Winter's End T2 - Epilogue - 15.7.14 - Page 23

Chapter 39

A month was left to the marriage. Maan had insisted to go wedding shopping with Geet that weekend and Geet had taken off from work on Saturday. They were going through attires and Maan was giving his full input. Vicky, who had joined the two to get some clothes for himself was watching the two from a distance. Maan finally found a pretty deep maroon lehenga. He was ecstatic about it.

"Geet, this is IT. Try it on." Geet looked at it and her face fell.

"No Maan, not maroon. I wore this for my marriage with Sohan." Maan put it back while Geet continued looking at other dresses. Vicky was the only one to notice Maan's fallen face. And something, maybe it was the pain that flashed on his elder brother's face, made Vicky think about doing something.

Geet was at Khurana Mansion. A lot of changes had happened. Maan's room, soon their room, was getting renovated. Armaan and Riya were getting rooms too and their possessions were slowly being brought in an arranged. Geet was coming more frequently now. The Khurana women needed no reason to call her. But today, they had. The Khurana ladies had spread sets and sets of jewellery on the table. Dadi, Diya, Naintara, all were showing Geet necklaces and bangles to be worn at functions, wedding and after marriage. Dadi handed a few sets to her, saying those will he hers as she will be the daughter-in-law of the house but Geet refused. She couldn't possibly take it.

"Dadi, you keep it na. Whenever I want it, I will ask." There is was again. Vicky, who was leaning against a pillar looked at his Dadi's slightly fallen face. He knew Geet wasn't doing it on purpose but he had to say something to her.

After dinner, Geet was sitting on the terrace, enjoying the fresh air. Vicky joined her.

"I am sorry, Geet." Geet frowned.

"I shouldn't have told Dadi to talk to you about Maan bhai and your marriage. If I would have known you felt forced I wouldn't have said something." Geet smiled.

"I don't feel forced. I accepted because I wanted to."

"But it doesn't seem like you are really ready to get married again."

"Why do you say that?" Vicky sighed, not looking at Geet.

"You know, I loved this girl during my school time. Tina and I were really good friends and later I started to love her loads. But her dad got a transfer to another city and she left. I really missed her. And then, another girl came into our class and took the seat where Tina used to sit. I never really paid much attention to her but after we had to work together on a project, she asked if we could be girlfriend boyfriend. I was surprised but she was pretty and so I agreed. We went to the same park I took Tina to, watched the same movies and played the same games. And all the time I talked about Tina. Piya, my girlfriend always listened and listened. But...I guess I never realised how big of a jerk I was till I saw her crying one day. I didn't understand till today why she was crying. Do you know?" his question startled Geet and she hesitantly shook her head. Her eyes, fixed on Vicky.

"She cried because she was hurt. She loved me and all I did was talk about my own love. She had asked me to be her boyfriend and I agreed. That meant to her that I liked her and not someone else. Just because she cared too much about me she never said something but that didn't mean it didn't hurt her. And today, seeing you I get reminded of myself. You say that you are ready to marry again but are you really? I see you clinging onto your past memories and I see Maan bhai..." he broke off as he turned his face to Geet. Tears were rolling down her face. She understood, he knew. He took her into his arms as she cried.

Geet had already left when Vicky came down. As he passed the stairs Dev joined him.

"I didn't know you had such a tragic love story." Dev mused. Vicky made a face.

"Love... tragic??? What are you talking about?"

"I am talking about Tina and Piya..." Dev cut short seeing the smirk on his younger brother's face.

"Don't tell me that was made up? You cunning little thing." Vicky dodged an attempt by Dev to smack him.

"Come on, bro. Everything is fair in love and war."

They all noticed. Geet was changing. Before, she always maintained a small but sure distance but now she was readily forthcoming. While she changed her mind about the jewellery sets, making Dadi go all happy, she insisted that Naintara let her wear one of her saris for the next party at home.

Maan saw, or rather felt the change, too. Initially, he always initiated moments together with her but now she called him, talked to him, asked for his advice. He liked it and it took a burden off his shoulders. The fact that she slowly, slowly stopped mentioning Sohan indicated that she was starting to accept him. And that made him as happy as ever.

Geet couldn't help but thank Vicky in her heart. He had been right. Unconsciously, she had hurt everyone around her. She had been wrong to think of Sohan at a point where she was starting her life afresh. Not that she had no right to think of him but she hadn't thought about how Maan must have been hurt. Just to see if Vicky's words were really true, she purposely spoke about Sohan. Maan's pain was so visible, she wondered why she hadn't noticed before. And she was wrong. The decision to marry was entirely hers and so she had to stand to it. She had already wasted one precious month and she was certain to make use of the last remaining weeks before her marriage to get to know Maan properly. Him as a person.

Dates, phone calles, drives after and to office, all those moments the two spend together were enough for Geet to see that Maan was indeed a sweet coconut: hard from the outside but soft from the inside. And most importantly, he loved and respected her. She knew his feelings from before but she got to feel them during their time together. And it made her feel like never before. While Maan was better at showing his feelings, Geet knew she was better at speaking about it.

"Thank you, Maan."

"What for?"

"For loving me." Maan smiled.

"And I am sorry. I never realised that I was hurting you before. I always thought that I could only love Sohan and that our marriage would never turn into something so special as it was before. But hadn't it been for Vicky..."

"Vicky?" Maan wondered what his younger brother had done this time.

"Hmm." Geet explained, in a sad and sympathetic way about Vicky's tragic love story and how she learned that she had been wrong. Geet was in tears and looked like a cute baby that Maan pulled her into his arms. He knew Vicky well enough that such thing hadn't happened. His little brother must have told this to Geet to make her realise her folly and he was glad for this.

"Shh now. I am sure his girlfriend got over it and even I am fine. You are slowly accepting me, that is what is most important."