Geet
sat quietly on the plane as the stewards and video showed all the passengers
what to do in the case of an emergency landing. Geet wasn't paying attention to
anything. She simply sat and prayed, just like she had been for the past five
hours. It had been beyond difficult to get a flight back home from Sacramento.
But finally, after begging and pleading, she managed to get a seat on a flight.
The travel time from Sacramento to Los Angeles was just about 45 minutes, not
long. But Geet knew that ever passing second would seem like an hour, because
while she may be sitting on the plane, her mind, her heard and her soul were
all focused on him lying in a
hospital bed fighting for his life.
She
thought back to the last time she'd seen him.
It was two days ago that she'd said goodbye to him before leaving for her flight that was to bring to Sacramento
for the exam.
------Flashback------
Geet
quietly entered the room, not wanting to wake him. He was sleeping,
like he always did, on his stomach, face turned towards the
window, left leg bent half way and arms out stretched. Geet couldn't help but
smile – there was barely any room for anyone else.
She
inched her way to the side where his
face was turned and sat down, careful not to shake the bed too much. He looked so peaceful. She ran a hand
through his hair and down his face, before stopping to caress his cheek. This was the first time she
was going to be away from him since
she'd known him – needless to say, it
didn't go down well with either of them. He
had been adamant on not wanting her to go, which is why she was sneaking out in
the middle of the night.
She
smiled and tears pricked her eyes as she remembered the night he'd come into her life.
Leaning
in, she placed a kiss on his cheek
and then on his forehead.
"I love you," she
whispered. "I'll be back soon…I promise."
With
one last kiss on his forehead, she
got up and turned to leave. As she faced the door, she saw a shadowy figure
standing in wait. She straightened out her blouse and ran a hand through her
hair, as she walked towards the figure. As she approached the door, the figure
stepped aside letting her leave, but she stopped. She turned back and looked at
him one last time.
"Please take care of him," she said to
the figure that stood next to her. "He's my life…he's all I have."
"Of course," the figure said.
"Promise me," she demanded.
After
a moments silence, the figure spoke again, "I promise."
And
with the promise, that he'd be taken
care of, she stepped out of that room and out of Khurana Estates, headed to LAX
to board her flight.
-----Present------
Someone
had promised her that they'd take care of him.
They had promised her that he'd be
fine. Then why was he in the hospital
now?
*~*~*~* 4 Days
Later *~*~*~*
Geet
descended the stairs of a place she'd once thought of as home. She dragged
behind her a suitcase, her purse slung over her shoulder, and a manila envelope
in her hands. She was dressed from head to toe in black because she was
mourning the loss of the one person that meant the world to her, the one person
she loved. She was mourning the loss of the one person that she thought would
be by her side until the day she died.
As
she came off the last step of the staircase, she was greeted by Anne.
"Bhabi, please don't go," Anne pleaded,
her eyes rimmed with tears.
Geet
completely ignored what Anne had said. Instead, she put her suitcase down and
held out the manila envelope to her.
"Give it to him when he gets back," she said.
She
was about to walk out when she realized she'd forgotten something – something
important. Geet rushed up to his room
and tears filled her eyes as she saw what she was looking for – an album. The
album held pictures for nearly every moment of their relationship together.
From the day they first met, the celebration of him being in her life for three
glorious years. Every single moment, every single memory was trapped in that
album.
Picking
up the deep maroon colored album, she gave one last look to the room and walked
out before the memories became too much for her to handle.
Back
downstairs, she looked around confused because her suitcase and purse were not
where she'd left them. Looking around, she saw them placed neatly in one corner
of the room. Taking a deep breath, she walked to get them when she heard
someone call her.
"Geet," the voice came.
She
stopped in her tracks, her limbs falling cold and limp, yet her blood raged
with fiery anger.
"Geet," the voice called again.
It
was the velvety smooth voice she'd become accustomed to hearing for the past
five years.
Turning
on her heels, she saw him standing there dressed in a tailored black suit with
white shirt and stripped tie, designer shoes on his feet and his hair slicked
back just perfect. He was truly an image to behold. After all, he was the one,
the only…
Maan
Singh Khurana.
Her
heart began to ache as she felt her rage begin to bubble up to the surface. She
tried to calm herself as best she could. She'd managed to keep it together for
these past four days, she could do it for another four minutes.
"I've given the divorce papers to Anne. Please
sign them as soon as you can and get them back to my lawyers," she said
coldly.
With
that, she turned back with the intention of taking her things and leaving.
"Geet wait…" Maan called as he reached out
and grabbed her wrist.
The
second his hand touched her skin, she felt like she was going to be sick to her
stomach. Her skin crawled at the feeling of his touch on her body.
"I came as soon as I could," he said in
explanation.
Anger
flared in Geet's eyes as she turned to face him. She violently yanked her arm
out of his grasp before she spoke.
"As soon as you could? You came as soon as you COULD
and not as soon as you HEARD," she said sarcastically.
"Geet,
don't do this. Let's talk…we can get through this," he said. "I
promise."
"Don't make promises Maan, you can never seem to
keep them,"
she said. "You broke the last promise you made to me…and I'll never forgive you
for that."
She
closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and began counting to ten in hopes that the
tears that were brimming in her eyes wouldn't spill over.
"Don't do this Geet," he said. "This
is hard for me too. It's painful for me too."
That
was it, all the anger, all the rage and all the fury she had been hiding in her
heart spilled over. Before she could comprehend what she was doing, the sound
of her hand meeting with his face rang out in the huge room. The only other
sound was that of Anne who gasped at the incident.
"This is hard for YOU, and painful for YOU?" she roared. "No…no
Maan you don't know what hard is and you sure as hell don't know what painful
is."
"Geet…" he called and tried to reach for her.
Geet
stepped out of his grasp.
"Hard was deciding what to do with his body. Hard
was trying to figure out if I wanted to donate his organs. Hard was signing the
piece of paper that took him away from me forever," Geet said,
tears now flowing from her eyes.
"I didn't…" Maan began.
"Pain was what I felt as I buried our SON, all by
myself,"
she said, as her voice cracked. "What was painful, was standing there as the
lowered the tiny casket that held his lifeless body into the ground, knowing
that I'd never see him again."
"Geet I…" he started to say again.
"Where the hell were you?" she asked. "You're
his father Maan, his father. He needed you and you weren't there!"
"I had no idea that…"
"I trusted him with you because he's your son
Maan…he was your son. You said you'd take care of him, that you'd watch out for
him but you didn't!" Geet yelled. "How could you pawn him off on your
irresponsible, s**t of a sister who has nothing better to do than run behind
her idiot of a boyfriend!?"
"What?" Maan asked. "What
are you talking about? What did Anne do?"
"Conveniently left out that part didn't she," Geet said as
she looked with disgust at Anne.
Geet
watched as Maan listened horrified at what she said. Apparently Arjun, Anne's
boyfriend was throwing an all night booze fest at his fraternity house. When
he'd run out of beer, he called her to ask if she'd make a run. Being the
obedient girlfriend that she was, she did as she was told. Anne took their son
when she went to the liquor store to buy the beer. Then she simply left him in
the car while she went to make her delivery.
"She took my three year old son with her and left
him in the car while she partied at her boyfriend's frat house," Geet said.
"Anne…what…" Maan seemed to be at a loss
for words.
"She left him in that car over night, cold and
hungry, while she did shots and God knows what else," Geet said, "Then
when she got in the car, she was so wasted that she didn't realize my son was
there as she drove off."
"I thought it was an accident," Maan said.
"It was. She ran a red light and was hit by a
truck. My son…my son didn't have a seatbelt on so he…" Geet suddenly
stuttered as she felt her throat constrict, "…he flew out the window. He flew
out the window Maan!"
Geet
now saw the rage she felt, mirrored in Maan's eyes.
"How could you leave him with her? He had nearly
drowned the last time you left him with her," Geet
reminded. "How could you…why did you?"
"I got a call about the London project…" Maan said as
if on autopilot.
She
stood silently seething in anger, as he explained how the morning after she'd
left he had gotten a call about a London project that he'd been trying to get
for the past year. This project would take Khurana Constructions to the top of
the architectural field – no one could compare. So, Maan had decided to leave
their son with Anne because it was only for a few days.
Edited by jnawaz - 13 years ago
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