Chapter 1

"main nahin karpaaoongi, i knew it" taani stopped at the chair she was allotted and looked at what that sweet looking assistant had explained to her about...she didnt understand a thing. Was she naturally this dumb? Nahin tho main itni bhi buri student nahin thi. college main tho lazy bhi nahin thi...rey ke wajah se itna kuch kiya hain. She wanted to go through the stuff which she had been given and impress her father in law when she saw him in the afternoon but nothing but nothing was entering her thick head ..sab hazy hazy hain

Shayad mujhe kuch aur karna chahiye...maybe main office kaam ke liye sahin nahin hoon.

what nonsense this s what you chose to study graduation ke baad yahin sab tho pada tha...

haan par padne ki baat alag hain aur kaam ki baat alag, maybe i dont enjoy this and ...

arre taani par tumhe internship mein itna achha laga tha..yaad hain? ya wo bhi kitchen ki sink mein dho diya? teen saal kitchen mein pade rehne ka asar hain yeh bas aur kuch nahin

sarcasm ! she had learnt that from him beautifully

kuch aur useful cheezein seekh nahin sakthi thi, unko dekho , academy ka kaam itne acche se sambhaal the hain even after being a real dancer, he s proper businessman aur khudh ko dekho..kuch bhi nahin karsakthi and picked up the files in front her and sighed...ek mahine se try karrahin hoon kuch bhi adjust nahin horahaan hain and remembered the looks that some other staff had exchanged during a meeting yesterday- she could hear them gossiping about her- boss ki bahu kitni bhi useless ho usse tho kuch nahin kehsakthe

She sighed , her father in law was going to be so disappointed , unhe chodo- phir se mom ki sarcastic smile dekhne ko millega- yeh rey ko na sarcasm apni mom se hi mili hain and sat her hand on her chin tapping the table lightly and thoughts wandering while her eyes scanned the papers in front of her her brain registering nothing

Taani! That girl again- aapka kaam hogaya hain tho ...her look saying she didnt expect her work to be completed anyway. taani forced a smile- wo just some time aur bas. She smirked predictably and left ..making taani s heart go down. Maybe if she could get over the bad taste in her mouth or stop her head from spinning she would be able to work better but how? She was feei ng so nervous and panicky all the time, not to say sleepy she yawned once and controlled a second one looking furtively out of the cabin separating her from the office .. she was feeling so sleepy now

Uggghhh- main itna rusted kaise hogayi? And rememberd the sentence that had made her decide to start working again-

Flash back- two months or so back- in d3 academy office - nil gave her a quick hug saying thank god you could manage it on time taani, all of us were really busy

Taani smiled- its okay, happy to help anytime

Nil- no really...and turning to simmi...atleast thanks tho bolo isse, ek tho u didnt finishit ..

Simmi frowned at him see nil its not like i was free , i was busy too and i was with you ..taani ghar mein rehthi hain tho she has nothing else to do..and turning to taani- i mean taani thanks but turning back to nil, main free thi kya? She snapped

Nil- no no i know that well...chodo thankfully someone was free. And smiled at taani

Taani couldn't return the smile- was she free? And had a mental view of her TO DO list-the stuff she had rearranged to complete simmi s work, she walked away but the conversation kept running in her head again and again - this wasn't the first time that she had helped out her friends in some routine stuff or the other and neither was it the first time that she had heard this UR at HOME so U Must be free sentence but it irritated her today

And her mobile rang at the time - her mom in law- great ..another working lady to tell me how free im at home and receiving it spoke to her

Back to office

she had had a decent relationship with reys parents but her mom in law could never accept her decision to stay at home , actually neither did her aunt... or her tauji or her friends or bhai ...actually no one except Bhabhi

surprisingly it had been Sharon who had told her in her stern way- taani ask them all to go to hell, tumhe ghar mein rehna hain tho ghar mein raho, u want to work, u work . it should be purely your decision , main wo nahin karpaaonngi par yeh zaroor jaanthi hoon ki humein whain karna chahiye jismein humein khushi milthi hain

pata nahin kyun us din itna bura laga tha mujhe- jaise ki meri koi izzat hi nahin thi but simmi kit ho aise hi baat karne ki aadat hain- aur its not like i was free all the time - haan peaceful zaroor thi.. she thought as her phone rang- it was her maid- shit she cursed and received it- knowing fully well it would be to complain about kaka and tell her she was quitting the job- after twenty minutes of listening to her tantrums she snapped at the maid to get lost and added kaka ko boldena ki unko kuch din chutti di hain maine and banged her mobile on the table in frustration-s

he didnt know why the eternal fight between kaka and her bai had escalated since she had joined wor and it was bugging her taking up a lot of her time in the office when she always thought of them..maybe she just didnt know how to handle the work and homefront perhaps..her mom in law would be so smug to know that! sigh! Taani chup, wo ache hi tho hain!

wo ache hain , main wo sab nahin karsakthi jo wo karthe hain bas ...mujhe bhook lagrahin hain her stomach rumbled

the office girl came back again , before she could ask taani said, see main yeh aaj finish nahin karsakthi , ill ...do it tomorrow thinking this is what i meant, mom kabhi aise unprofessionally behave nahin karegi ...the girl looked like she wanted to say a lot of things but couldn't as it was the boss s bahu, fine aap sir ko batadena and walked out shutting the door with unrequired force.

Taani stood up from the chair frowning and as she turned her head spinned, she clutched the arms of the chair for support and tried to shake her head - but the spinning worsened scaring her . it subsided after a few seconds and she sat down feeling like she wanted to puke , she took deep breaths a few times calmimg herself as she realised she had been sweating as well.

Kya taani? Itna tension lene se kuch nahin hoga..relax and you ll be worikng better. Wiping her sweat with a tissue on the table Par yeh roz roz kyun horahaan hain? itna weakminded hoon kya main? And itna darr bhi lagtha hain she remembered rey saying two nights before - it happens sweetheart, sab ko hota hain. when you start something new , this happens. Kya tum nahin jaanthi humein kitne nervous lagtha hain koi bhi performance ke pehle when she started to protest, he had held her hands in his across the dining table and continued, see taani tumne itne saalon tak career ke baare mein nahin socha hain so you ll take some time. Just promise me ki you wont give up

She had nodded then but now...All i want to do is run from here ghar tak- she could smell the roti in her kitchen - it seemed so real and inviting and she badly wanted to kick everything and go back to her favourite spot at home - window sill where she sat with rey sipping their chai or talking about the difficulty in some performance or just...holding each other relaxed forgetting the world around them

Sigh! Wo pehle din jab yahaan aayi thi tab kitna excitement tha , koi darr ya nervousness nahin and remembered how happily rey had dropped her off , her in laws had introduced her to everyone in the office and her tauji had called to tell her he was finally proud of her and Sharon bhabhi had been so glad she had presented her with office wear .. she gulped and here she was after a month with no excitement whatsoever, upar se itna darr ki chakkar aatha hain hamesha teen hafthe se rey se baat karoon? Looking at the watch , nahin busy honge and felt her tummy burn

She got up again holding the table and picking up a glass of water sipped it when her eyes fell on the calendar and suddenly in her foggy brain something clicked - she had missed her dates?? ...almost 2 months !!!! was she ???? shit !!!!...and her heartbeats suddenly increasing , she left the cabin with her bag ignoring the staff looking at her and walked out of the office towards the comfort of her home forgetting the meeting that she was scheduled to attend in the afternoon.