NEW Maaneet FF~ LOVE-KNOT~ UPDTPart20page 97 09/24 - Page 53

wowww loved it

Thank you all for your lovely comments!!

Geet turned irritated and then finally got up in the bed and folded her hands in prayer asking for respite and a way out from her complicated situation.

At that moment the anger in Maan's eyes towards Dev and the clipped tones in which he had warned Dev against coming in the vicinity of Geet flashed in her mind and her heart beat slowed to normal. After the devious deception at the hands of one brother she had decided to trust the other. For some reason she wanted to believe in the truth in his eyes.

"Maan please don't let me down" she prayed and then settled back into a semi-fitful sleep not entirely convinced by her own belief.

The next day the car reached at sharp 10am to pick up Geet.

"Where are you going Geet?" Mr. Manchanda and Pinky questioned her when she came out with her worldly possessions in a suitcase.

"Am sorry uncle but I can't put Pinky through shame once my pregnancy starts showing" she told her reason for leaving and the eyes of both the people who loved her so much filled with tears on letting this sweet and simple girl leave and fend for herself.

They tried to convince her to stay telling her that no matter what they would stand up for her but Geet refused to bow. She had already suffered the taunts form her family members and the people in Delhi and knew firsthand how much it tore at one's heart and she refused to let the very people who had given her so much love and support, go through that.

"Where are you going Geet?" Pinky asked.

"Maan Sir has provided for a place to stay" she replied without going into the details and they let her go telling her all the while that she was more than welcome to come back whenever she felt like.

Geet sat in the car silently and as it sped away she looked back to take one last look at the house which had become home and for the first time felt like all the doors to her past, her childhood were closing on her and she sobbed at what all she had lost just because of blind trust. She let the tears flow and after sometime she wiped them away, resolving to be strong and independent come what may.

"Baby…..it's just you and me now" she tenderly whispered to the life growing within her.

Naintara noticed Maan shifting back into the mansion and her radar went up. Something was cooking. How come the high and mighty had fallen?

She walked slowly into Maan's room and caught him changing and for some reason, instead of moving away, she kept looking at the strong and masculine body in front of her, watching the play of muscles at his back.

Sensing someone's presence, Maan turned to find Naintara staring at him and anger burnt in his dark eyes turning it coal black.

"Have you forgotten your basic manners to even knock?" he threw at her and Naintara realized how inappropriate her action must look but she was not going to be flustered so easily.

"What knock? I was just checking what was going on in the extra room….I didn't expect to find you here since you live in the outhouse" she threw back emphasizing the fact that fact that he was an outsider in his own home.

A wicked smile sat on Maan's lips as he moved forward dangerously towards Naintara. A shocked Naintara started taking steps back to escape the retribution his dark eyes were promising.

"You live here don't you?" he inched closer and backed Naintara out of his room slowly but surely, "How come you didn't know that I have shifted back" he told her enjoying immensely the shock in her eyes.

"Why?" she asked.

"This" he pointed to the whole house, "belongs to me….Maan Singh Khurana…..and I wouldn't like people like you to think otherwise….so am at my rightful place…..any problems?" He inquired and Naintara simply shook her head in a gesture of no, so shocked was she. All her plans of being the mistress of this palatial mansion had dissipated right before her eyes and his one sentence had put her back in her position as being simply the wife of the younger Khurana, who didn't have a penny to his name.

"Great….now get out and you are never welcome in my room" Maan slammed the door on her face and got back to settling in.

Maan was back…..Maan was back….kept repeating in Naintara's mind. She got that but didn't understand the reason why? When he had left the mansion he had vowed not to come back till Naintara lived here but he had come back.

She paced fretfully trying to think the reason why he had shifted back. If this shift indicated that he was trying to throw her and Dev out of here, then she was not going to let this happen. She was going to make sure she played her cards right so that she retained her right to stay here and eventually run the Khurana corporation.

Naintara walked into dadima's room and sweetly asked about her health and sat down to chat.

"How come you are here today beta? No parties?" Savitri devi asked conversationally to the daughter-in-law who she knew loved partying and showing off.

"Oh Dadima….today I felt like staying home and cancelled everything" came the sugary reply.

"Why beta?" Dadima asked now curious.

"It is such a good day Dadima…..looks like Maan has decided to come back and be a family" she fibbed her happiness and Dadima's eyebrows went up in wonder. Naintara was such a smooth talker she observed and understood that Maan had not divulged the real reason for moving back in and she decided to keep quiet about it too.

"Sure Naintara…..but if I were you…..I would give him time" Dadima advised and Naintara smiled and walked out thinking of a way to kick Maan out of the mansion for good.

Geet looked at the huge house in wonderment. It was no less than a palace and calling it a house was an understatement. She knew that the Khuranas were rich but this was beyond her imagination. If they were so rich, she didn't understand why Naintara and Dev had to stoop so low for money? Looking at the grounds and the opulence reflected by the home, money seemed to be the least of their worries.

"Mam we are here" the driver pointed out and her eyes snapped to the pretty cottage style building before her, which was obviously the outhouse. She thanked him and went inside, curious to see the inside.

The house was neat and uncluttered, decorated in neat masculine lines. She wondered who it had belonged to before her. It surely looked as if it was occupied by a man as everything was either black or beige.

"You need some color dear house" she told the empty house as her heart filled with joy at having her own space.

She took in everything hungrily and started taking a tour. The kitchen was huge. It had all chrome appliances and when she opened the pantry it was fully equipped. It had all the spices and some more than she recognized. It became clear to her that the man , she decided it was a man as the house was basic and functional, easily indicating that no woman had had a hand in decorating it, had been fond of cooking.

She found an office, a fully equipped bath, a small living room with a 50 inch Tv on the lower floor. She went up and found three bedrooms, a library, which brought a smile to her face and a bathroom. She went into the first bedroom, which was at the top of the stairs and looked as if no one had ever lived there. It was very simply furnished but Geet didn't take to it. The next one was done in white and pink with Barbie pillows and sheets and had toys lining the shelves. It was a little girl's room and Geet went in to explore wonderstruck. It was a dream room and to say the least it was gorgeous.

She wondered who this belonged to. She didn't think Dev and Naintara had any children and Maan was unmarried. She shrugged and let it drop. She would love to know but it wasn't her business and right now she was prying in someone else's space. She stepped out of the room, her face sad as she realised that her child would never know these joys as she didn't have enough to provide them even a tiny part of this opulence. She resolved never to enter this room again as it broke her heart.

Listlessly, all the enthusiasm drained from her she opened the third room, which was tastefully done in colorful earthy tones and had a canopy bed, side tables, a beautiful chest of drawers and a huge dressing table. The paintings were a carefully chosen modern version of art which Geet had difficulty in understanding and made a face at but she immediately fell in love with the room. She sat on the bed, murmuring why the room faintly smelt of the perfume Maan sir always wore.

A sudden blush colored her beautiful cheeks. What was wrong with her? She was actually smelling Maan Khurana in the room when the possibility of his having occupied the room was close to none. She needed to have her head examined. She started settling in, not knowing what else to do as she didn't know who to ask permission from.

Maan walked into the outhouse dressed in jeans and a white shirt and started towards his room to get the last of his belongings. He stopped dead at the door when he saw Geet humming to herself and arranging her stuff in the cupboard, standing on a chair.

His bed was covered with duppattas and shirts and other colorful things. His breath hitched. It was an odd feeling but he really didn't want to acknowledge it and simply turned it into anger.

"What the hell do you think you are doing Geet?" he raised his voice, which took Geet unaware and she tried to balance herself on the chair. Understanding that his voice had scared the living daylights out of her and she was about to fall, he rushed to her side and caught her in his arms before she could take a bad fall.

"My baby" Geet squealed before she was caught in strong arms. A scared Geet opened her eyes to look into faintly apologetic dark eyes. She stood up and pushed Maan away, angry tears in her eyes.

"Why did you do this? I could have fallen and hurt my baby" her voice caught and Maan felt guilty but he wasn't going to admit that.

"I didn't mean to catch you unaware but what the hell are you doing?" he pointed towards her stuff on the bed.

"Settling in……you did offer it to me….right?" she replied a little unsure and very embarrassed.

"Yes….sure….I…I mean…I didn't think you would chose this room" he muttered at the sudden loss of words between them.

"This is pretty and the view is incredible that is why I chose it but if you think…I …I will take the first one" she started getting her stuff out of the cupboard, red in embarrassment at having overstepped her bounds.

"No…not at all Geet….you are free to chose….I …I just didn't think" he stopped her and she looked at him questioningly.

"Look I was here to get some stuff from here ok" he turned abruptly and turned towards the dresser and took his watch from there and started wearing it. Geet's mouth fell open in shock.

The Maan Singh Khurana had occupied this room. Why? Especially when he had a mansion?

"You lived here?" she gasped and he turned a cold face towards her.

"Not anymore….and feel free to use anything…..the keys" he gave them to her and turned to leave.

"S…Sir….I ….how far is the taxi stand?" she asked.

"For what?" he snapped.

"I….I have to commute to office" she replied and he let out an irritated breath.

"You don't need a taxi Geet…..I have 6 cars…..I will send one for you….you can use it at your convenience" he snapped and started to walk away when she stepped in front of him,

"I can't….can't drive" she told him, twisting her dupatta mercilessly and he rolled his eyes.

"Fine…..then you get to learn and till then the driver will come with you" he told her.

"You really don't have to do this Sir…..all I need is the nearest auto or taxi stand….a bus stop will do it" she told him simply and he couldn't believe that the girl standing before him hadn't registered the size of his property that she was asking him questions like that.

"I will not have those kind of things near my property….it deescalates the price of the property….so your closest public means of transport will be at least 5 kilometers…..do you want to walk or learn how to drive?" he replied back, turning to glare at her.

"Oh" Geet replied and then whispered a sorry and a thank you.

"Any more questions?" he asked.

"Yes…..who does the kid's room belong to?" she asked and Maan's eyes turned glacial.

"Mind your own business Geet" he said threateningly and Geet took a step back. She had done it again, put her foot in her mouth.

"I was…..s..sorry" she replied and Maan left in a huff.

Geet settled in and was amazed when Dadima came to have lunch with her. In a few hours Maan sent one of his driver's over to teach Geet how to drive and then Geet finally got time to herself. In her whole 18 years she had never had a moment to herself when she had nothing to do. This was the first time and she went into the library and found books about architecture, which she started reading.

A week passed and Geet got into a routine of going to the office, coming back, learning to drive, however late it was and then reading about architecture, while starting on knitting a set for her child and then falling asleep.

On the other hand Maan spent the same week busy with Amrita in the hospital whose thalassemia was becoming worse. He knew that his precious daughter hardly had much time but there was no way he would let her go so easily.

Amrita was Dev and Sameera's daughter, a daughter he didn't know about. Sameera had been Maan's love. She was Dev's best friend and had grown up with the brothers. Maan had come back from college to find her all grown up and had fallen hard for the beautiful, kind and always laughing girl. They had become as thick as thieves and Maan had proposed to her when he finished college and she had accepted. They had been engaged when suddenly Maan had become so involved in an overseas project that he had to leave for a couple of months to go outside the country. At that time he had no choice as he was establishing a name for himself in the business.

Dev, who was half in love with Sameera himself had started making a play for her. She resisted him but as Maan got busier and Dev gave her more time, she succumbed to his advances. They kept the affair a secret and Maan and Sameera had gotten married. A year into their marriage, Maan left to help advance his business in Europe. He had begged Sameera to join him but she refused. When he came back after a year, he found his wife pregnant.

Overjoyed at first, he put two and two together and discovered that it couldn't be his child and Sameera finally confessed to him what had happened. The trust and respect he had for women was torn into pieces at that moment and without giving her any more chance, he divorced her and never forgave Dev.

Sameera gave birth to Amrita, who was born with Thalassemia and when the doctor told her that, she called Maan for help. He promised to take care of the child as there was no way he could take his anger out on a child, that too a sick one. Once Maan agreed, Sameera disappeared leaving the child in his care, washing her hands off her responsibility. Any shred of respect he had left, disappeared that day.

Maan never told Dev about Amrita and even though he had no right whatsoever on this child, he loved her as his own, bringing her up as his child and spending time with her even more after Den and Naintara left for Canada. The room Geet had asked about belonged to his beloved daughter but it was a secret he had kept hidden from the world.

What had come out was that Maan and Sameera had separated because of irreconcilable differences and he had replied a no comments about everything else. Only dadima knew the truth and Amrita was treated as the only child of Maan Singh Khurana.

Geet had opened old wounds with one single question and that is why, even though he had let her stay, he was going to keep a watch on her so that she didn't use the baby to play him again.

awesome ... superb ...

awesome update...loved it...thanks for the pm.

Amazing update! Poor Maan. I hate this Sameera and Dev and NT.

Awesome update!!
God dev is such a moron!!
How many more kids does he have??
I feel bad for the poor kid!!
But glad that maan was with her!!
Can't wait for the next part!!
Please continue soon!!