Hi friends, here is a short story that should make you smile........I am trying to compensate for all the tears, agony and frustration that I have caused to some of you in the other fanfic. 😆
The Jai and Bani in this story are an older couple with grown up kids. You will see some repetition, but no tears.........yahan pe rona dhona mana hain.
So while you enjoy this chotta sa effort of mine at sending some khushi your way, I will work on the 'Redeem Jai Walia' phase.
Take care, enjoy and do share your views with me, if you feel upto it.
8.30 pm, Walia Finance Corporation
The C.E.O's office
A loud knock on the door.
"Come in," called out the deep husky voice.
"I'm leaving Boss," Simi called in her chipper voice, sticking her head around the door. "Remember. The Mrs. wants you home early."
Jai waved her away. "Singapore's got a crisis. I'll get there as soon as I can." He grimaced, running his fingers through his hair. He swiveled in his chair and gazed at the waning New York City skyline as it faded into dusk.
Simi's voiced droned in his ear and Jai made notes on his pad, trying to figure out how to solve this mess.
Three hours later, frustrated from dealing with Jaz and heavy traffic escaping the city at a snail's pace, Jai pulled into his empty suburban drive.
He wondered where Bani's car was and why the house loomed pitch black? Fumbling with his keys, he didn't see the hill barricading the front door and he stumbled over it.
Jai swore under his breath then groped for the doorknob like a blind man. When he found it, a cold metal object protruded from it.
With his car emergency flashlight, Jai surveyed the scene. His clothes and personal effects were bundled in trash bags. A dead bolt locked him out. A silver and blue 25th Wedding Anniversary banner laid ripped in two over the bags.
Oh God! Was this their Silver Anniversary? What day was this? He'd lost track of time in the midst of this London crisis. Had he screwed up that terribly? And where the devil had Bani disappeared to?
Jai checked the back doors. All had been bolted, just like the front. Bani had gone too far.........what the hell, after all he was the man of the house. Is this the kind of welcome he gets from his wife after a hard day's work?
He hopped in his sporty car, forgetting his clothes and headed towards his sister-in-law's house, breaking every speed limit by at least twenty miles per hour.
"Rano, is Bani there? Jai ground out between clenched teeth.
"Jai?" his sister-in-law Rano chuckled, her throaty tones laced with doom.
"Even if she was here, I wouldn't tell you."
"Come on Rano. I'm in no mood for games. Tell me where I can find my wife, god dammit" Jai growled, slapping the steering wheel with the flat of his hand.
"If my husband had been a no show at our 25th anniversary party, I'd be in Mexico getting a quick divorce and then heading to Vegas to look for husband number two..."
"She's not, is she?" Jai's foot stomped on the accelerator as his heart raced faster than his car. "Help me out Rano. I'm dying."
"Try Krishna's house. You'd better do some major league groveling." She slammed the phone in his ear and Jai winced.
He made a U-turn, fairly sailing at 60 miles per hour, catching a ticket from a lady cop he could've sworn upped his fine after hearing his tale of woe.
He plucked a blood red rose off a bush in front of Krishna's house then banged on the door, empty of patience.
Krishna glared at Jai through the slit in her doorway. "The traitor's here, Mom!"
"Is every female out to get me tonight?" Jai mumbled under his breath, ready to throttle his oldest daughter who regarded him smugly.
Little Carina peered up at him with glowing eyes. "Are you really a neglectful, chauvinistic, macho jerk like Grandma says?" She tugged Jai's hand and bestowed a winning smile on him. "What's a chauvinistic neglectful macho jerk, Grandpa?"
"It means she thinks I'm adorable, Poppet." Her waist length silky brown hair brushed across Jai's arm. He winked at the adorable four-year old and swung her into his arms. "At least one female still likes me," he mumbled.
Fixing a stern glare on his daughter, he ordered, "Let me in Krishna."
"Don't let him in!" Bani commanded. "He doesn't deserve your pity."
Krishna didn't budge and he let out a long sigh. "Tell your Grandma I love her and that I'm very, very sorry, Poppet."
"Tell your father it's not fair to use Carina," Bani said, a queen-size pout lacing her voice.
Krishna raised a finely arched brow. "Mom says to tell you it's no fair using..."
"For Heaven's sake. I'm not deaf," snapped Jai. He lowered Carina to her feet then handed her the rose. "Give this to your Grandma."
Carina trotted to Bani on her chubby legs. When Krishna opened the door wide to permit Carina's entrance, Jai slid inside.
Jai's eyes drank in the vision of his wife. Bani still wore her gold laced party gown but had shed her heels. He could see that she'd had her hair and nails groomed. Chanel #5 tickled his nose. If it weren't for the daggers shooting from her big black eyes or the pout on her generous lips, he'd think her the most beautiful vision on Heaven or Earth.
"I've been ten kinds of a fool, sweetheart." Jai crossed the room. "Time slipped away. I was in the middle of a crisis with Singapore."
A tear trickled down Bani's cheek. When Jai reached his finger out to brush it away, she recoiled. "It's always business. Someone always has a problem and you're the only one in the whole wide world who can fix it. You're on call twenty-four hours a day for everybody but me," Bani whispered, brushing the tears away with the back of her hand. "You're never there for me, Jai, never.........you're married to your work, not me."
Jai stiffened as if slapped. "You're the most important person in the world to me, Bani." He held out his hand to her. "Come home and let me prove it to you."
Krishna clamped her hands over Carina's ears, scowling as she whisked the child to her bedroom.
Bani frowned. "That won't work this time, Jai. I don't believe you anymore. You humiliated me in front of all our family and friends tonight. They laughed at me and our marriage."
Jai ran his fingers through his hair. "What can I do to prove how much I love you?" His voice broke.
"I don't know anymore. Please leave, Jai." Bani rose from her chair and left the room, her back arrow straight.
"You'd best go, Daddy." Krishna murmured lowering her eyes. She pecked him on the cheek. "What you did was rotten but I still love you."
Jai hugged her to him. "I hope your mother still does."
**************************
Monday morning found Jai disheveled as a vagabond, stiff and cranky as a grizzly bear.
"Did you sleep here?" Simi clucked her tongue. "I was afraid of this after the fiasco Friday night..."
"Stuff a sock in it, Simi," Jai grumbled.
"You look worse than a victim in a Godzilla flick..." She took a sip of her coffee, her eyes never leaving his face.
Jai threw a balled up sock at her and she ducked. "Get me some coffee. Black. And try not to rub it in. I'm your boss."
"Yes boss," teased Simi. She walked towards the coffee maker.
"So what're you doing to get the Mrs. back?" Simi clamped her hands on her hips and favored Jai with her mother hen stare.
"I went to get Bani at Krishna's Friday night. She kicked me out," Jai growled.
"You've not sent flowers or chocolates?" Simi asked in disbelief, pausing as she fixed Jai a lethal cup of pure Columbian Mountain grown.
"I took a rose..." said Jai.
"One rose?" Simi seemed to consider that for a second, tossed her head back and chortled.
"What's so hilarious?" Jai sank into his chair, laced his fingers together in his lap and glared at her. He propped his feet on his desk and wiggled his toes.
"You, are such a.....can I say 'duh' boss." Simi picked up the phone and dialed, ignoring Jai's deep scowl. "Hi, can you please arrange to send one dozen red roses to..." She paused, covering the mouthpiece with her hand. "Where's Mrs. Walia staying?"
"With Krishna the Traitor." Jai watched her with narrowed eyes.
Simi thrust the phone at Jai without warning. "Give him the address."
When Jai had reluctantly finished, Simi took the phone back. "Make sure you do it every noon and at six p.m. till further notice," she instructed.
"Jesus Fu*king Christ, Simi! You'll bankrupt me at this rate." Jai dove across his desk for the phone but Simi backed off and crooked her finger at him. A wicked gleam danced in her sable brown eyes. "He says to make those two dozen red roses, twice a day," she said over his groans and glares.
Simi dialed the phone again. "Which is the largest teddy bear you have?" She listened intently, her eyes studying the blocks on the ceiling. "Yeah, that sounds perfect. Can you please courier the bear to..." She stuck the phone in Jai's hands again.
Jai reluctantly gave in. "This is all going to come out of your pay check, Simi."
As soon as Jai hung up, Simi punched out another number with her long, slim finger.
"What now?" Jai narrowed his eyes at her. "Remember, you're coming up for annual review, you better watch it unless you want to be out of a job." He let the threat hang in the air.
Simi winked impertinently and perched on Jai's desk. "Anything to bring your married life back on track, boss. You know how much I love you and the Mrs."
When she got through to the number she was calling, Simi asked, "What ultra romantic vacations do you have available this week?"
"Hang up right now, Simi. I'm not footing that kind of bill. Just because you are my cousin sister, don't take advantage. I can and will fire your sorry ass for messing with me," warned Jai.
Then toying with the idea, as an after thought, Jai added, "Besides, I can't get away. Singapore needs me..."
"You can and you will get away. And like you said, I am your cousin sister and I am the only one who can be bold enough to show you the error of your ways. You want Bani back, don't you?" Simi let her gaze roam over his length. "You look worst than Ranjha and Devdas, Boss."
"Jaz is due in from Singapore on Wednesday." Jai dreaded that meeting. Jaz sounded as if he were about to commit Hari Kari. With his luck, it would be on his time, in his office.
Simi held up her hand, cutting him off. "You have a choice of Jamaica, the Bahamas or California."
"California," Jai said. He could drive there, at least, and not spend too much money. He might even be able to sneak back for an afternoon appointment after booking Bani into a spa.
"Book us for Jamaica," Simi instructed on the phone. Covering the mouthpiece, she smiled at Jai and said, "I'm your sister, remember, I know exactly how the twisted little mind of yours works."
Jai opened his mouth to protest. But Simi cut him short. "You have major groveling to do. No one misses their 25th Wedding Anniversary party." She favored him with a look that was only shades less disgusted than Krishna's had been.
But Simi had a point. Jai pressed his lips together, chastised.
Simi grinned and passed the phone to him.
"It's dead," exclaimed Jai and lifted his brow in confusion.
"I know," said Simi. "I've done the main part, your turn now. Use that smarty pants brain of yours and get Bani something she really loves; something that'll make her melt in your arms."
"You are hell bent of bankrupting me, aren't you?" said Jai with a smile. He thought hard, swiveling in his chair to watch the city awake. Twenty two stories below, people bustling to their office cages reminded him of worker ants. Finally he had a brainstorm and faced an expectant Simi.
"Call my jeweler and have them deliver their finest OPAL pendant laced with diamonds......that's Bani's favorite."
Simi shook her head. "No can do." She retrieved his loafers and dropped them before him, one at a time. "You have to pick it out and deliver it personally. It's called adding the personal touch, which you definitely need to do. But," she grimaced, "Shower, shave, groom yourself well and come back for the tickets before you go to see Bani."
"Anything else, Boss?" Jai drawled, stretching, feeling a bit human again after swigging down a ton of the killer caffeine. He slid his feet into his shoes.
"I'll make reservations at Bani's favorite Italian restaurant for tonight, then you'll take her dancing under the moonlight, then ride the ferry home..." said Simi with a smile.
Jai peered at her, feeling a ghost of a grin hovering around his lips. "This sounds rather like I'm tricking Bani......doing stuff that she would definitely fall for."
"For her own good and yours," said Simi with a smile. "Sometimes tricking is allowed. Now scoot and let me work," she shooed him out the door, grinning from ear to ear. "Bring out the big guns, brother. Show her what the Walia's are all about. Wear your Christian Dior..."
Jai turned, regarding Simi in a new light. "You were a matchmaker in your last life, weren't you?"
Simi smiled, "Anything for my duh brother. That's what sisters are for......the good times and bad times, I'll be on your side forever more."
Jai couldn't help but laugh at her antics. "Thank you," he said to her and kissed her on the forehead affectionately.
"I know how you can thank me," Simi said with a naughty gleam in her eyes. "When Bani takes you back, don't forget that annual review of mine which is coming up.........a promotion and double increment would be just what I deserve for all the hard work I put in."
*****************************************
Three hours later, the OPAL pendant burning his pocket, Jai rushed to meet Bani. He intercepted the flower delivery man and held the roses before him when the door opened.
"For you, my one and only sweetheart," he said huskily.
Wonder dawned in Bani's eyes. A matching smile spread across her face like the dawn of a new day and she accepted the bouquet, smelling the flowers. "They're lovely."
Jai breathed a sigh of relief as he stepped forward to embrace his heart's desire. "Thank God you forgive me. I knew the roses would......"
"I don't recall saying that," Bani countered, sarcasm dripping from her words. Water and roses cascaded over Jai's head, the next instant before the door slammed in his face.
Jai spluttered and pushed hair out of his eyes, then shook his shoulders as if he were a wet Alsatian dog.
"Plan A self-destructed," Jai groused, pacing the office like a spurned lion, making a brown path in the white carpet that graced his office floor. "And all thanks to you.........you can forget that damn promotion of yours," he growled.
"Then activate plan B," Simi murmured, unperturbed. "Shower her with jewels..."
Jai glared at her.
"What? At least she won't be pouring anything wet and poky all over you," said Simi trying hard to control her laughter.
Jai took a deep breath. Within an hour, he presented the pendant to his lady love. "How lovely!" Bani exclaimed, fingering the pendant, holding it up to the sun's rays. "You remembered my favorite. Opals and diamonds."
"Will you accept them, Darling?" Jai asked, his fingers crossed for good luck behind his back.
"How could I refuse?" Bani's eyes glowed like amethysts in the afternoon sunlight.
Hope flared in Jai's chest. "I've missed you so much darl..." The door slammed in his face before he could even complete his sentence.
Jai picked himself up from the dust and ambled away, his head bent, his feet scuffling the pavement and hands punching almost anything and everything that came in his way.
***********************************
Two days later, chagrined after he'd learned that Bani had dumped freezing water on his singing telegram, Jai screwed up his courage to face her and knocked on the door once again.
Multiple rejections scared him that Bani meant business and that she harbored no desire to reconcile. Because he knew her very well, and this was not how she would behave otherwise, which meant that he really crossed the line this time.
A mischievous smile danced around Bani's lips when she opened the door. "What gifts do you bear today?"
Red roses framed the entryway. Their scent filled Jai's nostrils but he barely noticed for his heart swelled with love and longing. Bani was a vision to behold against lush rose petals. Jai dropped to one knee as if he was courting a princess.
Taking Bani's slim-boned hand in his, Jai turned it palm up and kissed it, his spirits bolstered when she trembled. From the corners of his eyes, he watched for signs of water or other tortures she could bestow on him.
"Run away with me to paradise, Sweetheart. We have a cabana in Jamaica. We'll dance under the stars, skinny dip on our private beach and gloriously make love on the sand all week...." said Jai pleadingly.
Bani's eyes darkened as she seemed to consider this. Silence cloaked Jai and his heart rose in his throat.
"This would be like our honeymoon," whispered Jai.
When Bani remained silent, Jai groped in his pocket for the tickets he'd laminated so she couldn't douse them with water or shred them to bits.
As Bani stared at them, a slight frown puckered her brows. She didn't know whether to smile or be angry. The laminated tickets definitely deserved a smile. She patted Jai's hand consolingly. "I can see you are smarting up and all this is very flattering and very sweet, but I don't think so. It's over, Jai. Give up gracefully and let's part as friends."
Jai rose to his feet, his heart ready to burst from pain. "Why Bani?" His voice cracked in rhythm with his heart. Blood pounded in his ears and his palms grew clammy. "Why are you doing this to us?"
Despair flickered across Bani's eyes. Her lips trembled ever so slightly. "Because you have a mistress and I can't share you, I am not very generous when it comes to you..." She turned away from him, her shoulders shaking.
Gently, Jai placed his hands on Bani's arms and turned her to face him. "There's nobody else," he promised. "You claim my heart, all of it. Only you."
Bani shook her head, disbelief in her eyes. "You love your business more than me, Jai. Your job always comes first." She veiled her eyes from him, her eyelashes reminded him of lacy black fans on her high cheek bones.
Jai couldn't let Bani shut him out. "I love you, Bani." He pulled her into his
arms and kissed her until she melted against him and he almost lost his mind. Against her lips, he said in a ragged whisper, "Give me a second chance. Give us a second chance. Please."
She tried to pull away but Jai wouldn't let her. She felt heavenly in his arms, so warm, so soft, and completely intoxicating.
"You'll forget me again. One panic call from Singapore or London and we would be back to square one. I couldn't bear that...I don't want to anymore." Her voice slid like silk down his spine.
Lifting Bani's chin with his forefinger, Jai forced her gaze to meet his. "You're my business, Bani. My life, my heart and my soul. You complete me. I'll quit the company and we'll travel. Do whatever you want. As long as I have you by my side." Sincerity rang in Jai's words. He plucked a rose from a bouquet and tucked it behind Bani's ear.
She gasped, her eyes widening. "You can't mean that! You love your career."
"No........I love you the most. Your words are my food, your breath my wine. You are everything to me. I cannot exist without you. I know I have taken you for granted always, but what you don't know is that I am forgetful of everything but seeing you again. My life seems to stop there, I see no further. You have absorbed me. I have a sensation at the present moment as though I were dissolving. I have been astonished that men could die martyrs for religion. I have shuddered at it. I shudder no more. I could be martyred for my religion: Love is my religion. I could die for that. I could die for you. My creed is love, and you are its only tenant."
"Are you sure?" Bani asked, finding it difficult to believe.
Jai nestled Bani against his shoulder and dropped a feather light kiss on the top of her head. "I meant every word, Bani. I love you and I want to spend every minute with you. I swear to you, I won't miss our Golden Anniversary."
Bani sighed softly, snuggling closer against him, lifting her lips for him to seal his solemn promise. "Take me home, Jai. You've some promises to keep." She tiptoed, pressing her lips against his and they lost themselves in Heaven.
When a man loves a woman
He can't keep his mind on nothing else
He'll trade the world
For the good thing he's found
If she's bad he can't see it
She can do no wrong
Turn his back on his best friend
If he put her down
When a man loves a woman
He'll spend his very last dime
Trying to hold on to what he needs
He'd give up all his comfort
Sleep out in the rain
If she said that's the way it ought to be
The gales of life toss and tumble our souls, but we remain steadfast. Linked by a man's strength and a woman's fortitude, we endure. We change. We cry. We crest. Love takes on a burnished cast forged in the fire of experience.
Slower in movement, but free in spirit, love continues still. Reflections on the amorous nature of youth, love has deepened and is deeper. When fate determines our release from the bonds of humanity, our love will make us soar to our portion of Heaven.
CID
