Vertigo [Completed]

Prologue:

He felt the shiver that rose from her spine reverberate on his chest. The mild convulsions of her back as he kissed her neck tenderly were incredibly sensual and made him pull her to his chest much closer; not that there was a millimeter of space between them. She threw her head back when he hit a particularly sensitive spot and whispered something unintelligible.

"Geet..." A throaty moan escaped his lips as he lifted his face from her now pinked neck. She breathed heavily at his administrations and the moaning voice made her exhale loudly. She felt incredibly light and wondered if her arms and legs had turned into noodles, for the way they were woven around him.

He tightened his arms around her waist and buried his face in her neck and breathed in deeply. They stood there breathing slowly trying to reign the madness in which their hearts were beating. He cocooned her in his arms and she let her personal bubble burst as he invaded her private space and all her senses.

"Maan..." His name came out as a prayer as she turned in his arms and finally embraced him, face to face.

Only then she let go; fears, insecurity, everyday worries, pain at the loss of loved ones and her own dilemmas that she constantly fought with. In that moment there was nothing but deep affection ebbing on her mind, rest buried deep in the crevices of her mind. Her heartbeat slowed and his persona filled her senses giving her a feeling of walking in meadows under the foliage on a warm autumn afternoon. She loosened herself physically first and emotionally attaining a state she never felt before - the state of absolute divine contentment.

"I can't seem to let you go," she whispered to his chest. The chuckle from him rumbled his ribcage gently bouncing her cheeks. She smiled at that.

"I am glad you think that because I am in no mood to let you go either," he said running his hands through her hair. She snuggled closer and sighed.

"I don't want this to end." Her voice held petulance of a five year old being dragged away from a candy shop. "This is nice." She said and rubbed her cheek on his chest. The cotton of his shirt ruffled in distaste at the wrinkles it was incurring due to her actions.

He laughed gently.

Her eyes felt heavy as she continued to stand in his embrace ignoring a voice that was calling her name from distance. Displeasure spread through her like avalanche as the voice, the one that of a female, become clearer, distinct and incredibly close. She flapped her arms in sheer annoyance as she felt Maan pulling away from her and backing further.

"Geet!" The voice was very close. Too close for her comfort.

"What?" She exclaimed finally at the voice which now had now taken a blurry image of...her sister?

"If you don't want get into direct conflict with your boss, move your ass up. It's seven in the morning," Geet's sister Pinky said in sheer annoyance as she pulled the covers from Geet who groped in air for covers at the sudden loss of heat.

"It's already seven?" She mumbled, rubbing eyes to remove any residual sleep.

"Seven-Oh-Five," Pinky said flatly.

Geet groaned loudly and sat up suddenly startling Pinky who was folding comforter.

"I had the weirdest dream last night," Geet said her voice incredibly soft as the surreal feeling she had felt in her dream glimpsed somewhere afar.

"Willing to share?" Pinky asked. Geet merely shook her head and jumped out of bed.

"I am getting late," she muttered and hurried towards bathroom.

Pinky merely looked at her younger sister's retracing back wondering what had made her sister moan in her sleep.

Chapter 2: Padam Padam

"You care more about your company than you care about yourself or your family," Anne said handing him a cup of tea without sugar. When her younger brother didn't reply, she asked again. "Didn't you hear me?" He sighed and rubbed his temple, sending out signal of annoyance non-verbally.

"I heard you now and I have been hear this for the past decade," he replied flatly. Anne rolled her eyes at that. "I like my job," he shrugged. Anne rested her chin on her palm and hummed.

"I haven't seen you taking a break in a long time," she said throwing her concern out in open. "Maybe you could go on a vacation with your girlfriend?" She asked wondering if she had said the wrong thing by looking at an irritated Maan. She wasn't surprised when his irritation wasn't verbalized but he merely continued with drinking tea. It was something she disliked in her brother; the way he contained his point of view and his perception about things within himself and allowing the rest of the world to draw conclusions about him. She also disliked the fact that he never questioned or contested with the perception of him - be it within the family or with the rest of the world.

"I'll see you in evening," he said and stood up only to be stop when Anne caught his arm.

"Can you drop me off at the temple?" She asked smiling, her annoyance already forgotten. He rolled his eyes and sighed at the request.

"Anne, you have a car and a driver who can take you wherever you want," he said putting on his blazer, his sister assisting him.

"I know. But I would also like to spend some more time with my little brother. Is that too much to ask?" She said running her hands on his back as she smoothened invisible creases. He was glad he had his back turned on her otherwise he would have witnessed disappointment and longing on his sister's face.

"You have two minutes to pack your stuff and get ready to go," he said in fake annoyance.

"It's ready and it's already in your car," she chirped and walked past him. He could hear smile in her voice making him shake his head. Irrespective of what his personal views were with respect to her decisions in life, he was really glad that Anne was his sister.

If not for her, he would probably be spending time in an asylum.

--------- >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ---------

She was like a peacock amidst a bunch of pigeons, sparrows and handful of flamingos. His girlfriend, Sasha, was truly a personification of her name - graceful beauty. It had impressed him immensely when he saw her in a meeting with vendors and contractors where she was exuberant with confidence, intelligence and wit. She was one of the biggest assets in his company as one of the chief strategist. It had taken Sasha few years to rise to her potential and make a mark in Khurana industries. Catching the eye of the CEO had only been a bonus.

It wasn't Sasha who dressed completely out of the norm for an average official class and wore her emotions and individuality on her sleeve for the entire world to see. It was Sasha's personal assistant, Geet, who had thrown him a look of disdain when she thought he wasn't looking at her as he stood in his personal cabin and looked at the office below him.

"How Orwellian of you, Mr. Khurana," he had seen her mouthing when she had looked up to see her boss's boss looking down at the office. He wasn't a guy who cared two hoots about the comments that were passed in his way but he didn't know why but that one comment had haunted him for days.

He saw her strutting around the floor in bright pink and blue dress with golden threads making exotic designs on front. Her long hair, braided, adorned her one shoulder and left the other shoulder bare. He didn't know why it irked him to see her wear her hair that way. It had shocked him one day when he realized that he wanted to smoothed out her bangs and un-braid her hair and leave them open. An unprecedented anger had surged through him at his thought process making him lash out the very woman he was fantasizing about.

Geet had however held his ground and met eye to eye. Unfortunately it hadn't helped the cause but only made him retaliate stronger. And then the insulting on her intelligence and her background had begun.

"MSK, will you be joining the meeting with our consultants for foreign export? Last night during dinner, the principal consultant asked me if he can have a word with you one-on-one," Sasha said walking in step with him, simultaneously reading a file.

"Any idea about what his agenda might be?" He asked thumbing at his blackberry as it beeped with incoming mail totally missing the vantage point at the incoming right in front of him.

"I have no idea, but if I were to guess'" Sasha stopped as she heard groans of a man and a woman as they crashed head on. She looked up as she saw loose papers strewn in front of her along with Maan and Geet entangled. She stood still for a moment without knowing what to do - to yell at Geet first or help Maan. Her phone rang at that moment and looking at the number, she decided to get away from the scene and let Maan deal with Geet.

The office was still mostly empty given how early it was and for that Geet was thankful. She didn't want to be a spectacle in front of her peers and colleagues all over again. Maan's face was only an inch or two away from her face and she could easily smell his aftershave and a very mild smell of tea he had at breakfast. She swooshed a breath out as his body weight fell on her chest and closed her eyes at the breathlessness caused by it. He immediately tried scrambling back on his feet only to have his palm slip on her veil making him slip and fall again making Geet groan again.

"Sir...please..." she whispered, her voice throaty. Maan didn't know if it was the pain of the fall that was affecting her or if it was his nearness. He nodded, his bobbing head touching the area just below her neck. Memories of the dream she dreamed the previous night came crashing down at that moment making her flush. She exhaled loudly making his eyelash flutter and blink repeatedly.

"Stay still," he ordered as he bunched the veil on her side and giving him palm stability of ground. He ignored the way her palms clutched his arms tightly, her fingernails digging through his blazer and shirt. He also tried very hard to ignore the way her breath danced on his neck as he pulled himself up on his elbows. He was taken aback when he saw her crimson face and glazed eyes. Yet the melancholy in them wasn't completely lost. Without much ado he pulled himself up pulling her along with him.

Once she found her foothold, she let go of his arms and took a step back.

"I am sorry sir. I didn't..." She started but wasn't allowed to finish.

"Are you hell bent on injuring me or is this your way of showing displeasure to the company?" Maan hissed in cold anger. On any normal day Geet would respond with some inane analogy which made absolutely no sense to him or she would retort a hurried apology and just run away from the scene of crime before he could properly scold her.

He suddenly felt awkward when she didn't do anything that she normally did but slump her shoulder for a second and bent down to pick up the strewn papers. He stood there amidst the papers and the girl who was collecting them at his feet felling like a big douche bag. Again, on any normal day he would have simply walked on without caring much of an apology or a helping hand but that day was anything but normal.

He bent down and picked up papers along with Geet and handing them over once done without as much as a backward glance or added insults. He felt a strange sense of restlessness as he climbed the stair of cabin without realizing the looks of surprise he left on faces of two women in his wake.

Geet was surprised at the non-scolding and non-insulting Maan.

Sasha was surprised at the Maan who had stopped to help the damsel in distress. It wasn't the helping had that shook her heart but the way his eyes had softened at the sight of the woman near his feet collecting papers.

She wondered if her boyfriend's behavior was something she had to worry about. Her mind laughed at the improbability of him being ever attracted to a girl like Geet but her heart refused to believe the probability of the impossible.

Geet walked back to her desk and slumped in her chair and demanded her racing heart to calm down. Thinly veiled kindness from Maan had made her stumble a little.

Her heart secretly desired what she called as blasphemy. Would she find a salvation in these interactions or would she be a target of someone's retribution?

Padam...Padam...she heard the music...

Note:

Meaning of the title - Padam Padam:

"Padam" is an onomatopoeia that mimics the music of a Waltz.
Can you hear that ? Pam Pam Padam, Pam Padam Pam Padam, it is part of the Starwars theme ! Or 21st Century Fox music...

In this chapter its loosely used for the music/beating of the heart that cannot be characterized with the regular lub-dub synchrony.

She steered clear out of Maan's way for the rest of the day and avoided him as much as she could. It was little hard to do so given how her boss, Sasha, was always shadowing him. She had still managed to achieve that feat by crossing his path less than half a dozen times. Sasha however was extra caustic in her instructions that day and for a handful of times tears sprung to her eyes when her boss's words tore apart her defenses and attacked her insecurity. Repeated calls from her aunt to buy few groceries had put her on an edge of completely losing it. She had splashed water on her face for three continuous minutes and had closed her eyes in meditation. Her unconditional belief in Goddess had people giving her odd looks at her at office but she didn't care about it. Once she sent out a plea for sanity to her reverend Mother, she felt the tension leave her neck and she relaxed.

Once back to her desk, she had worked for three hours head down and ignored the chatter around her. Few minutes later, the chatter around her reduced to sound of rain splattering on concrete sidewalk. When the clock rang six, she breathed a sigh of relief of passing yet another day at work. She packed her bags and cleaned her desk of all the papers and other stationaries.

"I need this done by tomorrow morning," Sasha said as she turned away from her desk. She looked at the file that was handed to her and looked at Sasha worries etched on her face.

"Do you want me to update the risk model using this quarter's data as history?" Geet asked, worry deepening on her face and seeping out of her voice.

"Yes. And I don't like to repeat myself. Get it done Geet." Sasha didn't wait for her response and walked away with anger in her wake. Geet knew that Sasha was venting because of what had happened between her and Maan that morning and Sasha hadn't missed the glances she and Maan had exchanged. She had no idea why she couldn't eat more than one bite of her food. She had felt a heavy weight to be settled on her heart which had made swallowing of food an impossible task to undertake.

She looked at the file in her hand and contemplated on her next actions. In a brief moment of braveness or stupidity she made a decision of pushing the work to the last minute. She decided to get into work early in the morning and get some work done since the restlessness she had felt for the entire day would make it impossible to concentrate.

After glancing one last look at her desk, she took several steps towards exit and stopped. There was something that had suddenly made the hair on her neck stand out and passing air whispered something she had forgotten; sort of static in the air crackling with ingredients she didn't wish to define or recognize. She sighed in exasperation as she realized she was going to do the inevitable anyway. She finally turned around and looked up the cabin.

There he was, standing a floor above her behind the glass pane and within the shadows, his silhouette reflecting a sole light from his desk. He was unmoving and she could feel his stare fixed on her and she didn't know for how long he was standing like that. The thought that he was looking at her created a tremble in her spine.

She turned around breaking the eye contact first and walked out of the office briskly. She didn't know why his presence had started affecting her so much.

--------- >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ---------

"So you finally came," her aunt said as soon as the door was opened. "I hope you got the things I asked you to bring. You know for tomorrow's festival I thought we could'" She trailed when she realized that there was no reaction from Geet. Geet had the tendency of teasing her aunt by answering something lame which annoyed the older woman further. Pinky would come in few minutes later to break the argument between the two with cups of tea. The three women would then sit and drink tea talking about their respective days.

When Geet simply handed her aunt a polythene bag with the groceries, smiled and walked to her bedroom with her head down, her aunt frowned. It was unnatural for her to be quiet and not talk incessantly when she was poked by sarcasm or a taunt. Pinky came in with tea and saw her sister disappearing into the room. Her aunt shrugged and took tea cup. Pinky looked at the closed room door worry crossing her features. She looked at her aunt in question to which her aunt only shrugged.

"What's wrong with this girl now?" The older woman asked Pinky who wore a frown on her pretty face.

"I don't know aunty. I think something must have happened at office," Pinky replied. The two women fell silent and sipped tea till Geet came out freshened.

"Is everything alright?" Pinky asked Geet handing over her a cup of tea.

Geet shook her head vigorously and smiled wanly at her sister. She had felt a lot better once she was amidst the warmth of her house.

"Everything is fine. I was just a little tired after all the running around I did at work," she made her eyebrows dance making her sister burst into peals of giggles and her aunt frown.

"How was your boss and her boss today? You didn't get into unnecessary confrontations with them did you?" Pinky asked. Geet's smile fell a little but only for a moment. She recovered almost the very next nanosecond and pulled her lips wider, her cheeks straining in stress.

"Oh..well...the usual drill. I did something, she said something, I didn't pay attention, she got pissed, I ignored her, she got maha-pissed, I annoyed her by ignoring even more and then it was time to come home," Geet grinned. Pinky rolled her eyes and sniggered while her aunt hid a chuckle behind the tea mug.

"Oh by the way, Geet, you remember our old neighbors back in town?" Her aunt started conversation after moments of quietness.

"What about them?" Geet asked forcing energy to her voice.

"They suggested a prospective groom for you," she said happily.

Geet coughed as she breathed in tea and her tears pooled and shed from her eyes due to coughing and choking. Her aunty shook her head in annoyance as Pinky helped her sister recover.

"What is it girly? Are you excited or are you going to throw in one of your tantrums?" Her aunt asked without sparing a word of comfort.

"Aunty are you sure'?" She stuttered. She didn't know what she was asking either. She had choked at the fact that Maan's face had sprung in her mind when her aunt had mentioned the word "groom". She had no idea where that came from but it had rendered her senses ' senseless, least to say.

"I told them that we are interested in proceeding further," her aunt said once she had recovered from fit of coughs.

She dropped her tea mug then.

Her aunt started ranting about her instinctive idiosyncrasies while her sister bent down immediately to clean up the mess. She didn't know why the news struck her so; it had instantaneously brought in a wrenching pain in her heart and a feeling of heaviness in her gut.

"I am sorry," she told her sister. "I have to go back to office. Sasha ma'am wants me to finish something by tomorrow morning. I might'lose my job if I don't finish it," she said in one breath and walked back to her room to pick her bag. She could hear her aunt loudly muttering about girls working late and how it affected family etc. She didn't have the energy to argue with her so she kept quiet and came out of her room.

"Be careful Geet," Pinky said knowing that there was something bothering her sister and their aunt wasn't helping the cause. So it was best for her to go back to work.

"Now where do you think you are going? Stop right there young lady'" She ignored the calling of her aunt and walked out of the house with a hurried pace.

In next twenty minutes she was standing outside the office. On her way to work, she had realized the dilemma, confusion, restlessness, nervousness and the total uneasiness she had felt after spilling tea all over the place. She had brushed it off as a mere act of extreme surprise which had rendered her to a pool of emotional goo.

But that wasn't the case.

She had desperately wanted to see Maan reaffirm something only that her heart knew.

And for that, she had fled from her house. She didn't know she was insane or a huge idiot.

Chapter 4: Jaane kya sochkar nahin guzra...

She stopped in her tracks when she heard the song. "Jaane kya soch kar nahin guzra..." There was something endearing about the song which made her sigh. She smiled at the security guard who was playing radio at the guard post.

"Did you forget something Ms. Geet?" He asked her politely.

"Tons of work," she said bringing in smile to her voice. He offered her a sympathetic look and nodded. She hummed the same tune as she took elevator to her floor which turned out to be totally empty. It was probably the first time she felt relaxed in the office without smirks of condescension by social butterflies, looks of pity from senior colleagues and the glace of mild amusement which could turn deadly by her boss, Sasha. Amidst all of these were the odd glances, blatant stares, annoyed looks and angry glares by Maan which at times irritated her and sometimes rendered her breathless.

She switched on the desktop and waited for it to boot.

Jaane Kya Sochkar Nahin Guzra

Ik Pal Raat Bhar Nahin Guzra

She relaxed into her chair and rested her neck closing her eyes. She knew that sometime in future she would retrospect this day and she would question every action, emotion, feeling and the unexplained stream of vibrations that flew in her blood, singing a bittersweet melody. She calmed herself by taking several deep breaths and questioned why she really was back at office. It wasn't the first time her aunt had brought up the conversation of her marriage. With respect to work, Sasha had always been only a semi-decent boss. Sasha's attitude changed with the way she dealt with things. When she was in a really good mood, she didn't insult her much. It was a whole different game when she got angry though. Then why did she come back to office as if not being here would contradict her existence?

Apni Tanhai Kaa Auron Se Na Shikva Karna

She opened her eyes when she heard the familiar music of Windows booting. Once the desktop was up, she joined her palms as a token of reverence to the Goddess who adorned her screen as wallpaper. She offered a prayer to her Goddess; "Help me succeed. Help me fight. Help me cope. Help me to remain sane...Just help me..." Once done, she pulled the file given to her by Sasha and delved right into it shelving all the other thoughts that were bothering her for days.

The work wasn't easy and she didn't really have the apt experience to deliver with the kind of quality that Sasha was expecting. She reworked on the risk model tweaking parameters with as little experience she had over the course of her small tenure at the company. It frustrated her to no end when she had to put in a huge amount of effort to deal with something simple given how her education hadn't really covered strategic risk management as a subject.

She sighed in disappointment and closed her eyes in exhaustion when the risk model simulation failed. She had been working for two hours ignoring pangs of hunger and concentrating on her work. The bitterness of failure hit her heard making her throw the pen on desk and slump in her chair. She closed her eyes and rubbed her temples mentally trying to figure out what she had missed out in the initial solution.

"What are you doing here?" The voice startled her and she literally jumped in her chair letting out a tiny mewl of surprise.

"Maan..." She breathed out. He raised an eyebrow at her address noting immediately how she had called him by his name and not "Sir". She blushed when she realized that she had blurted out his name but she recovered quite fast.

"Sir...I was just finishing some work..." She said slowly standing up.

"What kind of work do you have which would take late nights to finish it?" He asked looking at his blackberry. She played his question couple of times to understand what he meant by it. Did he believe that she wasn't smart enough to take up higher responsibilities? Or that he was merely asking about her tasks?

"Geet, I asked you a question," he said amused. She had expected him to be angry for the lack of response on her part but she didn't complain when he wasn't being a total jackass.

"Oh...sorry...Sasha ma'am wanted me to update historical data by considering this quarter's information and then update risk model accordingly. I am guessing she would take the updated model I come up with as a preliminary input before she actually modifies the one that will be presented to the board." She replied.

"Why is she asking you to do that?" He asked her, burrowing his eyebrows.

"Are you suggesting I am incapable of doing it?" She snapped.

"Geet...I didn't..." He looked at her in surprise.

"Or is it that you, just like Sasha ma'am, have completely surrendered to the fact that am an imbecile and a total idiot who cannot do any work that requires more than two brain cells?" She swallowed. She had no idea why she was angry and she flushed looking at the way Maan was looking at her. Hypnotic, she thought.

"I was merely wondering because it is not part of your job description." He replied softly. Her throat felt choked up and she had no idea why he wasn't getting angry and yelling at her like the way he mostly did. At least the way did till several days back. She simply nodded.

"I am sorry. It's just that...I wasn't getting anywhere with this...so..." She suddenly felt like a little girl who threw tantrums when things didn't go her way.

"I'll help you," he offered easily and walked around her desk and stood right next to her.

"You will? You can do this?" She blurted out and then bit her tongue. She had just managed to insult his intelligence. He looked amused.

"Geet, I do have a masters, you know?" He shook his head and sat on her chair. "Now let's see what you have done" He trailed and typed rapidly. She took a step back and stood behind the chair, leaning towards the cubicle wall. She didn't know why he was behaving so out of character but she wasn't the one to complain. She liked it a lot.

Tum Akele Hi Nahin Ho Sabhi Akele HainYe Akela Safar Nahin Guzra

She smiled for the first time that evening as she watched him talk about what he was doing and where her mistakes were. She pulled in a notepad and pen and started noting down his observations.

In that moment he was the teacher and she was the pupil; nothing more nothing less.

"Do you understand now?" He asked her an hour later after explaining the modifications she was supposed to do and pointing all the mistakes she had done. She nodded her head.

"Thank you sir," she said honestly. He noted that when she said "Thanks" or "Sorry", she put in all her sincerity, honesty and the true emotion that had to be conveyed with those words. He always took them at her face value while he questioned or ignored everyone else. A strange sense of accomplishment warmed his heart at her acceptance and he noted wryly that the deal he had signed that morning worth several millions hadn't elated him as much as this small teaching session did.

Did Geet have something to do with it? He didn't know.

"It's alright," he said. "Want a cup of coffee?" He asked walking towards the pantry.

"That would be great," she said rubbing her stomach that was protesting for leaving it food-less.

Do Ghadi Jeene Ki Mohalat To Mili Hai Sabko

The coffee break was fairly uneventful. He had told her that he wanted to get away from his house given how noisy it had gotten with his aunt's friends and the way those women had looked at him like their favorite candy. He had made up something or the other to his giggling sister and had fled from the house. His office was his refuge so he had come there once away from the house. She wanted to ask him why he hadn't gone to Sasha's house. She had swallowed the question along with coffee and held her tongue. She didn't want to ruin the moment nor did she want him to be angry. Kind Maan was nice. They had parted ways at her desk. She had gone back to her work and he had disappeared in his cabin.

She squealed like a small girl when she started seeing her work progressing. She still had some amount of it left but the fundamental issue was solved. For that, she had to thank Maan.

"You aren't planning on going home?" He asked coming in to her cubicle and leaning on the wall. He had taken off his blazer and rolled his shirt giving him a boyish look. The intensity of being him was still there but it wasn't the burning variety anymore.

It was shining. And she realized that she loved that aspect in him.

"I'll drop you home, let's go." He said, his voice bordering on order.

She hesitated for a moment.

"I am sure you will be able to finish it tomorrow. Go home now." He gently cajoled her. She nodded and packed her stuff and locked the desktop.

"Why did you come back?" He asked her once they were in his car and drove for many minutes in silence. His eyes were fixed on the road.

"I...had to finish it by tomorrow morning. My boss's orders, you see." She replied trying to induce lightness into her voice. It only came as forced and his ears didn't miss it.

"Geet..." He said. His voice had gotten softer and he looked at her wearily.

"What?" She said her voice harsher than she intended becoming defensive.

"Did something happen?" He asked her ignoring her crabby attitude.

She swallowed and felt bile rising up her throat. Her heart started hammering in her ribcage and palms became sweaty.

"Why are you being so kind to me?" She blurted. He turned and looked at her sharply.

"What the hell are you on about?" He asked his voice lacing with annoyance.

"You are always yelling at me for being what I am and who I am. You insult my intelligence, my societal position, my economic condition and my upbringing. I just don't understand why you help me and drop me home and show me kindness when I am a mess and not scold me when I offend you and-"

"We are here," he said, his voice cold and hard. She stopped her rant midway and looked at him. He wasn't sparing her a look and was looking straight ahead. The tightness in his jaws showed her that he was controlling his anger and this time she had truly stepped a line.

When he saw that she simply sat back in the seat without showing any notion of getting down, he turned and looked at her. "Geet. Get down." He snapped. She didn't react but continued to stare out of the window which gave a complete view of her house. She didn't speak for several minutes. She was mildly elated when she saw his arms relax and jaw slacken. He dropped his head back on the seat and closed his eyes.

"Maan, your kindness gives me a hope for something that I shouldn't even consider in my life. And that scares the hell out of me." Saying that she got down and slammed the door shut. "Good night. Dream a little dream of me," she said and walked away. He watched her till she got inside the house and locked the door. He hummed an old song as he drove away into the night.

Tum Bhi Mil Jaao Ghadi Bhar To Ye Gam Hota Hai

Is Ghadi Ka Safar Nahin Guzra...

Chapter 5: Dream a little dream of me

Her final words had stuck in his mind throughout the drive home and even when he changed for bed, her words haunted him. There were very few things in this world which had the capacity to knock him off his game and he had never considered a small town girl to be one of those things. For a girl whose mind wandered mile a minute and incoherency was kind of a given signature, she sure was pretty articulate in expressing her state of mind.

He poured himself hot water and dropped a tea bag. It was quite late or too early in morning to ask his house help for hot cup of tea so he made it himself. These small mundane routines always calmed him down. He walked to the garden he had grown in courtyard and settled on a garden chair without bothering to switch on the lights.

His garden was his pride. He had started it to get away from people and their idiosyncrasies where he was expected to act with lots of societal rules. But amongst plants, he was just himself.

"You love it here, don't you?" He heard Geet say. He was startled at the sudden voice and turned to see Geet leaning on the wall and looking at him with a serene expression.

His imagination was working overtime making him think Geet was there. He knew it was his imagination.

But he didn't care. For the first time, he dealt with an imaginary Geet honestly. He smiled at the image.

"Yes, I do. Do you know why?" He asked fully knowing that he was talking to himself. He saw imaginary Geet shake her head and walk down towards him and sit on the floor a feet away from him.

"I used to sit exactly where you are sitting right now and watch my mother working in garden. After everything that happened in our family, this is the only thing that makes me feel connected to her, you know?" He said, his voice dropped to a husky whisper.

Imaginary Geet simply nodded her head.

"I am not most guys Geet," he said and stood up. "I was too young when I was subjected to things that I didn't deserve. I dealt with it in my own way."

"How? By ostracizing yourself from everyone around you, including your sister?" He noted wryly that his imaginary Geet was super similar to the real one.

"It wasn't intentional; not at first at least." He slowly walked along the path. After twenty steps he saw that Geet was also walking next to him feet away but looking straight ahead. He smiled and shook his head but continued to walk.

Calmness enveloped him and for the first time he didn't know why he wasn't agitated with her presence. He was a self-proclaimed loner and he preferred his own company when compared to anyone else yet being with Geet hadn't been bad.

"What is going on between us?" He said stopping, his voice little above whisper.

"You do not know?" Imaginary Geet asked him looking at the sky, her eyes slowly blinking at darkness of it all.

"I don't think I do," he said looking at her. Why wasn't he getting angry for not knowing?

"What do you feel?" She asked rapidly changing subject.

"Content," he replied honestly.

"You don't feel love?" She asked him smiling.

He looked confused.

"Should I?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. She trilled in laughter.

"What?" He asked her in annoyance yet a smile playing on his lips.

"How many people you know who are in love and content?" She asked. He didn't respond.

"Is your sister content?" She asked softly when her previous question didn't warrant an answer.

"I sure hope so," he said immediately.

"Be honest Maan. Think from here," she said placing her small hands on his chest right above his heart. His right palm clutched her small palm and squeezed it softly.

"I don't think she is," he said after several moments of thinking and contemplating. His voice laced with defeat and the thought of his sister not being content made him unhappy.

"I don't know how to fix it," he said immediately. "If I had known or seen it before, I know I would have done something, anything to'"

"Sh'." She said placing her other palm on his mouth stopping him from lashing out on himself any further.

"Maan," she said. Her voice was hypnotic and mesmerizing. "You can make your sister happy. But only she can allow herself to be content." She said and took her palm away from his mouth and placed it on his shoulder. He sighed deeply and rested his head on her shoulder.

"Thank you," he said weaving his free arm around her waist.

"For what?" She asked and splayed her free arm across his shoulder. She still had her other palm resting on his chest and he was still clutching it as if it was his lifeline.

"For coming in to my life," he replied. She laughed in his ears and she could feel him smile on her neck.

"I am sorry," he said suddenly pulling himself off her. She looked at him in confusion.

"Things are going to get very hard on you. I am not sure if I will be around to help you out," he said. Once again she walked towards him and placed both her palms on his chest.

"I know. But that is not going to stop me." Imaginary Geet was as spirited as the real one, he noted.

He shook his head and pulled her into a kiss.

Reality be damned.

Chapter 6: Introducing the green-eyed monster

"Geet...wake up! It's already..." Pinky stopped when she saw her sister braiding her hair, dressed for work. Once in city, Geet had taken up a job to cover finances and Pinky supported her aunt at home thus the two sisters helped their bit around the house.

"You are awake?" Pinky asked surprised. "And already ready to go to work?"

"I couldn't complete my work last night. I was feeling hungry and tired so I came home without completing it. So I am going in early to finish it. Or else La ma'am will skin me alive," Geet made a face as she complained about her boss. Pinky giggled at her sister's antics but a moment later her smile fell.

"I'll whip something up for you quickly okay? Eat before you leave," she said and hurried towards kitchen. Geet finished braiding her hair hurriedly and ran to kitchen to stop her sister.

"It's okay, I will eat something at office cafeteria. The food is not so bad there, you know?" She said pacifying her sister. Pinky searched her sister's face for hints of disappointment but she didn't find any. She finally nodded.

"Okay then. I am going to run before aunty comes in and asks me gazillion questions. Not to mention a sermon about how wrong everything about me is, compared to you." Geet said. She buzzed around the house searching for a specific hair tie, hair ornament, and bangles to complete her look. Though Pinky had smiled at the comment, she knew that her aunt was at times unfair to her younger sister.

Geet, a vibrant individual, lived and loved her life to the fullest and took up half their father's responsibilities back in town. She was extremely smart and picked up subjects quite fast thus becoming an eyesore to many boys in town. Their aunt however had a hangover about Geet not being related to them by blood; though Geet revered everyone in her family more than herself.

Pinky never understood the discrimination that her aunt and sometimes even her mother did to Geet and she never really had gotten a straight answer from either of them.

--------- >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ---------

"Are you trying to win 'Employee of the Month' award?" Geet looked up. Maan was standing by her desk bemused by her perpetual presence in his personal haven.

"And of all the people in this company, you are competing with me," she looked up and replied with a smile.

"You seem awfully confident of winning that award," he stalled. He knew he was stalling and she knew it too; not that she was complaining about it.

"Oh I do, actually. I am totally confident on winning," she twirled the pen between her fingers and leaned back on her chair.

"I generally love confidence in a woman but your confidence doesn't seem to be in the right direction," he said swallowing a smile. He liked this light heart banter. After knowing her for several months it was probably the first time they weren't arguing or speaking in loud voices.

"Oh pish-posh, said the scary little cat. You are only worried about losing Mr. Maan Khurana," she said haughtily. He chuckled.

"Yeah, right." He rolled his eyes at her. A moment later both chuckled together.

He realized that he liked the sound of them laughing together and the picture of her smiling wanly. He had woken up little confused and a run in with his grandmother had made his mood sour. Morning already seemed like a distant memory and the girl sitting in front of him offered him a key to his mental asylum.

"Have a nice day Maan," she said fully knowing that she was using his name and not calling him 'sir'.

"Have a nice day Geet," he said and walked towards his cabin.

Something had shifted between them the previous night and they had decided to deal with it the way both wanted to. He had decided to shed his inhibition a little in front of her and she had decided to embrace her restlessness and had plunge right into it.

Who knew that right at the core of restlessness was serenity?

--------- >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ---------

"You actually finished it," Sasha looked at the stack of papers on her desk and thumbed through them. Her surprise was evident on her face.

"Yes ma'am. I worked till late into night and came back in early today morning and finished it Well, I finished it as much as I could," Geet replied.

"This is impressive work Geet," Sasha said grudgingly. She wasn't the one who handed out compliments easily and it was most rare to do so for a subordinate.

"Thank you," Geet replied happily.

"But I do have to ask you this," Sasha's voice called her out as she was walking away from her cabin. Geet turned around and looked at her in question.

"You don't have the education or the experience to come up with something so clean and quite accurate. I don't disregard the fact that you are quite intelligent but..." she trailed. Geet didn't know how to answer.

"I had help," Geet replied.

"Who helped you that late in the night?" Sasha's voice stopped her. Geet sighed. She contemplated on lying about the whole thing but her conscience didn't allow her to do so.

"MSK." Geet replied and walked away from Sasha's cubicle without waiting to hear her response.

Had she waited, she would have seen the fleeting look of jealousy and anger directed towards her.

Sasha didn't confront Geet immediately. Before she did, she wanted to know how involved MSK was in this. She had seen the odd glances he threw in Geet's direction which had now developed into a soft corner. Before this went any further, she decided to cut it short.

--------- >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ---------

"This is really nice," Sasha gushed as she sipped red wine in a newly opened French restaurant. She had said in passing during a meeting earlier that day to MSK that she wanted warm food and good wine for a change. He had immediately asked his secretary to book a table for them that evening. She was pleasantly surprised at his behavior. He was looking much calmer, less angry and his eyes had a tinge of smile in them, as if they contained memories of happiness.

"Food was really good," he replied breathing slowly. He always enjoyed Sasha's company and she was one of the very few people with who he could tolerate spending an entire evening or even an entire day. They were alike in their choices, the society they moved in, food they liked and wine they preferred. They were accomplished, smart and had confident in everything they did.

Yet he felt something was missing that evening.

"It was quite nice of you to help Geet last night," Sasha said as the waiter finished refilling her glass of wine.

"She was struggling to understand something and I was around. I just showed her what was wrong and after that she figured out everything on her own," he said wondering why Sasha was interested in this little bit of information.

"That's all?" She asked not believing it to be entirely true. He wasn't in a mood to explain everything he did so he had summed it all in a sentence.

"Yes Sasha. That's all there is to it. Geet is quite smart which honestly came as a surprise given how she could do these things with very little input from external sources," he said with his lips giving away a smile at the thought of the girl.

Sasha was taken aback at the subtle compliment to Geet; the girl with minimalistic talent had managed to catch the eye of someone like MSK.

"Maybe you should utilize her potential more in this direction rather than the mundane tasks of photocopying or getting your coffee, don't you think?" MSK asked her. She didn't miss the glint in his eyes.

He wasn't asking.

It was an order.

She nodded mutely and controlled her anger.

This wasn't over.

Chapter 7: The tiny band of area where black and white merge...

"Pinky, I am hungry." Geet whispered to her sister earning a frown from her aunt. It was still early in the morning on a Saturday and her aunt had taken the two girls to temple as the temple was hosting a holy ritual.

"Settle down Geet, its only matter of few more minutes," Pinky whispered back. Geet groaned. She had worked late into night on Friday and her dinner back home was quite light.

"Okay, get up now you two. Let's finish the final rites first and then we can do the normal ones," their aunt stood up and hurried the two girls. "Geet, be careful with the plate," she warned not so gently. Geet nodded.

But unfortunately luck was not on her side. As she made her way amidst people balancing plate in one hand and holding the pleats of her sari up in another, she stumbled making the flowers on the plate fall on the ground. Within moments they were stomped upon by the moving crowed making it impossible to pick them up; not that their aunt would ever let them to do so.

"When will you learn to be docile like your sister Geet? Can't you pass one day without giving me or your parents' headache about what mighty problem you can trudge upon us? Sometimes I wonder why you were even..." Her aunt ranted in anger at the fallen flowers which in her mind would make the entire ritual pointless but not heading how her words were probably bruising a girl's heart.

"Don't mind aunt's words Geet...you know how she gets when things don't go the way she wants. She doesn't mean any of the things she says...but the anger gets best of her," Pinky tried to pacify her sister. Geet didn't react to her sister's words but simply nodded. Pinky didn't like the way Geet nodded her head and excused to go outside. Their aunt scolding Geet wasn't a new scene which always had Geet sulking for few minutes and then cajoling their aunt to forgive her. Their aunt would be relentless for many minutes and would finally give away. This was a ritual that was common in their household and every time Geet messed up something or the other.

Pinky looked at her sister walking with indifference to the whole incident; either it was indifference or the continual verbal onslaught had finally made her snap.

She wondered what had brought changes in her sister.

--------- >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ---------

"Is this seat taken?" She looked up when a familiar voice asked. She smiled wanly at the amused face of Maan who was dressed casually in a pale shirt and dark trousers. She knew if she peeked in his car she would find a blazer matching the color of his trouser.

She looked around the temple premise to see most benches occupied but there were few still with empty spaces. He understood her glance and the drift of her thinking and said, "I was sitting next to this woman who spoke twenty minutes about a pair of earrings her neighbor's cousin's daughter was wearing. I thought its best to walk away from there before I committed a homicide." She burst into a gay laughter, her eyes crinkling as her smile stretched. She scooted over the bench making enough space for him and a separation between them.

"Yeah, the womenfolk here tend to get a little carried away," she said once recovering. "But what are you doing here anyway?" She added once she realized where they were.

"The entire clan is inside," he said pointing to the temple.

"And you are here?" She asked raising an eyebrow.

"I am an atheist. I don't believe in God Geet," he said casually. She looked surprised.

"Why are you here?" He asked without missing a beat. She was taken aback at the suddenness of the question as the words of her aunt bombarded her mind. Tears sprung in her eyes and she turned away from him.

"I...needed a breather." She said softly. He knew something was wrong. He had a sudden urge to turn her around and wipe away her tears.

"Geet, is everything alright?" He asked equally softly.

"Why don't you believe in God?" She asked him discreetly wiping her eyes away. The urgency of her words made him realize that she didn't want to answer and it was her attempt to change the subject. He looked at her and searched her eyes which were begging him to let go of the matter.

He nodded and said, "Alright, then."

"I think its collective incidents in my life that led me to believe that existence of God was a placebo at its best. And the mass hysteria surrounding it made all the conventional beliefs to be suspended and sweep away the victories under the carpet of miracle. Somehow I couldn't believe that," he said.

It was probably the first time he had actually answered someone honestly for the question he was asked by everyone who had enough courage to ask him. In reality his sister didn't know the real reason either.

"Was it because the beliefs never materialized for you or that you didn't expect the change that is supposed to happen when the beliefs are suspended and you prayed with a single minded faith?" Geet asked. He looked at her sharply. Her face had no hints of malice or even traces of snide. It was mere curiosity that was seeking out an explanation.

He leaned back on the bench as a breeze wrapped them in its embrace. The veil of her sari buzzed in its wake and tendrils of her hair glazed her cheeks. She had just questioned his disbelief in deity and had already spoken a prelude to an argument yet he felt content. It was undefined, unknown but severely intoxicating.

"You can say that. I have seen tragedies in my family followed by strings of disappointments. When good people get punished and the other party triumphs, all bets on God are off." He said with a smile. She hummed in response.

"Maan, why do you think the core team in your company didn't quit when the market was extremely good?" Geet asked. He noted that she had taken his name with ease and she was talking to him as she would talk to a peer. There was something terribly beautiful about it.

"I paid them well," he said with a smug smile. She smiled and shook her head.

"I don't think so. I think they are here for the long run." She said furrowing her eyebrows.

"What do you mean?"

"The way I look at God is how few people follow principles and morals in their lives. The senior folks in Khurana industries have stuck with you during worse recession and during the best times the company has ever seen. I always wondered why they never quit when recession hit or when the company didn't do enough profits."

"It could be loyalty." He said.

"It could be. Or maybe they saw the collective potential of the company and what you could deliver along with it and knew that one day it was going to come. The day did come and all their efforts and sacrifices were rewarded." She said shaking her head. "I am not making much sense now, am I?" She said sheepishly.

"Honestly, you aren't." He replied with a smile.

"I don't believe in God because I am expecting something out of Her in return. It isn't a transaction between her and me. It's a continuous process, this belief, for which I am signed up for the long haul. I may go through some worse times and wonder why I didn't get any help from her; why is that sometimes she makes my own kith and kin tell me words that would cut me over and over again. Why would she..." Geet trailed and looked at Maan in horror. Maan was looking at her strangely. She cleared her throat and shook her head.

"I have come to realize that a storm always passes and sunshine is just few moments away. That's why I believe in God." She said looking into his eyes and hoping against hope that he would understand what she wasn't saying.

He had no idea what she was talking about exactly but he understood that a fresh incident had made her more emotional than she generally was.

"There you are Maan," Anne came towards Geet and Maan.

"What are you doing here Sasha?" Maan asked flatly. He was surprised to see her in this temple and that too along with his sister.

"I thought I will surprise you today MSK. I called up Anne last night and she said I could come since I was kind of family after all," she replied with a smile, her eyes glancing over Geet for a fleeting second and then settled back on MSK.

Geet looked straight ahead with a gentle smile which he couldn't decipher.

"Maan, I am really glad that Sasha came to this temple today. It's nice to see you with someone else," Anne said happily.

At that moment Geet glanced at him thinking that she was discreet but he caught her eye. The smile was still present but the eyes betrayed her disappointment. He sighed. He had no idea why he wasn't happy at his sister's approval of his girlfriend.

"MSK, we will be waiting for you inside okay? See you around Geet," Sasha said and walked inside with Anne.

"I should probably go. Pinky will be looking for me," she said. He nodded.

"Geet," he called out when she was several steps away from him.

"Every time there is warmth of sunshine and gentleness of breeze around me, a storm comes in and always chases them away. That's why I don't believe in God."

He walked away without waiting for her response acknowledging what she had said earlier to him and had managed to reply her after whatever happened before.

She turned around sharply at his words only to see him walking away from her, her heart hammering at the words he had uttered.

The current that flowed between them ebbed and flowed in greater intensity. A pang of longing swept her as she slowly made her way back to the temple. This time, she prayed her Goddess to keep the storm away from a certain someone.

Chapter 8: Dheere dheere se mere zindagi me aana...

"You were pretty comfortable with the girl at the temple," Anne said handing Maan a glass of cold milk mixed with saffron and almonds.

"I was," he answered absently thumbing through latest issue of National Geographic. "She is a good conversationalist," he added after taking a sip of the cold milk.

"I could see that." Anne said with a wan smile. Maan simply hummed in response. "So..." She trailed. Maan finally looked up from the magazine and looked at his sister quizzically.

"What?" He asked obviously not understanding her expression that comprised of dancing eyebrows, wide eyes and teasing smile.

"I could see some sparks flying," Anne gushed like a school girl.

"Where?" Maan asked, confused. Anne's smile fell a little. She sighed but stretched her lips back into an easy smile.

"I saw sparks flying between the two of you, silly. You two looked good with each other." She added as an additional thought. Maan didn't respond but Anne noted that his eyes had lost their intensity and softened a great deal. It came to her as a surprise that her brother was capable of even having that expression.

Sasha was one lucky girl, she thought.

"There are times when she manages to surprise me with her actions. I didn't expect to see her in the temple which you visit regularly. I didn't even expect her to be pragmatic or blase about her continual indulgence in matters of faith and beliefs. It came as a very pleasant surprise," he replied.

"I am surprised that you spoke about your faith," Anne said peering at Maan closely. "I don't think I have heard you talking about it before with anyone," she said. When he spoke about the girl he spoke as if he was recollecting a securely stored sweet dream. Anne could see that something had shifted in Maan. There was a certain degree of equanimity at this moment in his voice.

"I am surprised too Anne; not because I spoke about it but she perfectly understood what I was talking about," he said with a bit of a smile. Anne couldn't help but smile back at him in response. She sent a silent prayer to God thanking Him for sending the girl into her brother's life. It had been more than a decade since she had seen him this relaxed and talking about a girl. It felt like a surreal dream.

"You like her, don't you?" Anne asked looking at his subdued expression.

"I don't know. At this moment, she is one of the most fascinating persons I have met; especially given her background."

"Why do you say that?" Anne asked. He was quiet for several moments.

"I have seen the way she struggles at work. Her role isn't an easy one and there is too much stress involved. It's the way she takes her responsibility that gives her the edge over all her peers. She sees through a task till the very end and hands it over to the next party with greatest ease. Given her age and experience and her educational background, it's marvelous," he said. He saw that his sister had missed the last part of his answer as her eyes misted at the message that was displayed on her cellphone.

"He isn't coming home now, is he?" Maan asked bitterly.

"You know he is a busy man Maan," Anne defended her absent husband.

"So busy that he doesn't make a phone call but send a text message?" He asked her incredulously. He swallowed hard when he saw Anne turning her eyes on the ground closing the window of her heart to him. He bit his lip hard enough to close his eyes tightly when it drew blood.

"How about this? We can meet him at his office tomorrow morning?" Maan asked suppressing the rage he felt for his brother-in-law. Anne looked up and smiled at him.

"Sounds good! I will text him right away," she tapped the keys with hurried enthusiasm while Maan sighed in relief. "Okay, all done." She said and waited for a response. "He says we can meet him at eight in the morning tomorrow." She said with a growing smile and stood up.

"Maan, I think you are in love with this girl," she said happily and threw a wink in his direction.

"Don't be an idiot Anne," he said his voice turning a tad harsh.

"Look at the way you are talking about her Maan!" Anne exclaimed. He looked at her in confusion.

"What do you mean?" He asked. Anne shook her head and sighed.

It was probably one of the very few times in her life where she became the true elder in their relationship and could talk about something obvious that he was apparently missing. In the end, she was the older sister and he was her younger brother.

"You look content when you talk about her. It's the kind of state of mind that people spend all their lives searching for. I can see it on your face, hear it in your voice and your eyes are practically drawing me a picture." Anne's voice had turned to a whisper by the end.

"You don't have to tell her anything right away Maan. Take your time and understand what is going on. I am sure she will understand once you have come to a realization. And I can bet that she feels exactly the same." She turned around to leave.

"I don't know Anne. When it comes to Geet, all bets are off." He sighed.

Anne stopped in her tracks and turned around to look at her brother in shock.

"Geet?" She asked her voice hoarse.

"Yes. I was talking about her." He said looking at her.

"I thought you were talking about Sasha given how she is your girlfriend," Anne said stressing on the word 'girlfriend'.

"I..." Maan stuttered and swallowed.

Oh my God. His mind cried.

He fell back on the sofa and rested his head on the rim. He ignored the piercing glance of his sister and closed his eyes. He had momentarily forgotten that he had a good relationship going on with Sasha. But over the course of past couple of weeks, his heart and mind had gotten into a fray making him take lots of detours. And during one such excursion, he had stumbled upon Geet.

It was as if his entire life was waiting for that collision to take place. Once a new path was forged, his mind and heart had resumed their duties independently but each had left their marks on the other. His mind didn't always over rule his heart and his heart buzzed a couple of times faster when the girl was involved.

Oh my God. His heart echoed his mind.

Chapter 9: Tere mere saath jo hota hai...

"What are you reading?" Pinky asked looking at Geet who had maintained reticence since the incident in temple. Though it wasn't the norm for her aunt to bring out Geet's adoption more often than intended, this time Geet had reacted in an unanticipated way.

"It's a book on corporate risks and strategic management," Geet replied looking up from her book. "I picked it from our office library," she added and went back to reading. Usually this one question from Pinky would fuel Geet's chattiness but the day had stopped being usual a long time ago. The silence in the room made Pinky restless making her wonder if this was a precursor to a hurricane about to hit them.

"Why are you reading it? I have never seen you reading anything related to office till date," Pinky sat next to her on bed and leaned on the headboard. Geet was sitting next to her in same posture turned and looked at her.

"Do you remember that I worked late one day last week?" Geet asked folding the book on her lap. Pinky nodded. "Sasha assigned me to work on a risk model which needs an update every quarter for assessing risks - this would keep us better prepared when these risks materialize," Geet replied. Pinky looked at her sister, really looked at her. Geet's eyes were startlingly clear as opposed to the hazy state they were generally in.

"What about it?" Pinky asked not knowing where she was going with it. She picked up the book from Geet's lap and skimmed though the pages.

"Well, I learned as I worked on the model and was taught a lot during that tenure. After completing the assignment I realized that I don't have enough academic training to work on the model when higher complexity levels are applied. Though it isn't part of my job description to work on an assignment involving risks or strategies let alone know about it, I decided to pursue it further anyway." Geet replied. Pinky hummed in response as her eyes and fingers continued skim through the book. She stilled when she found 'Maan' written in pencil on the title page. She knew from memory that Maan owned the company Geet worked at and that Geet never really got along with the man. But she was now reading a book owned by the said man.

"This is Maan's book?" Pinky asked not understanding why she felt compelled to know about the dynamics between her sister and Maan.

"Yes, it is. He let me borrow this after he saw my work and thought that it would help me understand the concepts better," Geet replied. Her voice was incredibly soft and very small traces of smile danced at the corner of her lips. It didn't escape Pinky's eyes.

"Have fun reading Geet," Pinky said handing the book back to her. "Did Sasha help you understand what you were supposed to do, that night?" Pinky asked shooting an arrow in the dark. Geet didn't respond for a moment. She turned around to look at her sister staring at the book open on her lap. Her finger was tracing the name on the title page and her eyes were out of focus. Pinky swallowed when she inferred the implications of her actions.

"I will call you when dinner is ready," Pinky replied and walked out of the room without waiting for any reply.

--------- >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ---------

"We should stop meeting like this." She looked up from the book she was reading to find Maan standing by her desk. "People might talk," he added for good measure earning a laugh from her. He smiled in response.

He walked around the desk in her small cubicle and took the spare chair in front of her, like had been now doing for close to a week. "What were you working on yesterday?" He asked her pulling a file which had projections for a quarter from previous financial year.

"Profit projections, Geet?" He asked her looking at her notes which were tucked in between few sheets.

"I am working on old data and applying few of the theories I am currently reading to see how projections look like," Geet replied. Maan nodded in response and turned pages to understand the progress she was making.

"Once you finish your analysis after applying standard models, try something on your own," he said standing up. "You don't have to invent something new but just tweak whatever you have, mix and match, and then see how close the projections come towards real numbers. Okay?" He said. Geet nodded making a note of what he just said.

It had become their usual exercise. He would drop by her desk first thing in the morning where only those two would be patrons in entire establishment. They would talk about what she was reading and sometimes he would rant about an offshoot argument from previous day. When one spoke, other would always listen. It was peaceful atmosphere where he was simply being Maan, without the tag of CEO attached or the fact that he had a girlfriend.

"Have a good day," he said walking out of her cubicle. She stood up involuntarily. He hesitated. She looked at him in question when she saw him shifting his feet. She caught him staring at her with an unreadable expression. She couldn't help but hold on to the gaze as if everything she ever owned, including her individuality, depended on it.

"I will be away for the rest of the week. I have a flight tonight for London," he said slowly. He didn't know the reason why he was updating her on his travel plans but in that moment the need to share was driving him insane.

"When will you be back?" She blurted, knitting her eyebrows. The news had come from nowhere, though unexpected, but punched her in the stomach nonetheless.

"Probably by Sunday," he replied. She nodded her head and broke the gaze. Her heart clenched and screamed to get out of ribcage making her squeeze her eyes shut. She exhaled loudly realizing that Maan was standing few feet away from her and waiting for a response from her.

"Have a safe trip," she said, her voice betraying every bit of emotion she felt. She grabbed table for support and prayed for a stroke of sanity; she couldn't decipher the range of emotions dancing within her and the pain that arose in its wake.

"Thank you," he said. He took a step forward keeping a close eye on her. She was struggling with something, he could see, but didn't know what to infer from it. "I should probably go," he said taking another step towards her. She looked up to see him standing a bit closer to her than before. She lowered her gaze once more to avoid any conflict. She bit her lip and nodded her head, not trusting her voice.

"Will you please look at me?" He asked taking yet another step. He shook her head in 'no'.

"Geet," he said. His voice was hoarse and barely above whisper. She refused to show him her vulnerability, her attraction and her tears.

"Please," she begged. She couldn't face him. She couldn't let him see her attraction towards him while she only saw sympathy and kindness in his.

"Geet, I..." Maan couldn't complete his sentence as he heard voices of his staff.

She looked at him first and then the entrance of their office where people would enter any moment.

He reluctantly took a step back first and then few more as the voices became loud and nearer. He turned and walked away before people could see the two of them together and start questioning her unnecessarily.

She collapsed on the chair once he was out of her sight. It was going to be a long week.

--------- >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ---------

"You are leaving early?" Sasha asked her when she saw Geet packing her bag.

"My aunt wanted me to come home early. I finished all the assigned tasks allocated to me for the day and if there is anything more, I promise I will finish it before you are in office tomorrow morning," Geet said shoving books in her bag.

"That will not be necessary," she said waving at Maan who was coming their way. "I am going to London with Maan tonight and I am not in office for the rest of the week." Sasha finished the moment Maan stood in front of them. Geet's eyes widened at Sasha's words and immediately looked at Maan who was watching her. Sasha didn't miss this small exchange of glances and smiled inwardly.

"Sasha convinced me that she is the right person to present our operational plan for the next fiscal year. And I agree since she is the best in what she does." He said openly complimenting Sasha. Geet smiled tightly and just nodded not trusting her voice anymore.

"Have a safe trip ma'am, sir," she said barely above whisper and walked away without looking at Maan even once.

"Let's go," he said to Sasha who was watching Geet's retreating back with a frown. She nodded and fell in step with Maan who looked he was several thousand miles away from her. He was generally distant from her at all points of their relationship but it maddened her to see the way his eyes involuntarily held Geet for a moment more than necessary. She had seen the softness in his features whenever Geet spoke to him.

It had hurt to hear that Maan was glad to take her as an employee and failed to acknowledge the fact that she was also his girlfriend. She always knew that he was never in love with her the way she was with him. But it hurt, it hurt when she could see him falling in love with a person who, for all the things said and done, wasn't someone she could call a worthy opponent.

It hurt.