Knock, Knock! Who's there? Pt 21/22 pg 80, 82 23/04 - Page 48

The next day, Maan and Geet sat on the sofa of his tiny apartment waiting for Maan's parents who called from the motorway, apparently the roads to London were heavily congested making it all the worse for them. Waiting in silence, Geet bit down on her nail watching the clock tick, while Maan rummaged through his flat trying to make it presentable for his mother and father. After all, no son liked a mother who'd tell him off in front of their girlfriend, 'GIRLFREIND' as the word crossed Maan's head, he stilled his movements and watched Geet, a small smile forming. He then looked around his apartment, before settling beside Geet, taking in her nervous body into his comforting ones.

'Just spoke to Vicky, they should be here soon' Maan spoke gently taking her hand away from her mouth, he then placed an apple in her palm, one he gave her when they entered his home yet she made no movement to eat. He then spoke of the dynamics of his family. His older brother, Karan was married for 5 years now and had a young daughter and son; older sister Anjali, married for 3 years and also with an infant, he came next, then the new bride-to-be Natasha, followed by the twins Vicky and Pinky. Karan was driving his parents to London, and thankfully Vicky was in the passenger seat playing the informer, texting him every so often about his mother's mood or his troubled parents decision, which truth be told wasn't too pleasing, his mother went as far to saying 'we'll disown him'.

'Geet if you like, go take a nap' he instructed taking note of Geet's tired eyes. Both couldn't sleep much last night and woke up early, even before sunrise. While Geet found herself in the kitchen prepping breakfast, Maan took out his laptop and continued on the research paper. Later when they came face to face, they openly admitted the distress like any normal couple and finally not being able to sit calm, Maan suggested they head to his apartment, in case his family came early and like expected Geet also agreed.

'No it's ok, what if aunty comes and finds me sleeping' Geet yawned despite the efforts to keep herself from it. She looked terrible; red eyes, scared and nervous. As was Maan, making Geet's situation worse.

'It won't look good' she added seeing how Maan was about to complain, so the both of them again fell into silence. It took them 5 minutes to silence the beating of the heart and focus on the baby, Maan placed his big palm against her softened hump 'It'll be ok, mum just looks scary but she's fine deep down' Maan added to diminish her worries, and even with the terror Geet smiled placing her hand against his touch.

KNOCK KNOCK

The banging continued making the pair jump up in shock, Geet let out a small yelp and Maan ran to his door in anger.

'Who is it?' Maan shouted annoyed at the intruder for scaring Geet like that, the gynaecologist highly opposed to such scares as it increased the heart rate and released hormones causing an imbalance within the mother's body, not so healthy for the mother's health.

'Your mother' came the c**t response, making him all the more afraid as he hastened the unbolting of the door. Once opened, he stood staring at his mother, falling just above his elbows in height and fairly chubby; his father stood behind, much taller than his mother but still shorter than Maan, and relatively thin.

'Ki tusi sanu adra auna di'oge (Will you let us in?)' Anita asked bluntly, her tone of voice not pleasant

'Please come in mum, dad' Maan called opening the door wider, from behind Geet too stood up and carefully walked closer. Maan was just about to hug his older brother when he heard his mother gasp in shock.

'Bohut sonhani hai (She's so pretty)' Anita screamed excitedly, Geet looked at Maan confused and scared with the scream while everyone in the room laughed out loud. Anita who was fuming badly a while ago was now apparently fully appeased seeing the beauty in front. Geet had consciously worn an Asian attire, a white Salwar kameez, which a distant relative gifted at that time it was too big in size but now fit perfectly, thanks to pregnancy. Maan, himself was pleasantly surprised when he saw her looking like an angel, hair tied in a side plate and light make-up matching; though he had spoken fairly at length of how she should not change herself but in the end Geet had only looked more depressed, so he hadn't fought harder, rather ushered her out and drove straight to his flat, he had midway told her how beautiful she looked, making her blush despite the frowning worry.

'Tusi usa aurata ho jisnae salam badri mera putara bita'I'a (So you are the woman who kept my son busy over the years)' Anita asked with an dubious voice looking angry, of course she was just joking but to Geet who didn't understand, she only took note of the temper and the irritated face, so naturally she stepped back in tears.

'Maa' Maan cried walking to Geet, he then held her shoulder and wiped away the tears uncaring of the family watching, the worst his mother could think was that they were married, which she kind of does anyway. Karan and Vicky looked are one another shocked, Maan had never been compassionate towards the other gender; half of his childhood was spent in libraries and book clubs running away from girls, so this was a surprise even Sasha was introduced to them as a colleague when he had moved to London initially.

'Tusi pajabi nu nahi janade (You don't know Punjabi?)'

'So this is Maan's choice?' Both Anita and Karan spoke, the mother looked at her son annoyed for interrupting her

'Tum he hindi to ati hai?' Anita asked next as Karan shrunk to the back where his father stood, seeing how Geet still stood confused beside Maan; Anita looked appalled

'Mums asking if you know Punjabi or Hindi' Vicky answered walking to the sofa and plopped down heavily on the sofa, ignoring his mother's annoyed look and remained as calm as usual. He then stared at Geet and then looked at his dad as if to interrupt.

'Bhabi please sit down' He added flipping his mobile out and Maan was highly appreciated toward his brother, for he next ushered Geet next to him and then walked away towards kitchen offering his mother and father tea and his brothers coffee.

'So do you?' Anita asked sitting on the single sofa, emitting an aura of power and oppression unlike her husband who stood looking around for a seat, Karan sat beside to Vicky much away from his mother, in the end it was Maan who came forward with a chair from the dining table for his father.

'My mum paid for Hindi classes but Sam thought it was a waste of time, so we ended up playing around' Geet honestly answered now hating herself for letting Sameera bully her out of the boring Hindi classes held at the local Temple in South End.

'Your mum don't know hindi?' Anita asked sharply and Maan almost heard the tare in Geet's voice

'She does but she's a professor at London Imperial so has no time...' Geet tried answering but Raj finally interrupted looking lovingly at Geet

'Kitni soni ate samajha hai (She's so beautiful and understanding Anita)' as if marking the end of Anita question and answer session, Maan promptly brought out the beverages and forced a glass of orange juice into Geet's hand, he then looked at Vicky who got up and sat on the arm of his mother's sofa.

'Maa if your integration is finished, then can we talk of other things like Natasha's wedding' Maan asked holding the glass for Geet, whose hands felt weak from being watched, she was extremely nervous.

'Is this the way to talk to your mother?' Anita rebuked and Geet sat further hiding herself behind Maan's broad shoulder catching Anita's attention, the woman her son fell for was incredibly cute.

'Atcha see it's like this, Natasha's wedding is in 2 weeks' time' Anita started and then looked at her husband for the first time

'Her in-laws don't want the town to speak of how disparate Natasha and we are to marry her off before you, her older brother, and then there's Kiran who'd probably spread fake rumours of Natasha being pregnant hence the rushed wedding' Raj informed and the 3 brothers signed in frustration, this was the exact reason Maan ran away from his home town and the gossips, unfortunately Karan and Vicky were still stuck.

'So we planned to get you married before or at the same time as Natasha' Anita ordered freezing Geet and Maan, 'Marriage' and 'them', 'was it right?' their eyes asked one another as the world around faded into shades of black and white other than the colourful expressions of one another. 'Can they get married?' Geet wondered and Maan fretted over whether they 'Should get married?'

Note: This is a very long chapter, nearly 2600 words😲 Please comment😃