Geet forced her feet to move. She had to look, to see where Maan was now. The jolt to her heart was worse this time. He was crossing the road to their sidewalk, watching them, his face set in grimly determined purpose. If Daksh hadn't been tugging on her hand, Geet might have stopped dead again. As it was, she felt weirdly disembodied from her legs which kept pumping forward, matching her son's steps.
There was no avoiding a confrontation now, she told herself. Maan Singh Khurana was clearly intent on one. Having reached the sidewalk, he moved straight to the front gate of their house and stood there waiting for them, his gaze trained on Daksh as they walked towards them.
Part 3
Looking for some likeness to himself, Geet thought, the panic rising again, making her dizzy with turbulent fears. The Khurana family was so wealthy. If Maan decided to make a claim on Daksh...and God knew she'd had experience of them playing dirty, getting some woman to look like her in the photos, stealing her bracelet and returning it so she'd be wearing it when Maan came to accuse her...accuse her and dump her for an infidelity she'd never committed.
Ruthless people.
Cruel people.
Callous people, uncaring of the lives of others.
She fiercely told herself Maan couldn't be sure Daksh was his child. Yes, he had the same intense brown-brunette eyes, very dark hair and long thick eyelashes, but he also had her looks, and certainly her more sunny personality.
'No!! He doesn't has any right to come back to our life now. I will never let him get near, Daksh.
He was staring straight at her through those eyes she remembered much too well. Not quite dusky, like a sky caught between sunshine and cloudiness.
And now, all these years later, just the sight of him made her feel as if something inside her was melting. Her knees wanted to wobble; her pulse knocked in her ears.
Along with the weakness, the unconscionable excitement, she also knew dread.
Maan told himself many times that, he would not find her... will not see her... that... he will not call her... From the time, Dev told him the truth, he traced her whereabouts. He could only find out very few things about her... where she lives, she has a son... runs a small botique... nothing more or less... She has broken all the ties... Not even the detective agency, he hired could find out, more than that. He was taken aback, when he come to know, she has moved to down south, a place quite unknown to her...
A shiver ran through him, when he thought, a child herself, how difficult it would have been for her, to face all those tough times, all alone and pregnant...
When, the cause for all her troubles, all her heart ache...was him, when she was his living breath... his reason to live... all he did was...betrayal and heart break...
He couldn't, hold himself back... the urge to see her...the urge to see their son.. once... at least once... was more than the burden of guilt he felt. She probably would only slam the door in his face, if he showed up out of nowhere in front of her... How he gonna face her, after what he has done to her... Maan didn't had any answers...
Maan told himself a few other things: those bygones needed to remain bygones.
Sleeping dogs should be left to lie.
Water under the bridge must just keep flowing on its way.
That she has made a new life, and new career for herself... and a mother. 'with a pang of pain, he thought mother of his son' and happy. With a good life that didn't include an unworthy man she'd loved in her foolish youth. That she deserved the best and he sincerely hoped she had found it.
Still...
He had loved her with his whole heart and soul... desperately. Completely. There had been no one else in the past six years who even came close to taking her place.
He smiled at her...that beautiful, half ironic, half shy smile, the one that had dropped her in her tracks nine years before. And again, fixed back his eyes on Daksh. Geet was not able to read his face... what was going behind that mind... He looked - terrific. Older, yes. And somehow more relaxed. But in a deep and fundamental way, the same.
And now, all these years later, just the sight of him made her feel as if something inside her was melting. Her knees wanted to wobble; her pulse knocked in her ears.
Along with the weakness, the unconscionable excitement, she also knew dread.
Why had he come here?
After all this time.
After she'd accomplished what she would once have called impossible... letting go of her lovesick dream that, Maan will realize his mistake of not trusting her..., that he would someday return to her, would go down on one knee and beg her to marry him, would swear he couldn't live another minute without her at his side.
It hadn't been easy, but lately Geet had managed to achieve a pleasant, peaceful kind of balance in her life. Even though, she had to drop the Fashion Designing Course in the last semester, she has managed to own her on boutique business and enjoyed her work. She has few good clients. Her son is handsome, healthy, bright and well adjusted.
Things were going great.
And now this...
Maan Singh Khurana - back to my life... No!-
His return could shatter everything, could turn her peaceful life upside down- just as his leaving had done a 6 years before.
Still...
Maan is her son's father. That fact remained, undeniable.
'Do you know that man at our gate, Maa?'
No point in denying it. Maan was bound to address her by name. 'Yes. Yes, I do, Daksh.'
'Can I ask him for a ride in his black car?'
'No!' The word exploded from the volcano of fear inside her. She instantly halted and dropped into a crouch, turning Daksh for an urgent face-to-face talk.
'You must never get in his car. Never go with him anywhere. Do you hear me, Daksh?'
Her vehemence frightened him. She could see him trying to understand and her heart ached for the simplicity of their life which was being so terribly threatened.
'Is he a bad man?' His voice quavered, reflecting her alarm.
Was Maan bad? She had loved him once, her first and last love... loved him with an all-consuming intensity that had made his disbelief in her integrity totally devastating. Even now she couldn't bring herself to say he was bad, though he'd let himself be deceived by his family, making himself one of them, against her.
'You just mustn't go with anyone unless I say it's all right. No matter how much you want to, Daksh.' Her hands squeezed his anxiously. 'Promise me?'
'Promise,' he repeated, troubled by her intensity.
'I'm going to give you the door-key now. When we get to the front gate, you go straight inside and wait for me. Have your milk and cookies. Okay?'
'Are you going to talk to the man?'
'Yes. I'll have to. He won't go away until I do.'
Daksh shot a frowning look at Maan. 'He's big. I can call the 'mergency number for help, Maa.'
She'd taught him that- a necessary precaution since she was the only adult in the house and if something happened to her...Geet tried to calm herself, realising Daksh was picking up on her fear, wanting to fix what he sensed was a bad situation.
'No, there's no need for that,' she assured him. . Then she summoned every ounce of will and self-control she possessed and mustered a reassuring smile. 'I'll only be a few minutes.' She took the door-keys out of her purse and pressed them into his hand. 'Just do as I say, Daksh. Okay?'
He nodded gravely.
She straightened up and they resumed their walk, hands tightly linked, mother and son solidly together. And let no one try to separate them, Geet thought on a savage wave of determination.
Maan had shifted his gaze to her, a dark burning gaze that made her pulse race and her inner muscles quiver. She lifted her chin high in a proud defiance of his power to affect her in any way whatsoever. The time had long gone when she had giddily welcomed him into her life, when she had so completely succumbed to his many seductive attractions.
He was big in Daksh's eyes but in Geet's, that translated to powerful...tall, broad-shouldered, slim-hipped, a strong muscular physique with not an ounce of flab anywhere. He had the kind of perfect masculinity that automatically drew a woman's attention, looking strikingly sexy in any clothes, especially none at all.
He was wearing black jeans, no doubt with a designer label. A black sports shirt showed off the impressive width of his chest and the bared strength of his forearms.
One hand was gripping the top of her gate, as though ready to block any escape from him.
Oh, God. Her silly heart was flopping around in her chest like a landed trout.
He was different... and yet not different. The square-jawed, full-lipped, wonderful face... a face she'd always thought was perfection of an artist's strokes.. or say a Greek God... was the same. So was the thick black hair, though it was cut somewhat shorter now. And those eyes... deep-set, heavily lashed. Those eyes had not changed at all.
He had filled out. He was broader in the shoulders, deeper in the chest.
No trace of boy left, she thought with a sinking feeling that might have been dismay.
All man, now...
Her gaze locked with his, she was spinning back in time.
She was 19 again, and three months' pregnant, barely a child herself, about to have a child... a girl who had waited with longing in her heart. A girl who had trusted. A terrified girl who loved with fierce abandon, a girl who was going to have to get used to the idea that she and her unborn child would be facing the future alone.
He had no right to. No rights at all where she was concerned... to come back to her life or to ask for any paternal right to Daksh...
She glared furious independence at him, shifted her gaze pointedly to the trespassing hand, then back to him with a belligerent challenge. He dropped his hold on her property, moving the offending hand into a gesture of appeal.
'Could I have a word with you, Geet?'
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PreCap :-
He stared straight at her. But at the same time, he seemed to be looking through her, his eyes dazed and far away. He muttered, "Daksh. His name is Daksh... the one which he and geet has decided then, for their child, if it's a boy... He couldn't believe it... "
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Friends... now that's Part 3. wot do u think... Hit the Like button and leave your comments... I think, i was, able to throw some light to the emotions both of them went thru'. More to come.. dears...
Edited by ursrithika - 14 years ago
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