Chapter 24
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Untouched Yaadain:
Part 24:
Nayantara then takes a gun out of her bag and triggers it towards Maan...
Maan stares at her and the gun in a little startled way. He hasn't prepared anything for this. What to do?
"Nayantara! Tumhe lagta hai ke tum bach sakti ho?"
"Lagta nahin hai. Yakeen hai mujhe! I am sorry Maan, per ab aap ko jana ho ga, is dunya se." She has her hand resting on the trigger, while pulling the rear sight on the pistol. Maan has 5 seconds to do something to change this situation. She aims for his heart, but right on time Maan moves the chair by the force of his legs and frees his hands, but while he moved, the bullet rips through his right arm, he wince in pain but gets a hold of himself. He runs over to Nayantara and pushes her aside while grasping the gun from her hand. He triggers it towards her. Nayantara, in an midst of shock and horror, pleads to Maan. "Maan please! Mujhe goli na mariye ga! Please!"
"Too late, Nayantara! Tumne meri zindagi ko mazak bana ke rakh diya! Tumne mere aur Geet ke saath jo bhi kiya, us ke liye to main tumhai kabhi bhi maaf nahin keroon ga! Tumne do jeete huway insanoon ko pata nahin kis mod main khada ker diya hai! Hum donon aik doosre ki shakal bhi daikh nahin sakte!"
"Per Maan, sirf main hi is game main nahin thi! Geet ki family, Darji and Brij. Un donon ne meri madat ki."
"Matlab, woh yeh tumhare ghatiya plan ke baare main jaante the?"
"H-haan! We had a deal. Thodi si property unko bhi mile gi if this plan accomplished! Unhon ne bhi Geet ki zindagi ko aik deal bana ke rakh diya! Unhain Geet se kabhi pyaar tha hi nahin. She was just a burden. Ussay ghar se bahar nahin nikaal sakte the kyun ke unki Izzat ka mamla tha!" A sudden urge of sympathy filled his heart. "Aap ne kabhi Geet ki back daikhi hai? U-un pe scars hain jo zulm Brij ne kiye hain us pe, woh scars gawa hain." Maan couldn't take it anymore. When she got married to me, she had a ray of hope but because of me, that hope was mustered. I stumbled upon her dreams and hopes and crashed them! Then why not will she go after Rohan now? When I am not giving her the attention and all, then why would her heart flutter for me now?
While Maan was in his thoughts, Nayantara snatches the pistol from his hands and aims it at him,again. But too late, the cops come in and snatch the gun from behind her, while one handcuffing her. Adi comes in a rush. "Are you okay, sir?" Maan nods.
"Is ko yahan se le jaiye! Main ab is ki shakal poori zindagi bhar nahin daikhna chahta." Adi realizes that Maan has been shot and freaks out, taking him to the hospital right away.
Maan gets home late at night. He got his stitches done and all but the pain was engraved in his heart, not in his right arm. He was delighted to see Nayantara behind bars, so it couldn't be that. The moment he realized the high expectations Geet had of him, he shattered them. So it's not Geet's fault! I am the one who lost the chance! Maan screams in anger, breaking the vase! His tears start to make its way out of his eyes! He sees the shattered pieces of the vase and remembers the day when Geet got hurt. When she calls him and warns him of Nayantara's wrongdoings. She was hurt inside out. The broken vase had given her an injury on her foot. But he still kicked her out! She was worried about him till the last. She was crying for me, helping me! And me?!
He goes in Geet's room, trying to find peace. There was a picture of Maan, halfway out of the drawer. He opens the drawer and sees a diary and his picture.
Maan opens the first page of the diary. The page was very dry, as if somebody had once cried on it. She wrote everything about Maan and her first night in this house as his wife. He felt remorseful. She complains about her life in the diary. A sentence caught his eyes, "I guess mujhe life se umeed kerna chod daina chahiye!" Maan rests his head against the chair, closing his eyelids and just breathing deeply. He wipes his tears quickly and turns the page. After couple of pages, Geet writes:
"Main aaj se unki secretary hoon! Kitna mushkil ho ga! Main jitna un se door jana chahti hoon, woh itna kareeb ho jaate hain. Yeh koi ishara to nahin hai? Kaisa ishara? Woh meri taraf daikhte bhi nahin hai. Aur waise bhi kuch dinon pehle hi humne '2 month marriage' deal ki thi. Itni jaldi koi nahin change hota... My life reminds me of the story Cinderella, but a tragic story. Instead of having a stepmother and 2 stepsisters who treated Cinderella brutally, Geet has the world treating her brutally. And then out of no where a prince will come and will take her far away from everyone. When Maan entered her life, she felt that he is the Prince whom she was longing to see. But is he really? Cinderella's prince didn't treat her this way as Maan is. He loved her but Maan didn't. He took care every aspect of her but Maan isn't. Only similarity between Maan and Cinderella's prince is that both of them got married to helpless and poor girls. On the day I got married to Maan, I assumed that all of my problems will vanish in thin air. But it didn't. Instead problems increased. Now I've learned, that there's no one in the world who is lucky as Cinderella was. Cinderella was a fiction but I am a reality. A lover like Prince Charming is found only in fairy tales and reality is different than fairy tales. Reality struck and shatters hearts in to million of pieces. But fairy tales makes people dream useless things that they themselves should know that they are not to come true."
"I met Adi sir today. I found a brother in him. Jo Brij veerji mere liye poori zindagi nahin ker paaye, woh Adi sir ne 1 minute ker diya. Consoled me and took my side when Sasha was yelling at me. Bhot acha laga. Chalo koi aik to mila jo meri care karte hain and jisse meri presence se problem nahin hai. Warna Maan, Nayantara, Brij Veerji, Darji and Sasha ka to bas chale ke main zinda hi nahin rahoon!"
"Oh God! I can't believe it! I slept with Maan in office. He was right beside me, holding my hand. Oh God! Yeh mujhe kya ho raha hai? For a second, mujhe laga ke yeh koi aur hai! I felt like hugging him, and crying on his shoulder. Per kaise? Musibat alarm baj gaya! It was a time to get back to reality! P.S. Waise aaj maine unko chuha kaha! Hahaha! Well he didn't get mad at me that much for once. I liked that!"
Maan skimmed some more pages and landed on to the one when they were going to Paris.
"Paris! I'll be going to Paris today! Uff! Kitna maza aye ga! Meri bachpan se yahi khawaish thi! Waise aapis ki baat hai, Maan ke saath ja rahi hoon, aur by God, main itni khush kabhi nahin huwi! To kya huwa, he doesn't think of me like that, per... No no! This is wrong right! Well Paris here I come!"
"Did we sleep again holding hands and his resting on top of mine while I was literally hugging him on the plane? Yes we did! And he was was watching a Salman Khan and Shahrukh Khan movie with me! It was the best! I could sense a little jealousy spark in his conversations. But maybe I am hallucinating. And this time I won't fall for this trick! Pehle bhi huwa tha and unhon ne pata nahin 400 miles ki doori bana di hamare beech main. Maan is acting strange though since a while. I haven't seen this side of him. We were sharing the same room in the hotel. Maybe it was because he didn't want Adi and Sasha to think that there's something going on. I woke up in his arms, well sorta. And then we quarreled like a real husband-wife would. He wanted me to wish him good morning, thoda sa to attitude banta hai na! He pulled me closer to him, and my heart...! Gone! I was lost! But seriously these feelings I'm feeling are really wrong! What would happen to him? I can't do this! I have to bottle up my feelings in order to protect him. I don't want him to be hurt because of me. Jab main chali jaon gi, tab unpe kya beete gi?! I can't do this!"
And at the end of the page, there was this dry tear laying on the page. He couldn't deal with this anymore. So she did love him and not Rohan? Or... His head was gonna explode. In the diary, a picture of Maan fell down. It was a picture of him sleeping and she was smiling, taking a picture of them two. On the back of the picture it said, "One good memory of us that I'll always cherish!" He spent the rest of the night in her room, feeling her presence in the room, feeling her scent. He can't live like this anymore! He now knows her heart. Her heart beats only for him, how stupid of him to not realize that before! Why?!
Maan wakes up an hour before dawn. He wanted to see Geet really badly. Now he knows her heart, he doesn't want to waste anymore time. Before he exits the house, a shadow forecasts before him, at the main door. When the light shines at the anonmous person's face, Maan doesn't fail to recognize him right away.
"Brij? Tum yahan?"
"Geet kidher hai?" Brij demands in a deadly voice. But Maan wasn't one of those people to get scared of his voice. In fact, he took a step towards him.
"Kyun? Ab kya kerna hai uske saath? Tumne hi usko bachpan se lai ker ab tak chot pohnchai hai na?! Bolo!"
"Main us ke saath jo bhi keroon, woh tumhara koi business nahin hai!" Maan grabs Brij by his collar, pushing him in to a wall!
"She's my business! Lay a finger on her and I will kill you! Main janta hoon ke tum yahan pe kya kerne aaye ho! Nayantara jail main baithi huwi hai. Wahan ja ker mil lo usse! Get out of my house before I get you arrested you too! Ainda mere ya Geet ke samne kabhi na aana!"
Maan pushes Brij out of the house and shuts the door on his face. After a while, Maan leaves to meet Geet.
At the restaurant, obviously it was closed but through the windows, Maan could see Geet working. She's still up? She's sitting at one of the tables and has 3 books right front of her, and she's taking notes. Maan takes a deep breathe, then daring to knock the door. Geet looks up, startled. She couldn't see Maan's face due to no light outside. Geet opens the door assuming that the owner of the restaurant has returned. To her shock, Maan stood before her, smiling.
"Aap?! Is waqt?"
"Geet...I wanted to see you." In response to this, she closes the door but he reaches out his leg between the door just in time. Geet gives in, not wanting to hurt him since he just had his surgery.
"Maan, Please aap jaiye yahan se. This place doesn't suit you."
"This place also doesn't suit someone else too, Geet."
"Maan.. Please..."
"Geet main tumhari baat nahin ker raha. Tumhe hamesha aisa kyun lagta hai ke main tumhari baat ker raha hoon." He teased.
Right then the owner of the restaurant appears behind Maan.
"Excuse me. Yeh kya ho raha hai? Geet beta yeh koun hai?"
"Yeh..."
"Iska husband." Finishes Maan. The owner makes a O face as if he has gotten it.
"Oh! To yeh hain woh sahab zaade, woh pagal aur ullu."
"Ji?" Maan questions. Geet giggles just a little.
"Geet? Yeh kya keh rahe hain?"
"Main abhi batata hoon main kya keh raha hoon. Zaara peeche hato."
Confused Maan, backs off just a bit as instructed. To his shock, the owner gets in the restaurant and shuts the door quickly on Maan's face. Maan just stands there, unable to take in what just happened. Geet and the owner share a high five.
"What the hell?! Geet darwaza kholo! Geet!!"
Geet walks off and the owner folds his arms and just stare at Maan, vacantly.
"Daikhiye, aap ghalat samajh rahe hain. She's my wife and I want to talk to her. It's urgent. Please!" Seeing Maan desperate, the owner opens the door and excuses himself. But before leaving, he gives Maan a glare, like a warning. Maan follows Geet in the kitchen. She doesn't notice that and gets startled when Maan slips his hands around her waist, giving her a "hug from behind". Geet protests, trying her level best to escape his grip. On the contrast, Maan holds on to her more tightly.
"Geet. Mujhe tumse baat kerni hai."
"Fine! Baat aik doosre ko touch kiye bagair bhi ho sakti hai!" Geet elbows him. Impatient Maan, grips her hand tightly, pushing her in a wall nearby hard. Geet shuts her eyes in pain. He was nearly 2 inches away from her, pressing his body against her in rage of anger.
"Tum mujh se sahi tar ha se baat kyun nahin kerti?!" Geet doesn't say anything.
"Talk to me dammit! Main tumse baat ker raha hoon!"
"Yeh kya ho raha hai?!" The owner comes back, and upon seeing Geet in that condition, he pulls Maan away from her and grips his his collars. Maan frees himself from his grasp, and holds Geet's hand, pulling her towards the door. Geet unwillingly, follows him. Though she protested so much but Maan was Maan. He ignored her pleads and did what he thought was best. They exit the restaurant and makes her sit down in the car. He drives off to a random place, where there was nobody. He pulls her out of the car.
"Yeh kya battameezi hai?!" Geet questions.
"Main battameezi ker raha hoon? Abhi tumne meri battameezi daikhi nahin hai!"
"Woh kya sochain gain?"
"Tumhe unki fikr hai aur meri?!"
"Aap ki?! Shaid aap bhool gaye hain. Main aap ko yaad dila doon! Jab aapne mujhe apne ghar se nikala tha na, tab yeh aik baap ban ke inhon ne mujhe aik jagah rehne ke liye di thi! Unhon ne aik ajnabi ko rehne ke liye aik ghar diya, aur mujh main trust kiya! Aap ne kya kiya?!"
Maan calms down.
"Daikho Geet... Sab kuch badal gaya hai. Tumhe is jagah main rehne ki koi zaroorat nahin hai. Tum sahi thi. Nayantara wohi nikli jo tumne mujhe kaha tha."
"Oh acha! To Nayantara nikal gayi hai is liye ab aap mujhe ghar bulane aa rahe ho! Aap ko dar nahin lage ga ke main shaid aap ki sari property lai loon. Aap ke hisaab se to maine is liye aap se shaadi ki thi na?! Yeh nahin kaha tha aapne? Ke main pehle din se aap ke paison ke peeche hoon, is liye aap ke kareeb aati thi, all that crap. Ab main aap se door jana chahti hoon, to phir kya problem hai aap ko? Protect your money from my evil eyes Maan! Aur wasie bhi maine kaha tha, ke aik dafa main iss ghar se nikal gayi to main kabhi wapis nahin aaon gi." Geet uses sarcasm to describe the pain given by him, engraved in her heart. She's about to leave when Maan pulls her back, embracing her in his arms, giving her a hug, gripping her. Geet at first tries to push him away but then gives in. She wanted that. She wanted someone to console her, give her a hug so she could cry, take out her burden and emotions. Maan resting his head on her shoulders, while Geet, resting her head on his shoulder, slipping her hands around his waist, gripping it tightly.
"I am sorry Geet. Please.. Main janta hoon, main janta hoon maine bhot badi ghalti ki thi. I know I didn't trust you. Main yeh bhi janta hoon ke tum mera kabhi bura soch hi nahin sakti. You were protecting me aur maine tumhare saath bhot bura kiya. Pehle din se!"
Maan accidently touches a little below her bare back neck, and feels the scars Nayantara was talking about. The wounds might have been gone, but the story behind that scar still remained. Maan closes his eyes in pain.
"I am sorry Geet! Tumhe is shaadi main kitna yaqeen tha! Tumhe laga ke tum apni painful zindagi se nikal aao gi per maine, maine tumhare saath bura kiya! Day 1 se maine tumhari izzat nahin ki, tumhe aik bouj (burden) samajta raha. Per tum meri zindagi bun gayi! Aur Geet, koi apni zindagi ke baghair nahin rehta.. Please wapis aa jao!"
Geet slowly frees herself from his hug and just stands there with tears in her eyes. Maan holds her hand but she slowly lets go of them.
"Maan.. Bhot dair ho gayi hai. Main chah ke bhi aap ke paas wapis nahin aa sakti.."
"Kyun Geet? Per kyun?! Main janta hoon ke tum sirf mujh se pyaar kerti ho. Main jaanta hoon Rohan aur tumhare beech main koi rishta nahin hai. Main sab janta hoon...phir kyun??"
"Is ka jawab mere paas nahin hai. Please Maan. Start living your life, the way you used to live before. Aur mujhe bhool jaiye. It's too late. Too late for everything!"
Geet starts to walk away, and Maan just stands there, dumbfound. And then suddenly, he sees Geet faint but before she could fall to the ground, Maan holds her and carries her to his car.
"Geet!! Geet?! Aankhai kholo Geet! Geet!!"
Maan takes her to the hospital.
"Nurse! Doctor! Please help me! Meri biwi behosh ho gayi hai! Please help her!" Maan felt helpless. Seeing Geet lay unconsciously before him, teared his heart.
"Humain in ke doctor ko bulana ho ga. This is something serious!"
"In ka personal doctor?" The nurse goes away to make a phone call, meanwhile, Maan holds on to her hand and kisses it, blaming himself for this.
A figure enters the room. Maan turns around and is startled to see Rohan standing before him, gripping ta stethoscope in his hand.
"Tum is ke doctor ho?"
"Please leave the room. This is an emergency. Nurse!"
Nurse walks Maan out of the room, leaving him in an empty hallway. Maan was beyond shocked to see Rohan standing here in the hospital and of course upon knowing that Rohan is Geet's personal doctor. Personal doctor? Matlab...??
After an hour of endless wait, Rohan walks out of the room and tells Maan to follow him to his cabin. Maan does as he's told. His mind is full of questions that only Rohan can answer. Rohan closes the door of his cabin.
"Tum Geet ke personal doctor ho? Per Geet ne mujhe to is ke baare mai nahin bataya. Aur Geet ko kya huwa hai? Sab theek to hai na?"
"Maan! Geet ke saath jo bhi huwa hai, sirf tumhari wajah se huwa hai. Agar tum Geet ka khayal rakhte na to yeh na hota! Aur ab tum us ki care ker rahe ho? Usne mujhe sab kuch bataya hai, jis tarha tum us ke saath saluk kerte ho."
"Rohan.. Blame baad main laga laina, abhi jo ladki emergency room mai hai woh meri biwi hai! Geet ko kya huwa hai? Is ke saath yeh pehle bhi ho chuka hai?" Rohan sighs because he knows Maan is right. There's no point in wasting time when his wife is in the emergency room.
"Theek hai. Suno phir. Haan Geet ke saath yeh pehle bhi ho chuka hai. 1 dafa nahin, kayi dafa huwa hai. Usse..."
Maan holds in his breath, trying to avoid any little disturbance because he wanted to hear him clear. Geet has become his life, anything that comes in between them, he will get rid of it. That's how serious he has become towards his feelings for her.
"Maan.. Woh sahi nahin hai. Usse extra care ki zaroorat hai. Bhot hi extra kyun ke... usse lung cancer hai." There was it, he said it. The secret Geet told him to take it to his grave, he announced it, to the person whom she wanted to be the last one to know. Maan lost his balance, but Rohan caught him. He helped him sit and patted his shoulder, trying to console him, but he was well aware that this won't do.
"H-how serious is it?" He blurted out against his hearts will. His heart didn't wanted to know the answer to it, because he could feel the dangerous wave wavering in his heart, but out of curiosity, out of his mind's will he asked. Maybe there's hope! Rohan not knowing what he should say upon seeing Maan's sudden condition, as a human being he should lie as a way to look after the "to-be" patient, to console him, but as a doctor, the guardians have the right to know, have the right to question no matter how serious their reaction seem.
"Maan..."
"Rohan, sach bolna." Rohan nods his head and says, "It's...it's on the last stage. She's been missing her daily appointments. Ab is ki reports daikh ke lagta hai ke she doesn't have much time... maybe 1 year? or few months? or it might be few weeks or days? Who knows. But Maan... it's too late. It's not curable, not anymore." Maan felt like somebody had slapped him across the face. His heart skipped a beat, like a thunder drop over his heart.
"Kitne saalon se isse yeh cancer hai?" Maan controlling his emotions, but inside he was broke, shattered.
"3 saal ho gaye hain. Her family doesn't know either. She wanted me to keep it a secret, from everyone, from you. Woh nahin chahti thi ke tum ya koi is ke liye pareshaan ho. When I met her in this hospital 3 years ago, she was alone, scared. It seemed like she lied to her family to come here. Itni dari huwi thi Maan, I don't know if I've ever seen such a scared patient before. She was weeping, begging me to help."
Without even listening to it any further, Maan gets up and leaves. He doesn't have the confidence to go see Geet yet. How will he console her when he's broken himself? How did this happen? And why me? Why does it always have to be the people I love! Maan exits the hospital, and drives to a quite and lonely place, where he can weep openly. Where he can scream and take out his anger! He goes to a nearby cliff and screams. Taking out his anger! When his life seems perfect, something happens again. The pattern of these events were well known now. He can't be happy, he shouldn't be happy if everything needs to be fine. Maan stood motionless, eyes full of tears, full of pain, he felt like life is mocking him, making a joke at him. For how long will he have to stay strong? For how long will he have to bottle up his emotions? Will there ever be a time when he will live proudly, without any doubts and regrets?
"Main kyun?! Kyun?!!" Maan falls down to the ground on his knees and cries. Cries for help, for a miracle. Anything that will save her. Anything..!
After some disastrous hours, Maan makes his way back to the hospital. He knew he has to face her sooner or later. He just didn't know how to. Didn't know what will he say if he found her awake, or how will he approach her? Maan turns the knob of the hospital room and enters. Upon seeing Geet laying there helplessly pricked his heart in a thousand ways. He never imagined that the woman he would end up loving will be dying like this. Now everything made sense. Her denial. It was because she didn't want to hurt him. She was actually trying to save me, but I was so self-centered. Bas mujhe apni hi padi rehti hai. Knowing that her life is about to end, how much she must've suffered. When I should have been there soothing. A tear escaped his drowned eyes. Why didn't she tell me? I could've done something. Maan just stood there at the door way, staring at Geet making all sorts of conclusions regarding her health and of course cursing himself. How couldn't he notice? Whenever his life starts to take a different turn, his fate turns the table, leaving him all bruised again. First parents, then his second dad, and now his life, Geet. Maan proceeds towards Geet, examining her face. She was weak, her hair covered with some white cloth, her lips dried, dark circles were forming under her eyes. But still he knew she was his Geet and that what matters. He reaches for her hand and squeezes it, kisses it. "G-Geet? Daikho main hoon. T-tumhara Maan..." His voice was trembling, words barely making their way out. Slowly slowly, Geet's fingers move, slowly caressing Maan's hand. Maan immediatly looks up. "Geet!" Tears were forming in her eyes as upon seeing Maan in that condition. He looked like a crazy maniac with tears flowing down his cheeks, lips dry, and barely could speak now from all the yelling and screaming. He was almost out of breath from all the running.
"Geet! Main...Tum..." Geet slowly shook her head, as if indicating to Maan to stay calm. From his expressions and behavior, she could figure that he has already found out the reason. The reason why she was running away from him since day 1. Now that he has found out the reason, he will most likely dump me, this was the first thing that popped in to her head. That''s why she stopped him from talking any more. And that was one of the biggest reason why she wanted to run away from him. It was better when there was nobody who cared for her, because if she had been gone, she wouldn't have any regrets or anything of that sort. Now that Maan is here, the man she truly loves, she feels she's already dying. She doesn't know what to do. Should she confront him or should she confront herself first. Because either way, she'll end up giving up. Through the midst of her crazy thoughts, Maan quickly held on to her hand, squeezed it, and kissed it. Reassuring her that he's here, besides her, as long as he's alive.
After 3 months:
Life was not like rose petals for either of them. But, seeing each other besides made them lively. Maan took extra care of Geet, almost as if neglecting his office work. If Nayantara had said to hand over the property, he probably would've, seeing how he is busy with taking care of Geet. Seeing her smile, through her pain, made him the happiest person but at the same time he felt daggers being shot to his heart at the speed of who knows. He was on top with her hospital schedules, food schedules, medicine schedules, overall every schedule that he has bestowed upon himself. They loved each other more and more the time they spent with one another. There were no doubts lasted between them. At night, Maan would read books to her, would watch movies with her (specifically Salman Khan and Shahrukh Khan movies, as per Geet's request). During the day, they would go to parks, picnic places, museums, anywhere where Geet and Maan wanted to go. At night, they would spend most of the time eating dinner outside. Her pain was increasing daily, but she was trying her level best to not show. Maan knew the pain she's suffering. On occasions he had to take her to the hospital in an emergency case. For the first time in his life, Maan was scared and helpless. He didn't know what to do or what will become of him if something had happened to Geet. Every night when she would fall asleep, for hours he would stare at her and silently cry. But, overall, she knew nothing but the fact that Maan was his Prince Charming and she's the Cinderella.
The End!
Hope you all liked it. Do comment and like this post. :) 'BTW if you want any PMs from me, so please do add me to your buddy list. Thank you! :) .Sara
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