I just want to say a big... 
to:
glossyglassy, premdesh, soapsick, moon_mine, angelina_angel, cute1122, resham12345, shahrukh_divya, Motibah, --Mehak--, sonia7, suryavni, -Garima-, ...Nikhita..., -fsn-, maryaa8688, tushar_premeer, -Kali-, rhtpkcm, NIMMY, sweta2005, alisha_harshiti
for taking the time to Comment, Hit the Like Button, and/or send a PM
It meant so much to me and I really appreciated it.
So onto the next part...
Part 4: Call Waiting
Heer fiddled with the straw in her cup as she sat there in the booth waiting for her order to come. It had been two weeks since she talked to Prem. He had told her that he wouldn't bother her and would simply wait. For the first few days she thought it was great that he wasn't trying to contact her and bring any more complications into her life. She thought in some way she'd be free from him forever. All she would have to do was to never speak to him again and she would be able to move on with her life. But as the days wore on she felt this strange desire to talk to him and it was bugging her to no end. She started wondering if this was his plan all along to drive her to communicate with him but to communicate what exactly? She wasn't ready to forgive him yet and she wasn't saying yes to starting over with him either. "You okay?" Heer lifted her head to the voice and gave a weak smile at Raj. He had unexpectedly dropped by her office to take her out to lunch. "A little stress at work?"
"Yea," she replied trying not to let on that something else was bothering her. Heer had decided that it was best not to tell Raj what had happened between her and Prem. She knew it was wrong and relationships were supposed to be built on trust but it wasn't like she was directly lying to him she was just keeping a particular detail of what transpired that night to herself. She knew if she admitted her transgression then it would cause a whole number of issues and she was afraid of how Raj would react to find she wasn't as chaste as he thought she was. Heer leaned back from the table as the waiter came out with their pizzas and decided to push all the craziness that was going on inside of her head aside for awhile and enjoy her food.
Lunch with Raj was pleasant as usual. Their conversation filled with the habitual morning news of various events sprinkled with a few entertainment gossip and work related frustrations. By the time they were through eating Raj received an urgent call from a co-worker about an important client wanting to meet with them in half an hour. "Sorry Heer," Raj said with a frown. "I won't be able to drop you off."
"It's fine Raj. The office is only a couple blocks down. I can walk'it's a nice day for it anyways," Heer replied.
"You're the best," he smiled and gave her a kiss on the check before he left.
Heer sat there in the booth slowly sipping the rest of her Diet Coke deciding to rest a bit before she made the walk back to her office. She wasn't in any rush to return to her cubicle and she was well ahead of her deadline. She just needed to do some minor tweaking and include a couple of photos for her column. As Heer leaned back in the booth and people watched those in the small pizza diner, a familiar figure caught her sight at the front door as the person walked in and sat in one of the front tables. It was Roshni. Heer felt a slight twinge of annoyance. She never had much interaction with Roshni and didn't know her too well. She knew that she was a co-worker of Prem's, her father had been friends with Prem's father, and she seemed to think highly of herself. Heer wasn't took concern with her presence in the diner but when she saw the front door open again and Prem walk through her blood began to boil. What was he doing having lunch with Roshni? All those so called things he had said to her about what had happened and his relationship status were all just lies? Heer's fist clenched as her worst fears where coming true that she was being played by Prem in his own twisted game. She motioned for the waiter to come over and asked for a re-fill of Diet Coke.
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Prem took the seat opposite of Roshni and folder his arms. "What do you want?" he curtly spoke.
She smiled, "Well, hello is that any way to greet your fiance?"
"You're my ex-fiance, okay? Ex," Prem responded stressing the word ex. "It's been a month since I broke up with you so I think it's a fitting distinction. You asked me to meet you here to talk about business so I'm here. Can you get to the point so I can leave?"
"I don't understand why you're acting so upset. But if there's anything that I can do to ease it..." she replied rather suggestively as she brushed the tip of her shoe against his leg.
Prem moved his chair back and grunted, "No thank you. I'm not interested."
Roshni wearily smiled at another failed attempt. She was always amazed how Prem could brush off her advances like that. That was perhaps one of things that intrigued her the most about him; he was a challenge. He didn't fawn over her like most men did. She had always known she was beautiful from a young age; the adoring attention she always received from men both young and old. It wasn't until her teenage years did she realize the power she held with her looks; a coy smile or a flirtatious comment could get her anything she wanted. She wasn't stupid enough to go too far and land herself in situations where her chastity would be in question; she still had values and morals.
Her relationship with Prem was dysfunctional at best. During the first few months of their engagement he shut himself out to everyone and was particular rude to her, but over time and much coxing from his mother to at least give it a try he slowly began to thaw. She could tell he was a good man at heart and took his responsibilities seriously. He loved his mother to no end despite what she had done to him. Roshni had a good relationship with his mother, Gayatri and her father had been good friends with Prem's father so there was a family connection. Roshni wasn't too surprised when the parents started talking about getting her and Prem engaged. But at times she felt like some sort of pawn in Gayatri's game to control her son's life. Even still Roshni willing played along to see if she could conquer Prem's heart. She was engaged to him and expected that as time went on he would eventually take certain rights from her but the most he would do was kiss her. She was frustrated that she couldn't get him to bring down his walls no matter what she did. The challenge he presented was eating away at her and in some odd way she found herself falling in love him and had perhaps become desperate to be acknowledged by him. The closest she ever got him to cross the boundary was when he had gotten drunk during a party. They had come back to her apartment and one thing lead to another. She'd never seen that passion in his eyes before that night and never did after wards. Nothing happened much to her dismay as he suddenly awoke from his drunken state realizing what was going to happen and quickly scrambled off the bed. He ran out of her apartment as fast as he could, leaving her there alone to curse her own fate. She knew the reason why because he couldn't forget her even after all those years she still lingered in his mind, Heer Maan. Roshni hated her with a fierce viciousness. How was she able to compete with a memory that he refused to let go?
"You'll regret this decision, Prem," Roshni said with conviction. "You let the best thing walk out of your life."
"I did let the best thing walk out of my life. I'm not making any more mistakes this time around. I don't care what you or Mom thinks," Prem replied. "Did you just call me here to talk about this stuff or did you have actual business to discuss?"
Roshni was fuming. She wasn't going to let him do this to her. She thought she would be nice and give him one more chance but his behavior indicated he wasn't going to budge from his decision. She wasn't going to play nice anymore. "I'm here to give you a warning. I'm going to take every single client from you and by the time I'm through with you...you won't have a single leg to stand on and that's a promise from Roshni Patel."
Prem's eyebrows flexed at her business threat. But before he could say anything further he felt a cold splash of something sticky and wet. He looked up and saw Heer standing there with an empty cup in her hand. He saw the anger and distraught expression on her face. "I hate you," she simply stated and slammed the cup down on the table. Prem sat there for a few seconds stunned but then quickly gathered his wits about him and rushed out the door chasing after her. "Heer!" he yelled. "It's not what you think!" He was suddenly pulled back by Roshni's hand. He twisted his arm and moved away from her and then helplessly looked down the road watching Heer's figure get further and further away from him. "Oh dear," Roshni replied. "I think you should let her calm down," and then snickered, "She's got quite a temper. So this is the type of girl you like?"
Prem narrowed his eyes, "If there is nothing more to discuss then I'm leaving."
"You better go find yourself some dry clothes before you return to the office. It wouldn't look good for some of the firm's clients to see you like this. Well, I guess I'll see you later at the office," Roshni replied and walked away.
Prem wanted nothing more than to explain the situation to Heer but he knew showing up at her office in his current condition wouldn't be good. And despite Roshni's taunt he knew she was right it was useless to talk to Heer when she was this worked up and upset. He sighed and walked towards the parking garage listening to the sloshing of his wet socks inside his dress shoes and feeling the strange stares from the people on the street.
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Heer locked herself in one of the restroom stalls and cried for a good fifteen minutes before she received some sort of composure. She felt completely betrayed by Prem. He had promised her that he would wait for her. Did he think he was excused from having flings while he waited; that he could just continue on with some relationship with Roshni until she came back to him? That he could have his fun, his flings, and her all at once? Heer felt sick to her stomach at his behavior. He promised to be true to her and if this was his way of showing then she didn't want any part. This was not the type of life partner she wanted. A part of her wanted to beat him to a pulp while the other was heartbroken in having her trust broken again.
Heer unlocked the stall and washed her face before going back to her cubical. Her friends although busy with their own columns noticed her puffy eyes as she walked back to her desk. They looked at her with concern and motioned to her what happened. She sighed knowing the office wasn't the most appropriate place to talk about her issues. She shook her head telling them it was okay. They wanted to say more but when the boss came rounding the corner everyone knew they had to go straight back to work.
It wasn't until after work did Here's friends corner her in the parking lot demanding to know what happened to her. "I'm fine guys," she protested.
"Fine? Heer you were obviously crying," Veera replied with extreme concern.
"Did you and Raj have a fight?" Sanjana asked.
"No, Raj and I did not have a fight," Heer answered.
"Then it must be the jerk," Ashlesha guessed. "Did you run into him again? What did he do this time?" Faltering underneath their gaze Heer gave up and recounted to them what had happened at the pizza diner.
"What a complete jerk!" Veera shouted. "I can't believe he actually did that."
"You did right to dump that Diet Coke on him," Ashlesha cheered. "Ha, I would have loved to seen the look on that dirty scoundrel's face. He must have been completely shocked at getting caught red handed."
"Did he try to offer any explanation?" Sanjana asked.
"Explanation? Why would she even bother asking for an explanation? He would have just told her more lies," Veera said.
"Well maybe there was an actual explanation..." Sanjana meekly said as she noticed Ashlesha and Veera giving her the stink eye. "I'm just saying that there are always two sides to every story. Not like I'm defending him or anything. Heer, has he tried to contact you?"
"He doesn't have my number and I don't have his either," Heer said.
"I think it's better that way," Veera said. "Anyways if he really was innocent he would have stopped by the office to talk to you...and he knows where the office is and he didn't come."
"But he did have Diet Coke spilled all over him," Sanjana replied.
"Just who's side are you on?" Veera questioned.
"She's always strides the middle in these things," Ashlesha said.
"Sorry if I like knowing both sides of the story," Sanjana replied rather vexed.
"Guys, I'm over it," Heer said. "I'm not wasting any more time on this. I just want to go home take a shower, slip in my PJs, and watch Pavitra Rishta while I eat my microwave dinner."
"How can you still watch Pavitra Rishta?" Ashlesha asked. "That show has completely gone off the deep end. Manav and Archana got a divorce. Where's the pavitra rishta? It's like apavirta now."
"I know but I can't help it. I love Sushant Singh Rajput...he's such a great actor," Heer replied. "Anyways, I'll see you girls tomorrow."
****************************************************
Despite her own feelings and Ashlesha's and Veera's advice she couldn't help but take heed to Sanjana's question. What exactly was Prem's side of the story? Was there really a story to tell? So consumed in her own thoughts Heer failed to realize that she had automatically driven into Prem's neighborhood. It wasn't until she saw the American style bungalow of Prem's house did it hit her where she was. "Why did I have to drive here?" Heer mumbled as she pulled the car up along the curb of house. She spotted another vehicle in his driveway and immediately assumed it belonged to Roshni. Heer gripped her steering wheel tightly and muttered, "No, he's not going to do this to me. I'm going to go to him before he comes up with some pretty well thought out explanation of what happened. I'm going to throw him off his game." Heer parked the car and got out huffing her way over to the front porch steps. She rang the door bell and knocked loudly to make sure her presence was known.
When the door opened Heer stood there slightly taken aback that Roshni was not in front of her. Instead there was a fair, light brown haired woman with a curvy figure greeting her. "Oh, are you looking for Prem? He's in the kitchen. I'll go get him for you," she answered in a warm bubbly tone. Heer blinked trying to figure out who the woman was and thought she must be another one of Prem's secret girlfriends. She was about to blast her when suddenly from behind the woman a man popped into view. He had a fair and clean shaven complexion. Heer couldn't help but notice that he had neglected to button up the top three buttons of his dress shirt. "Hey! You're just in time for dinner," he greeted. The woman by his side turned and gave him a perplexed look but then relaxed into a smile as if acknowledging if he knew her then it was okay to invite her in. "Oh, I'm Preet by the way...friend of Prem's. We're co-workers. And this lovely lady is my wife Meher. Come on in. He's making roast chicken," he greeted.
"It's the best chicken you'll ever have," Meher beamed as she welcomed Heer into the house.
Heer stood at the entrance way a bit dumbfounded at what just happened. Just a few minutes ago she was ready to go ballistic on Prem for having some sort of romantic dinner date with Roshni and now it turned out the dinner date was with a couple friend of his. She felt exhausted at the emotional roller coaster that she had just put herself through. But there were still unanswered question that Prem had to answer to. Heer glanced toward the dining room area as she heard Prem enter carrying his masterpiece.
"Hey guys, dinner's done," he greeted and then noticed Heer standing by the entrance. "Heer," was all he was able to utter.
Meher shot a look at her husband who grinned that he had known who she was all along. "He showed me a picture of her today," he whispered to his wife.
"We should probably set another place setting shouldn't we?" Meher offered and walked into the kitchen to get the proper items.
"So you going to put the chicken down on the table or are we suppose to eat it while you hold the serving dish in your hands?" Preet sarcastically commented looking at his friend.
"Huh? Oh, no of course not," he replied finally shaken from his reverie. "Um, I'll go get the salad and mashed potatoes."
Preet smirked at Prem's behavior and then addressed his attention towards Heer, "You know eating dinner with us would be a lot easier if you sat down at the dining room table."
"Oh, sorry," Heer replied and took her shoes off and walked over. "So, you work with Prem?" she began just to start some polite conversation.
"Yeah, we work at the same architectural firm," Preet answered.
"And your wife?" Heer probed.
"I'm an interior designer," Meher said as she reentered the dining room. "I think I got everything for you...oh, wait a glass for the wine. I'll be back."
"So what do you do?" Preet asked.
"I'm a writer. I work for The Chronicle," she replied.
"Oh, I love The Chronicle," Meher said as she placed the wine glass on the table for Heer. "What section do you write for? I'll have to keep an eye out for your name."
"Well, I cover the local news and politics," Heer said.
"Great," Meher smiled.
"I wonder what is he doing back there," Preet mumbled to himself and then yelled, "Yo, you have some hungry guests here. Are you coming out or what?"
Prem popped back into the dining room with a frown, "You want good food or crappy food?"
"I just want to be fed," Preet replied taking one of the serving dishes from Prem's hand. "So, let's eat!"
***************************************************
Heer smiled enjoying the lively dinner conversation. She had to admit that Prem's had some really great friends. Preet had this larger than life personality, full of smiles and laughter. His wife was bit more grounded and was able to ring him in when he got a little too rowdy or over the top. She found that they rather complemented each other well.
"I hope you like it," Meher said as she cut everyone a slice of homemade blueberry pie. "I don't know how it will stand up to a master chef like meal Prem made."
"It's going to be great Meher," Prem encouraged. "That last pie you made was spectacular."
"Thanks," she grinned.
"It's really delicious Meher," Heer complimented as she took a bite. "Can I have the recipe?"
"You bake?" Prem asked with surprise.
"I'm trying to learn. I have to confess I haven't been too successful so far," she replied.
"Haha, you should have seen some of Meher's earlier attempts," Preet laughed. "Gave me indigestion sometimes."
"Preet," his wife simply warned.
"But look at where she is now. I beg for some new sweet bakery confection every day," he replied smiling brightly at Meher.
She slightly shook her head at him and then reached over to brush away some crumbs that had gathered on the corner of his mouth. "Eat more carefully, dear."
Prem coughed causing Meher to realize what she had just done in public. She blushed and went back to her own plate. "You'll have to excuse them. They just got married not too long ago. Still in the newlywed phase," Prem said to Heer.
Heer smiled at the couple, "Well, congratulations. How long ago?"
"Two months ago," Preet beamed and then looked adoringly at his wife.
"Preet," Meher warned with embarrassment at the way her husband was looking at her in public.
Preet grinned and took a sip of his coffee. "So, Prem you really not that worried about Roshni? She threatened to take all your clients away today." Meher glanced over to her husband wondering why he was bringing up such a touchy subject at the dinner table. He ignored her silent objects and continued, "She's pretty hardcore and you know that'one of the firm's top architects."
Prem scraped his fork across his plate, "If she wants them so badly she can have them. At least she'll take Mr. Tonaka off my hands. He drives me nuts sometimes with the requests he makes. First he wanted to make a house in the shape of a toilet. I don't know why a toilet but he wanted it. Then he decided no he rather have the house upside down. So I'm now drawing up plans for an upside down house."
"You know in our business it's about referrals if she messes with you and takes your clients away and starts spreading bad rumors about you...you're done for," Preet said. "You can't leave the firm, man. She'll ruin you."
"I've already handed in my resignation," Prem replied.
"There is no way Bob is going to accept it," Preet said.
"Well, he's going to have to when I pack up all my stuff and leave next Friday," he said.
"Are you sure you can't work something out?" Meher pensively asked. "I mean to leave because of a personal issue like that?"
"Roshni won't drop it. She'll hound me to no end," Prem replied. "She can't seem to comprehend that I don't want to get married to her. How am I supposed to work in that environment?"
"Are you still not speaking to your mother?" Meher suddenly asked and then realized that she probably shouldn't have brought up that sensitive subject. Her husband gave her a so I can't talk about touchy subjects but you can look.
"Yes," Prem simply replied and then forced a smile on his face knowing that the atmosphere in the room had gotten a little too serious. "Anyone want more coffee?"
Heer who had been silently listening to the conversation felt horrible for jumping to conclusions like she had. She realized that what she thought she saw at the pizza place was actually Roshni threatening to ruin Prem and not some romantic lunch date. Beside this revelation she was even more concern that he wasn't talking to his mother. She knew how much his mother meant to him and for him to not speak to her something seriously big had affected their relationship.
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Heer grabbed the stack of dried dinner plates and placed them back into the cabinet. She had stayed behind to help Prem cleanup. Preet and Meher had left after dessert but not before she was able exchange numbers with Meher. The girls had hit it off and Meher was gracious enough to offer some one on one baking lessons.
"Man, Preet is a messy eater. There were crumbles everywhere on his side of the table," Prem said as he placed the broom back into the laundry room.
"I'm almost done with putting the dishes away," Heer announced.
"Thanks for staying behind and helping out," Prem said even though he knew what the real reason was he still felt like he needed to say it.
"Um, you're welcome," she replied.
Prem quietly worked together with Heer to put the rest of the dishes away and then went into the living room. Heer followed behind him and stood there along with him in the room wondering who was going to speak first. "I'm sorry Prem," Heer finally said breaking the silence. "I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions like that. I'm really sorry for dumping the Diet Coke on you."
"That was definitely an experience I'll never forget," Prem said slightly chuckling. Heer looked on relieved that he was taking this rather well despite what she had done to him. "I know after everything...it probably looked suspicious. And I know I'm asking a lot from you to trust me again...but if you could just wait ten seconds before you act and talk to me...maybe we could avoid some of these situations."
Heer bit her lower lip guiltily and nodded, "I'll try."
"Trying is pretty good," he smiled.
"So, um...why aren't you speaking to your Mom?" Heer hesitantly asked.
Prem reflectively turned his head to the side, "I made a request to transfer back into town a few months ago...and when Mom found out I was coming back home she started hounding me to settle on a wedding date with Roshni. I couldn't do it. I tried avoiding it whenever I could...throwing myself into new projects and purposefully skipping out on appointments with the Priest. I actually bought this house without either of them knowing about it. Yea, I know it was pretty cruel of me...I was already on my way out of the relationship...and neither of them had any idea. I couldn't let them continue to suck the life out of me...what little life I had left in me." Heer noted the way he had said life and his brief glance towards her direction as if hinting to her his life meant nothing without her. She felt a slight twinge in her heart and fidgeted uncomfortably. Prem returned his attention back to the window he was staring at and continued his story, "They only thing left to do was to tell them. I must admit I was pretty scared and didn't know if I had enough courage to do it properly. Sneaking around and buying the house secretly was like admitting it was over without having to actually go through anything. Then that night at the restaurant...seeing you again reconfirmed my decision...I couldn't go on like this any longer. So I broke up with Roshni and left her there at the restaurant by herself. Mom wasn't too happy about it needless to say when I told her that night. I told her if she didn't want to call me her son anymore that was fine...she'd already taken away everything that had meaning in my life anyways...I had stop being her son a long time ago. That was the last time I spoke to her."
"Prem," Heer uttered not knowing what else to say.
He gave a weary smile, "It's okay," and then in a more cheerful tone, "So next time you want to yell at me maybe you should call first? Not that I don't mind you showing up at my house but probably be a lot cheaper for you to place a call instead of wasting gas."
"Oh, um, I don't have your number," Heer answered a bit stunned at his change in demeanor.
"Right we never exchanged phone numbers," Prem grinned and fished out his Blackberry from his jacket that was hanging by the front entrance. "You don't mind do you?"
"No," Heer replied with smile.
*************************************
Having slipped into some comfortable PJs Heer leaned against the white backboard of her bed and causally flipped through her subscription of Time. Her Blackberry went off and she stared at it with apprehension. It was pretty late at night and the only time she received phone calls this late was when her editor had some major issue with the paper and needed her help. Heer sighed and grabbed her phone to answer. She furrowed her eyebrows when saw an unknown number flash across the screen. She then realized it was probably Prem. She had given him her phone number without getting his because she had left her phone in her car. She told him to just let it ring once and then she'd have his number. She had forgotten to check her phone when she had gotten into her car and simply drove home. "Hello?" she answered.
"May I please speak to Heer Maan?" Prem asked.
"This is she," she said not sure why he was asking such a silly question. Heer heard him sigh in relief. "Oh good I just needed to make sure...um, this is Prem," he replied.
"I know...and make sure what?" Heer asked.
"That you didn't give me a fake number," Prem answered.
"Why would I do that?" she laughed.
"Um, I don't know I just wanted to make sure that's all," Prem said. "Sorry to bother you so late."
"Goodnight Prem," she replied.
"Hey Heer?" he said before she had a chance to hang up.
"Yes?" she answered.
"Thanks," he simply replied.
Heer didn't know why but she found herself smiling at the simplicity of his word. It was simple but carried so much meaning behind it. "Goodnight Prem."
"Goodnight Heer," he replied grinning, "Sleep well," and then hung up.
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Okay well, I hope you guys enjoyed that.
Thanks for reading!
Comments greatly welcomed!
---Grace 😃
Edited by iheartChai - 14 years ago
Cricket
CID
