Chapter 24

"This is crazy!"

Jeet explodes furiously as soon as Mr. Chavan leaves.

"Wedding photographs! So now we have to get photos of our so-called marriage? And why is he after you?" he frowns, narrowing his eyes at me.

I shake my head in confusion, "I don't understand what this Chavan is up to. Dammit! this mess is getting worse."

"Wait a minute," Jeet stops in his tracks, his eyes growing wide as he just realized something.

"Do you know? Is this what it is all about?"

"What am I supposed to know?"

"Stop playing games Tarana!! When did you find out?"

Now it is my turn to narrow my eyes, "What are you talking about? What am I supposed to know?"

Jeet is pacing up and down the house.

"How long have you been planning this?"

"Planning what?"

He stops in his tracks and comes so close, that our toes are touching "Is this a plan to .. bait me?" he looks down at me, dead serious.

"Bait you??! Why the hell would I want to bait you? For what?"

His gaze falters, "I don't know... into some sort of a commitment."

"Are you kidding me right now?? Are you implying that I have planned to get thrown out of my house to get into a relationship with you?" I spit out in disgust.

"Maybe you aren't getting thrown out," he retorts, in an icy cold voice.

I place my hands on his chest and roughly push him away. "Get away from me. Who are you that I would be so desperate to have a relationship with?" My voice is rising along with my anger.

"You have some serious misconceptions about me. I have never had, nor have any intention of having anything with you, now or ever. You must be crazy to think that I have been scheming this, when I did not even know of your existence a month ago," I continue my diatribe.

I glare angrily at Jeet, heaving heavily from the fury within me. He has some cheek to think I am so vile to have such devious plans. Jeet is earnestly searching my face for answers.

Angry tears, despite my attempt to stop them, fall from my eyes which I brush away furiously. "I thought you were a friend. All this time I accepted your help, I never knew you harbored such a low opinion of me. In case you have forgotten, pretending to be my husband was your idea in the first place." I am trembling with rage.

Jeet looks uncomfortable. "Tarana, I did not mean to.. you don't understand.. if you knew then you would have understood why I reacted like this."

"Then tell me Jeet. I know you are hiding something. What is it and why are you doing it?"

He looks down, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. "I can't. You will know soon."

I sigh in exasperation. "You know what? I don't want to know! Whatever you do, it is your life. I want nothing to do with it."

I sit on my bed and stare at the wall refusing to look at Jeet. He moves to sit on the couch staring ahead. Hundreds of thoughts are racing in my head. If I have to leave, where will I stay? how can Jeet even consider I would trick him? who does he think he is? what is Chavan's problem?

I decide I must get my mind off these thoughts before I lose my sanity. I grab a suitcase from under my bed and start putting away my clothes in them, hobbling on my crutch between the bed and my cupboard. I need cardboard cartons to pack the household stuff. I need to search for a warehouse to store my belongings.

"What are you doing?" Jeet stands behind me, as I pull my clothes out of the cupboard.

"What does it look like? I am packing away my stuff. I don't have a lot of time left."

"Don't act impulsively. Let's think it through. Making rash decisions won't help."

I turn to look at Jeet, sorrow and despair writ large on my face, "I don't have much of a choice, do I? This is as far as it goes. I have to accept it and move on."

"You think you will get another accommodation within the next four days, in this state?" he points to my foot.

"This is Mumbai, one can find anything here if you look hard enough. I will find something!" I try to put up a brave front, but the slight tremor in my voice gives me away.

"Why don't we have the pizza and sleep over it. Maybe we can come up with a solution tomorrow morning," Jeet suggests. I had completely forgotten about the pizza which had arrived a while ago. It must be cold by now.

"There is no WE anymore. Thank you for your help so far, but I think you have helped enough. We should go our separate ways. I can take care of myself." I busy myself in folding the clothes.

Jeet comes from behind and grabs me by my shoulder, turning me towards him. My eyes widen in surprise at his sudden audacious behavior. He looks pissed, but his face immediately softens when he sees my startled face.

He drops his hands from my shoulders and takes my hands in his, instead. "Look! I apologize for what I said. It was wrong of me to jump to conclusions," he sighs before adding, "You are right! this is my fault," He looks at me with a sorrowful expression, his caramel eyes growing darker.

"I don't know what came over me at that time. All I knew was that I couldn't see you distressed. I wanted to protect you," he whispers as he brings his left hand to cup my cheek, looking deeply into my eyes.

"I have never felt like this before.. so confused. I have never acted so impulsively before. What are you doing to me?" His deep voice turns huskier, smooth velvet engulfing me in its magical spell.

The warm, tingly feeling, every time Jeet looks at me with those mesmerizing eyes, begins creeping its way up from my toes to my face. My mouth goes dry and I lick my lips which brings his attention to my lips. The flicker of desire in his eyes, bursts into a raging fire.

He moves his right hand to my mouth slowly stroking my lower lip with his thumb, his left hand still cupping my face. Slowly he lowers his mouth towards mine. The temperature in the room suddenly soars by a hundred degrees.

All my breath seems to be getting sucked out of me, pulling me closer and closer to his enchanting lips. I feel lightheaded as all thoughts escape me, except one – to be kissed by Jeet. The warm feeling in my body is now replaced by a scorching heat burning me up, that only his touch can quell. My need to touch him is so overwhelming, I cannot resist my hands resting on his firm abs slowly moving up to his solid chest, feeling every contour on its way up.

Until now, I never knew of such deep desire, craving someone so much that nothing else matters except this moment.

Just him and me.

We are moving closer..

Sexy caramel eyes.. lips beckoning me to kiss them.

I just have to tiptoe now for our lips to meet.

'Wait!!' inner voice screams with all her might!

Everything comes to a screeching halt, as sense finally breaks through my lust-filled haze.

Am I going to get intimate with a guy I know nothing about? One who has clearly said he is not what he seems and does not want to share his secrets with me. For all I know he maybe some underworld gangster, undercover. What if he is after me? After all that I did and went through to protect myself, I was about to throw it away in the heat of the moment.

My hands which were moving lazily up his chest till now, freeze and I push him away. "No! stop!"

Jeet looks confused as he staggers back. His eyes are hooded with desire, his breathing erratic and heavy.

The distance created, seems to clear his head too, as he blinks rapidly, and notices my agitated state. His eyes widen in remorse and guilt.

"I..I..am sorry. I.. this wasn't meant to happen. I was out of line," he further steps backward, running his hand through his hair. "I wasn't thinking.. I.. I need to get out of here.."

He walks out of the house, closing the door behind him, leaving me standing alone in my house.

I stagger to my bed and flop down, throwing a pillow over my head. What just happened? How could I have let it happen?

I am supposed to be wary and careful. I am always looking over my shoulder. How could I be dumb enough to let my guard down? Haven't I learnt my lesson? Being around Jeet makes me forget my basic rule of not trusting anyone.

Jeet was about to kiss me and I would have kissed him right back. How far could it have gone? Would I have been able to stop? What then? Would any of this have meant anything to him?

I must have dozed off, as a persistent knock on my door wakes me up. I look at my clock, its ten minutes to one in the morning. I look through the peephole. It's Jeet.

I have half a mind to ask him to go away, but then decency prevents me from sending him away in the dead of the night. I open the door to let him in.

Jeet is drenched in sweat, as if he just ran a marathon. His hair is messed up and flopping over his forehead like he ran his fingers through his hair over and over. He has a most forlorn look on his face, and I want to take him in my arms and tell him all will be alright. But I don't.

Instead I limp away and sit on the bed and he seats himself on the couch, his head bowed down, clenching his hands between his knees.

Fine! If he doesn't want to talk about what happened between us, great! I don't want to talk about it either. Pretend it never happened.

"We need to talk," he says, after an inordinate amount of silence, just as I was leaning back, about to go to sleep. I sit up straight and find him looking at me.

"There is nothing to talk about. Nothing happened and nothing will ever happen!" I state forcefully.

"I agree and I assure you it won't happen again. But that is not what I was referring to when I said we need to talk."

"Then about what?"

"About Chavan and the meeting tomorrow."

"What is there to discuss about it? I will go tomorrow and tell him I will be vacating the house by the end of the month."

"And do you have a backup? A place to go once you leave from here? Any friend or relative's place you can stay?"

I shake my head. When he puts things in perspective like that, I start doubting the logic of my 'plan'.

"Then what were you planning to do? Live on the streets?"

My stubbornness rises when he speaks like that. "I told you already, I will find something in the next four days." I lift my chin up defiantly.

I continue on, "as it is, I was planning to take the next two days off from work, because of this sprain. Will use this time to house hunt. There are a couple of real estate agents around here that I can check with." Saying it aloud made me feel positive. There! I have a plan of action.

"Fine! if you have planned your move then its good. I hope you find a house within your budget around here."

The gloom reappeared in my heart. Rents in this area were crazy, and for singles, it was worse. The few landlords who did accept singles demanded twice the rent demanded from families and deposit was a year's rent in advance.

I would have to look in the far suburbs like Borivili or beyond in order to find something suiting my budget. Just the thought of travelling by train during peak hours makes me shudder in fright.

"Looks difficult," I said in a small voice, not looking at him.

"I thought so," He got up and started pacing the house. Apparently, he loves pacing.

"Look, I have some friends who have houses lying vacant. If I speak to them, they will surely allow you to stay there, till you can find something else. And they won't even charge rent."

"No!" I disagree vehemently. Living in someone's house without legal paperwork and that too alone. Too many negative scenarios cross my mind. Nope.

I hold my head in my hands "What have I landed myself in? How am I ever going to get out of this?"

"You've had a long day. Let's discuss this in the morning after we get some sleep."

"OK fine," I am too tired to think anyways.

I doze into fitful sleep, interrupted by the recurring nightmare of the forest. This time I am in my house in the middle of the forest. The walls of the house are closing in on me. I am unable to run. Dark shadows are lurking outside, waiting to attack me. "Let me go!" I pound the walls begging to let me free. It's dark, I cannot see clearly but I can feel the impending doom approaching. I can feel myself shivering, my body drenched in sweat, yet paralysed to do anything.

"Sshh.. it will be alright.. I am here.. I won't let anything happen to you." I feel soft, gentle hands stroking my head, a soothing voice whispering in my ear. Strong, safe, protective. The walls start retreating at the sound of the voice. I am safe! I slip into a deep, dreamless slumber.

I wake up to an empty house, vaguely recalling the nightmare I had last night and the assuring presence. Was it real or just a dream?

I look around me. Jeet nor his bag is anywhere to be seen. Not seeing him makes my heart heavy. I wonder when he left and why didn't he tell me. Is he coming back? Gosh that man is so.. mysterious.

I get up from my bed, placing my left leg gingerly on the floor. The pain has subsided substantially. I test out walking a bit and I can manage to walk without crutches, with a little limp. Hopefully by tomorrow I can have back the full use of my leg.

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It's been a little over three hours since I woke up and still no sign of Jeet. After what happened last night, I guess he has decided he wants nothing to do with me. I just wish he would have said it to my face. From the little I knew of him, I expected him to the type of person who faced challenges head on, instead of running away from them. Well, I guess I was mistaken.

I was in the process of applying kajal, just about to leave to the market, when there is a knock on the door. I look through the peephole. Its Jeet.

At the sight of him, my spirits lifted. He did not run away. My first impression of him was correct. Everything suddenly seems bright again.

As he enters in, I notice he is back to his nerdy look and is carrying a shopping bag.

He sits at the dining table and hands the bag to me. "I think this is your best option."

I take the bag, peeping at the contents inside. My expression changes from perplexity to shock as I look up at him.

I wave the bag in front of his face.

"This is crazy!!"