Part 43
**************
Bani checked her suitcase one more time. She was sure she packed everything. Yawning, she checked the time and couldn't believe how long it took her to pack her a couple days worth of clothes. Jigyasa knocked softly and walked into the room with a smile on her face.
"All packed?"
Bani nodded.
Jigyasa quickly glanced at Bani's suitcase as she zipped it shut. "Oh- before I forget, Jai is looking for you. He said something about Neha?"
"What happened?" Bani asked concerned.
"I don't know- something like he cant find her toy or something… anyways he was calling you." Jigyasa said hurrying her out of the room.
She watched as Bani walked away, then turned to look at the suitcase with a smile.
***
Bani went in search of Neha. It was getting late, and she had an early flight to catch- not to mention it was far past her bed time.
She found Jai and Neha playing in the drawing room. Jai chased her as Neha crawled away quickly. Bani smiled- this little girl was crawling faster and faster every day.
"Gotcha!" He said scooping her up into his arms. Neha shrieked out of happiness.
"Ok, we're going to try this one more time." Jai said making Neha stand on her feet. She looked at him with a smile thinking that they were going to start playing a new game. "Just one step at a time…" Jai said holding her hands as she stepped towards him. One shaky step at a time, she walked with him. After a few steps, he let her hands go and she stopped moving. She stood there, swaying back and forth watching him as he stepped backwards.
"Come on! Come here!" He said holding his arms out for her trying to encourage her. Neha stared at him holding her hands together, unsure of what she had to do.
Just then Neha lost her balance and fell backwards. She began to wail loudly, breaking Jai's heart. "No no no no- don't cry. You're ok…" He picked her up in his arms and paced around the room. "I think we're done for today…"
"Still no luck?" Bani said walking into the room hearing Neha's shrill cry. Jai shook his head dejectedly. Neha extended her arms out to Bani wanting to be held.
"I think its your bedtime," she said rubbing Neha's back.
"My bed time? Since when do I have a bedtime?" He teased her.
"Since you have an early flight tomorrow…" She responded in the same manner. "Di, said you were asking for me?"
"I did? No, I don't think so…"
"Oh… that's strange." Bani said shrugging it off. Jigyasa was probably confused.
Laughing, Jai followed her back to the room. Bani sat with Neha on the rocking chair as Jai went to change into his nightclothes. By the time he came out, he found Neha asleep resting her head on Bani's shoulder, and Bani herself asleep in the rocking chair. Smiling, he carefully took Neha out of her arms, settling he down in her in her crib. He didn't have the heart to wake Bani up, but she was so sound asleep that she didn't even stir when he took Neha from her arms.
Being extremely gentle, Jai slowly lifted her up into his arms and she snuggled against him as he carried her a few feet away to her bed. Jai stood there for a moment, studying her as she slept. He set her down in her bed and covered her with a blanket. After stirring for a few moments, he breathed a sigh of relief that she didn't wake up.
***
Bani kissed her little girl goodbye for the millionth time that morning. Leaving her was heartbreaking, but the support that she received from the family was comforting. Rano ensured her that they would take good care of Neha- and Bani believed it too.
But Bani's mind kept wandering to the last trip to Goa- and her having to rush home in emergency, or even when Tarun took Neha away. The thought made her shudder. Bani couldn't help but fall back to those thoughts time and time again. Jai touched her shoulder lightly, indicating that it was time to go. Waving one more goodbye, and planting one more kiss on her cheek, Bani climbed into the car. She tried her best to ignore the stinging in her eyes.
As they grew near the airport, Jai noticed her anxiety increasing. His mind wandered back to the first flight they took to Goa and her fear of flying. Watching her fiddle with her sari pallu, he quietly pulled it out of her hand and enclosed his hand over hers. Instinctively, she did the same.
After a quiet flight, Jai noticed that Bani seemed more relaxed. Then again she had had held his hand in a death grip for most of the flight causing it to go numb, but aside from that she seemed to be doing better. As soon as they landed, Bani called home to check up on Neha. Jai smiled to himself, but understood completely.
Instead of heading straight to the hotel, they decided heading to the construction site directly was necessary. It was still early and they figured they could get as much work done as possible. As they approached the site, they were both surprised to see it was business as usual. The architect approached them with a smile, wondering what brought on this surprise visit.
"Mr. Walia! Welcome! This was unexpected!" He said extending out his hand.
"Hello, Mr. Mehta," Jai smiled and shook his hand. "How is this unexpected? We were sent here because we were told that the workers were having a sit-out. I thought we would have to sit through negotiations with the labor union."
"A sit-out? Im afraid you were misinformed, Mr. Walia. We havent had any problems as such yet, and hopefully we wont later either." He looked surprised. "So far the labor unions have been cooperative."
Jai studied him and then looked back at the site to see that the workers were working diligently. He turned to Bani, who was busy looking at the progress with a mesmerized look on her face. "Mr. Mehta, you remember Bani." He said introducing her.
"Oh yes. Ms. Dixit- how are you?" Bani glanced at Jai quickly, then shook his hand lightly.
"Walia. Her last name is Walia." He said beaming. Mr. Mehta looked back and forth from Jai to Bani for a few seconds, slowing catching on what he meant. It surprised Jai that he didn't read it in the papers, but decided to shrug it off. Bani was too lost to notice. She looked at the site in wonderment, just imagining their hard work coming to life.
"Mr. Mehta, can you please give us a few minutes?" Jai said seeing Bani's expression. Nodding, he left the two alone. Jai walked up behind her, putting his arm around her shoulder and watched her look at the frame of the building. It didn't look like much, but Bani could see the potential and how it was developing.
"It's going to turn out beautifully," Jai said softly. Bani broke out of her thoughts and looked up at him with exhilaration playing in her eyes. He smiled and nodded. "Your hard work will pay off, Bani."
Bani shook her head. "Our hard work."
"Did you want to take a tour?"
Bani nodded excitedly, and Jai found two hardhats for the two of them to wear. Seeing that she was dressed in a sari, they decided to stay on the ground level, but throughout the tour, Jai held her hand to make sure she didn't trip or hurt herself. Jai was surprised at Bani, who took full control of the tour- fielding questions, offering suggestions- all of which were acceptable to Jai.
A couple of hours later, Jai decided that they had spent enough time at the site and that they should head back to the hotel to freshen up. As soon as they jumped into the car, Jai took out his cell phone and dialed the number for home.
"Hello, Adi?"
"Yes?"
"Why the hell did you tell me there was a sit-out in Goa? There are no strikers, no problems with the labor unions- Nothing!"
"I'm sorry?"
"A sit-out!" He enunciated. "I come here to find that there are no problems in the construction…"
"Oh… I think you have the wrong number." Adi replied trying to suppress his laughter. Even still, the smile on his face was evident through his voice.
Click.
"Hello? Hello! Adi?!" Jai looked at his phone as if it the inane object had hung the phone up. "He hung up on me!" Jai exclaimed, turning to Bani. But Bani was hardly paying attention. The deep blue of the water had caught her attention. With the afternoon sun glimmering off of it, it was a breathtakingly beautiful.
Jai slid next to her discreetly as her eyes remained fix outside. He leaned in a bit, and rested his chin on her shoulder while looking out. This brought Bani out of her trance as she looked down at him surprised.
"Its beautiful, isn't it?" He asked softly. She nodded as the blush crept up to her cheeks. He smiled as they finally reached the hotel.
The bellhop took their luggage up to their room as Jai was handed the room keys by the concierge. Being the owner of the hotel, Jai was shown around the general operations as a formality to ensure everything was running in perfect condition.
After quickly checking in, Jai decided to take Bani around Goa since they were there for the night anyways. He recalled that their previous trip ended abruptly and Bani didn't get a chance to roam around the city.
The driver brought them to Old Goa, the part of town where various old churches remained preserved. Bani studied the old architecture and its Portuguese influence. Walking into some of the buildings, she could see the main attraction was the historical value.
Jai then took her to Anjuna, famous for their flea market. Amongst the palm trees, vendors had set up their stalls displaying an array of colorful objects. Knowing Bani, Jai knew that she love the arts and handicrafts that were on display. And she did. Bani looked at all the hand painted objects with disbelief, seeing talent of the rural artists in a whole new light. The two perused through rows and rows of stalls, admiring souvenirs.
Bani walked along the stalls and stopped at one of childrens clothing with hand sewn embroidery. An elderly woman gave a gentle smile and guided her through her items. Bani found a little white dress with tiny colorful fish embroidered at the edge, and immediately fell in love. She knew that Neha would look adorable in it. Turning to get Jai's opinion on it, she saw that he was busy chatting with one of the vendors. She decided to make it an impulsive buy.
As she paid the kind woman, Bani looked around to find Jai, but he had moved from where he was. She stood there for a moment checking a small crowd of people that were passing through the walk way. As they diverged into their own ways, a man stood there, watching her. His cold dark eyes sending a piercing pain in her heart. Tarun had found her. He stood there not moving, his hands in his pocket.
Bani stared up at him afraid to blink. She felt her heart drop to the pit of her stomach. She glanced at the elderly woman in the stall who was watching Bani stand there curiously, wondering why this woman hadn't moved away from her stall. Tarun stared at her, the bitterness in his eyes. He eyed the sindoor, the mangalsutra, the ring on her finger, then brought his eyes back up to her.
Bani looked at him wanting to say something, wanting to scream out but she couldn't find her voice.
Step by step he walked towards her, and she couldn't figure out where to run. She was cemented in her spot, afraid to move, hoping that this was all just a bad dream.
*****
Jai looked at the seashell picture frames with care. A picture of the two of them in Goa would be something nice to have. As he inspected the tiny shells surrounding the glass, he paused. Something didn't feel right. He had left Bani just a few minutes back, and was sure she was fine, but he just couldn't shake this strange feeling.
Setting the frame back on the table, he turned around walking towards where he had last seen Bani, when a bloodcurdling scream came from the same direction.
****
Jai bolted towards her finding her standing in front of the stall. "Bani- what happened?! Whats wrong?" Jai said inspecting her to make sure she was ok. Her tear stained face looked up at him pointing to the direction behind him.
"Wo-Woh Tarun… Mr. Walia.. Tarun…" She pointed with her hands shaking. Jai turned around but couldn't make out anyone that looked remotely familiar.
"Tarun? No, Bani… no it couldn't be him," He said in disbelief. "Are you sure?"
Bani somehow nodded. "He… he came here… he was standing right there and then he walked to me… Mr. Walia, he was right there, I saw him… He found me…" Bani said breaking down crying. "He ran… when I screamed… that way. Mr. Walia- Neha!"
"Bani, nothing will happen to Neha… I will make sure of it." He said holding her face in his palms. "Im going to go find him." Jai said angrily. But before he could turn around to walk away, Bani grabbed his arm.
"No… Please don't leave me, Mr. Walia…" She said with tears falling from her cheeks.
The look she gave him nearly shattered his heart. "No, Bani… I wont leave you. I wont ever leave you. Im right here." Jai said pulling her into his arms. He could feel her warm tears seeping through his shirt as she buried her face into his chest, and all he could do was rub her back gently trying to calm her down. A small crowd gathered around them, trying to see what the commotion was about, but Jai ignored them.
After a few minutes, she calmed down and the crowd dispersed. "Bani, lets go back to the hotel, ok? We'll have dinner up there." He said softly. Picking up her purse and bag from the ground, he wrapped his arm around her shoulder and led her back to the car.
******
Despite the food smelling so good, Bani didn't have an appetite. Jai tried coaxing her into eating but he could tell she just wasn't in the mood. Even he could hardly eat seeing her so upset. He sat with her, as she struggled with her fears.
As soon as they had reached the hotel, Jai had called the house for extra security, and then made a call to the Police Commissioner. They were going to issue a restraining order immediately.
Bani had calmed down quite a bit, but still seemed lost in her thoughts. She was pretty quiet and that worried him. Soon enough she fell asleep- Jai felt better. He hoped that a good nights rest would make her feel well again.
Jai sat on the sofa of the suite with his laptop checking on her occasionally. He knew that there was a chance that the man she saw was not Tarun, but he trusted her and her instincts. Bani whimpered in her sleep and Jai couldn't help but watch her. Getting up and walking towards her, Jai fixed the blanket as she slept.
She looked worried, and he knew she was having a fitful sleep. Stroking her hair a few times, he tried to calm her down and help her relax. For a moment she seemed to and he returned to the sofa to work on his laptop again.
****
Bani's fluttered to the sound of someone banging on the door. Her surroundings were dark and a bit hazy. It was hard to make out where she was, with the dim light she could barely tell she was in the hotel room. She looked around to see that the sofa that Jai had been sitting on was now empty, nearly untouched- where could he have gone?
The banging on the door continued. Looking around once more, she threw back the blanket and headed towards the door. Opening the door, she saw the shadowy figure of a man standing there. Taking a step backwards, the man stumbled in, his head hung low.
"Mr. Walia? Are you ok?"
He didn't answer.
"Mr. Walia-"
"Ssshhhhhh." He silenced her harshly. The pungent scent of alcohol hit her like a wave. It didn't seem right. This wasn't Jai.
As the man stumbled further in, the faint light hit his eyes and it could have only been like her worst nightmare coming true. How had he found her? But before she could scream, he walked in more forcefully, his hands coming around her neck, but not quite wringing them. Bani felt herself go weaker, the oxygen being taken away from her.
"HELP! Let me go!" She yelled out. But the more she tried to scream, the tighter he would squeeze. Bani tried her best to push him away, but he was too strong. She held his rough hands trying to pry them off of her neck.
"Stop it! Leave me alone!" She tried to yell out. But all she could do was try to breath…
****
"Bani, wake up! Wake up!" Jai said shaking her gently.
"NOOOOOO" Bani screamed out sitting up suddenly. The haziness of the room was gone, and the lights were brighter than they were just moments ago. Bani realized that she had been asleep. Panting heavily she looked to her side to see Jai sitting there concerned. "Mr. Walia… Tarun.. He's right there" She said pointing towards the door. "He found me.." She said throwing her arms around him. Jai, although surprised, closed his arms around her holding her tight against him.
"Bani, it was just a dream… nothing more than a bad dream." He said rubbing her back. "Nobody's there. Its just you and me."
"But it was so real… he came in and started choking me.. and I couldn't breathe…" She still couldn't breath properly. Jai let her go and walked to her bag to fish out her inhaler. Sitting back down, he rubbed her shivering shoulders seeing how distraught she was as she took her medicine.
She set it down, but the tears wouldn't stop falling. She began sobbing and Jai could do nothing but hold her. She wrapped her arms around him, trying to let it all out. After a few minutes, she pulled away, wiping her tears with the back of her hand.
"Im sorry, Mr. Walia. I didn't wake you up, did I?" She asked still sniffling.
"Actually, I was up doing some work and was just about to go to bed. And why are you apologizing? Its ok, Bani…" He said soothingly.
Bani stared at the blanket, and Jai stood up to walk back to his laptop. She felt empty as he walked away even with that small distance between them, and began to shiver again. Looking at his retreating back she had to stop him.
"Mr. Walia, please don't go… stay…" She requested quietly, afraid that he would reject her. Jai stopped and turned around. He saw the fear written in her eyes, and silently nodded. She moved towards the middle of the bed and he sat down next to her, with his back against the headrest.
She sat there not moving for a moment. This was all so new to her, but she knew that having him next to her would make her feel secure. Seeing her hesitation, he extended his arm indicating that she should lie next to him. Slowly she slid his direction and lied down, hugging his arm.
He smiled. She realized he was warm and comfortable, and it made her feel better that she was safe. Slowly, but surely she fell asleep. He looked down at her, and she finally looked relaxed. Jai tried to sit up so he could fix the blanket, but Bani whimpered, not wanting him to leave.
Jai shifted a bit so he too was lying down, Bani still clutched his arm. He watched her breath in and out until he too fell asleep.
*************
Happy Reading! 😳
Bigg Boss 19
Bade Achhe Lagte Hain
