Awkward Aftermath

Awkward Aftermath

The Songara farmhouse was silent in the early hours of dawn except for the few people who had already started their work for the day. All the servants were aware that the guests had a late night so they would all be late for breakfast as well because they wanted to sleep in... Chote Kunwarsa had told them so in the night itself but they were unaware about the two souls who did not get a wink of sleep the entire night and were still replaying the event that had created a mess for both of them.

“Apologise? He should do it after all peeche aaya khud and kiss bhi kiya na.” Ajabde thought as she lay all cuddled into the bed wearing her minion’s pyjamas. “Maine thode hi na bola tha aao kharus Kunwar kiss me!” she made a face as she recalled the way he had captured her in his arms and kissed the daylights out of her. A faint smile appeared.

“Why should I apologise?” Pratap thought as he sat still in the night clothes on the couch in his room, “she responded to the kiss” he recalled the way she had clung to him, fisted his shirt in her hands, “She was as much in it as I was.” He reasoned. 

“I didn’t kiss him deliberately!” she defended her own crazy self “I just went with the flow.” She remembered the way she had placed her head on his chest post their kiss and he had been so tender with her. Unknowingly her fingers traced her lips that felt like the taste of him still.

Pratap stared half smiling at the silver trinket in his hand; it was her bracelet that had stuck itself to the jacket he had been wearing. He held the bracelet in his fist as the thought struck him, “am I in love with musibat?” he frowned.

“Nooooooooooooo!” she shot up in her bed, “Ajabde take a deep breath this is not love. Everything that had happened was just the alcohol and nothing more” she tried to convince her worried self.

“Haan!” Pratap shook his head “it was just the alcohol making me do all that stuff. But what do I do now?”

In their respective rooms two people surfed through the net searching for

“How to……..”

Apologize? Ajabde stopped typing.

For a... Pratap’s hand stopped at “U” No, it was not an unwanted Kiss. His fingers travelled to “k” and stopped. 

“What am I doing?” Kunwar Pratap stared at his laptop screen.

“Urgh!” Ajabde hid her face in the pillow.

Heer woke up disoriented only to find herself in Shakti’s bedroom still in her party clothes. She tried to recollect the events of the last night but everything was blurry. She felt the bed dip and looked up to see Shakti dressed in his track pants and a shirt that showed off his muscular body. He offered her a glass of fresh orange juice which she accepted a little shakened.

“How did I end up in your room?” She asked him, rather awkwardly taking a sip of her juice. He looked at her surprised, “you don’t remember Heer. Last night was ....Heer..... I mean so much more than I ever thought off. “

Seeing her worried expressions Shakti did an internal dance bahut tang kiya tha mujhe Rajkumarisa it’s time for payback!!

“Heer you were so dominating I had no idea you could be such a vixen” he continued putting on his watch. “I mean the things you did and I’m a guy so kahan tak control kar paata khud ko you know...”

Heer’s eyes widened as flashes of her drunk dancing to some Bollywood tune popped up, her holding Shakti by the collars and her threat to him. She sighed as she drank the remaining juice in one go. She pulled off the covers to get down only finding herself trapped by Shakti. She looked at him raising her eyebrows hoping he would let her go but Shakti had other plans.

“You won’t ask humaare beech kya kya hua?” She shook her head only to see him frown, “why?” He demanded

“Kunwarsa last night I got drunk and spent it with my fiance so I’m not worried about the things that happened waise bhi shaadi hone waali hai toh kyun tension lena” she tried to act cool even though her heart was beating way too fast for her liking.

Shakti couldn’t believe himself his plan was failing miserably as she stood up to leave he held her wrist.

“Aur agar shaadi nahi hui then what will you do?” He asked his voice imitating some villain of a typical Bollywood movie. The answer Heer gave him made his day.

“Kunwar Shakti Singh Songara you will never ever do anything that would hurt me or disrespect me in anyway. You have always maintained the dignity of your family and I’m 100% confident ki kal raat agar maine drunk hoke kuch karne ki koshish bhi kari hogi toh you must have taken care of me. Isiliye main aapke room mein apke bed par thi and aap sofa par” she smiled at the couch that had just caught her attention, where a pillow and blanket were kept folded. Their eyes met again this time he could see the trust she had on him.

“I love you Rajkumari Heer Kanwar Solankhini and will always love you.” She smiled as she placed her head on his shoulder as they both looked at the view outside.

Jalal walked in the same time as Pratap in the dining room followed by Heer and Shakti. “Good morning everyone.” Jalal greeted them with a cheerful smile.

Yeh aafat itna khush kyun hai Pratap thought his eyes searching for musibat. Aayi kyun nahi abhi tak he wondered when the servants started to serve them all breakfast Heer asked the question he wanted.

“Ajabde jija nahi aayi ab tak I’ll go call her” she got up when the servant told her “Baisa ne bola hai unki tabiyat theek nahi hain. Woh apne kamre mein aaram kar rahi hain.” 

Heer gestured for the servant to leave when Shakti spoke up “Dadabhai aap kahan?” Pratap had already started towards the corridor, leaving his food untouched. He was so lost in thoughts he didn’t realise that he was standing in front of musibat’s room. He raised his hand to knock but a thought nagged him.

 

“Why are you troubling her? Uska breakfast par na aana is her way of staying away from you. Of course she’s sick! jo bhi tumne kiya that crossed all boundaries of propriety and manners. Yahan photoshoot ke liye aaye the and look what you did. How princely of you!” He kept his hands in his pockets as he turned and made a hasty exit unaware that Jalal’s keen eyes had seen him leave.

“Kuch toh zaroor hua hai bas pata karna hai kya” he smiled to himself as he walked away thinking of a plan.

Ajabde sat in her bed listening to her growling stomach as she gulped down another glass of water. For the first time in her life Ajabde Punwar was hiding from somebody. He was not any somebody, the Kharus Kunwar Pratap Singh Songara who had kissed her after performing the most sultry salsa she had ever performed in front of an audience. They had been so lost in each other that they failed to notice the guests making their videos and now they were all over the internet. She had seen videos on Instagram and here she was hiding from him.

“Does Kharus Kunwar even know ki we have become the talk of the town?” she wondered. “ Hey Ekling ji aapka dhyanwaad ki daata is not there on social media atleast unki side se we won’t have any issue. But iss paapi pet ka kya karu?? This is all kharus ka fault!” she slapped herself with the pillow only to hear a knock on her door.

She hid under the covers only to peek out a little

“Kaun hai?” she asked her voice mumbled when the doors opened and Shakti walked inside carrying a tray filled with

“Khaanaaaaaaaaa!!!!!” She jumped out of the bed and took the tray from him and started to devour food like she had been starving for years shocking him with her sudden attack.

Shakti smiled as he saw her devouring the sandwiches Heer had made for her. Ajabde looked at Shakti and realised the way she had devoured food in front of him.

“Sorry I was really hungry toh...” she was a little embarrassed only to see Shakti shake his head.

“Please Ajab sorry mat bolo yaar. Aaram se khaao I know you must be very tired isiliye breakfast par nahi aayi.” 

“Hmm” She took another bite with a nod,

“I know last night last night was quite tiring and bahut kuch hua...” He spoke as she stopped eating.

“Huh?” she asked her mouth stuffed with a sandwich. Did he see us kiss? 

Shakti stared outside of the window as he continued, “last night I saw mere puraane waale Dadabhai who enjoyed his life to the fullest dancing, singing, having fun with us, unke friends and I saw that persona after a long time. Ajabde you have no idea how much Majhli Maa and I miss him. Dadabhai humaare saath hoke bhi nahi hain. I know there are people who have been hurt far badly than Dadabhai but mere Dadabhai ne kabhi bhi kisi ko hurt nahi kiya and yet sab ne unko hurt kiya. Papa ne jo kiya uska asar Dadabhai ne mere par kabhi nahi padhne diya. Every function, parent teacher meeting jab bhi Ranimaa nahi aa paati thi toh he would come as a guardian. He himself was a child yet he took meri saari responsibilities. Jabse tum humaari life mein aayi ho I have been seeing glimpses of mere Dadabhai unka prank khelna, him accepting your dares, karele khaane ke baad sulk karna like a baby sab mein puraane Dadabhai the. I cannot even think of any word jo….. “ his voice broke as feelings overtook him. Shakti’s eyes were filled with tears of happiness.

“Ajabde you made me finally realise ki I was not responsible for Dadabhai ka state. Aaj tak I blamed khudko over Phool Kanwar ka situation but you took that burden off me. Thank you for everything. Koi apna bhi itna sab nahi karta jo you have done for me, Heer, Majhli Maa...”

Ajabde wiped her moist eyes a little happy as she looked at the younger brother of kharus Kunwar. Every word Shakti had spoken had touched her heart. She did not understand why her heart ached when he spoke of Pratap’s pain but she felt a little happy to know she was able to reduce it a bit.

“Thank you toh strangers ko bolte hain Shakti aur main toh Bhabhi hoon...” Shakti stared at her as she laughed awkwardly “... fake hi sahi rishta toh hai na?” made him smile. 

“Heer meri liye choti behen hi toh hai and uski happiness mein meri bhi khushi hai, aur maine toh kuch kiya bhi nahi hai jitna tumne ne Kunwar Pratap ne and Majhli Maa ne kiya hai... ek runaway dulhania ko apne ghar mein rehne diya usko sahaara diya, help kari kaun karta hai aaj kal, bina sawal kiye.” 

Shakti smiled as she stretched her hand towards him “so Kunwar Shakti Singh aaj ke baad no sorry and no thank you after all dosti ka rule hota hai and I consider you as a really good friend.” As they shook hands both of them shared a smile that somewhere filled their hearts with hope for the future.

On the other hand Pratap tried not to show his irritation as aafat had taken shelter in his study and was observing him work. He reminded himself to be the gracious host but his inner self wanted to punch the daylights out of him so that he could work-out the stress he was under.

Pehle the kiss with musibat then her no-show for breakfast then aafat following him under the pretence of clicking pictures was getting on his nerves. He was about to say something but Jalal spoke first.

“Kunwarsa I didn’t know you were interested in history” his eyes held surprise as he stood with the book Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan by J. Todd Vol1. Pratap shut his MacBook as he joined him.

“I like to learn as much as I can about our history. Humaara past makes the foundation for our present jisse hum apna future decide karte. I enjoy reading them in my free time.” Jalal nodded in agreement. 

“You both are similar in many ways yet so different Kunwarsa.” He spoke unmindfully.

“Who?” Pratap’s brows raised at the question.

“ Ajabde also loves to read and she has the same exact book in her collection in fact I’m pretty sure most of the books you have are the very same ones I have seen in her personal library. Uska bhi yehi maanna hai ki humaara past is what helps us make our future better.” He shut the book and gave it back with a smile. 

“I remember her going crazy over this limited edition of this book on Maharana Pratap and his tales. She searched all over for it but uski nahi mili. If I’m not mistaken she’s still looking for it.”

A servant interrupted them for lunch in the dining room. Jalal went first as Pratap stood silently looking at the shelf as he placed the book back in its place. His hands unknowingly rested on the book kept in the corner, Maharana Pratap it read on the bindings. He almost took it out, and placed it back where it belonged. With a sigh he shook his head as he stared at the closed door of her room again. He turned and walked towards the dining room.

It seems we are more similar than I thought he smiled to himself.