Chapter 9
TWO MONTHS LATER
Geet stood at her window, watching snow fall softly - big fat fairy-tale flakes, drifting slowly, swirling, settling fast on the cold streets, blanketing the city. A deep sadness filled her heart. She hugged her arms over her stomach. She'd lost a lot of weight. She was still tired. Her eyes had burned at the thought of what happened. But no more tears would come.
Dev was being detained, his trail pending, the media going berserk over it all. She herself had been subjected to weeks of interrogation. And through it all, Maan had been... nowhere.
He'd used her in the most devastating way. Even his marriage proposal had been a tool to buy her absolute faith in him so that she would help him.
Now he was gone. She had no one.
She needed to find the strength to stand on her own again. Totally on her own. She had to think about going back to work again. She'd taken enough time off.
Geet turned again to look at the snow. It was getting thick again, and the world looked clean. She smiled sadly. Mother Nature was doing her bit, cleaning up the world, making it beautiful. A new time. A new era for the country.
She inhaled deeply. Maan had done his bit to get them this far.
"What would you do, Geet? One life to save millions?"
His words echoed through her mind. She reached up, felt for the pendant around her neck. She had managed to get it back from the authorities. She held it, thinking about the dreams, the goals, the ideals that they had once shared.
They were all still there at the root of it all, the thought - all the same beliefs. If she had been Maan, if she had been faced with this mission, this conflict, she wouldn't have had a choice either.
She could see that now, with hindsight, that Maan had consistently been true to himself, to his morals.
If anyone had been constant all these years, it had been Maan.
She should be so proud of what he did. And she was. It just hurt so bad. She knew she'd said she never wanted to see him again - but it still hurt that he hadn't come back, that he hadn't been there to support her through all the stuff she'd had to go through.
She fingered her pendant. What should she expect?
Then she remembered what Adi had said. He was the only one in the family who knew that Maan had come home and met her. It was time to forgive, to move on, to look ahead to the new challenges, even if she had to do that alone now. She was a fighter, and she wasn't going to go down. Not after what she'd been through.
Her cell phone chimed. She reached for it, answered, watching the mesmerising swirl of flakes. It was Adi. He wanted her to come and join him and Pinky for a movie.
"It starts at three-thirty,"Adi said.
"Adi, I don't think so. I...I'm not in the mood."
"Geet, you need to get out. It's just me and Pinky."
"Adi..."
"We are waiting for you"
She remembered his words. Time to move on.
"Okay,"she said. "I'll come."
Adi hung up and grinned broadly. "She's coming."
Maan grasped his shoulder. "Thank you, Adi. Thanks a lot."
"I just want to see the both of you happy, Sir. Always." Adi said and walked away.
Geet saw him standing in the early dusk under a huge tree, snow over his big black coat, a tangle of wilting pink and white flowers in his gloved hands.
She froze in her tracks. Part of her almost turned and ran. From what - she wasn't sure - fear that he'd come to say goodbye, farewell?
She swallowed, braced, walked slowly towards him, the snow soft under her boots.
"So Adi set me up?"she said as she neared him.
"Geet," Maan whispered, "Damn, its good to see you."
"Where have you been, Maan?"
"Tying up loose ends. Dealing with the authorities. Everyone's trying to clean house. It'll take some time."
"I see."She nodded.
Maan hesitated. "I also wanted to give you time, Geet."
"For what?"
"To hate me. To think. Assimilate. I didn't want to pressure you. You needed to work this out without me around. I think if I had stayed, you might have hated me forever. I don't want you to hate me, Geet."
He raised his hand to touch her, but she backed away, afraid of connecting with him. Afraid that if she did, she'd lose herself in him, get hurt all over again.
"I'm sorry, Geet. I... I'm doing the best I know how."
She stared at him, the flowers, the vulnerability in his eyes.
"Why did you get Adi to call, Maan?" she asked quietly.
"I was afraid you might not speak to me."
"You're leaving, aren't you?"
He nodded. "Tonight."
She looked down at her feet. "Was anything about us true?"
"Everything was true, Geet. Not once has there been anything false about my feelings for you."
She scuffed her boot in the snow. "You lied to me, Maan. You could have trusted me. I believed in you. I picked my side. I found the courage within myself to defy Dev, and I would not have let you down." She looked up, met his eyes. "But you couldn't find it within yourself to trust me, could you?"
She turned, took two steps away, her heart racing, then she whirled back to face him. "I could have pulled that charade off. But you thought I was too weak. You just had to inject a live pathogen into my system."
He closed his eyes for a moment. "I did trust you, Geet. But it was necessary. The fear had to be real. Dev is not a man you could bluff easily. If your fear had not been real, if that pathogen had not been real, he would not have stopped those bombs. We would not be standing here." His eyes pierced hers. "I never intended to hurt you, Geet, ever. I would never have let it go too far."
She looked at the delicately long stemmed and frothy flowers hanging limp over his powerful arms. "What do you want, Maan?"
"I want you to find it in your heart to forgive me, Geet. Can you try to understand what I was dealing with?"
She looked down at her feet again and said "Maybe you need to forgive yourself, Maan. Maybe some things cannot be understood. It's what happens next that matters."
"A wise man once told you that, right?"
This time she smiled. "Yeah, he did."
"Geet, we won't get a third chance. We have to get it right this time."He paused. " Do you remember what I said? I told you that no matter what happened, I never wanted to lose you again. I meant it, I still mean it."
She paused. "Why did you come here, Maan? To say goodbye? Because---"
He held out the armful of sad flowers. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to get these?"
She frowned in confusion. "No, I don't, but they sure don't look happy."
"They're tulips, Geet. They grow in my garden and they bloom all summer long."
"You have a garden?"
He grinned sheepishly, his mouth so sexily crooked. "I do now. I bought a house earlier this month. And yes, it has a garden." His eyes brightened as he spoke. "It overlooks the ocean - you can walk right down the beach, and you can watch the sunset from the porch. It's summer there now, and the tulips are blooming all along the bottom fence."
She thought she had no tears left, but they filled her eyes anyway.
He pushed the flowers into her hand. "They're for you, Geet. I wanted you to get a small taste of what it might be like."
She touched the fragile blossoms. "Might be like?"
"When you get there."He hesitated, the vulnerability back in his features. "I have two seats booked on that plane tonight."
"What is this, Maan?
"It's a proposal, Geet. I want you to come back with me. I want you to marry me. This is the last shot we're going to get to make this work."
Emotion sliced through her, and she blinked sharply. "Your family... Your grandmother---"
"We can come back later, Geet. There's no pressure. No strings, carte blanche. All I want is to not have to leave without you tonight." He angled his head. "And to spend the rest of my life with you."
Emotion choked her throat, stole her voice.
"I love you, Geet. I always have, and I always will, whether you come with me tonight or not, but please... tell me you will come."
She looked into those incredible eyes. She loved him, too, always had and always would.
A time to forgive. A time to heal the past. Would she ever forgive herself if she walked away from him now? Could she even walk away?
This man was her destiny.
"We could get re-engaged,"he offered.
She touched the wilting petals and smiled. "I don't recall actually breaking the engagement off, Maan."
"Does that mean you will be on that plane with me?"
"Yes, Maan."
He sucked in his breath sharply.
"I will be on that plane with you." She touched the flowers again, and her heart squeezed. "I want to see your garden. We can take it one day at a time,"she said softly and lifted her eyes.
He nodded. "I've waited a long time for you, Geet." He stepped close to her, brushed snow from her hair, hooked his gloved knuckle under her chin. "But every minute has been worth it... for this."
And he kissed the woman he'd never stopped loving in the swirling flakes, the world hushed by snow.
And Maan knew, finally, he was home.
THE END
Pati Patni Aur Panga
Jaane Anjaane Hum Mile
Tum Se Tum Tak
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
Mannat Har Khushi Paane Ki
Vasudha
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