**Replies to your comments begin from page 76.16. A Don Juan?
I was so engrossed in the design I was sketching that the hand with a pack of biscuits appearing in my line of sight made me jump a little. I looked up in time to see Vyan chuckle slightly before rolling his eyes. My eyes drifted to the biscuits he was offering me.
"Since you're such a workaholic who wouldn't even care about meals at times, I thought I should take charge of that. At least here at office." He smiled lopsidedly.
"You didn't need to bother." I tried to brush him off politely even as I took one biscuit from the pack. My equation with Vyan was changing now. He made sure to keep the atmosphere light and jocular while we worked so now I was used to laughing at his jokes and appreciating the little tokens of chivalry he would often drop; like offering to drop me everyday, or holding the door open when we both walked out together.
"Oh, don't worry! It's totally for a selfish reason. I need my partner not to fall sick. Too much work to handle alone!" He jokingly clucked his tongue. I smiled and bit the biscuit as he perched at my table.
"You know what, I'm starving, and I'm sick of the meal available at the canteen. Let's go get something tasty to eat." He was eager.
"From where? And not to forget, we need to submit this design by tomorrow." He waved his hand dismissively.
"There's not much left to do. Besides, it's lunchtime and we can just go grab something from the new fast food restaurant which opened a few streets away."
"I'm not hungry, Vyan. You can go get yourself anything."
"Come on, Geet! Give me company, at least! Please, please, please!" He clasped his hands together and pleaded as his blue eyes seemed like that of a child. I laughed a little and agreed.
"You haven't been around the city yet, right? I mean, to the famous places and all." He questioned me when we had just picked the order from the drive-thru and were heading back to the office. His question sucked me to a time seven years ago when I had toured the city with him. With Maan.
"Geet?" He called again when I didn't answer.
"I have, actually. Years ago."
"Oh yeah, you used to study here." He nodded and recalled one of the few things I had told about myself. "But you really should do it again now. The city's changed a lot and it has got new things for entertainment now. How about I take you around?" He added as an afterthought.
I looked out the window to hold myself together and I saw the object of my thoughts in flesh. Maan. He was entering an elite restaurant with his hand placed lightly on a woman whose back I saw. His wife, I thought, and my gaze followed them until they disappeared and our car sped away from the signal when the light turned green.
"Of course." I turned to Vyan and replied when I realised he was waiting. His face beamed a wide smile. "But not yet. I mean, for now, I'm running on a busy schedule. No time for sightseeing, you see."
His smiled hadn't dimmed even a bit, rather he willingly agreed.
That night, as I lay in bed, my mind brought up the image of Maan and his wife. I couldn't see how she looked except that she was short and was dressed in an even shorter skirt. He, on the other side, was tall and smiling, dressed in what seemed to be formal wear with dark pants, a white shirt and a black waistcoat over it. I shook my head and closed my eyes to sleep, pushing all thoughts away.
Two days later, I sat with Tracy and Vyan in a restaurant for a client meeting. It was evening already and we were more relaxed as we waited for the client, when my eyes fell on a table at the far corner. It was Maan again, sitting with a woman who seemed to be tall and well-built. I was sure she wasn't the same woman I had seen the other day but the way she was sitting so close to him confused me.
"You know him?" I was distracted with Vyan's question.
"Who?" I realised I had been staring at him and the woman for a moment long enough for Vyan to notice.
"That man in blue." He jerked his chin in the direction where my eyes had just been glued a few seconds before.
It was the arrival of the client at that moment which saved me from having to answer him. But the meeting with the client could not lessen the bemusement I felt when I saw Maan leave the restaurant with his arm casually around the woman's waist.
When I reached home that night, Raya and Raunaq were out for dinner. They had even asked me to accompany them but I had declined. For the moment, the solitude was welcome because I paced around the living room to get it all straight. I had seen Maan twice within a week, dining with two different women. To top it off, the way I saw him behaving both the times had felt more intimate than it would be with a friend. I distracted myself with some work I had brought home, and soon forgot all about my confusion from the evening when Raya and Raunaq came home, and we made plans of going over to their new house over the weekend so we could set it up.
Throughout the weekend and half of the next week, Mrs. Khurana called a number of times to just chat. I was more than happy to be in contact with her and was looking forward to seeing her in the kitty party she and Zara had invited me over for.
On the evening before the weekend, I went to the departmental store with Raya to shop some stuff for her new house. It was a pleasant experience until I was reminded of the puzzled state I had been in the past week. I saw Maan. Again. With a third woman. From the huge glass wall of the grocery store which overlooked the parking lot, I saw the statuesque woman hug him and then turn away, seductively turning back to him and waving as she walked to a car. My eyes flew to Maan who was waving back with an appealing smile.
He got into a car and drove away but I took a few minutes before I could move. Why had the city suddenly become so small for me to see him again and again? Worse yet, what was with him and the different women? Wasn't he supposedly married? Alright, I had assumed he was married but his changed stance was next to impossible to wrap my head around.
It was none of my business, I scolded myself. I should not be bothered by who he went out with. But he hadn't been that way, my heart whispered. I ignored it, chatting with Raya as we picked stuff and talked about the kitty party next day.
Edited by mayyo - 10 years ago
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