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Murder Most Foul - 6

by Bala
(Mumbai)

Shocked, Sudhir literally shouted "What?"

Then lowering his voice to normal level with an effort he said "You must be joking".

There was a hint of bitterness in his voice. If she had said that before he went to Ahmedabad for his vacation he would have jumped at the offer and would have thought of immediately making all the arrangements with his friends.

But now the situation was different. He thought that she was just trying to use him as a tool for some of her schemes about which he was not aware.

She said "Obviously you don't believe me it seems. I am serious Sudhir".

Sudhir remained silent for some time, then said slowly "All these days you did not even talk about how you felt about me and all that. But now suddenly you are telling me that we should get married. We cannot get married as if we are going to buy a cadbury chocolate in the market".

Sudha said "My dear Sudhir. I had been observing you all along right from the first time we met. You were immediately impressed with me and within a short time after we started our rehearsals and our singing I found that you were in deep love with me. I had been patiently waiting for you to express the same to me for over 2 years now. But you never opened your mouth about it, why?"

Shocked beyond belief his heart began racing at hyper speed. The very dialogue he had been waiting for so long from her is being delivered by her now.

She looked him straight into his eyes but he could not return the gesture towards her. He averted her eyes.

She said "You have not replied to my question still".

Having recovered now to some extent he said cautiously "Thank you for expressing your love for me. If I am in love with you, that is entirely natural and reasonable since you are so gorgeous, with a breath taking, beautiful face and super intelligence. Any man will get terribly impressed with you and within a short time of being friendly with you will fall in love with you. Same thing happened with me".

He continued "But think about it. Suppose you tell others that you love me and want to marry me. Will they not laugh at you? Will they not ask you whether you could find only this sample and nobody else?"

She asked him "Why should I bother about others' opinions? After all it is my life and I want to choose my life partner. I am a major now and I have every right to choose whomsoever I believe to be the best man to become my life partner. I had chosen you as my life partner".

Sudhir was getting thrilled with each passing second listening to her talk. He never believed that she would love him and say it also so convincingly.

He said "OK, that is fine. But the question is : why should you choose me as your life partner? I am not equal to you by any measure of comparison".

"You have been saying that you were not interested in a filmy life style and want to have a decent middle class life".

"Take my case. After I complete my engineering course I may get a decent job but it will take some years before I start earning a handsome salary. These days a mere engineering degree is of no use. I may have to go in for management studies later assuming that I will get admission to the course".

"All these things will take years. So if we get married now the only thing I can assure you is that you will start regretting it within a few months' time".

"Take my advice. Forget me. Since you have already got a chance to act in a film and have already impressed everyone with your talent, you will get more and more chances for good roles. Tomorrow you will become a big and famous star commanding respect and a fortune with a huge fan following. As my wife your life will be totally dull and boring living on monthly budgets only".

She said "I know all those things Sudhir. I am ready to face the hurdles. You don't worry about it. Tell me now. Will you marry me or not?"

To be continued.....

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