#1 TaaRey FF - Vivah - a journey from engagement to marriage...Moved#2 - Page 19

|| Three Years Ago ||

Rey and his friends had completed graduation. They had planned to go different directions while Rey, Swayam and Sharon had stayed back and decided to join the business line. Rey had planned a farewell party for them. At the end of the party he was feeling low as his friends were departing and he would be missing them badly. He excused himself and walked out of the party. He didn't want to spoil anyone's mood.

He was wandering on the streets on his bike unaware of where he was heading to. As he moved past a dark lane he saw a wrecked car and a petite figure standing next to it, kicking its tires. He turned in to that lane and stopped in front of the car.

She was startled to see a stranger and freaked out on finding that the stranger was a guy. She wanted to run away but she knew he would chase her in no time. Hence, she stayed still and sneaked out her deodorant from her bag, just in case.

"Need help?" He asked removing his helmet.

She shook her head saying no.

"Are you sure?" He asked again and got down from his bike, parking it.

"Aage mat aana, I'm warning you!" she pointed a finger at him and he stopped.

"Okay. I'm just trying to help. I can drop you to your place. It isn't safe to be here alone at night."

"I'm fine. My brother is coming to pick me and he'll be here any minute now."

"Sure." He wore his helmet and started his bike.

She saw him waiting a few feet away from her car. She didn't understand why he was waiting, but as long as he wasn't troubling her, she was fine. She heard another vehicle approaching and was relieved to see her brother. She took her belongings and went into his car, locking her own. They started moving to the direction of their house. From the corner of her eyes she saw the biker guy leave after she left, in the opposite direction.

"Kya hua Taani?" Her brother asked her.

"Kuch nahi bhai." She composed herself but the question of why that person was waiting started bothering her.

Next day she asked her friends to pick her up for college.

"Kahan khoyi ho Taani?" Her friend Purvi asked her.

"Kahin nahi." She let out a breath and started staring out of the window.

"Taani seriously what's wrong?" Arjun asked her stopping the car in front of their college.

"Aur kal raat ko tumne ghar pahuch ke call bhi nahi kiya. Voh toh Shivam bhai se pata chala ki tumhari car ka tyre puncture ho gaya tha." Purvi stopped her sensing she was hiding something from them.

"Taani kya chupa rahi ho tum humse?" Purvi asked.

"Actually, vo mein.. kal raat.. voh.. bike.. and that guy.." She stopped when the bell rang indicating their lecture was about to start.

Arjun and Purvi were hell worried now and stopped her from going for the lecture. They pulled her to the terrace and demanded for the entire story.

"Taani tum theek ho na?" Arjun held her hand tightly.

"I'm fine guys. Tum log aise kyu behave kar rahe ho? Aur hume class ke liye jana chahiye."

"Not before you tell us about the guy you were talking about." Purvi demanded.

"Right now?" she asked.

"Yes!" Both demanded.

"Okay. Kal jab mein bhai ka wait kar rahi thi tabhi some guy came and asked if I needed any help. Meine saaf mana kiya phir bhi.."

"You remember his face right? Hume abhi police mein complain karni chahiye!"

"Arjun stop and listen to the whole thing first!" Taani said.

"Go on."

"Yeah, so as I was saying, I refused to take any help from him. He didn't say anything, but voh wahin ruka tha till bhai came."

"Shivam ne usse dekha nahi? And did he follow you?" Arjun asked.

"Voh andhere mein ruka tha isiliye bhai ne usse dekha nahi hoga." Taani answered.

"Aur?" Purvi asked.

"Well even I thought that he was waiting there so that he would follow me to my house. Isiliye I was constantly looking at him. Par jab bhai aur mein wahan se nikle toh he left in the opposite direction."

"Toh abh tum kaunsi soch mein ho? He didn't harass you in any way nor did he follow you, yet you look tensed. Why?" Purvi asked.

"Yahi toh reason hai. Why did he wait till I leave? Why was he pretending to be a protector?" Taani shrugged.

"Maybe he wasn't pretending?" Arjun suggested.

"What makes you say that?" Taani asked him.

"Duniya mein aaj bhi kuch shareef ladke bache hai! So, stop thinking so much or your tiny brain might disappear!" Arjun mocked.

"Teri toh!" Taani hit him with her bag earning a scowl from him.

"He is right though." Purvi added.

"You too?" Taani was astonished.

"Pagal, I meant that the biker guy was probably waiting to see that you didn't get harassed as that's not a decent road where you were stuck last night."

"If you guys say so." She agreed with them.

"Good! So aaj ka plan?" Purvi asked.

"Lecture toh miss ho hi gaya hai, thanks to this idiot." Arjun pointed at Taani.

"Hey!" Taani protested.

"Movie dekhne chale?" He suggested.

A few weeks later.

"Where the hell are you dude?" Swayam asked over the phone as he heard a huge commotion coming from the other side.

"Market aaya hoon. Maa ne kuch samaan lene bola tha, she's cooking Italiano today." Rey gave a fake Italian accent.

"Thanks for telling dude. Sharon dinner reservations cancel kardo!" Swayam yelled the second part to Sharon who was somewhere in the other part of his house.

"Saale tu date cancel kar raha hai?"

"Teen logon ke dinner reservation ko date nahi bolte!"

"Oh, my bad. Waise what is she doing at your house?"

"Usse ghar pe bore ho raha tha as you know rest of the gang has left, toh yahan aa gayi. And you better not get any ideas!"

"Meine kuch kaha bhi nahi!"

"Kehne ki jarurat bhi nahi!"

"But seriously tu accept kyu nahi karta that you love her?"

"I'm not sure."

"Tera kuch nahi ho sakta!" Rey shrugged. "Atcha sunn, no forget it. I'll call her. Bye!"

"Wait wait wait! Call whom? Tu Sharon ko koi lead nahi dega!"

"Abbe Majnu, mein Maa ki baat kar raha tha. Mujhe thoda late hoga yeh batana tha. Bike servicing ke liye di thi, voh pick up karni hai."

"Ohh, okay then, bye!"

Rey bought all the groceries and went to his car.

"Yeh bags leke ghar chale jana." Rey instructed his driver.

The garage where he had given his bike for servicing was a block away from the supermarket. He picked up his bike and went for a ride. When he was returning home, he saw a girl pacing and some guy was following her. She turned back to look at that guy and increased her pace. He recognized that it was the same girl he had seen the other night. He accelerated his bike and stopped right in front of her. She stopped in her track and was terrified.

"Couldn't you just wait for me?" He asked removing his helmet, loud enough so that the other guy could hear.

As soon as the face registered in her mind, she calmed down. She noticed from the corner of her eyes that the guy who was following her had stopped but was still looking at her direction. She then looked at her rescuer who was signaling her to hop onto his bike. Without giving a second thought, she hopped on behind him. He vroomed out as soon as she was seated.

After they were away from that place, Rey stopped the bike suddenly in the middle of nowhere. Taani panicked as the bike jerked to a stop.

"Bike kyu roki?" She managed to keep her voice from trembling.

"Tum ja kahan rahi thi?"

She gave him a confused look. Then it occured to her that he had no clue where to drop her. She opened her mouth to give out her address but she chose to be cautious and gave her friend, Arjun's address.

"That is on the other side of the town. Are you sure about the address?" He asked her.

"Aapko mera address kaise pata hai?"

"Address nahi pata but I do know you live in the south as uss raat tum uss direction mein gayi thi."

"Haan voh actually I was going at my friend's place."

"Alright. If you don't mind me asking, are you new in the city?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"Thought so. Next time try taking the usual routes. These gullies have hardly a few people. So, unless you become familiar avoid them."

"Thanks." She didn't know what else to say to this extremely helpful stranger.

Rey dropped her to the place she asked him to. She thanked him again for his help and got in.

|| Present ||

"Duniya sachme gol hai!" Rey chuckled.

"Huh?"

"How else can you explain us meeting again?" He asked Taani.

She giggled at his response. "But seriously thanks."

"Kaafi baar keh chuki ho." He stopped her from thanking him again.

"So, now what?" He asked after a while.

"Matlab?" She was confused.

"Matlab yeh ki hume kuch decide karne yahan bheja gaya hai."

"Haan.. voh.. actually.. mein voh.."

Seeing her unable to form sentences he continued, "To be honest, meine abhi tak shaadi wagera ke baare mein socha nahi hai. I still have a lot to accomplish before I can settle down."

"Mujhe bhi itni jaldi shaadi.. I mean I haven't yet graduated!"

"Toh abh?"

"I don't know." She was looking everywhere but him.

"Yeh sab chodo, tum batao graduation ke baad kya karna hai tumhe?" Rey changed the topic seeing her get uncomfortable.

"I was thinking kahi internship karke thodi experience gain karu." She was thankful that he changed the topic.

"Uske baad?"

"Itne aage ka socha nahi hai abhi." She was starting to feel comfortable around him.

"Kuch toh ideas honge hi na."

"Kuch hai but I.. I mean.. I'm not sure."

"Fair enough!"

There was silence for a while. Rey wanted her to enquire about him rather than him asking all the questions.

"Andar chale?" She asked him.

Rey nodded and headed to go back inside with her by his side.

Taani stopped walking and spoke, "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"That day.. no forget it!" She shook her head and started walking again.

"If its bothering you, you can ask."

"No, its fine." Saying so she walked inside.

The Raichand's left after dinner. Taani was awfully quiet on their way back. She went to her room once they reached home. Tanya was worried seeing her this quiet. Even during dinner, she wasn't interacting much. She tried speaking to Taani during their ride back home, but was in vain. Seeing the concern on his mom's face, Shivam told her that he would talk to Taani.

...

"Abhi tak soyi nahi?" He asked going into her room.

"Neend nahi aa rahi bhai."

"Kya baat hai Taani? Jabse tum Reyansh se mili ho tabse itni shant ho? What's the matter? Is he not good?"

"Aisa nahi hai bhai. He is a nice guy, but I don't think I'm ready for it."

"So, you did like him?" He smiled.

"Bhai." she whined.

"I'm not teasing you. Wahan mom itni pareshan hai aur tum ho ki baat hi nahi karna chahati."

"Mumma hai kahan?"

"Unke room mein."

"Mumma?" Taani knocked on her mother's room. "Aapse kuch baat karni thi." She was hesitant.

"Bolo." Tanya persuaded her.

Taani didn't know how to start so she laid down with her head in Tanya's lap.

"Tumne bataya nahi, Reyansh tumhe kaisa laga?" Tanya asked.

"Aapko toh voh bohot pasand aaye, hai na? Dekha meine dinner pe."

"Kyu nahi aayega pasand? He's well behaved, knows how to make everyone comfortable and he has an inherent charm which he knows when to use! But mere pasand aane ya na aane ko chodo aur tum batao. Tumhe voh kaisa laga? Do you want to meet him again?"

"Atche hai, par.."

"Par kya?"

"Mujhe itni jaldi shaadi nahi karni!"

"Okay, abhi nahi karni par aage kabhi na kabhi toh karogi na. Toh yeh socho ki kya tum iske saath comfortable ho? Kya tum Rey ke saath khush reh paogi?"

"I don't know."

"Then get to know. Aise kya ratt lagaye baithi ho ki shaadi nahi karni. Get to know him. Usse samajhne ki koshish karo, usse tumhe samajhne ka mauka do. Aise atche ladke baar baar nahi milte toh soch samajh ke apna decision lo."

"Hmn."

Taani slept on her lap.

...

"Yeh muskurahat ke peeche ki wajah jaan sakti hoon?" Juhi caught Rey smiling sitting in the garden.

"Meri darling Maa." Rey hugged her tight.

"Toh mein call karke bata doon Tanya ko ki tumhari taraf se haan hai?"

"Maa?" Rey looked at her in disbelief.

"Kya Maa? Shakal pe saaf likha hai ki pasand hai." Juhi giggled.