It was her first day at Khurana Industries. Geet was nervous as hell. She knew she was good at what she did. She tried hard to ignore the bitter reason that was behind her accepting the job and promised herself to be committed to the task at hand for the sake of Maan. Still it didn't help the butterflies in her stomach thinking about the fact that she was going to be the boss. Geet always knew that she was a good employee but being a boss was something that came easily to Maan, not her! She adjusted her saree thinking about that for the umpteenth time.
"Mummaaa", came Amy's sweet voice to distract her and Geet was thankful to her.
When she entered her room it was a sight to behold. Maan Singh Khurana in his fully dressed office attrie, mind you! He who used to be way too particular about a single shuffle in his clothes, was now crawling on all fours on the ground searching under that little study table and then under the bed. His little Mia while sitting cross legged on the bed was providing him with instructions, "Papa papa search there behind that cupboard also!"
"uhhh...ok bacha I will. Just don't call mumma. She is busy getting ready for office."
It was then he saw Geet standing there with her hands crossed over her chest and a mighty grin pasted on her face. She raised her eyebrow questioning him about what was going on.
"Uhh..nothing Geet. Mia can't find her socks. So I was just searching."
He quickly got up and ran his hand on the waistcoat to smooth it. Geet smiled and shook her head, "Maan you should have called me earlier."
She opened the lowest drawers of the little wardrobe and took a fresh pair of socks, "Here!"
"I was about to look there...", Maan replied with righteous indignation and took it from a smiling Geet.
"When you are done come and have breakfast, ok?"
Both Maan and Mia together uttered, "Yes mumma"
Geet rolled her eyes and left the room.
Maan and Geet dropped off Amy to school and were on their way to KI. Maan saw Geet fidgeting with her saree.
"You nervous, Geet?", he inquired lovingly.
Geet nodded cutely, "A little". She demonstrated with her fingers and whispered to herself, "Actually a lot!"
Maan smiled, "Just be yourself. You know all about the work. Besides, Manisha and Romeo are working here for the time being. You have one week to prepare the Draft Book Geet. And right after that, we will have our first board meeting where I will introduce you as the Editor of Pageant India. I'm sure the board members will fall flat seeing your work."
Geet sighed seeing the confidence that he had on her. Would she be able to live up to that?
The car stopped and Geet realised, they already reached KI. Geet was about to open the door when Maan held her hand. She looked at him surprised. Maan leaned closer and placed a kiss on her cheek ,"All the best Mishty!"
Geet blushed, "Thanks Maan."
Maan looked at her with a naughty expression, "Just a thanks, huh?"
She whacked on his arm playfully, "Get to work now!"
Maan smiled her favorite smile and off they went. Once they stepped out of the elevator Maan was not her sweet husband but the Maan Singh Khurana. This time the walk to her cabin was all about business.
"Geet, we want the issue to roll out by Jan which means you have exactly thirty days. I don't want the Christmas stuff because it will be way over by the time we release. Winter fashion, New Years, Republic Day that is what we are targeting. And since it is the first issue we need to up the celeb quotient. Include something with a bollywood star. You know Pageant more than me. It is all about style and fashion. And then you have the brand name of Khuranas to it. So make sure it is classy. By the end of the week I want to see the Draft Book and finalised content. I like things well planned organsied as you know. By Friday you have to show me the book and we will have our board meeting on Monday."
Geet tried hard to catch up with what he said. It seemed he wasn't even breathing when he said all that. Book! Friday! those were her catch phrase from all of it and Geet was pancicking internally already. It is one thing to get things done when ordered and another to take initiative and plan stuff. Ramona and Maan had the knack for it. What about her? Geet was not sure about it.
The rest of the day she didn't see Maan at all. Fact is she didn't even have time to think about where he was. Geet had called up on a team meeting to decide the contents that would go on the draft book. It was already Tuesday and she didn't want to fall back on the very first assignment.
Manisha, Diya and Sarah were the design team. Romeo, Priti and Nidhi were the content team. Shlok, Sreya and Rohan were the photographers and editors team. The nine team leads and their assitants constituted a team of 30 members who were under Geet.
Geet was always a person who gave importance to other people and their feelings. She felt it necessary to hear out her creative team about the content. Ramona was decisive and curt but Geet wanted to be loved by her employees as she truly valued their opinions. That was the motive when she set up that creative brain storming meeting which ended up being a chaos.
"So we have to highlight Raymond Marker's designs guys. Maan had already finalised those beige and light coloured outfits. I was thinking about the shoots. How do you feel about it?"
Manisha was the first to jump in, "But baby, I mean Geet, now that the release got delayed by a month don't you think we should include a few more bright colours."
Geet paused for a moment, "Well I was thinking about shooting it in a bright place, you know contrasting the wear. Something like that."
"Well then mix and match", chimed in Divya. "How about taking pictures of bright garments in light background and dark ones in bright!"
"Wow.." Manisha joined.
Geet looked at Sarah, "What about you Sarah?"
"I was thinking we should stick to the original plan"
"That is so boring! Just like you.. We want mix and match", Manisha whined.
It was amazing how a room full of creative people can come up with hundreds of different ideas. Geet tried to incorporate every voice so that one felt left out. Isn't that how you run a team that feels it is heard and well appreciated?
The meeting dragged on for hours already holding off their scheduled plan. But that was ok, as long as you were getting this surge of ideas.
Geet had to stay back for a few more hours on her very first day but she didn't care. Once Geet was passionately involved no one could stop her.
Maan stayed back and when she showed no sign of going home, he knocked at her cabin. "Excuse me Mrs. Khurana? Now you like my gift so much that you are not coming out of it, huh?"
He teased. Geet smiled still busy with her computer monitor.
"Not now Maan. I am still behind the schedule."
Maan stepped in, "You can't finish all the work in a day. Come on, now. You only started today. You will pick up speed from tomorrow."
She paused before hitting the close button on the screen, "Would you like to have a look at it?"
And suddenly the Maan Singh Khurana tone was back, "Geet, I told you in the morning itself. This is your turf. Once you have the vision, you show it to me at the meeting on Friday! That's how things work!"
Geet rolled her eyes and hit the close button, "I was trying to show it to my husband, not my boss!"
He came near her and gave a nice massage on her neck as Geet packed her things,"Well, you are not supposed to share confidential office information with your spouse you know. It is against our HR policy."
"Well then getting a massage from my boss would be quite a good policy...mmm Maan you are too good!"
He had a smirk, "I have heard that before."
"Dhat!" Geet removed his hands and got up.
"Let's go home and show you how good I am Mishty!", He held her hand and off they went.
"I don't understand. In the morning you just switched in to another gear, and now just like that you are here rubbing my back! What are you Mr. Maan Singh Khurana?", Geet asked huskily once they were in the car.
Maan had a faint hint of smile even though his eyes were staring at the road. They were waiting at a traffic signal. "You know me na. My principles are everything to me. In the office we share a professional relationship. I can't let my judgement cloud my decisions because of the fact that I love you. And believe me Geet, it is so hard to do that. But I have to. That is the right thing. I can't undo the hatred that I had back in NYC but now..."
Maan struggled for words. It seemed like the past never actually let go of you comepletely.
Geet ran her hand gently on his shoulder, her eyes filled with love, "I know and I am happy that you keep it both separate." She leaned closer and her hands reached at the small of his neck, "Although I wont mind those back rubs now and then."
Maan shook his head , "I am at your service after office hours."
Geet smiled but the talk of their intimacy brought forward the painful reality that she was trying to push away all the day. She thought she could shake that thought off as time passed but everytime it came forward, a gnawing pain hit her heart.
"You, ok?", Maan inquired quizzically. She seemed so happy just now. What would possibly bother her?
"Nothing. I am just tired."she lied and rested her head on the seat.
Maan just let her be. Lisa had the dinner while Amy was waiting to meet up with her parents before going to bed. She was settling in with the new house pretty well and the school was growing on her. Amy behaved as if she always belonged here. Finally the chatter box stopped and went to bed leaving Geet and Maan alone.
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PRECAP : Geet submits the Draft Book 😲
How do you think Maan will react?? 😉
Let me know how you felt about this. Will be updating once I am back. No further delays 😳
Ye Hai Mohabbatein
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