Pratap checked his phone for the time. It was half past five but the twilight was slowly getting darker with a hint of grey clouds circling overhead. He inhaled as the conversation he had just walked out of ran through his head.
“What do you mean, Pratap? We announced the engagement yesterday, remember?” She snapped. “You have been given enough time to know her.” She watched him pace the room.
“I know her and I do not like her. I can’t marry someone to save your company.”
“Our company. As we speak you stand as its CEO and it is your duty and responsibility…” She made him stop and walk up to the desk.
“My duty and responsibility should first be towards my happiness and well-being, Ranima. And I have thought of this all night. I do not see myself with her for the rest of my life.”
“What do you see then? The partying and bardance?” Jaivanta taunted.
“I am in love with someone else.” His words were firm enough to make Jaivanta stare a little wide-eyed at him.
“Love?” Jaivanta had a hint of doubt. “Is she pregnant?”
“No, she is not.” Pratap inhaled. “I know it is tough to believe I am capable of such…”
“Who is she?”
“You know who she is.” Pratap stared at his mother intentionally as she fell back into her chair across the desk.
“And you know I forbade you to date her.” She shook her head. “The girl is trouble.”
“I am not dating her. She is not trouble. She is the only one who understands me for me. I do not have to pretend in front of her. I want to spend the rest of my life with her and there is nothing you can do about it.”
“You sound like your father today.” Jaivanta retorted. “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. But I will not lose this time. There is a lot at stake here. So if you pursue her you have to choose.”
“Choose?” He asked with narrowed brows. His mother nodded.
“Between the company, your position, your family, your heirloom and her.” Jaivanta’s jaws stiffened as she got up. “ I will not let you walk all over us. I will disown you if you go after her now. Enough is enough.” Her hand rested on the tabletop as the corner of Pratap’s lips formed a faint smile.
“You are testing me?”
“ There is nothing to test, no girl is worth…” She stopped as he gestured with his hand.
“Fine, where do I sign?” Jaivanta gasped at her firstborn. He was not someone she knew anymore.
“You think she will agree to be with you if you are a pauper in the street?” She retorted. “You will come running back here.”
“She can also let me down if I am the richest man in the world and I am fine with that Ranima. As long as I can tell her what she means to me, tell her how I truly feel and that I can wait for her.”
“So she doesn’t even know? Are you insane?” Jaivanta frowned.
“I learnt the hard way that we always seek love a certain way and we should love the way we want to be loved.” Pratap inhaled. “It is time I do that.” He turned to leave as Jaivanta fumed.
“I am giving you one last warning Pratap, if you step out of this chamber the doors of this office and the house are closed for you.” She watched him glance over his shoulder.
“I am sorry you do not believe in love because of him Ranima, but I do. I always have. I just could not admit it even to myself. Take care.” He walked out of the office one last time.
Pratap jolted as the phone rang and Shaurya’s name blinked. He picked it up in a hurry and smiled at the words. He checked his messages. Shaurya had messaged him an address. He suddenly realised that he did not have the car anymore. So he halted a cab and gave the driver the address.
It was pouring down when the doorbell rang thrice outside the ground-floor apartment’s gate.
“Somebody seems to be in a hurry,” Ajabdeh murmured as she wiped her hand with a cloth and rushed to the door. She opened it to find Pratap standing there. For a brief moment, Ajabdeh felt that it was not real. That she was dreaming. Or that it was a nightmare.
“Who is it beta?” Her father’s voice jolted her as he walked out of the room to find a soaking-wet Pratap panting at the threshold.
“I am Pratap, sir. Can I please talk to her, for a minute?” He asked as Ajabdeh’s father eyed her.
“ Please come in. Ajabdeh, hand him a dry towel. I will be in my room.” He watched Pratap murmur thanks as he walked away and Ajabdeh sighed.
“What are you doing here?” She asked as he pushed her out of the way and entered the apartment. “Did you not hear what Uncle said? Get me a dry towel.”
“I am not your servant.” Ajabdeh snapped.
“But I am a guest. Guests are like gods.” His face irked her.
“Tell what you want to say and get out.” She said grabbing a dry towel and throwing it at him.
“That can be a problem since I have nowhere to go and I was hoping to crash here.” She frowned confused at his words.
“What do you mean you have no place to go? Your home is a few hours drive away.” She shook her head.
“Oh yeah. About that. I kind of left.” Ajabdeh opened her mouth to speak but no words came out of it and he found a perfect place on the couch. “Where are your manners? Would you not ask me for tea or coffee?”
“What do you mean you left?” She asked as her throat went dry.
“I mean… I left.” He shrugged. “I told Ranima I can’t marry Chetna and she said then you leave the house so I did.”
“You announced your engagement yesterday, it was on today’s paper. Are you high on something?” Ajabdeh crossed her arms watching him rub his hair dry. He sneezed twice and looked up at her.
“I can really do with that tea now. Adrak dalke.” He saw her jaws tighten.
“You are not even getting water here.” She snapped.
“Fine, I will tell Uncle you are being rude.” He got up to go in to be stopped by her glare.
“What do you mean you can’t marry her?” She asked again.
“I mean I can’t marry someone I don’t love.” He shrugged. Ajabdeh inhaled.
“And you did not think so when you made all those appearances with her?” She raised her eyebrows.
“Ah, stalker.” His amused face irked Ajabdeh. “I see you have been keeping tabs.”
“One who can read often reads the newspaper.” She shrugged. “I have no desire to stalk you.” A sudden realisation hit her, “But how on earth do you know where I live?”
“Well, I had to work really hard for it. Tell Shaurya a story to get an address from Asha.”
“Now they know you are looking for me? Why?” Ajabdeh frowned.
“Wait, why what? Why do they know or why I am looking for you?” Pratap narrowed his brows at her stare. “ You are confusing me.”
“Stop that. Is this a joke to you? Showing up like that?” Ajabdeh inhaled. “ Your mother will come after me. What is wrong with you?” She turned as he held her back by her wrist.
“No, it is not a joke to me. My life was a joke before I met you. And why I am here? Because I realised that the best way to make peace with myself is to accept my feelings.” Ajabdeh looked pale at his words as she opened her mouth to speak but he continued to stare at her as he talked. “ I cannot deny that I have feelings for you. I genuinely cared for you enough to believe I should let you go because I was confused if you would accept my feelings or worse if I was misreading them and ending up hurting you.” His hand let go of her wrist and held her hand in his, fingers entwined. He could see her eyes sparkle as he smiled faintly, tightening his grip as he continued. “ Seeing you yesterday made me realise we are both miserable without each other. We are scared, yes, we have our issues, but we can be healing together instead of being this miserable. So I told Ranima exactly that and she told me to choose between the life I had there and…” He stopped as Ajabdeh took a step towards him and placed her hand on his heart surprised.
“You left the company too?” She narrowed her brows in shock. “For me?”
“No, for me. I want to be happy and if anyone doesn’t understand my choice of it I am fine with that.” He placed his hand over hers as he spoke.
“But then, what if I found someone? What if I say no?” She shook her head. “Are you insane?”
“Now you sound like my mother.” He chuckled softly. “No, I am not. You have every right to deny me. And I have every right to choose to love you and wait for you. Hope that someday you will…”
“You are such an idiot! You are scaring me. I may just run off again.” She shook her head as he let go of her hand and held both her shoulders.
“Then I promise you, no matter where you go and how far you are I will keep looking for you and I will find you again to tell you again and again what you mean to me until you believe my intentions to be true.” A teardrop trickled down her eyes as he wiped it with the tip of his thumb and blinked away his tears as he smiled at her surprised face. “You are the first person who made me realise I can be myself and still be loved.”
“Look at you being so sure.” Ajabdeh looked at him disapprovingly. “When did I…”
“You don’t need to anymore.” Before Ajabdeh could protest he kissed her gently on the lips, enough to brush her warm soft lips with his cold ones and pulled her into an embrace.
“Now I need to ask your father if he is ready for a Ghar Jamai…” He made her chuckle as she hid her face in his chest. “And I really need that tea. I am shivering.”
“Is all that Vidhi told me true?” She suddenly narrowed her eyes at him.
“What?” He frowned cluelessly. “What did Vidhi say?”
“Nothing.” Ajabdeh shook her head flabbergasted. “Sit down and I will get you some tea.”
“No, what did Vidhi say?” He asked following her into the kitchen. “Clear things out once and for all.”
“I thought you were thinking of someone else when with me…” She blurted as the water boiled in the kettle. Pratap opened his mouth confused.
“What? When?”
“At your place when…” She bit her lips as he eyed the water about to boil and lowered the flame and she put in the tea leaves.
“ I was scared that if I looked at you I would say something that would make you run away.” He shook his head. “How can I ever think of someone else when with you?”
“What could you say that could make me run away?” She frowned. Pratap smiled faintly at her.
“That I love you.” She almost dropped the cup she was holding as her heart made a funny leap and he smiled amused. “See…”
“I am not running away, am I?” Ajabdeh inhaled with a blushing smile.
“I should have said it then?” He asked surprised.
“Oh no, I would have definitely run away.” Her words made them share a laugh as he looked at her smiling as she poured the tea. He was contemplating a hug when he heard the door open and moved back to see her father at the threshold.
He asked eyeing them. “The room is quite suffocating to be locked in for long.” Pratap looked a little embarrassed as Ajabdeh smiled at her father.
“So?” He asked as his daughter hugged him.
“So you were right and I was wrong.” She said as he smiled at her “And oh, he needs a place to stay.” She pointed at Pratap and walked out of her father’s embrace. “We will give him the couch.”
“The couch?” Pratap was quick to check his disappointment.
“Of course, you are not paying rent here, what do you want? A bedroom?” She frowned. “Unless you want to share a room with Baba.” She placed the teacups down as she spoke and the men exchanged awkward glances.
“Also you have to share chores if you live here. Water the plants, help with the grocery, pay a part of the bills and…” Pratap inhaled as he caught her father looking at him amused.
“Welcome to the other side of the Punwars.” He said patting Pratap’s back gently as he walked up to grab some cookies.
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