Replies begin from page 113.
44. To Err Is Human
All I heard was wildly beating hearts. Which one was mine and which one his, I could not differentiate, for they were beating as one as I clung to him for dear life and he securely held me in his embrace. I was in a trance, unable to think rationally as I stood there with my arms around his waist, his shirt fisted in my hands. Rather, safe as I felt in the haven of his arms, I stayed the way I was until the moment his mother's panic-stricken voice reached my ears. Maan stepped away from me, his hands still gripping my shoulders in a taut grip. When I looked into his eyes, the anger in them made me flinch and I involuntarily took a step back, only to be harshly pulled back in place.
"Can't you be a little more careful?" He hissed with his eyes shooting daggers at me.
As if the anger in his eyes wasn't enough of a rude awakening from the moment, his words and his voice shocked me. It baffled me to see him so livid. The clenched jaw, which made his sharp jawline even more prominent, made me step aside from him and pay attention to his mother who stood at the base of the stairs, unable to climb up. As I turned to look at her, I saw Maan briskly disappear into the first room on the top of the stairs without saying a single word.
"Are you alright, darling?" Aunty called me from below the stairs.
I vaguely answered her and told both the ladies to relax as I followed Ameerah and pretended to be fine while simmering just beneath the surface my skin was the daze of what just happened and more importantly, a question, what had I done to deserve my saviour's unmistakable belligerence?
I did not see Maan until tea was served. Nakul, the male servant, was instructed to call Maan downstairs to have tea with us. After about ten minutes of the message being delivered, from the corner of my eye, I saw Maan descending the stairs, dressed in jeans and a slim fit tee. I didn't bother looking up at him when he came to sit right across me since I was still unsure of what to expect after the little episode on the stairs.
"Hi Geet!" His cheerful greeting pulled my eyes to meet his, my surprise hidden well under a level look. "How have you been?"
I stared at him for a few seconds as he held a bright smile on his face. There were no signs of his earlier anger at all and though I did not let in on, it befuddled me.
"Good, I guess." I realised his mother and Zara had gone quiet after Maan spoke.
"How is everything at work?" My eyebrows raised a bit. He was trying to make small talk. For a moment, I considered whether I had imagined the ire earlier since he was conversing so casually with me but it couldn't have been a creation of my brain.
"Great. Innodea just completed a highly successful trimester." I sipped on my tea as I answered him, even though my brain was trying to figure out what was happening. "I thought you'd be gone for at least a week."
I gauged his face as he answered. "That was the plan." He shrugged. "But then the issues were settled and I needed to be here for some decisions regarding the new wing of Khurana Constructions. Did I mention that to you?"
"I can't recall anything like that."
"Oh. Actually, at the present moment, Khurana Constructions only deals with constructions of commercial properties, which is actually its prime expertise. But off late, we have been playing around with the idea of providing an in-house interior design facility for the clients who wish to take it, and hence we've decided upon this new addition to the firm."
"I see." It was all I said because he had reminded me again of the post he had offered to me almost two and a half months ago. I had not known about such details at the time.
"Maan," Zara pitched in, "since you're hiring interior designers, why don't you take Geet in your company? We all know she's an excellent designer and she'll be a great addition to your company since you already know her." Maan and I exchanged a look before Zara fumbled and spoke again. "I mean, you have already worked with her and seen her designs and her style of working, and it suited you back then, so why not offer that head post to her?"
Aunty sided with Zara enthusiastically so I figured Maan hadn't told either of them about his offer to me. Why he had hidden that from them, I knew not.
"Uhh..." Maan began with uncertainty. Even I was curious what he would say. "I didn't give it a thought." I saw Aunty's eyebrows shoot up at the lame excuse. Maan must have noticed her reaction too, since he continued quickly. "But now that you've said it, I think it'll be a good idea. What say, Geet?"
All three pairs of eyes turned towards me. I sipped my tea as I nodded. "I'll think over it." Again, I added mentally. Aunty tried to count the benefits to me if I joined Khurana Constructions and I just hmm'ed and agreed. When my eyes fell on Maan, I saw a small smile on his lips as he swirled the contents of his cup while appearing to be in some thoughts. Perhaps, he had caught on to my reply, which was not an outright refusal like the last time.
I stayed till after dinner and then excused myself since the next day was still a working day. Zara made me promise to come soon again since she craved company, and because Ameerah had hit it off with me so well.
The next morning, the incessant ringing of the doorbell made me force myself out of the bed. I checked the time and it was even earlier than my usual time to wake up. I wondered who it was at this hour. Somewhat unsure, I pulled the door just enough to peek at who it was when the door was forcefully pushed open and there stood, dressed in a white button down shirt and khaki pants, my little sister, glowing with excitement. Groggy as I was, I was still recovering from the pleasant surprise when she hurled herself on me and hugged me tightly while screaming right inside my ear.
"I'm so happy, I'm so happy, I'm so happy!" She broke apart from the hug and, with both her hands on my shoulders, whirled us both around in joy. "Wake up, Di! I'm back!"
Her excitement and her screaming finally broke through the thick haze of sleep as a grin broke across my face and I hugged her to me. "You're back!" I exclaimed. "I missed you so much!"
"Alright, alright. No crying." She said sternly when I began to get a bit emotional, as she pulled me to the couch and we sat down.
She told me her mother-in-law was well now and that she had come alone but Raunaq would be back in a couple of days. I was so glad she was back. There were so many things I wanted to tell her and it seemed that she too had a lot to say, since she didn't give me a chance to speak and kept going on and on about how she'd been on her toes all the time, how Raunaq had tried to push her out of the house at times to go have some fun and meet some friends. I could listen to her all day, but alas she was tired from the journey and I had to go to office.
She didn't want to eat anything so I tucked her in bed before I quickly dressed up and left for work.
Even when I was at office, my mind was preoccupied. I was trying to think things through if I were to quit Innodea and join Khurana Constructions. I thought of discussing it with Vyan but decided against it for the moment. I needed to tell Anaya about my conversation with Maan last night before I disclosed to anyone that I was thinking about changing jobs.
When I reached home after work, before turning the key on the door, I heard laughter from the inside and a huge smile spread across my face. My girls were together, I thought as I pushed the door open and entered to the sight of Raya and Anaya sprawled across the floor in a leisurely manner.
"Having fun without me, eh?" Both girls shrieked a little at my unexpected intrusion while I laughed at the expressions they had on their faces.
"You scared us!" Complained Anaya.
"A little warning wouldn't have hurt!" Raya exclaimed with a hand over her heart.
I crossed my arms and sported a stern face. "And what exactly were you two talking about that I scared you so much?"
"Don't act like a teacher, okay?" Anaya said dismissively. "We were just having some good, carefree time."
I pouted. "Without me?"
"Aww!" Both of them said in unison and pulled me on the floor before engulfing me in a group hug.
Chucking my shoes away, I lounged right there on the floor with both of them. I asked them since when they were together and what they had been up to, and discovered that Anaya had come in just before lunchtime and they had spent time cooking the dinner and tidying up the house a bit. I looked around and wondered what needed to be tidied up. I hadn't thought there was something unclean.
Raya noticed and probably guessed what I was thinking. "Yes, yes, we know you're the cleanliness freak and wouldn't leave a corner of the house untidy, but we needed to pass our time too."
My eyebrows shot up. "Who in the world passes time by cleaning an already clean place?"
"It was Anaya's idea." With a finger pointed towards the said person, she shrugged as I looked at Anaya with wide eyes before bursting into a fit of giggles.
"What?" Asked Anaya in annoyance.
"Seriously? Cleaning the house to pass time?" I giggled yet again. " You sure are a complete mum now."
Raya agreed and laughed with me while Anaya just jutted her chin out gruffly.
"How was your day?" Raya queried after our laughter died down.
I launched into a tale of the day, which was quite boring, especially since Vyan was out for most part of the day. He had been busy with Kittu's project, and hence had only appeared at the office either in the mornings or in the evenings, just before work hours finished. Gone were the lunches Vyan and I had together everyday, and I couldn't be upset about that, since I knew he was with Kittu. If I had to be honest, I would admit I did feel a little lonely during lunchtime. The rest of the day, I drowned myself in too much work to mull over his increased absence.
We talked about Yana and Shay. It felt like it had been a long time since I had met them, although that was not true because I did meet them on Saturday when I had gone for the get together. Talking of which, I was reminded of something.
"Anaya, did you know Maan is back?"
She wasn't surprised at all. "Oh, yes. He came back on Wednesday early morning."
"Why did you not tell me?" I could only complain mildly. Of course if I had known he was back, I wouldn't have been surprised, although I was grateful he was back, and there in time to save me.
"Why are you turning red?" Raya asked in slow suspicion. I hadn't known I was blushing, thinking of the way he held me securely to his body to save me from falling. I tried to think of something to say.
"Miss Geet Handa, don't you dare try to hide the truth." Warned Anaya, with her eyes narrowed.
"Uhh..." At my hesitation, she raised her eyebrows.
"I sense a story behind your silence, Geet." I saw the moment her eyes twinkled as an idea struck her. "Did you meet Maan?" Before I could open my mouth to say anything at all, she continued. "Has anything happened between you two?" She wriggled her eyebrows at me as Raya giggled.
"Shut up, Anaya!" I could not help the colour rising up my cheeks. Sure these two would make fun of me if I told them but not telling them wasn't an option. I composed myself and narrated yesterday's events at the Khurana Mansion up until the point that Maan saved me from falling, carefully keeping out the deeper details like the way he had held me, or how safe I had felt in his arms.
"That is so dreamy!" Sighed Raya. "Maan is such a saviour! Raunaq only realises that he should have saved me when I'm already flat on my face." She grumbled.
"Oh, I have the worse one, Raya." Anaya chimed in a sulking voice. "Ayush sticks his foot out to make me fall and laughs hard when I'm on my butt."
Raya and I laughed until our eyes filled up with tears. We laughed even harder when Anaya narrated how she gets back on Ayush. It would be her pulling his chair from under him just before he sat down, so he would fall right on his bottom, and once, she had shut the refrigerator door on his face while he had been rummaging through stuff inside. Of course, it had all been taken in good humour every time.
"I swear, Anaya," Chhoti began as I wiped off a tear from the corner of my eye, "it sounds like you're four kids in the house. Or perhaps, your kids behave more mature than you two."
I chuckled but reassured Raya that these two had been the same way since college.
We talked some more before calling for an early dinner since Anaya had to leave to pick her kids from a birthday party.
Left to ourselves once Anaya took leave, Raya and I huddled together on the couch in front of the television. Winter was just beginning and it was getting colder. She told me about her tentative plans to begin some job. Raunaq wasn't very pleased but he did not want to stop her from doing what she wished to.
"Are there any financial issues?" I asked worriedly.
"No, not at all, Di." She reassured me. "I just want to make myself busier." Sighing, she continued, "it seems like I have no purpose in life."
I knew where she was getting at. She wanted to expand her family, but Raunaq wanted to settle down first. He wanted to be secure in one place before they took the plunge. I gently squeezed her hand. "It's going to be alright, Chhoti."
Zingy as she always was, she smiled widely and nodded in high spirits. "Sure it will!" Holding the hand which I was patting hers with, she turned to me. "What about your job? How is it going? Have you thought about anything other than work at all?" The mischief I could see in her eyes gave her away before any words came out of her mouth. "Go out. Date some hot guy. Have some fun!" With a naughty grin, she winked at me, only to receive a light smack on her cheek.
"No, really, Di!" She continued, unperturbed. "Have you ever thought of any hot guy at all?" Without giving me a chance to retort, she went on. "Okay, tell me one thing. Is there any hot guy around you? Or one you know?"
Without conscious effort, an image of a man dressed in a white shirt and khaki pants dancing amidst women on a cruise deck swam in front of my eyes. I shook my head slightly and pushed the image of Maan out of my head, wondering where it had come from. Rolling my eyes at Raya, I dismissed the topic and distracted her by offering her to go window shopping with me. She was a shopaholic so it worked and she jumped up to get dressed.
Since it was Saturday the next day, Raya and I stayed out late into the night, only coming back home when we were tired enough to crash into bed immediately.
As I sat on my sofa the next morning, sipping hot tea while reading the business daily, I came across an unexpected news. The headline read, "They did it yet again! Khurana Constructions tops Most Profitable Companies' list fourth year in a row." Quickly reading through the article, I was excited to discover all praises for the Khurana brothers with a special mention to how well Khurana Constructions' sister firm, ARK was doing. In my excitement, without giving it a second thought, I picked up my phone and dialed Maan's number.
In a moment of elation, I hadn't really registered what I was doing and what the time was until Maan's groggy and broken voice answered.
"Hell..o?"
I did not respond at once, stunned into silence at my own spontaneous action.
"Who is it?" His sleepy voice faded and reappeared when he questioned in irritation.
Perhaps he had not seen the caller ID.
"Uhh, I'm sorry. I called you by mistake." I said which was not entirely true. "Sorry."
Just as I was about the end the call, I heard recognition dawn onto him. "Geet?"
"Yeah, it's me. Sorry, I was calling someone else and didn't realise I ended up calling you. Go back to sleep. Bye"
"Wait!" He said, instantly sounding more alert. "How come you're up so early? Is everything alright?"
"Yes, of course. I wake up at this time everyday." I stated, but that only made me feel a tad bit guilty for disturbing his sleep at half past 7 on a weekend. "Anyway, I'll talk to you later."
"Hmm... And I forgive you for lying to me."
"What?"
"I know you weren't calling anyone else." He said smugly. "It was me you wanted to talk to, and honestly speaking, I won't mind it too."
It took me a moment to process what he was saying and what the underlying meanings were. The smirk in his voice was a giveaway of the flirtatious mood he had suddenly gotten into but curiosity pushed me into asking him. "How can you say I'm lying?"
"Because Ms. Geet Handa doesn't do anything before double checking what she is doing." The confidence in his voice and the truth of his observation about me did not let me respond for a while. "Am I right, or am I right?"
Twisting my lips, I fought the urge to bring his pride down, but sadly, he was right about me. I wasn't going to let that affect me though.
"Well, you are right." I could almost see the smirk. "But, Mr. Know-It-All, there is something called human error, which, someone even as perfect a person as Geet Handa can't avoid."
There. I felt better at the stunned silence from the other end of the line.
"So, enjoy your sleep and I'll continue with my day. Bye, Maan!"
I hung up and smiled in satisfaction, which was short-lived. What was I thinking calling him in the first place? I already knew his company was a big fish and he was a big shot and receiving a title or an award was not new for either, so why did I get so excited at all?
Before I could think any further, my phone rang. I wondered why Maan was calling.
"You do not hang up on Maan Khurana like that. You just don't." His proud voice filled my ears as soon as I placed the phone on them. My eyebrows raised at that. Alright, if that was how he was going to behave, two could play at that.
"Oops!" I sucked my breath in faux regret. "I'm so sorry Mr. High-And-Mighty Khurana. But hey! Let me show you how I did it in the first place."
"Hey!" He protested.
"Bye!" I said in a viciously sweet manner and cut the call. The jerk thought he could mess with me? Nah.
But he did not accept defeat either. My phone rang again.
"What now?!"
"I'm going to keep calling back until you do it the civilised way."
"Do what?" He was beginning to get on my nerves. "Cut the call?"
"Of course."
"Forget it, Your Majesty Mr. Maan Singh Khurana."
"Hey, you woke me up from my beauty sleep at such an early hour that I don't know what to do with my time. So it's your job to keep me entertained." My eyebrows raised at that.
"Get over yourself, Maan!"
"That's kind of impossible." He huffed.
"Well, impossible is not a word in my dictionary but I think I'll give you a pass. I understand that you can't help being a narcissist."
If I were to admit to myself, I was having some fun in the game of words. It sure was fun to pull his pride down. It felt to me like I had transported back to the time when I had arrived here earlier in the year.
"Why did you call me anyway?" Not having any response, he smoothly changed the topic.
"You called me." I reminded him.
"I meant, you woke me up from my precious sleep. May I know why?"
"Oh! I already told you -"
"Cut it out." He interrupted before I could use the same excuse of calling him by mistake. "I know you intended to call me. Were you missing me?" His voice dropped a notch and I could almost see the crooked smile as he wriggled his eyebrows. My mouth dropped open. He had the nerve to flirt with me. Again.
"Of course not." I quickly said. "I read an article in the newspaper about you and I called you in...a...spur..." My words slowed as I realised I had blurted the truth. So what, I thought, jutting my chin out defiantly even though he could not see it.
"I see. So you're impressed by me and my work. Feels great, you know." My jaw clenched. He was at it again.
"If you keep doing that, I'm going to cut the call again." I warned.
"What am I doing?" He feigned innocence.
"Okay, bye."
"Okay, okay. Sorry!" He hurriedly called for truce. "I can't risk you cutting the call."
His words startled me for a moment. Quickly regaining control, I decided to take it lightly, just as he'd said it.
"Wow! I'm wanted." I said imitating him.
He was quick to catch on. "Now look who's doing that!"
I laughed. "Just trying to see what it's like to be Maan Khurana."
"Hmph! I'm sure it's fun compared to being the dull old Geet who wakes up early on a Saturday."
Even though it was meant to offend me, I spontaneously took it jocularly. "Nah! It was so vain I got bored."
"If you make fun of me, I'm going to cut the call on your face!" I raised my eyebrows at his speedy response.
"And that was you trying to be me?"
"Was I that good?" The crooked smile was back, I knew it.
"I must admit you are good with words." I spoke truthfully.
"It's not just with words." I rolled my eyes. Self-obsessed, overconfident jerk!
"Yeah right!"
"Hey!" His voice suddenly took on a rushed tone. "I gotta go. I think someone's up."
"And you don't want to be caught talking to me?"
"Nope. They would definitely think something's up between us." He sounded horrified. "So bye."
"Bye." He had already hung up. I shook my head to clear it of all thoughts. If his sudden emergency had pinched somewhere deep within, I did not let my heart feel it.
Edited by mayyo - 7 years ago
comment:
p_commentcount