Wired Hearts (5) Ch:39, New Thread (Sep 18)

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mayyo

@mayyo

Sparkler

+ 7

Posted: 10 years ago

#831

Originally posted by: bina_a
hey... i was just reading 37 again!! so vyan didn't like geet's hair n maan liked it ;) geet n her sleepless nights bechari. mayyo we've been reading geet pov what about maan's, do we get to read I'm quite curious to know what is he thinking!!!

Well, this story is from Geet's POV and Maan's POV is purposely kept mysterious, just like his character. You will get to know what he thinks as the story goes on. 😊

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mayyo

@mayyo

Sparkler

+ 7

Posted: 10 years ago

#832

Originally posted by: Ambibamby
What an amazing ff, just read it in one go loved it. Do update soon

Thank you!

Welcome to the story! Hope you enjoy reading it. 😊

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mayyo

@mayyo

Sparkler

+ 7

Posted: 10 years ago

#833

**Replies begin from page 112.
Author's Note: The storyline, characters or the narrative of this story will not be altered due to any cribbing, complaining or begging. This is my story and I will write it my way. If you are willing to wait and see how it plays, you are most welcome to stay through its journey. Your presence and feedback is very much appreciated. If, however, you cannot handle the way I am writing this story, you are free to give up on it. Thank you for being there for the story so far.
38. Of Gossips And Goblins

Unlike the last time I had had a sleepless night, I was early to office the next morning, mainly because I had not slept at all, thanks to Maan's unusual action last night. Vyan had not come to office yet and instead of sitting in the cabin to wait for him, I casually chatted with Sally, the receptionist as I stood at the reception. She was a typical gossip-loving woman who believed she had the juiciest news about everyone in the office and made sure to share it with whoever came in contact with her. As I stood with her, she was saying something when someone poked my right shoulder. I turned to the right to find no one and then turned the other way with a smile.

"What's up?" Vyan seemed to be in an extra good mood. His gelled hair fell on his forehead, bringing out his blue eyes extraordinarily. "Hi Sally!" He leaned against the reception desk.

"Hello, handsome! What's the matter? You seem to be in a great mood." She pointed out even as I saw her sneak a suggestive glance at me.

"Yes, I am! Happy to see two lovely ladies here!" He winked at her and passed me a smile. She raised her eyebrows. "And I brought something for you two." He twisted his arm to reach his back and pulled out two roses. "You're my two favourite ladies in the office, after all!"

"Ooh!" Sally exclaimed.

"This one's for you." He held out the yellow rose for Sally, who took it and crooned a 'thank you'.

"And," he turned to me as he held the pink rose up. His face held a very different expression from the casual, happy-go-lucky one. "This is for you." He said in a low voice, his eyes shining and a very slight smile on his face.

I hesitantly held the rose and stared at it, and then at the one in Sally's hand. Yellow rose symbolised friendship, while pink symbolised... admiration, I thought.

It was in this daze that I heard Sally cough behind me.

"Pink for Geet, eh Vyan?" She wriggled her eyebrows at him, to which he just replied with a wink.

I excused myself from there and went inside the cabin while Vyan said he would just go and meet Tracy regarding the client they had had a meeting with last evening.

Sitting on my chair, I thought about what Raya had advised me over clearing things out with Vyan. She had said I should only talk to him if he dropped clear hints about his liking. Was this rose a hint enough? Should I talk to him now?

"Geet." Vyan's voice pulled me out of my thoughts as he entered the cabin and walked towards his desk. "What's the progress with ARK?"

I stared at him as I contemplated what I should do when he snapped his fingers and repeated his question. I gave my mind an internal shake and launched into the detail of yesterday's work as well as my meeting with Maan. It was not long before we were immersed in work-related discussions and plans which temporarily pulled my mind away from asking Vyan anything.

"Let's go out for lunch today," Vyan suggested excitedly when it was lunchtime.

"Actually Vyan, let's just eat here. We both have work to complete and going out somewhere will take a lot of time." It was the most gentle way to turn him down.

He twisted his lips but agreed on one condition. "We won't be eating here in the cabin. We'll go to the cafeteria."

"But -"

"I need to get out of this place, Geet." He waved a hand to gesture all around the cabin. "Won't you come with me for a little while?"

"Okay." I sighed with a smile.

"Let's go then." His smile was bright as he came forward and pulled the file away from my hand, dumping it on the table and pulling me out of the cabin by my hand.

As soon as we stepped out of the cabin, I became conscious of the people moving around and one young employee noticing Vyan holding my hand. Pulling my hand away, I smiled at him when he turned questioningly.

"Oh yes, I forgot to ask. How is your hand now?" He asked casually when we entered the cafeteria and made our way to the counter.

"Perfect. No swelling, no redness, no pain." I waved my hand at him and he rolled his eyes at my sarcastic reply.

"Since it was my fault, and now that your hand is fine, I'm going to buy you lunch, as a treat."

His declaration was met with an uninterested look from me.

"I'm not falling for that expression today." He pointed to my face and I laughed.

"Yes, you are. I'll buy my own lunch, you buy yours." I turned to place my order and Vyan placed his.

Sneaking a glance at Vyan's face, I wondered how he had so easily given up. Shrugging, I bent to retrieve money from my wallet, which the guy at the counter refused to accept.

"Why?" I asked, puzzled.

In response, the guy looked at Vyan. I turned to him to see him grinning.

"Gotcha!" He winked while I could just stare at him.

"Vyan, you-"

"I know I'm so cool and awesome." He fanned his hand at his face airily. Shaking my head at him, I picked my tray and walked to a corner table while he followed.

He was indeed in a very good mood as well as in his full form today. While we ate, he cracked a couple of jokes which I could not resist laughing on. A few heads turned our way and I put my hands on my mouth to muffle the laughter. I noticed the looks people were giving us, which sobered me up and I finished my lunch quickly. Vyan seemed not to have taken note so I told him to hurry up since we had pending work.

That day, I did not see Maan in ARK when we went for our usual visit. I kept telling myself I was relieved he was not there, but if I was to be truthful, I felt an irrational disappointment at discovering he was supposed to be at Khurana Constructions today and that he would not visit ARK. Hence, the time at and after ARK was pretty much uneventful.

The next day, when I stepped into the office, I overheard two young employees gossiping about something. I would have ignored and moved ahead if I had not heard my name interlinked with Vyan's. It alerted me, halting my feet where I was, hidden from the gossipers by a measly wooden panel which served as a partition between the offices and the waiting area, as I payed attention to what they were saying now.

"Did you see them together yesterday? I swear they're dating," commented one of the girls.

"In the cafeteria?" Asked the other.

"Mm-hmm," replied the first. "He was all flirting and cracking jokes and stuff-"

"And did you see her giggling and laughing?" Interrupted the second girl. "It's like she's over the moon."

"Who wouldn't be? Vyan is just the perfect guy!" Sighed the first one. "I wish I was in Geet's place."

"How solid do you think the two are?" Wondered the second voice.

"I don't know. They're the perfect partners in work, they share the workspace, they go to places together," my ears started to burn as I heard her listing things off that could prove their baseless gossip true, "they work on every single project together even though I feel it isn't really needed. Oh yes, did you see them holding hands when they came out of their cabin yesterday? By the looks of it, they're going pretty strong."

"I did see them, but it wasn't them holding hands. It was Vyan pulling her along." Only one thing was observed the way it truly was, I thought upon hearing the second girl's comment.

I decided it was time to stop these two now so I took the two final steps to come into their view, where they turned pale when they saw me. Just as one was beginning to fumble for an excuse, I glared at them. "Enough gossip! You aren't paid for that here." Both the girls hung their heads a little at my sharp scolding. "Get back to work right now."

With slight nods, they quickly rushed away and disappeared around the corner, while I was left to walk to my cabin and ponder over what I had heard.

People were noticing things now, and commenting about it too. As cool as I might have acted to gossip I would have heard about anyone else, I could not do so when it came to my relationship with Vyan. Why did people not think normally? If a girl and a guy were only friends and colleagues, why should they always be looked upon as girlfriend and boyfriend? I knew I was not giving out such signals in any way, neither to people, nor to Vyan, yet what I was hearing, first from Maan and now from office employees, was not how it really was. What was Vyan's reaction to such ridiculous gossip? Did he know about it at all? Where was Vyan, anyway?

With a sudden consciousness, I realised Vyan had not come yet. Looking at the time, I wondered if I should call him since it was later than his usual time. My mind said I should and so I dialled his number.

"Hi Geet!" Came his cheerful voice.

"Hi! What happened? Why aren't you in office today?"

"Uhh... I was just on my way when Tracy said I needed to meet that client..."

"The same woman who you went to meet the day before yesterday?"

"Yeah. Didn't Tracy tell you?"

"No. Anyway, what about going to ARK?" I asked what was more important in my opinion.

"Umm..."

"Where exactly are you?" The most reasonable option hit me when he told me he was close to ARK's office. "Let's do this. You visit ARK today when you get free from this meeting. I'll see to the work here."

"But Geet, what about you? When will you visit ARK? You know Khurana likes to deal with you more than me." I shut my eyes, wanting to curse at the fact which Vyan had spoken ever so normally.

"He can live for a day." I would deal with him later if he questioned my absence, I decided. For now, I just wanted Vyan to be busy in his own separate work. Maybe the gossipers would tame a bit. "For today, you visit ARK, okay?"

Getting Vyan to agree to it was not as easy as I had thought it would be but I finally succeeded. He agreed, even if half-heartedly, hence relieving me a little bit.

I spent my day mostly coordinating with the junior designers about various designs and projects, making sure to put my utmost professional outlook towards them, especially towards the two girls I had caught gossiping in the morning. By lunchtime, everything seemed pretty normal to me, except the fact that I missed Vyan's constant presence, although I showed otherwise to the rest of my colleagues.

Lunchtime was the hardest to pass, since I did not have much to do at hand. Vyan had called once and enquired about the work as well as informed about ARK's progress, but that was the last I had heard of him. Walking into the cafeteria to buy myself some light lunch, I looked around and saw the same two girls huddled together with some more juniors. As I sat on a table with my sandwich and juice, I noticed the moment one of them looked towards me then whispered something to the rest, who in turn, quickly looked my way, and then their whispering became fiercer. No doubt they were discussing the hot topic.

I jerked my head at their insensitivity as my phone rang. Welcoming the distraction with open arms, I answered the call with a wide smile.

"Anaya!!" I squealed a bit. "Where are you?!"

"Unlike Ms. Busy Designer, I am running the 24-hour business I've taken upon myself some four years ago." She replied jestingly. "But I still manage to miss my busy friend in my not-so-free life, even if my friend doesn't even think of me."

"Aww! Don't say that! I miss you more than you miss me."

"Yeah, yeah! Now you'll say you were about to call me, you were thinking of me, you wanted to meet me, etc etc." I could almost hear her rolling her eyes and it made me chuckle.

"You never told me you've studied telepathy." We both laughed at my comment. "How are my little munchkins? It's only been about three days since I saw them and it seems like a long long time."

"They're good. They'll be beginning their school after a month so Ayush is trying to spoil them as much as he can. When I question him, he says his children are about to be sentenced to years of jail, that is, school, colleges, university, and what not, so we must let them "live" life before the jail begins. Can you imagine a two-and-a-half year old kid wanting to "live life"?!"

I was laughing all along as she narrated one of Ayush's antics when she had caught him in the kitchen in the middle of the night with chocolates stuffed in his mouth as well as the two kids', who were trying to be as secretive about their activity as possible so as to not let their mother know.

"So I locked the fridge and hid the keys," finished Anaya triumphantly. "Now nobody knows where they are."

"Wow! How do you manage to deal with such activities every other day? It sounds like a riot to me."

"It is! I swear, it is! But that's what makes my life complete now." Her voice turned soft as a petal, clearly showing all the love she held for her husband and their children. "A day without one such activity seems incomplete." I smiled. If, one day, I married and had a family, I wished for a family which bonded like Anaya's. "Anyway, what's up with you? Since you haven't cut the call in so long, I assume you're not busy. Are you in office?"

"Yes." I sighed. "Where else would I be at this moment?"

"Then how come her highness is available to talk?"

"It's lunch break, Anaya." I said in response to her question which was heavily laced in sarcasm.

"Vyan's not there today?" I was surprised at her accurate guess.

"Yes, how did you know?"

"Huh! No rocket science. When Vyan is there, you aren't really as available as you seem to be right now."

I groaned. "Please, Anaya! I'm sick of hearing this Vyan Geet gossip! Why can't everybody just understand already that we are friends and nothing more?"

"What are you talking about?" Her voice dropped all joking manners and caught on the seriousness my tone depicted. "Is there some issue at your office?"

I narrated to her the gossip I had heard about myself in the morning and then my reactions and views.

"Why are you so upset?" She began in a soothing voice. "People love to talk about anything and everything, making a mountain out of a molehill, and even creating an imaginary molehill when there isn't any in reality." My eyes raised for a second towards the bunch of juniors who quickly looked away as I caught them staring at me with eager interest. "What should matter to you is that you know what is the truth and what is not. Take the gossip like a story and it'll be easier for you to laugh on things rather than take them to your heart."

Talking to Anaya calmed down my anxiety by a great degree. For the rest of the day, I was more relaxed, easily working on my comfort level rather than with the agitation which drove me since morning. By evening, I had outlined the "dos" and "don'ts" regarding all the gossip running around. I was certainly not going to let it pull me down and hide or run from a great friend and work partner like Vyan. It was an absolute no-no. Like Anaya had suggested, I was now going to face it all head-on, dismiss the rumours and laugh on how creative human minds could be in creating gossip. The only thing I wanted to do when I met Vyan again was to bring this gossip to his notice. I wanted to know what he thought of it.

With a short call from Vyan about the day's activities and work, I left office for the day. I was free now but I did not feel like going home. Checking what options I had, I decided upon a long walk without a destination in mind. Getting off the bus near my home, I started walking towards the opposite direction, just enjoying the slight breeze blowing my hair away from my face.

It had been a long time since I had walked like this. Running with life, to make ends meet, to run from my heart, to run from my fears, from my guilt and from myself, I had forgotten what it felt like to be free, without any aims and ambitions, without any responsibilities and burdens, to just live the moment. Slowly but surely, all other thoughts fled my mind as I let my feet lead me.

I did not know how long I had walked but I noticed the sun set and the sky begin to darken. Looking around, I noticed very few buildings towards my left, with a couple of cars parked in front of them. Towards my right was something which looked new yet familiar. I could not recall having come here before but I still felt I had seen the stony path leading towards the bushes and dense trees which did a great job covering up what was behind everything. A lone black car was parked a little sideways from the stone path.

After a moment of curiosity and indecision, I signed off the strange familiarity as a nonsensical deja vu which was a normal case and entered the coffee shop which was one of the buildings towards the left. I figured a few minutes of sitting down and some coffee would make my day complete. Sitting on the table, I pulled out an old novel with worn out covers. The novel was a personal favourite and a constant companion for the past few weeks.

Not long after I started to read the book while sipping my coffee, I heard someone asking permission to sit on the same table. Tearing my eyes away from the book, I looked up only to be surprised.

"What are you doing here?" I knew it was impolite to ask such a question outrightly but nothing else occurred to me seeing Maan standing there.

"Hello to you too." He passed me a tight lipped smile and pulled a seat before settling comfortably across me. It embarrassed me for a second that I had overlooked his polite permission and asked a question of my own, before I noticed there were quite many empty tables around us.

"Hey, there is so much space here!" My exclamation was met with a slight shrug as he took a sip from the coffee he had bought for himself. I quirked an eyebrow at him, which garnered a little reaction. He put his cup down, licked his lips and then looked at me.

"I never said there's no space."

"But?"

"But I saw you sitting here, reading this-" he pulled the book from my hand and shut it, "A Walk To Remember. Hmm, nice! How I wish Jamie had survived. Poor Landon!" He sighed dramatically before sliding the book back towards me. "Anyway, so I saw you sitting here from outside the window and I thought you'd like my company. I'm definitely more interesting than this." His thumb pointed towards the book and his lips were pulled up in a smirk.

"Right." Giving him a clear sign of disinterest, I opened my book again. Numbered seconds ticked by before it occurred to me what he was doing in this corner of the city. There didn't seem to be any corporate area close by. "By the way, what are you doing here? I mean, in this area."

"Drinking coffee." I rolled my eyes at the innocent look he gave me. He was definitely having one of his "oh-I'm-so-awesome" days, so there was no use trying to get him to talk normally.

"What are you doing here?" He asked the same question I had.

"Trying to read my book in peace, which I don't seem to be getting." I looked him up and down and then bit my tongue and hid my smile at the speechless look which passed on his face for a fleeting second.

"Why didn't you come to ARK today?" I raised my eyes to him. His face was turned away and his eyes roamed the areas as if interestedly gauging his surroundings.

"Just like that." My answer brought his eyes back to me, albeit, surprised.

"That's quite unprofessional." His accusation was met with raised eyebrows from my end.

"And this is certainly not the place to discuss what is and what is not professional."

He took another sip of his coffee, looked away and then looked back at me. "Let's talk personal, then."

He did it again, robbed me of speech and flustered me with the way he looked at me, with dark, hooded eyes. I groped to find something, anything to look away. The book came as a rescue but I couldn't read so I struck up a conversation with a mysteriously silent Maan.

"How come you're alone?" He looked at me as if I had pulled him out of some thoughts. "No date tonight?"

He snorted. "You think I go on a date every night, don't you?" I shrugged and then saw, with narrowed eyes, the slowly spreading smile on his face. "What do you think a date is? A girl and a guy spend some time together. Alone. Talking or doing anything." I gave a "so what" look in response to which he smiled more openly. "A date could be anywhere, no? Even in a coffee shop." It occurred to me then, seeing his full smile, which revealed a perfect set of white teeth, his eyes naughtily pointing at the two of us and crinkling at the corners with his smile.

"This isn't a date." I stated with a serious face.

"It can be. It's just the thought that counts." He countered easily.

I just gazed at him for a few long seconds. He was so unpredictable. I could never know how he would react to what words of mine. At times, he could easily take the most stupid things I would say, and at times, he could blow up at anything trivial.

"What's wrong with you, Maan?" The soft question which escaped my lips was not related to the conversation we were having at all. "What has happened to you?"

He looked away and snorted humourlessly. "Life happened," were his only words before he looked back into my eyes evenly.

Were his eyes seeking answers or were mine questioning something, I knew not. It was a few moments later that I tore my gaze away and closed my book before putting it back in my bag.

"I should be leaving now," I said without looking up.

"So soon?" His question was immediate, and as my eyes drew to him, I realised it was spontaneous too. "How?"

"I'll take a cab." I stood up and saw his eyes move with me.

"No." The firm voice did not let me take a step. "You won't get a cab here. I'll drop you."

"I came walking this way, I can walk back if I don't get a taxi."

Maan took the last sip of his coffee and got up, almost towering over me. "It's not a safe place to walk in the dark. Come."

I gave up and followed him out. It really was silent outside. The coffee shop was the only place which emitted some light. All of the rest, which had seemed like warehouses earlier, were shuttered and dark now. There was only one car in the vicinity, which was the black car parked across the road, in front of the area which seemed so familiar to me. It did seem odd but I did not question Maan about it.

The car ride was filled with a radio jockey's voice, receiving calls from the listeners and advising solutions to all the issues they talked about. I was tired, mentally and physically. The walk had worn me down but the mental dilemmas I had had today had drained me more, so I did not attempt at making a proper conversation. Only small talk like Aunty's and Zara's health, occurred before we reached my place.

"Want to come in?" I asked as an afterthought when I had thanked him.

"Some other day," was his simple answer, as he passed me a small smile before I got out of the car.

It was a restless night with mixed dreams. I saw my parents, my sister, my friends, Maan, Vyan. It felt like my life played in my dreams that night and I could not figure out what it meant, if it meant anything at all, as I went to office the next day.

Vyan met me with the same enthusiasm as before, making sure to mention he had missed me the previous day. I smiled when he said that but I made a mental note to myself for talking to him about the gossip today at all costs. We went for lunch together in the cafeteria and even though I had promised myself not to bother about the looks and office gossip, I could not help but notice the way people looked at us.

Vyan was his usual, cheerful self, talking about how his previous day went, and how much time the client had taken up. He made a funny face when he said he did not know why the client wanted to deal with him and him alone whenever she came to Innodea. He thought she was just another rich, spoilt brat who had loads of money to throw away on wanting to redo the interiors of one thing or another every few months. Since I did not know the client and had never met her personally, I chose to take Vyan's judgement, expressing my curiosity in wanting to meet the woman.

We went to ARK together that evening. Maan was not there again and the work seemed to be going great. It was almost one week now and we were ready to move to the next step and start decorating the offices, but since it could not be done without Maan's presence, we decided to wait for another day. Taking an early off, we figured we could go to our respective homes.

It was in the compound of my residential building, when Vyan got out of the car to see me off, that I broached the subject of the office gossip very cautiously.

"Have you... heard what gossip is going on about the office these days?"

"Huh! Tell me about it. Is there ever only one gossip doing rounds in the office? Trust Sally to ignite the fire." He jerked his head to a side. "Which one are you talking about?"

"Umm... About you and me..." His puzzled look said more than he did himself. "That you and I are... dating..."

"Oh." He looked away.

Oh. That was all he was going to say?

"Have you heard?" I asked again, and saw him nod as he took a sip from the coke can he had bought for himself on the way here. "Well?"

"Well, what?" He questioned, finally turning to look at me.

"How do you take it?"

"It's just gossip, Geet. Stop bothering about it." Waving a hand in dismissal, he aimed for the trash can nearby and threw his coke can in it.

"But, I can't help it." I looked down. "It bothers me a lot that people don't see things for what they are. I mean, you and I are friends, but people take the slightest thing in the wrong meaning."

He gently tipped my chin up, making me look at him. "You're bothered that they're tagging your name with mine?" I nodded as he continued in the same soft tone. "It troubles you that you're giving a wrong impression, aren't you?" I nodded again. He had hit on spot. "Don't worry so much." I saw him smile. "You know how you feel about me and that's clear enough for me. Who cares about what the world thinks?"

His words pushed me into quick thoughts. I knew it was now or never for me. "And what about you?" I finally asked the question. "How do you feel about... me?"

I carefully watched his reaction, trying to read the minutest changes on his face. He let out an almost inaudible sigh, looked far away with a small smile for a few long seconds before he looked back at me. "It doesn't matter."

It hit me then. He had clearly not given me the answer. I knew Vyan to be the open and outspoken one, someone who spoke what was on his mind, not the one who evaded a direct question in such an obvious manner. I knew what the answer was which Vyan was not willing to give to me, and I knew I had to do something then and there. I could not let Vyan suffer, I could not let him feel miserable because of me. I had never wanted to give an impression the way he had taken it and yet, somehow, it had ended leading up to the same point. I couldn't let history repeat itself. I wouldn't.

39. Allayed

Edited by mayyo - 10 years ago

117

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893213

Hibernated

Posted: 10 years ago

#834

At last at last at last!

Tumhe humari yaad aa hi gayi :P

Can't be upset with you after this one!

Geet clears the air with Vyan and that was what I wanted.

Thanks to the gossiping girls, ooh I love these creatures😆

Khud ka kuch sambhal nahi sakte, baaki sab ka guess kar ke kahanis banayege

Chalo unki wajah se madam ki eyes opened up

Anaya too called at the right time

So TJ missed her

Kyun nahi aayi?😆

Loved the way they still have their push and pull

A walk to remember..❤️

Next update jaldi chahiye mujhe

koi bahana nahi chalega

I hope you start writing it now😲

Thanks for updating Mari

This one put a smile on my face

Fawad kyun muskura raha tha in the end? wo samajh nahi aaya mujhe?

I mean she clearly said we are friends😲

Koi nai.. will wait

Edited by dqno1 - 10 years ago

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sanghita0000

@sanghita0000

Sparkler

+ 2

Posted: 10 years ago

#835

fantastic update dear...loved it...😃

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prema_ks

@prema_ks

Inactive

+ 2

Posted: 10 years ago

#836

Thanks Mari for the long update in your situation.🤗

Loved it. Geet finally confronts Vyan.

Our Heroine is missing Hero in ARK and vice versa.

Geet is imagining her family life (I am dreaming more than her)

Is that place Maan's favorite one?

Maan and Geet moments how much ever you give still ye dil mangta more.

Hope everything goes great at your personal front.

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Suganthi

@sugivarun

Explorer

Posted: 10 years ago

#837

Superb and I loved geet the way she is trying to clear the fog

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Ubiquitos

@Ubiquitos

Dazzler

+ 3

Posted: 10 years ago

#838

Woohoo. So she won't. She realises it. Vyan understands. But I guess he wants to try maybe. That place seemed to be one of places they went together in past. Interesting Maan was there. They are slowly opening up to each other. Waiting for more.