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By the time Geet recovered, Maan had left the room. Where would he have gone? She thought for a moment and she knew exactly where to look for him.
He was her husband now and and she should have been used to his closeness, his body and its effects on her. Yet when she saw him practising Tai-Chi, it had the same effect on her as was the case when she had seen him like this for the first time. She gasped. The difference was that then she was scared of the feelings and desires his well-toned body and his gracious moves evoked in her. This time she could give in to them. She forgot about all the issues, all the tension they had to tackle. She forgot about everything that was bothering them for those few moments. She walked towards him in a trance.
Strangely though he did not notice her. He was too absorbed with himself. He was done with Tai-chi and was doing stomach crunches lying on the floor. She observed him for couple of seconds. Suddenly she noticed the furiousness of his crunches and it brought her out of her trance.
He seemed totally oblivious to his surroundings, even of what he himself was doing. The crunches were so fast and furious that even with his training and practice, they could have hurt his body. Geet sensed trouble and called his name to bring him out of his absorption. But he did not listen to her. She got scared and cried out loud, "Maan!"
He heard her this time. He looked blank for a moment as if he was not able to understand what was going on. And the he looked at her. Her eyes were filled with tears of concern and worry.
Maan got up. "Kya hua Geet?" he asked in a concerned and calm voice.
She did not reply, instead just stared at him for a few seconds. Then went ahead and hugged him tight putting her arms around his bare upper body.
Maan was confused, but responding to her hug was his natural reaction. He closed his eyes feeling her so close to himself and tightened his grip around her body. Both of them lost a sense of time as they stayed in that hug for at least a minute or two before breaking it.
It was Maan who became conscious first, broke the hug and stepped back creating some physical distance between them. He looked at Geet and figured that she was calm now.
She first needed to clear his immediate misunderstanding, but she suddenly became conscious of their closeness and his bare body. She stuttered, "Maan... Woh... abhi maine... kamre mein... main aapko rok nahin... rahi thi..."
"I am sorry Geet. Maine phir se tumhare saath galat..."
"Nahin. Nahin Maan. Aap sorry kyon kah rahe hain? Ye to..." she hesitated, but added with lowered eyes, "aapka haq hai. Main bas ye kah rahi thi ki main aapko rok nahin rahi thi. Aapne zor se pakad rakha tha to mujhe dard ho raha tha - isliye..."
"Kya? Geet tum theek to ho na? Tumne kuchh kaha kyon nahin Geet? Nahin - mujhe khud hi dhyaan rakhna chahiye tha. I am sorry Geet. Tum theek to ho..."
"Maan!" she interrupted, "Main bilkul theek hoon. Aap please shaant ho jaiye."
They both were silent for a few seconds. Maan broke the silence.
"Geet tum kamre mein ja kar aaraam karo."
"Mujhe aapke sawalon ke jawaab dene hain Maan. Aap please..."
"Nahin Geet. Main pahle hi tumhein bahut pareshaan kar chuka hoon. Mujhe kuchh nahin poochhna hai tumse. Doctor ne tumhein stree-free rakhne ko kaha hai aur main tumhara khayal rakhne ki jagah tumhare saath..."
Tears again clouded her eyes as she raised her hand to cover his lips and shut him up, "Bas Maan! Khud ko blame karna band kijiye. Mujhe pata hai ki aap gussa hain. Aur agar aapko gussa aa raha hai to khud par mat nikaliye. Mujhpe gussa kijiye. Yahi sahi bhi hai. Saare problems ki wajah main hi to hoon."
"Geet. Aisa kyon kah rahi ho? Aisi kya problem aa gayi hai, jisne tumhein...?"
"Meri zidd thi, meri galti thi jiski wajah se woh accident hua aur aapki jaan khatre mein pad gayi..."
"Phir se ye baat kyon Geet? Maine kaha tha na tumse ki tumne hi meri jaan bachayi bhi hai."
"Maine aapki jaan nahin bachayi hai Maan. Main bacha hi nahin sakti thi."
Maan looked at questioningly and did not say anything.
"Aapki jaan... Aapki jaan apna khoon de kar... Dev ne bachayi hai."
Did he hear that right? Dev? She had to take Dev's help to save his life. He felt like his entire world had come crashing down. He was indebted to that low-life for saving his life. Why did Geet do that? Why Dev? Why not someone else?
His instinctive reaction was to shake her up and ask her right away - Why! Why did she do that... But he had not completely lost his mind. Just a while back, in his aggression, he had hurt her. He shouldn't be repeating that mistake. He couldn't understand why it happened, but he realized that in his anger he became her assaulter, from her protector. Right now, he had to protect her from himself.
He tried his best to remain calm as he told her, "Kamre mein jao Geet. Tumhein aaraam ki zaroorat hai."
Geet was surprised and scared. Why was he so calm? He should have bursted out with anger and questions for her. She suddenly remembered when he had become unexpectedly calm after the fiasco at his farmhouse prty. He had planned to leave her forever then. What was he planning now? She was scared to death.
"Maan. Please meri baat suniye..."
Maan spoke angrily this time, although he consciously tried not to shout, "Tumne suna nahin maine kya kaha? Jao yahan se. Kamre mein jao."
There was no scope for disobeying him. She would fuel his anger further if she did not listen to him. She moved backwards, scared to death, but unable to do anything.
He saw her receding figure and turned away. To get control over his thoughts and to release his anger, he started working out again.
Geet did not go back to her room. She hid behind a pillar, where he would not notice her and kept looking at him. She was feeling helpless and started crying. She pressed her mouth with her hands so that she did not make any noise. While she could not bring herself to leave him alone in this state, she could not afford to anger him further by making her presence felt either. She sank down on her knees and finally felt so exhausted and hopeless that she rested her back against the pillar and closed her eyes.
She stayed like that for around fifteen minutes, after which she felt someone's presence, his presence around her. She opened her eyes and stood up startled. He was there watching her.
She got too scared thinking he would be angry that she did not listen to him, "Main... Maan... I am sorry. Main jati hoon."
She turned to leave and got pulled back by his familiar, firm hands.
His voice reflected only pain when he asked, "Kyon Geet? Aisa kyon kiya tumne? Kyon madad maangne gayi usse? Us insaan se jiski shakal tak dekhna tumhein manzoor nahin hai!"
One of his hands was around her waist, and with the other he supported her at the upper back.
"Aapke blood group ka khoon kahin nahin mil raha tha Maan. Humne Delhi aur Chandigarh mein bhi pata karwaya tha. Meri saari ummeed khatm ho gayi thi Maan. Mere paas aur koi chaara nahin tha. Mujhe pata hai ki isse aapko bahut bura laga hai, bahut gussa aa raha hai, lekin mere liye aapki zindagi se badh kar kuchh nahin tha Maan. Dev se main jitni bhi nafrat karti hoon, usse bahut zyada aapse pyaar karti hoon. Maan ke bina Geet ka koi astitva nahin hai. Main apni nafrat ke liye aapki zindagi se kaise khel sakti thi?" she finally poured her heart out. She was still scared of his reaction, but simply by coming out clean to him, a huge burden had been lifted off her heart.
He pulled her in a hug. There were so many things he wanted to tell her. He wanted to tell her that no one can love the way she loved him. He wanted to tell her that how lucky he was to have her. He wanted to tell her that he was really sorry that due to him she had to feel indebted to the person she hated the most. But he had tears in his eyes and he would have choked on his words, if he had tried to voice these feelings. Somewhere he was sure that his Mishti understood the love, respect and gratitude he felt towards her. Not just for this sacrifice of her, but for every moment of happiness and love that she had brought in his life. He hoped that she was listening to his heartbeats right then and was able to hear all that was in his heart.
And then a feeling of remorse took over. For how he had treated her earlier in the day. How insulted and humiliated she must have felt. Why did he do things in his anger that were a black mark on the sanctity of their relationship?
He broke the hug, cupped her face in his hands and said, "Geet. Mujhe maaf kar do. Maine kamre mein tumhare saath jaise behave kiya, mujhe nahin karna chahiye tha."
"Maan. Aap aisa kah ke pyaar ke yaadgaar palon ko bura kyon bana rahe hain." She blushed and lowered her eyes as she continued, "Pahli kiss to zindagi bhar yaad rakhne ki cheez hoti hai na?"
"Kis mitti ki bani ho Geet? Meri galtiyon mein bhi pyaar dekhti ho."
"Auron ka nahin pata mujhe, par main to jaanti hoon ki us gusse mein pyaar ke alawa kuchh nahin tha. Sirf mere liye pyaar, sirf meri chinta," she smiled looking into his eyes and then added to lighten the mood, "Haan! Bas agar aap mere haath aur kandhe na todein apni ye badi si majboot body ka fayda utha kar, to achchha rahega."
Maan finally smiled. He was so overwhelmed that he did not know what should he do express himself. She was so much better at it than him. With immense love, he went ahead and picked her up in his arms.
"Maan - main bilkul theek hoon. Aapko mujhe utha kar le jaane ki zaroorat nahin hai."
"Tumhein zaroorat nahin hogi Geet. Mujhe hai - tumhein apne paas rakhne ki, tumhein chhone ki!" He looked at her smiling and blushing face and fervently wished that he could find ways of expressing how much he needed to love her!
--
If you liked this OS, you may also like my earlier
OSsEdited by sharmishtha01 - 14 years ago
Cricket
546