Chapter 44

Chapter 44

Maan could not take his eyes off his wife as she descended the stairs. She’d donned on a slinky gown with a plunging neckline and slit along her leg. He inhaled deeply strengthening his resolve not to grab her like a caveman and kiss her in front of everyone. Geet stopped at the last step blushing when she noticed his eyes lingering and perusing her.

“You need to stop gawking” she chuckled turning his cheek away.

He smirked and smiled as the others slowly joined them.

“Are we going together?” Geet inquired. “I could get a ride with Naintara and…”

“We’re going together” Maan told her as they walked out. Dev walked across to his car and helped Naintara and dadima into the car.

Maan opened the door for Geet gesturing her to get inside then walked around settling in beside her. Sandeep started the engine and drove towards the venue of the party.

“We’re going to be the talk of the office” Geet remarked.

“Maybe. But that’s the same gossip every year when it comes publicised events”.

“Your Sasha is going to be giving me daggers throughout the evening”.

“She is not my Sasha” he replied rolling his eyes.

“Not what she thinks” she teased.

“I don’t care what anyone thinks” he reached across taking her hand into his. He squeezed her hand and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “I belong to you”.

Geet’s heart fluttered with his declaration, and she grinned brightly.

They shifted and put space in between them as they arrived at the venue. Maan climbed out of the car first and walked around opening the door for Geet.

All the while, Sasha watched from afar as she stepped out of the taxi she’d arrived in with Aditya. Her eyes burned seeing how Maan held the door open and guided Geet inside with his hand placed on her exposed back. She raged inwardly at Geet’s audacity and stormed inside quickly with Aditya trying to keep up with her pace. He hadn’t wanted to come with her, but MK had suggested that he comes with her.

“Would you like a drink?” Maan inquired as he noticed it was just waiters floating with wine glasses.

“A mocktail or juice please” Geet requested feeling parched.

He nodded and excused himself to walk across to the bar.

Sasha chose her opportunity to stride across to where Geet waited to confront her. Before she could reach Geet, Aditya approached her greeting her with a warm hug. Sasha narrowed her eyes and continued storming towards Geet and ignored Aditya completely when she addressed her.

“Sasha” Geet feigned a smile.

“Wipe the smile off your face” Sasha hissed out. “You came as his colleague, not girlfriend” she ranted.

“Did I say I came as a girlfriend?” Geet challenged. “MK brought me here as his plus one. I don’t see why you have such an issue with it”.

“My issue is you trying to seduce your way into his bed! He is your boss. You aren’t going to climb any ladders by seducing MK. He is a professional businessman” she stated firmly.

“Aditya, where does it say on my forehead about me being a seductress?” Geet questioned him looking curious.

“Have you seen what you are wearing?”

“You can’t talk in the little black dress you’ve squeezed your body into” Geet countered. “By the way it doesn’t suit you with your curves being squished” she added an insult.

“How dare you?”

“I’m not afraid of you, Sasha. There is nothing you can do to me” she replied.

“Just wait and watch. Come Monday morning, you will not have a job”.

“Try it” Geet dared.

Sasha fumed gritting her teeth. She shifted and straightened when Maan walked over looking curiously between them all.

“Sasha, Aditya” he acknowledged and handed Geet the glass of juice. “Have you greeted Prateek yet?” he inquired.

“No, MK. We were just going now” Aditya answered and tugged Sasha away before she could continue with her blazing tongue.

“You need to rein in your ex-lover” Geet remarked taking a sip of her drink.

Maan frowned and tensed for a second until she gestured to Sasha. He shook his head and took a sip of his drink, then said, “She isn’t anything of mine. She is a colleague, always has been and always will be”.

“That isn’t what she thinks. She believes she has a claim to you”.

“Like I said before, I belong to you” he uttered so only she could hear.

Geet’s cheeks reddened and she pressed her lips hiding her smile.

“Anyway, let’s enjoy tonight” he suggested. “I’ll keep your away from your best friend”.

She nudged him lightly with her elbow and followed as he moved around the room introducing the other patrons of the fundraiser.

Sasha unashamedly followed Maan with her eyes. She recollected the other night when he had held that woman’s hand in the restaurant and had kept an eye out searching for the woman in case she’d turn up.

Sasha wondered what the other woman had said or done to manipulate Maan into a relationship. She wanted to find out who the other woman was, but she hadn’t seen the woman before nor was she familiar. It bothered her immensely seeing him so close to another woman, especially when she’d tried and failed to garner his attention.

He treated her with respect and was always cordial. He never let any lines blur between them. It was always work, work, work with him. She used to offer to order dinner into their work when they’d be working late into the night, but he’d refuse and asked her to eat herself and go home. He kept himself at a distance, even when he’d taken her as his plus one during any office events.

Why couldn’t he see her for who she is? And how perfect they’d work together?

She did everything and went beyond to make things easy for him. Then why was it he couldn’t see her?

“Do you want to dance?” Maan queried seeing Geet staring off to the dance floor where couples had gathered and moved to the soft music. Even Dev and Naintara had waltzed around laughing and enjoying themselves.

“Can you dance?” Geet teased.

“How about I show you?” he offered his hand surprising Geet. When she didn’t take it at first, he arched his brow. “Well?”

“Uh, won’t people talk?”

“And? Do I look like I care? What will they say? Maan Khurana danced with a beautiful woman?” he joked and leaned forward. “You’re my wife, I don’t care what they write about you, me or us. They can bullshit but you know who I am, and I know who you are. I don’t care for anything else. Nobody else’s opinions matter to me than yours”.

Geet’s heart fluttered and she beamed at him for his honesty, she placed her hand into his and kept her eyes on him as he led her to the dance floor.

“Do you know what I’m thinking?” Maan asked as he held Geet and swayed along to the music. His hand rested at the small of her bare back, the other clasped her hand. They were inches away but he wanted to be closer, so he pressed her forward. Geet’s eyes widened for a brief moment before she’d relax in his hold and continued moving with the music and following Maan’s lead.

“What are you thinking?”

“I’m thinking about how I want to kiss you. Ravish you” he leaned down to whisper into her ear. Geet’s face warmed and she knew their closeness here would be talk of the town. For once, she wasn’t bothered. Maan was right, no one’s opinions mattered but their own.

“You look absolutely stunning, Geet. I can’t move my eyes away”.

“You don’t look so bad yourself” she drew her head back and tilted up to look at him. “You certainly put a little effort in looking good” she winked.

His eyes softened and a smirk curled on his lips. “I know I don’t disappoint”.

Geet let out a laugh and pressed her cheek to his shoulder trying to muffle her sounds and not look at his face so she wouldn’t start laughing. After they’d finished dancing to another two more songs, they’d left the dance floor.

Geet excused herself needing to use the ladies’ toilets. When she’d stepped out of the stall, she saw Sasha stood by one of the sinks applying lipstick whilst try to act nonchalant. But Geet could feel the coldness and tension radiating from Sasha.

“He’s your Boss!” Sasha stated.

Geet ignored her and focused on washing her hands.

“Do you know how inappropriate you are behaving?” Sasha snapped glaring at Geet through the reflection of the mirror.

Geet continued to ignore her hand and grabbed a couple of handtowels wiping her hands and tossed it into the bin before she moved to exit the ladies.

Sasha moved swiftly placing her hand on the door stopping her. “Geet…”

“That’s enough! Move out of the way” Geet stated firmly and pulled her away from the door. She opened the door and glanced over her shoulder at a shocked Sasha. “You’re becoming obsessed and possessive about someone who is not yours. I can’t see why you seem to think you have some claim to Maan? He has not promised you anything. He has continued to behave professionally and has never professed or given you an inkling that he feels anything beyond respect for the work that you do. You need to back off, Sasha. Stop behaving like a possessive girlfriend” she said exasperated then walked out leaving behind a stunned Sasha.

Geet found herself suddenly ambushed, a hand clamped around her mouth, and she was pulled into a dark corner. She looked shocked when she saw Maan gleaming down at her in the darkness. She pushed away at his hand.

“You scared me” she muttered swatting his shoulder.

He chuckled and cradled her cheek.

“Maan… Someone is going to come” she looked around concerned.

“No one will come…” he whispered. “I’ve wanted to do this all night” he leaned down brushing his lips against hers. Geet closed her eyes clutching his shoulder. She parted her lips and reciprocated to his kiss.

He reluctantly withdrew and pressed his forehead to hers. Both were breathing heavily and trying to catch their breath.

“Now, I’ll need to go check myself in the mirror” she groaned.

“No need…” he pulled out a handkerchief and swiped away the smudges of lipstick. He then proceeded to wipe away his lips removing the traces of lipstick.

“We’ll have to get back before a search party comes” he murmured. He didn’t want to move; he didn’t want to share her with anyone tonight. Geet agreed with a soft hum and they’d quickly checked themselves once before she first left. Maan waited for a few minutes, he was about to leave the spot when he received a call from a business client.

He attended the call watching the direction where Geet walked down and quickly wrapped up the call. He stepped out from the shadows and halted when Sasha walked out of the ladies. He looked surprised and grew confused seeing the redness around her eyes. “Sasha, is everything okay?” he inquired.

“Um…. Everything is fine, MK” she looked away averting her eyes.

“Are you sure?”

Sasha looked at him and her eyes shimmered with tears. “MK… I…” she inhaled deeply and chewed on her lower lip. “If I never do this now, I’ll never do it again” she murmured.

“Do what?”

“MK, I… I harbour feelings for you. I have done for the past couple of years. I’m in love with you. I don’t know when my infatuation transformed into love, but it did. I’ve tried to keep quiet and be a friend, but I cannot bear the thought of you… you and someone else. I don’t like being on the side” she confessed bearing her heart to him.

“Sasha… I… I don’t know what to say” he said perplexed and unsure of what he could say to her. “I’m flattered, but I… I don’t have any feelings like that for you. You have been a friend and… a great colleague to work with but I have not had any feelings beyond that” he admitted.

She sniffed and squeezed her eyes closed. “Is there someone else?”

“Yes” he answered honestly. “Not many know this, Sasha as I prefer to keep my life private but there is someone else in my life. I have a wife”.

Sasha’s eyes widened and she looked at him in shock. “What?” she almost yelped and her heart started racing.

He nodded at her. “I’m married. My wife prefers to remain away from the spotlight therefore we have not come out into the limelight. She prefers to keep her life separate and private just as I do”.

“How long have you been married?” she asked.

“Over a year now”.

“Is that why you’ve never shown any interest?”

He smiled faintly. “Yes”.

Sasha nodded slowly and swiped away at her tears.

“I’m sorry Sasha. I’m sure you’ll find someone who’ll reciprocate your feelings” he said apologetically. “I would also prefer you keep this to yourself. I do not want any speculations or reporters nosing into my life”.

She nodded and he walked away.

Sasha clamped a hand over her mouth to stop the sob that wanted to tear from her throat. He was married. So, the mystery woman she had seen him with was his wife.

Sasha felt as if the ground underneath her had opened and she was ready to drown in misery. She had thought she had a chance when the mystery woman was just a simple woman whom he was interested in, but no, it seemed he had invested himself into a solid relationship. Married. She gathered herself together and held her head high as she returned to the party. Even though the news hurt her immensely, she was satisfied in a way that at least she won’t be losing him to Geet. She smirked inwardly at the thought of Geet’s reaction if she learned that the MK she has been trying to seduce is in fact married.