His hand lingered over the call option beside her name.
Hesitating for a few seconds, he gave in & hit the green button.
It rang once, twice.
...
She was removing her make up with a cotton pad at her dressing table when her phone buzzed on her bed. She ignored the first few rings, but then curiosity gave in and she stood up to get a better view of her phone.
Her eyes fell upon the name of the caller & her heart skipped a few beats, before she quickly grabbed the device & hit answer.
"Hello?"
There was an awkward yet familiar silence, then the line went dead.
He sighed as he threw his phone aside and leaned forward on his elbows, rocking back & forth in the dark.
She bit her lip as she realised there was only one way to get through this.
...
The next morning heralded the arrival of a new day, and a new dawn.
Deciding professionalism once again was the way forward, Maan climbed into the back seat of her Mercedes as Nakul turned around from the driver's seat & raised an eyebrow at his sir's attire.
"Is there a problem? Are my trousers too tight?" Maan asked, suddenly self conscious.
"No, sir, it's just that you never usually wear a tie to work."
"New beginnings."
His cryptic answer was enough to shut Nakul up as he started the engine & shifted into first.
New beginnings indeed, Maan thought as the car pulled away.
...
As she endured the mundane bus ride, the events of the past few weeks in Maan's presence filtered through her mind.
She began staring out of the window as Paani Da Rang swooned in the background from someone's phone, and she began imagining herself swaying along the pavement on a dusky evening with Maan trailing behind her, perfectly miming the words to the song...
She blinked suddenly as if to erase herself from her dazed daydream, when the bus braked out of the blue and her forehead went flying into the rail she had been sat directly in front.
...
Maan had been anticipating her arrival ever since his own arrival half an hour ago, but he hadn't expected his lovely secretary to walk in with half of her forehead blue.
"Geet, what happened?!" he exclaimed, as her eyes were half open & half closed from concussion & pain.
"Bus... rail... smack..." she mumbled as she flopped onto the couch, the room spinning around her.
"You need to get to a doctor, I'll call one over."
"I just need an ice pack."
"You could have serious concussion."
"Is the bruise really big?" she asked, terrified at the thought of having a big swollen blue lump marred into her forehead for the rest of her life. "Oh my word, I'll never be able to wear a bindi again!" she rasped, squeezing her eyes shut.
Maan assumed she was going to faint and rushed forward to take her into his arms. Geet welcomed his familiar, musky manly smell and was more than happy to forever remain in his embrace until his cabin door opened & she froze in his arms.
...
"Heads or tails. Heads you avoid her, tails... you avoid her even more."
He scoffed at his lack of courage & caught the coin between his hands, turning around only to bump into the very woman herself, whose expression was the most serious he had ever seen on her face in 3 years.
"We need to talk."
...
He didn't know what had overcome him when he swooped Geet into his arms & brushed past a shocked Pammi before she could even question what was going. He hurried out of his office & towards the elevators.
Pammi, whose face had formed an O, pulled out her phone & began messaging her socialite friends with the latest gossip.
...
They were in the small medical room which was situated just off the kitchen. Geet sat on the cold, uncomfortable chair as Maan rinsed a tea towel under cold water for her.
He kneeled in front of her as he offered her the towel, which she took with a smile as she gently placed it on her swollen forehead, wincing slightly.
"Don't press on it too hard," he said, gently covering her hand with his.
Their eyes locked as a thousand questions passed between them. A rebellious droplet of water from the towel slid down Geet's nose as she crossed her eyes to peer down at it, & Maan smiled at her adorable expression as he brushed it away with the tip of his finger.
"I heard what you said last night," she blurted out, and his finger stilled on her skin.
...
He had come up with many scenarios regarding the outcome of a conversation with her, but this hadn't been one of them.
And it took him completely by surprise.
Before he could question her, she stood up, looking him firmly in the eye.
"It's best for the company, it's best for me... and it's best for you."
With those parting words, she was gone.
...
He looked at the wistfulness in her eyes & looked away, shifting backwards until he was fully standing.
"I don't know what you're insinuating," he lied, clearly remembering what he had said last night, the emotions that had led him to saying so. He didn't think she had heard him, or she would remember...
"I wasn't meant to hear what you said, right? Is that why you didn't say it to my face, is that why you said it quietly?"
"I have to go back to my cabin, Geet, I have a lot of work-"
"No." She held onto his arm with her free hand. "I won't let this awkward silence settle between us. I won't laugh & joke & fool around to pretend that you didn't say what you did, & that I didn't hear you."
His jaw tightened as he realised where the conversation was heading. He suddenly turned around, the force of his reflex making her drop her hand.
"Whatever you think you heard, you didn't," he said with all the strength he could muster up.
As he turned to walk away, his hand itching to reach back towards her, Geet sank onto the chair, a cold droplet escaping down her face once more as she stared blankly at the white tiles of the floor.
"So be it, Maan Singh Khurana," she whispered. "So be it."
...
Pammi had been studying the whole debacle for a while now, and a word of her knowledge hadn't escaped her lips, not even to her own son.
She smirked as her plans began to mentally fall into place, promising her fruition.
...
Geet hadn't been given permission to go home early that day, but with Maan's words eating away at her mind, she couldn't have cared less.
Sighing in contempt at having finally reached her apartment door, she ruffled inside her bag for her keys, only to be met with the dreaded realisation that they weren't with her.
As if right on cue, the familiar sounds of a Bhangra song came on, as the singer sang door ni kulni, oh door ni kulni!'
She mentally cursed the song all the names under the sun as she gave up & sank down in front of her door, rubbing her golf ball sized lump gently.
Geet had placed her head in her folded arms across her knees when the sounds of a shoe clicking against the floor grabbed her attention, & she looked up at the owner, slowly giving them a small smile.
