for Jodha to come and open the door.
Jodha was sleeping, thinking it was her alarm ringing she stretched her arm looking for the the alarm clock to turn it off with her eyes still closed.
After waiting for a couple of minutes, Jalaal rang the bell again.
Jodha reluctantly opened her eyes a little bit and looked around for the clock. After finding the clock she saw the time and got surprised 'Huh! The alarm didn't go off yet, then what was that noise?? Am I hearing things?? Anyway now that I am awake I should just change and get ready for tution.'
Jodha got off the bed and was putting her sleepers on while also rubbing her eyes, suddenly she heard someone calling her name and when she turned to see who it was she noticed someone standing at the door. She rubbed and squinted her eyes to try to make out who it was! Her eyes flung open wide seeing Jalaal standing there. 'Is it really Jalaal sir? No, it can't be him! What is he doing here so early??' she thought while almost running to the door to open it.
Jalaal was surprised to see her condition. 'She is still wearing the school dress suit, her hairs are a mess, she was rubbing her eyes a minute ago...was she sleeping? Oh no, I woke her up' thought Jalaal.
Jodha opened the door and greeted Jalaal "Good evening Sir!"
Jalaal came inside and said "Good evening Jodha. Are you okay? You don't look so good and I heard you went to see the nurse."
Jodha looked surprisingly at him and thought how does he know I went to see the nurse? She couldn't say anything, she was feeling surprised, disoriented, confused all at the same time. Surprised at how Jalaal knows she went to see the nurse and why he was there so early, disoriented as she had just woken up and confused to see so much concern in his eyes.
Jalaal was getting more and more anxious and worried as Jodha was not saying anything. His hand instinctively moved up and he touched Jodha's forhead to check if she has fever.
Jodha looked at him shockingly unable to understand the reason behind his gesture.
Seeing her confusion Jalaal quickly asked "You don't have fever, then what is the matter with you? Why did you go to the nurse? Why aren't you saying anything?"
Jodha smiled hearing his questions. She felt really elated seeing his concern for her. She loved the attention he was showering on her.
"Why are you smiling?" asked Jalaal confusingly.
"Nothing. Who told you I have fever?? I don't have fever, I had a headache since morning and when it became unbearable I went to see the nurse to get medicine, thats all" explained Jodha.
Heaving a euphoric sigh of relief Jalaal asked "How are you feeling now?? Do you still have the headache?"
Jodha smiled and replied "No, I don't have the headache anymore, I am feeling much better. Thank you."
Jalaal got really happy seeing her genuine smile. He had been missing it a lot.
"That's great" replied Jalaal happily.
Then they both went inside the room and Jalaal sat on one of the single seat couch, his usual place while Jodha still standing asked him "Would you like a cup of coffee?"
"Sure! Are you having one too??" asked Jalaal.
"Uhh..." said Jodha thinking if she should have one or not. But before she could decide Jalaal spoke up "I think you should have one, something warm would be good for you."
"Okay" said Jodha while smiling and left the room.
Jodha while walking towards the kitchen noticed her dupatta on the bed. 'Oh no I forgot to put it on in all the confusion. What will he think? I am so careless.' She hit her head with her hand and picked up the dupatta and went in the kitchen to make coffee.
Jalaal was sitting in the room waiting for Jodha with a smile. 'Thank god she is okay, I was so worried.' Then he chuckled a little remembering Jodha's shocked face when he put his hand on her forehead to check for fever. 'What was I thinking??' he shook his head thinking how he overreacted, but he was happy knowing that Jodha is better now.
Jodha while making coffee was thinking about how concerned Jalaal looked for her. She was blushing happily reminiscing the whole scene at the door and knowing that he cares so much her smile got broader. Soon the coffee was ready. Jodha took out a tray and kept the two cups of coffee in it along with a plate of cookies. She walked back to the room and kept the tray in front of Jalaal and offered it to him.
"Thanks! Sit" said Jalaal while picking up the cup.
"Uh you have it, I'll quickly go and change. It's too hot for me anyway! I can't drink it so hot." told Jodha.
Jalaal smiled at her and nodded his head gesturing OK and then Jodha left the room.
Jodha took out her favourite black salwar suit with red border to wear.
While changing Jodha thought that she forgot to ask how come Sir came so early today?? 'I will ask when I go back in the room' she thought. She quickly opened both her chotis, combed her hair and made one choti and went back to the room where Jalaal was.
Jalaal was happily sitting and waiting for Jodha to come back. Jalaal looked up as Jodha entered the room and he got completely mesmerised seeing her.
'Wow she looks so beautiful in this suit, though she looks lovely in all her dresses be it jeans t-shirt, long skirt or anything but in this suit, she just looks too good, its my favourite dress of her' thought Jalaal.
They both smiled at eachother and Jodha went and sat on the single couch next to Jalaal, her usual seat.
"You didn't start?" asked Jodha as she noticed his cup was still full.
"No I was waiting for you." blurted Jalaal. Realising what he had just said he changed his sentence quickly and said "I mean I also don't drink it so hot."
"O-kay" said Jodha confusingly. 'Everytime I used to give him coffee he used to start drinking it immediately and I always wondered how could he drink it so hot? And today he is saying he doesn't drink it hot' thought Jodha confusingly and wondered why he was behaving differently today!
They both quietly sipped their coffee for a minute. Then Jodha offered the cookies to Jalaal "Cookie sir!!"
Jalaal picked one up and so did Jodha before putting the plate back on the the table. While eating Jodha remembered she wanted to ask Jalaal how come he came early today..."Sir how come you came early today??"
"Ya actually today I had to cancel the class before you, I had to go somewhere. I finished early so I came here." said Jalaal.
"Oh okay" said Jodha.
"I am sorry I woke you up, I didn't know you would be asleep" said Jalaal feeling guilty.
"No no it's okay, my alarm was about to go off anyway, please don't say sorry!" said Jodha feeling bad for asking him why he came early and making him feel guilty.
Suddenly Jalaal's phone rang bringing them both back from their guilt trip.
Jalaal took out his phone from his pocket and looked at the number and suddenly a big smile spread on his face.
Jodha noticed his big smile and wondered whose call it was.
He turned towards Jodha and said "One minute haan, I have to take this call, it's from U S."
Jalaal took the call while Jodha looked on.
"Hello" said Jalaal smiling wide and very sweetly.
Too sweetly for Jodha to be able to handle. She turned her face away from Jalaal.
"I'm good dear, how are you??" Jalaal paused listening for a few seconds and then continued "Offcouse I did! Has it ever happened before that you asked me to do something and I didn't do it."
Hearing him talk so sweetly Jodha turned back and looked at Jalaal. Suddenly Jodha started simmering in anger. She remembered how he had hung up on her the other day and now again he is talking sweetly like that.
'Dear', 'Offcouse I did! Has it ever happened before that you asked me to do something and I didn't do it' mocked Jodha in her head in anger.
Jalaal was noticing Jodha's changing expressions confusingly. 'What's the matter with her??' thought Jalaal.
"Uh huh, yeah" said Jalaal paying almost no attention to what was being said on the phone. He wasn't really listening anymore. Unable to understand the sudden change in Jodha's expressions he decided to cut his call short.
"Hey am out somewhere, let me call you back tonight. Ya ok bye." He abruptly hung up the phone and gazed at Jodha trying to understand the reason behind the sudden change in her expressions.
"There is still time before the class and nobody is here yet anyway so you can continue your important call with your important person, don't worry about me" snaped Jodha suddenly, leaving Jalaal shocked.
He looked at her with shocked and wary eyes. His mouth was open, he went totally blank, unable to think what to say, unable to understand what just happened?? He couldn't believe the same Jodha who was smiling widely at him a few minutes ago is now really mad at him for something he has no idea about. He was unable to think what suddenly caused this anger and outburst?? He kept looking at her without a blink.
Getting no reply from Jalaal made Jodha even more angry and she snapped again "Who were you talking to?? Was it the same girl from last week you hung up on me for??"
Jalaal closed and opened his mouth a few times trying to say something but his efforts went in vain and nothing came out of his mouth. He was still in shock.
This is my longest chapter ever!! Hope u guys like and enjoy it😳😳😳
Don't forget to like and comment😃😃 I love hearing from u all!!
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Edited by rishbala3018 - 10 years ago
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