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Geet is all that Maan could think of during his drive to Hoshiarpur. Her sweet as honey, chirpy talks... her bubbly, animated expressions... her child-like smile... her beady, teddy bear expressive eyes... her petite baby nose... her silky straight hair... her heavenly melodic laugh... the fiery passionate touch of her skin... the cool spine-tingling or coal-burning warmth from her breath and the full bubblegum/strawberry lips.
Every minor detail of Geet had attracted him back then; and now that she's not with him, the attraction has grown a hundred times more than before. Nowadays, whenever Maan looks back at the days spent with Geet, he looks at them with a new eyes; in a different point of view than the last time. Take his first meeting with Geet as an instant.
Never did he think that the girl, he had pushed away from himself will become the woman of her dreams. He never thought that when he left her alone with her problems, he would want to be the solution that she will come seeking for. Never did it cross his mind that when he saw her run away, he would want to keep her all to himself. The thought that he would like to break the bones of all those many men that had ever looked or thought of dirty things towards Geet, had never occured to him before.
But now, they do. Now, all these and many more thoughts come to Maan. But he's not going to just sit around and think. He's going to go and get the love of his life. He's going to go and achieve what is rightfully his.
With that thought, Maan increases the speed and drives off along the dirt path.
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"Geet, wake up. Wake up, Geet." Pinky taps a sleeping Geet on the shoulder.
"Huh?" Geet mutters still half asleep.
As she opens her eyes, she notices that the bus has stopped in front of a dhabba, most likely for a break.
"Come. We have ten minutes to freshen up before the bus leaves again." informs Pinky as she gets out of the bus.
Geet gets out and stretches herself, releasing herself slightly from the sore muscles. She heads on over to the ladies restroom to get freshened up, while her mother and Pinky get something to eat along the way.
Pinky was carrying her plate of food towards the cot where Geet's mother was seated, when Maan's jeep pulled up. Pinky puts the metallic plate in front of Geet's mother and sits down, cross-legged on the cot and was about to take a bite out of her mooli ka parantha, when she saw Maan, wearing a black leather jacket, hiding his eyes behind the dark pair of shades. Maan slightly turns his head and meets Pinky's gaze. He lips curve up into a crooked smile, making Pinky drop her morsel onto the plate. "What happened?" asks Geet's mother.
When Pinky doesn't answer, she turns around and sees Maan getting out of his jeep and walking towards them. She stops chewing, and the two females stare at the handsome young man walking up to them. Maan pulls up a chair beside their cot and sits down. He takes out a small piece of the parantha and eats it.
"Mmm. Tasty." He comments and takes out another piece.
He offers it to both the woman and when they don't react, he shrugs his shoulders and eats it. Seeing the woman not behaving, he takes the plate and finishes off the contents of it. He then takes the lassi that Pinky had ordered for Geet and drains it down.
"Aaahh." Maan comments after having a satisfying meal. "Bhai, maaza aa gaya. Seriously Pinky, your taste of food is amazing. Next time, remind me to put you in charge of any food responsiblities that we have." He now looks at Geet's mother and talks to her. "Hello, aunty. I know, I'm very good-looking but, it doesn't look nice for you to be staring at a young man like me. But I swear aunty, if you weren't married and I wasn't in love with your daughter, then I would have married you." Maan says matter-of-factly, which brings both Pinky and Geet's mother out of their staring sessions.
"Huh. T.. What are you doing here?" asks Geet's mother.
"Didn't Pinky tell you?" He looks at Pinky and says, "Pinky, very bad." Now looking back at Geet's mother, "Actually, aunty I'm here for two reasons. One; business. Two; personal. I.e. your daughter." He specifies.
"Oh, so now you want to be with my daughter?" she asks him. "It'll be best if you leave Maan."
"Aunty, I know that I shouldn't have left her like that. I thought that it would be the best for both of us. But I was wrong." He says the last sentence in a small tone of voice.
"And it took you six years to realize that?!" Geet's mother says in an angrily. "Maan, even I truly wish that Geet and you stay happy. I really do. But right now is not the right time." She says in a much gentler voice.
"Why not?" Maan inquires.
"Because she doesn't remember anything that happened." speaks Pinky. "Remember sir, I told you about my friend that has an amnesia? Well sir, that friend is Geet." she informs him.
Maan blinks as he remembers Pinky informing him about Geet's state of mind. His eyebrows loosen up as he remembers Pinky's comment about Geet losing her mind sometimes.
"Pinky is she really ill? I mean, you said that she goes berserk sometimes." Maan inquires.
Geet's mother gets shocked. "Pinky!"
"No aunty, woh..."
A horn coming from the bus interrupts Pinky as it signals the passengers that it is time to leave now.
"I'll go call Geet." Pinky says, unanswering Maan's questions.
"Geet, hurry up! The bus is about to leave!!" Pinky shouts inside the washroom before leaving towards the bus.
Geet finishes washing her hands and pulls the doorknob to open the door, but it wouldn't open. She pulls again harder, but it remains shut. Her fingers slip off the doorknob fairly quickly as her fingers have gotten sweaty. She starts banging on the door and calling out for help but no one is able to hear her as the noise level outside increases by people calling out to their families to board the bus before they miss it.
Pinky stands right beside the bus, waiting for Geet to show up.
"Where did Geet go now?" she asks herself.
"Pinky, where's Geet?" Geet's mother asks. "I don't know. I called her from inside the washroom but now I don't where she's at." she says.
"Maan!" Geet's mother calls out, in hopes that he will be able to get Geet back to them before she misses the bus. "Maan!"
"Chalo, chalo sab andhar chalo." The bus driver calls out. "Are you on this bus?" He asks to Pinky.
"Yes, but.." Pinky starts off.
"Then get inside." The bus driver urges Pinky to get inside the bus and sends her and Geet's mother towards the back of the bus, so that he can drive.
"Yeh Geet bhi na. Pata ni, ki yeh ab kaise aiye gi." Geet's mother says worried for her daughter.
"Will you please wait for two minutes? My friend is just on the way." Pinky requests the bus driver.
"No, I'm sorry. We've already wasted five minutes. No more. Now go and sit down in your seats." He commands.
Devastated, Geet's mother and Pinky sit down in their seats, hoping that Geet will be able to reach Hoshiarpur safe and sound.
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Now that the noise level has diminished, Geet's cries were able to be heard by the remaining few people; one of which was Maan.
"Can somebody hear me?! Please open the door!!" Maan hears, followed by a couple of bangings and a sob.
Maan follows the trail of sobbing and reaches the ladies restroom. He tries the doorknob but it was locked. He places his hand on the door and speaks into it.
"Hello."
Geet stops crying as she heard someone's voice after a long time of anticipation. She quickly places her right hand on the doorknob and her left hand on the door.
"Hello."
Maan hears a voice that he can knows off by his heart.
"Geet." he thinks.
He was about to say her name again, when he remembers Pinky's words about her having amnesia. He then remembers his encounter with her yesterday and understands as to why she behaved the way she did. Thus, he decides not to reveal his identity right away, but instead relive them with her again, one by one.
"Hello?!" Geet's high, worried voice brings Maan out of his thoughts.
"Yeah, I'm here. Ma'am we're gonna have to break down the door. So would you please step away from the door." Maan advices to her.
Geet follows his advice and steps away from the door. After a few moments, the door bolts open and a young man tumbles in. Glad to see atleast a single soul after being stuck inside, for what seemed like an eternity, Geet rushes over to him and hugs him tight.
At first, Maan is taken aback by Geet's actions. He is unsure of as to should he hug her back or just leave her. Hesitantly, Maan's arms go around Geet to hug her back. His hands were barely there for ten seconds when Geet came out of his embrace.
"Thank you so much for your help." She says smilingly at him before dashing out to see if the bus left or not.
"No problem." Maan says to himself.
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After explaining to the owner of the dhabba about the problem with the door, Maan heads over to his jeep. He was about ten feet away from the jeep, when he spotted Geet sitting down on the cot, staring at the position where the bus stood a few minutes ago. He walks over to her and sits down beside her.
"Taxi?" He asks.
"No money." She informs.
"Ride?" He offers her.
"Free." She inquires before accepting his offer.
He looks at her and blinks. "Free."
Maan extends his hand out in front of her. Geet looks at his extended hand and then at him.
"Only on one condition." She states.
Maan's eyebrows slightly knit together as he wonders about the condition.
"What?"
"You take off this jacket of yours." Geet starts taking off the leather jacket that is on Maan. "But.." He tries to protest. "I'm wearing this vest underneath." He says looking up at Geet who is now standing with Maan's leather jacket.
"I know. And you look much better like that. And besides," Geet starts walking towards the jeep.
"Seeing you wear that jacket was making me feel so hot. I don't know how you can wear this."
Maan gets up and follows Geet amused, as unknowingly, Geet is behaving exactly the same as she used to with him.
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"So, you're also going to Hoshiarpur?" Geet asks Maan.
"Yup."
"What for?"
"Business. I'm building a new hotel there."
Geet nods her head impressed.
"You?" Maan now asks Geet.
"Visiting home. I'm coming back after such a long time." She says feeling a bit relieved.
"Interesting. What do you for a living?"
"Me? I'm a detective. Detective Geet." She says with a big smile on her face.
"Oh really?" Maan says with an equally big smile on his face, although it's for a different reason than Geet's. "But just Detective Geet?" he asks her intentionally.
"Yeah."
"What about your surname?"
"Nah. It didn't work out. I didn't like the way it sounded. Detective Geet Handa." she says. "It sounds more like I'm naming a car. Honda."
This makes Maan laugh as Geet had said exactly the same thing before. Geet gets confused as she feels that she had said this to him before. Maan looks over at Geet.
"What happened?" he asks.
"I... I don't know. I just... feel like I've said this to you before." Geet says still pondering over to exactly when did she say this to him.
"Hmm. Maybe this will help." Maan says, making Geet look at him. "Khurana."
As soon as he mentioned his surname, Geet remembers exactly as to when she had this moment.
"Maan, will you please give me your name?" Geet asks Maan, innocently.
"No. And besides why should I?" He asks her.
"Why shouldn't you?" Geet asks him back.
"Because I'm not related to you." He replies.
"Yeah, you are. You're my friend." Geet mentions.
"Geet, it doesn't work like that. I can't just give you my name. And besides you have your own name. Geet is a very pretty name." Maan tries to convince Geet.
"And Handa? It sounds like I'm saying that I'm named after a car. And I hate cars!" Geet pouts.
"Naam, ho toh tumare jaisa Maan. I mean, even in your first name there's so much pride in it. It sounds so important!" Geet explains. "Maan." Geet spreads her hands out in front of her exaggerating to Maan.
Maan peeks up from cutting the vegetables and smiles, amused.
"Aur phir! Singh. Khurana. Vah! Kya naam paiya hai tumne Maan." Geet runs around the counter and leans back looking at him. "Please, dedo na." she requests.
Maan sighs and places the knife down. He piles up all the diced vegetables and places them in a pot.
"Geet, I just can't okay. It doesn't work like that."
"Why not?"
"There are two ways that you can earn a name; birth and marriage." Maan says while stirring the vegetables. "Pass the spices."
Geet opens up a cabinet and hands him the required spices for the dish.
"Too bad you're late for the first one." she says with a frown while Maan looks at her amused.
As soon as Geet's face lights up with an idea, Maan's smile vanishes as he knows exactly as to what she's thinking of. They both turn their heads, to look at each other at the same time.
Geet who had her finger pointing at him, with a smile on her face was about to say something when she got interrupted by Maan who said, "No. Don't even think about it Geet."
Geet brings her finger down and pouts.
"Why not?" she asks.
"Because it's just not possible okay. Someone would have to be bitten by a mad dog, that would want to marry you." He states. Maan heads over to the refrigerator to take out the acquired dressing.
"As far as I know, you've already been there." Geet mutters to herself while scratching her head.
Unfortunately for her, the comment was heard by Maan.
"What did you say?" he asks.
"Nothing." Geet brings her hand down and smiles at him.
"You said something."
"No, I didn't."
Maan pours in the dressing and mixes the vegetables once more. He peers into the pot and sees the vegetables are in the exact same state as he had left them. He goes back to the recipe book that is placed on the counter and goes over the instructions to see where he went wrong. After checking, he goes back to his pot.
"I did everything that it said. So, why isn't it cooking?" he asks himself.
"Oh genious. Stove toh chala the." Geet says irritatedly. "I'm ordering pizza." she says leaving Maan alone to his dish.
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"Just think about it though Maan." Geet says in between her bites. "Wouldn't it be so cool? Me, you, my new name."
Maan rolls his eyes.
"And Darji." he adds in which makes Geet's smile disappear. "Do you honestly think that Darji will let you marry me?" He asks her.
"Of course. I mean, why wouldn't he? You're smart, rich, and have such a big name!" she says coming to her point.
Maan shakes his head.
"Tum kabhi ni sudro gi."
"Of course not. No matter what happens I'm staying this way. You better not expect me to change after marriage."
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Geet brings in the dishes and helps Maan in washing the dishes. She takes the wet dishes and starts drying them off. Seeing Geet not ranting about wanting her new name, Maan takes a peek at Geet and sees her paying all her attention into drying the dishes. He goes back to washing the dishes.
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Geet was putting on her shoes and was about to open the door when Maan came up from behind her and locked her in a hug. Taken aback by his action, Geet looks back at him.
"Yeh... yeh kya kare ho?" She asks him.
"I'm loving you, of course." He places a kiss on her neck, which sends shivers down Geet's spine.
"Mrs. Geet. Maan. Singh. Khurana." Maan whispers with a smile.
Geet blushes and avoids meeting his eyes. Maan was about to give her another kiss, when she pushes him away and dashes out the door. Geet stops by the gate to look back at Maan, watching her admiringly. He gives her a flying kiss which Geet takes blushingly. She looks around to see if anyone's watching and gives him a flying kiss back. She then leaves as Maan watches her go.
Maan closes the door, taking the incidents that happened that day as a joke.
"Oh hello!" Maan snaps in front of Geet, bringing her out of her memories.
"Huh." She answers still lost.
"What happened? You just totally zoned out. You know how worried I got." Maan expresses.
Geet looks over at Maan and sees him out of his seatbelt and he's not driving anymore. She looks at the road and sees that they parked at a side, allowing the other vehicles to pass through without receiving any problems from them.
"Are you okay? Do you want some water?" Maan offers her.
Geet replies back by shaking her head in a no and then leans her head back on the headrest, staring at the scenery.
Maan goes back to driving towards Hoshiarpur.
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When sleep had taken over her, Geet had no idea. As to when the jeep had stopped working, she had no clue. Where her companion for the ride has gone to, she has no idea.
Geet steps out of the jeep and lifts up the lid to see if she can figure out what the problem is, but all she encounters is smoke. She puts the lid back down, and starts waving away the smoke, while trying to cough out the fumes that had gotten inside of her. She goes towards the driver's side of the jeep, hopefully to get some help from any passerby's. Geet looks at the color of the dress and sees that it's dark navy blue.
"There's no way, I'm gonna get help now." She whines to herself as no one will be able to notice her in the pitch darkness. "And that Khurana. What does he think of himself?" Geet looks at his jeep. "Fine, if I can't roam around in this jeep, then he can't either."
Geet takes out a pin from hair and goes towards a tire and pokes a hole in it, causing all the air to come out. She does the same for the remaining three tires, making the jeep useless. After that, Geet starts walking down the road, in search of a place to stay for the night. She picks up a long piece of stick to give her company for the trip.
"That stupid, selfish guy. No gentleman would just leave a girl like that in a jeep in the middle of the night. And on top of that the jeep isn't even working." Geet complains out loud. "I'm the stupid one. Why did I have to take his help? I could have waited for the next bus. Oh, this is so tiring." Geet sits down on a stump. "Koi toh aao aur meri help karo."
"Hum help kare." a male drunk voice is heard by Geet.
She looks at a bunch of boys in a jeep, looking at her with lustful eyes. They were obviously, drunk and Geet could smell a hintful of smoke coming from them.
"No thanks." She mutters looking the other way.
"Oh come on. It'll be free." says another male.
Geet gets furious at this remark as someone had offered something very similar to this and instead of dropping her off to Hoshiarpur, he just left her in the middle of nowhere to fend for herself.
"You just shut up okay! And no, I don't want your help. So scram!" Geet yells at them.
"Why you.." says the male in front of the steering wheel.
He gets out of the jeep and walks up to Geet.
He holds her by the neck and says, "How dare you speak like that to us. You are a weak, little girl all by yourself." He brings his face closer to hers and whispers, "Do you honestly think that you can stand a match to us?"
Geet is speechless as she knows that she can't stand up to all of them at once. Even if she does, how long will she be able to keep it up?
"Now, be like a good girl and just come with us." He releases his grip from her neck and makes his hand down her shoulder, intentionally touching her skin, to hold onto her hand.
He pulls her hand but Geet makes no action of moving from her spot. He pulls again, but again she doesn't react.
"Stop being so stubborn and come!" He yells at her.
"Stop being so stubborn and leave." Geet replies back to him.
"Oh, so that's how you want to play huh?" He goes up to her and gives her a tight slap. "Don't you dare ever talk back to me. Or else." He threatens her.
Geet looks up at him with defiant eyes.
"Or else what?" She says not giving up.
Instead of replying verbally, the drunkard takes out a pocket knife and holds it in such an angle so that the moonlight gleams off of the metallic surface. For a slight moment, Geet is truly afraid by the man in front of her, but she pushes her fear aside, ready to take on whatever challenge fate throws her way.
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