Chapter 22

The following day Geet spent most of the day with dadima. They’d even gone out for a walk with Mohan following at a distance keeping an eye on them. After they’d returned, they’d had lunch with Dev and Naintara.

Maan had ignored requests to join for lunch, instead he remained holed up in the home office going through blueprints and files.

Around 4pm, Geet received a call from Misha asking her to join them for dinner as they were all getting together. Geet considered saying no not wanting to go out but changed her mind. Dadima was napping, Dev and Naintara had gone out. Maan was still working in the office so she had nothing to do. There was only so much time that she could spend with the help.

She slipped into a grey scoop neck long dress and slipped into a pair of low heels. Once she’d finished getting dressed, she grabbed her purse and phone proceeding to walk out of the bedroom.

“Oh, are you going somewhere?” Maan halted as he stood outside the bedroom door perusing her outfit then her light makeup clad face.

“Misha called to invite me for dinner” she explained. “I’m going to meet them. Kyun? Kuch kaam tha?”

Maan pondered for a moment then shook his head. “Nothing. Enjoy yourself” he told her instead. He had come up to ask if she wanted to go out with him for dinner alone, but she had plans now with friends. They could go another time.

Geet looked at him curiously then shrugged. “Okay. Make sure you eat something as well. You missed lunch” she pointed out then walked past him to head out.

Maan glanced over his shoulder watching her go then entered the bedroom to freshen up after calling out to Nakul to get food ready.

Geet was having a blast catching up with her friends. It had been some time since she had spent time with them. They all found themselves occupied with their new roles in the world as they explored life as young adults who worked or studied further.

“How is it working for Khurana constructions?” Aditi inquired. “Is it as scary as my cousin Riya makes it sound?” she chuckled.

“It’s great, the only reason to be scared is because of Mrs to be MK” she responded jokingly.

“What?” Misha laughed looking confused. “Who’s that?”

“There’s this manager of the design department, Sasha. She is obsessed about Maan”.

“Ooh, its Maan is it?” Yash chuckled nudging her teasingly.

“Maan SIR!” she nudged him with her elbow. “Don’t be a Sasha. She told me off saying the same, yaar”

“Riya is always complaining about her” Aditi pointed out. “Sasha is Riya’s manager”.

“She’s a walking dragon. Yaar, I swear she looks like she’s always breathing fire and ready to burn you in one blow” Geet told them with a laugh. “The way she acts is like no one is supposed to look or even come to close proximity to Maan… Maan sir” she added seeing Yash looking at her teasingly.

“Wow, what sort of species is she?” Misha laughed.

“I know, right!” Geet exclaimed. “Viren was telling me how she was pining for him for 5 years, I think”.

“Now who is this Viren?” Yash questioned raising his brows.

“Oh my God! Yash, shut up” Geet laughed shaking her head. “It’s nothing like that. Yaar, we’re friends na without being something”.

“Yes, we’re friends” Yash agreed. “But same can’t be said for Viren, Maan and whoever else…” he teased. “C’mon, Geet. You’re young blooded and female, it’s the time for flings and flirting” he winked.

If only you knew Geet mused. She rolled her eyes at him. “You have your flings, I’m not working to be someone’s sidepiece”.

“Yeah, Yash!” Misha piped in. “Not everyone wants flings. Some of us would like romance, dating, Cinderella types prince charming”.

“No, thank you” Geet cut in shaking her head. “Na mujhe koi prince charming chahiye na fling, na flirting. I am happy as I am”. Mujhe sirf Maan chahiye. But would she get him? All of him. He was putting in effort into their chance this time, but she knew something was between them. How long until he decides to give up on the idea of giving them a chance? Or can he tell her what it is that is bothering him? A sombre look washed over her face which caused Aditi to tap her.

“What?”

Geet smiled. “Nothing. Yaar, it’s getting late now” she glanced at her watch. “I need to start making a move” she said.

“Yeah, it is” Aditi agreed.

Yash called for the bill and they’d all split it between themselves.

Geet had sent a text to Mohan asking if he was still working and could he pick her up. If not, she can get an auto. Had it not been late she would have considered getting an auto or the bus even but since her attack a couple of months ago, she had been careful. She never wanted to relive that night again. His response came immediately telling her not to wait outside and someone will be coming shortly.

“Do you need dropping off?” Misha asked as they stood to leave after settling the bill.

“No, someone is coming to pick me up” Geet answered. “You go on” she waved.

“Geet, it wouldn’t be a trouble. No point of waiting around yaar, I can drop you off” she suggested.

“Honestly, Mish. I’ll be fine, he’s on his way”.

“He?” Misha frowned.

“Uh… yeah, a relative of mine” she lied.

“Okay, if you’re sure” Misha responded not insisting further. They hugged each other and promised to meet up soon.

Geet waited near the entrance so she could look out for Mohan.

Mohan called Sandeep to pick Geet as he was already home. Sandeep agreed, he walked inside noticing Maan sat on the sofa watching the news.

“Saab, did you want me for anything else?”

“No, why?”

“Mohan said Geet ma’am needs picking up” he answered.

“Oh, okay” Maan nodded. “Hang on, I’ll go” he said standing up holding out his hand for the keys. Sandeep passed the car keys to him and Maan grabbed his hoodie slipping into it as he was only wearing his black vest with a pair of joggers.

“Sandeep, you head on home. It’s late. I’ll see you in the morning” Maan told him as he walked out to the car.

Geet was surprised when she saw Maan pulling up, she smiled opening the door and walked across then climbed inside.

“Aap kyun aaye?”

“Should I not have come?” he chuckled as he reserved turning the car around.

“No, I mean, you must be tired from working. Mohan should have just told me, I could have got an auto” she responded as she buckled her seatbelt.

“Well, what if I wanted to drive you?” he questioned teasingly glancing at her briefly.

Geet squinted looking at him curiously then leaned forward smacking a kiss on his cheek. “Then I shall say thank you”.

Maan laughed and looking at either side before he drove out of the parking area unaware of the venomous eyes that followed his car.

Sasha had arrived with a friend to eat at the restaurant, she noticed Maan in the car straightaway and her heart leaped excitedly. She frowned noticing a side profile of a woman in his car, with the side profile and hair she couldn’t see who the woman was. Her heart almost exploded as the car was turned and she saw the female passenger lean across and kissing Maan. At this point, the car was turned at an angle where she could see Maan fully but due to the dark she couldn’t see the person sitting besides him. Anger washed through her in waves as she noticed Maan laugh. He was actually laughing with whoever this woman was.

In the 5 years, she hadn’t ever seen him so… cheerful or happy. He was always so focused and razor sharp, undeterred when it came to work. And here he was… She glanced at the restaurant wondering if he had been on a date with this female passenger. In the 5 years, she had never seen him with a woman. No rumours had even come up in any of the tabloids. There was never any speculations.

“Sasha, you finished day dreaming?”

Sasha snapped out of her thoughts looking at her friend and plastered a smile joining her and headed inside.

Geet had changed out of her dress into her nightwear which consisted of a long t-shirt and shorts. She knocked on dadima’s room and smiled seeing her awake and Naintara sitting besides her reading a novel.

“What are you reading?” Geet asked as she joined them on the bed.

“The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai” Naintara answered.

“I’ve read that, I liked it but it did fall short for me” she told her.

“Hmm, we’re feeling the same though it is interesting to see different lives” Naintara replied. “Do you want to listen or??”

“I’ll listen for a bit” Geet lied down on the other side as Naintara picked up where she stopped and continued reading.

After about 40 minutes, Naintara stopped noticing dadima yawning and dozing off. She placed the bookmark in the book and placed it on the nightstand. “Dadima, lie down properly” she told her helping her shift and tucked the blanket properly.

“Geet sogayi kya?” Dadima asked tiredly yawning once more.

“Yeah”

“Hmm, okay. If you see Maan, just let him know” she muttered. “He might worry”.

Naintara agreed pressing her palm on dadima’s forehead checking her temperature then dropped a kiss to her forehead. “Good night” she whispered and walked out softly making sure to not disturb Geet or dadima as they dozed off.

Naintara slipped into her bedroom and frowned when she didn’t see Dev wondering where he was. She grabbed the jug from the nightstand and headed downstairs.

After she filled the jug of water, she went in search for her husband and smiled seeing them in the games room near the garden.

She peered inside watching Dev and Maan playing a game of pool together.

“Did you miss me that much that you came looking for me?” Dev teased as he hit the cue ball with the stick and grinned widely.

“Don’t be so pig headed” she rolled her eyes. “I came for Veerji” she pointed.

Maan chuckled as Dev placed a hand to his heart.

“Bhai, she stabbed me here”.

“Okay, that’s enough of your drama” he shook his head and looked at Naintara. “What did you need?”

“Nothing, veerji. Just Geet has gone to sleep in dadima’s room”.

“Bhai, what did you do to upset my sweet bhabhi?”

“I didn’t do anything” Maan frowned.

“He didn’t do anything” Naintara said at the same. “We were reading, dadima and Geet got tired and just dozed off. Dev, you need to stop being dramatic”.

“O…kay” he rolled his eyes. “I am not being dramatic”.

Naintara shook her head, “Good night” she told them turning around and walking out.

“Should I go after her?” Dev asked unsurely as he picked up his tumbler and took a sip of his drink.

“She’s probably annoyed so I would say yes” Maan patted his back.

Dev sighed placing the stick down and followed behind.

Maan placed the sticks and balls into their places, he then picked up his tumbler of scotch heading out into the garden and looked around taking a sip of his drink from time to time. He pondered over the second chance he and Geet were giving their relationship. They had relaxed into some sort of rhythm, but his secrets were still hovering above them. He hadn’t yet told her about his past.

He didn’t want to dig up the past and bring the ugliness into this. But she deserved to know, didn’t she? He sighed tossing back the remaining drink and returned inside.

He dropped by dadima’s room, peering inside to check on Geet and dadima before he walked to their bedroom and climbed into the bed.

He had maybe dozed for a short while when he suddenly felt a weight on the bed and Geet’s warm body shifting in close.

“You came back?” he whispered thickly.

“I woke up and found myself in dadima’s room” she mumbled in a groggy voice. “I think I sleepwalked” she added sliding her arm around his middle and snuggling closer. Maan hummed faintly wrapping his arm around her shoulder bringing her closer to him.

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