"The jeep had to break down right now." Maan complains to himself. "I hope Geet is okay and doesn't do anything stupid." Maan mutters as he approaches the spot where he left his jeep with Geet.
When he reaches the jeep, he stops and looks left, then right, wondering where his companion went.
"Ab yeh Geet kaha chali gayi?" He asks out loud. "I'm dead sure she has gotten herself into trouble again."
He quickly puts the water inside the radiator, that he had brought to help cool down the jeep. He throws the water tank, in the back of the jeep before putting his keys in the slot and turning them. The engine starts and Maan presses down on the accelerator but the jeep doesn't move even an inch. He looks down at the tires and notices that they're all flat. He smacks the steering wheel and utters one word; Geet. __________________________________________________________________________________
As Maan is complaining to himself about why he had to leave Geet all by herself or about why Geet is so careless that she will start off all by herself in this darkness, Maan sees a parked jeep containing a bunch of drunken men. He moves his eyes and sees that there is one girl standing beside a man, with a stick in her hand. He squints his eyes and sees her yell at him. She moves one step forward, making the man, who to his guess is most probably drunk, run for his life. Maan witnesses the man scramble into the back of the jeep, while someone else drives away. The man, puts his left hand to his kneecap, while another man puts a cloth over his head. The man grimaces, while the girl watches them drive away.
Maan slowly approaches the girl, wondering as to who she is since he knows for a fact that Geet is not strong enough to fend for herself like that. Maan had just reached close enough to the girl, to hear her finish off her insults. He reaches his hand out to touch her shoulder, but before he can, the girl turns around and he quickly brings his hand down. Maan is unable to believe that the girl who fought off a jeep full of drunken men, the girl who injured a ruthless, lustfilled man, the girl who he had never thought, even in his wildest dreams would turn out to be none other than Geet. Geet takes one look at him and her anger magnifies a hundred times more.
"Oh. Now you've got the time to come to me. Or did you forget that there was a girl named Geet, riding along with you?" She asks him angrily.
Before Maan could reply back, Geet cuts him off.
"Don't. I know what you're going to say. But Geet, I just went for a little while. I didn't know it was going to take this long. And besides, how was I suppose to know that the jeep was going to break down." Geet says mimicking what Maan would have said in a situation like this.
Maan gulps and scratches the back of his head, avoiding eye contact, as that was exactly what he was going to say.
"So? What do you have to say for yourself?" Geet asks him like a school teacher that has a caught a student red handed in cheating on a test.
Maan looks up and behaves non-chalantly.
"Nothing." He says with a shrug of his shoulders. "And besides," He moves past Geet so that his back is towards her. "why should I care? It's not as if I know you." He says with a small smirk.
Geet stares at him with her mouth open.
"You... How can you not care?" She says shocked, now standing beside him. "You're supposed to care." She shakes his arm which makes Maan to look at her.
"Why? Who are you to me?" He says with a smug and starts walking back to the jeep.
Geet looks at Maan leave with her mouth open in shock.
"He...I.. He's the one who's supposed to be standing here, not me!" She complains to herself before running after him. "Atleast you can compliment me." She says rushing to catch up to him.
"For what?"
"Oh, I don't know, maybe for saving my life?!" She answers sarcastically.
"Well, then..." Maan stops to look at Geet and says, "Good job." before walking again.
"Good job? That's it?" Geet asks him shocked.
"Very good job." Maan answers.
Geet purses her lips, not saying another word which leaves a big smile on Maan's face.
"Why are we going back to the jeep? It's useless anyways." She complains.
"No thanks to you. We would have been there by now." Maan says.
"How was I supposed to know where you went. It's not as if you told me." Geet replies back.
Maan rolls his eyes and starts walking faster.
"Why are you walking so fast? It's not as if we're going to miss a train." Geet complains again.
"Geet. Please." Maan says, making Geet pout.
For about a minute or two, Maan and Geet were walking in silence before Geet spoke once again.
"I'm hungry." She complained.
"Geet." Maan says in a stern voice. "I'm hungry!" Geet whines again.
"Mera ser toh kaa chuki ho. Aur kya khaana hai tumhe?" Maan says angrily.
Geet opens her mouth in shock once again.
"How dare you? Yaha mein bhooki maari hoon aur tum ho ki nakre dekha re ho. Don't you have any manners?" She says irritatedly.
"Geet, we're in the middle of the road. How on Earth do you think I'm supposed to feed you?" He asks her.
"That's not my problem. All I know is that I'm hungry and I want something to eat right now." Geet says.
To irritate Maan even more, she goes and sits down on another tree stump and rests her chin in the heels of her hands, and stares at him, smilingly.
"So, Chef Khurana. What's on the menu?" She asks him teasingly.
"Well, for appetizer we have an annoyed Maan who is thinking of whether or not leaving you alone here, for the first course is a very irritated Chef Khurana with a side dish of curses and insults." Maan starts walking towards Geet with a smile on his face, playing along to his advantage. "For the main course is an angry Maan, who is just about ready to kill you," He says with a big smile on his face. He looks down at Geet, his face just an inch away from hers. "And for dessert is..."
Maan brings his face closer to Geet. They were so close now, that their noses were touching, and their lips were just on the verge to make contact. Geet abandons the items that were held in her hands, and glides them over Maan's chest. She tilts her head a little to the left and feels herself being lifted up by Maan. She can feel his arms around her slender back and notices how perfectly she fits in them. She feels a gentle push coming from Maan and their lips were just about to touch when they felt a raindrop on their eyelids.
Geet blinked and realizing what she was about to do, pushes herself out of his arms. She starts hyperventilating, when it dawns on her that she was about to kiss a total stranger. Someone whom she met for the first time. Someone who she didn't even know properly. Someone, who somehow makes her feel like she knows him for a long time. Maybe even better than herself. She looks up at the man in front of her, and sees his back. She doesn't know what it was that compelled her to do this. But nonetheless, it felt necessary for her.
The heavy rainfall had coated Maan's back with wet droplets. To Geet, it seemed like it had set off some sort of glowing aura around him. By this time, Geet was no longer in control of herself. She could feel herself walking closer to him, but she didn't command them. She could sense that what she's about to do will majorly impact her future, yet she made no attempt to stop herself. Her mind was saying that she should stop where she is, but her heart and her sould were telling her, no, showing her how happy and better off she is with him rather than without.
Geet was standing right behind Maan and could feel the urge to touch him. With the rain, her feelings were so much stronger than before. Hesitantly, her hands go up to hover Maan's back, before her fingers gently slide their way across his waist and then slide their way up his chest and then rest at his shoulders.
Maan is shocked to see Geet react this way, since she's the one who just pushed him away from herself just moments ago. He closes his eyes as he feels her head rest on the bare skin of his shoulder. He had totally forgotten that he was wearing only a black vest, since Geet had forcefully taken away his black leather jacket from him, earlier in the morning. Through the wet material, he could feel Geet as if she was a part of him. He closes his eyes as he is unable to resist himself. He doesn't want himself to loose control amidst all these emotions. Maan had wanted Geet to hug him like this, ever since the day he lost her. But now that she is, he feels guilty.
Guilty, due to the fact, that whatever Geet is feeling towards him right now is temporary. Once she finds out the truth about him and the way he treated her, she'll wouldn't even want to be near his shadow let alone hug him. Maan lifts his head so that it faces the sky, and lets the rain drops fall down on it. He squints with his eyes closed, as he feels Geet plant a kiss on his back.
Don't Geet. He thinks to himself. You'll regret it.
Every kiss that Geet plants on him, his heart stops. Half of it wants her to stop, while the other wants her to continue on forever. Maan places his hands on top of hers and slowly turns around. He sees Geet has her head lowered, probably not wanting to meet his eyes after what she just did. Her clothes were soaked throughout. Her dark navy blue dress which used to flow around her body, now clinged to it, refusing to let go. Maan averted his eyes from her body and focused it on her face. Not that it helped. Her face looked even more angelic and pure in the rainfall.
There were water droplets that were hanging from her eyelashes. Her forehead and cheeks had rain scattered all around. He watched as a raindrop travelled from her forehead down in a straight line to her nose, before falling off. His eyes followed the fallen raindrop but remained on her wet and luscious lips. Maan had this strong urge to remove the water that was on them and he didn't intend on doing that using his fingers. Maan averted his eyes away from them and looked aside, not wanting to get carried away.
Geet travelled her hands up his arms before resting them on his chest. She brought herself close to him, not ever wanting to go. With her head in between her hands, she plants a kiss on his bare, muscular chest. She could feel Maan stiffen underneath her lips. She sensed that he didn't want this to happen like this, but he wanted it nonetheless. She looks up at him and sees his eyes closed. Geet lifts her chin and captures the rain drop that was hanging from his chin. From the corner of her eye, she saw Maan gulp. A small smile played on her lips. She kissed him softly on his right cheek and then the left. She brought her hands up his shoulders and tangles them in his hair.
Maan's hands glide over Geet's waist and he pulls her in, pressing her against his body even more than before. Surrendering himself to his swaying emotions, he leans his head down towards Geet's, so that their foreheads touch, everytime they think of bringing their lips closer.
With every second that passes by Geet, starts getting more and more confused about her emotions towards Maan. In the moment, she feels like kissing him; but when it passes by, she's glad that she didn't. She opens her eyes and sees Maan's eyes closed, but she could sense the same confusion going through him, that is going through her. She continues to study him for a moment or two, when she saw something that she never that she would ever witness. She's taken back to her latest memory that her taveez had given her.
About a man who had started to cry and she was trying to console him. The reason as to why she remembered that particular memory now, is because amidst all the water drops that remained on Maan's face from the rain, she was able to pick out one that had came from him; his lone one tear that lost himself with its other companions. Gingerly, Geet releases herself from his hold, making him open his eyelids. At first, she sees surprise cross over, then relief. But relief about what? She takes a step away from him, so that she can see fully see him. Then, she says the first question that she has been meaning to ask him, ever since she met him.
"Who are you?"
Edited by Durga A. - 15 years ago
Real Estate
98