Thank you everyone for such overwhelming response. Thank you so much for your lovely wishes
Before I start I would just say this is not just an ordinary story. Neither Maan nor Geet are perfect people here. they are both imperfect and here's a story of few people who are no where near perfects. This is the story of their flaws...their imperfections...their incompleteness. Do comment and press like. They inspire me to write better. In case anyone wants pm please add me as buddy.Awaiting your honest opinions.
This chapters might be triggering for certain people. It contains toxic parents and their nature of blaming everything on their child.
Part 27
The story of us
Arjun was feeling a bit uneasy entering the colossal Khurana Mansion. He wasn’t a new member here as in the long term friendship with Maan he had been to Khurana Mansion a number of times. And then there were times he would find any pretext to meet Esha.
Life was much different then, he supposed. You can’t turn back time; there is nothing he can do about them. But now wasn’t the time for what ifs. Brij needed him and he would be damned if he let Brij down. Parking his car on the driveway he took a deep breath preparing him for the next step.
He carefully escorted Mrs. Handa to the main doorway. It took a bit of time before he heard Esha’s voice answer with a short‘coming ‘. Arjun was in no way faint-hearted yet a simple sound of her voice makes his heart skip a beat. He wasn’t ashamed to admit that he was hopelessly in love with Esha.
Annie was waiting for Maan to return. She was bit surprised to find Arjun at her doorstep and he could feel her public mask come over.
“Hello Arjun.... what brings you here?”
“Hello Es... Anwesha!! I am hereto ask some help on behalf of Brij. I am escorting Brij’s mother for an overnight stay. She is distraught and needs rest. Can we settle her first before I explain everything to Daadima and you? Is Rey here? He might be a great help.”
Annie couldn’t help but smile. He does have this adorable habit of rambling whenever he is unsure of himself.
“One question at a time Arjun;of course we will help Brij bhai and Mrs Handa should be settled in first. But you have to fill in us later. Rey is here. I will settle Mrs. Handa in and inform Daadima and Rey about it. While I do that why don’t you have a sit and be comfortable.”
They entered the drawing room and Arjun released Mrs. Handa to Annie’s capable hands. But they were unprepared for the loud shriek uttered by Mrs. Handa.
Annie left her hand instinctively but tried approaching her calmly so that she can settle down a bit.
“YOU!!! YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE... YOUR FATHER IS IN HOSPITAL BECAUSE OF YOU.YOU SELFISH BRAT... ALWAYS HAD TO HAVE YOUR OWN WAY DIDN’T YOU... FIRST YOU TOOK AWAY YASH FROM ME AND NOW YOU WILL TAKE YOUR FATHER AND THEN BRIJ.... YOU WANT ME TO BE MISERABLE DON’T YOU GEET….”
Her shouts were echoing all over the rather calm and silent house and Rey was in the room trying to find what the hell was happening.
Signalling to Annie he mouthed,”What is going on?”
Annie gave a shrug showing her helplessness. Rey was intelligent enough to realize that he needs to remove this woman before any explanations can be obtained. Taking control he questioned Arjun next.
“Arjun can you tell me who this lady is”
“umm this is Mrs Handa, Brij’s mother. She needs to stay here for few days. Annie was just about to take her to some guestroom when she started behaving like this.”
“Let me see if I can manage her any better.”
Rey approached Mrs. Handa very calmly and took her by hand and turned her away from Annie. He used his most charming smile and said in a soft voice,” Mrs. Handa, I am Rehaan, a friend of Brij. Do you not want to rest for some time? I am sure you are tired and maybe a bit hungry as well. Let me take you to the guest room where you can freshen up and I will send you some light food... maybe a soup and some toasted bread.Yes that’s right, come with me.”
Between talking soothingly helped Mrs. Handa away. Arjun and Annie both were quite perplexed at the turn of the situation. They looked at each other and grimaced at the turn of events.
“I don’t know who this Geet is Arjun but I feel for her. That is too much of hate and she doesn’t sound sane to me at least.”
“Annie, as far as I can understand Geet is Brij’s only sister.... That makes this outburst even sadder.I suddenly feel so lucky to have such a family.”
“hmm.... let me go and get Daadima and you can tell us why we are saddled with such a house guest.”
Coming from his Esha that was as rude as it gets and he can’t blame her a bit. He made himself comfortable on the sofa and started arranging his thoughts so he can explain the preceding events.
Once everyone was seated Rey was the one to break the silence.
Rey: “I have settled Mrs. Handa in the Guest room on our floor and instructed servants to be careful and only send male servers or elderly female servant into her room. The housekeeper has been informed about the precarious situation.”
Annie: “One minute Rey!! Are you implying that Mrs. Handa has some problem with young females?”
Rey: “I can’t be sure Ann but seems like it. I haven’t heard the entire outburst but she happens to have immense hatred for this Geet. I think this Geet is of a similar age group as you Ann and may be that’s what triggered her. It’s prudent therefore to take actions to avoid this as much as possible.”
Annie:” Geet is her daughter and as far as I understand from Brij bhai she is a year or two older than me.”
Daadima:” I did hear some shouting and Annie did tell me what happened here so I think I agree with Rey’s analysis and decisions but why is she here?”
Arjun: “Actually Daadi I am going to tell you what I know. Today evening supposedly Mr and Mrs. Handa had been talking about their children Brij, Yash and Geet and their life choices.Somewhere Geet’s recent divorce had finally caused Mr. Handa to introspect what is wrong with their family. They had a rather heated argument when Mrs. Handa after her usual fashion started blaming their daughter Geet. While Mr. Handa was giving his wife some home truths about the true culprit he had a heart attack. Luckily Brij was there and he took his father to Leelavati immediately.His mother was in shock when I reached and I sort of calmed her down. Maan reached their as well and we decided that for the time being Mrs. Handa can reside here so Brij doesn’t need to worry about his mother while also taking care of his father. So I brought her here.”
They were silent for few minutes before Rey posed the question that was in everyone’s mind.
“That’s all fine but why isn’t Maan here instead of you?”
“There are two reasons for it.One is that I was the one to calm down Mrs. Handa and we didn’t want her aggravated though I had no idea she could be this bad. “
Annie was the one to ask the next question.” And, the second reason?”
“Brij’s sister Geet lives in Andheri and she has prior acquaintance with Maan. So it made sense for Maan to bring Geet to the hospital as it was obvious Brij can’t leave the hospital.”
Annie: “So this Geet doesn’t live with Brij bhai? I am guessing she lives with Pari at her place.Interesting! So Mrs. Handa might truly hate Geet to blame her for everything.If she wasn’t the youngest I would say she was a step daughter. But that can’t be possible. Weird! “
Rey: “But Annie you are missing the main point of the story.”
Annie: “What can be more important than the fact that a mother can actively hate her own daughter?”
Rey:” Oh that is something we can deal later. That lady has some mental illness and needs medical help. Probably it is better if both Brij and this Geet go to some counselling sessions as well. But the most important thing is that our own corporate shark Mr. Maan Singh Khurana happens to have a prior acquaintance with this Geet. And point to be noted is that he has enough cordiality to barge in her place in place of Brij.”
Arjun: “Now that you mention Rey I suddenly remember something. I got the feeling that this Geet might not be ready to come to her father’s bedside due to their previous estrangement. So our Maan must need to do some convincing to bring her with him.”
Annie: “So not only is my brother friendly with this lady but he has enough friendship to convince her to do something she is not ready for? That’s big. My brother should be ready for some grilling session in future.”
Daadima had been silent till now but spoke with mock seriousness, “Be that as it is but we should not forget the reason Arjun is here. Mr. Handa is in critical condition and Arjun needs to return back so he could help Brij and Maan.”
The trio looked contrite but none noticed the twinkle in Daadima’s eyes. Sometimes these young people just forget who it was that taught them to tease and prank. Daadima continued in the same tone,” Besides who will inform us whether Our Maan was able to convince this Geet if Arjun doesn’t return to hospital!”
It took few seconds before the words registered and all of them laughed. It was some time before Arjun took his leave. He had a funny feeling that life is about to be changed for a lot of people.
*****
Maan banged his palm on his forehead muttering a series of almost unintelligible ‘why’s as he did so.
Brij couldn’t help but quip,”What’s wrong Maan? Afraid of some grilling sessions?’
“You have no idea what a menace Annie and Rey can be together. Those two would surely be the death of me.”
“Who would be the death of you Maan?”
Maan turned back to find Geet. His lips automatically formed into a smile and they both reached each other as if drawn by some unknown force.
“Hey Geet are you okay now?”
“I am but don’t change the subject now Maan. Answer my question.”
“Well my siblings would.”
“You never did tell me about your siblings.”
“I have a younger brother and sister; Rehaan and Anwesha. Technically Rehaan is son of a family friend but we are siblings in everything but blood. We grew up together and I don’t even remember a time when Gill uncle and Rey were not part of our family.”
While Maan and Geet were talking, Arjun looked at Brij.
“Brij, don’t tell me that something is not going on there? Heck have you seen how they interact. It is as if some unknown pull exists between them.”
“I can see the effect they have on each other Arjun. I just am not sure how to name that. Geetu is not someone who shares herself easily.... That makes their interactions even more surprising.”
“Aren’t you worried about your sister?”
“I trust Maan.”
“Even after everything that happened between him and Sam?”
“Yeah.”
“You really surprise me.”
“That’s because you don’t know everything I know Arjun. Maan had never been a bad man. I think the problem was that he and Sam were not good for each other.”
“You would know.....”
“I would I guess. “
“As a divorce lawyer or as Sam’s friend?”
“Both I would think. But there is something more to it. My sister is not someone to succumb to someone just because he is handsome or charming. For her to be drawn to Maan has to be something deeper. They tell me they met in Darjeeling. “
“How?”
“I don’t know. They both have asked for time before offering explanations and I am not going to force them to it.”
“Well you don’t have to if we can witness few more of their interactions…. Look at that… For them we don’t even exist anymore.”
While Arjun and Brij had been talking about them Maan and Geet were engrossed talking.
“So Geet do you want some coffee? I was just going to get some.”
“Nope. I am fine. But do get me some chocolates if you find some…”
“Sure.”
They both looked up to see Arjun and Brij observing them.
Maan: “What are you both looking at. Anyway, as I told Geet, I am going to get some coffee. Do you want some Brij? Arjun you can come with me.”
Arjun:” Yes I need some pick me up. Brij do you want some?”
Brij: “Nope, you guys get moving.”
Once Arjun and Maan left Brij turned and looked at Geet.
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