Chapter 7The arguing continued and Geet could feel the pounding in her head start. She didn't want to be there, and she certainly didn't want to get married, but that didn't matter to anyone. She wasn't allowed to even open her mouth, Daarji having warned her to let him make all the arrangements. The whole thing was so much worse than when Dev came to see her. At least he had been polite, even if it was all an act. His older brother was anything but, and almost seemed to take pleasure in arguing.
Finally, Daarji declared that he and Savitri would continue the discussion while Maan and Geet talked. Brij was still not happy about that condition, and warned Maan that he could have five minutes and no more. Maan gave that statement no response, instead looking at Geet and telling her to come with him. Geet didn't want to go, and even when her mother gave her a nudge, she still stood stubbornly, this the only act of defiance she could muster.
Maan couldn't believe the behavior of the girl standing in front of him. She stood silent the entire time, never giving one opinion or objection. Then, when he was giving her a chance to speak with him, without the presence of her overbearing family, she just stood their, mute. He remembered when he had rescued her from the lake, she wouldn't shut up, her bak bak so annoying that he to leave her on the side of the road.
Fed up with the whole thing, Maan stalked forward, grabbed the girl's wrist and began pulling her towards the study that he and Savitri had recently occupied. He didn't bother to listen to any of the objections. He ignored the frantic pulling at his vise like grip the the girl made. He didn't even care if he was causing her any pain. Entering into the study, he pulled the eighteen year old in with him, using his free hand to give the door a hard push shut.
"Let go. Don't touch me!" Geet finally cried, wrenching her wrist out of his hand.
"Why? Will my touch ruin your purity?" Maan advanced threateningly, his eyes beginning to shoot angry sparks. "If even the thought of my touch gives you such a disgust, why didn't you say no to this farce of a marriage? Why didn't you utter even one word of protest?"
His words had a humiliating affect on Geet, as they directly targeted her weakness. She had been made to feel impure by the reactions of her family to the whole situation. What spirit she had left was crushed by Brij's brutal behavior, as well as her parents insistence that she should marry this angry man. She didn't like him and didn't want to marry him, but felt powerless to do anything and voiceless to say anything.
When she didn't respond with anything other than a stare, Maan scoffed and said, "Look at you. You can't even speak one word. What did you think, that you could come to Delhi and get a rich husband? Did you think that would be a solution to your problems? That you would find someone you could hide behind like a shadow?"
"You don't know anything," Geet responded, stung that he could think that she would allow herself to marry for money.
"Oh, I know plenty," he countered. "I can tell you all about yourself. You're one of those girls who always needs someone's help. Father, brother, husband, even a stranger like me, it doesn't matter. You're eighteen, so you would have been starting your undergraduate studies. Were you tired of school? Is that why your parents were looking for someone to marry you, why Dev was able to take advantage of you?"
Geet couldn't believe that he was so cruel as to mention what his brother did to her. How could he think that she would have chosen to be courted by a lying traitor, instead of finishing her degree. The tears that had been gathering at her eyelashes, threatening to fall, suddenly started down her cheeks in a stream.
Rather than feeling sympathy at her distress, Maan only felt more anger when he saw her crying. "Crying is useless. Will these tears help you solve your problems? No, they only cause your mind to stop thinking. If those tears are a trick to gain my sympathy, then you might as well stop now."
Turning his back on her, Maan declared, "Tears mean nothing to me, neither do I care if you cry or not. Maan Singh Khurana is not a fool to be taken in by a few tears, especially as tears are the oldest feminine trick."
Tired of having him pointing fingers at her behavior, Geet questioned angrily, "If you're not a fool, then why did you agree to get married?"
"Look, you!" shouted Maan, raising his finger angrily as he turned around, only to be stopped by the sight in front of him.
Geet had seen his arm raising, and couldn't stop the fear that washed over her. Throwing her hand up to protect her face, especially the area that was so recently bruised due to her brother, she cowered away from Maan. She expected the blow any moment, her body trembling even as she found it hard to breath.
"I am not so weak that I would hit someone weaker than myself," Maan ground out, frustration at her reaction evident in his voice.
When she still continued in her frightened stance, Maan tried to speak in a calmer tone. "Don't be afraid. You wanted to know why I agreed to the marriage. It was only for Dadima. She does not have the best of health, and I do not want her to worry over this issue. That is the only reason. However..."
Maan was interrupted by Brij, who stormed into the room declaring, "The five minutes is up. All talking is over. Now it's time to start the arrangements."
Maan glared at Brij, wanting desperately to teach the man a lesson, but knowing it would do nothing other that make his grandmother upset. Storming out the door, he walked up to Savitri and said that he needed to go to the office immediately. He had received an urgent phone call, and would leave right then. Savitri tried to speak with him, but he cut her off, saying they would talk later. The entire group of people watched as he quickly left by the front door.
Maan was furious at the situation he had landed in. If his brother had been in front of him at that moment, he would have gladly strangled him for being the cause of all this trouble. By speaking with Geet, Maan had hoped to motivate her to object to the marriage. That would have given him some opening to negotiate some other solution with the Handas. But no, the girl hadn't voiced even one objection, and that stupid brother of hers was the absolute limit.
Maan entered KC in full forming, firing away at anyone that got in his path. Demanding coffee from his secretary, he stormed into his office and began pacing up and down. His secretary had never seen him in such a state, and it threw her off a bit. Without realizing, she put three sugar cubes in his coffee, before she rushed off to give it to her demanding boss.
When Maan took a sip of the coffee, he spat it out instantly, before unleashing all his fury on the timid secretary. Loud and harsh, he enumerated all her faults, real and imagined, before firing her in no uncertain terms. The girl left in tears, too upset by his tirade to even be relieved that she no longer had to work with such a tyrant.
"Stupid, idiot, brainless, unfit, clumsy!" Maan raged to an empty room, before picking up his phone and dialing. "Tasha, I want Sasha and Adi in my cabin. Now!"
In less than a minute, both employees came rushing into Maan's office, concern written on their faces. Their concern was warranted, for Maan started blasting them for not doing their job properly. He had left the hiring of a secretary to them, and he had got nothing but a handful of choices, none of which had the right qualities, or were able to stick to the job more than a week. He demanded that they find another candidate right away. Sasha tried to explain that they had run through all the suitable options, but Maan wanted no excuses.
"Adi, I gave this task to you. You are responsible for finding me a secretary. I don't want someone pathetic like the last four people. I need someone who can do the job and who can stick with it. Find me someone!"
Precap"Did you think that you could come into my home, and that I would be silent? Did you think you could force Maan veerji into marriage and that I wouldn't even say a word?"
(Edited: I was in a hurry and accidentally did the links wrong for this chapter. Sorry. Hopefully you can all find your way here easily.)
Edited by laxmi2010 - 13 years ago
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