CUPIDâS LITTLE ARROW
PREMEERSS
PART 8
Something Hidden
âYes, what happened Miss Maan? You are calling me at this time? Is everything all right?Is Tanu all right?â Prem couldnât help asking the series of question sensing the tension in Heerâs voice.
âI wonât lie to you Mr. Juneja but at this moment I, myself, donât know the details. I can tell you only after you come home and yeah, please donât panicâ, replied Heer.
âBut IâŠâ, before he could finish Heer jumped in, âDonât worry Tanu is alright. I guess you have started panicking after hearing meâ, Heer replied guiltily for making him this much tensed.
âHow can I not panic? You just hear your own voice and then tell meâ. He was slightly relieved but still couldnât hold back the slight anger in his voice.
âI know, I know, my fault. Itâs that I had gone to Tanuâs school today and the things I came to know left me a little worried. But of course I didnât intend to do the same with you. I just wanted to share with you. But I think I shouldâve chosen the words more carefullyâ.
âItâs ok. Are you sure everythingâs all right?â
âYes Mr. Juneja. Btw, I have some other appointments so I will be a little late in the afternoon. So will you take Tanu to the park? She wanted to go thereâ.
âYeah,, I will tryâ.
âThanks and bye. See you in the eveningâ.
âByeâ.
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âWhereâs Ms. Heer? Wonât she come today?â asked Tanu as she saw Prem came to pick her up from school. Actually after Heer had started her work that was the third day that Tanu had come to school and the other two days Heer came to pick her up noticing the difference between the uncle and the niece and also to talk to Tanu freely.
Prem smiled after settling her to the passenger seat and replied, âShe will but she will be late.She has some workâ.
âBut she promised to take me to the nearby parkâ, Tanu made a pout.
At first Prem hesitated to tell but then spoke in a low tone as if making a request to her, âWell she said we will go today and that she can join some other time. So can we go?â
Prem was hoping ânoâ would be the answer but to his utter surprise she shook her head in positive with a little âbutâ in it.
âBut we will play, eat two ice creams and weâll spend at least two hours thereâ, Tanu stated her conditions.
âFineâ, replied Prem smilingly.
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âExcuse me, can I meet Mr. Manmeet Singh pleaseâ, Heer asked the receptionist in Manmeetâs office.
âYes maâam. Who should I tell has come?â
âHeer Maanâ.
âOk, please wait in the waiting room and Iâll inform himâ.
After 10 minutes Heer entered Manmeetâs cabin and saw him engrossed in a file. She coughed a little to make him aware of her presence. Manmeet saw her and greeted with a warm smile. Both seated on their respective places and Heer started the conversation.
âWhatâs the matter Manu?â
âWhat? Why would you ask this?â Manmeet clearly didnât understand anything.
âI am asking about the morning incident. You know that you canât hide things from meâ, Heer stated clearly.
Manmeet sighed. I wasnât hiding anything Heer. I told you that I would tell you after you come back from tour work. Itâs need a little bit discussion.
Heer got impatient. âWhat is it about?â
âItâs about Rishabh. He is coming to India next month andâŠâ
âAndâŠ?â
âAnd he wants to meet youâ.
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âTanu, be careful with the rideâ, Prem shouted from a little distance.
âDonât worry I will beâ, Tanu replied while licking her ice cream.
Itâs almost one hour that Prem and Tanu had come to the park. Tanu was really having a great time that too with his khadus mamu and Prem, well, Prem was enjoying watching little Tanu and remembering his own childhood. He and his elder sister were the only playmates of each other. They used to go to parks like this and play but they never had their parents around;it was always with their caretaker. So he knew the feeling of being alone and thatâs one of the reasons the he didnât deny when Heer asked him to take Tanu to the park.
His chain of thoughts was broken by Tanuâs voice. âCan we go home?â he heard asking Tanu.
âWhy? Arenât you having fun here? Do you want to do something else?â Prem got a little worried.
âNo, just I am missing Miss. Heerâ.
Oh! Now he could understand. Miss. Heer, hmm, something is there in that girl. In fact, he was missing her. Wait, what? Prem you canât be thinking like that about her. She is Tanuâs counselor.
He came out of his thinking process and replied smilingly, âOk, weâll go homeâ and they left from there.
âHi Manohar, is Miss Maan here yet?â Prem asked while entering the house with Tanu.
âNo bhaiya, Heer didi is not hereâ, Manohar answered.
âHmm. Thik hai main change karke aata hu mere liye ek cup chay bana do aur Tanu ke liye milkshakeâ.
Manohar nodded and left from there leaving a worried Prem.
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âHello, Mr. Juneja?â
âMiss. Maan, where are you? Tanuâs been waiting for you for so longâ, Prem literally shouted over the phone when he saw flashing Heerâs number.
âActually Iâve called you inform that I canât come todayâ.
âWhy? Are you all rightâ, Prem became a little tensed hearing this as she never did this in this one week.
âYes itâs just a slight fever. Iâll be fine tomorrow. Just need a little rest thatâs allâ.
âOk, ok, you take rest.See you tomorrow. Good nightâ.
âYeahâŠâ Heer sighed and replied after a long pause, âgoodnightâ.
Though she said she was alright but still Prem couldnât sleep peacefully. He was thinking about her the whole night. What had suddenly happened to her? She didnât seem fine as far as her voice was concerned. Well letâs just wait for tomorrow but right now you need some sleep, his mind told him.
In the meantime Heer couldnât sleep thinking about the conversation that she had with Manmeet and Ashlesha.
Flashback
âWhat? Manu are you out of your mind? I have waited for this day for so long and you are telling me not to talk to Rishabh. Have you forgotten what he did 2 years ago?â Heer couldnât suppress her anger.
âRelax Heer, just let him finish. I am sure there must be some reason that he didnât want you to talk to himâ, Ashlesha tried to reason out.
âExactly Heer, thatâs what I am trying to say. See I know what he had done and that you need your answer too but what is the guarantee that he wonât hurt you again? So I am just saying let me come with you.â
âOk fine, if you say so. But you will not say a word. Itâs between us,â Heer made herself clear.She needed to deal with it alone.
âOk but I will surely not forget when aunty needed him the most he just refused to come thinking it was some kind of trick to bring him backâ. Manmeet vented out his anger and stomped out of the living room.
Flashback Ends.
Done with this part.I know too many questions are there? what has Tanuâs class teacher told? Who was Rishabh? What was his relation with Heer? What was the thing about which he wanted to talk to Heer? You will know in the next chapter. Till then, good bye and take care.
Thank You,
Love,
Sunayana
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