FF: Lootera ~ Last Chapter on page- 85~ - Page 15

6^th Part

Bihaan slid Thapki from his arms and gave her a push towards the hut.

"Go inside and change before you catch cold."

Thapki didn't really want to leave the scene just like that. Who the hell was that woman and why was she looking at her with such contempt? And Bihaan too had stiffened seeing her. There was something off about this woman. Her posture and attitude was full of over confidence and somewhat impudence. She couldn't be a villager. Was she a daku too?? A female daku??

Thapki turned towards Bihaan and grabbed his arm instead of going inside the hut.

"You need to ch-ch-change out of these wet clothes too...come inside..." That insolent looking woman can wait. However the last bit Thapki kept to herself.

That woman started to smirk hearing Thapki stammer. Bihaan nodded his head and pushed Thapki towards hut once more.

"Yes I will, you go inside the hut now. Go."

It was almost like Bihaan was trying to get rid of her.

"B-b-bihaan, you----"

"GO INSIDE NOW" Bihaan shouted. That woman had started to laugh by then. Bihaan's rude dismissal that too in front of this churlish woman hurt, but Thapki obliged him only this once. Later she would give him a piece of her mind.

"Arey O B-B-Bihaan babu, why are you being so angry?" Thapki heard the woman mimic her stammering, still laughing as if something amusing had just happened.

"What are you doing here Imli?" Bihaan asked quietly. That was the last thing Thapki heard before she entered the hut. She quickly went to the window and peeped outside. She could see the woman's back and Bihaan's face. He was listening to something the woman was saying and not liking it which was evident from his expression.

Imli...Imli... Imli... she had heard this name somewhere but couldn't really place the name. The woman had to be in her early thirties, stick thin and a narrow face which was quite beautiful in a rustic way. She was wearing a ghagra choli like all the womenfolk wear in this part of jungle. But her dress was not like average village women... but rather it was colourful, well kept and posh. Her long hair was braided which came down to her waist. However, one can't miss the meanness in her face, it was in the way she kept her mouth thinned and her eyes narrowed.

Why the hell the name sounded so familiar to her? Why was she getting such offbeat vibes from that woman? Imli ...Why did Bihaan tried to get rid of her to be alone with that woman? No... she did not like it at all even if they were colleagues, a fellow daku or whatever. Thapki huffed and moved to take out one of Bihaan's tunic shirt which she could change into. She peeped outside again, but it had become so dark it was hard to see them.

Thapki came out again and started to walk slowly towards the kitchen trying hard to listen to them. But they both were talking in low tones when she came out. She lit a lantern from the kitchen and came out and started to hang it outside in one of the poles of the hut, however there was no hooks to attach it to so she started bustling and fussing around the poles trying to hang the lantern

"What the hell are you doing?"

"I am trying to hang this l-lantern so that you guys don't have to stand and t-t-talk in the dark."

"Don't worry about it...why haven't you changed yet?"

"I am going to, I need to take a s-shower first...I am feeling sticky..."

"Okay but don't go in the dark--take a light with you."

During this whole exchange the woman was looking at Thapki with so much visible hatred, Thapki almost flinched when she looked at her. Couldn't Bihaan see how that woman was looking at her? And still he was not doing anything about it...Thapki thought sulkily and stomped to the well.

Colleague, friend or not, this simply wouldn't do. Bihaan needed to prioritise and his first priority should always be her. He couldn't downplay her in front of that mean looking woman. Thapki was getting angrier by every second. She threw the bucket into the well with vehemence pulling up water muttering to herself in impotent anger.

What the hell she thinks of herself? Who is she to look at me like that? Just wait, I will ask Bihaan never to talk to her again. And he will listen to me. Why will he not listen to me? I am his wife...he may not remember but I am still his wife and I am his everything. He still cares for me...Raja cares for me...He will listen to me and scold her when he knew how she was looking at me.

Thapki poured cold water over herself and something clicked in her mind.

"What will happen to Imli now?" Yes, that was what one of the men said when they realised Thapki was Bihaan's wife. Thapki began to shiver and not because of cold water.

"What will happen to Imli now?" "I will never love you" "I want someone of my own, who will love me as I am now" "You need to leave " " Isn't this a lovely sight to behold" All these sentences and voices kept playing inside Thapki's mind again and again and she felt faint.

Did it mean Imli was someone in Bihaan's life? Someone he loved? Someone he wanted for himself? Did he marry her already? Did they share an intimate relationship? Was that why he wanted Thapki gone so much? Was that why he didn't like her touch?

Thapki's whole world fell apart.

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"You are so worried about her...change your dress you will catch cold, take lantern you'll be scared of dark...did her fair skin turn your head already?"

"Stop talking rubbish Imli"

"Rubbish?? Now that you have your city slicker dumbo strumpet, you are finding me rubbish..."

Bihaan groaned, "Imli, why have you come?" He didn't like her attitude...the look she was giving Thapki and laughing at her stammering had made him angry.

"Do I need a reason to see you Raja? Or do you only respond to the name 'Bihaan' now?"

"Seedhe seedhe bata de what do you want I don't have time for bullshit talk"

"I can see that, you are too busy, you have your hands full of her, na jane kya jaadu kar diya woh gori chamri ne tera upar. First of all she stammers, second she is fat and third she is not even pretty...yuck"

Bihaan kept quiet. To him Thapki was a vision to withhold, she was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen, he couldn't believe in his past life he had her as his wife...and that she loved him. And she was definitely not fat, every one was bound to look fat beside Imli's stick thin figure, but truth be told, Bihaan liked a bit of flesh in bones...to him Thapki was perfect..perfectly rounded in places where she should be and slim in other places. She was perfection.

"Nothing to say? Don't you have any shame, you never allowed me to come close to you but after meeting her less than 24 hours you are not even letting her walk, carrying her everywhere, and kissing her audaciously..."

"She got hurt----"

"I don't care...you two were kissing."

"Ha tou...tujhe kya?" Bihaan didn't feel like correcting her that Thapki was the one kissing him actually. It didn't really matter, because when she kissed him, it felt right, he may have complained but he liked it.

"MUJHE KYA? You are asking me?"Imli asked shrilly.

"Yes, she is my wife, whatever I do with her is my business, who are you to interrogate me?"

"You are showing me attitude? Tera yea zindagi hai na... Maine di tujhe...I brought you back from your death...I have nursed you day and night , I have taken the bullet out of your chest, changed your bandage...I have hold you tight when you screamed in pain...I have full right on you"

"I have never disregarded the service you have done to me, and I will be forever thankful to you, but that doesn't mean you should be after my life dictating forever."

"Kitna ehsan farmosh, kamina insaan hai tu...tere jaisa 10 -12 launde meri age piche ghumte hai...main bhau nehi deti"

"Have I ever asked you not to give them any? Stop eating my brain and go to them please."

Imli started to cry after that, she came closer and took hold of his hand.

"Why do you always be so mean to me Raja? Don't you know how much I love you?"

"And I have said to you again and again that I don't" Bihaan took away his hand from hers.

"But you care for me and Chotu I know that."

"Off course I care for you and Chotu...I will give my life for you two" Bihaan genuinely cared for Imli's adorable 4 year old son, who simply idolise him and follow him like a shadow whenever they met.

"I know... then why don't you let me love you? Why do you have to live here all alone, when I have a perfectly fine house for us...Daddy already loves you so much...he said he doesn't have any problem if we get married. Chotu misses you so much."

"I will come to visit him soon."

"You love the boy so much...why don't you marry me and be his father properly?"

"I don't need to marry you to be his father...I will always be there for him. And you are forgetting I am already married. "

"Yes from yesterday, but even before you never agreed to marry me and I want to know why?"

"Because that would be wrong...you deserve someone better and whole, not a half human like me."

"Your this humility kills me every time and makes me fall in love with you deeper."

"You need to move on"

"So that you can play house - house with your city slicker bimbo?"

"What I do with her is none of your or anyone's business."

Imli gave a dry laugh.

"Whatever you do is my business. I bet she is the reason you were almost dead. Maybe she was the one who shot you. Have you asked her why you were found in the condition you were in?"

"No I haven't"

"And I bet she haven't told you either. It is because she is guilty. She is hiding something. She is the reason you feel so broken all the time...she is a vamp...she is pretending to be innocent but I can see evil in her eyes, she is---"

"ENOUGH"

Evil in her eyes? Thapki's eyes were like mirror, every emotion she felt can be seen in her eyes and every time he looked at her eyes, he felt like drowning in them.

"Just go from here, you and me, we never have a future, it doesn't matter whether I have a wife or not...I am not the one for you...the sooner you get it better it is for you. I am simply not interested."

He spied Thapki coming towards them at that time, wearing his black tunic shirt which fell below her knees and could accommodate another of her inside it. She was barefooted and she was looking so adorable but her eyes were sad. It was like a light was extinguished within her.

She came close and cleared her throat. Imli noticed her then .

"B-B-Bihaan, I have served dinner for you and your g-g-guest, please have it whenever you guys are r-r-ready." She said quietly looking at the ground. Saying that, she turned to leave, but before she could do that Imli got hold of her hair and grabbed her throat with another hand.

For such a thin person, Imli was freakishly strong, and her hand was crushing Thapki's windpipe like it was made of thin plastic instead of bones. Thapki began to choke.

"Chudail, you want to kill me by feeding me poison don't you? You think I will let you succeed so easily?Raja sirf mera hai...you think you can steal him from me?? Kamini. Kut---"

In a lightening second, Thapki was free and nestled in Bihaan's arms and Imli looked at them incredulously from where she was lying in the ground holding her hair in pain. Bihaan had forcefully pulled her apart from Thapki by her braid and pushed her to the ground.

"Tune uske liye mujhe dhakka diya?" Imli asked in disbelief.

"Today I have only pushed you, if you dare to touch even a strand of her hair from now on, I will forget you are a woman and break every bone in your body." Bihaan said holding a softly whimpering Thapki protectively in his arms.

"Why are you being so angry Raja babu? I was just playing with your new pet.N harm done" Imli said with a nasty smile and stood up. She dusted her hands on her hips.

"Leave, Imli... I don't want to see you anywhere near her from now on."

"Thik hae na...I will go now but when you finish with her body, you are always welcome back to my bed...after all, no one can pleasure you like I do, it is only matter of days before you crawl back to me...filhaal enjoy the pathetic fumbling of your new fool...she can never satisfy you...she is such a green girl...you will get tired of her taste eventually and return back to me like you always do. Bye"

Bihaan could feel Thapki stiffen in his arms. Achieving what she was aiming, Imli sauntered away smiling.

Chapter-7