SS: A Bend in the Road [Wattpad link-P.126] - Page 26

She didn't wait for him of course.

She had in fact excused herself pleading a headache and went to outhouse.

Ever since she was home, all she did was stand in the balcony and stare at the stars in the silent night.

She hadn't changed out of the Saree and she was acutely aware of the Kohl dot that was resting on the side of her waist.

She looked down at her waist, touching the dot which was now peeking out of the thin silver waist chain she had worn in impulse.

She heard a knock and turned around to see Maan Sir standing by the threshold at the door, of the terrace.

"I asked you to wait for me, didn't I?"

There was no malice in his voice. Not even the usual scathing that sounded otherwise.

As he walked closer to her until he stood before her, realization drawn on her, how handsome he was.

She wasn't blind to her boss's handsomeness earlier. After all, she was subjected to female employees gushing over him. However this night, he looked different.

He looked breathtaking and unattainable. Everything that he was.

"Geet?" He said, his voice lowering to a tingling whisper.

She had her hands strictly behind her, clutching the railing tight.

"I wanted to talk to you"

"Y-yes?" She said, her voice not betraying her emotions.

There was a smile that crossed his lips as he walked further closer to her, towering her.

His hands reached out to the either side of her waist and for any onlooker it would look like he was to take her on his arms. Geet's breathing hitched but as she felt his arms go around her to catch hold of her hands that formed a steely grip around the railing, she felt the breath she was holding release slowly.

"Let go" he said in the same velvety whisper and she let him take her hands off the metal.

They stood like that for a while, she, listening to her pounding heartbeat, and him looking at their entwined hands that are now held between them.

"I want to talk to you about Hoshiyarpur land"

Again, she felt a slow ache in her heart and she was grateful that he was holding her in some way.

"What about it?" She said in a low voice. There was a time she fought tooth and nail for it but now, knowing Maan sir wasn't to be blamed since he bought in a land by paying someone, even though that someone wasn't her, she made peace with it.

At that time, she fought for the land that was her family's property. Now though, she had neither a family nor a property. The only thing that she held closer to her heart were values. Maan Sir had taught her to always take a right decision, which should go beyond one's emotional feelings.

It is that act of righteousness that had made her file a complaint on Brij and send him to jail. It was the same values that made her what she is today.

So, she thought she would do what is right.

"The land is in the middle of a legal dispute, raised by your family" he had said and she swallowed the bile raising in her throat and nodded.

"There is a court trail and I am going to Hoshiyarpur for the same"

"Okay"

"I want you to come with me"

No.

That word was rippling through her chest, giving an acute pain.

She gripped his hands tighter.

It was the right thing to do, she knew but going back to the place which once was home, only made her shudder.

That place held too many memories and she wasn't sure she could quite handle it.

"Don't worry about your safety. There would be security there"

"I'm not worried about my safety" she said quietly. "I had someone take a stab for me once, I don't want that to repeat".

There was such tenderness in his eyes that almost undone her.

He released his hands from her only to tip her chin up.

"I'll be fine." He said then.

"Good" she had said. "Otherwise I would miss someone finding faults in me always"

He had smiled then, the rarity and beauty of it always making her heart melt.

"Rest assured, you always will have me to find faults in you" he said, making her heart skip a beat.

"And that is a promise"

"So you're coming?" He asked.

She had stared at the sky long enough now.

There's something in the soil, maybe her soul is stuck here.

There's something familiar about the breeze that carried nostalgia and memories with it, only good ones.

Hoshiyarpur, which was her home beckoned her always but today, right here when she is in her hometown, she felt a strange sense of nervousness seep into her.

Is it her home now? Is there any home left to her?

She was not sure.

Hoshiyarpur used to feel home once. It still is really close to her heart but it ceased to be the place where she felt safe.

Maybe Maan sir felt her growing unrest when they were approaching, he had done what he knows best. He had kept her busy by asking her questions and ideas about the Chopra project.

He let her talk, and talk until she felt the unease slip. When they had arrived at his guest house, he got down and maybe he had seen her slip back into her mute self, he took her hand discreetly and entwined his fingers with hers.

It was such a simple act which both shocked her and pleased her to no end for he was trying to give her wordless support.

She drew energy from the simple contact as they walked inside.

He had indeed made sure there was enough security. The local police were informed about the case, and protection was given, in addition to the security they had gotten.

It was an out of court settlement. Her family surprised her by not showing up to the case and since the land was on her name anyway, she had agreed to have the land been sold to Maan Sir and felt relieved when she had let solve something at least.

Along with Maan sir was Ms. Rasika, the MD of a competitor company, which was coming together to work with Khurana constructions for this prestigious project.

She was a petite woman with her eyes mostly glued to her phone, and when they weren't, glued to Maan Sir.

Geet had seen the movement of her eyes and how she carried herself around him. This woman knew her power, she had everything that Maan Sir would need in a partner; beauty, brains, degree, power and most of all class.

Rasika did look at her maybe once with a tilt of her head, judgment in her eyes when she was talking to Maan Sir and that was that.

When they were descending the steps, once out of the court, she had seen Rasika give Maan Sir a hug and her hand linger on his shoulder for a moment longer than necessary.

Geet had known for a long time she was alone, but that morning, she had felt deserted.

And now when she was standing in the night, she had felt an unexpected shower of rain fall on her, and she looked up with her hands extended to the sky, wondering how much she was missing this, a small feeling of belonging.

When she looked down from the terrace, she had seen Maan sir get out of his car, but stand there looking at her, like he had never seen before.

She was towelling her hair when she had heard the knock on her door.

She had known who it was, but still it didn't help her any better because her heart did a tiny flip as she saw him stand by the door, with his arms crossed, leaning against the door frame.

She had slowed down the towelling now although, she had been slowly wiping her wet hair with the cloth.

"You had your dinner?" He had asked.

"Yes..." She hesitated "Did you?"

"Yes, we had a meeting with Rise construction company, had dinner there"

Rise constructions... Rasika. Of course.

She had turned then, to buy time, had her towel neatly placed on the chair to left to dry. Once she made sure her face wouldn't show her internal turmoil, she turned to face him, and was quite surprised to see him come close.

"We are staying for a couple of days"

"Okay"

"I need you to get the paperwork ready for this project. Contact Rishi if you need anything"

"Okay"

He waited for a while, and then he bought forth what he was holding for a while, what she hasn't noticed existed all this while.

It was a cheque signed by him for quite a sum.

"What is this"

"This is how much your land costs now"

Something snapped in her.

"You already paid for the land"

"Not to its rightful owner"

"It doesn't matter. If you think I or my family would go to court for it further, rest assured" she said feeling something burn in her throat, something closer to tears.

She had remembered with a flash, the look Rasika gave her this morning. The slant look of a once over questioning her presence there, showing time and again that she was a nobody.

She didn't care when Sasha had tried to put her in her place back in Delhi. She didn't care when Rasika's eyes held disgust at her clothes and appearance.

However now that Maan Sir had wordlessly shown her place, it hurt.

"I don't need this" she said.

"I need to do this" he said. "I am amending my mistake"

"There was no mistake of yours. If there was a fraud involved while selling this property, it didn't concern you. It isn't your fault that my family had misplaced trust in someone unworthy"

This time, he took a beat before saying the next set of words that slashed through her soul.

"It isn't your fault either that someone had tricked you into selling this land, just like it isn't your fault that your brother tried to kill you or that it isn't your fault that you married someone who was a fraud"

Geet felt the ground beneath her feet slip.

She staggered backwards, holding the cot that was behind her.

"You know?"

"I know"

"How?"

"That's not important"

Suddenly she felt vulnerable. Not knowing how else to mask it, she chose anger.

"It's my life. How does it concern you, whatever happens"

"It has interlinked with mine way before. It f**king concerns me."

She looked at him, her heart racing.

"I am talking about the site" he had said. "Our paths crossed when we got entangled in the dispute of this site. I had to do what I had to"

That was such an obvious lie, he knew but he had to keep at it. He needed to.

"I don't need charity"

"I'm giving what is rightfully yours"

"I don't need it"

"You do, for your future"

"Future. I don't see any future anymore. That part of me died sometime back"

"I didn't know you're such a coward, Geet. I thought you wouldn't give up on dreaming for a better tomorrow. I didn't know you'd give up this soon" he said then, placing the cheque on the table with a paperweight on it.

He walked away from her giving her some much needed space. While he was at the threshold however, he said his last set of words that wouldn't leave her waking conscious for days to come.

"I need you to understand I'm not him. I won't betray you"

Geet sat down on the bed, drained of energy as she saw him walking away.

He was not Dev. He was not like him even a little bit.

While one had pushed her into seeping darkness, the other had given her courage to fight it.

How would he even think that she would compare him with Dev.

Betray her?

Maan sir won't betray her. She was sure of it. But her heart did.

It fell for him.