Mitalli Jain

The exhibition had been a huge success for the whole of the week, we were well compensated and now I had yet another task to take over for my life.

Though for my mom and Jai's it would have been our engagement, but since I knew Jai was taking quite a bit advantage of this whole things that had me packed up with tight schedules, he and his so called friends were still trying to keep me at a bay from a lot of things that were happening. And surely I could never accept that.

I walked through the gates of the Kapadia Mansion for a change today we weren't meeting at his office but at his home, and somewhere I knew dadi would support me. She always did.

I had almost walked into the house when my phone rang... it was a message from Tejal, she had got yet another patient and there was something down the line this case makes her a lot tensed.

With the words ready in my mind to type her response I had clicked on the screen when I heard Jai's mom calling out to me. Quickly keeping away the phone I smiled at her and said,

"I am sorry Aunty I came un announced but Jai is kind of ignoring me, I have to get hold of him."

Her eyebrows scrunched in confusion as she asked, "anything serious?"

"Not until now, but if he doesn't answers me, I cant promise you. He is really frustrating me now." I saw the way she smiled at me and patted my head.

"Its okay, jut know how much of your anger, issues and ego should rule your relationship."

Nodding my head at her I looked up towards his room, "he is in the study ...Go." She directed me and was once again off to somewhere in the house.

Walking up the stairs towards the study room, I had a hundered of questions running in my mind. I was pissed, but aunty was as well right, were these things that big to bring a truf between the two of us? But then again, this was beginning, this was something real small, was I to wait for something big to happen to let him know that it was the best for him to involve me in things that were related to them.

I took a deep breath as soon as I reached the door, knocked twice on it, and then opened it and walked inside. As usual he sat there his head bent down in his files, while the rest of the world was unknown to him.

"Jai." I called out to him. His head snapped towards me, for a moment his eyes widened and then a delightful smile spread across his face.

Standing up quickly, he pushed back the chair, and walked towards me at a lightning speed, and soon I was wrapped up in a warm embrace.

"I am so glad you came, I was missing you." he said, his nose buried deep inside the crook of my neck.

"It doesn't seem so to me from what saw a moment ago." My words were seemed to be sarcastic, but my mood certainly was, and I couldn't really help with it and what and how my words sounded like.

"And you seem to be a bit upset with me, anything that I did wrong?" he asked, with me still in his arms, his nose and breath tickling my neck. It was so difficult to even focus on the things that I wanted to say and argue about.

Wiggling out off his arms I stared at his slightly smiling face and walked off towards the sofa and sat down.

"You really need to reflect on yourself and your actions Jai, right now I think I did a mistake of coming here to talk to you, you can go back to your work," I stood up from there and walked towards the book shelf and said, "for some time I will read a few books. That is, if it's okay with you."

As I took out yet another book from the shelf, I could feel Jai's eyes staring down at me, observing each and every step of mine. It felt a bit uncomfortable, as if he was scrutinizing me, yet it was decided, today his talks won't suffice, he will have to provide me with information, and unless and until he did that, I won't budge from this.

After a few more minutes, he occupied his abandoned seat, his eyes still on me. A few more minutes had gone by, and I found myself just turning about the page, reading the words with zero level of understanding. I almost felt my lips curling up into a smile at the thought that how stubborn the two of us were.

"What does a mystery book make you smile about?" Jai's unexpected question made me jump in my own skin. I shook myself out of the stupor looked at him once, and without answering went back to my work.

A few more minutes went by, but neither of us spoke, and It was when I was about to turn to the new page, when Jai called out to me.

"Mitali."

" I know what my name is, tell me something that I don't know." I hinted out to him. And surely he wasn't that dense to not have figured it out by now.

"I told you earlier on, we can't poke our nose into the royal matters. Veer is capable enough to handle them, and so are Rey and Shakti." Jai said. His voice sounded so frustrated, that it made me even more mad.

"The smiple fact that you are saying that Rey and Shakti are capable enough to handle a so called Royal matters means that you know something, and that's what I want to know because you might know the prince and princess.... I don't. Not even after so many years." I took a deep breath, stood up from my place and walked closer to him.

"And let's just say for a moment, I might be stupid and vague enough to not understand that, but I am sure I can handle a bit of news on a normal citizen of the country... what's the news on Daksh? And don't you dare say that you don't know... because that stupid brother of is always at something or the other, but I surely can't go and ask it out to him, and where I expected the news to come from you, be it a disturbing one or a pleasing, you failed me. I had told you back then in the office itself... we are into this together Jai, and if you think I am not capable enough... then I don't know what to say."

I felt my tears welling up in my eyes, as I looked at him, surely my eyes had that accusing glance in them as I said,

"May be I failed to understand you, and express myself to you."

"Mitali, don't say that!" Jai snapped back, his body stood so rigid, yet his eyes held fury and helplessness.

"Jai, you know how it feels to have someone dear to you be gone just like that into the mist all of a sudden without any message or anything... Daksh at least said bye to us, Shakti and Rey didn't even gave me that, try and understand this for me, try and understand how I might be feeling knowing that you all, all of you out there have some news, be it upsetting or good, but you have at least a benefit of doubt where to go... all I am left is with a limitless awaiting for someone of you to turn around and look back at me and realize that, Mitali might be feeling so lonely amidst all of this."

I walked up to him and wrapped my hands around his torso, and said, " Jai did you ever wondered why didn't I pestered you the way I am doing right now? I could have gone to my brother, I could have asked him, and got it out of him some way or the other, but I didn't."

Resting my head on his chest, hear his fast heart beat, I admitted the most important thing for me.

"Because, he is my brother... you are my to be husband, and I think being your life partner I deserve to know every important detail of our life from you. I had told you this earlier as well Jai, we are into this together... and if we are not, I don't know what we are doing then."

Untangling myself from the embrace, I kissed his cheeks and smiled at him, and then walked out of the study. I didn't know what was it that I spoke in the spur of the moment, was it right? Had I overstepped my boundaries, did I really didn't knew what we were doing if we were not to be in this whole thing?

It scared me, it scared me to know that what if he really didn't thought about it as much as I did. What was it that he thought about me and him... in that us of ours.

As I walked into the sitting room, I saw dadi, immersed into her knitting. I quickly walked up to her and as soon as she saw me she smiled at me brightly and said,

"Mitali, when did you come my child?"

"An hour ago... dadi, can I rest my head in your lap and lie down for a minute?" for a good few seconds she looked at me, and then at Jai's study. And then with yet another smile, she kept her equipments on the other side and adjusted her legs and said, "Sure come..."

The moment I lay there, my head in her lap, her fingers weaving through my hair, she said,

"Let me tell you a story." My eyes moved to her face, and with her fingers still in my hair, she started with a story.

"Once Shri Krishna and Radha had sat by a tree, when Radha all of a sudden said to Krishna that he would never know and understand the way she loves him.-"

" At this acquisition shri Krishna said that how can you say that, and even if it is, then please try and make me understand, I am ready to do anything... anything to understand that for you. "

"So, Radha suggested that they should change their roles for a night and try and understand each other's position, eachothers roles, feelings and everything that the other was going through."

" Shree Krishna agreed, and the next night the two of them got ready, Shree Krishna wore every shirngaar that Radha did, while Radha wore the lungi and the Peacock feather and that night she played the flute while Shree Krishna danced about her just the way she would every night."

"When this came to an end shree kirshna came to Radha and said, I now understand how you feel. To which you know what Radha said? "

I shook my head negative, as dadi smiled at me mysteriously and said, "She said, you would never understand what I truly feel, but you can only empathize and try and understand me with time. And Mitali that is what a relationship between two lovers is all about, you try and understand each other's role, a lady could never understand what is it all that a man is going through and so is with the man... men are sometimes the most clueless people.

"But that's not the excuse or anyone... the two of them should always try and understand the other's position. Try and keep yourself in their position, you could only imagine the pain the sufferings and while you do so, you must empathize with them and support them."

Dadi's word kept on ringing in my ears. She was right. I wasn't the only one in the relation, even Jai was, if he had withheld something, then he might have his own motives. But even before I could act on my thoughts I felt my eyelids dropping, the exhaustion of all the thinking and the vigorous work at gallery was slowly taking a toll on me with the head massage that dadi was giving to me, as I soon fell asleep. 

Hello everyone. 

I hope you all are doing well, because surely i am not. The weather had been so weird now a days that I have caught up on flew, college has been equally hectic with really stupid people around me. all i could wish is for this to already get over. 

Any which ways, really sorry for keeping you guys waiting for the chapter. 

But do tell me how do you find this chapter? 

do you guys agree with what dadi had to say about relationships? 

this story of krishna and Radha i had heard on a pod cast by devdutt patnaik, and somewhere i realized we can really use it here. more than that i believe that having our elders guide us through different stages of relationship is just so much more important. 

and more than that, these stories, our folktales, the vedas and everything just tells us so much more, be it our daily routine or what not. think of it, Radha and Krishna's time is just immeasurable their existence itself questionable, but a few stories give us lessons that would last so much long in to the humans existence. 

do tell me what you all think about this. 

the next chapter is going to be quite cute as well as happening. 

till then, dont forget to vote, comment and share the story. 

Happy reading 

Yadni Bagwe