MY ENDLESS JOURNEY: Maaneet Chapter 1 to 4 - Page 2

CHAPTER 3

I sat there again summarizing the phases of my life, suddenly I heard Maan calling me, "GEET, here you are, I have been searching you since last few minutes I gave him a puzzled look, why was he searching for me. He was looking at me for some reaction, but I was too puzzled to react.

"Geet do you have any place to go? he asked me;

I looked at him, shall I tell him that yes I have a place to go, my boss has given me few addresses in several cities, where I could go, I just have to go to Srinagar or I could have stepped down at Ludhiana or Hisar, but I did not answer his question.

He looked at me for several minutes and then sat down, "Ok, come with me, my first instinct was to refuse, but then I thought, what is the harm in trusting him? I want to end that previous life; I want to start a new life. So why go to Srinagar or any other place and be known to my life that I have left, instead go with Maan and start afresh.

After much thought I just nodded and followed him. We went to the bike stand and he asked me to wait, after few minutes he came out with a motorcycle. He smiled putting on his helmet, "you will have to sit with me on this bike lady he said and started the bike; I sat behind him putting my bag between us.

"Are you ready he asked and I nodded, he did not move, I was like now what why is he not moving, "Geet are you ready, you have to speak and not nod he laughed. I mentally scolded myself and said "yes

It had been long since I sat on a bike, the night breeze was soothing. The city was dark and looking a bit dangerous due to darkness, but I felt secure. Soon we reached a colony, it had many single storied houses, none of them was like the other, the colony seemed to have developed through the times, out of the individual needs of the residents; he stopped in front of one of them, "here this is my palace and he smiled. His mesmerizing smile was infectious, I could not stop myself any more from participating in his humour and laughed softly. He looked intently at me.

"You look better when you laugh I stopped hearing his comment. He ignored my reaction and opened the lock of his house.

The house was small with a hall, one room, kitchen and bathing area cum toilet. It had a small courtyard also, my observation was broken by his voice "as you don't ask anything but I know you want to know where are the others, he said. I shrugged I was not thinking about who lived here I was just observing the surroundings, it has been due to my long career training, I observe things instinctively. He said, "Now let me inform you madam I live here alone I just nodded; ok that's why the house was locked. He gave me a puzzled look and asked, "You are not afraid of this fact

Afraid, I am no more afraid of anything, I shrugged, "No he again gave me a brilliant smile and said, "ok follow me, I will show you where you can settle he showed me the room it had a huge single bed, after all he was 6 feet tall, "here you sleep here I nodded and looked at him and as if he read my face, he said, "I will sleep in the hall and went out