A Sudden Change Of Heart - Page 60

very well narrated...

dis dev sounds fishy...

something wrong wid dis charcter

CHAPTER-28

"Hilton Hotel."

They were still staring at each other, when Maan asked her,"Since when did you know you're scared of the dark, Geet?"

The eye contact broke, as Geet looked away, her face turning slightly red at the mention of her weakness. She shook her head, not answering his question and started speaking again.

"The wedding was almost a week later. I was at the Hilton Hotel for what you call a bachelor party," she said, staring straight ahead, her eyes clouding with memories again.

*****

(This scene was in Chapter 3. Again, it was written from Maan's point of view, so now, I'm stating why Geet was there and what was happening in her life.)

1^st June-Mumbai

The loud music was almost deafening not to mention the voices of the young people. Geet sat on one of the high-legged stools near the bar, staring at her cell phone, while Dev was dancing with his friends. She sat there, glancing up at them, while they laughed happily. Geet felt a smile creep up to her lips too. She was jerked out of her thoughts by Meera, who took a seat beside her and bellowed over the loud music, "I don't understand. Tum logon ki shaadi hain, and he doesn't even drag you to dance. Weird!!"

"Tujhe toh humara sab kuch weird hi lagta hain," Geet said, rolling her eyes,"Why will he drag me to the dance floor? Main yehi par thik hoon."

"Geet," Meera said, with a sigh, "Why can't I ever explain this to you? You are a couple, you're getting married to Dev. And, admit it, you love dancing. And, there are no elders around here. Dev shouldn't let go of a minute without dancing with you, aur'." She trailed away, as Geet started laughing.

"Because we're mature. We're sensible. He is 27 and I'm 26. We're grown-ups, Meera. It's perfectly normal. And, remember what you told me I'd feel when I marry? All that soaring happiness, shyness and nervousness. Well, guess what, they are late in arrival. It's only a week left for the wedding and I don't feel any of it, yet. Maybe, they don't exist," she stopped talking and stared at her phone.

Lifting herself off the stool, she said,"Listen, I gotta get home. Mumma ka message tha. I need to figure out the clothes and jewellery and everything. I'll see you later."

Meera saw her friend walk towards the crazy group of people under the dazzling lights of the dance floor. She saw Dev lean towards Geet in a platonic way, while she whispered something in his ear. He nodded nonchalantly, and Geet waved her hand to everyone there, who screamed out loudly in response. She winked at Meera and left, almost running out of the loud bar of the Hilton Hotel.

"I never said you'll feel a soaring happiness, shyness and nervousness when you get married, Geet," Meera thought to herself, staring after her friend for a long time, "I said you'll feel these when you're in love, and you're clearly not in love. Atleast not with Dev."

Geet shook her head, trying to get it clear from the loud music which still rung in her ears. She walked towards the lift, only to see the door closing, and without thinking, ran to catch it. She barged into the lift, just as someone was about to press the button to the basement, almost shattering her body against the heavy metal door. Sighing softly, and saying a silent prayer to her Babaji for keeping her unhurt, she looked into a pair of familiar annoyed eyes, and opened her mouth to say sorry, but her words froze, as she saw HIM. " YOU!!!" she almost shouted, as the lift door closed.

It was the second time they met, after their encounter in the shopping mall. That fateful day' Geet looked at the man dressed in a deep maroon shirt with a few buttons open , in disgust, as she recalled the scene in the mall that day, when he had broken her beloved grandmother's chain. Geet rolled her eyes and stood with her back to him, deliberately avoiding him as hard as she could. As they outstretched their hands to press the button to the basement, their knuckles brushed against each other, and a strange tinge of fire floated through their veins. They looked at each other, and, in no time, found themselves staring into each others' eyes again. Geet found herself drawn to the deep black magic of his irises, which were blank as before, but suddenly, she peeled off her glance, as her cell-phone rang shrilly. Just as she was about to pick it up, the sound of a huge crash almost deafened them, and the next thing they registered was that the lift had stopped moving, and the lights had gone off. Geet screamed loudly, feeling a part of her turn into ice, as the darkness descended on her and she groped about desperately looking for something to hold on to, something which would ensure that the darkness didn't engulf her completely. She could never explain the helplessness which ran through her blood every time a place turned dark all of a sudden. It was as if, someone was trying to suck her into a deep hole, from which she couldn't be saved, or she couldn't come back. She tried to find a support in the dark, her hands groping desperately, and as soon as she found Maan's arm, she held it tightly. Maan clucked irritatingly, and lifted his hand at once, to pry her hands off. " What the hell!!" he exclaimed, when Geet said raspily," Please don't leave me, please stay close to me'I..I'm ssccaareed..I'm scared of darkness.PLEASE!!"

" Yeh koi naya taarika hain kya? To frame guys? Acting as the damsel in distress, and expecting guys to jump up to help, and then betray them?? Huh!! Scared of the dark!!" he sneered, looking at her scornfully in the dark.

Just as he was done, the lights came, and the lift started moving with a bang. Geet felt a sharp pang of humiliation and hurt as his words hit her brain directly and she immediately let go of his arm, and spat out," You're not human!! I am sure aapka iss duniya mein koi nahin hain because no one lives with an animal.. I won't take your help even if you're the last person on Earth!"

*****

Maan remembered the day clearly, and how ruthlessly he had made fun of her fear. He opened his mouth to apologise, when Geet cut him, telling him about the rest of that night,"Meera left the party almost 15 minutes after I left. She told me that she had seen Neha arriving at the party when she was leaving. I didn't care at first, because I knew that Neha had basically belonged to our common group of friends so someone must have invited her. But Meera forced me to ask Dev about it, and just to get her off my back, I did."

*****

2^nd June-Mumbai

"You think I invited her?" Dev said, in a cold voice.

"You know that's not what it is," Geet said patiently as Dev strolled in front of her angrily, while she sat on the table, holding her head in her hands,"I'm just saying, that it was weird of her to appear in your bachelor party."

"Rahul asked her to come maybe," Dev spat out spitefully, "I hear they may be going out now."

Geet removed her hand from her head and stared at Dev piercingly,"You don't care about that, do you? Does that affect you?"

"Ofcourse it does," Dev yelled out, banging the table loudly, "It hurts me to see Rahul with her."

Geet felt her heartbeat stop for a minute, but it resumed in full pace the very next minute as Dev bit out, "He's my friend and he'll be shattered when Neha leaves him too. I know that and I know him. He wouldn't be able to take it. Of course I'm affected Geet. How can you even think otherwise?"

Relief flooded through her veins making her dizzy and weak. She stood up and walked up to Dev holding him by his shoulders, "Anyone is lucky to have a friend like you, Dev. And, I'm the luckiest to be able to keep you forever as my best friend."

He smiled weakly, and said, "Do you have any other questions for me, Ms.Handa, or should we call it a day? I have to be at the tailor's for my sherwani. I have a wedding in 6 days."

"No more questions," she murmured, and made her way out of Rahul's house where they had met. What with the marriage approaching fast, neither of them wanted elders to know that they were meeting. Stupid superstitions.. Geet thought as she left.

*****

Geet started laughing loudly all of a sudden. Maan was startled to hear the sound, and looked at her quickly to make sure she was fine. She stared at him and stopped her laughter blurting out,"I came to know about my fear of darkness when I was years old. I discovered it one night when I was sleeping alone and the lights went out since there was a problem with the fusebox. It seemed as if someone was holding my head under the water and trying to stop me from coming up to get air. I sat in bed rigidly, without getting up to get my parents. I didn't want to trouble them, but the suffocation kept mounting on me. And," she looked meaningfully at him,"It increases even more when the lights are out for a longer time. It's horrible," she shuddered, finally giving up on the topic.

"Geet, I'm sorry." He said, it finally, without any hesitation.

Geet looked at him and then, stared straight ahead again, "You won't be by the end of this night, Mk. I promise you that."

"The wedding preparations were going on full swing. Every last minute details were being taken care of. The venue, catering, decorations, everything. Everyone was set to make it the most beautiful day of my life. And then, I met you again." She trailed off, her lips pursed together in a grim line, as she remembered the rain shower in which she had met Maan.

"That had been another important day, Mk. And, I'll remember it for the rest of my life, she paused for a moment and then, forced out the words, "Main aapna mangalsutra lene gayii thi Dev Malhotra ke saath," the bleak pain and agony in her voice hurt a part of Maan stronger than he could take and his mind drifted to the memories of the the wet and rainy day in Mumbai.

*****

4^th June-Mumbai

(This part of the flashback was in Chapter 5. It's Geet's point of view that I'll be stating now.)

The rain rushed down in torrents, soaking the world in its watery charm. Geet glanced out of the windows as she quickly made her way out of the plaza. Her face was twisted in slight anxiety as she held the packet in her hand tightly clutching it close to her heart and glanced at her cell phone.

"Yeh Dev hain kahaan? Mangalsutra bhi mere saath choice karne ka time nahin hain usske paas. Pata nahin aisa kaun sa kaam aa parha," she pondered as she finally left the jewellery plaza and walked out into the open.The traffic and continuous honking of horns added to the catastrophic atmosphere. She was staring at her phone desperately waiting for Dev to call when she bumped into him again, spilling the black coffee all over his white shirt. She looked down at the ground where her packet had fallen with a thud and bent down to retrieve it quickly, fishing a box out of it. She opened it slightly, and once ensured that its contents were unharmed, she looked up and met the eyes of the person she had just bumped into. Immediately, the liveliness and joy prevalent in her hazels changed to dislike and hatred, as she took in his appearance. Babaji, that man again! And, it's the third time. THE THIRD BLOODY TIME!She shook her head, and tried to walk away, when he grabbed her arms and said roughly," Are you blind or something? Or does someone pay you to irritate me?"

" I won't do such useless tasks even if I'm paid for it!!" she retorted sharply, trying to wriggle her arm out of his grip.

She stood there, abusing him mentally with all his might. Yeh insaan samajh ta kya hain aapne aapko? she thought, half in fury and half in exasperation. Her thoughts were interrupted by the sudden rumble of the thunder, which caught her off guard and made her gasp out audibly. She saw his lips twist in a mocking smirk and his voice was even more scornful as he said, " So, you're scared of the rain too?"

Geet whipped her head towards him, her eyes shooting a deathly glare at him. She opened her mouth to retort to give him a piece of her mind, to tell him what she thought of men like him, but her phone rang. She picked it up, muttering a hello, deliberately looking away from Maan.

"Geet? Mujhe aane mein aur shayed 10 minutes lag jayenge," Dev's voice was surprisingly exhiliarated, which startled Geet a little, but she ignored it, "Tumne woh chain, pasand karne keliye mere saath jaana tha na?"

" I have to wait here? But I already got it.. Where are you?" she said, without glancing back at Maan who she guessed was still glaring at her.

"Main yahaan signal pe hoon. The rain has worsened the congestion," he retorted in an irritated tone, "I'll be there in 10."

"Okay." Geet said firmly and hung up. She looked around her, as if expecting someone, completely ignoring Maan.

She was busy scrutinising the busy road and scanning through the huge crowd for Dev's car when a sharp pain shot down her arm as she was spun around. The man bit out at her," Look what you did to my shirt!!"

Geet winced in pain, and her eyes moved down to his shirt on their own accord. She bit out angrily, " I didn't do it on purpose!!"

The man scoffed, his eyes still blazing fire and fury. Geet tried to free herself from him, but he tightened his grip further on her, without breaking their furious eye-lock. Her insides warmed up, as she looked into his eyes, looking for something she herself didn't know. Why did she always feel like this around him?

Her thoughts broke, as her phone rang again, and seeing the name, she quickly smiled and picked it up." You're here?"

"Yes, just walk a little left to you, Geet," Dev said.

She shrugged his hands off her immediately, clutched the packet tightly to her chest, and started making her way out of the busy place as quickly as she could. However, she stopped in the middle of her tracks, and turning back, came to Maan. She opened her purse, and grabbed Rs.5000. She thrust it into his hands, and said tightly, " Get yourself a new shirt..okay?" Before Maan could reply, she left her head held high on her shoulders.. leaving him behind, holding the cash in his hand and rolling her eyes.

As promised, here's your update.😊

Now I want a really really high number of likes and comments on this one. I am updating in the middle of 15hr fasts, so itna karna toh banta hain, haina?😃

Love

Sarzah