Preview:
Mr. Bajaj smiled wryly: So age matters, huh?
Prerna blushed and didn't know where to look. She was always getting so tongue-tied around him these days for no reason. Why was she getting so awkward?
Prerna: Nehi, matlab, not that I care...I mean, I didn't know...(she looked hard at the ground).
Mr. Bajaj, amused: Well, now that you know, perhaps you can call me by my name. We are married for better or for worse, aapka haq he.
Prena looked up shocked: Mr. Bajaj...!
Mr. Bajaj clucked and smiled: Nah. Rishab. Just Rishab.
Please remember to leave your thoughts behind. I like reading reader responses.
Edited by Marybarton - 4 years agoChapter 1:
Prerna huffed, that horrid smell again! Tobacco smoke everywhere. It filled her with dread every time Mr. Bajaj lit up one of his damned cigars. He was doing is a lot these days. It signaled that he was stressed constantly. He only smoked when he was stressed, it apparently helped him keep that icy-calm-don't-give-a-damn thing going. It also meant the scenarios of him getting sick were playing over and over in her head a lot more these days.
But why was he more stressed? Moving out of Basu Bari was supposed to make things better for him...I mean, for Kukki and the general family. Why was it making him more stressed then? Did he really never see those lung cancer ads? Did he really not care about what will happen to him? To Kukki, I mean? After all, it’s for Kukki that I am giving any concern to this at all. Not that I care or anything. No, not at all. I just respect him.
Prerna took a deep breath. That was it. She was going to have a real talk with her husband. Prerna turned the central air on exhaust pointedly and stormed up toward him, but Mr. Bajaj did not notice. He never noticed. His head was always in the clouds these days. She was transparent to him unless Kukki was with her, it was so demoralizing.
“My heart will beat for Anurag and him alone...forever!” That’s what she had said. That was her wedding vow to him. It played over and over in his head. He knew his place in her heart, it didn't exist. Even if her righteous anger about Anurag framing him in the car accident did make him hope... No, she probably just moved out of Basu Bari because of her sense of right and wrong. But at the end if the day, he was more in the wrong than Mr. Basu. Rishab knew that. He may have been temporarily blinded by what his Kukki's need for a mother, but he knew he had taken away a woman's choice. And he was experienced enough to know that he couldn't lie to himself any longer, Prerna was not just Kukki's mom to him. She never had been. He could not have taken such a big decision as marriage with her just like that. He liked her, a lot, and that made the guilt worse. And he was the last man in the world she could have liked.
Rishab sighed.
Snap!
Prera clicked her fingers again: Mr. Bajaj. Earth to Mr. Bajaj.
Mr. Bajaj stood up from his arm chair: Aap? When did you come back from school?
Prerna exasperated: I dropped Kukki off this morning. It is now late in the evening. And you are smoking again.
Mr. Bajaj slumped back down, looking away: Yes, well.
He usually lost his vocabulary around her, fumbling his words and looking blank. This was nothing new, but god it was getting embarrassing. He was afraid of being found out. Mr. Bajaj tried hard to hide it under his serious mannerisms. It didn't fly anymore with Maasi, she probably knew, but Prerna hadn't figured out yet how nervous she made him. This little slip of a girl had all the power over him.
Prerna: I know you are sad about Kukki's leave for the semester but this is no way to behave. You have smoked two cigars already. Do you not know how bad it is for you? How bad is second hand smoking for Kukki and everyone else?
Mr. Bajaj: Kukki is not here. And I can go to the balcony if it bothers you.
Prera growled is frustration (that always made him smile): Stop smiling! You know that is not what I meant. You don't care about your own health? You know this is bad for you (she pointed at the lit cigar).
Mr. Bajaj sheepishly: It's not that easy to quit.
Prerna: I cannot sit idly by and let you destroy yourself like this. Do you even know how much damage you are doing to your lungs puffing on that black smoke? You don't care about sticking around? Don't pretend you don't know about lung cancer now! Even you are not invincible Rishab Bajaj! (Rishab's heart skipped a beat) If you go on like this, you will get sick before you even reach fifty.
Mr. Bajaj: It's not that...wait a minute, fifty? Fifty!? (He took a step toward her and she took a step back) How old do you think I am, Prerna?
Prerna blushed and looked at the ground: I don't know.
This was not the way she thought this conversation would go.
Mr. Bajaj smirked and took a puff of his cigar, much to her annoyance: Take a guess.
Prerna stepped back and he inched closer like a prowling cat. He was so majestic and sure of himself like that, it gave her the shivers. At the beginning she used to think his attitude was his arrogance, but as she got to know him more, she saw that there was more to it. It was sure, precise, all man...but far from arrogant, there was a vulnerable modesty to him. And true grit if he was on a mission.
Mr. Bajaj raised one eyebrow at her.
Prerna pouted: Maybe 48 or 49, something like that (she bit her lip).
Rishab burst out laughing: 48 or 49!!! I must have aged really badly. (Pause) Tell me. Do you find me handsome?
Prerna gasped. How did he know!?
Prerna: NO! Of-of course not (she coughed).
Mr. Bajaj: Pity. Don't elaborate. I know, I am the last man in the world you could find handsome. Anyways, for your information Mrs. Bajaj, I am not even 37, okay? Don't let the grey hair fool you. It runs in the family. I have been this grey since I was in my teens.
Now this made Prerna laugh in disbelief: What!? No way. How is that possible?
Mr. Bajaj: It's a generic mutation, I got it from my mother's side of the family. They all had white hair since they were young. I only have a five year old daughter. I married when I was 31 and still this grey. I am not about to turn 50 tomorrow. Happy?
Prerna who was now beet red just mumbled something at the ground that he could barely hear.
Like X-men.
She wondered.
37! 37!? Why of course he's just 37. Kukki is only 5 and a man can become a father earlier than in his 40s, you dummy!
Mr. Bajaj smiled wryly: So age matters, huh?
Prerna blushed and didn't know where to look. She was always getting so tongue-tied around him these days. Why was she getting so awkward?
He took another step toward her as she scuttled.
Prerna: Nehi, matlab, not that I care...I mean, I didn't know...that's all (she looked hard at the ground, then at the table decorations she was backing towards).
Mr. Bajaj, amused: Well, now that you know, perhaps you can call me by my name. We are married for better or for worse, aapka haq banta he.
Prena looked up shocked: Mr. Bajaj...!
Mr. Bajaj clucked and smiled: Nah. Rishab. Just Rishab.
Prerna whispered: I can't!
Mr. Bajaj held her wrist to keep her from backing herself into the wall behind her. Her pulse was quick. That made him feel bolder. Well, Mrs. Bajaj wasn't a dominating ice queen after all. There was warm blood in her veins, blood that reacted to him.
Mr. Bajaj coaxingly: Of course you can, you just did earlier. Give it another try, this time without the last name.
Prerna looked up pleadingly: I respect you...
Mr. Bajaj: Well, that's nice, isn't it Prerna? I respect you too. But somehow I manage to call you by your first name.
Prerna's eyes lit up with a spark: Are you mocking me?
Mr. Bajaj sighed: I am older than you, Mrs. Bajaj, but not so old that I can't be called by my own name by my own wife (those dark eyes bore into her). So?
Prerna took the cigar off his fingers and dipped it in the vase full of water by her side. It sizzled. He protested in alarm.
Prera took a step up so they were barely a breath away. He now tried to take a step back, but she pulled him back to her by the lapels of his silk robe.
Prerna: So quit smoking and I will call you Rishab. I don't shy away from a challenge, Mr. Bajaj.
Rishab's breath caught in his throat. Were those flower-like feminine hands really brushing against his chest? She was really pulling him towards her.
Mr. Bajaj shook his head: Stop, Prerna. You don't know what you are doing.
She cocked her head to one side, her hair cascaded behind her, passing like a waterfall around the his arm on her back.
He pulled away. Breathing short. She didn't let go of his lapel, so she came with him. She grazed his afternoon shade of beard with her nails and glazed a sharp nail down his throat, just for the thrill of it.
Rishab pleaded now, breathing hard: Don't..please Prerna.
Prerna let go with a look of triumph on her face: Never underestimate a woman, Mr. Bajaj. We are born knowing (she trailed teasingly).
She sauntered off, smirking now.
Prerna said behind her: And don't let me catch you with another cigar.
Thoughts?
