CONTACT-THREAD3/UPDATED/CH-29/PG-89/22-11-11/ - Page 20

Nice prt,luvd it.hope to see geet in picture soon

ohhh man...can't wait for Sasha to be exposed...that's gonna be so much fun...

Seriously.. you are growing fast as a writer sweety..:) Love your work.. 😊👍🏼

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CHAPTER-24(B) [WINTER]

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[This Quote is for Geet]

"In the depths of winter, I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer."

Quote- Random.

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He looked at Maan's eyes-------- it seemed to him as if the man was coming alive. Maan closed the distance between them and grabbed hold of Adi's arms and almost lifted him off the ground.

"Geet is innocent? Someone framed her?"

"Y'ye---yes! Maan Sir, and I have proof of that."

"But you had proof of her guilt too remember?" Maan unconsciously gave Adi a slight shake.

"No sir, everyone of those proofs were doctored and there is someone whom you will like to meet waiting outside for you."

"O.K., show me."

"Aahh!! Maan Sir!" Adi glanced towards where MSK was still holding him by his arms.

"Oh! Sorry, Adi."

"Its Ok Maan Sir.Chale_____"

Adi and MSk walked round to the sitting room where Pinky and Neha were waiting for them. First Adi started the story as to how Neha had all of a sudden come out in front of him in the basement parking and then from there they had gone to a nearby cafe and how there the story had unfolded. After that Neha took up the story of how she on Geet's insistence had started to develop a software to stop anyone from hacking into anybody's else's file and how it worked. She then also told how on the day before the party she had warned Geet that all her files had turned red, but then had been unable to meet with Geet as then she had to rush becoz of that false information about her mother.

"Sir, I have only my mother and I didn't stop to think or analyze anything else, if perhaps I hadn't been so hasty then maybe all this might not have happened. Iam sorry sir, but Geet is not to be blamed. I can show you from whose computer Geet's files have been accessed."

"Its not you fault that you were worried about your mother. Now show me."

Neha then showed the proof, as the floor plan was pulled up of KC, so it was easily detectable who had done so, but yet MSK couldn't seem to believe his own eyes.

"Adi, that is Sasha's cabin right?"

"Yes Maan Sir, and this whole planning has been done by her. I have another proof for you, let me bring in the man." And Adi went to bring Sunil Singh.

The moment that he entered, Maan recognized the man who had said that Geet had gone to their offices to submit the file. When prompted by Adi with the same deal that he had been earlier told about, the man spilled all the beans and described Tasha as the person who had gone to submit the file with a photograph of Geet saying when asked he should identify that girl.

Maan was seething by the time the man had finished narrating his tale. So great was his anger that he walked a few steps back and turned away so as not to see the man for fear that he would physically lift the man and throw him away. Adi who had been watching his boss walked up to him and muttered slowly----------

"Maan Sir, we have to keep our calm and use him, as Sasha had used him against Geet, it won't help us if he got scared and ran away."

Maan took a deep slow breath and then another, before he turned around to face the man.

"Do you have any proof for all that you have told us? Today you are saying this to us, might be tomorrow with a little more money you will change your statement."

"No, sir, I have solid proof. We have a cctv camera in the entrance to our office, if we see the tape for that day we will get the girl I told you about entering the office and then leaving too."

MSK nodded towards Adi and then Adi took away the man with some arrangement of more money after he delivered the tape.

As Maan stood there listening to Adi talk with the man and Pinky and Neha talking among themselves about Sasha and Tasha-------- a curious kind of exhilaration filled Maan's being___________ Geet was innocent, She was true-------- but the moment he remembered what he had said to her---- his words, her last glance as she turned standing at the entrance of the banquet hall--------------------- his heart seemed to fall, it seemed to have become filled up with guilt so heavy he started to take deep, open mouthed breaths to decrease the pain.

He hadn't trusted her, will she ever forgive him? Geet ________ he had to go to her. He will have to ask for her forgiveness. He will grovel if required.

And with that one thought in his mind, he left the three of them standing and ran to his room, grabbed the first thing that he could lay his hands on and then ran out to his car.

Neha was saying something, asking him about some plan, but Adi stopped her saying, "Let him go, he is going to meet his Geet."

The drive seemed to take forever. Maan had never driven recklessly before but today he violated any and all traffic rules. It was a small miracle that he reached her Uncle's home in one piece. He jumped out of his car and then ran up her driveway. His heart beating a violent rhythmic drumbeat, almost as if it would beat its way out of his throat. He could hear the sound of the buzzer chiming inside. After a few seconds her Aunt opened the door and stared at him.

"Ji, aapko kyon chahiyea?"

"Geet!"

"JI, aap kyon?"

"Geet!, Plz Geet ko bula dijiye!"

By that time her Uncle had come to the sitting room and he was staring at Maan as he continuously repeated______ "Plz call Geet!"

"She is not here."

Maan's eyes honed in on Geet's Uncle.

"When is she coming back? Where has she gone?"

"She is not coming back here, she has left Delhi Mr.Khurana."

Maan grabbed hold of the door jam as a wave of dizziness washed over him.

"She is not here? She left Delhi------ she is not here."

"I loved you________" Geet's words started to circle round and round in his head------- she no longer wanted to stay anywhere near him----- she has left Delhi-------- she loved him---------- she no longer loved him now------ I have myself, with my own hands stifled my love, her happiness, her love--------

"Mr. Khurana??? Mr.Khurana?" Mr. Handa was calling out to him, "Are you OK?"

"Can you at least tell me where has she gone_______ plz?"

"That information is not for me to divulge. Geet didn't want me to tell anyone, so iam sorry Mr.Khurana."

Maan turned from there without another word. He got in his car and started it and backed out of the driveway.

Mr.Handa looked on anxiously, will he be able to drive?

Maan wandered aimlessly driving nowhere on the streets of Delhi. His cell phone rang a few times but he didn't pick it up or check to see who it was. Finally he stopped at an intersection and when he looked around he remembered that it had been on this very street that he had seen Geet for the first time when she had saved the life of that beggar child.

He remembered how she had been so reckless, without any thought to her own safety, she had rushed at break-neck speed in the oncoming traffic to scoop up the child.

OH! How could I think such a person could ever be so selfish enough to think only about herself? Geet knew that a big bonus awaited the staff members for the project, she would never knowingly jeopardize anything associated with her friends and Geet considered everyone to be her friend.

Even Ashok Babu has been giving him stares since the incident----- that old bugger also loves her!!! And Maan gave a bark of laughter----- he felt something slide down his cheeks and when he touched it he realized, silent tears were coursing down his cheeks.

Maan remembered the last time Geet had cried after the meeting they had where he had used the dark conference room to caress her---------- he smiled remembering how she had melted with his touch, how after the lights had come on, she had realized where they were, then she had hurried back to her own cabin________ and there she had cried, not becoz she had been angry on him, but becoz she had liked what they had done and that she had been scared thinking what if anyone could have looked at her and understood what she had been doing.

His Geet was such an innocent girl yet in her heart________ worldly at times; astounding him with her understanding about the people around her, but on the other hand, like a butterfly always full of colour, ready to take flight.

Is it a surprise that everyone loved her________ all her friends------

Maan sat forward, "FRIENDS! She will never go anywhere without telling her friends! Adi!"

He dialed Adi's number, "Adi meet me in front of your home, iam coming to pick you up."

A very confused Adi was waiting for him at the entrance of his home.

"Where to Maan Sir?"

"Adi you remember one day you had given Geet a lift in the office car to her friend Dips house? Show me where it is."

"OOk------- Maan Sir, you have to make a U turn then as she lives in Vasant Kunj."

Soon they had arrived at the house, but as Maan made to get out of his car, Adi stopped him------

"Sir, won't it be prudent to wait till morning, before we knocked at her door? It is already past 10 pm."

"I will apologize, but I have to know where Geet is---------- any more time wasted will break her heart one fraction more with the delay."

Adi didn't have any answer to that. Maan rang the bell and stood there waiting. The door opened and Dips stood behind the screen door, looking at him, without opening that door for him.

"You r Dips right? Plz can I come in, iam Maan Singh Khurana. You know me------."

Dips didn't open the door for him, "I don't know you Mr.Khurana."

"Plz Dips, let me in just once, I need to know where she is."

"Why? So that you might break her heart once again?"

Maan closed his eyes for a second-------- and then he saw Dips about to close her door and he pushed against the screen one______

"Plz---plz, just once hear me out, plz don't close this door, I know you know where she is at this moment, plz tell me-------."

"Why should I listen to you when you are the reason iam missing my friend?"

"I love her. I love Geet."

"Right, that's why you made her cry her eyes out."

Maan felt his insides burn. Something close to tears threatened his own eyes.

"PLZ Deeps---------- plz----plz. Tell me where she is."

"Why?"

"So that I can crawl and give her a chance to kick me while I'm down. So I can beg. So that I can undo what I did by not trusting in her. For God's sake Dips, plz tell me. I have to see her."

Dips looked at him for a very long time and then opened the screen door and stepped aside.

"If you hurt her again, I'll hunt you down and kill you with my bare hands."

Maan smiled for the first time after many days, "I won't even put up a fight, I promise you."

"She has gone from Delhi------"

"I know that much, but where is she now?"

"She is with her parents now at Sankshernpur in Pondicherry and then she will be going off to the Columbia University in a student exchange program for 6 months."

"Adi I have to be on the next flight to Pondicherry, arrange for it."

All through his flight he remembered what Dips had reluctantly shared with him about what had happened after Geet had left the party on Sunday.

"She had come out of the party and then without going to her Uncle's place she came directly to my home. I didn't know she was going to come and so I wasn't home. Geet waited two hours sitting on my door step. When I came and parked my Scooty, I saw her there sitting alone, looking so forelone. She didn't say a single word till we had gone in. I could see that she had been holding herself together with sheer strength of will but the moment I had closed the door and I turned her around to face me, she hugged me and started to cry those silent, burning tears which just tugs at our hearts."

Maan had stood listening to all this with his back turned towards Adi and Dips. The emotion he felt raising in him, threatened to choke him. That he had been instrument to Geet's pain was something he will never forgive himself for. Whatever it now took for him to restore her happiness he would do everything he vowed silently.

"Strangely enough Mr.Khurana, Geet didn't tell me what had happened. She didn't bow down to any mode of persuasion that I employed. She stayed the night at my place and then the next morning she went to her Uncle's place and after two days they left Delhi. One thing is certain, the girl who left from here whom I bid farewell to was like a ghost of my friend Geet. For the three days that I had stayed with her in her Uncle's place, she didn't smile for even a second and that for Geet is a very big thing."

Sitting there with his head thrown back on his seat's head rest Maan remembered Geet's infectious laughter which used to light up her eyes. He had never been someone to talk freely about his feelings, he had never been able to share what he had in his heart, SHE had altered that. She had made him smile without reason, look out at the colours of sunset and see the beauty of a painted sky-----------enjoy the wetness of the rain soaking through the clothes------------

He was the world's biggest fool.

She had loved him unconditionally and he had shoved her out from his life with both his hands. What Sasha did she would pay for that, but why hadn't he seen the hatred that Sasha harbored for Geet? He was as much to blame for what Geet had gone through, more so becoz he had been closeted behind his past, hiding behind barriers which were not of her making. He had welcomed the sunshine that Geet had brought in his life, but when she had needed his support he had retreated behind the shadows of his past. Comparing her with someone who wasn't even worth comparing to Geet's smallest toenail.

When his flight landed, he all but forgot his luggage in his impatience to rush from there to the address given by Dips. His impatience caused him more time than a simple wait would have. He rammed bang on with a lady who was pushing an enormous loaded trolley-cart. The ensuing ruckus had his luggage being mixed up with all the bags and traveling valises that she had stacked up together in one trolley. He apologized and helped stack her luggage back on. Many people had come forward to help them. As he straightened, his heart jolted as he saw the back of a girl just passing through the security gate. Maan collected his overnight bag and craned his neck to see better, but the girl had gone through. No, it couldn't be Geet, she was supposed to start tomorrow, right? He assured himself and then rushed towards the exit. It was raining. The climate seemed to be mirroring his mood perfectly. Maan was soaking wet by the time his rental car came to pick him up. He raced on the road towards Geet.

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"I ought to go and find the SOB and break his legs, his arms. Then his neck." Virender Handa paced the kitchen of the home, he had built with his wife, his mood as dark and rough as the sea that thrashed outside.

"That won't stop her from hurting." Smriti turned from the window where she'd been watching her daughter and studied her husband.

Long and lean and still the man she had fallen in love with so many years ago. She had wanted someone like him for her daughter. Someone to love her Geet just as much, if not more, as she herself had from her husband.

"I'll go out and get her."

"No, plz don't, she knows we are here. She has to hurt before she can heal. Let her be. It will be time before long for us to start. She will come in before that."

"It would make me feel a lot better if I could do something to THAT man. I can't stand the look that he has put in her eyes."

"Me too, but that is becoz we both love her. Give her time, she is our Geet, she will bounce back with vigor. Time heals everything."

They both stood together watching Geet sitting on a high rock facing the sea, just like she had been doing for the last few weeks.

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Geet sat on the rocks looking out towards the sea. The waves, the vastness of all that water rushing______ always rushing, has never stopped to amaze her. She had always loved her home and this sea that had always been her haven whenever she had faced any problems in her life, the very sight of these waters had soothed her.

When she had been a kid, she had raced her father along this very beach------- searched for shells----- her first cycle ride, even her first car she had practiced here. This house had been their getaway whenever they had had a vacation, her parents had at first rented it yearly and then her father purchased it and together they had expanded it to make it heir own, put a mark of themselves on it-------------- a place filled with laughter, a place to unwind, a place to laugh again whenever she had been in a foul or bad mood.

BUT

This time when she had come here, the sea and its rushing waves all seemed to be so melancholy. Racing on and on without a destination in sight. They seemed to be just like her heart who knows that pain and longing won't help and yet still it couldn't stop feeling both. All through her life her biggest flaw had been that she couldn't unburden herself when her heart ached. She could and had shared happy times with everyone, but her pain had always been her own. Her heart jealously guarded anything that made it ache.

She remembered the pain she had felt when she had realized that Maan didn't believe that she had nothing do with what Sash had been accusing her of. The pain had been real and physical. She had been so much in love. She had told herself she won't expect anything from him, but that had been the biggest lie she had ever told herself.

She remembered he had never told the words that she had wanted to hear.

She had told herself she had no need for them____ that words weren't important.

When reality had come crashing down, it had been swift______ but far from painless. What hurt more than his not loving her was that in all this time he hadn't come to understand her. His belief that she could do something like that________

Geet felt tears rush into her eyes-------- she angrily wiped them, no she won't cry any more. She had emptied herself out with the shock of his mistrust in Dips arms, at her home and she won't shed ay more tears becoz, by doing so she will be punishing the people who loved her. Her parents who had given her unconditional support, without even asking her what had happened. She owed it to them to pull herself together.

He was still the first thing that came to her mind when she got up in the morning. He had been both the source of incredible joy and unspeakable hurt. She never knew that she had wanted what she saw between her parents so much. A love that never changes, a marriage that started with love and have advanced to being the best of friends. Home. Marriage. Family. She now knew that she wanted all three and not just with anybody, she wanted them with Maan Singh Khurana.

But he didn't want to be part of her life. The pain that sliced within her was so intense that it felt to be slicing her. She hugged herself as if to ward off her sorrow_________ as if to hug her secret.

She would survive________ she had to survive, because there really was no other choice. She wouldn't toss her life away----- crying over something which she had no way of mending as it was equivalent to giving up one's life and that wasn't acceptable to her.

Geet stood up with one last look towards the vast expense of relentless water which never admitted defeat. This time she would be gone for a long time. She silently bid her farewell to the sea and turned and walked back to her home.

"Maan!"

Geet's heart gave a involuntary jump, she placed her palm in an unconscious gesture as if to still her racing heart_______

A crowd had gathered there all trying to help gather the scattered luggage from the trolley-cart. Geet took a step in that direction and her flight was announced. She turned to find her mother looking at her with concern written all over her sweet face.

"Is everything all right beta?"

"Everything is fine, chalo lets go," as her father picked her cabin bag and her mom told her some last minute tic-tacks and reminded her that Ved, (her childhood friend will be meeting her), Geet glanced back, she could barely make out that man's hand among the people surrounding him. She closed her eyes for a second and forcefully turned herself. If she was to make a life for herself then she had to be strong and she will start that from this very moment. Maan Singh Khurana can never be here and so she will not torture herself by giving her heart any false twinges of hope.

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Winter is for some people a sweet time for romance... for some people it means garam pakore and chai/coffee... for some people it is a period to be endured till summer shows its warm face again________ but for those who feel winter in their hearts, it is that time when the heart cries and the tears are trapped in with the sorrow. Love and a warm heart beating next to it is the only antidote.

Too much of gyan guys... i have given a LLLOOONNNGGG update...(dedicated all my friends who love to push me and i love all ur shoves) so give me loads of "likes" and long comments with it----------- and don't worry every winter is followed by a summer.

LOVE

Khushi😊

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LINK TO NEXT CHAPTER...

CHAPTER-25 PG-56

Awesome update dear.. you have portrayed the emotions very well. Hope Maan will be able to find out Geet soon..

Please continue soon.