[FF] Pichle Saat Din [Prem-Centric][One-shot]

Pichle Saat Din

Prem's first week in India had been, in short, a wholly chaotic week. He reclined in an armchair next to his window, looking up at the biggest and brightest moon he had ever seen, a smile on his face as he reflected on his week.

Day One

Prem had unpacked his suitcase; the contents of it lay scattered around his room. He sighed, hands on his hips as he looked around his new room. He began picking up his clothes, folding them and keeping them neatly in his cupboard. What better way was there to search his clothes again then to put them back inside? Flinging them in every direction hadn't done much; his favourite black jacket was still missing.

Thirty-seven minutes later, Prem sat on his bed. His room was practically spotless now, yet there was still no sign of his black jacket.

Prem Juneja was upset.

His jacket had been the only casual piece he owned, and together with his signature button-down shirts and pants, made him nearly irresistible to the opposite sex. Or so claimed his brothers, who were constantly borrowing his jacket (and his look) from him.

Prem could have smacked himself.

He stood up and left his room, peering through the rooms to see which ones Harman and Preet had chosen. "Preet! Harman!" he called out, wondering why there were so many rooms in the house.

Finally, a few doors down from his own, Prem heard his brothers' voices. From what he gathered, they were arguing over the room.

He stopped at the door and stared at them. Preet spotted him. "Loh, PB bhi aa gaya! Hum unse poochte hain ki kamra kise milna chahiye!"

Harman agreed, and both approached Prem.

"Bhaiya, hum dono ko yeh kamra chahiye. Ab aap hi choose karo ki kamra kisko milega," Preet explained the problem to Prem.

"Whoever did not borrow my black jacket can have the room," he replied, arms folded as he leant against the door frame.

Preet and Harman looked at each other. "Kya aapne PB ka jacket liya?"

"Nahin. Kya tumne Prem Bhaiya ka jacket liya?"

"Nahin. Agar aapne PB ka jacket nahin liya, aur maine PB ka jacket nahin liya…toh kamra kisko milta hai?"

Prem rolled his eyes. So neither of them had borrowed his jacket. He turned and went looking for his mother, leaving his brothers to squabble over the room.

"Maa, aapne mera black jacket dekha hai kya?" he asked.

Gayatri Juneja was busy unpacking their bags and directing Lalit in the operations as well. She glanced at Prem. "Nahin, beta. Preet aur Harman ne apne kamre chun liye hain kya?"

"Nahin, Maa," he replied. "Dono ek hi kamra chahte hain." Gayatri sighed and went off to settle the dispute.

Prem frowned. Neither Preet nor Harman had borrowed his jacket. No one had seen it. So where had it gone?

Day Two

Prem finally stepped into the Juneja residence, exhausted from his first day at work.

He was lucky enough that the firm he worked for in Canada had transferred him to their Ludhiana branch after he had informed them of his family's decision to move, but he had not expected it to be so…chaotic. He had been given a pretty high position, and it seemed to him that no one was capable of working without him.

All he needed now was sleep.

He shambled up to his room, wondering why whoever built the house couldn't have built more rooms on the first floor.

When he finally reached his room, he was seized by the feeling that he had forgotten something. He stopped at his desk, frowning, trying to remember whatever it was that he had forgotten. He spent two entire minutes frozen there, but he couldn't think of anything that he had forgotten.

He shook the feeling off, placing his things on his desk.

He reached into his shirt pocket for his fountain pen, a birthday gift from Lalit, but felt nothing there. He felt his pants pockets. Still nothing. He cursed himself silently as he rummaged through his bag, hoping to find his pen there. But there was nothing in his bag except for the papers he had been forced to bring home.

Prem swore, kicking the wall. He winced in pain, hopping to the bed on one foot. Smart move, Prem. Absolutely genius.

Day Three

Prem was bored. It was nearly one a.m. and he couldn't sleep. He didn't feel like sleeping. Maybe having coffee at 10.30 at night hadn't been his smartest move.

He had finished up whatever work he had brought home, but he still wasn't tired. And he wasn't about to waste his night watching those silly Hindi soap operas. The Bold and the Beautiful had been bad enough, and Veera had forced him to watch that show with her practically every day.

He paced his room, picking up random things. He felt like going for a run, just to tire himself out, but he knew if Maa found out he had been running late at night (like he sometimes did in Canada), she would never let him out of her sight.

Then he stopped. Hadn't he been reading Great Expectations on his flight to India?

He opened up a drawer in his desk, sure that was where he had kept his book. Of course, with the way his luck had been so far, his book wasn't there.

Neither was it in any of his other drawers in his desk and his cupboard. Prem groaned. Don't tell me I lost my book, too!

Day Four

No one could understand what was happening to Prem. Whatever it was, Kulraaj, Harman, Preet, Veera and even Lalit and Gayatri (though she tried not to show it) found it very funny that Prem was losing something every day.

Regardless of that, the Juneja kids (minus Kulraaj) and Lalit sat around the table in their living room, all engrossed in a lively game of rummy.

Preet and Harman were having fun making cracks about Prem losing the game, considering he was losing everything else. Prem chose to laugh it up. He hadn't spent time with his siblings like this in a while, so he was trying his hardest to enjoy it while secretly worrying about what he was going to lose next.

"Ek minute, ek minute," Harman said, as they neared the end of the game. "King toh chaar hone chahiye, na? Toh chautha King kahaan hai?"

"Bhaiya, voh kaunsa hai?" Veera asked.

Harman paused, looking at all the cards. "King of hearts."

None of them had it.

Thus began the search for the King of hearts card.

Twenty minutes later, the group reassembled at the table.

"Kisi ko card mila kya?" Lalit asked.

All of them shook their heads.

"Lagta hai ki Prem Bhaiya ka curse yahaan bhi aa gaya," Preet said.

Veera pouted. "Lekin main jeetne vaali thi!"

Prem sighed, running a hand through his hair. When was this going to stop?

Day Five

"Sir?"

Prem looked up from his papers to see his mousy secretary popping his head in. "Bolo, Rishi."

"Sir, voh Mishra Sir ke file aapke paas hai kya?" Rishi asked.

Prem frowned. "Maine voh file tumhare desk par rakha tha."

Rishi shook his head. "Sir, maine teen bar check kiya lekin file nahin tha. Sir, Mishra Sir bees minute mein jaa rahe hain, aur unko jaane se pehle file ko check karna hai."

Prem sighed. He had a feeling he was about to lose his job.

Day Six

"Kul Di, aap sure hain na, ki tickets PB ke paas safe hain?" Preet asked for the seventh time. The family was waiting to watch a movie, and Preet was not about to go home because Prem lost the tickets.

"Preet, maine kaha tha na, tickets mere wallet mein hain, aur mera wallet mere jeb mein hai!" Prem repeated. He reached into his pocket to pull out his wallet. His expression changed. He felt his other pockets. "Uh oh…"

Preet's eyes widened. "Didi maine kaha tha na!" he cried.

"Prem, koi baat nahin, hum…hum phir se tickets khareed lenge!" Kulraaj tried to placate both brothers.

Prem simply stared helplessly at her.

Day Seven

"Arre, Preet, jaldi karo na! Hume party ke liye der ho rahi hai!" Prem called out to his youngest brother. He, along with the rest of his family, waited in the foyer for Preet. They were supposed to have been at a party Balraaj and Taji Maan were hosting for them, half an hour ago.

"Aa raha hoon, na!" Preet replied, running down the stairs.

"Even Kulraaj and Veera didn't take as long as you to get ready!" Harman complained.

Veera smacked her brother's arm. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Lalit interrupted them, saving Harman. "Chalein kya?"

Twenty minutes later, the family pulled up to the Maan residence. Preet had managed to successfully annoy them throughout the entire ride by complaining about not being allowed to drive.

They piled out of the car. Lalit was as excited to see his old friend as a kid in a candy store, and the excitement had spread to everyone else as well, even though most of them didn't know what to expect.

They entered the Maan residence, and received a warm welcome from Balraaj and Teji.

As they introduced one another, Prem's eyes met a pair of lovely almond ones. The other eyes flitted away quickly, ashamed at having been spotted.

Prem smiled. He took in the owner of those beautiful eyes. She was glowing with a radiance Prem had never seen before. She was tall and slender, and from the way her eyes kept darting at him, he guessed she was shy.

Prem found himself imagining what it would be like to feel her in his arms. The scene played out in his head: she would fall into his arms, and they would stare at each other, falling in love at first sight.

"PB, why is your mouth open?" Preet whispered, holding back his laugh as he brought Prem back to his senses.

Prem closed his mouth and glared at Preet. "Shut up," he whispered back.

Preet snickered. "In case you weren't listening, that's Heer."

Heer. The name echoed in Prem's head the way church bells sometimes did. He smiled. Heer.

It was as though she heard him, because at that same moment, she looked up at him. He gave her a little wave, and she offered him a smile. Prem thought his brains had turned to mush, because that smile had rendered him incapable of thought or speech.

-||-

A smile played on his lips as he thought of Heer. Yes, his week had been immensely chaotic. But today had made it completely worth it.

Prem yawned. He stood up, leaving the moon behind. He needed to get some sleep. He had a long day ahead of him tomorrow, and he had a feeling he wasn't about to lose anything anytime soon.

-|end|-

Yes, the ending is rather abrupt. But you know what? That's the way I like it. 😛 I mean, do you know how hard it is to think of SIX different things for Prem to lose? No wonder I lost steam towards the end! 😛 Anyway, here's hoping you liked it too! Have a great weekend! 😃
Love,

Bhav (: