Chapter 47

Chapter 47

Geet sat on the bed cuddling her knees and staring ahead in a daze. She had felt her heart sinking as she’d asked him for a divorce. She couldn’t live with the secrets. Even if they were all open now. This wasn’t how she’d imagined her life going.

She glanced at the door as Maan knocked and entered.

She waited. And braced herself to hear his response.

He seemed just as in pain as she felt.

“Teek hai, Geet…” he whispered.

She clenched her jaw trying to push down the cry that wanted to escape. Why did it hurt? Isn’t that what she wanted so why did it feel like her heart had sank?

Maan stared at her. He didn’t make a move and looked at her sadly. “I’ll give you a divorce, but only if you stay with me for the next 6 months”.

“What… what do you mean?” she asked in confusion.

“If after the 6 months, you want a divorce then I will divorce you” he said and walked across. He sat on the edge of the bed. “You’ve given me a year of your life, then just give another 6 months. If you feel you want a divorce after 6 months, then I will sign the papers. I will set you free from this marriage”.

“Why do you want 6 months?” she asked.

“Because I want a chance to prove to you that we are meant to be. I want a chance to fight for you, our marriage and us”.

She pondered over his words and wanted to refuse.

“For the next 6 months, I want us to date” he informed. “I want us to know each other properly. I want you to know me and I want to know you”.

“Do you think its that easy?” she snapped in irritation.

“No, no I don’t” he answered shaking his head. “But I am not letting you go so easily. Just like you fought for our marriage, you have to give me one chance for me to do the same” he replied. “Our marriage wasn’t done conventionally. Neither of us wanted to get married but we did. We got stuck together. I kept my past a secret because it hurt too much. We never really dated or got to know each other”.

Could she give him another 6 months of her life? She wondered.

“What about… your daughter and…” she couldn’t even say his ex-wife’s name.

“I want you to meet them soon” he informed. “You’re important to me and I want them to meet my wife”.

“Do you still love her?” she asked.

“Sam?”

She nodded.

“My feelings for Sameera are… I just wish her good health and happiness. I don’t have any other feelings for her. She’s a part of my past and I cannot change that. We’ve lived our life together and it didn’t work out. I wasn’t enough for her and… I don’t want the same for us, Geet. I want to be enough for you. I want to be the one for you”.

She also wanted the same. She wanted to be the one for him but the fact that he had been in love before, married and he has a child with another gnawed at her insides. She might be his wife now, but that woman is the mother of his child, she’s his first love and his first wife. It’s difficult to forget first love, isn’t it?

Maan is her first love and if they were to divorce, she wouldn’t forget him. She’d be heart broken and still have feelings for him.

“Will you agree to 6 months?” he asked.

She hesitated and chewed on her lower lip.

“Just give a chance, Geet” he requested once more.

“Okay…” she said after a few minutes.

Maan cradled her cheeks and pressed his lips to her forehead. “I won’t let you regret this” he promised.

She closed her eyes and hoped he was right.

Maan left Geet alone in the bedroom and headed downstairs. Sandeep had arrived with the suitcase with their clothes. He asked him to leave it on the side and walked out.

He drove home and went to search for his grandmother.

He found dadima in her bedroom sat in her chair reading a book.

“Maan” Savitri smiled cheerfully and placed her book down.

“Dadima” he said wanting to seek solace from his grandmother. He crouched down by her legs and held her hands kissing the back of her hands.

“What’s wrong bete?” she asked in concern.

“Nothing” he answered shaking his head. He couldn’t tell her yet, he had just told Geet and needed to be there for her. He wanted to tell his family when he has Geet’s support.

“Dadima, you know that Geet and I have had trouble with our marriage…” he said slowly and tightened his hold on her hands seeing her tense and looking alarmed. “Dadima, it’s nothing like that now” he lied. “I’m… I’m thinking that we should stay in the farmhouse for a couple of months. Maybe us being alone and space might help our relationship?” he suggested.

“Oh… Oh okay. How long are you planning to stay at the farmhouse?” she asked.

“I’m thinking maybe 2-3 months for now” he answered. “Geet and I will make it to dinner on the weekends on occasion” he added.

Savitri smiled and cradled his cheek. She lowered her head and pressed a kiss to his forehead. “I’m so happy to see you making an effort”.

Maan smiled faintly and rested his cheek on her knees. “I want to prioritise Geet and our marriage” he informed.

“You’ll need to adjust your working hours if you want to do that” she pointed out.

“I know. I’m going to have my assistant make sure none of my meetings go beyond 4pm so I can be home by 5pm and spend the evening with Geet”.

Savitri was filled with joy hearing the changes he was making to make time for Geet.

Maan grabbed his laptop and work phone before he headed out the mansion and was on his way back to Geet. He entered and found Geet sat in the living room snuggled up in the chair. She’d had the tv on but wasn’t really paying much attention as she seemed to be in a daze. He placed his laptop bag down by the side and sat down besides her.

Geet shifted and looked at him as he joined her side. “Where did you go?” she asked warily and wondered whether he had gone to visit his ex-wife and daughter.

“I went to see dadima”.

“Did you tell her?” she sat up straighter and looked anxious. “You know this will stress dadima out, she’s…”

“I haven’t said anything to dadima, yet” he replied. “I only went to tell her that we’re going to be staying here for a couple of months”.

“Here? Why?”

“I don’t want to involve my family in our relationship. We need space from them to focus on our relationship. I want the evenings to belong to me and give me a chance to be with you freely without any onlookers. We’ve got staff and everything in the mansion and we’re never truly alone until we go to the bedroom”.

“What about the office?”

“What about it?”

“Are… are we still going to together? And you drop me by the corner as usual?”

“Yes. Nothing changes there” he replied feeling a flicker of hope with her query. “We’re going to maintain a professional relationship as we have done. We’re not going to let our personal relationship affect our office relationship”.

She slowly nodded but looked uncertain at the same time.

“Do you want to ask me something?”

She had been sat here thinking about his relationship with his ex-wife and daughter. She compared her relationship with Maan to the relationship he shared with his ex-wife. She couldn’t help but compare the way Maan touched her and ponder whether he’d done this with his ex-wife. Were his touches so fierce and passionate like they were with her?

“Are you going to continue meeting your ex-wife and daughter?”

“I want to bring… Aavya”

“Is that?”

He nodded. “She’s 4 years old. She thinks I’m her mama’s friend” he explained. “Sameera chose Aavya as her name because it meant gift. And… Aavya was truly a gift”.

Geet stared at Maan and heard the longing in his voice. The warmth in his voice as he spoke about his daughter.

“You love her?” she asked.

“I haven’t really met for her long, but yes” he answered honestly. “I want her to form a relationship with us both” he informed shifting to face her fully. “I want to bring Aavya here so I can spend time with her and be here with you”.

Geet tensed and frowned.

“Sameera wouldn’t come. She’d… she’d be understanding and allow a couple of hours”.

Geet couldn’t deny Maan to not meet his daughter. She was his daughter after all. A child that his wife and he tried for so many times and after 3 miscarriages, they’d finally had a miracle baby. But life had plans for them and pulled them away.

“Geet… What do you think?”

“I’m… I’m not going to say no to meeting your child, Maan. I know how important parents are in a child’s life. My parents were important to me and their presence in my life means the world to me”.

“Will you meet her with me?”

“What happens after 6 months, Maan? She’ll be permanently fixed in your life and come to accept you and… maybe me as your wife but what about when we divorce? It’d confuse her why her dad suddenly is alone?”

“IF we get a divorce. You can’t go that far ahead. I want you to think positively. I want you to think that we’re going to survive this and give me your hundred percent as well. I’m going to fight for you, Geet. At the end of the 6 months, you’re not going to want that divorce” he stated confidently. “That’s why I want you to form a bond with my daughter, so she knows that she gets me and my wife”.

“You’re awfully confident” she whispered.

“I have never been sure of anything in my life” he responded.

Geet sighed and nodded her head. She leaned back and closed her eyes.

“I’ll order us some food” he pressed a kiss to her head.

“Why?” she opened one eye as he stood.

“I don’t know how to cook” he replied looking sheepish.

She supressed a small smile and Maan smiled unable to hold back.