Second Shot
Geet had just
returned from her lunch break when the office boy informed her that the boss
had summoned her. She nodded and sat back at her desk staring at
the desktop screen. A few minutes later she walked into Pinky Manchanda's cabin
ignoring her colleagues' sympathetic looks thrown her way.
"This is the second
time in a fortnight that I'd to call you in my office."
Geet remained silent. Her inner nervous state was only betrayed by the rubbing of her finger nails
against each other, under the table.
"Didn't I make it
clear the last time that it is not to be repeated?"
"Yes ma'am"
"Then why are YOU
here again?"
"Do you know why you lost your promotion last
time?"
"You said I lack emotional intelligence," she replied.
"Because of your ice
queen persona! Do you want to hear the contents complain mail that I've
received from a customer? He writes that you're 'one of the most rude
consultant' he'd ever come across.That he's 'extremely offended' and wonders
if all the employees are as 'cold as Ms.Geet Handa' and he wishes we'd take a 'disciplinary action against her.' Why does it have to be always YOU Handa? Do
you deny his charges against you?"
"I don't"
"Any explanation you
have about your behavior?"
"He was hitting on
me. I showed my disinterest. He wouldn't understand."
"At least this time
you have a valid excuse but there have been a few more complains and I wonder
if all of them were trying to hit on you.They have called your behavior cold
and that you fail to connect with them."
"No they weren't. I
can't be overly friendly. It is not in my nature."
Pinky looked at the
young woman sitting in front of her. Removing her spectacles,she rubbed her eyes.For the first time in her ten years career she didn't know how to get past an
employee's skin. The twenty eight year
old management consultant Geet Handa was an enigma to her. She kept to herself
with no friends in the office. A laconic woman,she was hardly seen wasting
time in gossips.Always to the point and a little too perfect except when it
came to being empathetic and friendly with the customers.
"Why did you decide
on this profession Geet?"
"Because of the
salary."
"Are you trying to be
a rebel?"
"No ma'am."
"You should have gone
for profiles where there was no contact with customers and
am sure you'd have done very well for yourself."
It was time for Pinky
to attend a PR meeting and she'd to end this one.
"Write an explanation
and mail it to me by today. Leave now."
Geet was at the door
when Pinky warned, "You better improve that attitude of yours Handa or I'll
have to release you and hand you over to the HR. There are many
people who'd die to be at your position so don't take things for granted. Are
you getting me?"
"Yes ma'am."
At her desk, Geet took a few deep breaths and returned to her work
as if nothing had happened.One of the new employees approached her.
"Ms.Geet, I can't understand this procedure. Can you please help
me?
"I can but I won't. Excuse me."
The employee was too
shocked at the outright rejection. Others too used to such behavior of Geet
went on with their work.
Maan was going
through some documents when Ravi, his colleague, approached him.
"Hey bro! I gotta
leave early this evening. My wife is leaving for a month long trip tonight. You
think you could finish this file for me. I have to turn it in tomorrow. If I
don't boss is gonna eat me alive."
Maan looked at his own stack of files and then at
the expectant face of Ravi.
"Yeah sure why not!" he replied in his usual bright manner.
It had been only a
few minutes since Ravi left Maan's desk when Dharmesh came to him for a favour.
"Umm... Maan actually
my family had come to stay over and I spent too much. Now, I am out of money
and seeing that there still few days till we get our payment you think..."
"Come on Dharmesh you
don't need to be so formal with all this explanation.How much do you need?"
And then Tanya,an
intern dropped by.
"Sir, I can't
understand how to do this.Can you please explain?"
"Yeah sure why not!"
Aditya Mehra watched all this from his cabin and shook his head in
disapproval. Maan Singh Khurana, the twenty eight year old data analyst of his
company was too easy for his own good. He was the first one to arrive and the
last one to leave. He also had the record of working overtime without extra
pay. His colleagues took advantage of his goodness and it kind of made Aditya
feel bad for the guy. He'd known the man for the last five years and knew that
he was a genuinely good person. Yeah, he behaved like a moron sometimes and his
overly cheerfulness did grate on your nerves most of the times but everyone had their
flaws. He had come to be attached to the employee and wished people
wouldn't hurt him just because he was nice and had an idealistic perspective
towards life.The ringing of his phone distracted him from his thoughts and he moved away from his blinds without giving any further time to this topic.
It was evening and
both Geet and Maan were returning from their work. Maan usually picked up Divya
from her work and together they would return to their shared apartment. But
today she'd called to inform that she had taken up night duty in place of her friend.
When Maan spotted
Geet, he called out, "Good evening Geet!"
As usual she ignored
him.
"Hope you'd a good
day at work."
Catching with her he
tried making a small talk. "There's a nip in the air tonight, no?"
Without replying him,
she walked briskly and got into the lift. He knew she wouldn't wait for them
despite knowing that they stayed on the same floor just next to each other. And
as expected she did not.
It was around nine o
clock in the night when Maan received a media message along with an address
from an unknown number and it shocked him so much that he didn't even wait to
dress properly and ran outside in his sweats and slippers all the while praying
that it was just a misunderstanding.
Reaching the
mentioned address, he realized that it was not. There was his year old
girlfriend having dinner with her ex. In his mind, he tried to explain the
situation. Maybe she'd met him and they wanted to talk, get a closure maybe,
and it was awkward for her to tell him about meeting with an ex so she had
lied.
Not betraying his
emotions he asked casually if it was just a normal meeting.He trusted her so
he'll understand. So it came quite as a shock when she revealed that she wanted
to get back with her ex. His heart broke at the admission.
"Why? You are in love
with me you'd said," he reminded her of her declaration made not so long ago.
"I was. But it's been
a while since I've not been. I've wanted to break up since a long time now."
"Why?" he asked again.
"Where did I go
wrong? I loved you. Took care of you. Never let you feel alone.THEN WHY DAMMIT
WHY?!" He had tears in his eyes.He couldn't live without her. He loved her so
much that he just couldn't bear the detached way she was watching him. His days started
with her and nights ended at her.
"Because you're so
annoyingly good. I never had anything to complain about. And also because you'd
never let me be alone. You're so clingy. You're so easy. So predictable and
reliable. It gets boring after a while. I want some danger, adventure in my
life." And before he had the chance to say anything she left with her ex
boyfriend.
"Divs. Baby don't do
this to me."
"I'll die without
you."
"Please come
back...please I love you so much baby please..."
He was left crying
out her name in vain.
Geet was making her
bed when she received the message.
"I am outside. We
NEED to talk. I'm ready to stay here all night unless you come out.
Dev finally breathed
a sigh of relief when he saw Geet coming outside.
As soon as she was
standing in front of him, she jumped to the point without any pleasantries.
"What do you need?"
"How are you?" Dev
asked.
"I don't have the
whole night so come to the point."
"Fine then why have
you been ignoring me?"
"I don't want to see
you anymore."
"But why? "
"I just don't want
to."
He stepped closer to her and taking her in his arms, he tried to mollify her but she
pushed him away.
"Keep your hands off
me."
"Why? I'm your
boyfriend. Can't I even hug you?"
"Let's break up."
"Whaat? But why?" he
asked too shocked.
"Let's just say I
got bored seeing your face." And with that she left.
Dev on his her heels kept
shouting, "Geet wait please wait... how can you break up like
that. At least give me a valid reason..."
People stopped and
turned to look their way. Dev was least bothered. He kept demanding answers but
didn't get any in return. In fact Geet shut the
door on his face. He still wouldn't go away and kept banging on the door.
"Geet ... the last six
months didn't they mean anything to you? Didn't you like me?"
As the minutes passed
he started losing his patience and became more aggressive and started cussing her. By then heartbroken Maan had also returned and was unlocking his door.
"You bitch you think
you are so superior to others. If not for me nobody would have dated you. You
cold hearted bitch do you know what people say about you behind your back? Let
me break the truth to you, you are a psycho. An abnormal person. Six months and
you'd not sleep with me. You think anyone else would agree to that?"
Inside the house,
Geet gulped down her sleeping pills, pushed the ear plugs inside her ears,
switched off her lights and went off to a dreamless sleep.
"You see you'd have
to be alone all your life and not a soul would be present to attend your dying bed." After spending all his energy, Dev returned to his home. Inside his house,
Maan was sending come back messages to Divya and then later he cried himself to
sleep.
The next day, Geet
was in a session with her doctor.
"My headache doesn't
subside. You sure there's nothing wrong with me?
"Do you have suicidal
tendencies?
"No"
"Do you hate life?"
"No."
"How's your love life
going?"
"Great"
"How are your parents?"
"They are nice and loving."
"Hows work?"
"Going good."
"Do you like people?"
"I do."
"Then I'm sure
there's nothing wrong with you.You are young so why don't you try enjoying
your life."
"I've run out of my sleeping
pills. Can you please prescribe me some more?Thank you, I'll see you in the next
session."
"Geet let's drop these sessions."
"Why?"
"If you're not being
honest to me there's no point going through this. If you wish to continue then write and bring me the journals as I've asked you to."
Geet left the place
without meeting the doctor's eyes.
At Maan's office the
word had spread that the good Khurana had been dumped. Once again.Throughout
the day everyone one maintained their distance. Nobody wanted to be at the
receiving end of his whining.
In the evening when
everyone was ready to leave, Maan announced that he was going to pub. If anyone
was looking for free drinks they could tag along. Everyone barring the teetotalers
were present at the pub. At first Maan tried to play cool. That his girlfriend
had dumped him hardly bothered him. But two drinks down, out came the real heartbroken man.
He sobbed and cried and sang, much to his embarrassment. He said he was going to die, so badly his heart was hurting. This was the fourth girl in a row to dump him
so mercilessly. His colleagues having their fill left one after another.
The only man left to
listen to his sorry tale was his Department Head, Aditya Mehra. He had come
along because he had wanted to and also because of the free drinks and now his
conscience wouldn't allow him leave Maan like this. But after a while he also
got bored and calling a cab and asking the driver to drop Maan at his apartment, he
left for his home.
Geet had been sitting
in front of a blank document since the last hour. She had no idea what to write
in her journal. She closed her eyes for the words to come to her. And it was then that a heartbroken and drunk
Maan started playing the song at a very loud volume.
"Why Did You Break My Heart?
Why Did We Fall In Love?
Why Did You Go Away, Away, Away, Away?
Dil Mera Churaaya Kyoon
"Kyoon kyoon kyoon," he
sang along.
"Jab Yeh Dil Todna Hi Tha
Humse Dil Lagaaya Kyoon
Humse Munh Modna Hi Tha...
Why Did You Break My Heart?
Why Did We Fall In Love?
Why Did You Go Away, Away, Away, Away?"
And Geet being the next door neighbor had the privilege of
listening to his awful voice very very clearly.
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Hope you like this installment.
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Edited by Ginnosuke_Nohar - 5 years ago
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