She woke up with a start feeling that still her eyes were burning with lack of sleep...She leapt to her feet from the easy chair where she lied last night,carelessly and coming beside the window she felt that dawn came spreading her orange hue in the eastern sky...A loose smile touched her lips watching the birds came out from their nests. It seemed as if for some seconds she was relaxed and relieved from all those disturbing thoughts...but that couldn't last for long as she was desirous to be decisive and with a determination she finalised something within her mind...
She took a bath quickly perhaps to be freed from the weariness of last night and then endeavoured to make herself fortified by silent prayer until tears coursed down her cheeks...She wiped her suffused face and picking up the cell phone pressed the 'call' button...
:'Shanta? Aj thori jaldi asakti ho tum?'
"Okay...adhe ghante me ajao phir...' she cut the line,not sparing much words...and then heaved a long sigh...Her eyes narrowed and her brows furrowed and for some minutes the expression prevailed until a smile of confidence mingled with a tint of shyness spread over her face...
After an hour Niyati came out of her residence...Her floral top over her blue jeans seemed to animate her personality...A thrill crossed her face as she concealed her mission from her grandmother and she just couldn't imagine how the old lady would be reacting when her mission would be unveiled...
Daya was rubbing shaving cream over his cheeks in an exasperated gesture...The servant hadn't come the day before and it seemed that he wouldn't come that day too...He had been humming a tune to dispel the anger that had been churning inside him for the untimely absent of the servant...He sat in a chair and skimming over the clock he hurried his pace and just at that moment the doorbell jingled...Daya's jaws hardened as he prepared himself to reprimand his servant and with an annoyed expression over his face he opened the door finding himself in bafflement...
Doctor Niyati Pradhan was standing at the threshold with a face that carried a loose yet wry smile...It was not only unexpected for Daya but also something impossible and that was the cause he stood riveted there with a staggered expression...Niyati felt distinctly that a rippling sensation was bubbling inside her-a sensation that was perhaps nearer to 'delight'...but she hadn't an iota of wish to analyse her own feelings but to behold at the flummoxed face of the man..because that was something she yearned for years,she simply loved to do...She couldn't explain though to even herself...perhaps with the association of perplexity his innocense got the opportunity to permeated through his face more vividly...and now...she discovered that his face was almost covered with the white liquid soap and a laughter she couldn't resist...
:'bada pareshan ho gaye aap darwaza khol ke...' she said finally in a teasing tone with a throaty laugh...
Daya put every effort to cover the embarrassment with a demure smile and asked her to come inside suavely,:'andar aaiye...please...'
Niyati still fixing her eyes upon the man's almost diffident smile,entered into the well decorated hallroom...Daya indicated a fluffy couch jabbering,:'baithiye...'
Niyati's eyes roamed over every object of the hallroom and she nodded with a sage smile like a connoisseur...
Daya hastened in wiping the shaving cream from his face while Niyati after sitting on the couch, shot him a quizzical glance,saying,:'I think...mera ana...aap ke liye...' her lips were pressed in confident gesture,:'ek bohut bada surprise tha...'
Daya flashed a squirm smile and temporized in answering back while Niyati added quickly with a coquettish glance,:' aap ka surat dekh ke aisa laga ke...bhoot dekh ke bhi...' pent up laughter couldn't be held back atleast for some seconds,:'aap itna na darenge...'
Daya replied this time jestfully,:'ye to normal hai doctor...bhoot ko phir bhi...asani se khatirdari kiya ja sakta hai...' his face turned jocose as he waited for her reply...Niyati felt a flowing pleasure inside her but she made her face grim pretentiously and with an air of superciliousness she divulged,:'soch rahi thi ke...bina koi introduction ke...yaha ane ka wajah...aap ko...' she inhaled and then heaved deliberately and perhaps unknowingly to make the situation tensed and then sharply looking at him declared,with a visible smugness,:'bata hi dun...magar...' she paused adding the piquancy of the atmosphere...
Daya's brows were puckered as he was waiting for the words of Niyati but leaving him waiting, Niyati peeping inside with curious glance...After Noticing her for some seconds,Daya remarked,inquisitively,:'kis ko dhoond rahi hain aap?'
Niyati with a natural smirk and smile replied back,:'Mrs Daya ko...' twinkling mischief glinted in her eyes as she added,:'main to soch rahi thi ke...aap ke wife abhi mujhe khatirdari karne ayenge...magar...jaise aap...shayad waise hi...aap ka wife...'
Daya was getting dumbstruck during Niyati's words, knowing the thoughts of her and his lips parted; eyes turned radiant with mischief as his term of countering came,:'aaah...To abhi pata chala ki...kise dhoond rahi hain aap...magar...aap ko mayus ho ke hi laut jana parega...' feigned dejection he could reflect upon his face well...
:'kyu?' Niyati asked promptly though she felt that her heart was pounding trecherously against her ribs...
:'kyuki...meri wife unki maike me hi rehti hain...' Daya answered evasively,intentionally...
Niyati felt as if something inside would explode in few minutes as she asked with quivering lips,:'matlab? jhagra kiya kya aap uske sath bhi?'
:'hmmm..' answered Daya still pervading his face with sparkling humour...
:'ha?' Niyati exclaimed and looked at him in a shocking gesture and though she tried hard to curb her emotion but the intemperate curiosity was seeping through her face that almost turned purple by that time...
:'hmmm..' Daya repeated repressing the laughter without his knowledge that his effort in repressing made his face more charming...
Niyati gazed at him in mesmeric enchantment though Daya received the silence as her bafflement and without torturing her more, he now proclaimed with a frank chortle,:'samajh me nahi araha hai ke...aaj sooraj kaha se uga hai...ya phir uga bhi ya nahi...'
Slight peevishness touched Niyati's eyes as she was super prompt in asking,:'kyu?' she paused and then resurrected back,:'main aap ke ghar ayi hun...is liye?' a smirk was hovering in the corner of her lips...
Daya heaved a long sigh and then sitting in front of her,he marshalled all his thoughts and when he was just about to reveal,he was perplexed listening to her voice,:'kal shaam kya huya tha?' Niyati asked it in low voice and unlike her natural instinct to pronounce every word clearly,confidently...
Daya raised his eyes at her astoundingly while Niyati looked at some other object visibly with blase apathy...
Daya with a queer smile,replied back flinging his hands,:'kkuch bhi nahi...achcha khasa tha main...shayad ...duty kar raha...' his words were interposed dangerously as she waded in fiercely,:'To phir...' she paused abruptly and then snorted with derision looking at some uknown object...
Daya stared at her enraging face with a rueful expression and summoned all his courage to ask her,:'nani kaisi hain?'
Niyati remained silence...Daya ventured to discern the mood of her with a tint of scare and then further asked,:'mujh pe...zada gussa to nahi kiya?'
Niyati turned her face towards Daya sharply casting a fuming glance at him and started answering in a mincing and mocking voice,:'jee haa...gussa to kiya...magar aadat ho jayega...jab woh ye samajh jayenge ki...' her voice turned thicker and hard and face too became hardened,:'kuchh llllog...hawa me baat karna pasand karte hain aur ye janke...woh ...kisi pe...jhutha ummeed rakhna band kar denge...' Niyati was harsh, and at the pinnacle of attack...
A pall of darkness descended upon his face as he answered back after a minute,:'aap ka baato se...mujhe laga tha ke...aap unko...achche se mana sakti hain...'
:'of course main unko achche se mana sakti hun...' she was quick in countering,:'kis ne kaha ke main mana nahi payi?'
Daya replied late,with a wan smile,:'sach kahu?'
Niyati looked at him astoundingly and still her eyes were burning in anger while Daya's wan smile slowly converted into a conciliatory gesture as he jabbered,:'aap ka baato se mujhe laga tha ki...mere waha pe jana,'he paused and resumed within five seconds,:'nani se milna...aap pasand nahi kar rahe hain...' he sighed revealing the truth and almost catapulted Niyati into a baffling state...Before Daya could utter anything more, she recalled that she had come there to seek an apology for her brashness and...instead of that she began further a bitter row with ...It seemed someone cudgelled her conscience impelling her to feel ashamed...
Niyati's silence though befuddled Daya more and he was keen to explain a little more,:'abhi...bhala hi...mujhe...nani ka...kitna bhi...yaad aye..magar ...' he squinted eyes to notice her but it didn't appear to him that she was convinced at all and her dumbness was more mystifying...,:'aap ko na khush karke...nani se milna...' Daya paused and uttered the rest with cough,:'sahi nahi laga...'
Niyati though was burning inside with repentance,Daya's words as if instantly blending with her flowing blood rippled in delight...Her lips curled in her effort to suppress the secret bliss...
Daya remained silent in discomfiture waiting for her to react and remark...Niyati's eyes gleamed abnormally gazing at the shining floor of Daya's hallroom...Hadn't she yearned to know that? Hadn't she come here to know whether it was Daya's careless oblivion or...it was the cue his sensitive and sensible heart received by her brusque manner in which she bade him goodbye..
She snorted in her effort to overcome the discomfort and then turning her face towards Daya with a candid smile,she jabbered irresolutely,:'actually...main isi liye hi yaha pe ayi...'She once glanced at her dangling crossed leg and then added more,:'shayad...us din..mera bartaab..aap ko sahi nahi laga...magar...'she scrabbled in darkness for some words and after an inane yet attractive smile,she mumbled further,:'samajhte honge aap..ki...nani bachcho jaise hain..Na samajh...ziddi...'she paused saying that much and sighed perhaps to assuage the irregular beating of her heart...
Daya could interrupt her,assuring her that she shouldn't bother about his inconvenience as he liked the companionship of her nani but he chose to maintain silence as Niyati's capriciousness flummoxed him the most...Niyati though anticipated some words from the man...and his silence making her disconcerted..
:'to...'she tried to sound confident,:'main socha ke...'throbbing heart was making her dumb,:'it ..won't be ..possible for you...'she flashed a fatuous smile perhaps to wipe the embarrassment off her face..
Daya nodded with a mild judicious smile resisting himself from asking her some questions while Niyati put it a little scornfully,:'waiseee...'her lips curled forming a sultry smile,:'bada bad tameez hain aap..?'
Daya almost jolted as a scare passing down his spine-the scare he felt when that lady's eccentricity nonplused him..Though he managed to flash a gentle smile,concealing the asperity of his heart,:'ab tak to mere hisab se...koi bad tameezi nahi kiya,'he responded with a seeming to be friendly smile,:'magar haa...aap kaa hisab se ..kya kiya...woh to mujhe samajh me nahi aya...' perplexity mingled with ingenuity reflected through his amiable smile while Niyati hadn't any wish to squander the opportunity to savour it..Her puffy eyes those she endeavoured to adorn with kajal,gazed at the beatific naivety of his face...
Daya felt puzzled to be the object of Niyati's queer glance and Niyati gauged that well as nearly twenty seconds elasped..and she with a much needed smirk turned her face away holding the topic back,:'itna dhoond dhoond ke aap ke ghar ana para..., na hi apne koi pata diya tha...na hi phone number...aur upar se...'
Daya's face darkened with a guilt while Niyati continued,:'ek baar poochhne ka bhi jaroorat nahi samjhe aap...ki ...kaise main ayi...'
a taunting smile decked her face while Daya spluttered urgently,:'I'm so sorry...actually ...' saying that much he noticed the teasing curl in the corner of her lips and a bantering smile ablazed his already bright face as he stated trying to maintain an inquisitive gesture,:'waiseee...sach me...aap ayi kaise?'
Niyati further looked at him with a broad grin this time though sarcasm still oozed from her voice,:'ye aap abhi poochh rahe hain? Jo sawal ...mujhe dekh ke hi aap ke dimag me ana chaiye tha woh poochhne me itniiii der?' she continued jeering at him,:'mujhe to lagta tha ke aap ek...' she squinted her eyes at him tantalizingly to utter the rest,:'bohut achcha detective hain...'
Daya, repressing the shaft of anger that pestering him inside, retorted back though with an impish chuckle,:'waisee...ek kyu...dimag me kam se kam dus bara sawal hain...' his brows puckered once amusingly and then he added,:'magar ek bhi aap ko poochhne ka layek nahi hain doctor...'
Niyati's expression converted quickly from a relishing one to a annoying one and she snapped,:'kyu?'
Daya withdrawn quickly,:'khair...shayad aap mere pichhle apartment me gaye honge...kyuki woh hi aap ka ghar ke pas hai...phir waha se pata kar liya mera address aur dhoond liya...' he was heckled as Niyati rasped,:'kaun sa sawal chhupa rahe hain aap apne dimag me?' her face was seeming annoyed like a child...
Daya flashed an ingenuous smile and dawdled,:' chaliye maan liya main achcha detective nahi hun...abhi to aap khush hain na?'
:'ye mere sawal ka jabab nahi hai Mr Daya', she was sounding husky once again...:'kaun sa sawal aap ke dimag me hain jo chhupa ke achcha ban ne ka natak kar rahe hain aap?' it was abrupt in which way she reach at the paroxysm of rage making Daya extremely nonplussed...For about a minute he couldn't seize that how he was feeling and after that he felt as if a wave of bitter shame flowing inside him...Colour stole into his face and he said with a resigned smile,:'mujhe natak karna nahi ata hai doctor...' his offended eyelids batted quickly in his effort to overcome the discomfort associated with the insult...,:'waise...mann ya dimag me ...jo bhi sawal paida hote hain...'he paused and then came back stoutly,:'woh sab kuchh tab hi bataya ja sakta hai doctor...jab samnewala...bohut achcha dost ho...aur woh bato baato me...gussa na kare...' revealed he with frank confession,trying to maintain normal gesture...
:'I am sorry' ,Niyati apologised earnestly as she herself was confused that why she had the proclivity to hurt him repeatedly...:'achcha hota agar...andar ake hi...main aap ko...mere yaha pe ane ka wajah bata deti...' she averred in a completely different mood though inside her she was fidgeting with a searing guilt,:'magar kya karu...' she stated quite aimlessly and stopped not being able to reveal the rest that she craved like an insane to have such frivolous conversation with him...She yearned for it for two whole nights! being sleepless...
Daya felt Niyati's repentance and a guilt shot him like a prick for taking her whimsical behaviour so seriously..With a conciliatory gesture he ventured to ease the atmosphere,:'woh to mujhe pata hai...'his face turned humorous again,:'jab aap nanijee ki Nini ban ke baat karte hain...tab aap...,' he paused flashing a placid smile at her and then,:'ek bachchi lagti hain...'
Waves of tickling pleasures ruffled inside her and she turned her face away with a half smirk to hide the faint smile of immense content...Daya continued maintaining the serenity,:'Nanijee hi bheje hain aap ko...'
Niyati desired to burst into a loud chortle enjoying Daya's wrong conclusion but she bridled her fervour and a poised chuckle of raillery spread over her face as she finally turning her face locked gaze with him,accidentally and stated with a priggish smile,:'aap ka koshish to achcha tha...magar woh...' her nose flared in her effort to smile unflinchingly,:'galat nikla Inspector saab,' a frisson of wild pleasure passing through her spine tingled reaching at the centre of her bosom as Daya received her teasing words with equal vigour and a puckish smile and this time he didn't repeat the fault again of remaining silent,:'tooo...' he pretended to guess,:'aap nanijee ko surprise dena chahte hain aaj shaam...' he was going to add something more but Niyati's ashen face was the tacit signal that he was right this time in conjecturing...Niyati glanced at him with a mixture of astonishment,reproof and affection and a loose smile hung from her face as she uttered pressing her lips,:'I must apologise', her lustrous eyes busied scrutinising his humorous face as she resumed,:'aap jitna bhole dikhte hain...utna to hain nahi...'
Daya gave a throaty laugh saying,:'bhola kyu...kahiye buddhu...bebquf...kyu?'
Niyati felt that she should now exhale the air as she perhaps stayed breathless in the last minute...
Daya veered the topic sagaciously,:'khair...aap mere sath...nashta karenge na?' he asked with visible hesitation
Niyati chuckled by herself thinking that after so long she would going to have breakfast with him at his residence...But would it be right to accept it? Wouldn't he consider her as a troublesome vagabond who had no value? Her face clouded with confusion...'No...he couldn't think so low about someone; he hasn't the attribute to belittle people; he is a man of sobriety...' her mind prompted her easing the lines of worry over her forehead...
:'doctor...' muttered Daya irresolutely...
She jolted as Daya's rich voice dashed onto her ear and with a mischievous smile,she replied back,:'agar aap mann hi mann yehi soch rahe hain..ke...' her face contorted in an attempt to tease him,:'ye kaise musibaat agayi hain...abhi is bad dimag aurat ke sath baith ke nashta karna parega...tab to main...chali jati hun', she abruptly leapt to her feet with a coquettish grin making Daya befuddled primarily and then he recovered quickly and an impish chuckle spread over his face as his words almost bordered to mild admonishment,:'lagta hai mazak karna aap ka nasha hai...' his eyes glinted with delight making Niyati staggered and then he returned back,with an ingenuine grin,:'chup chap baithiye...main nashta banake aap ko bulata hun...' when he twirled back,Niyati remarked comically,:'chup chap baithna parega?'
Daya with a bantering smile countered,:'waise...baithke mujhe gali dene ka mann kare to de sakte hain aap...' he moved towards kitchen while Niyati with a snotty smile kept gazing at his walk until he disappeared...