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"Why did you say Yes??"Jalaal asked mischieviously.
Jodha felt shy, she didn't say anything...just stayed quiet.
"Jodha" called Jalaal after waiting and not getting answer from her.
"Hmmm" murmured Jodha in low tone.
"Jodhaaa" Jalaal called again.
"Hmmm" whispered Jodha again.
"Say something Jodha" Jalaal was getting impatient. "I want your answer, talk to me, please."
"Uh huh" whispered Jodha shyly.
"Arre, You won't talk to me??" asked Jalaal amused with her behavior.
Chapter 26
"Umm what should I say??" whispered Jodha in very low tone.
"What I have been waiting to hear for so long" replied Jalaal expectantly.
"Umm Are you...uhh...I mean are you really sure about uhhh... your decision to uhhh...you know!!" asked Jodha confusingly. It was difficult for her to believe that her dreams came true in a flick. She was still feeling surprised at the turn of events.
"Marry you??" Jalaal finished her question for her then he replied as well "Yes of course I am. I haven't been more sure about anything else in my life. Jodha you have no idea how much I love you." His confident tone surprised Jodha and made her super happy at the same time as well.
Reeling from yet another 'I LOVE YOU' in the past 10 minutes.. her ears started to ring with I LOVE YOU sound, she still couldn't believe her ears and once again all of these sudden events made her speechless. She was going through so many emotions at the same time, she was not able to understand how to react to it. Her silence left Jalaal hanging and desperate to hear what was in her heart.
After a few more minutes of silence Jalaal asked in alarmed tone "What happened Jodha?? What are you thinking?? Why are you so quiet?? Aren't you happy with your decision??"
"No no I am very happy" Jodha quickly replied in panic tone to clear his doubt.
"You are??" Jalaal asked with a huge grin and a bit of satisfaction.
"Yes I also lo..." Stopped Jodha and smiled shyly.
"You also what??" asked Jalaal knowing fully well what Jodha was about to say.
"Uhhh what were you doing when I called??" asked Jodha trying to change the topic.
"Jodha you are sooo cute. I'm asking you something and you are so wonderfully avoiding answering me, aren't you!!" Jalaal said trying to pressurize Jodha in saying what he was so desperate to hear.
"Umm I...uh...I just...uhhh" stammered Jodha.
"It's okay, take your time" said Jalaal understanding Jodha's hesitancy and realizing that in his excitement he was kinda pushing Jodha.
Jodha smiled hearing him and said "hmm ... uhhh...I don't know how to explain this but I feel like it's a dream, which i never thought would come true like this... and ..." she paused and her tone changed a bit sad and she continued "and I think I am feeling little bit scared that soon I will wake up and all this will be gone, YOU will be gone. All this is just so unbelievable...I mean could I have ever imagined talking to you at this time of night?? That too about all this!! It's just very very unbelievable!!"
"I know, even I can't believe we are talking right now and I finally said what I wanted to say for so long!! But I am so happy that I did say it and even happier knowing that you also love me!" Jalal responded in serious tone to make her believe all this is real and he is really happy for what is happening.
"When did I say that??" Jodha asked mischieviously showing fake surprise.
"Hmmm that's true, you didn't!! Well it's not too late you know, you can still say it" Jalaal also replied mischievously.
Jodha bit her tongue and hit herself in the head and thought 'how silly of me to get myself trapped...ise kehte hain payr pe kulhadi maarna...nahin nahin kulhadi pe payr maarna.'
"Well" Jalaal prompted Jodha once more.
"Umm so where is everyone, no one is home??" Jodha asked diverting from the topic again.
'Hmm once again avoiding my question' Jalaal thought and took a long sigh.
"No everyone is sleeping and I'm in my room" said Jalaal in a low tone.
Suddenly Jodha hung up the phone.
'Huh what happened to Jodha?? Why did she suddenly hang up??' Jalaal thought confusingly. 'I should call her back!' He stopped in the middle of dialing her number thinking 'what if someone heard the phone ring. What should I do?? I can't call her, she would get in trouble if someone heard the phone ringing at this time of the night. But then how do I find out what happened?? Wait a minute, maybe someone came to her room and that's why she hung up. I should wait for her to call me back...hopefully I won't have to wait too long.' Jalal thought concernly.
Jalaal was waiting and waiting and waiting and getting worried thinking what happened?? 'I hope no one heard her talking to me...' He thought anxiously. 'Ohhh I really hope she calls me back soon and I don't have to wait till morning.' He was losing his patience with every passing second. What if some heard her talking to me??? Hope she is not in trouble... Oh... Jodha call me soon.' He kept looking at the phone then at the watch then back at the phone then back at the watch...with each passing second his tension was increasing.
Suddenly his mobile phone rang...he quickly picked it up in one ring seeing Jodha's number and worriedly asked "Jo are you okay??What happened?? Why did you hang up suddenly?? Did..." he shot at her with tons of questions in panicked tone.
"Aree ruko ruko ruko...itne saare questions ek saath poochoge to main kaise jawaab duingi??" (Uff Wait wait wait If you ask me so many questions together how will I answer??) whispered Jodha.
Jalaal also understood he reacted impatiently... he took a deep sigh out and asked in a whisper "okay okay par TUM whispering kyun kar rahi ho??" (Okay okay but why are you whispering?? )
"Because mumma just left, she..." Jodha replied in nervous tone.
"What!!! She saw you on phone??" Jalaal asked worriedly.
"Huh!! No, no she didn't. I hung up before she entered the room. Actually she couldn't enter the room because the room is locked from inside but when I saw her walking past the window I panicked and hung up without telling you and I forgot that I had locked the room" explained Jodha calmly.
"But why did she come in the middle of the night in your room?? Wasn't she sleeping??" asked Jalaal curiously.
"She probably woke up to use the bathroom and saw my room light on so she came to tell me It's late... I should go to sleep now" explained Jodha.
"Ohhh so she didn't hear us talking, thank goodness" said Jalaal releasing the breath he had been holding for all this time and then he continued in a serious tone "Have you thought what impact would our decision have on your family?? I mean we belong to different religions plus I am older than you and also, I am your teacher!!"
"Huh" Jodha got surprised hearing all the questions suddenly out of the blue. "No!! How can I think about all these things when I never thought there was a possibility of us being together, let alone what will happen after we are together" said Jodha and then dreamily thought "Waise bhi abhi to sirf ek hi baat dimag mein ghoom rahi hai jo aapne kahi ke aap mere ho aur mere hi rahoge hamesha." (Anyway the only thing in my mind right now is what you said You are mine and will always remain mine.)
Hearing Jodha, A big wide smile crawled on his lips... He smiled happily and asked lovingly "sachchi!!" (really!!)
"Huh!!" said Jodha and bit her tongue as she realized and thought 'Oh no, Did I just say that outloud??'
"Uhhh I mean...woh uhhh...ya I was just saying that I don't care if you are older than me or our religion is different or anything else, what difference does that make??"
"Ya maybe it doesn't make any difference to you or rather us but what about your family??" asked Jalaal voicing his concern.
"I'm not sure about how mumma's gonna react to our age difference but the other two things won't bother her, I'm sure about that. She won't care about the religion difference and the teacher part won't bother her either, I think. Anyway you won't be my teacher anymore once you leave the school..." Jalaal cut her in between and excitedly said "Vipul said the same thing to me."
"Who is Vipul??" Jodha asked confusingly.
"He is one of my best friend and when I told him about you he said the same thing that I won't be your teacher once I leave" revealed Jalaal.
"You talked to him about me?? When?? We just talked few hours back??" Jodha confusingly asked.
"A few months ago I talked to him about you, that's when he gave me these same reasons that you just did."
"But why were you talking to him about me?? I mean what were you saying about me?? You never said anything to me but you discussed with your friend about me?? That too few months back??" asked Jodha perplexed.
"Hmmm he noticed me tensed many times and he asked me what was going on so I told him about you that I..."
"Ohhh...But what did I do and why were you tensed because of me??" Jodha asked cutting him in between.
Jalaal calmly explained "I was tensed because I thought even though I love you a lot, still you can never be mine. I've already told you the reasons for thinking that. Even though I thought this he still tried his best to convince me that these reasons don't matter and I should tell you how I feel but I wasn't sure if I should. Then later I decided not to say anything to you."
"Huh! That means you were never gonna say anything to me, even though you knew you loved me and you were just gonna leave me and go away forever???" asked Jodha disappointedly. "If I hadn't called today you would have just left without telling me anything??" asked Jodha sadly.
"Yes, I thought if I told you and you didn't like it and stopped talking to me after that, then what will I do?? But if I don't say anything then you would atleast stay my friend. I didn't wanna jeopardize our friendship. Infact I even tried staying away from you."
"What do you mean you tried staying away from me?? How exactly did you do that?? And when did you do that?? How come I don't know about it??" Jodha asked in cranky tone, she was just so puzzled learning about all these things.
"I uhhh...I was gonna...ummm you remember the science fair we went to??"
"Yes of course I remember, it was so much fun" Jodha happily replied.
"I was planning not to take you along so I can stay away from you. Remember I wasn't even talking to you that day since morning and thought later in the day I will give you some excuse for taking you out of the project."
"Oh my god!!! How mean...mujhe mere hi project se nikaal rahe the?? Maine uspe kitni mehnat ki thi." (You were taking me out of my own project?? I worked so hard for it.) Jodha was feeling sad and angry at the same time.
"I know" Jalaal sadly replied.
"Phir nikaala kyun nahin?? Nikaal dete na!!" (Then why didn't you take me out?? You should have done that!!) Jodha said in angry tone. "Oh yeah, you had another big reason to kick me out that day after what happened with Principal Mam, you could have used that against me" Jodha added with fuming anger.
"Actually that was the reason for not kicking you out, I didn't want you to think that I made you leave because of what happened...it was my fault that it happened, I felt so guilty for it" replied Jalaal in extremely calm tone.
Hearing his concern for her Jodha calmed down a bit and asked "How was it your fault?? Why do you think that??"
"Because if I wasn't trying to stay away from you I would've been in that room with you and none of that would have happened. I was only thinking about myself and concentrating on staying away from you that day, you wouldn't have gotten in trouble if I wasn't" Jalaal sadly replied in a guilty tone.
"Is that why you were not talking to me that day or rather that week??" Jodha asked in low tone.
"Hmmm" replied Jalaal in low tone.
"But why suddenly that week you started avoiding me?? I mean why you chose that particular week??" Jodha asked curiously.
"JOdha, you have no clue about what I was going through. I was feeling so lost and puzzled... Being your teacher, Our age difference and our religion difference, all of these problems made me realize we have no future together but my heart was not ready to think practically... my helpless heart took away my peace and sleep... And It wasn't sudden at all...I was feeling confused since many weeks, to accept my feelings for you was not less than any war... it was a battle between my heart and my mind... I had so many questions in my mind, didn't know what to do with my feelings...didn't know if I should say anything to you or not?? Then I talked to Vipul and he tried to convince me to reveal my feelings to you but I was extremely scared thinking What if you reject me? What if you get upset with me? and mostly I was scared of loosing you, I was not ready to take that chance. But then it started getting more and more difficult to keep my feelings hidden from you when I was near you. I thought if it was getting difficult to hide my feelings in school when I see you for hardly an hour, then how would I manage four whole days with you at the fair?? That's why I decided to make you leave the project. All morning that day I prayed to GOD to show me the right way but when I saw you leaving in tears I cursed myself for not getting there earlier. I couldn't bear to see you in tears, that's when I decided not to say anything. I didn't want you to be hurt" Jalaal replied in defending tone.
Jodha kept listening quietly.
"But next day when you cried so much, it broke my heart to see you like that, I felt like killing Ms Bindu for saying all that to you without having any idea about what had happened. " Suddenly Jalaal's tone got a bit angry remembering that day.
Jodha said in very calm tone "But I think if that incident wouldn't have happened we wouldn't be talking about all this right now. So everything does happen for a reason." Jodha paused for a bit and then continued "but you know I was very upset that week because you were not talking to me and ignoring me, I thought you were mad at me for something and then this problem with Principal mam happened and I got even more scared thinking you would get more mad at me now but you didn't. I was very surprised and happy when you trusted and supported me."
"Of course I trusted you, I never wanted to hurt you, I always wanted to see you happy. Seeing you crying and not being able to wipe your tears or give you a consoling hug was very difficult, I barely stopped myself that day after holding your hand. I wish..." Jalaal didn't complete what he was about to say.
"What do you wish??" Jodha asked curiously.
"Nothing...it's not possible.
"What's not possible?? Tell me your wish, I will make it possible" Jodha insisted.
"You will?? Hmmm okay!! I wish I could hug you right now." Jalaal smirked mischieviously and continued "okay now make it possible."
"Right now??" Jodha nervously asked.
"Hmmm right now" teased Jalaal.
Jodha thought for a minute and said "Okay fine I will make it possible right now."
"What!! How??" asked Jalaal stunned.
"Close your eyes"
"Why?"
"Offo just close them"
"Okay baba kar li" (fine I closed them)
"Good!! Now open your arms"
"Open my arms?? Why??" Jalaal asked confusingly.
"Aap sawaal bahut poochte ho!! Jo keh rahi huin bas wo karo" (You ask so many questions!! Just do as I say.)
He smirked after hearing her bossy and innocent statement... "Okay mam I opened my arms, now what??"
"Okay here I come!! See I am there with you, in your arms. Do you feel me??"
"Yes I do" Jalaal replied happily with a huge grin. "You know you are sooo sweet!!"
Jodha smiled shyly and trying to change the topic asked "I wanna ask you something, can I??"
"Of course you can, you don't need permission, ask whatever you want to." He replied curiously.
"What did you say to Principal Mam and Ms. Bindu??" Jodha asked quizzically.
"What !! That's what you wanted to ask??" Jalal replied with little disappointment.
"Yes"
"Nothing, I just told them I gave you permission to go there and nothing was going on... I trust you." He quickly replied and finished answering in a haste.
"That's it??" Jodha said in low tone
"Yes!" He replied firmly.
"I also said that, but they didn't believe me." Said Jodha complaining tone.
"Please forget about it, it happened months ago!! Do you want to tell me something??" asked Jalaal trying to divert her mind.
"Uhh no!" said Jodha feigning innocence. "But, I do wanna ask you something."
"Again?? Okay ask."
"When did you started uhhh...you know...aaahhh... liking me... I mean..."
"Liking you?? I always liked you, what do you mean??" Jalaal pretended not to understand her question. He knew what she wanted to know but he wanted her to say it out loud.
"No no not this... I mean when did you start uhhh...you know what I mean!!"
"No, I don't know what you mean??" He replied with impassive innocent tone.
"Huh!! Okay rehne do mat batao" (fine don't tell!!) replied Jodha feeling very annoyed.
Jalaal smirked hearing her annoyed tone.
"Okay I will answer your question but I have one condition first???" He said mischievously.
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