"You see the land is a part of my dowry. I will gift you the land provided you marry me."
2.A Natural Mistake
"Excuse me!" He was not sure that he got that correct. Had he just heard a woman propose marriage to him and that too in the first meeting.
"I know this comes as a surprise to you, Mr. Khurana ..." she began slowly, touching her specs again.
"Surprise! Well that is putting it too mildly, Miss Handa. It is not every day that a beautiful woman proposes marriage to me." He smiled. "But sorry, I will have to decline. I believe in handling my own proposal."
"Don't be hasty, Mr. Khurana " she leaned forward supressing the spark of pleasure she felt on his compliment and to see him smile. "Hear me out first."
"Maan," he said. "It seems odd when a woman proposes to me and addresses me as Mr. Khurana in the same breath."
"Okay, Maan" she gave him a nervous smile before continuing. "What I am suggesting is not a real marriage rather a business arrangement for a short period of time."
Well this is getting more and more interesting, he thought. "Do continue" he said without an expression when she stopped to assess his reaction.
"Don't get me wrong. It is imperative that I have to marry, for reasons I do not want to disclose. I don't have the leisure of searching for the man who will be my life partner and I don't think I am ready for that commitment just yet. So for now I have to settle for a contract marriage." She looked at him expectantly as if she had explained the reason for her decision quite well. Times have definitely changed, Maan mused. If such talks came from a man he could understand. Usually women believed in love and marriages. Though he couldn't fault her reasoning, her plan was absolutely crazy! He wondered what made her take this decision, why was it necessary that she had to marry? But why had she chosen him?
"May I know why you approached me?" For this crazy plan of yours, he added in his mind.
"Well I hope you won't mind me speaking freely," again she pushed back her glasses. "You are not the only candidate, but you are definitely the first in the list." She looked at him as if that should make him feel proud! He just quirked his eyebrow.
"Well, marriage to me will of advantage to you on two counts... one you will be able to get the land you have been after for the past years" she ticked off the list on her finger. "And ..." she paused.
"And?" he asked almost knowing what was coming.
"Linking your name with the Handas will benefit you in the present situation." She looked at him straight in the eye as she spoke to him.
Even knowing that she must have been aware of the scandal that was associated with him and that she had approached him despite that didn't help in the defensive stiffening of his spine.
"Are you sure about that?" he mocked. "May be linking your name to a Khurana may adversely affect your reputation. Haven't you wondered if the rumour might be true...you know they say there is no smoke without fire!"
She held his eyes as she spoke, "I don't listen to gossips and rumours.Do you think I have approached you with this proposal without investigation?I tend to draw my conclusions. "
"Which is?"
"I believe you to be innocent and that you were framed...too many mishaps are happening all at once in your personal and professional life. It can't be a coincidence."
"Thank you for your vote of confidence, Miss Geet." He couldn't help but feel relieved by her answer. "But my answer is still no. As you said so many mishaps are occurring in my life at present and I don't have time to involve myself with any one until it is sorted out. I am sure you will find a more suitable candidate." He smiled to soften the impact of his rejection. My offer for the land still holds...I will even raise it to 2% above market value."
"I am sorry Maan, this time I will have to decline. The land is a valuable asset that goes with the marriage. But you have till tonight to consider my proposal. I presume you will be attending Mrs. Deekshit's fund raiser? You can give me your final answer."
She stood up to shake his hand before taking her leave. It was only when they reached the door that a thought struck him about what she told about the land.
"Geet, you said I was the first choice. May I know who is the next in the list?"
"It shouldn't matter to you." she half turned to look over her shoulder and then started to reach for the handle. He stopped her with a hand on the handle, his hand covering part of hers. She looked up to his face and the beauty of her eyes made him catch his breath. This close he could see the colour of her eyes. They were blue /green with mesmerizing depths that made him forget what he was about to say.
"Yes?" she asked attempting to withdraw her hand from under his.
"I know it is none of my business, but you have made me curious. Who is the next one?"
She held his eyes as she dropped the bombshell. "It is Arjun Sinha. If you must know, he too has been quite interested in the hoshiarpur property."
Before he could recover or stop her she was opening the door, "Good day Maan. I expect your decision by tonight. I'll fix my meeting with Mr. Sinha after the party."
Her eyes searched for him in the assembled crowd at the charity ball. She was not entirely sure why but after meeting him she had this feeling that he was the right man for her. The fact that in spite of the misfortunes that fell upon him he held himself with dignity was the mark of a strong person. The first blow was the collapse of the multi storey building that was constructed by Khurana Constructions, a project supervised by Maan. Along with that had come the allegation of sexual harassment by his employee. The report she got from the investigative agency was sure that he was not guilty. But once she had seen him in person, seen the truth and integrity that sparkled in his eyes, no one could convince her otherwise. She believed herself to be a good judge of character. Her belief was strengthened by her uncles own words who said he would rather do business with the KHuranas than the Sinhas. That reinforced her decision that she should give him another chance to find out for himself that plan was beneficial for both of them and the fund raiser was the perfect setting. She would let him deduce that they were a perfect match. Scanning the assembled people, her eyes found him. A small frown marred her face seeing him with another woman who looked like she had just alighted from the pages of a fashion magazine. The report on him had no mention about him seriously involved with another. Now she didn't believe in poaching on someone else's boyfriend but she couldn't also let her perfect candidate being taken away.
Moving across the room she reached Maan's side and touched his sleeve. Calling in every bit of her feminine self -confidence she smiled at the woman standing beside him as if her presence did nothing to negate her claim on the man next to her. To her growing discomfort Maan refused to acknowledge her. In fact he looked at her as if he was seeing her for the first time.
"I thought we could talk about my proposition a little more in a relaxed atmosphere," she tried to give her voice the best seductive tone she could imagine. She was thankful none of her staff or board members were around.
"Did you forget to tell me something darling?" the model drawled with a confidence that made her feel ashamed about her best sultry voice.
Maan removed her hand from his sleeve, "I have never seen this woman before sweetheart."
Geet gasped at his outright lie. "Never! You mean to say you have never seen me before?"
"Yes!" his voice didn't even waver.
"So you are saying we didn't have that meeting in your office this afternoon...you never heard my proposal?"
Maan muttered something intelligible which she assumed must be a curse and put out a loving arm around the model to pull her close. "She must be hallucinating, Meera. Please don't hold it against me."
To her surprise Meera smiled confidently. She wrapped her arm around his waist and looked up at him indulgently. The expression on her face spoke of a woman confident about her love. "I think I know what is going on," her smile held the amusement of solving a puzzle.
Well I don't ... Geet was beginning to feel let down by all this obvious love that existed between Maan and the woman he called Meera. She scowled at the lovebirds , "Mr. Maan Singh Khurana I proposed marriage to you this afternoon and you have the audacity to stand here and deny it in my face?"
The two looked at her in shock and then burst out laughing, "Marriage?"
"Well that does it!" she pulled on her professional image, that never failed to impress the board members. "If you can lie that I met you, then the proposal is cancelled. I am withdrawing my offer. If you will excuse me I need to find Mr. Arjun Sinha."
With that she turned around and slammed into a solid body. Her eyes travelled upward to find a pair of smouldering brown eyes...a very familiar pair of eyes.
Oh oh! Her own eyes widened.
Maan's hand on her shoulder prevented her retreat." Hello Geet!"
"Maan?" her question was no more than a whisper.
"In the flesh." He took a bow.
Geet cast a spurtive glance behind her, "If you are Maan, then..."
"Let me introduce you to my twin Yash and his wife Meera"
"No thank you," She managed to have her voice out without a hint of embarrassment she felt. " I just need to use the ladies room and wash away my humiliation in private."
"I don't think so." His hand on her shoulder tightened and he turned her to face the people who had seen her make a fool of herself. "Yash, Meera this is Geet Handa. She owns..."
"Shouldn't you give the right introduction?" Meera asked cheekily. "I assume she is your fianc."
"She is not my fianc." Maan's voice was controlled.
"Oh! But that is not what I deduced from her words!"
"Enough," Yash interrupted, taking his wife's hand to draw her away. "Let them discuss this confusion in private." He turned back give a cheeky grin. "We can wait to grill him later. May be we should gather the rest of the gang so that he will not get bored repeating the story."
okay ok comments plz... hope u are still interested?
no frowns😳...cudn't leave this with just a small prologue, cud i?i'm moving on to the other FFs next 😃
that ie called
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