Well, here is the second installment, though am warning you there's nothing much in it, coz am hoping to put all major things in the next installment which shall be the last one. Keep your comments coming so that i am encouraged to post the last installment soon enough.
Part 10 (ii)
"Ahaan! Ab aaya na oont pahaad ke neeche, the great Maan, bolo, kya maangte ho, truth or dare?", Tara grinned evily, Maan saw the look on her face, and knew he would be trapped either ways, so he decided to die a brave death.
"I'll choose dare", he spoke, and Tara jumped excitedly,
"I knew it, tum dare hie choose karoge, now listen to your dare. You have to go to the garden area, and...", Tara paused deliberately,
"And jo pehli ladki, ya ladka mile, useh kiss karna hai, right? Mere baaye (left) haath ka khel hai ye Tara, you are so predictable, chhah", Maan replied smugly, but the devilish expression hadnt left Tara's face.
"Nai Bhai, itni aasaani se thode hie jaane dugi. Kiss and all, ye sab to outdated hai, i dont believe in letting go so easily. Garden mein jo pehla insaan mila, aapko useh apna ek secret batana hoga, jo mujhe bhi nahi pata, and...", Tara was cut off,
"And i am so not gonna do this. I mean Tara you know, my secrets are secrets not to be revealed yaar, meri izzat ka faaluda ho jayega. If i keep something a secret, you know there's gotta be a good reason for it. Remember whenever my secrets come out, mere saath saath tum bhi kitni embarass hoti ho...", Maan pleaded,
This led Tara to the flashback. It was Tara's 11th birthday in a few days, and Maan had to give her something unique this time, and luckily he just knew the correct answer. He had been working very hard to get her that gift. He had already saved the money, but the problem was getting the gift. It wasnt available in any of the nearby stores. So Maan secretly bunked the school, and tried on stores that were far away. He had been doing all this very secretively, except that his mom somehow got to know that he used to bunk school for Tara. She didnt know exactly where did he go, what had he planned to buy, but she did not interfere as long as he did it for Tara. Finally, Maan managed to buy a gift exactly what he had wanted, and gift wrapped it beautifully. On the D-Day, Tara cribbed to Maan, to give her the most awaited secret gift, but he insisted on gifting it to her at the cake cutting ceremony. Tara spent the whole day begging him to give the gift. From Maan's recent activities of being so secretive, she had guessed that it was going to be really special. No wonder she badly wanted the gift. So finally, in the evening, Tara saw Maan descending the stairs with her gift, and ran off to snatch it from him.
Maan on the other hand was surprised to see all of Tara's friends and a few classmates gathered around the beautiful cake, waiting excitedly for Tara to open the gift about which she had been boasting since they had entered her house. Maan was so busy in his search of the gift, that he had no idea about the party that had been thrown for Tara's birthday. The guests gathered around Tara as she tore off the gift wrapper mercilessly, and everyone's eyes widened in shock when Tara slowly lifted her gift.
It was a pair of boxers, with the prints of a variety of cartoons on it. Everyone laughed hysterically seeing the 'so special' gift. Tara lowered the gift, only to let Maan see the deadly stare she was giving him. She saw him standing and fidgeting nervously with a sheepish grin plastered over his face. Maan was so busy in his search of the perfect gift, that he didnt realise that Tara was throwing a big party. He had only expected it to be a family affair, and as he had imagined it, he was supposed to be there down with her, clicking pics of that angry expression on her face, while their family members were the only ones laughing. But thi, it was just the opposite. He tried clarifying himself, but words didnt come out of his mouth,
"Tara, i.. i dint mean to... sachi... matlab itni badi party, ye sab log... i didnt know... n gift special, coz u take my boxers... i thought you like them so...", he couldnt continue more as he was really really scared now.
"So you thought to gift me a pair of boxers as well did you. Are you really that dumb to think i steal your boxers because i am supposedly in love with them, and upon that, do you really think i am so dumb, that i'll believe you. You are so dead Maan Khurana", saying this, Tara dashed off to catch him, and then started the tom and jerry chase, with Tara running behind a scared Maan who didnt say anything but sorry. Tara had gone through a bad time in school for many days after that incident.
Another incident flashed past through Tara. She had been 16 at that time, and was a highly mischievous teen for her age. It was all thanks to Maan and his company, that she never missed a chance of irritating him, this was a favourite hobby of hers since long. Tara somehow got a hint that Maan was hiding something from everyone, including her. This was not taken well by her. Maan always included her in his secrets, and she knew that he only kept a secret from her if it was important, and usually it was the better option for both of them. But still, it pissed her highly that right now Maan knew something she didnt, and so she set upon finding that out. Maan realised that Tara was onto knowing his secret, and tried to be very careful, but fate was on Tara's side. On the day that his plan was to come in action, Maan was forced by their mother to take along Tara wherever he went. Tara had emotionally blackmailed mom into this, using all her cute faces. And in the end, Maan had no ther choice than to take her with him.
Both Maan and Tara reached Chako's house, and entered as the door had been left open for him. Tara saw Sumit and Chako sitting comfortably in front of the tv screen, with pop-corns and bottles of beer at their sides, and Tara smirked at Maan. As soon as Sumit and Chako saw Tara, they were horrified. Tara and Maan settled themselves.
"So guys, all set huh. Cmon, start the movie, even i wanna have some fun with you guys", Tara grinned. Sumit and Chako glared at Maan, while he just shrugged his shoulders at them.
"Tum log start kar rahe ho ya main hie...", Tara threatened, so Chako played the movie, while Sumit switched off the lights. A few trailers were shown first, as Tara munched her pop-corns, and sipped on a soft-drink, which she spluttered from her mouth as soon as she saw the movie's name flash on the screen. Maan, Sumit and Chako let out a giggle, as it was an adult movie. Even without looking at Tara, all three of them could tell that her eyes were popping out of the sockets.
Tara had very quietly kept off the popcorns and the soft drink on the table by her side, as her eyes grew wider and wider with every scene that played on the screen. Her eyes never left the screen in horror of imagining what the others might be thinking. Just then came s scene which took the wits out of her, and she sat hugging herself, kind of closing herself. She kept sitting like that until the movie finished, not a second relaxing her body. When she saw that none of the guys moved for a few minutes, she herself got up to switch on the lights. She was beyond shocked to see the room empty. She immediately went outside, to see all the three guys sitting in the garden and laughing loudly. She had no idea when they came out, becuse during the *BIG* scene, she had heard Maan gasp on her side. She stared at the three of them angrily. They appeared very scared, and after a few seconds burst out laughing.
"So Tara, kaisi thi movie, i missed all the important scenes, but you enjoyed it, right?", Maan asked, and high fived with the others. Tara felt really embarassed at this, and quietly went and shut herself in the bathroom until Maan finally assured her that they were leaving. After that, this became the private and the most favourite joke of all the three guys, and whenever they wanted her to shut-up, they used this weapon.
Tara came back to the present. She knew there were many such incident in their past, where Maan's secret not only embarassed him, but took Tara also down the lane. And she realised what a mistake she had done in giving that dare. But the error was now committed, because the look on their friend's faces told her that no matter what, they wouldnt agree to changing the dare.
"Maan, dare to yehi rahegi. Ek bar humne jo humne commitment kar li, fir hum apne aap ki bhi nahi sunte, right guys. So Maan go and apne secret ka khulasa karo, and if we get lucky, the person might even agree to share the brilliant secret with us", Simran smirked.
Maan knew he was trapped, and started moving towards the garden, giving a last glance to Tara, who was now giving him a sorry look, while the others just grinned. Tara was feeling really sorry, and Dev side-hugged her,
"Dont worry Tara, i am sure Maan can take care of himself, trust me it will all finish in a few seconds"
Maan was walking slowly, of what secret should he tell that person, whom he would meet. He thought of the possibilities of who the person would be. His first thought went immediately to Geet, and he thought that it was she who was hiding a secret, so what could he possibly tell her. Next he thought of someone from his froup coming there before him, could he tell him about the change in his feelings from the past days, and about his Mission Bol Geet Bol. He decided against it, and then the thought of meeting any other college mate, or even a Professor scared him quite hard.
He was walking with all these thoughts in his mind, when he reached the entrance to the garden. He stood there for about 5 minutes, debating whether to go inside or not, and then, he was being carried inside by himself. He entered the garden to find it empty, he looked around here and there, and was relieved to find no one. So this once he was saved from toruble. As he turned around, he bumped into someone, and they both fell down. No rewards for guessing, it was Geet with a huge pile of books in her hand. They both had fallen separately, but pretty soon managed to handle themselves. They sat up tp gather the fallen books, and it was when they looked at the other. Both were lost in each other's eyes, which held them captive.
*to be continued in last installment*
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