Chapter 13
"Geet isn't speaking to me" Marissa looked at her husband.
Suneel raised his brows questioningly. "What do you mean?"
She then explained what she had blurted out accidentally.
Suneel sighed and offered a reassuring smile. "Don't worry too much about it, Geet will get over it"
"We are talking about Geet here, not Tara" Marissa shook her head. "That girl can keep a grudge for years" she reminded.
"Well, when she returns I'll speak to her"
"That's the thing, she's returned. It's been 2 days and she hasn't called or even let me know. Suneel, she always lets me know" Marissa sighed. "I... I didn't mean to hurt her" she pinched the bridge of her nose.
"I'll head over to hers around noon, she's probably just knackered" he assured not liking that his wife was so upset.
"I... didn't mean to bring him up" she murmured.
"Marissa, she's probably just tired as always. I'll go and see her in a little while" he enveloped her in his arms and held onto her.
"Aren't we doing a session today?" Maan glanced at Shirley as she led him around the building backyard.
"I thought we'd come out this time and speak, being in an old office can sometimes become annoying" Shirley smiled.
"I suppose so" Maan shrugged looking around the yard.
"Why did you choose to help the country Maan?" Shirley asked as she sat down on the bench and stared up at him curiously.
"Should there even be a reason to help out the country?" he arched his brow.
"Do you want to know why I chose this profession?"
"Why?" he walked over slowly taking a seat on the bench besides her.
"When I was in foster care, I had no one to talk to, I didn't know who to turn to. My foster parents didn't care for me, they only wanted the pay cheque that comes for me" she responded. "When I grew up, I decided I was going to be the ear to those who don't have anyone to share their issues with. I've succeeded with a lot of my clients but you... you're really not making my job worthwhile" she turned to him sighing heavily.
"How would you like me to make it worthwhile?" he teased.
"How about you tell me, why you joined the army?" she turned to face him. "Start off at the beginning"
Maan shook his head and offered a small smile. "My dadaji, he'd been my inspiration. Seeing how far he'd come, seeing him helping those people. Listening to his stories, I wanted to feel that happiness and pride he felt when he went out on tour" he answered. "But it didn't last long for me" he murmured.
"These marks are supposed to something you take pride in" Shirley told him gesturing to his cheek. "They're battle scars and I'm proud that you've gone out to protect our country"
"That isn't what everyone sees. They don't see me as going out to serve my country, they see me with pity and disgust" he informed her.
"Wear them with confidence and their mind will change" she replied.
"What the..." Geet frowned hearing her door open and frowned seeing her father stepping inside followed by her mother. "Dad! I gave you my keys in cases of emergency! Who died?"
"You've not been answering any calls" Suneel pointed out.
Geet rolled her eyes. "I only just returned, I'm tired"
"You arrived two days ago" Suneel reminded.
"Still tired" she yawned walking towards her bedroom.
"It's afternoon" Suneel followed behind glancing over his shoulder at Marissa who continued to look concerned. "Your mother was worried for you"
"I'm fine, now can you both leave me alone?" she huffed climbing into bed and pulling the blanket over her.
"Gee..."
"Dad" Geet sat up huffing in exasperation. "Leave me alone!"
"We need to speak to you, you do remember the guy is coming tomorrow to see you" he reminded.
"Tomorrow?" she looked surprised. "You said at the end of this month!"
"It's nearly the end of the month" Suneel replied. "And we said that 3 weeks ago" he added.
"Oh my f**king days" Geet pinched the bridge of her nose huffing loudly. "I'm not seeing him"
"What?" Suneel looked at his daughter in shock. "What did you just say?"
"You heard me" she climbed off pacing her bedroom floor. "I don't want to see him"
"Geet, this isn't some joke. We've invited them over, they're coming tomorrow dammit"
"Suneel..." Marissa stepped in hearing their voices rising.
"Did you hear what she's saying? They're coming tomorrow and now she's saying she doesn't want to see the guy" he looked at Marissa exasperated.
"Whatever, I decided I'm not ready" Geet crossed her arms rolling her eyes.
"You can't be two minded Geet, this is marriage. A life time commitment" Suneel turned around facing her.
"Urgh! I hate living here!" She screamed stomping to the bathroom and slamming the door closed. "I'm going back to America where no one cares if you're still single at 31"
"I'd like to see you try" Suneel called out.
"They're here" Tara whispered as she stepped into the room Geet was waiting in. She didn't try testing her father, she might not be happy too much and was surely confused as to what she wanted to do about her future but she respected her old man enough that she wasn't going to disrespect him in front of guests.
"Have you seen him yet?" Geet asked her sister curiously, her mother had filled her in about the man having been in the army previously and he did have battle scars. How much, they didn't know.
"No" Tara shook her head settling beside her sister. "It might not be so bad"
"What do you mean it might not be so bad? I don't want to be married in the first place and whoever they chose might probably be running a boot camp! The guy was a captain, his grandfather was a General!" Geet shook her head staring at her sister dumbly. "After I say no, I'm running away so say goodbye to me now"
"Pfft as if" Tara chuckled. "You couldn't run away even if you wanted to" she pinched her sister's cheeks. "You love us all too much"
"Whatever, I wish I didn't" Geet pushed her sister's hands off crossing her arms and tapped impatiently. "It would've made my running away so much easier"
"Baby girl it's going to be okay" Tara slipped her arms around Geet's shoulder and kissed her cheek. "Just relax, don't judge and see where it goes"
"Do people forget we're in the 21st century? Who marries like this anymore?"
"I thought my baby whined more, but here it's you" Tara shook her head.
"Shut up" Geet hissed narrowing her eyes at her sister.
Maan couldn't compose his rapidly beating heartbeats which continued to accelerate, he offered a small smile as Suneel and Marissa conversed with his family.
Since they'd come he'd expected a hesitant reception from Suneel and Marissa but they'd both been warm and welcoming his family into their homes.
He figured that they'd been informed of his condition beforehand so they knew what to expect, would they give away their daughter to him though?
From what he learned of Geet, he knew she was successful, owned her own business in interior designing and she was exceptionally stunning. He'd seen it with his own eyes.
"Maybe we should leave some questions for Maan" Savitri chuckled looking at her husband. "And if you have anything to ask him..." she looked between Suneel and Marissa.
"Yes, if you have anything to ask him. Please ask" Gaurav agreed placing his hand on Maan's shoulder offering him a comforting smile knowing his grandson isn't so comfortable.
Suneel and Marissa shared a look wondering what they could ask as they pretty much got a lot of the information from Gaurav about his family.
"Hi Papa" Nick yelled running into the room.
Suneel grinned turning to his grandson and lifted him onto his lap. "This is my grandson, Nick and that's my son in law" he gestured to Sean as he walked into the room. "Sean had gone to pick this one up from nursery" he ticked Nick's sides.
"Stop it Papa" Nick laughed trying to push his hands off.
Sean sat down on the chair beside Marissa arching his brows questioningly at her, Marissa smiled and leaned closer whispering softly "He's going to be great for Geet"
Sean nodded though he wasn't too sure. Maan might be someone who'd done a lot of good and fought for this country but would Geet be able to accept someone who's imperfect when she's almost perfect in every way.
"So, what do you do now, Maan?" Sean asked turning towards Maan.
"I'm a security analyst with the Feds" Maan answered.
"Is it really different from being in the army?" he looked curious.
"Being in the army, there's more of physical work out whereas here it's my fingers" Maan responded offering a small smile.
"Do you miss it?"
Maan's smile faltered for a moment that hadn't gone unnoticed by Gaurav, he also noted how quickly Maan masked his grief and offered a polite smile.
"Always" Maan replied.
"Where's mommy and Gigi?" Nick piped in glancing around.
"Upstairs, why don't you call them?" Suneel placed Nick down on his feet.
"Okay" Nick nodded and ran off yelling for his mother. "Mommy! Mommy"
"Suneel tells me you and your wife own a bar?" Rajeev asked Sean.
"Yes, it's just outside of Delhi" Sean replied and glanced in the direction of the door when Nick came running followed by his Tara and Geet.
"Are they looking at us?" Geet whispered to Tara.
"Like we're on a ramp" Tara smiled brightly at the family who'd come to see her sister.
"Yep, got it. They're staring like vultures" Geet nodded and slowly glanced around uneasily, her eyes paused briefly as she took in the man that'd come to see her.
She looked away and continued ahead settling beside her father whilst Tara walked around settling besides Sean.
"This is my youngest, Geet" Suneel placed his arm around Geet's shoulders proudly.
Gaurav smiled and shared a pleasant look with his wife then turned to Geet. "We've heard a lot about you, my wife hasn't stopped praising your interior designing firm"
"Thank you" Geet smiled politely.
"And I haven't been able to get over the fact that you've designed some of my favourite actors homes" Kartik intervened. "They're really cool designs"
"Don't bring up your models here at least" Rhea shook her head.
Geet giggled sharing a look with Tara who'd snickered.
Kartik rolled his eyes at his mother and winked at Geet.
"So bete, what are your hobbies?" Savitri asked.
"Why is she calling me Bete? Doesn't she know my name is Geet?" Geet whispered to her father.
"Her name's Geet, not bete" Tara cut in chuckling before Suneel could respond.
Suneel mentally smacked his forehead and shook his head whilst the Khurana family shared a look between them and laughed softly.
"Maine hindi sikhane ki koshish kiya" Suneel responded.
"Stop speaking indian" Geet whispered.
"Hindi" Suneel corrected softly. "Anyway" Suneel straightened. "Savitriji asked about your hobbies" he looked at his daughter.
"Interior designing is my hobby" Geet responded. "It's what I took up when I have my holidays in between my flying" she added.
"Flying?" Rhea seemed confused.
"I'm an senior air stewardess" Geet answered. "That's my full time job" she clarified.
Gaurav looked at Savitri sharing an uneasy look, it hadn't gone unnoticed by Geet or her family.
"Maybe we should give some privacy to Maan and Geet to speak" Marissa suggested.
Geet's eyes drew to the man who'd been quiet for the last half an hour, she was prepared by her family last night when they'd revealed that he might have scars, she just didn't know how much.
"Yes, that's probably a good idea" Rhea agreed, she had noted how quickly her in laws looked uneasily once they had heard Geet's profession. She was surprised as well, they had seen her as a businesswoman who owned her own interior designing firm and was successful. They hadn't ever thought this potential wife for Maan is an air hostess. It isn't the most glamorous job and is mostly known by many as waitresses.
"Tara, why don't you lead Maan and Geet outside into our garden patio?" Marissa looked at Tara.
"Yeah, sure" Tara nodded.
Maan glanced over at his mother who'd offered a small gentle smile, he stood followed by Geet.
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