khanak hum shaam ki flight lay kar mumbai jaray hain", shaan said with a small frown, hardly meeting khanak's eyes, " i mean hum nay sign toh kardiya toh bus ub hum ghar jaatay hain". As he said it he felt a huge lump in his throat but couldn't place it 'HUM ghar jaatay hain?', he thought. Did he jus say that to her?there was no 'hum' left, he knew that perfectly well now. Then why did he utter that word that meant the world to him? Khanak glanced at him as his frown deepened and he stared in space. She had to do something! She hadn't talked to Shaantanu at all!Those stupid investors had been hogging him the whole day! Didn't they realize that Shaan was 'newly' married to her! Talk about giving newly-weds some space! sheesh! she thought, rolling her eyes.
Desperate times called for desperate measures. It was either now or never. Shaantanu walked forward towards the car, leaving Khanak behind even though his heart longed her to walk beside him, hand in hand. ' I hate her' he muttered under his breadth. Khanak took a few small steps and at the third step she uttered a shriek of pain. Shaan swept around in an instant and what he saw made his heart jump into his mouth. Khanak was sprawled on the muddy road, clutching her ankle and howling in pain all the while.
Shaan ran to her aid "Khanak , Khanak , kya hua? " he yelled, desperation and worry etched all over his cute face. He hunched himself beside khanak and touched her ankle, making Khanak yell again in agony! "shaantanu, yay aap kya karein hain? mujahy durd hora hain! yay bhee nahi pata k meri airee mur gayee hain! burthal!" Shaan looked at her helplessly as he realized that even in her pain she lost no chance to scold him. He immediately let go of her ankle. Khank felt a surge of disappointment as he withdrew but knew this step was important to move on to the next. And how right was she?
Without further ado, Shaan got up and with one swift movement, lifted her off the muddy road and into his arms. It took Khank's entire will power to keep pretending to be in pain, even as she wanted to jump in joy. Shaantanu's lift had never felt more desirable before, his arms had never been more inviting (she felt she could stay in his arms forever) and the proximity of his face to hers had never been so heart stopping. "Focus Khanak, focus!" she thought to herself. Shaantanu looked at her and she stifled a small smile. She needn't have though, it was getting really diffcult to just well up more tears in her eyes. In one dramatic moment of haste Khank cried , "hayyay thakur jee, mujahy buhat durd hain! baii, adaaa uhuhuhu", she whined. "khanak chup hojao, hum airport jaray hain ok main iss par dawai laga deta hoon theek hojayay ga" , saying this he opened the car door and placed her lightly on the back seat and he himself jumped in beside her! "mujhay airport nahi jana! wahan buhut chalna hota hain...main kaisay chaloo gee?" The driver got into his seat "Khank chup karo" i said it will be alright!" Shaan reasoned. " No" Khanak yelled shocking Shaan. " You are a burthal" she said in pure english further giving Shaan a heart attack. " I want to rest". the driver, hearing all this commotion suggested to go to the Khandelwal farmhouse on the way and rest "baji ko dard horah hain, saab" he said. Shaan agreed,his heart already aching to be with the love of his life albeit the pain she was in.
Khanak smiled inwardly at her major success. "Lets see how we get out of here before tomorrow now, shall we" she thought triumphantly. Shaan looked at her side ways "She looks beautiful even when she's crying" he thought shamelessly. " should i hug her?" he asked himself. "No! Are you nuts!" said his conscience. "She rejected you, er, remember?"
Shaan settled himself with NOT doing anything and resumed staring in space.
Both were shown into the guest house where a guard was already there. He hurriedly cleaned up a room and welcomed them both. Shaan lifted khanak to the bedroom and laid her on the bed.
"This is it" thought Khank mischievously.
The farmhouse bedroom was relatively large compared to the scarce amount of furniture in it. Towards the opposite side of the entrance to the room there was another door, leading to an open ground ('sa-hen'). Khanak was looking around the room absent mindedly, when her eyes fell on something that made her scowl. It was a 3 seater sofa that was placed in exactly the same way as it was back at her bedroom in the Khandelwal house. As she stared at the Sofa, she felt a sudden urge to break it into pieces, then she laughed at her desperation, her voice echoing in the hardly furnished room. Shaantanu had left the room telling her that he was going to call up dad and tell him they'll come back the next day and thereafter call the airlines to reschedule their flight (the cell phone signals were weak in the room). He had left in a huff and Khanak wondered when he would return.
A teenage boy entered the room with a glass of water "Baji yay lain paani…apkee dawai baba la rahen hain", Khanak thanked him and found out, on enquiring that he was the guard's son. She looked at him and smiled and then, suddenly, in a stroke of inspiration or brain wave or whatever the hell it was, Khanak realized this boy could be useful.
" Baji yay aap kya kari hain?" Karan, the guard's son said as he saw Khanak magically spring up from her bed towards the sofa in seconds. "zayaada sawaal nahee karo, kaha na…sofa uthanay main meri madad karo", she whispered urgently. She turned hastily to see if the coast was clear. "Hurry!" whined Khanak. "Kya?" asked Karan. "Jaldi karo Karan!" " Acha laikin aapkay pair main moche ayee hain baji", Karan reasoned. But Khanak wasn't listening. Picking up the the sofa from one end, she made it look like a sea-saw. Karan, feeling defeated and confused, lifted the other end of the sofa. " Iss sofay ko sa-hen main lay jatay hain. Iss main buhat keeray (ants, pests) hain, dhoop lagay gee toh mur jayay gay", she said as she transported the sofa to the sa-hen. "Laikin baji abhee to sham bhee hogaee", said Karan. " Oh Shup ut!....mera mutlub hain shut up…aur suno apnay bha ko mut batana k mainay sofa uthaya tha, who naraz hongay! Samjhay?" smiled Khanak. "Samajh gaya. Woh appsay itna pyar jo kartay hain" he returned her smile and left.
Khanak clapped her hands together, proud at herself for her huge accomplishment. She sat on her bed and right on queue Shaantanu entered. For good effect Khanak shrieked in pain again but ended up making it sound more dramatic than real. Shaan raised his eyebrows and Khanak covered up " Er… woh.. aaj appnay kapray k project k papers sain kiyay hain. Mubarak ho" Khanak smiled. Shaan looked at her sideways, highly irritated.
"It's SIGN Khanak".
"Haan haan wohi…SAIN"
" Khanak Sign! Ess, Eye, Gee, Enn…Sign! G silent hota hain toh uss kee awaz nai nikalatay."
" Toh phir toh SIN kahna chahiyay na!" khanak countered innocently.
" Urgh Khanak, iss ko SINE pukartay hain! Ok? Ab no questions!"
"Ok!" Khanak shrugged happily, "isee bahanay appnay dubara meri paatshaala toh shuru ki!". "I miss it" Khanak added sadly as an after thought.
Shaan looked at her closely. How he wished he knew what was going on in Khanak's mind. Did she really 'just' want to be his friend? Should he also, respect Khanak's feelings and go ahead with the 'just friends' relationship? The answer came to him in a jiffy. No! He couldn't be her friend. The idea seemed ridiculous. He loved her! He wanted to spend his entire life loving her, trusting her, supporting her and being supported by her , having children with her, growing old with her… It seemed like such a distant dream, he reflected sadly.
"App yahan bed par beth jayay" Khanak said, interrupting Shaan's sad thoughts. Shaan shook off his musings and sat. Just then Karan knocked and entered with Khanak's medicine and gave it to Shaan. " Yay lo" Shaan threw the tube in Khanak's direction. Khanak caught it with surprise, realizing that Shaan was not willing to apply in on her foot. "Urgh!" thought Khanak, infuriated.
" Er…Khanak yahan sofa nahi tha?" Shaan suddenly pointed confusedly towards the empty space in the room. "Nahi Shaantanu woh humara kumra hain…yay nahi" Khanak looked up and lied defiantly. Deciding to ignore the word 'humara', Shaan decided to press on for more important matters. " Ub main kahan so-oon ga?" he inquired, more to himself rather than Khanak.
"Aap yahan so saktay hain, bed par…. meray saath" Khanak said slowly, smiling, making Shaan's heart jump into his mouth for the second time that day.
Part 3
Shaan recovered sooner than he had expected, but not before his lips slightly twitched, which Khanak understood, was unmistakably a stifled smile. Khanak smiled too and for the first time realized that she didn't feel shy. They were interrupted by the sound of a knock yet again. Karan made an appearance to ask them about dinner. Just then Shaan heard his phone ring from a distance . Making a great deal out of getting up, trying to steal glances at Khanak, he finally left the room. Khanak looked at the tube in her hand, wishing silently to throw it in the sa-hen as well, not being any use to her now. Reluctantly she took out a small amount and applied it on her perfectly-fine-and-not-at-all-sprained foot so as not to make Shaantanu suspicious. 10 minutes later Shaantanu returned and announced, " Investors abhee issee shahar main hain. Woh humay dinner par join karay hain". The announcement was followed by silence. Khanak finally managed a 'hmmm', not looking at Shaan directly. That was all she could do to restrain herself from picking up every single thing in the room and smashing it to smithereens! So much for the romantic dinner date that she had in mind with her husband! Everything was going wrong, Khanak thought, panicking slightly.
'Was it just my imagination or did I just see a flicker of annoyance in Khanak's eyes?' Shaan wondered. Recovering again Shaan said "Khanak tum chal kar dining room main toh nahi asakti toh tum yaheen rehna aur khana kha laina. Main investors kay saath kha loonga". Khanak gave him an angry stare. There was no point hiding it now. Suddenly she wanted Shaantanu to know how pissed she was. Just then the door bell rang and Karan rushed to welcome the investors, beckoning Shaan to join them as well.
Khanak stared at the walls moodily, scowling and making faces every now and then. "Aanay do inhay" she said loudly, "main bhee baat nahi karoo gee!" but minutes passed, hours passed and Shaantanu still didn't enter the room. In a fit of desperation Khanak jumped up from the bed and decided to make her way to the dining room but then remembered her ankle was supposed to be sprained. She settled herself on the bed and felt her eye lids drooping. Before she knew it she was fast asleep.
Shaan entered the room at 11 pm but got a rude shock when he saw Khanak sleeping. Khanak had managed to lie on one side of the bed straight on her back. Shaan sat on his side of the bed and stared at her lovingly. His heart suddenly ached, realizing how much pain she was in. He recalled the time when he had sprained his ankle. He couldn't walk straight for days and his foot had swollen up. His foot had swollen up, he thought again. Almost involuntarily, he looked at Khanak's foot. He looked at it closely. "That's weird" he thought, "her foot is not swollen". He hesitated, then went ahead and touched it, then pressed his fingers against it slightly, then a bit with force. Yet Khanak continued to sleep. Confused, he remembered that when he was hurt he used to yelp in pain with just a single touch!
Shaan's mind started somersaulting, as he tried to connect all the pieces of what had happened ever since the signing of papers at the factory. But that was about all he could do. True, he felt something was wrong somewhere, but the sea of emotions that was already a part of him did not allow him to think straight. He lay on his side of the bed and switched off the lamp, throwing the room into darkness, the only light emanating from the moonlight through the window. He rolled over and tried to sleep, but couldn't. Just then he felt Khanak stir beside him. He pretended to sleep. But what he saw seconds later, in the moonlight, was enough to confirm his worst suspicions. Khanak got up from the bed and promptly, without so much as a flicker of pain, strode towards the bathroom, her hair disheveled. Shaan saw in shock, as she walked firmly and closed the bathroom door behind her. Immediately Shaan got up and switched on the lights of the room, thereafter waiting for Khanak to come out. Khanak reopened the bathroom door and what she saw made her gulp. Shaantanu was standing right there staring at her sternly and all the lights were switched on. Khanak bit her lip and stared wildly around the room but it was in vain. Shaantanu was towering over her and she knew that this was it. She had no way out!
"So?" whispered Shaantanu, " tumnay mujh say jhoot bola?".
"Nahi Shaantanu, main toh bus…" Khanak hastily started but Shaan cut her off.
"Kyun?" he breathed, as he came closer. Khanak stared into his questioning eyes. He got hold of her shoulders slightly and Khanak heard herself gasp "Woh main…" she realized words were not coming out. She felt intimidated, but more than that, she felt flustered. Shaantanu's hold on her was not making her think straight. He came even more closer, his eyes boring into hers and at that instant Khanak decided, inspite of the havoc being wrecked on her brain, that it was time to tell Shaantanu the truth. She always had. So why should today be any different?
"Kyunkay main appkay saath aur waqt guzarna chahti theee" Khanak whispered back.
"Kyun?" Shaantanu repeated, his hold still firm on her, his nose half an inch away from her nose. Khanak blushed. She had to tell him. This was the last straw and this WAS what she had wanted. It was the perfect moment. She'd tell him and everything would be fine. She smiled inwardly. She wasn't afraid of telling him, she thought.
"Khanak, kyun?" Shaan asked, yet again, this time more forcefully.
" Kyunkay main aapsay pyar karti hoon", she looked up into Shaantanu's eyes as she said it, all in one go, and was surprised that she didn't feel herself blushing. It felt like a mere statement. The truth. That was all.
Shaantanu continued to stare at her as her words registered into his brain. How much had he waited for her to say that to him! He had lost count of the number of times he had imagined the scene. He finally found his voice and croaked, " Toh tum nay mujhay pehlay kyun nahi bataya?"
"Kyunkay main appko tung kar rahee thee", Khanak invented a wild lie and smiled broadly. Shaantanu did not return her smile.
"Oh!" whispered Shaan, now moving Khanak backwards towards the bed, holding her shoulders. "So you were playing hard-to-get? Haan?" Not fully understanding Shaan, she smiled again. Shaantanu continued to push Khanak slowly towards the bed, not returning her smile, towering over her. As Khanak's legs touched the edge of the bed, Shaan gently pushed Khanak so that she fell on the bed, straight on her back. Shaan lay down beside her as well, turned and came over her and whispered "You love me Khanak" It was not a question. It was a statement. Khanak didn't nod her head in approval. She understood her Shaantanu that way. But her mind had already stopped working. All she wanted at that moment was to make Shaantanu love her back. She smiled at the thought. Shaantanu moved ever so close, his nose was touching hers now. Khanak closed her eyes and heard Shaantanu whisper,
"You played hard-to-get with me. Now see how I shall do the same with you" and with a swift movement, Shaantanu got up from the bed and left the room, leaving Khanak shell shocked.
"What just happened?" thought Khanak, finally recovering and getting up. "Should I go after him? Er…no I think I'll just stay put. What is it with him?!Burthal!". Five minutes later Shaan entered the room and smiled at Khanak, confusing her to no end. Only the lamps were on. Both made themselves comfortable on the bed at their own respective sides. The moment had passed, thought Khanak shamelessly, pouting. She switched off her side of the lamp and lay straight. Shaantanu, on the other hand, sat on the bed and what he did next made Khanak gulp. Taking off his shirt, he announced to the room in general, "Buhat garmi hain" and laid on the bed, shirtless. As much as Khanak tried to avoid looking at his well toned body, she failed miserably. Shaantanu noticed and smirked openly. Thoroughly annoyed, Khanak turned away from him and tried to sleep. But it was next to impossible. Why did Shaantanu have to be so desirable, she thought again. She kept shifting her sleeping positions, wondering when sleep would come. Shaantanu, beside her, was thoroughly enjoying himself. At one point he even laughed loud. That was the last straw for Khanak, who sat up, switched on her lamp, got hold of Shaantanu's bare shoulder, turned him around and demanded " Shaantanu! Aap yay kyun karay hain?!"
"Aray mainay kya kiya hain. Main toh so raha hoon! Tum hee bed itna hila rahee ho"
"Acha? Yay bhee meri galti hain?" Khanak said threateningly.
" Haan toh aur kya! Khud ko apni feelings ka pata nahi aur mujhay bhee confuse kar rahee ho!" Shaantanu countered.
" Main appko confuse kar rahee hoon? Abhee toh bola I love you! Lekin aap! Aap toh burthal hee rahay gay!"
" Acha aur jub mainay tumko letter main 'I love you' bola tha tub toh tum bari jaldi samajh gaee thee!" Shaan retorted sarcastically
"who toh main…" Khanak started.
"tum mujhay tung kar rahee thee! Haina? Kar liya! Ab khush! Tumko pata bhee hain mujh par kya guzree hain!" Shaantanu suddenly became louder.
That shut Khanak up. Her eyes welled up with tears as she mumbled something that Shaan did not understand. Shaan felt horrible, seeing her huge eyes full of tears. But his anger overtook his sympathy. It had not subsided. "Yay aslee ansoo hain ya yay bhee jhootay aansuu hain jaisay tumharay tumhari ANKLE murnay par niklay thay!"
Khanak had had enough. She got up from the bed dramatically and was going towards the door when Shaantanu caught her wrist. She was crying "Aap mujhay buhat tung kartay hain" she sniffed, not looking at him " mainay abhee toh kaha… k main appsay pyar karti hoon aur appp" Shaantanu came closer…."samajhtay hee nahi" he wiped her tears…"main aapko kabhee nai samjha sakti…" he kissed her forehead…"k main apsay kitna…" he kissed her nose…"pyar" he kissed her lips…softly. He withdrew and looked at her lovingly. She sobbed and looked down. Without wasting any more time, he went on his knees , "Will you…will you marry me…. Again…, Khanak?" He measured every word as he uttered it. He didn't want it to go wrong this time. He looked up. Khanak smiled in between her sobs, "Yes", she said immediately. Shaantanu got up and hugged her like he'd never hugged her before. At that time they both felt that completing their marriage could wait…could wait until after their second marriage. It was an unspoken, mutual feeling.
THE END
Health and Fitness
