Chapter 13

Taani/rey s room

Taani on the bed , legs stretched out trying to call rey

Kahaan ho rey pick up the call...agar ab pick nahin kiya na...she told the unborn baby...but

then he recieved kya hain rey? Kahaan ho?

Sorry! Im really really sorry sweetheart ...there was so much happening so many people

to meet ...taani seriously im sorry, tumhe mera message mila? ...i wanted to talk to you

so much..sorry. Taani relaxed immediately and stroked the kicking kid

Its okkay rey..main wait karrahin thi aapke call ka tho upset hogayi but im happy for you.

bohot achha tha ...he smiled...tho celebrate karrahe ho?

Nahin,Rehersal karrahaan tha

Is waqt? She glanced at the clock and mentally calculated the time difference Kiske saath?

aashi ke saath, Aur kiske saath ? She missed a step yesterday and she was upset ki neha

commented about it , so main yahaan sone ke bajai uske saath practice karrahaan tha...

but taani had gone deaf and could only hear chemistry dekho! In her mom in laws voice

Taani he called taani? Tum ho? Hello?

She couldnt talk and said ummm hardly realising the kid moving inside now

agar tum yahaan hoti tho you would have liked it so much....exactly why wasnt she with

him? tho tumhe kheenchke kyun nahin leke gaya dance karne? She flinched

But then she heard his voice overflowing with the usual enthusiasm after a happy

performance ..his voice with love , the affection in it for her, the sincerity calmed her a

little...a part of her even then realised she was being unreasonable..she closed her eyes

and placed her head on the headrest waiting for the spurt of irritation to reduce ...he

was still going on....i really missed you after the show. This s the first you have missed in

five years...and show ke baad jo tumhaare analysis sunne ko miltha haina hamesha

he laughed main usse bhi miss karrahaan tha. Waise tumhe kaisa laga?

She forced herself to say again achha laga

taani tum sach mein teek ho? His voice now sounding worried

she relaxed some more and replied haan rey, just tired.

Take care sweetheart , dont strain yourself he repeated and then spotting aashi coming

to him asked waise taani tumhaari aashi se baat hui?

No taani replied thinking the last person she wanted to talk to was aashi now

Here , baat karo and held the mobile to aashi , aashi asked kaun hain ? Taani oh, her face

changed and taani heard her say main baad mein baat karloongi rey , rehersal chodke

kahaan chale jaathe ho?

Arre hi tho bolo he thrust the mobile into her hands and walked somewhere

And aashi took the mobile hi taani! kaisi ho?

Fine , performance bohot achha tha ..waise tumne mera call...

Sorry itna busy hain yahaan...but still sorry. My mistake...and then a moment of

uncomfortbale silence...tho hows everything ? Office ? Baby ? Waise kaun hain saath

tumhaara khayal rakhne?

Rey ki mom hain... aashi...kya hua? Taani frowned her own uneasiness forgotten

Tired bas aur kya?but seriously lucky girl, ab mom in law bhi itni sweet and she laughed a little bitterly,

agar tum meri best friend nahin hoti na ...

Honestly aashi, yeh tum kya hamesha jealous jealous kehthi rehthi ho? Dekha jaaye

mujhe tumse jealous hona chahiye...

kya? Aashi confused kyun?

For starters tum meri husband ke most consistent dance partner ho, yeh kaafi nahin hain

she blurted and then stopped ...what the hell was she talking???

Aashi s face changed from confused to outright sad, rey who had gone to look at some

prop came back and caught her sad look

Sorry i didnt know aashi replied in a low tone

No no no aashi...main Sorry hoon ...aashi i didnt mean it like that...main pata nahin...

aashi forget i said that...

Aashi laughed uneasily and said, ok, bhool gayi. Chodo yeh sab. Main tumse baad mein

baat karthi hoon. Abhi ke liye yeh lo tumhaara pyaara husband wait karrahaan hain

and giving the phone to rey walked off leaving him looking at her confusedly

Whats up? Usse kya hua?

Sab meri galthi...taani hit her head mumbling ...nahin meri kyun aapki mom ki galthi ...

she grumbled...

Taani tum kya aur kisse baat karrahin ho? Rey asked not able to exactly hear what she

was saying

Rey main aapse baat mein milthi hoon and cut the call afraid she would just say

something more stupid to him too...how could she do that ?

Kya main sach mein jealous hoon? She stopped questioning herself...no...images of

reys dance with aashi came in front of her minds eyes, then came him lifting neha up

and turning her around...and with sharon bhabhi , simmi and some students whom she

didnt even know...she shook her head

Shayad haan par aashi se nahin, matlab sirf aashi se nahin ..i guess un sabse jiske saath

rey dance karthe hain...she sighed ...ya shayad unsab se jo dance karthe hain...if only

she hadnt quit her training in dance completely!!! She could have been with them now,

part of their team ...haan aise dance karthi tum ...she looked at her tummy which was

clearly seen now...

the baby kicked continuously after a long period of being quiet...she stroked her tummy

absentmindedly thinking she could have done her duets with him instead of aashi or the

others...and had a hazy glimpse of her own training sessions in college with rey...stop it

taani and wiped her eyes off the tears that threatened to form again and again

all that she had been telling her stupid heart to console it was forgotten and her eyes filled

not because she was upset but she bcoz she was angry...she was angry she wasnt with

him , she was angry he wasnt with her... She was angry she wasnt dancing...

She sighed but that didnt excuse her behavior... taani ...aashi se itni buri tarah se baat ki

and felt extremely guilty and her eyes filled with guilty tears

She picked her mobile up ,called aashi and then...nahin wo call recieve nahin karegi and then msged

I didnt mean it, sorry

And waited for her to msg back her eyes filling up, she was such a fool

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rey frowned as taani cut the call and then looked at aashi who had walked off, went

after and asked

whats wrong with you ? Tum usse baat kyun nahin karrahin ho? U guys fought?

Chalo rey practice...she changed the topic her face expressionless and turned away

No jab tak tum mujhe nahin bataaogi tab tak no practice he pulled her elbow and stopped her

Proffessional aur personal baaton ko mix nahin karthe

I dont care , she s upset and ....and catching sight of her ready to burst into tears face

stopped kya hua aashi?

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Late in the night

taani s room little dark, taani sleeping little awkwardly...reys mom walked into the room

and switched on the bedlamp..taani s face looked stressed with a few tear streaks.

her laptop was open on the bed, mom closed it, picked it up and kept it on the table ,

looked back at her tear stained face. Mom sighed wondering whether to wake her up...

she was sleeping in an awkward position...taani ...she called softly placing her hand on

taani s shoulder and gently shaking her...taani stirred in her sleep and then suddenly got

up REY?

Nahin , main hoon. Taani squinted up at her and tried getting up quickly making her sides

catch again

Aaram se taani...mom helped her up saying ..dont get up so suddenly. Taani sat up

looking sleepy and asked kya hua? Groggily.

Mom shook her head and said sleep properly and helped taani lie down, frowned as

taani slept on her back and said taani sleep on the side like this and helped her to a

more comfortable position otherwise tumhe backache hoga and then pulling the covers

over her, looking around said i think you should shift to a room downstairs once rey

gets back, you cant keep climbing up and then said goodnight and went out.

Taani smiled sleepily ...she actually was more comfortable..maybe thats

why you never stopped needing mothers...she slept pulling reys pillow closer to herself.

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Reys parents room

Reys mom walked in , dad getting ready to sleep itni jaldi hogayi patch up?

No she was sleeping, she gets tired soon. Haina? Hope things are all right

and walking to the bed, sat on it saying, ab main kab usse baat karoon? Im leaving kal

subah delhi ke liye for 3 days ...

U should have thought of it before opening your mouth

She frowned at him lying down i was joking and u know actually it isnt my fault ki i speak

like this. Meri aadhi life aap dono baap bete ki saath kati hain , how on earth will i know

ki ek sweet sensitive ladki se kaise baat karthe hain?

He smiled ab wo sweet sensitive hogayi? Not dumb and stupid ? Her face changed,

she looked apologetic and laughed with him, you never liked her

She shrugged haan mujhe hamesha yahin laga ki rey needed someone different, someone

more spirited par reys so happy in their own world that she must be the right one for him

.. but these few months yahaan rehne ke baad i guess i ve really understood her. ...you

always liked her.They smiled at eachother , shes done well at office haina?

He nodded saying pretty much especially yesterday s proposal...except that she gets tired

easily , itna surprising nahin hain she comes from a family of businessmen, her dad her

uncles aunts even her ..wo naani everyone was in some business

Mom smiled proudly and said good she listened to me and went to work, kya lagtha hain

? Is project ke baad continue karegi?

He shrugged p\ata nahin, its difficult to say, she seems happy with it but tum usse force

mat karo phir se

They were quiet for a second as she thought and then said no uski housewife waali

lecture sunne ke baad darr lagtha kuch bhi force karne se and smiled but i wish she does

continue... abhi meri problem ka solution kya hain? Tell me what to do... She shook him

How should i know? tumhaari aur tumhaari beti ki problem hain.

And she frowned unable to decide what to do

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Next day, taani s cabin in the office

Taani sitting on her chair legs stretched out on a stool and staring at the laptop running

the previous show of d3. Natasha came in , dumped a few folders on the table and said

taani yeh sab aaj ki meeting ke agenda and data hain, dekhlena if its okay

and catching sight of her laptop said waise yeaterdays reyaansh s team performance

was really good na? Especially the last one

grimly ,Taani nodded and natasha walked out.Taani threw the folders back on the table and went back to

staring at the screen.. and picked her mobile to reread her talk with aashi yesterday

T- I didnt mean it, sorry

A- its okay i know

T- main call karoon?

A- nahin please taani

T- main kisi ka gussa tumpe nikaalrahin thi , sorry

A- its fine...

T-im not jealous

A- hone ka koi reason bhi nahi hain

A- actually main bhi jealous nahin hoon

T- i know

T- aashi, koi problem hain? Tum kya mujhe avoid karrahin ho?

A- no you take care of yourself and the baby, catch you later ...

A- relax :-)

T- bye , thanks

And again wondered what was wrong with aashi , she wasnt even smiling in the dance.

Taani natasha called her again peeping through the door. Taani shook herself up ,

picked the folders got up and walked out

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Later in the night...taani s room..taani on the bed sitting and staring at nothing kind of lost

Reys dad walked till the door and knocked , she looked at the door saw him and

attempted to get up as he said

Its ok, And walked in..he looked around, pulled a bean bag and settled on it saying ...

i just came to call you for dinner

Dinner time hain? I didnt realise , im sorry and went quiet , he waited quietly and she

fidgeted with her hands and then blurted im sorry , mujhe pata hain ki maine aaj sab

kuch mess up kardiya . I dont know ...main jo bhi kahoongi excuse hi lagega...but i dont

want to give any excuses ...

And looked at him, he looked back at her and said we dont know you messed it up or

not, you have given that man ABC such a difficult proposition...uski reaction par depend

kartha hain but kyun suddenly? I know tumhe wo pasand nahin tha but last minute

changes...

Pata nahin dad, uski smile dekhhe gussa aagaya aaj. Saara kaam hamara tho unka naam

kyun chahiye sab jagah!

Reys dad smiled at her and shook his head it happens at times taani but tumhaara gussa

usse tha ya kisi aur se..She avoided his eyes .. waise bhi tum upset dikhrahin thi sunah se

Taani didnt know what to say, she just stared at her hands .dad looked at her and said

fight with rey?

She shook her head, nahin rey ke saath nahin , meri best friend ke saath kuch...sorry, I

know professional aur personal baatein mix nahin karna chahiye

he smiled is that really possible? Mujhse tho nahin hota...agar main rey se ya uske mom

se upset hoon tho it shows in the days work...

And got up, she moved from the bed and stood up too hand on the tummy

Tab aap kya karthe ho?

Me ! Im lucky i cancel the meetngs bocz im the BOSS and laughed .

She laughed with him and then he said moving towards the door with her

you can try to postpone important decisions till\ you are sane but best yeh hain ki tum

dil aur dimaakh ki baatein alag rahkho

He smiled at her as they reached the stairs and she smiled back at him feeling better

He stopped at the head of the stairs and said best friend matlab? The one who s reys

dance partner?

She nodded avoiding his eyes but he only said dont take what reys mom said seriously,

she was teasing you itne saalon mein itna tho pata hona chahiye tumhe unke baare mein

I know...i know..par unki baaton se mujhe apni ek aur failure ki yaad aagayi ...he raised

his eyebrows ..mujhe dance seekhne ka bohot bada shouk tha and i just gave it up...

her face showing her remorse

Tumhe dance ke liye dance seekhna tha ya rey ke liye?

Dance ke liye, rey ke saath bhi mera pehla connection dance hi tha she smiled

remembering

Its never too late taani , its never too late to do what you want to do and both smiled ...

the kid kicked furiously , she looked down at her tummy and heard dad say

chalo dinner and then he missed a step...she saw him fall straight down just as she put

her arm out to hold him but he was already down on the floor.

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