A Sudden Change Of Heart - Page 50

waiting and waiting .. 14th bhi gaya 😍

CHAPTER-26

" Dev Malhotra?" Maan felt the stirrings of a passionate emotion, as he heard the name of another man's name for the first time in months from Geet's mouth.

Geet looked away from him, and settled herself down on the huge rock, which she and Maan had shared the last time. She held her saree carefully, and looked straight ahead of her, her eyes lost and extremely distant. Maan stood where he was, and suddenly, felt a strange sense of fear seeing Geet Handa. Her eyes, and the look on her face was so tough, and so resilient, it was difficult to know what was going on in her mind. And I thought her eyes are so expressive...he wondered.

"Dev Malhotra. The first friend of my life. I met him when I was 4 years old. And ever since then, we'd been friends. We had seen each other through all phases of life. Childhood, adolescent, teenage, and youth. All the good times in life and all the bad, worst ones. Woh mere saath zindagi ki harr mor pe tha aur main usske saath thi. All the decisions we took and didn't take, we did it together. Thinking about each other. The bond of our friendship was unbreakable," every word that left Geet's mouth was plain and slow, without any emotion or any sort of feeling. They were mechanical, as if being forced out. She sighed and continued, the tone of her voice perfectly neutral and uncaring, "I was an extrovert made an introvert by betrayals and pain in life and the one person knowing that was Dev Malhotra. He was the one, who knew about my fear of darkness, long before my parents knew, he was the one who knew I was painfully introvert, unpredictable and have serious trust issues, he knew everything about me, things which people never dreamed of associating with Geet Handa. I was convinced by HIM to tell my parents about my phobia, warna," she paused, chuckling dryly, "Main unhe bhi kabhi nahin batati."

Geet stopped talking, and looked at Maan, who was staring at her intensely. They looked at each other, lost in themselves, and Geet felt a pang of sadness in her heart. God! I love this man so much, and here, I am'screwing up the one chance I have at togetherness with him. But, I have to do it, for his sake'I'm sorry, Mk. Mujhe maaf kardena' she tore her gaze reluctantly from his passionate ones and continued, in an emotion-free tone.

"The thing I liked most about Dev Malhotra was that he let me be who I am. I have always been independent, and always been taking care of myself. I thought I like doing that and I would like doing so for the rest of my life. He made me think so too. Whenever I had a problem, or I was in pain, or I needed to talk to someone, I never went to him because he made me believe in myself. He made me believe that I'll be able to solve my problems by myself. And, I was so proud of it back then. Little did I realize that he didn't help me because he didn't want to. He didn't help me because he never cared!" she paused, waiting to look at Maan, and saw him listening to her with the greatest concentration in the world. His forehead had crinkled again, and she found herself smiling inspite of herself and the whole situation.

"Maa hamesha kehti hain, ke whenever I work hard, or concentrate on something, I get crinkles on my forehead," she murmured, causing Maan to stare at her in surprise, "You get them too," she continued, looking at him with a weak smile.

Then, she stared straight ahead at the road, and bit out, "But, Dev Malhotra didn't. He was nothing similar to what I was back then."

"Geet," Maan muttered, when Geet whipped her head towards him and spoke again, her voice dangerously calm and her eyes distant,"Do you remember I told you about Ranbir Handa right here in this same place? Do you remember why I told?"

She stared at him, obviously waiting for an answer. Maan stared deep into her hazels and nodded his head for a no. She smiled, which never reached her eyes and bit out,"I don't remember too. You're the only person in the whole world who knows my opinion about Ranbir Handa. Dev Malhotra didn't know."

She paused, and gave a dry humorless chuckle, which was filled with a strange abominable hatred, much to Maan's astonishment. He had never imagined that there was so much grief and poison stored within the strong and independent Geet Handa. The Geet Handa who continued,"Because he SAW my opinion change about my uncle. He WAS there when it happened. He was there when I started seeing my uncle as a selfish money earning dirtbag who could do nothing better than selling off his own mother and sister."

"I was 18 years old when my mother became seriously sick. She had a few injured bones on her right shoulder blade, which led to partial spondolysis. I remember the nights when I used to wake up and find my mother screaming in agonising pain. We did everything we could. We took her to the best doctors in Mumbai. Everyone said something different. My father was lost. We had noone to turn to. I thought I had lost my mother forever. Then, Ranbir Handa stepped in. He was concerned about his sister's health and proposed we take her to Bangkok for her treatment. My father agreed, willing to pay all the expenses. We stopped all the medications and doctors for the time being, waiting for him to take her. And then, on the night of the flight, he flew off to Las Vegas without informing anyone. That night, my mother screamed in agony till 5:30am in the morning. She had blood running down her nose her mouth, it was horrible. She blamed my father in sheer pain, and that led to problems in my family between my parents. Some of which we are still dealing with. It took a whole of 2 years for my mother to recover, after my father managed for her treatment in Bangkok by taking her himself," Geet rubbed off a lone tear which had managed to run down her cheeks and continued,"That's why I find it hard to trust anyone. I know people are born to betray others and in this ruthless world, it is better not to trust anyone rather than getting hurt. After that, Ranbir Handa came back claiming to have struck a million dollar deal in Vegas for which he had to leave last minute without informing anyone and had to come back after 6 whole months."

Maan stared at her, his face twisted in sheer fury and disgust. He knew Ranbir Handa was a shrewd businessman, but what Geet told him made him realize that he was something more than selfish. He was a person who couldn't be categorised as human. He tried to stop Geet, to tell her he didn't want to hear anymore, that probably he wouldn't be able to take anymore, but she wasn't there with him. He looked at her and realized with a pang, that Geet was not there with him. She was there in physical form, but her mind was in Mumbai. Her eyes were glistening with the ghosts of her painful past. The past which still haunted her. And, to reduce her pain, Maan had to listen to her. And he did.

She continued, without noticing any of the contempt on his face, "Dev Malhotra was there when all this happened. He saw my pain, my tears, the way I lost trust on my uncle, the one who had brought me up so lovingly, and how, I had started hating him. But," she said, with a mocking smirk, "The twist in the tale is, he never agreed or even shared my thoughts. Dev Malhotra ke liye Ranbir Handa was a man of position and power and unke saath rishta had to be maintained on a healthy term. Mujhe Dev Malhotra ka yeh attitude- it used to kill me inside. Lekin, main bhi andhi thi'mujhe bhi kuch dikha hi nahin'.agar dikh jaata toh shayed'."

She trailed off and sighed, glancing at Maan. She shook her head slightly and said, apologetically, "Sorry, that was off topic. I just thought since I'm telling you everything'I should'well'tell you everything." She paused a little and looked at him, her eyes lowerng slightly as she murmured,"Agar aapko nahin sunna hain, toh'it's okay. You can tell me and we'll go back."

Maan stared at her for a long time, the silence reigning between them almost excruciatingly painful and unbearable. Finally, he said, with a grim face,"Tell me Geet. Tell me everything."

She sighed and thought,I wish you had said that you don't want to know. It would have been so much easier then, Mk. Shaking off her thoughts, she started talking again.

"Dev Malhotra had been a casanova ever since I knew him. Girls were always over and around him and you could say the same for him too. I knew it, saw it and didn't mind. Because I didn't care. Now, it makes complete sense why I didn't care," she murmured the last part, looking up at Maan who stared back, stunned. Because I didn't love him, I love you.

Why didn't you care? The question rose to his lips.

Without giving him a chance to say anything, she continued,"I was his backup. I set him up with girls whenever he wanted. I was the perfect girfriend material for him whenever he wanted to make anyone jealous. We had been friends for more than 20 years so, I never took any offence."

"We went to Nottingham Trent for our higher studies together. I got into MBA, while he enrolled into Medical. Our families were used to our friendship and they even knew each other," the bitterness in her tone increased, " I came back when I was 23 years old and entered the corporate world though not Emporium Constructions. I had several change of jobs and then, finally when I was 25 years old, I settled here in this company. When I was promoted to the Director post, I was asked to post myself to their head office in Delhi. My parents had no problem, so I shifted. And, that marked the beginning of a new era. The era of my doom."

Geet stood up, feeling her feet give way under her slightly. Her step faltered a little, and Maan moved close immediately, supporting her with his body. His arm automatically went around her waist as he steadied her against him. He stared at the shadows beneath Geet's eyes and muttered,"Geet, let's go home. Hum baad mein baat karenge."

Geet stared back at him, feeling a warmth rush through her for what she knew was the last time. She wanted to relish the feeling which ran through her as his arm touched her waist. Pata nahin yeh phir kabhi hoga ya nahin' she thought, her eyes clouding with sadness. Gulping down her saliva and tears, she shook her head and said,"Itni dur aake mujhe wapas nahin jaana Mk."

She slowly untangled his arm from her waist and walked off to sit on the rock. He came and sat beside her with a deep sigh and stared at her waiting for her to talk.

"Dev Malhotra," Maan wondered with a pang how Geet was referring to this man with his full name so coldly and in an impassive way. He is so unlucky'he thought.

Geet was saying,"'left Nottingham 1 year after I did. I was in Emporium Constructions, counting my days to be a Director when he came back. His medical degree was not completed but he had passed the exams. But he came back with a broken heart. He had been in a relationship with a girl named Neha for 5 years. And, all of a sudden, out of the blue she had broken up with him. Dev Malhotra was completely messed up when he came back. It took me several sessions of alcohol and cajoling to make him step out of his shell and be himself. I was furious at Neha who had ruined my friend's life. We started spending more time together'it was as if a barrier between us had broken. We never held hands or giggled but there was something special between us..everyone thought and I did too," she paused looking at Maan with a slight fear in her eyes.

"With Neha gone from his life, Dev Malhotra was almost always with and around me. After office, he used to pick me up, drive me home. I didn't have to take the car with me. He taught me driving though. He moved to Delhi, just to be more around me. The day I was promoted as the DIA of Emporium Constructions, he had seemed to be even more happier than I was. I felt so lucky to have someone like him in my life. Everything seemed so much less complicated with Dev Malhotra around," she looked at Maan and said,"Do you remember how I told you that I was once a party person and I'm not anymore?"

As Maan nodded his head, his mind conjuring up images of the party where Geet had said this to him. She had been dressed in a black gown, looking stunning and he had taken her out of there and brought her at the exact same place they were right now.

"The week I was announced the DIA, my parents and a few of my cousins and friends flew to Delhi from Mumbai. Dev Malhotra had organised a surprise celebration party for me. I was so thrilled. The only thing I didn't know then that I wish I did was that Neha was in that party."

Maan took in everything that Geet had just said, but nothing made much sense to him. He glanced at Geet whose face was turning even more solemn every minute as she neared to the most dreaded part of her past. What the hell went wrong here? Whatever it was, it has affected Geet a lot'. And, knowing her, she has probably been through the whole thing alone.

His thoughts were interrupted by a vibration. Geet looked down and pulled her cell phone from the clutch in her hand. Closing her eyes and sighing softly she picked it up and spoke into it.

'Yes, Romeo?"

She listened for a few minutes and then, said, "Okay, I'll'I'll uh'check them out when I get home."

She hung up and looked at Maan. She felt his eyes hold her gaze tenderly, as he stared at her. She couldn't help the drop of tear which trickled down her cheek as she continued looking at Maan. She didn't know the reason her heart was screaming out in pain. She knew this would have happened eventually. Then why, why did she want to run off and hide herself somewhere forever? So that she didn't have to come back and lose Maan.

Geet, tujhe pata hain na, ke you're doing this for his own good? Yehi thik hoga'this way, he'll be spared from the horror. Tu mumma papa ke liye toh kuch nahin kar sakhi, atleast, inke liye toh kuch kar'make sure he doesn't have to go through any humiliations for you. Her face hardened again as the words sunk into her brain and started making complete sense.

She wiped off the tear and spoke, her voice rasped out.

"Neha was at that party. She was invited. I didn't know. I wish I did," she said, her voice grim and her face twisted in a stiff and strong line.

I know, I'm very late, but I was drowned in the sorrow of my midterms. They were horrible by the way, all four of them!🤢 Also, I have fever so, please ignore any typing errors. I tried to give you all an extra long update to make up for the delay. I'm on my way to update Passion too.😊

Anyway, the chapters with Geet's past will not have a precap. The events will be related as I move on with everything. This can be considered as an introduction. She will be disclosing everything to Maan.

I just hope you all liked it. Please let me know what you feel about the update.

Pray for me, hit the like button and comment real hard.

Love

Sarzah

did dev was cheating on her, in any way