This ones for varshu! an early update in the day 😉
Part 40
CRASH!!!
"Lekin Bro meri baat toh suno…." Romit tried to get up but the hard kick on his butt from his brother send him crashing into the table near the window again.
Arjun marched towards Romit and Shefali cowered behind Arohi. She was more confused than she had ever been. She had finished a dance for Romit and then he had proposed to do the same for her. After the second dance, he wanted to dance with her on a romantic song, but Shefali had to get home and had refused. Before they could decide who won the argument, Arjun had broken the door, pulled Romit away from Shefali and sent him crashing to the other end of the room.
Romit covered his head as Arjun grabbed his collar and pulled him up.
"How dare you Romit! Tumhari himmat kaise hui… "
Arjun threw Romit towards the bed with force and Romit hit the side and fell on the floor. Before Arjun could come to him, he scampered on his feet and ran to the other side of the bed.
"Lekin… hua kya???" Romit was moving from one end of the bed to the other, trying to avoid being caught by Arjun.
"Hua kya… HUA KYA??? What the hell were you doing??? Ye curtains band karke aur door lock karke??? Huh!!!" Arjun moved from left to right and right to left, looking for an opportunity to strangle his younger brother.
"Bro… Hum toh sirf…" Romit looked at Shefali for support, but Shefalis tiny brain was already overloaded with so many turn of events and she looked frozen with shock.
"Don't you dare lie to me Romit! Maine sab sunn liya tha baahar se…" Arjun clenched his fist and lunged towards Romit. Romit ducked and ran towards Arohi, grabbing her shoulders and holding her in front of his like a shield.
"Pehle batao toh sahi… ki hua kya hai???" Romit was getting scared seeing Arjun look so dangerous.
Arjun marched towards his brother. "How dare you force yourself on a girl??? Aur woh bhi Shefali???? I WILL KILL YOU!!!" Arjun tried going around Arohi to catch hold of Romit but he was holding Arohi in a way that Arjun could not get past her.
Arjun was mad… no… he was furious! He had the best time with his wife and had planned everything for the night. He was in the middle of kissing his wife in the most passionate and hungriest way possible, when a faint trace of music being played somewhere, hit his ears. At first Arjun dismissed it thinking that it was playing in his head as he was having the most loving time of his life. But as logic kicked in, he realised he was getting too filmy, thanks to his wife, and the music was playing somewhere in the house. Who would be awake so late and playing music??? Curiosity had gotten the better of him and he had ended up outside Romits door with Arohi in tow.
There, whatever he heard, made his blood boil. His brother was inside his room, with the door locked, forcing himself physically on a girl. And not any girl… SHEFALI! Who was practically like a sister to Arjun… he could not say that aloud in front of Shefali. She would either murder him or commit suicide herself. Shefali was strictly against calling any good looking man, her brother. But still… what he felt for her didn't change. And anyone taking advantage of Shefali was not to be forgiven… even if that anyone was his own brother!!!
"Bro aap galat samajh rahe hain… I was not forcing myself on Shefali. I was just forcing her to…" Romit did not know if completing the sentence would earn him more beating or not. While his brain started debating the pros and cons, Arjun lost his cool.
"Is this what I've taught you Romit? Where are your ethics and morals???" His face turned dead serious. "You. Just. Cant. Force. A. Girl… Period! When a girl says no, it means NO. Even if that girl is your girlfriend. Who the hell are you to force her for anything! I am ashamed of you. Hamari apni bhi ek behen hote huey bhi tum ladkiyon ki izzat karna nahi seekhe. I will not forgive you for this!!!" Arjun lunged towards Romit and was stopped by Arohis hands on his chest. He looked up at Arohi, shocked, as she kept her hands on his shoulders.
"Arjun… relax. This is Romit we are talking about. Not Mikhail!!! Tum apne bhai ko achhi tarah jaante ho, woh aisi harkat nahi kar sakta." Arjuns anger diminished a bit realising that Arohi had a point, but he did not look convinced. She pulled a now enlightened Shefali forward. "Look at Shefali… Isse dekhke lagta hai isspe koi jabardasti ki gayi hai???" Arjun looked at Shefali and frowned. She looked bewildered and scared but physically she was fine.
"Aur humne jo bahar suna woh???" Arjun crossed his hands across his chest and challenged his wife.
"Why don't we give Romit a chance to explain that?" Arohi caught Romits hand on her shoulder and pulled him forward. Romit resisted but Arohi assured him with her eyes and patted his hand. He slowly abondaned the cover that his bhabhi had provided for him and moved to the side. Arjun immediately pulled Shefali behind him, barring her vision to Romit like her bodyguard.
Romit looked at his scowling brother and his encouraging sister-in-law. Gulping his own saliva, he gave one last look at Shefali before opening his mouth.
+
"Kya baat karrahi hai??? Wow… im so happy for you Rashi!" Lovedeep was practically jumping, sitting on her bed. She was on the verge of sleeping when Rashis message had arrived on her phone and after reading it she could not sleep.
"I know! Finally mera sapna poora hone waala hai Love. I cant believe it. They are so impressed by my designs that they want me to design my first collection exclusively for them. Thank you so much for all your help." Rashi grinned from ear to ear. This was definitely the happiest day of her life. First she had met and had lunch with Rajveer, then she had spent some constructive time with her son and dadi and lastly she had received and email about this whole order.
"Oye… Sirf thank you se kaam nahi chalega! Party deni padegi." Lovedeep chuckled.
"Pehle contract milne toh de. Parso meri meeting hai, ek baar initials finalise hojaye, then I will treat you for an exclusive dinner." Rashi smiled to herself.
"Hmm… Waise ye meeting hai kaha?"
"Hyaatt ke coffee shop mein. Sector 17-A."
"Wow… Hyaatt! Kisko saath leke jaarahi hai?"
"Kisiko nahi. First meeting hai, akele hi jaaungi. I don't want the client to get any wrong ideas. Plus I want to impress them on my own."
Lovedeep frowned a bit. "Lekin Rashi… Sector 17-A is a business district. There are very few hotels over there too. Itni raat ko bohat soonsaan hoga… Tu akeli kyu jarahi hai?"
"Arre Lovedeep, mein Hyaatt jaarahi hu. Koi cheap restaurant nahi. And I don't want to depend on anyone. I need to learn to handle everything on my own. Agar mujhe apne dum pe business karna hai toh I have to learn to be independent. Warna mein dad ki shadow se kabhi baahar nahi aa paaogi."
"Ok fine… meri bandit queen. Lekin tu jaise hi waha jaayegi mujhe ek call karna aur niklegi tab bhi karna. Thik hai?"
"Ok fine… meri dadi amma." Rashi responded mimicking Lovedeep and chuckled. "Jitna tu mere liye tension leti hai, utni toh meri sagi maa bhi nahi leti."
There was silence at both ends as the reality of the words hung in the air. Rashi was not a person to complain, but the truth had unknowingly spilled out from her mouth.
"Hah! Tu kisi ko apni care karne degi toh na. Achha kuch apna hi creation pehenke jaana. Wear a saree if you can. Isse achhi marketing toh tere designs ki ho hi nahi sakti."
Rashi realised that Lovedeep had tried to distract her by changing the subject, and she appreciated that.
"Haan. Ek saree nikaali hai kal ke liye." Rashi smiled to herself mentally preparing her speech from her end. She failed to notice the silence from Lovedeeps end. If Love would have been in front of her, Rashi would have also noticed the way her eyes were dancing and she was biting her lip, trying to cook up something.
"AAI BHAIYYA! Uff… ye Rajveer bhaiyya ne naak mein dum karke rakha hai…"
Rajveers named perked up Rashis ears. She abondaned all her thoughts and concentrated on what Love was muttering. "Kya hua Lovedeep?"
"Arre kuch nai. Unhone ek sawaal kiya tha kal mujhse. Usska jawab sunne ke liye bechain horahe hain!" Lovedeeps lips curled into a mischievious smile as her eyes twinkled with laughter. She silently prayed that she had not fake yelled too loudly, or her brother who was sleeping two rooms away, would be here asking why she called him.
"Umm… Achha? Aisa kya sawaal hai jiska jawab abhi chahiye?" Rashi tried to potray the question as casual as possible, keeping the eagerness out of her tone.
"Haha! Sunogi to hass padogi. Waise agar bhaiyya ko pata chal gaya ki maine kisi aur ko bataya hai, to mujhe goli maar denge. Woh jab mujhe pooch rahe they toh itne hichkicha rahey they by god!" Lovedeep was trying to stretch the conversation without having to actually answer the question.
"Kuch hoga jo bohat jyada awkward ho. Aisa kuch hai kya?" Rashi was jumping with anticipation now. If Lovedeep did not tell her then she might just scream at her. But what she heard next, made Rashi almost drop the phone from her hands in shock.
"Actually kisi ladki ne unhe message kiya aur woh janna chahte hai ki kya woh ladki unse flirt karrahi hai! Can you believe it??!!"
+
Arohi turned the handle of her room to enter it. She had been mentally drained at the turn of events in the past 30 minutes.
After sending Arjun to their room, she had sent Shefali home with the driver, called the househelp and got Romits room cleaned and arranged for some tea, bandages and a hot water bag for her younger brother-in-law. Romit had complained of pain in his back after the beating he had received from Arjun. Arohi knew the pain was somewhere else but she could understand that he could not tell her how his elder brother had left black and blue marks on his butt! She had felt like laughing then but the situation told her to act serious and mature even though she was having a hard time doing it.
Arohi entered the room and locked the door behind her. She turned around to look for Arjun and what she saw made her smile. Arjun was sitting on the edge of the bed, his hands between his legs with the fingers entwined and his head hung down, as if studying the floor. When she walked towards him and stood next to him, he slowly looked up. His hair were messed up as if he had ploughed his fingers through them, his eyebrows were furrowed and his mouth was turned down. He had a confused, embarassed, weird angry look on his face, which made Arohi bite her lips to stop from laughing out loud. Romits embarassed face as he had explained "what they were doing" flashed in front of her eyes and she struggled to keep her face straight.
She sat next to him, facing the tv set in the front. Arohi understood that whatever had happened, had been very embarassing for all of them. They had heard something and Arjun had overreacted. Well, she had misunderstood herself so she could not blame Arjun. But there were few times when Arjun lost his cool on a impulse like this. Again she remembered Romits confused face and the laughter bubbled back in her chest. As a sharp breath escaped her mouth, Arjun turned to look at her. One look at his face and that was it.
Arohi burst out laughing. She tried to put a hand on her mouth to suppress her shameless laughter seeing anger replace all the confusion on Arjuns face. She pressed her lips and her mouth with her hand but it was totally out of her control now. She laughed out loud and fell back on the bed, laughing her guts out.
"AROHI!!!" Arjuns angry shout also did not scare Arohi enough to stop laughing. Instead she turned to the other side and pressed her face in the mattress to muffle her voice. But Arjun could see her delicate body shaking with laughter and he was getting all the more furious. Frowning deeply, he stared back at the floor.
Ok… so he made a mistake! Who wouldn't have, after they heard what he did!!! Even Arohi herself had misunderstood everything. So it was really not his fault! Or was it? Probably he could've questioned Romit first and hit him later. But he had not been able to control his anger after what he heard. Logic and rationality had flown out of the window the moment he felt Romit is doing something wrong. But that doesn't mean Arohi could laugh about it… this loud… and on his face!!!
"Arohi… im warning you! Hasna band karo varna…" Arohi stopped laughing at Arjuns tone and turned around to face him, still lying on the bed. Arjun, with his one eyebrow up and his finger pointed towards her, was giving her the most stern and serious look. Arohi looked at Arjun flaring nostrils and burst out laughing again. This time without caring to muffle her voice, she started rolling on the bed, from one side to the other.
Arjun gritted his teeth and jumped on Arohi, lying on top of her with his hands pinning hers to the bed. Arohi paused to look at him, and continued laughing again. Arjun could not help but smile seeing his wife laugh away so unabondaned, as if she was watching the most comedy movie ever. He started seeing the humor part of it and his chest rumbled with laughter too. He dropped his head in the crook of Arohis neck and joined her in laughing off the most stupidest mistake that he had ever made.
After nearly 5-10 minutes, when the laughter slowly died, they realised that their eyes were wet with tears, due to laughing so hard. Arjun pulled his head up and looked at Arohi. His wifes face was glowing with happiness and her eyes were shining with tears. Wiping the traces of water that had fallen from her eyes, Arjun kissed her forehead.
"Kal subah… Remind me to apologise to Romit."
Arohi slowly nodded at this request. She saw repentance and a little bit of shame on her husbands face. Cupping his cheek in her palm, she titled his face to look in his eyes.
"I am really proud of you Arjun. Mein jaanti hu ki Romit ne aisa kuch galat nahi kiya, lekin tumne anjaane mein jo bhi kiya… aur jo bhi kaha… usse I feel proud to be your wife." Arjun smiled at her, grabbed her hand and twisting his head, placed a kiss in her palm.
"Also… I love you." Arjuns eyes flew to Arohis. The happiness, understanding and pride in his wifes eyes had been replaced by love, lust and passion. A shiver ran through Arjuns body to see such naked desire burn in Arohis gaze. He traced his hand like a feather on her body to stop at her bare waist beneath the pallu, and pulled her closer. Arohi gasped at this sudden gesture and Arjun took advantage by placing his urgent lips on her. As his lips opened up her pink ones, Arjuns hands started opening his wifes saree, exactly the way he had been planning since the night of the party.
Hope you had a fab weekend guys... please do comment on what you liked... or did not! 😆
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Anupamaa
Kumkum Bhagya
