Chapter 38
"This is so great. Just what I needed. Now I can arrange the party just the way Maan wants it." Geet smiled happily looking at her list, until a new problem occurred to her. "Where am I supposed to have this party? As far as I know, KC doesn't have a room big enough for a party. Am I supposed to have it at the mansion? I don't think so. I should go ask Maan."
She hurried to her door, before turning back in frustration. "No, you can't ask him again. Didn't you see how he was looking at you when you kept asking all those questions? He looked like he wanted to call you a moron several times. He also didn't like that you called him Maan instead of Sir. No, he already has problems with you, you don't need to give him any more reasons to be angry. You're supposed to be making him less angry, not more."
Grabbing the end of her dupatta, Geet tried to think of a solution. "I could try to ask Pinky or Adi Sir, but they were no help earlier, so I don't think they will be any help this time either. I bet Dadima would know, but she's already given me so much help, I don't think it would be right to keep bothering her like this. Still, if I don't ask her, then I'm sure to make a mistake and Maan specifically said there should be no mistakes."
Despite Geet's reservations about taking advantage of Savitri, the older lady was only too happy to help. She listened patiently while Geet explained the situation and how she didn't want to take any more help from Maan when she had troubled him so much already. Savitri was amused by Geet's words, and how she managed to call Maan "Dusht Daanav", even when she was complimenting him on his help.
"I understand your worry, Beti. Planning business parties like this is no easy task. You need to book a venue, plan all the arrangements with them, fill out all the necessary paper work with the accounting department, and most important, schedule the party according to the client's availability. There is nothing worse than planning a big party, only to find out that your guests of honor are unable to attend."
"Should I make the arrangements online, Dadima?" asked Geet, feeling better now that she had Savitri's support. "That's the way things are done now, isn't it?"
There was a pause. "That may be the way things are done now, but it is not the way you should do it. Doing things online is slowly eroding the fabric of society, taking away the beauty of personal interaction. Geet, it is better to call on the phone and make arrangements to meet with the hotel staff of whichever place you choose. My suggestion would be Crystal Hall. Khurana Constructions have hosted parties there in the past, and the staff is really good. Wherever you decided to have it, things will turn out the best if you have a face to face relationship with the staff, and supervise things personally."
Geet happily did everything as Savitri suggested. It was all actually very easy to take care of as long as she followed Savitri's advise. There was only one thing that worried her slightly. She didn't know how Maan was going to take it and she put off telling him until late in the afternoon.
"May I come in, Sir?" she asked nervously, after knocking lightly on his office door.
"What is it, Geet?" he questioned brusquely. "I have important work that I need to finish."
"It's about the party for Mr. Chopra..."
"What about the party? I explained it to you, gave you notes, so there better not be any problem, otherwise..."
"No, there is no problem," Geet rushed to assure, "at least...Mr. Chopra will be out of town for a few days, and his company's CEO is not available right away either. To accomodate their schedules I've arranged for the party to be held on the twenty-fifth. That's next Friday evening. That's alright, isn't it?"
Maan nearly sighed in relief, before almost shouting at Geet for creating unnecessary drama. Just in time he was able to check his words, calmly telling her that accommodating the clients was fine. He then told her that he expected to give all her attention to preparing the project plans, since the party was so far away. He prided himself on Khurana Construction's reputation for having the ability to deliver a top product that needed little to no revisions after being presented to the client. Geet agreed readily, happy that things seemed to be going so well now.
****
"Nakul, where is Dadima?" questioned Dev, glad at least that the servants still treated him with respect.
"I think she's in your grandfather's old study," the longtime employee answered, before going back to his work.
"Grandfather's study," Dev repeated in surprise. "What is she doing there? She hasn't gone into that room since the day Dadaji passed away."
Just hearing that his grandmother was doing something so out of character had Dev going to see why. What he found was entirely unexpected. Savitri was sitting at the large mahogany desk with Geet, both of them pouring over files and blueprints. From their conversation, it was clear that Savitri was explaining the various business terms and details of the blueprints. They were also laughing and talking like old friends.
Dev had never seen Savitri and Naintara interact like that, and he felt a sharp pain in his heart over what he had lost. He also wondered what Maan thought about the whole thing with Geet. He never saw the two of them together, so he had no idea what the truth of their relationship was. Actually, he hadn't seen Maan since that day he accused both him and Naintara of selling Geet's land.
Dev still couldn't believe that Naintara would have done something like that behind his back, not given their current situation. But there was no way for Dev to convince Maan of that, not while he was in his brother's black books. Dev was tired of being estranged from his family, and he wanted to do something about it. Maan wouldn't given him the time of day, so Savitri was the one he had to win over first. Yet, she always seemed to be unavailable or she was doing something with Geet, making it difficult for him to approach her.
Deciding to go back to his room, Dev missed the figure standing hidden at the end of the hallway. The figure watch him walk away, slowly following behind, making sure that nobody noticed. Once Dev had gone inside his room and closed the door, the same figure walked into another room and picked up the phone.
"Yes, you told me to call if he ever went near her," was the response to a terse hello from the other side. "She was in the great study with Dadima. He stood outside the door watching them for a few minutes. Then he left. No he didn't say anything, just looked. I couldn't see his expressions clearly. Yes, I will call again if anything else happens."
Precap
"I'm not going to the party, Dadima."
"What do you mean, you're not going?"
"I don't feel like it."
Anupamaa
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