THANKS ALL FOR YOUR CONSTANT ENCOURAGEMENT AND LOVE!!!
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Here is your next part...I had warned you before hand...Enjoy Geet's madness while it was still there...now time for some tears. Sorry Gals😆😆😆
PC is still not fixed. The fellow promised my by Tuesday everything would be set...But I don't trust him. Anyways...I update nearly everyday...so you guys shouldn't complain😆😆
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PART 26
Maan's thoughts plunged into the waters of his memory....Pratham's wish, their trip from Abohar to Delhi, the bridge night, Ice-cream pact, his signboard apologies, her confession,their dance, flight to Ambala, night on the bus...their horse ride on Shayari.
The pace of his heart beat superseded the speed of sound.
"....marry me..." Ronnie had ended his sentence.
"AS YOU WISH...." Maan heard Geet respond.
No that wasn't mock proposal number 210...It felt like real proposal number 1. Geet's reply blanked everything in his head....He could no longer hear them nor see them.
"Maan...tum yahaan?" Geet tapped him lightly on the shoulder.
Maan looked at her. There was no trace delight on her face....But her words "As you wish...." was what was bothering him the most.
It made him feel....shockingly BITTER! Maan Khurana had never felt this way before...such eerie feelings had never lurked within him. No it wasn't common jealousy it was an all consuming bitterness.
They walked in silence into the house.
"You never answered. What were you doing outside Maan?" Geet asked again, once inside.
"I don't owe you any answers...My legs...My freedom to walk where ever I want" he cuttingly told her.
Geet looked at him astonished. Was this the guy who had been asking to take her out for lunch, trying to cheer her up minutes earlier?
"Something I did to upset you?" she tried again, meekly. She was wearing her feelings on her sleeves...one more taunt and she would break.
Ronnie's parting words to her were already gnawing at her ....
"Geet...you are my friend don't try to act some some ghostly fiance. I don't need your jyaan on what I should do and what I shouldn't. It's not like I have asked you to marry me..."
"As you wish.." Geet had sighed.
"Great HOP SCOTCH GAME! From one box to the other...one friend to the other....one man to the other" his voice was knife-like.
Geet looked at him in horror. So much for loving this fellow...he was behaving like a typical Mogambo.
"Maan...what's got into you? Ronnie's just a friend."
Geet had never seen him this mad...even when they had fought about that 'Pappu Saala' dance he had been multiple times milder than this.
"What's got into you Geet? You claim to love me and you go running behind some 'Horny-Ronnie' who cares a shit about discipline. He is the worst specimen abroad our Base Camp.....foul language, roguish behaviour...and what not. At least don't speak lies with such a straight face....I heard you telling him 'As you wish' to his 'marry me'. You don't have to pretend that you love me still." His face was twisted with rage.
"That's enough....." Geet's voice was shrill.
Tears stormed down her cheeks and her eyes reddened. Maan's words "You claim that you love me".....God!
Maan wanted to wipe away those tears...He had put them in there. But his bitterness had reached the pinnacle...and was unable to descend. He stood staring at her as the tears he had never seen cascaded down her face endlessly.
"Damn it!!! I LOVE YOU! Do you have any idea how hard this week has been for me..Staying away from you, seeing Ronnie's monstrous side, handling that crowd in the Canteen....Nothing good that I say to Ronnie has any effect on him. He is always fighting....I can't see any of my friends in that state. I care for them....THERE IS A SUBTLE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LOVE AND CARE MAAN SINGH KHURANA. I LOVE YOU...I CARE FOR RONNIE. YOU CARE FOR ME....BUT YOU DON'T LOVE ME....."
She was suffering from uncontrolled gasps while letting out all the frustration. Maan just stood there stumped.
"You have no idea what so ever how hard IT HURTS.....HOW A HEART BLEEDS WHEN LOVE IS ONE-SIDED! Do you think is it some sort of a merry go around game to me...STAYING WITH THE MAN UNDER ONE ROOF AND SEEING THAT THERE IS NOTHING I CAN DO TO MAKE HIM LOVE ME BACK. YOU CARE FOR ME...YOU LOVE ME AS A FRIEND..." she laughed diabolically with fire in her eyes.
"DAMN! YOU DON'T CARE TWO HOOTS ABOUT HOW HARD I FIND IT TO LAUGH AND BE ALL FRIENDLY WITH YOU.....I AM FED UP. FED UP OF LOVING YOU.....FED UP OF CARING FOR RONNIE.....FED UP OF TRYING TO EXPLAIN YOU THAT I DON'T JUST CLAIM THAT I LOVE YOU...I ACTUALLY DO!!! " her voice broke with emotion.
She buried her face into her shaking palms. Maan was rooted to the spot. He had never imagined such an outburst from Geet. He took two steps forward but her voice barred him from covering the distance any further.
"NO...I DON'T NEED YOUR SYMPATHY.....I DON'T NEED ANYTHING FROM YOU. JUST LET ME BE.....!" Her voice was wounded. She looked beaten, dejected...broken.
She wiped her tears and took a deserved lungful of air. Her tone fell just above the whisper level.
"You know what Maan....If you think that you are showing care for me by warning me to stay away from people like Ronnie...You are raving mad. You are reacting like this because your ego is hurt....You can't stand the fact that a girl who loved you may have decided to move onto someone else. GROW UP MAAN...!" she spat.
She ran to her room leaving Maan to make sense of his muddled thoughts.
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Maan paced up and down in his room.
She had been right....He had been upset by the fact that she had decided to start afresh with Ronnie. He didn't know why but from the day she had confessed about her love to him...he felt that he had exclusive rights on her. When he saw her with Ronnie it scared the hell out of him that maybe his license to her would be cancelled if she decided to move on with that good-for-nothing jerk. He was afraid.....afraid that he would be left without anyone if she left him.
His taunts at her had just been a sham way to cover up the feeling of losing her.
How much ever he had convinced himself that she was a free bird....he had inwardly wanted her to be caged with him. He was guilty.
He needed to give her space and give himself time to think over this....
"In simple words...Maan Singh Khurana...you were acting like a possessive husband and a jealous lover" a voice nagged him from within.
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"Is Geet in there?" Maan asked one guy emerging from the canteen.
"Sure she is..." the fellow smirked back at Maan with an unsettling gleam in his eyes.
Maan hurried inside. Geet had not had dinner last night and by the time he awoke she was gone. He had been meaning to catch her and say a few words of much needed sorry for his behaviour but he never got the chance. He decided to make some excuse an meet her at the Canteen today.
The deafening noise enveloping the Canteen hit him as he entered the room.
"I wanted Chilly sauce....not Tomato sauce..." one fellow was barking at Geet. Maan saw her cool expression as she hurriedly whispered "I am sorry" and swept up the plate neatly.
Once her back was turned Maan saw the guy guffawing and hi-fiving his buddy. Geet was back at their table withing one minute with the change.
"Here..." she laid the plate before him.
"Listen female...Do you need an ear machine? I clearly remember asking you to get chilly sauce...not this stuff" mercilessly he pointed to the red stuff in his plate.
Geet looked at him with exasperation. Maan couldn't believe she was still maintaining her cool. That guy deserved one of her famous punches. She merely picked up the plate and walked off again.
Maan went behind her. Her plight was heart-ripping. He had added to her turmoils with his callous taunts yesterday.
"Geet, Can I have a word with you?"
Geet turned around to see him standing there. There was something bordering on shock and disappointment on her face.
"Sure Maan....LEAVE!"
"One word...please" he tried harder.
"I already gave you the word.....LEAVE"
She loaded another tray and served it to another group banging the table. The 'SAUCE' fellow sat fuming as she went about satisfying other orders.
Love Pallo
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