MG FF A duty and a promise Part 6 pg 44 - Page 8

Part 2

Geet was brought out of her thoughts by the sound of her phone ringing. She hurried over the table to answer it

"Hello" she said calmly.

"Geet, where are you? You were supposed to be at the site with me. I am here, but you clearly are not. I thought you wanted to learn and get experience" Maan said angrily

Already upset, Geet tried to hold her tears and respond. "I'm sorry Maan. I was with Naintara. ...She needed me... But I can come now, if that is okay?"

"I will be here for another hour. If you are here, fine. But if not, don't ask me to accompany me again" he said cutting the call.

Geet ran into the bathroom and splashed her face with cold water to prevent herself from crying. She looked at her pale face in the mirror. Her eyes were puffy and red. "Geet, what is the point in crying? This is your fate. You have a duty to fulfil...you know you will agree to Naintara di's demands, so stop crying now. You have to be strong..."

She dried her face, put on her glasses and straightened her clothes. Once she looked presentable, she ran out of the house to get to the site as quickly as possible. She didn't want to miss the opportunity to learn from Maan.

Naintara watched Geet leave the house in a rush. "I wonder where she has gone...no matter. She will come back...she had nowhere else to go...she will fulfil her duty, and give me what I want...as always" she thought smirking to herself.

Geet arrived at the building site, breathless. She saw Maan in deep conversation with one of the foremen and stopped to stare at him. This was her favourite pastime, when she was not herself engrossed in work. She took in his tall stature, his muscular arms holding the site plans, his chiselled features. He took her breath away. But for her, he was unattainable. He only socialised with the party girls who were models, tall, beautiful and graceful, a new one on his arm every week. Sameera, better known as Sam, was his current girlfriend and had outlasted most, being on his arm for the past month. But he would never look at Geet that way. She was awkward, geeky, wore glasses and so unstylish, everyone wondered whether she was really related to Naintara.

Maan looked up from his plans momentarily and saw Geet staring at him. Although she was staring at him, she appeared to have gone into a trance or into her dream world. He often saw her in this state, but never enquired why. To be honest, he wasn't interested. For him, his life revolved around work and partying with the hottest girls. He called out loudly "Geet".

The sound of his voice broke her trance. She blushed. "Why does he always catch me when I am staring?" she wondered. Luckily he never asked her about it.

She ran towards him. She was already late and now she had wasted time, staring at him. In her rush she tripped over a stone, and fell forward into a large puddle.

Maan who watched her fall, thought "Typical". He dismissed the foreman and sauntered over towards her, to see whether she was hurt. He sighed and held out his hand to Geet to help her.

She grabbed his extended hand and he pulled her up. What he saw stunned him. He looked into the most beautiful hazel eyes he had ever seen. He was mesmerised. He had never seen her eyes before. They were always covered by large hideous black framed glasses. In the fall, her glasses had become dislodged.

Geet saw Maan staring at her and panicked. She mistook his stare for anger. "Oh Babaji, why always me? Why am I so awkward? Oh, where are my glasses. I need to find them before and tidy myself up quickly before he gets really angry." She said to herself, kneeling down to find her glasses. She found them at the side of the puddle and luckily they had not broken. She put them on and straightened herself up saying "Sorry...Thank you"

Maan looked at Geet now with her glasses and wondered whether what he saw earlier was a mirage. He was about to turn away, when he caught sight of her clothes. He closed his eyes.

Geet, thought "Now what have I done...he looks angry Babaji. Save me".

He took off his jacket and handed it to her to wear. She looked at the garment with confusion.

"Wear it Geet. Your em...your top...em...has become quite transparent" he said looking away from her.

She looked looked down and saw that indeed, her uniform white baggy shirt was now quite translucent and was showing off her curves. She blushed crimson, crossed her arms over her chest and grabbed his jacket. She pulled it on hastily and did all the buttons. She said "Thank you" meekly without meeting his gaze.

"I think we should go back home. You can visit the site another time" Maan said, directing her towards his car.

As he sat down in the driver seat, Maan thought bemused "Who knew Geet was hiding that, under those hideous clothes."

Geet saw Maan smiling and thought, "he is definitely making fun of me...and why not? I am such a clown"