Chapter 49

Chapter 49

True to his word. Maan had left for a couple of days to speak to Dadima and their family. They had been devastated but they were understanding. Geet had called dadima that night after Maan texted to say dadima is aware they’re getting divorced. She should’ve faced dadima but she was afraid of her resolve breaking. She needed to be strong. Like always, dadima had been kind to her.

“Don’t worry about me, bete. Are you okay?”

Geet smiled faintly and swiped at her wet cheeks. “I’m going to be okay, dadima. Thank you for everything, dadima. I… I wouldn’t have made it this far without your support and Naintara’s. Thank you both for everything you have done for me”.

“Bete, we did what we would’ve done for our family. Don’t thank us for that. I just want you to be happy”.

“I’m… I’m going to try” she responded and swallowed hard. “Dadima… I’ll speak to you later” she said trying not to break down into sobs.

“Hmm” She could hear the sadness in her dadima’s voice. “Take care, bete”.

“Thanks, dadima. You take care of yourself as well” she whispered. “Bye” she cut the call and tossed the phone aside. She cried for a while before she lied down and went to sleep.

Geet kept up a brave face at work as she worked. She didn’t want to let her friends know of her world crumbling. She hadn’t ever told them that she had married.

With the divorce, even that Sasha could move in and take over her dream as Mrs Khurana. She shook off the thoughts and decided it was time for lunch. She received a text from Aditi asking her to meet for lunch and that Misha, Yash and Ryan were also going to come. Geet responded in agreement and grabbed her handbag leaving Armaan and Viren to work and walked to the restaurant since it was only across the corner from the office.

Maan had not come into work and had sent an email to say that he will be working from home and will only attend the monthly meetings with the board and visit sites. All client meetings will be held in the client’s place of work or another location outside of the office. Everyone had been surprised but presumed it was due to being very busy.

In order to make a fresh start, she would need to think about the future.

For the time being, she was staying in the farmhouse while Maan had returned to the mansion. But if they were going to divorce and separate, then she would need to start looking for an apartment. She didn’t even know where to start and she hasn’t yet even spoken to her parents to inform them what is happening. What would she even say? That the man they married her off to was previously married and he now has a kid? The ex-wife is back in the picture. Her parents were going to be equally distraught as everyone else is at the moment.

She brushed off her concerns when she’d met her friends and they sat down ordering their drinks and lunch. They broke into pleasantries and catching up with each other.

Misha mentioned she needed to move out as her landlord was increasing the rent ridiculously and he would not budge.

“Yaar, these landlords can be too much. He thinks 30K rupees is reasonable for one studio apartment” she further added shaking her head.

“The market is tough nowadays”.

“When does your lease end?” Yash asked.

“I’ve got just over 3 weeks remaining” she responded with a sigh.

“Have you thought about sharing?” Ryan asked.

“A one-bedroom studio apartment?” she chuckled. “It only has a single bed so unless that person is my boyfriend where I can sleep on top of him, then yeah I’d consider it” she joked. “Any of you want to move out and search for a place with me?” she winked.

Geet’s mind whirled with the possibilities and so many questions. She had more concerns about everything but if she was going to take a step forward, she’d need to take a risk. “You know I’m thinking of moving out as well” Geet said slowly hesitating as the words escaped her mouth.

“What?” Misha looked at her in surprise. “Are you being serious?”

Geet blinked and opened her mouth to refuse and back away but she steeled herself against her myriad of thoughts. “Yeah” she said and swallowed hard nodding her head. “I’m looking to move out. My current living situation isn’t ideal so I want to move out”.

“Oh, that would be great!” Misha squealed. “When shall we go searching for an apartment? I want to lock it in and leave as soon as my lease finishes”.

“Uh… I’m not sure. I haven’t lived in an apartment before so I’m not even sure…”

“Don’t worry too much about it” Misha responded.

“I’ll… also get some help from someone I know. They’re housing lawyers so they can help us by checking the lease agreement”.

“That’s great!” Misha said grinning widely and feeling the burden on her shoulders lessening. Geet felt her heart skip a beat and butterflies skittering in her stomach as she thought of the future that lay ahead of her.

Maan had told dadima that he and Geet were getting divorced, but he had yet to still inform them about Sameera and Aavya. He leaned back in his chair unable to concentrate as he thought of Geet. Seeing her cry, he felt guilty. He wished he could go back and do so many things differently. He wished he had been able to share his past, tell her about his previous marriage, his ex-wife and now a new daughter.

If he had unburdened his secrets then he wouldn’t have betrayed her. It was unfair to Geet if he kept her trapped in this marriage. She deserved a chance at living.

He had never given her the place as his wife. If he had accepted her as his wife, then he would’ve shared his secrets. He had not trusted her. Had he done, then he would’ve told her. She was right, he had months to accept that he had a daughter and he wanted her to meet Aavya and accept him and her in her life. She’d also have come face to face with Sameera at some point as well.

He had royally screwed up his life with the lies and secrets.

“Maan” Dadima knocked on his home office door and entered.

He sat up straighter and forced himself to smile.

“How are you?”

“As well as can be” he responded with a smile as she sat down in the chair before him. “Did you need anything, dadima? You could’ve called me to you”.

“No, no” she answered shaking her head. “I just wanted to see how you were doing” she replied. “You’re needing to divorce?” she asked.

“I have to, dadima” he responded. “I don’t want it, but I cannot keep Geet trapped here when I haven’t really given her a chance” he admitted. “She’s only 20 years old, dadima. She has been through so much in the past year and half and it’d be unfair of me to not live her life out”.

Dadima agreed with him. “I wish I hadn’t forced you into marrying her. Had I not then both your lives…”

“Dadima, it is entirely my fault. None of it is yours or Geet’s. Geet tried, she tried for the past year but… I… I just struggled” he acknowledged.

Dadima nodded slowly and said, “Geet’s birthday is coming up. Maybe we can have one final celebration together”.

“I’ll speak to her and let you know. We want to separate amicably”.

She nodded in understanding and smiled getting up and leaving the office.

When Geet returned to the farmhouse after work, she’d showered and changed into comfortable pyjamas and made herself a cup of soup as she was not hungry and sat down in the living room with her laptop. She searched online about living alone, what it would look like on her finances and what sort of issues could rise.

She needed to do her research before she would take such a huge step about moving out and living alone or with her friend.

She hadn’t heard the door and was startled after hearing her name.

She glanced over her shoulder at Maan. “You scared me” she muttered closing the lid and placing the laptop on the coffee table.

“What are you doing here?” she questioned.

“You’re looking at apartments?” Maan asked at the same time.

“I asked first”.

“I’d called your phone but you didn’t answer. So, I drove here to check in on you” he answered and took a seat on the opposite sofa. “Now, you” he said glancing at the laptop and looked at her.

“I’ve been thinking. If we’re going to get divorced and am going to be completely independent then I want to take the steps forward in order to do it. I won’t be your responsibility when this divorce goes through so I want to start working out a plan”.

“You can live here, Geet. We won’t…”

“No, Maan. I appreciate that, I do. But I need space from everything” she responded. “I’m scared of the future and am not sure what lies ahead, but I need to do this”.

He nodded in understanding. He had been the same, it was why he’d lived so freely in his twenties and he was able to get so many experiences which shaped him into the man he has become. He just wished he had done a few things differently so his past wouldn’t have tarnished his future.

“If you need any help looking or…”

“Thanks. I need to start learning to be independent and do things myself” she replied and paused for a second.

“What is it?”

“Have you met…”

“No, I haven’t gone to see Sameera yet” he answered.

She hummed and nodded with a small smile.

“Do you need help with the finances? We can discuss alimony and…”

“I don’t want alimony, Maan. We’ve never been husband and wife, really. I don’t want any alimony. I just want to take the things I’ve gained, brought with me and bought. I don’t want anything else”.

“You’ve got a right to my money, Geet. You…”

“Please, Maan. I appreciate that, I really do. But alimony is for a wife. We weren’t that. We were married on paper, that is it” she responded.

Maan sighed. “You know apartments are not cheap in Delhi. You’ll need to find one that has guards and maybe a doorman and…”

“I know it is not cheap, but the wedding gold that I have got, I’m going to convert and invest them. I have invested in two schemes where I am getting a profit return annually in one and monthly in another. I’ve also been saving money in a savings account where I receive a 3% interest profit on the amount I saved each month so I have got some savings to rely on if I need to”.

“You’ve been sensible with your money. I would’ve splashed it at this age” he remarked.

“Well, I do work in finance so I need to be sensible” she responded.

He nodded in understanding. “When do you think you want to move out?” he asked.

“I’m going to speak to Naintara about the lease agreement and we’re looking for another tenant if we can find it. Aditi is thinking about joining us, but she’ll let us know. Once we can find a reasonable apartment and the lease agreement is all in shape, then I’d be moving out. I’ll need to come by one day to pack my things”.

“Yeah, everything is still over there” he replied. “I wish I didn’t keep any secrets or lied to you” he muttered looking at her. Her eyes locked to his.

She smiled sadly. “I wish you didn’t either” she averted her eyes and swallowed hard. “It’s… hard knowing that someone had been your wife, they’ve been at the end of your efforts, your love, your affection. They’ve shared a life with you and… I… I couldn’t make a place in your life despite trying for over a year”.

A lump formed in Maan’s throat as he listened to her. He swallowed thickly and cleared his throat suddenly feeling his mouth go dry. “I… I’m just so sorry, Geet”.

She sighed heavily and shook her head. “It’s fine, Maan” she responded.

“I’ll get going and leave you to it” he said standing up.

She nodded and bid him bye, Maan walked past her feeling guilt consume him. Her words echoed. He had shared a life with Sameera. Sameera had received his love, his affection, his warm hugs, his promises, his smile, his laughter, his honesty, his life had melded with hers and they’d made a little world together where it was just them. When Geet had tried, he’d turned her away. When he promised to her, he’d broken it. Not once, not twice, but multiple times. Geet received his distance, his coldness, his lies. While guilt consumed him and almost caused him to buckle, he composed himself together. He was even more sure now that giving Geet a divorce, he was doing the right thing. She deserved a life of happiness. She deserved freedom. She deserved an uncomplicated adulthood in the beginning as his was. It would be unfair of him to drag her into his mess of a life and keep her here.

If after everything, they find a way back to each other then they were meant to be.

They were both coerced into this marriage. If they were meant to be, he wanted to marry her for love and because he wanted to not because they’d been tied together unwillingly. He didn’t want any resentment growing between them.

Each step closer towards his car assured him that he was doing the right thing.

It was the least he could do for the pain he had caused her.

Precap: New beginnings. New Apartment. New Life...

Thank you to everyone who have commented. I understand and appreciate that you are upset and angry at the development towards divorce. I’d just like to clarify that yes it is like a 360 turn from the 6 months initial plan but Maan has been feeling guilty as he thinks of everything that he had done. I have tried my best to portray his thoughts and his understanding as he thinks of everything from Geet's POV. Geet is not upset that he has a child. She has understood that was not his fault nor a choice. Geet is hurt by the lies and secrets that surrounds their marriage. He had kept his first marriage, an entire life with another woman secret and lied to her.

He promised to try and each time, he'd backed off and broke a promise to her. He'd continued going behind her back to see Sameera and the child as well. If he had been upfront and honest, she would have understood and accepted it. It would have hurt initially, but at least he was being honest. Even when he found out about the child, he didn't tell her. He ran off for 3 months to process everything. She barely had a day to come to terms that he was married, his ex-wife has returned and now there is a child in the mix too. Some things like this would be difficult to overcome for anyone, much less a young twenty year old and needs time before forgiveness comes into play. Maan has done nothing to prompt forgiveness from her therefore divorce seemed the best way going forward.

I hope this make sense and you've understood both Maan and Geet's POV. Thank you.