Part 40
It was the day of Akshay and Khushboo's engagement when
Shaantanu and Khanak next spoke to each other. He approached her as she was
going around the house checking, for the final time, if everything was indeed
ready for the evening.
She was turning around after straightening a few strands
of flowers hanging on the stage when he bumped into Shaan. As she stumbled due
to the sudden imbalance, his arms went round her waist and held her- stopping
her from falling to the floor. Khanak's hands instinctively caught on to
Shaan's arms as her mind figured out what had just happened.
When she looked up
to see who was holding her she was surprised to find Shaantanu gazing at her.
As their eyes locked and searched each other's depths, Khanak noticed that
Shaantanu didn't seem to be miffed about the collision. In fact, he seemed to
be perfectly comfortable about it.
Odd! thought Khanak.
And then she realized, that she too had been looking into
Shaan's eyes for over a moment, something which was totally surprising.
Especially since
you so dislike that man's attitude, her brain was quick to chip in.
Khanak pulled on Shaantanu's arms in an effort to get up
and Shaan realized the awkward position they were in. He immediately let go of
her and Khanak fell down.
"Ouch!"
"Uhh..sorry!" said Shaantanu, extending his hand to help
her up.
"Thank you," Khanak said, helping herself up and then
moving past Shaantanu.
"Decorations bohat achi hein," Shaan called out to Khanak
who turned around at the unexpected compliment. "I mean…achi honi hi thi. Tum
thaan ke jo ayi ho ke sab ko impress karna hai."
Khanak rolled her eyes and started walking away.
"Listen Khanak!" Shaantanu ran after her but she
continued to walk away from him. When he finally caught up with her, they were
at the entrance to the kitchen. Shaantanu caught her arm and turned her around
so the two now faced each other.
"Shaantanu, meine jo aap se kehna tha meine keh diya. Aur
agar aap consciously mujh se ek din se baat nai kar rahe tou bohat bohat
shukriya. But please abhi mujeh jaane dein yahan se," Khanak tried to release
her arm from his grasp.
Shaantanu tightened his hold and brought her closer,
their noses were just inches apart.
"Listen to me Dammit! Meine tumhari baat ke baarey mein
hi baat karna chahta houn," he started.
Just at that moment, Sunil came calling for Madhavi near
the kitchen and Madhavi came out of the kitchen door. As soon as Shaan saw his
parents nearby, he let go of Khanak's arm and turned to face them.
"Kya huwa Shaan? Is anything the matter?" asked his mom.
"Err..nai mom. Kuch khaas nai, I was having a headache
tou Khanak was just going to make me a cup of coffee," mumbled Shaan, running
his fingers through his hair.
"Oh that's wonderful beta…mere liye bhi ek cup please,"
requested Sunil.
Khanak had no choice but to smile and go make some
coffee.
When Khanak came to give Sunil his cup of coffee, he was
sitting with Madhavi. Khanak heard him say, "Nai trust my judgement
Madhavi…something is definitely up between them-" before Sunil saw her enter
and stopped mid-sentence. He took his mug, thanked her and told her that Shaan
was in his room so she could tell Hari Lal to give him his coffee upstairs.
Khanak's initial reaction was: Thank God! Thank God, that she didn't have to go see Shaan herself.
But on second thought, she felt like giving him coffee herself. When she
entered his room, she found him deeply immersed in studying a file. He didn't
even acknowledge her presence, so she simply put down the cup, albeit a bit
hurriedly, on his table and turned to leave when she heard an "Aahh!"
Turning around she found Shaan frantically shaking his
hand as if drying something off. Her eyes popped when realization hit her. She
immediately bent down to take his hand in her own and started blowing on it and
cleaning the slight traces of coffee from the backside of his hands.
A few minutes passed when she finally looked up to see
how Shaan felt and found him looking at her with an indescribable expression on
his face. Astonishment, was most evident. And had the coffee been a little less
hot, she could safely have said Shaantanu looked nowhere near annoyed. Alas, a
hint of annoyance was evident, but the bewilderment on his face overshadowed
it.
Whether he was bewildered at her carelessness or
surprised at her tending to his hand, she knew not. But a look at his face and
realization on his intent gaze at her immediately made her leave his hand and
stand up to leave. She mumbled a faint "sorry" and exited.
We can surely imagine that our heroine must have gone to
her bedroom and tried to calm her racing heart. She would have wondered why it
was racing at the first place and then questioned her response to seeing
Shaantanu's slightly burned hand. Then, she would've shrugged off her concerns
as normal for someone as compassionate as her. Shaantanu was a human, and he
had been hurt by her- it was reason enough for her to feel bad for him she
would convince herself. She would then splash cold water on her face and leave
the bedroom as if nothing had perturbed her.
But what about our hero?
Can we take the liberty of believing he felt
compassionate towards the woman who sweetly tended to his hand after spilling
hot coffee over it? Can we assume he smiled at her fazed state once she ran out
of his room? Can we guarantee that he felt the coffee tasted less bitter than
he would have liked? Can we possibly say that Shaantanu Khandelwal was
softening towards Khanak Jadeja?
Thoughts..??? 😃
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