SS-Life partner,CHAPTER12-PG142DEC.9 - Page 20

Skies were blushing under ocher veil. It was time for birds to return to their nestlings. Night was waiting at doors for its turn to show the dark beauty of hers. Owner of two chocolate brown eyes was trying to fly the car in the air on the well built national highway.No wonder he was a meticulous driver. His limbs were playing with steering wheel,gear, accelerator,breaks effortlessly..His eyes were fixed on the road ahead but his mind was wandering in time when she was around him.He could feel the everything happening in front of eyes like a movie..her rant,her sliding,her tears,her weird clothes,her smile,her pink cheeks..and lunch...

Mrs. Handa had not left single corner of dining table deprived of cuisines. Everyone any how managed to adjust the plates,spoons and glasses on table among the crowd of mouthwatering cuisines. Geet was sitting opposite of maan. She was the lucky one because she had not to think about where to start. Her plate was already filled with bland yellow "khichdi".Maan's eyes were wandering on the table to choose one among the vast choice. His confusion was bit cleared when Kiran passed him "malai kofta". He served little of gravy with kofta in his plate.Next kiran passed him rice. He put some of them in plate to accompany kofta. One after another bowls were being passed to him by kiran and he was filling his plate gladly as he did not have to think much. However whole activity was being witnessed by geet. She was as usual ogling at him when his eyes caught hers.To his surprise she did not avert her gaze and keep looking at him while his hands were busy filling the plate. He caught another bowl from kiran when he noticed sudden change in her eyes. There was anticipation mixed with fear. He could not understand the reason behind this. His plate was already full so he returned the "rajma" bowl back to kiran and looked back in her eyes. They were pools of disappointment ,misery,anger and hurt now. His heart became restless as if he had done something wrong. He raised his eyebrow to ask her to which she pouted her lower lip and looked sadly towards "rajma"bowl."ohhh,rajma..she wants him to eat rajma"he found the answer. He gestured with his eyes towards the plate to show her its "overfilled" state. She scowled and slid a small empty bowl from her side towards his plate. He gave a slight smile on her antic.

"Aunty can i have some rajma,please"???he asked in a bit loud voice...Spark was back to her eyes.They were smiling again which gave a serene calmness to his heart. Rajma had never been tasted this yummy to him before.

maan...Kiran called her brother while pushing the feeding bottle in aaravi mouth. Aaarav was sleeping peacefully in the back seat of the car. They were going back to home. During the one hour drive,maan was silent as always.

Maan...she said loudly this time which broke his reverie as he pressed the breaks suddenly..

wh..at..what happened di??.something wrong???he asked with shock in his voice.

No..Maan,,nothing is wrong..Why are you so shocked??It seems like you were dreaming with open eyes and I have poured a jug of water on your face…

No..no..actually ..i was concentrating on driving ..thats why...He replied accelerating the car again.

ohk,..ohk..if you don't mind can we talk for a while...i am borreeeddd...

Who is stopping you,Maan replied shrugging his shoulders..

hmmm...so how was she??Kiran asked with mischievous eyes.

who???Reply came with feign nonchalance.

like you don't know.,..common laddu...don't try be over smart with me.."laddu" brought a childish irritation on maan's face.

Dare you call me laddu again di...He exclaimed changing the gear with subtle anger.

ohk,i won't call you laddu again only if you would share your feelings about geet honestly..

He noded in consent.

fine..then start..how is she???Kiran asked in an excited voice.

She is...umm..ummm...well she is...umm...

what umm ummm...don't behave like you forgot some mugged portion of your lesson in the class..

Give me time di,,,i am thinking no,,,

Think fast...

ohkk...She is strange actually...

Kiran waited for him to continue but he did not say anything further..

strange..thats it..???.kiran said with disappointment.

What else??Its the most suitable world for her that i found in my dictionary...

not fair...maan...ohk..Kiran exclaimed in irritation. Ok lets play a game..first i will tell you one quality of geet then you would tell me one…

Quality???? He asked raising his brows in surprise...Kiran smacked on his shoulder and started.

She is cute.

She is weird..he replied

she is adorable.

She is impossible.

She smiles amazingly.

She slides amazingly.,

His statement made them broke in to fits of laughter as both remembered her sliding stunt...After some moments of laughter,Kiran started again.

she is beautiful.

she is menace-full.

There is no such word maan...

You understood the hidden meaning di..."no such words" has to be invented for "no such girl"..He retorted.

fine..she smiles alot..

she eats alot...

how can you say so,Maan??she asked annoyingly.

when you were busy in kitchen with aunty..Iwas there sitting on the couch with my ears witnessing the sounds of her upset stomach..

ohhh..poor girl.. Kiran grimaced.

Yes poor girl..aunty had to forbid her from taking rajma with khichdi...

You noticed that??? Kiran asked with a smile.

ofcourse she was sitting just opposite me,checking my servings,,,

whattt??? His sister was amused .

I think di..she shares some emotional or spiritual bond with "rajma"..

and how do you know that little brother???

well..she asked me....Maan stopped in middle realizing he was going to tell about their secret eye talking..

she asked you what,maan??

no..no..she did not ask me anything..actually because of her unconditional love for rajma,i guessed so..

hmmm...anything else,, Kiran asked further.

she is a great athlete...

and???

She wear strange clothes..

and???

She yells alot..

and???

His eyes were fixed on the road again. He did not realize that it was only him now counting her qualities.

she has curly hair..

and..

she has captive eyes...

and...

she has a pure wonderful heart full of love...She did not think even once before sliding down to save aarvi..

and..

she is going to love maa,you,aaravi ,aarav alot..He said with a sigh.

but she is going to love you most,maan…

Sudden words from his sister's mouth brought him back from his chain of thoughts as he looked towards Kiran.

Yes...she will love you most..Kiran said again.

Maan did not reply and continued his driving. Uncertainty in those dark brown eyes pinched a sister's heart somewhere.She wanted to continue the conversation but he was always a man of few words, Silence was the additional passenger in the car now.

**********************

He was busy in his laptop for some business work. His thoughts were still dwelling some where else."she will love you most"...His sister's words were ringing in his head but strangely it felt good to be disturbed by her thoughts..He logged in to his gmail account to open geet's picture which was sent to him under the subject "matrimonial alliance". It was the strangest proposal pic he had ever seen. Geet was dressed as a kid with two piggytails and loly pop in her mouth. She was in middle with her mum and daddy on left and right respectively. He traced his finger on her lips."She smiles alot" her sister's words reverberated..He took a deep breath and clicked on new microsoft word document..A new word page opened on screen as his fingers moved on keypad to write...

Hey..

You know you are the most weird person I have ever met But I think I like your weirdness and hope you would like mine too..We are very different,geet..just opposite. I don't know whether principle of opposite attraction will work in our case of not..???You seemed clumsy,cheerful,full of life,to me. I am scared that you would loose all these with me as I am caged in my own grieves and regrets. There are permanent walls of gloominess around my heart without any loop hole. I want to come out but memories don't let me..They say your soulmate lives in your heart but my heart has no space.It is already filled with my vast sadness and very little happiness because of aarav and aaravi..You are owner of a heart with a space for everyone. Your concern for aaravi,your tears for her, whom you met few minutes ago has made me "bowed in reverence" for you..You are too good for me geet..

..maan..

ps- i know you were the "witch"listening to our conversation from window.I am still wondering how you managed to go outside without opening the front door.

A slight smile lingered on his lips for few minutes as he shift deleted the word document and closed the laptop.His mind was at little peace now.

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He said she can't live in his heart but he is oblivious to the fact that she has entered his mind and knocking at his heart already. Tears shed by her eyes for his beloved niece has made her character diaphanous for his heart. It won't seek his permission to let her reside in it…