FF 13: Milind & Prachi’s Love Pg. 17 - Page 7

9th Installment

TWO DAYS LATER…

..

Tugging a stray strand fallen on her face behind her ear, Prachi's eyebrows drew in quiet deliberation. Prachi had never assumed that Soumya would not tell her about her mystery friend, or even worse, lie about his existence and laugh off the subject of her marriage. Even at Prachi's gentle urging and coaxing in the past two days, Soumya had not revealed any details, deftly dodging her questions. Prachi was disappointed and truly bothered.

Introduced to the joys of lovemaking recently in her marriage, she could not help but agonize over Soumya. What if in her innocence and pressure from a boyfriend Soumya undertook a step in a relationship that she was too young and unprepared for and which meant the loss of her self-respect, and by extension, the honor for the Shah family? While she trusted Soumya, she did not trust her age where infatuation meant little different than love.

If only Soumya updated Prachi on her life and divulged the identity of her mystery friend, her mind would have been at rest, especially after she managed to convince Soumya to let her meet him. But instead, she felt an ever-present disquiet in the back of her mind.

And she sought to talk to Milind about the matter sensing that he would know how to approach the problem, but she had not had one opportunity in the last three days. She was determined this time though that she would speak to him about the matter after he returned from work.

Drawn back to the present with her mother's new conversation about Sukriti's newfound contentment within her marriage, she smiled. In the conversation between Premlata and Prachi, Naintara would frequently chime in, her head dropping back down to the magazine Stardust after she intemittently joined their conversation.

Finally snapping shut the magazine, Naintara exhaled noisily. "Aapne suna, Sharukh Khan aur Kajol phir se ek film me saath aarahe hain. Hayeee, mai marjawaa. Kitni pyaari jodi haina unki. Lekin meri aur Sharukh ki jodi se kucch kam, haina?"

Prachi and Premlata swapped amused glances, Naintara providing entertainment to them in her chatter of the tinsel town's happenings and her bits of nonsense, revealing all that she had gleaned from the magazine and her opinions.

One glance at his face as he entered the living room, and she could tell that he was not in the best of his moods… Milind stopped to bend down to Premlata's feet for blessings, exchanging greetings with them. Though his words of salutation should have been adequate to relieve her woman's instincts, she knew Milind. And she did not need him to tell her that he had bad news because she could sense the unrest in him from his deeply troubled eyes, tense bearing, and deliberate strides to their bedroom. Prachi excused herself from the company of her mother and cousin.

Scene: Milind and Prachi in their bedroom.

Standing a few inches from the bed, staring blankly at the wall opposite him, Milind wrapped both of his hands around the tie, loosening the knot in frustrated haste. Attacking his shirt, he managed to open a few buttons at the front when he felt Prachi's light touch on his shoulder. Without turning, he raked a hand through his frizzy hair, acknowledging her presence with a nod and then sitting down on the bed, both of his hands on either side clutching the edge of the sheets. Prachi towered over him in his seated position, "Aap pareshan lag rahe hain. Kya baat hai?"

"Bas aise hi. Koi khaas baat nahi."

At Milind's evasive answer, she prodded, "Maine aap ka sukh-dukh baatne ka wada kiya tha mandap ki agni ke saamne. Agar aap mujhe nahi batayenge apni pareshaaniyan, to phir kisse?" At Milind's lack of response, she gently stated, "Mai aapko force nahi karoongi agar aap koi baat share nahi karna chahein."

She turned from him to depart from the room when he captured her wrist, "Prachi, ruko."

She twisted to face him again, but he said nothing. In the place of words, he nestled his head against her abdomen and she smoothed a hand over his unruly hair. She bent her head down to his and kissed his hair. She felt the tension leave his spinal cord and his shoulders relax against her.

After a few moments of silence, she knelt to the ground, her gaze now level with his, her eyes inquiring. "Hotel ka naya project jis zameen per mai banana chahta tha, woh zameen kisi aur ne khareed li hai. Jab Karan Mishra, hamare bharose ke aadmi ne mujhse kaha tha ye baat, tou mujhe puri tarah se yakeen nahi hua tha. Isliye maine apne office employee Yug Panday se pata karwaya tha. Ye information galat nahi nikli."

Prachi actively listened, and he plied on, "Ye naye hotel ki project ke liye humne investors ko convince kiya tha takke hum unka aadha paisa Goa me bante hue resort ke liye lagaye aur is hotel ke liye bhi. A 2-in-1 deal. Lekin agar unhe pata chal gaya ke hamare paas zameen hi nahi hai hotel build karne ke liye, tou woh back out kar sakte hai is project se jisse hamara kadoden ka nuqsaan ho sakta hai. Aur yahi nahi, humne bank se bhi paisa borrow kiya tha. Agar investors back out kargaye, to hamara Goa ka project bhi rukh jayega, jiska nuqsaan hum nahi utha sakte. Mai barbaad bhi ho sakta hoon, Prachi." He banged his fist at the edge of the bed, and Prachi flinched inwardly at his display of anger and frustration.

She brought his hands together in his lap and clasped them in hers, her brown eyes never leaving his face, "Har problem ka hal hota hai. Aur phir hum is problem se deal kar sakte hai. Abhi ye problem aayee nahi hai, aa sakti hai. Dono baatoen me farq hai. Mere paas Mussori mai ek plot khali pada hua hai—Papa ne mujhe meri sola salgirah per diya tha. Aur bohut hi acchi location bhi hai. Agar aap chahein, tou tum woh plot use kar sakte hain."

"No. Woh plot tumhara hai, Prachi. Aur mai kaise…?"

"Milind, jab mai aapki hoon tou meri har cheez meri kaise ho sakti hai?" Prachi severed his question.

"Prachi, mai aur plot bhi dekh raha hoon aur unke barre me soch bhi raha hoon. Isliye iski shayad zaroorat nahi pade." He said the word "shayad" but she knew he meant never. She knew her husband possessed of a great self-respect and pride, admirable traits in any man. But she also knew that those same traits would never allow him to willing accept anything from her even if the question was concerning a parcel of land he clearly needed and could use when she neither needed or wanted to make use of the property. Milind was a self-made man, the sort that would sell the shirt off his back but not compromise with his principles or his sense of honor. But if her husband thought he could gently set her aside and watch him remain stressed and face the possibility of bankruptcy or worse in his business that he worked with his sweat and blood to take to dizzying heights in a short time, he did not know the strength of his wife's love.

"Jaisi aapki marzi, Milind. Aap aur plot dekhiye, lekin agar aap mujhe waaqi me apna maante hain aur utni mohabbat karte hai jitna aap kehte hain, tou aap mujhse ye plot lene ke liye inkar nahi karenge."

"Tu samajhti nahi?!" Milind said in his palpable agitation.

"Mai samajh ti hoon, Milind. Mere aap per koi haq nahi isliye…" Prachi made a move to get away from him rising on her feet when Milind grabbed her to him, standing up so suddenly that her head spun.

"Meri aankhoen me aakhen dal kar keh tu ye…" Passionate near-black eyes met an unrelenting Prachi's. Milind felt himself lose when he also saw hurt mixed with earnest request in Prachi's intent gaze. He closed his eyes, in prayer or in defeat, he himself did not know. But his arms enclosed her in his, the warmth of his body infusing into her.

"Mai iske barre me sochoonga." And Prachi knew he now would seriously consider her offer. She peered at him with love in her eyes, no hint of victory in her expression, only surrender to his arms where she wanted to spend an eternity in.

Background Music & Lyrics:

Male: Tum aa gaye ho noor aa gaya hai

Tum aa gaye ho noor aa gaya hai

Nahi to charaago se lau jaa rahi thi

Female: Jeene ki tumse wajeh mil gayi hai

Badi bewajeh zindagi jaa rahi thi

Tum aa gaye ho noor aa gaya hai

Scene: Ayesha in the bedroom.

"Thank you, Mr. Khanna." Ayesha put down the receiver the phone at the conclusion of her conversation with the man. She had, three days ago, convinced Mr. Rahul Khanna to invest in Neev's proposal because she knew that her contact could lend Neev the money.

She sighed, taking in the surroundings of her room and her eyes fell to the photo of Neev on the left side stand of the table, the side also where he slept on the bed. In Ayesha's estimation, her marital relationship with Neev had improved vastly in the last few days. Really, they had stopped taunting each other except for the few times they did out of sheer habit that they were both trying very hard to break out of. In fact, they were tolerably civil to each other and even were quite cordial to each other on occasions that they were both in Niharika's room at the same time. Though Ayesha knew Niharika's ploy, Neev didn't, a reason which induced her to play along with both Niharika's drama and Neev's request to act the part of his loving wife. Just yesterday, Neev had been weird when he had found her alone in their room…

FLASHBACK of 1 day ago… (Scene: Neev and Ayesha in their room.)

He sat down on his side of the bed, and Ayesha turned to see him. "Ayesha, tumhe pata hai kya hua jab ek chor ne ek aadmi ka batua chura liya?"

With wariness in her eyes, she anwered, "Usne report kiya police ko." When Neev shook his head, she said, "Tu hi bata."

"Usne report bilkul nahi kiya kyunki uski biwi chor se kum karcha karti thi." Ayesha heard herself laugh and Neev had smiled as well. "Ab chalein khaana khane?"

She looked at him curiously and then said after a moment, "Mujhe abhi kaam hai, tu jaa mai aati hoon."

"Mai intezaar karoonga, Ayesha madam, kyunki mai tou hu naukar biwi ka." His taunt ruined the moment of strange comfort in each other's presence. But she almost preferred the taunts to the amiable silence between them when she heard Neev, "I'm sorry. Mujhe aisa nahi kehna chahiye tha." She was stunned. Neev had never before rendered a sincere apology. So, she did not know what to say and heard herself state instead, "Chalo. Mujhe bhi bhook lag rahi hai." When she saw Neev stunned, she said, "Ab khaana khana hai ya nahi?"

Scene: Ayesha in the bedroom (continued).

In a strange way, she felt a dash of incongruous closeness to him in their parallel-running miserable lives. So, she decided to have Mr. Khanna help him without the benefit of his knowing. She had already warned Mr. Khanna to never confess her hand in the clinching of their business deal. She did not know how Neev would react, but she knew that men never kindly took to women running their lives. Milind never had, a ghost of a smile playing on her lips remembering their clashes at the slums. Mardoen ki ego problem ek taraf aur sarah jahaan dusre taraf…