TS: Jealousy

Part 1: Naina's Jealousy

She too plomped herself on the opposite side of the bed. "Tum kahan sone wale ho?" she asked. Sameer looked at her incredulously. "Naina! Sote to bed pe hi hain na!" he replied, rolling his eyes at her . "Tumhare kehne ka matlab hai ki hum shaadi ke pehle ek room mein, ek bed pe so jayein?" Naina was amazed at the gall of Sameer. "Ohh Darling...tum bolo to abhi jaake shaadi kar lete hain...mandir to khule honge na...kaunsi sari pehnogi shaadi mein?" he mocked at her. "Mujhse to seedhe muh baat nahi kar sakte...dusron se khil-khila ke haste rehte ho!" she muttered under her breath as she grabbed a pillow and lay down on her side of the bed.

Sameer was lying at the other end of the bed, his hands crossed behind his head, and his legs jiggling impatiently against each other. And there Naina was pretending to sleep. Sameer checked the time in his wrist watch and realized it was 8.30pm. Naina would be hungry too. He could be angry with her, but he couldn't stop caring about her. "Kya khaogi?" he asked softly. There was no reply. He sighed and turned around. He started caressing her face again, and repeated the question. Sameer understood the silence. "Why did God make people fall in love with girls?" he looked up at the ceiling in exasperation. "Kabhi bolna shuru karti hain to chup hi nahi hoti...aur jab bolne ko kaho to muh pe taala laga leti hain!" he thought.

Finally, he got up and left the room. He returned 20 minutes later with a packet of food. He'd got Chowmein packed for her. It was her favourite. Maybe that would help her relent! Naina had shut her eyes as soon as he entered. Sameer knew she was only feigning her sleep. She too knew that Sameer knew. He came and sat besides her on the bed and caressed her hair, "Nainu tumhara favourite hai chowmein! Kha lo please!" Naina responded with a muffled mmm, and as she took a deep breath or two with her eyes closed. "Overacting ki dukaan," Sameer mused. "Nind aa rahi hai?" he asked again. "Mmmm...," came the same reply. Sameer kept the food parcel on the table besides her and moved over to his side of the bed. As he lay down, he took care not to touch her, and stashed a pillow in between them.

Hungry, tired and sad because of Naina's unprecedented anger, Sameer lay down on the bed, cross-legged, staring at the moon outside the window and stealing glances at Naina in between. "Kya roop tera mastana wala scene ho raha hai...aur ye roothi baithi hai!" Sameer's mind had drifted over to the romance of the night now as visuals from the song flashed across his eyes. The stack of the hay added fuel to his imagination as he fancied Naina wrapped in that red bedsheet like Sharmila, shying away from him, and him kissing her like Rajesh Khanna. Sameer had to stifle his groan and reign in control over his body, as he looked at his angry girlfriend, now apparently in deep slumber.

Post the Mt. Abu trip, this was the first time they were alone in a room at night. The last time she'd cared for him because he was ill. "Idea!" Sameer's face lit up. "Uhhu...uhhu...," he started coughing suddenly. "Uhhu...uhhu...!" He tried to make it as genuine as possible. He turned to look at her. "Aaaa chooo!" he added a dose of sneezing to his bouts of coughing. Naina couldn't help it. "Had he really gotten cold?" she felt worried now. After all, Sameer was very sensitive to cold and cough. And then the cool evening weather of Manali. On top of that, he'd gone out in the night to get some food. He'd left his sweater in the bus, and the room did nothing to make them warm and cozy. "Aa chooo....uhhhu...uhhhu!" Sameer's coughing became extremely loud and uncontrollable. It was then that Naina forgot all about her anger and turned to Sameer, who seeing her move, immediately went into the character of the ill guy.

"Sameer!" she started massaging his back, trying to soothe his coughing. "Aaah....! The feel of her hand....he should start coughing often," he chuckled to himself. He tried to move away from her as he continued to cough and sneeze. "Sameer tumhe sardi ho gayi...oh no...main dawai leke aati hun...tumne kuch khaya bhi nai...kyun thand me ghumte rehte ho!" Naina started fussing around him. "Ab aayi na line pe!" thought Sameer contentedly. "Lo...lo paani piyo thoda...main owner se keh kar thoda garam paani karwati hun...," she said and got up to leave. But she was stopped by his hold on her arm. The coughing had vanished. The sneezing was gone. She realized seconds later that it was a pretence by Sameer to make her talk to him. He was eyeing her with a mischeivous twinkle in his eyes, a knowing smile pasted on his face.