FF: Always You - Chapter 4 Page 2 Updated 27th Sept- Page 2

Chapter 3 - Not for anyone else

By the time Geet turned 13, the 42% mathematics paper had stopped being an embarrassment and become something of a family joke, although unlike before, when jokes about her schoolwork would have made her defensive enough to argue with anyone unfortunate enough to mention them, Geet had started laughing along because she knew exactly what had happened after that mark and, more importantly, what it had taught her about herself.

The paper remained tucked inside the back of one of her folders, creased around the edges and still covered in the same red corrections she had once hated looking at, but she had refused to throw it away because every time she stumbled across it, she remembered how easily she had accepted the idea that being bad at something was simply part of who she was.

A year later, nobody described her that way anymore.

She had not suddenly become the student who came 1st in every subject, nor had she transformed into somebody who enjoyed spending every available hour revising, because Geet still considered weekends sacred and could usually be persuaded away from a textbook with food, television or anything remotely more interesting, but she had developed a discipline nobody had expected from the girl who once believed reading a chapter summary should count as revising the entire topic.

Meera remained her favourite study partner, although the balance between them had shifted naturally as the months passed because, where Meera had once spent most of their revision sessions explaining mathematics while Geet helped her with English, Geet had gradually reached the point where she could challenge Meera's answers, explain a difficult question back to her and occasionally recognise a mistake before Meera did.

The 1st time that happened, Geet had stared at Meera's calculation for several seconds before reaching across the dining table and tapping the incorrect line with her pencil. "You changed the sign here," she pointed out, trying unsuccessfully to hide the smugness spreading across her face as Meera frowned and leaned closer to inspect the equation.

When Meera realised Geet was right, she sighed and reached for her eraser, although the moment she noticed the victorious expression on Geet's face, her eyes narrowed. "Don't start," Meera warned, pointing the eraser towards her because she already knew exactly what was coming.

Geet immediately leaned back in her chair and placed one hand dramatically against her chest. "I wasn't going to say anything," she assured her, although her smile widened as she watched Meera correct the mistake. "I was simply enjoying this historic moment in silence."

"You have never enjoyed anything in silence in your entire life," Meera muttered as she erased the calculation, which only made Geet laugh before reminding her that she had spent almost a year listening to Meera correct her maths and therefore deserved at least 5 minutes to enjoy returning the favour.

Their latest test results arrived on a Monday morning, with Meera receiving 88% while Geet scored 85%, and although Geet had stared at the number for several seconds after turning the paper over, the feeling that settled inside her was entirely different from the disbelief she had experienced after receiving 83% the previous year.

An 85% no longer felt like some strange accident she had to prove she deserved.

It simply felt like the result of the work she had done.

That was the part Geet liked most.

The change had not gone unnoticed at home either because Mohinder had stopped peering into the dining room with exaggerated suspicion whenever he found his daughter studying, while Pammi had stopped asking whether Meera was forcing her to sit there and instead automatically left tea, fruit and snacks beside both girls without interrupting their revision.

Even Yash had eventually stopped reacting to every good mark like evidence of a national emergency, although he still insisted that years of older-brother insults had been the true source of Geet's motivation, a theory Geet considered so ridiculous that she refused to dignify it with anything beyond an eye roll.

Maan, however, was more difficult to ignore.

At 16, he had grown noticeably taller and broader through the shoulders, and although the mischievous boy who had once dedicated ridiculous amounts of time to finding new ways of annoying Geet still existed somewhere beneath the surface, he had become more serious as school grew more demanding and Rajveer increasingly included him in conversations about architecture, university and the responsibilities that would eventually come with the Khurana name.

Unfortunately, according to Geet, maturity had done absolutely nothing for his arrogance.

He still called her ladoo and football occasionally.

The difference was that Geet had stopped reacting.

The 1st few times Maan assumed she had not heard him, but after several unsuccessful attempts to provoke the familiar response, he began to suspect she was deliberately ignoring him, which bothered him far more than he was prepared to admit.

One Sunday afternoon, Geet and Meera were sitting beside one another on the large sofa in the Khurana living room, both attempting to finish their homework before Avantika allowed them to watch a film, when Maan walked past and casually called, "Football," without stopping.

Geet continued reading.

Maan slowed.

When she still did not look up, he turned around and stared at the top of her head before calling again, this time slightly louder, "Football."

Meera's eyes flickered towards her brother before moving towards Geet, who calmly turned another page without acknowledging him.

Maan walked back towards them and stopped directly in front of the sofa, blocking Geet's view of the lamp beside him, which finally made her lift her gaze from the book resting across her lap. "Can I help you?" Geet asked politely, although the slight twitch at the corner of her mouth told Meera she knew exactly why he was standing there.

Maan folded his arms across his chest as he looked down at her. "You heard me."

Geet tilted her head slightly, allowing a deliberately confused expression to settle across her face before replying, "I usually hear you, yes."

"Then why didn't you answer?"

Geet glanced briefly towards Meera before returning her attention to Maan. "Because I thought you were looking for a football," she explained with such innocence that Meera immediately lowered her head to hide her laughter.

Maan's eyes narrowed before shifting towards his sister. "What are you laughing at?" he demanded, and when Meera attempted to shake her head while still smiling, he pointed towards her accusingly. "You're clearly laughing."

"I remembered something," Meera replied quickly, although the excuse sounded unconvincing even to her.

Maan stared at her for another moment before turning back towards Geet, who had already lowered her eyes to the page again, and the fact that she had dismissed him so easily irritated him enough that he reached down and closed the book.

Geet slowly looked at his hand resting over the cover before raising her gaze towards his face. "Maan," she warned, her voice remaining calm even as her expression made it clear that he was rapidly exhausting her patience.

"There you are," Maan replied with a satisfied smile, as though finally getting a reaction proved something important.

Geet stared at him before reaching for the book, although when Maan lifted his hand away and allowed her to take it, she did not immediately reopen it. "Did you genuinely interrupt my homework because I didn't react to you calling me fat?" she asked, her brows pulling together as though she could not decide whether to be irritated or amused.

Maan shook his head immediately. "I didn't call you fat."

"You have been using that argument since I was 9," Geet reminded him, while Meera glanced between them with the expression of somebody who had heard the same debate far too many times.

"Because football and fat are not the same word," Maan argued as he lowered himself onto the arm of the sofa.

"In your vocabulary they have always meant exactly the same thing," Geet countered before reopening the book, and when Maan opened his mouth to respond, she glanced up again and added, "If you need attention this badly, go and annoy Yash because I actually have work to finish."

Meera pressed her lips together.

Maan stared at Geet.

Geet returned to reading.

He remained sitting there for several seconds, strangely dissatisfied by how quickly she had forgotten about him, before eventually pushing himself away from the sofa and walking towards the kitchen.

What irritated Maan was not the insult itself.

It was the fact that Geet had once given him attention without him ever needing to ask for it.

When they were younger, he could barely enter the Handa house without Geet appearing somewhere beside him, asking where he was going, what he was doing and whether she could join them, while Maan had spent years telling her to stop following him and complaining whenever she ignored the order.

Now she increasingly did exactly what he had once wanted.

For reasons he refused to examine too closely, the silence bothered him more than the noise ever had.

Geet's decision to become healthier happened several months later and, despite what almost everybody initially assumed, it had very little to do with Maan or with the endless comments she had heard about her weight throughout childhood.

It started with a staircase.

After renovations at school forced several classes to move, Geet's science lessons were transferred from the ground floor to the 3rd floor, and one particularly warm afternoon she reached the classroom breathing heavily enough that Meera, who had already placed her books on the desk, immediately looked towards her with concern.

"Are you all right?" Meera asked as Geet dropped into the chair beside her and leaned back, trying to control her breathing without making the effort too obvious.

Geet waved one hand dismissively while reaching for Meera's water bottle. "I'm fine," she assured her before taking several long sips and passing it back. "I just think whoever designed this school hated children because there is absolutely no reason we need this many stairs."

Meera laughed at the complaint and opened her textbook, while Geet forgot about the incident before the lesson had even ended.

The following week, however, something similar happened during physical education when the class was instructed to complete several laps around the field, and after barely finishing half of what everyone else had managed, Geet found herself slowing to a walk because her legs felt heavy and her lungs were burning enough to make continuing feel impossible.

Usually, she would have laughed it off because she had never liked sports and had spent most of her childhood proudly declaring that unnecessary running was one of society's greatest mistakes, but that afternoon she sat on a bench after class and watched several of the other girls continue around the field without looking remotely as exhausted as she felt.

For the 1st time, Geet did not think about how she looked.

She thought about how she felt.

She was tired of stairs leaving her breathless, tired of avoiding anything that required too much physical effort and, although she had never considered herself unhappy, she suddenly realised that she did not want to feel uncomfortable inside her own body simply because she had become accustomed to it.

She mentioned it to Meera while they were walking home after school, adjusting the strap of her heavy bag as she said thoughtfully, "I think I want to get fitter."

Meera turned her head towards her immediately, and although she did not react dramatically, Geet noticed the careful way her best friend studied her face before asking, "Because of PE today?"

"Not just today," Geet admitted as they continued walking. "I hate getting tired so quickly and I hate stairs, and I know I joke about it because I've always hated exercise, but I don't think I actually want to feel like this forever."

Meera remained quiet for several steps before asking gently, "Did somebody say something to you?"

Geet knew what she was really asking and sighed as she shook her head. "No, nobody said anything."

"Maan?" Meera asked, because if anybody had spent enough years commenting on Geet's size to make the question reasonable, it was her brother.

Geet stopped walking altogether and turned towards her friend with an incredulous expression. "If I was going to change myself because of something Maan said, I would have done it years ago," she pointed out, which made Meera's concern disappear beneath a reluctant laugh. "He has been calling me ladoo and football since before I properly understood why he thought it was funny, so no, this isn't because of your stupid brother."

Meera smiled as she adjusted her own bag and began walking again. "Good, because if it was, I was going to tell you not to bother."

Geet caught up with her and bumped their shoulders together. "I just want to know what I feel like when I'm fitter," she explained more quietly, and when Meera nodded without turning the conversation into anything more complicated, Geet knew she understood.

Telling Pammi that evening proved considerably harder.

Her mother had barely allowed Geet to finish explaining before placing her spoon down and fixing her with the expression she usually reserved for situations involving her children and possible emotional distress.

"Who said something to you?" Pammi asked immediately.

Geet closed her eyes briefly before looking towards the ceiling. "Nobody."

Pammi did not appear convinced. "Did someone at school make a comment?"

"No."

"Did Maan say something?"

"Mumma," Geet groaned, dropping her spoon onto her plate before turning towards Mohinder as though expecting her father to intervene.

Mohinder looked between his wife and daughter and wisely continued eating.

Geet frowned at him. "Papa, you could help."

Mohinder swallowed before reaching for his glass. "I have been married long enough to know when not to involve myself."

Pammi turned towards him sharply. "Mohinder."

"I am listening," he assured her immediately, although the amusement in his eyes made Geet sigh before turning back towards her mother.

"Why does everybody think I'm doing this because somebody said something?" Geet asked, leaning her arms against the table as she tried to explain herself without becoming frustrated. "I'm not upset, nobody bullied me and Maan hasn't suddenly said anything he hasn't already been saying since I was 9. I just want to feel fitter, and I don't understand why that has to mean somebody made me feel bad."

Pammi's expression softened slightly, although the concern remained as she reached across the table and rested her hand over Geet's. "Because you're my daughter, and I want to know that you are doing this because you want to feel healthy rather than because someone has made you believe there is something wrong with you."

"There isn't anything wrong with me," Geet replied without hesitation, squeezing her mother's fingers before giving her a reassuring smile. "I know that, Mumma. I'm not planning to stop eating or starve myself or suddenly spend my life thinking about being thin, because I like food far too much for any of that anyway, but I want to exercise properly and maybe stop treating vegetables like they personally offended me."

Mohinder finally looked up from his plate with exaggerated surprise. "I would like that last sentence officially recorded because your mother and I have waited 13 years to hear you voluntarily mention vegetables."

Geet immediately turned towards him with a glare. "Papa, I was trying to have a serious conversation."

"I am being serious," Mohinder insisted, although the smile tugging at his mouth ruined the effect. "This is a very important family moment."

"Mumma, control your husband."

Pammi laughed despite herself before squeezing Geet's hand again. "If you want to become healthier because you want to feel stronger, then I'll help you," she promised, although her expression became serious once more as she added, "but the moment I think you are standing in front of mirrors worrying about whether you are thin enough for other people, we stop and talk about it."

Geet smiled as she nodded. "Deal."

That was the truth.

There had certainly been moments when she was younger when Maan's teasing genuinely hurt her feelings, and there were still clothes she avoided because they made her uncomfortable, but Geet did not hate herself and had never looked into a mirror wishing she could become somebody entirely different.

She simply wanted to discover whether she could change something because she had decided to.

The same way she had changed her marks.

That thought excited her more than becoming thinner ever could.

Pammi approached Geet's new goal with the enthusiasm of a woman who owned a successful catering company and therefore considered food both a profession and a personal responsibility, which meant Geet soon discovered that becoming healthier did not involve the miserable plates of lettuce she had imagined.

Within days, Pammi had explained portion sizes, proteins, vegetables and meals that would keep her fuller for longer, although Geet immediately established one important condition by informing her mother that anybody attempting to remove dessert from her life would lose her cooperation completely.

Pammi, who knew her daughter well enough not to argue with impossible demands, agreed that dessert could remain.

Exercise proved considerably less enjoyable.

Geet began with long walks alongside Meera after school, although during the 1st week they spent so much time complaining that neither was entirely convinced their pace counted as exercise, while by the 2nd week they had started timing the route and competing against their previous best.

By the end of the month, Geet no longer dreaded putting on her trainers.

Several weeks later, Avantika suggested both girls join her for yoga in the Khurana garden on weekend mornings, and Geet accepted with unreasonable confidence before discovering that flexibility was another ability she had apparently failed to inherit.

Maan discovered that weakness one Saturday morning when he returned from playing football with Yash and Aditya and walked into the garden to find Avantika standing calmly on one mat while Meera and Geet occupied the 2 beside her.

Geet was attempting to balance on one leg.

Attempting being the important word.

Her arms stretched awkwardly to either side while she wobbled enough to make Meera laugh, and Avantika, who was somehow holding the same position without appearing to exert any effort, reminded her to stop staring at the ground and focus on something in front of her.

Maan stopped walking.

Yash, who had been directly behind him, nearly collided with his back before looking around his shoulder. "Why did you stop?" Yash asked, following Maan's gaze towards the garden.

Neither boy had time to say anything else because Geet lost her balance at that exact moment and fell sideways into Meera, sending both girls tumbling onto the grass.

Maan's laughter was immediate.

Geet pushed herself upright and turned towards him so quickly that the expression on her face only made him laugh harder.

"You look ridiculous," Maan informed her as he moved closer, dropping the football beside one of the chairs while Yash and Aditya joined him.

Geet brushed several blades of grass from her leggings before placing both hands on her hips. "Thank you for your support," she replied dryly, fixing him with a glare that would have been considerably more effective had her hair not been sticking messily across one cheek.

Maan pointed towards her as his laughter eased. "I am being supportive because I could have taken my phone out and recorded that."

"You would have done exactly that if your phone had already been in your hand," Geet accused him before returning to her mat.

"Obviously," Maan admitted without shame.

Geet rolled her eyes and moved back into position, and while Maan had expected another argument, she simply raised her arms and tried the pose again.

He watched her for several seconds before something finally registered.

"You're exercising?" Maan asked, the surprise in his voice making Geet lower one arm and look at him.

"That is generally what yoga is," she replied, while Avantika shook her head at both of them and told Geet to concentrate.

Maan ignored his mother's instruction as he folded his arms. "You hate exercise."

"I hated PE," Geet corrected him, carefully trying to position her foot again.

"You hate walking upstairs."

"I still hate stairs."

Yash laughed from behind his friend, but Maan continued looking at Geet as though she had presented him with a mystery requiring an explanation. "Why are you doing it then?"

Geet lowered her arms completely this time and glanced down at the mat before understanding what he meant. "Because I want to," she answered simply.

"That's it?" Maan questioned, his brows drawing together.

Geet reached for the bottle of water beside her mat and twisted the cap open before giving him a knowing look. "Before you ask, no, nobody said anything to me, nobody bullied me and this isn't because you call me football," she explained as she took a drink.

Maan's expression changed slightly. "I wasn't going to ask that."

Geet lowered the bottle and raised one eyebrow. "You were thinking it."

For once, Maan did not immediately argue because she was right, although he had not realised until she said it aloud that part of him had genuinely wondered whether someone had made Geet feel uncomfortable about herself.

When she continued looking at him, waiting for some response, Maan finally nodded. "If you're doing it because you want to feel fitter, then good," he said, and the sincerity in his voice made Geet's expression soften for a brief moment.

Then Maan glanced towards her mat and added, "Although your balance is terrible, so you clearly need the practice."

Geet immediately threw the bottle cap towards him.

Maan caught it before it reached his chest, his grin returning as he held it up between his fingers. "There she is."

Geet glared at him while holding out her hand for the cap, and for a moment the exchange felt exactly like the hundreds of arguments they had shared throughout childhood.

Only something had changed beneath the familiarity.

Neither of them understood what yet.

The physical changes came slowly enough that Geet barely noticed them herself.

There was no morning when she woke up and suddenly looked like a different person, no dramatic transformation that caused everyone around her to stop and stare, and no particular number on a scale that convinced her she had finally reached some imaginary version of perfection.

Instead, she noticed smaller things.

The stairs leading towards her science classroom stopped leaving her breathless.

She could walk further without automatically searching for somewhere to sit.

The exercises Avantika taught them became easier.

Clothes that had once felt tight became more comfortable, while Pammi occasionally had to adjust something because Geet had grown out of it differently than expected.

Her face gradually lost some of its childhood roundness, while the rest of her body changed naturally as she grew taller and moved further away from childhood.

Her confidence changed faster.

Several months after she began, Geet felt stronger, healthier and considerably more comfortable with physical activity, although she still ate cake whenever Pammi baked, stole chips from Yash's plate whenever he looked away and maintained that salads became far more enjoyable when followed by dessert.

Becoming healthier had not required becoming somebody else.

That mattered to her.

Other people noticed eventually.

Family members began commenting during gatherings, usually telling Pammi how much weight Geet had lost or asking Geet what she had been doing, and although she accepted most of the remarks politely, she disliked the way some people spoke as though her previous body had been an unfortunate problem they were all relieved to see disappearing.

At one family lunch, an older aunt looked Geet over while she stood beside Pammi near the dining table and announced approvingly that Geet was becoming very pretty now that she had lost some weight.

Pammi's smile disappeared immediately.

Across the room, Avantika looked over too.

Neither woman managed to speak before Geet turned towards the aunt with a perfectly pleasant expression and replied, "I was pretty before as well, Auntie."

The woman blinked, clearly not expecting the answer.

Geet smiled politely before reaching across the table and helping herself to another piece of naan as though nothing unusual had happened.

Meera, who had heard the entire exchange from beside her, nearly choked on her drink.

Across the table, Maan lowered his gaze towards his plate, although not quickly enough to hide the smile spreading across his face.

Later that afternoon, he found Geet and Meera sitting on the low garden wall outside, sharing a bowl of fruit while talking about school, and instead of continuing towards Yash and Aditya, who were arguing near the other end of the garden, Maan stopped in front of them.

Geet looked up at him as she bit into a strawberry. "What?"

Maan folded his arms and repeated her earlier statement with obvious amusement. "You were pretty before as well?"

Geet swallowed before lifting her brows. "Yes."

"Very confident."

"Very accurate," she corrected him without hesitation.

Meera laughed beside her while Maan shook his head, although the teasing response he had intended to give never arrived because he found himself looking at Geet properly.

The change was undeniable now.

Her face was slimmer than it had been a year earlier, although the softness had not disappeared completely, and her features were beginning to lose the roundness of childhood while becoming more defined, but the difference that held his attention had far less to do with her appearance than with the way she carried herself.

There was a certainty in Geet that had not existed before.

At 13, she no longer looked like the little girl who waited for everyone else to decide whether she could join them, nor did she immediately seek reassurance whenever somebody challenged her.

She still laughed too loudly, argued whenever she believed she was right and spoke with her hands whenever she became excited, but there was something steadier beneath all of it now.

Maan noticed.

The more uncomfortable realisation came when he noticed himself noticing.

His gaze lingered for a second longer than it should have before he looked away towards Yash and Aditya.

Geet did not notice.

Meera did.

She said nothing.

The following school term brought another change Geet had not planned for because, although she had never particularly cared whether boys noticed her, boys had started noticing her anyway.

It did not happen dramatically or all at once.

The 1st boy suddenly began asking to borrow her English notes despite having several friends in the same class who had copied exactly the same material.

Geet lent them to him without thinking anything of it.

Another boy started appearing beside her locker often enough for Meera to become suspicious.

Geet assumed he happened to use the same corridor.

The 3rd boy actually stopped beside them one afternoon and told Geet that she looked nice before walking away with an embarrassed smile.

Geet thanked him politely and continued towards class.

Meera managed to remain silent until they reached the end of the corridor before grabbing her best friend's arm and pulling her to a stop. "You genuinely don't know, do you?" she asked, staring at Geet as though she had discovered an entirely new level of obliviousness.

Geet frowned as she adjusted the books in her arms. "Know what?"

"That boy likes you."

Geet looked over her shoulder towards the corridor before turning back towards Meera. "Which boy?"

"The one who literally just stopped to tell you that you looked nice," Meera replied, lowering her voice when several students walked past them.

Geet shrugged. "He was being polite."

"He has never spoken to you before."

"That doesn't automatically mean he likes me."

"He was staring at you through half of science yesterday," Meera pointed out, folding her arms while waiting for some sign that the information mattered.

Geet considered it for a moment before shifting her books more comfortably against her chest. "All right."

Meera stared at her. "That's it?"

"What do you want me to do?"

"I don't know, react."

Geet laughed softly before resuming her walk towards class, forcing Meera to follow beside her. "It's nice, I suppose, but I don't know him, and I have a science test tomorrow that I care about considerably more than whether some boy stared at me yesterday."

Meera shook her head as she followed her. "You're weird."

Geet immediately nudged her shoulder against hers. "You're the one monitoring who looks at me."

"I'm observant."

"You're nosy."

Meera smiled. "That too."

Geet forgot about the conversation almost immediately.

Maan did not.

He heard about it 2 days later while sitting in the Handa living room with Yash and Aditya, both of whom were arguing over what to watch, when Yash casually mentioned that apparently some boy at school had started following Geet around.

Maan looked away from the television almost immediately. "What boy?" he asked, his attention suddenly far more focused than it had been moments earlier.

Yash shrugged while continuing to scroll through the channels. "I don't know. Meera mentioned something."

Maan's gaze immediately shifted towards the dining table, where Meera and Geet were sitting several metres away with their schoolbooks spread between them. "Meera," he called, waiting until his sister looked up before asking, "what boy?"

Meera frowned as though she had no idea what he meant. "What boy?"

"The boy following Geet."

Geet lifted her head at that.

Meera glanced towards her friend before turning back towards Maan. "Nobody is following her. I said a boy likes her."

Maan's expression tightened slightly. "Who?"

Geet slowly placed her pen down.

The amusement on her face appeared before she even spoke. "Why do you want to know?" she asked, leaning back in her chair as she looked towards him.

Maan met her gaze. "Because I asked."

"That explains the question, not why you care."

Yash looked away from the television now.

Aditya lowered the volume.

Maan noticed both of them listening and became more irritated. "You're 13."

Geet raised her eyebrows. "I know how old I am."

"So who is he?"

"I don't even know whether he likes me," Geet explained, picking her pen up again before gesturing towards Meera with it. "She decided that because apparently telling somebody they look nice is now evidence of eternal love."

"It is not eternal love," Meera protested, turning towards her. "I said he has a crush on you."

Geet gave her a pointed look before returning her attention to Maan. "There you go. Mystery solved."

Maan was not satisfied. "What's his name?"

Geet stared at him for several seconds before slowly asking, "Why are you behaving like Papa?"

Yash laughed immediately, leaning back against the sofa as he looked towards his friend, while Aditya's expression became considerably more interested.

Maan frowned. "I'm not behaving like your father."

"You are asking his name, how old I am and why he likes me," Geet pointed out, counting each example against her fingers before looking at him expectantly. "What exactly were you planning to do once you found out?"

"I wasn't planning anything."

"Then why do you care?"

The question should have been easy.

Maan had known Geet almost her entire life.

Yash was his best friend.

Their families had raised them together.

He had spent years protecting her without ever questioning the instinct.

There were dozens of perfectly reasonable explanations.

Yet when Geet looked at him and waited, the answer that came out was the simplest one available.

"Because you're basically my little sister."

Something shifted in Geet's expression.

It was so brief that Maan almost missed it, although Meera, who had been watching both of them carefully, noticed immediately.

Geet looked at him for another second before nodding once and lowering her gaze towards her book. "Right," she replied quietly as she picked up her pen. "Then you don't need to worry because your little sister can handle a boy telling her she looks nice."

Maan should have felt relieved.

Instead, something about the way she said little sister left him strangely dissatisfied.

He watched her for several seconds, but Geet had already returned to discussing the question in front of her with Meera, clearly considering the conversation finished.

Yash eventually turned the television volume back up while Aditya began complaining about the channel he had chosen, and within minutes the room returned to normal.

Maan did not.

His gaze drifted towards Geet again.

She was leaning over Meera's notebook while explaining something, completely unconcerned with whichever boy apparently liked her and equally unconcerned with Maan's opinion about it.

He told himself that should reassure him.

Geet was only 13.

She was Yash's younger sister.

She had practically grown up inside his house.

Of course he was protective.

Of course he wanted to know who was interested in her.

Of course it meant nothing more.

The explanations were reasonable enough that Maan accepted them without questioning why he had disliked hearing about another boy in the first place.

For now, that was enough.

What Maan did not yet understand was that Geet's transformation had very little to do with the weight she was losing, the marks she was gaining or the attention boys were beginning to give her.

The real change was happening somewhere much deeper.

For the 1st time in her life, Geet Handa was learning that she did not need anybody else to tell her she was clever, attractive, capable or worth noticing because she was beginning to believe those things without permission.

Maan Singh Khurana, who had spent years assuming Geet would always look towards him for attention, approval or reassurance, had not yet realised what that meant for him.

He only knew that she no longer answered every time he called her football, no longer abandoned whatever she was doing the moment he walked into a room and no longer seemed particularly interested in whether he was impressed by anything she accomplished.

Maan had spent most of their childhood wanting Geet to stop following him.

Now, whenever she walked ahead without looking back, he was beginning to notice just how often he was the one watching her go.

I hope you've enjoyed this chapter, please do hit the like and comment.

Maan might call her whatever but he did not tolerate another kid insulting Geet. He stood up for her.

Geet turned herself around and scored so much better. She is changing.

Geet is growing up, feeling better, gaining confidence in herself. All the right changes and people are noticing.

Very consistent and determined geet! Thats a trait. She is doing what she feels like doing, what she thinks she need. Thats very encouraging. And thats the proper way one should do what one wants.

Hi there

Apologies for late comments

Appreciate the updates

Chapter 2

Of cos Geet cannot ignore the mark because she realises she has never worked hard enough to discover whether she is genuinely bad at mathematics.

Glad that with Meera's support, she begins studying consistently and learns that effort, patience and practice determine her performance.

So Geet sets herself the ambitious target of achieving 80%.

As expected her family initially teases her about her new commitment, while Maan is surprised that her determination lasts.

Their usual teasing continues, but Geet becomes less dependent on his approval and more confident in challenging him.

Not surprised that Maan begins noticing not only her academic progress, but also that she no longer constantly seeks his attention.

Geet eventually writes the next mathematics test and receives 83%, while Meera obtains 87%. Proud of Geet.

Loved that Geet realises that she was never incapable, but had accepted other people's descriptions of her without testing her true potential.

Wonderful that her family celebrate her achievement.

at least Maan reluctantly acknowledges that she has done well.

pleased that the two families later organise a picnic to celebrate the girls' results.

Adore the close bond between the Handa and Khurana families, as well as the parents' decision to prioritise family time over work.

now Geet developing a healthier approach to food and exercise without losing her enthusiasm for eating or her personality.

Admire that Geet is doing this for herself.

A humorous family cricket match becomes the centre of the picnic. After several team changes, the women-Pammi, Geet, Meera and Avantika, together with Mohinder-defeat Rajveer, Maan, Yash and Aditya.

The match challenges the men's assumptions, particularly after Mohinder underestimates the women and then contributes almost nothing to the victory.

The winning women claim and divide the money.

Throughout the picnic, Maan repeatedly notices Geet's growing independence.

She remains loud, humorous, competitive and food-loving, but she is beginning to take herself seriously and define her own capabilities.

Her reduced interest in gaining Maan's attention unsettles him, and Aditya quietly notices Maan's increasing awareness of her.

Chapter 3

Glad that through consistent effort and studying with Meera, Geet achieves 85%.

Nice that she begins to trust that her success is earned rather than accidental.

Pleased that Geet stops reacting to Maan's teasing and no longer seeks his attention.

Of cos Maan is perturbed by this as he begins to realise that he misses the attention he once found irritating.

As expected Geet decides to improve her fitness for her own well-being not because of criticism about her weight.

loved that supported by Meera, Pammi and Avantika, she adopts healthier eating habits, walking and yoga.

Great that Geet becomes stronger and more comfortable without trying to become a different person.

When relatives imply that weight loss has made her attractive, she firmly responds that she was attractive before as well.

well Maan notices Geet's the changes in Geet. Not surprised that he becomes increasingly protective when he learns that boys at school are interested in her.

However, he dismisses his reaction by describing her as a "little sister," a description that leaves both of them dissatisfied.

liked that Geet's is learning to believe that she is intelligent, capable, attractive and worthy without needing anyone else's approval.

As she becomes less dependent on Maan's attention, he begins to recognise how much her presence matters to him.

Update soon

Hi everyone

This is new story on this forum

Happy reading

Chapter 4 - When Everyone Started Looking

By the time Geet turned 14, the changes everybody else seemed determined to point out had become ordinary enough to her that she rarely thought about them unless somebody insisted on drawing her attention towards them, because after more than a year of exercising regularly, eating better and working consistently at school, none of it felt like some dramatic transformation anymore; it simply felt like the life she had built for herself one small decision at a time.

She still went walking with Meera several evenings a week, although what had once begun as 2 girls complaining their way through exercise had gradually turned into something they genuinely enjoyed, particularly because most of those walks consisted of gossiping so continuously that neither noticed how far they had gone until they were already halfway home. Weekend yoga with Avantika had continued too, despite Geet maintaining that several of the positions had been invented by people with completely different joints from ordinary human beings, and while she had become stronger, fitter and considerably more flexible than she had been a year earlier, she still celebrated every cancelled session as though somebody had announced a public holiday in her honour.

Her schoolwork had settled into the same comfortable rhythm because Geet no longer needed a poor result to frighten her into revising, nor did she require Meera beside her every evening before she opened a textbook. They still studied together more often than not, and Geet still preferred having somebody nearby to complain to whenever a question became particularly irritating, but the girl who had once stared in horror at 42% had disappeared so thoroughly that nobody in either family seemed especially surprised anymore when Geet brought home marks in the 80s and immediately started analysing where she had lost the remaining points.

Physically, however, the difference was considerably more obvious to everyone around her, because the softness that had dominated her childhood face had gradually reduced as she grew taller, leaving behind more defined features while still preserving enough roundness in her cheeks for Pammi to pinch them whenever Geet complained that she was far too old for it, and although she had lost weight, it had happened slowly enough that she had never experienced the dramatic moment everybody seemed to expect whenever they spoke about her appearance.

There had been no morning when Geet stood in front of the mirror and suddenly discovered somebody else looking back at her, because she still saw herself in exactly the same way she always had... louder than necessary, constantly hungry, easily irritated by Maan Singh Khurana and entirely capable of making a serious conversation ridiculous within minutes.

Apparently, boys had begun seeing something else.

The occasional compliments Meera used to notice before Geet did had become increasingly difficult to dismiss as coincidence because boys who had barely acknowledged her 2 years earlier suddenly remembered her name, classmates she had never exchanged more than a sentence with found unnecessary reasons to start conversations, and the number of requests appearing on her social media had increased enough for Yash to occasionally peer over her shoulder and ask suspiciously who half the names belonged to.

Geet usually responded by telling her brother to mind his own business, although she would have been lying if she claimed she disliked all of the attention, because there was a small part of her that appreciated being noticed for reasons that had nothing to do with somebody laughing at her size.

For much of her childhood, attention from boys had usually meant somebody calling her ladoo because of her round cheeks, somebody laughing when she reached for another serving of food or, in Maan's case, years of being referred to as football with such persistence that the nickname had almost become part of her identity. Geet had never hated herself because of any of it, but she remembered perfectly well what it felt like to enter a room and wonder whether somebody looking towards her was about to laugh, and although she no longer needed anybody else's approval to feel good about herself, there was still something quietly satisfying about realising that sometimes boys looked now simply because they thought she was pretty.

Maan, meanwhile, appeared to find the entire development personally inconvenient.

He had never admitted that, of course, because according to Maan Singh Khurana he did not care who looked at Geet, did not notice when somebody attempted to flirt with her and certainly did not spend unnecessary amounts of time staring at boys who stood too close to her, despite Meera having witnessed enough evidence over the previous year to comfortably argue otherwise.

Unfortunately for Geet, Maan had developed his own problem with unwanted attention too, although his appeared to be considerably more welcome.

At 17, Maan was almost irritatingly aware that girls liked him, because the remaining boyishness in his face had begun disappearing over the previous year while his height, athletic build and naturally confident manner had combined into something girls seemed incapable of overlooking. Geet would have denied under oath that she noticed any of it, but even she could not pretend she had missed the way girls suddenly found him funnier, touched his arm more often while speaking and appeared strangely interested in whatever subject he happened to be discussing.

What irritated her most was that Maan clearly did not hate the attention.

Geet wished she had never noticed that either.

The problem became considerably harder to ignore at the celebration Rajveer and Mohinder organised after completing one of the largest projects Khurana Architects and Handa Developments had undertaken together, because the luxury hotel development had occupied both men for almost 3 years and, although the formal corporate launch had already taken place earlier that week, both families decided the successful completion deserved a separate celebration without clients, speeches or journalists hovering nearby.

Their definition of a small family celebration, however, still involved enough relatives, old family friends and long-standing business associates to fill most of the Khurana house.

By 7 that evening, Geet had already been kissed on the cheek by 4 aunties whose names she could not immediately remember, answered the same questions about school so many times that she was seriously considering printing her marks and future plans onto small cards she could hand out at the next gathering, and finally escaped upstairs with Meera under the excuse that they needed to fix their jewellery when in reality both girls simply needed 10 minutes away from adults asking what they intended to become when they were older.

Geet stood in front of Meera's dressing table struggling with the fastening of one earring when Meera emerged from the wardrobe area dressed in a dark green lehenga, took 2 steps into the room and then stopped so abruptly that Geet immediately noticed her staring through the mirror.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Geet asked suspiciously as she finally managed to secure the earring, turning towards her best friend while smoothing one hand over the deep blue lehenga Avantika had selected for her.

Meera folded her arms and continued studying Geet with an expression that made her increasingly suspicious before a slow smile spread across her face. "I'm not looking at you like anything," Meera replied, although the obvious amusement in her voice made the denial useless. "I'm simply preparing myself for Bhai spending the entire evening pretending he hasn't noticed you."

Geet stared at her for approximately 2 seconds before reaching towards the nearest cushion and throwing it directly at her, which Meera caught against her chest while laughing hard enough to make Geet turn back towards the mirror with an irritated shake of her head. "Your obsession with creating imaginary situations involving your brother is becoming genuinely concerning," Geet complained as she adjusted the bangles around her wrist. "What exactly is Maan supposed to notice that he hasn't already seen? He has known me since I was born."

Meera walked closer and used both hands to straighten the edge of Geet's dupatta before giving her a pointed look. "Yes, but you no longer resemble the small child who ate 6 gulab jamuns at my birthday party and then blamed Adi when Mum asked who finished them."

Geet turned sharply enough that Meera nearly lost hold of the fabric. "Firstly, I ate 4," she corrected with complete seriousness, lifting 4 fingers between them, "and secondly, Adi had already eaten 3 before I touched the plate, so statistically he was the more believable suspect."

The explanation made Meera laugh harder as she stepped back, although she still managed to ask how Geet remembered the exact numbers after all these years.

"Because I was falsely accused," Geet replied with an offended expression as she picked up her phone from the dressing table. "Trauma stays with a person."

Meera stared at her in disbelief. "You literally just confessed."

"That is completely irrelevant to the injustice I suffered."

Meera shook her head while reaching for her own earrings, although the laughter remained in her voice when she told Geet she was impossible, and by the time both girls finally left the room several minutes later, they were still arguing quietly as they reached the top of the staircase.

Geet's sentence disappeared halfway through whatever she had been saying when her gaze drifted towards the crowded living room below.

Maan stood near the open doors leading towards the garden with Yash and Aditya, dressed in a black kurta that Geet immediately decided suited him far too well for somebody whose personality remained so consistently irritating, and while Aditya appeared to be telling some dramatic story with far too many hand gestures, Maan laughed before shaking his head and saying something Geet could not hear.

Her steps slowed slightly without permission.

Meera, already 2 stairs ahead, glanced over her shoulder and followed Geet's gaze before the corners of her mouth immediately lifted.

Geet noticed and resumed walking at once. "Don't," she warned, keeping her eyes firmly on the steps now.

Meera widened her eyes with exaggerated innocence as she waited for her. "I didn't say anything."

"You were about to."

"I was breathing."

Geet gave her a sideways look as they continued downstairs. "You were breathing judgementally."

That accusation made Meera press her lips together in an unsuccessful attempt to stop laughing, and the pair had barely reached the bottom when Geet looked towards Maan again at exactly the wrong moment.

A girl had approached him.

Geet recognised her vaguely as Rhea, the daughter of one of Rajveer's long-standing business associates, although they had never spoken beyond polite greetings at previous events. She was probably around Maan's age, perhaps slightly older, and looked beautiful in a pale pink outfit that Geet immediately knew she would have ruined within 20 minutes by spilling something on it.

Rhea said something that made Maan smile before, while laughing, she placed one hand lightly against his arm.

An immediate flicker of annoyance tightened inside Geet before she had the chance to understand where it came from, and because she disliked the feeling almost as much as she disliked the sight in front of her, she immediately attempted to reason herself out of it.

There was absolutely no reason for her to care whether Rhea touched Maan's arm.

Maan was 17, girls liked him and, judging from the easy smile he gave Rhea while leaning slightly closer to hear whatever she said over the noise in the room, he clearly did not object to the attention.

Geet turned away so quickly that Meera noticed, although for once her best friend wisely said nothing.

For several minutes, Geet successfully forgot about the entire thing because Avantika immediately pulled her into a hug and told her how beautiful she looked, while Rajveer kissed the top of her head before complaining that she had become too tall and demanding to know when everybody's children had decided to grow up without asking permission.

Mohinder appeared shortly afterwards and proudly introduced Geet to one of his colleagues as his daughter who had apparently decided over the last 2 years to become smarter than the rest of the family combined, which earned him an offended look from Pammi and a reminder that Geet had always been clever.

"I know she was always clever," Mohinder defended himself as he wrapped one arm around Geet's shoulders, smiling when his daughter looked up at him suspiciously. "She simply preferred hiding it for the 1st 12 years."

Geet immediately narrowed her eyes. "You realise you're meant to be telling people good things about me?"

Mohinder's expression became completely serious as he nodded. "You're also very good at eating my food."

Pammi slapped his arm at once while Geet gasped and complained that this was exactly why children eventually stopped speaking to their parents, which made Rajveer, who had overheard enough of the conversation from nearby, laugh before telling Mohinder that Geet was welcome to move into the Khurana house if she felt unappreciated.

Unfortunately, Maan heard that part too.

"No vacancy," he called across the room with a completely straight face.

Geet turned towards him immediately.

Rhea was still standing beside him.

The annoyance returned.

Geet smiled sweetly in his direction and replied, "Don't worry, I wouldn't voluntarily live somewhere that already contains you."

Yash laughed loudly enough to attract several glances from nearby relatives, while Maan placed one hand dramatically against his chest and pretended to look wounded. "After all these years, Football, that's how you speak to me?"

The nickname would once have irritated Geet enough to start another argument, but she only slipped out from beneath Mohinder's arm and looked towards Maan with a pleasant smile. "Yes, because after all these years you still haven't developed a better personality."

Aditya made an appreciative sound as though somebody had scored a point in a match, while Rhea glanced between Geet and Maan with visible amusement.

Maan's gaze remained on Geet for several seconds longer than necessary before Rhea said something beside him and his attention shifted back towards her.

That was what annoyed Geet more than the nickname.

She pushed the reaction down immediately, reminding herself that she had no claim over Maan and certainly did not want one, particularly when only a year earlier he had described her as practically his little sister, a memory that still produced a strange discomfort she preferred not to examine too closely.

If Maan wanted to spend his evening smiling at every girl who wandered into his direction, that had absolutely nothing to do with Geet.

She repeated that thought silently while walking towards Pammi.

It became considerably easier to believe when somebody beside her said her name.

Geet turned and found a boy from school standing nearby with a hesitant smile, and although she recognised his face immediately, it took another second before his name came to her.

"Aarav, right?" Geet asked, and the relief that crossed his expression when she remembered made her smile.

Aarav nodded as he adjusted the glass in his hand. "You remember me."

Geet gave him an amused look while shifting slightly so they were no longer blocking the path towards the dining room. "We have chemistry together," she reminded him. "It would be slightly worrying if I didn't know your name."

Aarav laughed as some of his initial nervousness disappeared. "You sit near the front and I'm usually at the back, so I wasn't sure you even knew I existed."

Geet raised one eyebrow at him. "You dropped an entire tray of equipment last month and almost made Mr Sharma swear in front of the class, so I'm fairly certain everybody knows you exist."

His face reddened immediately while Geet laughed, and after a brief moment Aarav joined her as he protested that the tray had already been balanced badly before he touched it.

Across the room, Maan noticed Geet laughing.

He had not intended to.

For the previous few minutes, Rhea had been telling him about a university open day she had attended with her cousin, and although Maan had initially been listening, his attention shifted instinctively when he heard Geet laugh somewhere behind her.

His gaze moved across the room and immediately settled on Aarav.

Maan's expression tightened before he could stop it.

Yash, who knew his friend far too well, noticed almost immediately and followed Maan's line of sight before a slow smile appeared across his face. "Something wrong?" Yash asked casually as he took a drink, although the amusement in his tone made it obvious he already suspected the answer.

Maan looked towards him and frowned. "Why would something be wrong?"

Yash shrugged as though the question had been completely innocent. "You looked annoyed."

"I don't look annoyed," Maan replied, although his eyes had already drifted back towards Geet and Aarav.

Aditya noticed this time too, and after looking from Maan towards Geet before returning his gaze to Maan, understanding appeared across his face. "Ah," he murmured slowly, nodding to himself.

Maan turned towards him immediately. "What does 'ah' mean?"

Aditya widened his eyes. "Nothing."

"You both keep doing that."

Yash looked far too entertained as he asked, "Doing what?"

Maan gestured vaguely between them. "Looking at me and then looking over there."

Yash deliberately turned his head towards Geet, who was still talking to Aarav, before turning back towards Maan with exaggerated confusion. "Over where?"

Maan stared at him.

Yash grinned.

Beside them, Rhea looked between all 3 boys before laughing softly. "Do you always have conversations where nobody actually says what they mean?"

Aditya nodded solemnly. "Unfortunately, yes, although this one is particularly entertaining."

Maan gave him a warning look, but before he could tell Aditya to shut up, his attention returned towards Geet again.

Aarav had moved slightly closer because the room was loud, and Geet had tilted her head towards him so he would not have to repeat himself.

Maan disliked the sight immediately.

He told himself it was because he knew absolutely nothing about the boy and somebody should probably know who Geet was speaking to, which sounded completely reasonable until he remembered that Yash, her actual older brother, was standing beside him and appeared entirely unconcerned.

Across the room, Geet became aware she was being watched when she looked towards Maan again and found him already staring.

Their eyes met across the crowded room.

His expression was difficult to read from that distance, although Geet knew him well enough to recognise the slight tightening around his mouth.

Then Rhea touched his forearm again.

Geet's gaze dropped towards the hand before returning to Maan.

He was still watching her.

Fine.

The word entered her mind with enough irritation to become a challenge.

If Maan could stand there entertaining Rhea while looking as though he was thoroughly enjoying himself, Geet saw absolutely no reason she should feel guilty about enjoying somebody else's attention either.

She turned back towards Aarav with a brighter smile.

Aarav was telling her about their upcoming chemistry assignment when Geet leaned slightly closer so he did not have to repeat himself, asking whether his offer to help with the presentation actually meant she would do all the talking while he stood beside her pretending to be useful.

Aarav immediately placed one hand against his chest with exaggerated offence. "I'm excellent at public speaking."

Geet's expression turned sceptical as she reminded him, "Last week you needed another worksheet and spent 10 minutes trying to convince your friend to ask Sir because he looked annoyed."

"That was self-preservation," Aarav argued, smiling when Geet laughed.

"That was cowardice."

"It can be both."

Geet laughed again, and although she genuinely found him funny, she was also acutely aware that Maan remained somewhere across the room.

The awareness should have embarrassed her.

Instead, a slightly wicked part of Geet enjoyed it.

More importantly, she enjoyed the way Aarav looked at her, because there was no teasing hidden beneath his smile, no joke about her being a ladoo, football or anything else round, and no suggestion that the only reason he had approached was because he wanted to make somebody laugh at her expense.

He simply seemed to enjoy talking to her.

When Aarav complimented her outfit, Geet did not immediately dismiss him as she might have done a year earlier, because although she did not need him to tell her she looked good, there remained a small part of the younger Geet inside her who remembered boys looking for entirely different reasons.

"Thank you," Geet replied as she glanced down briefly at the embroidery before looking back towards him. "I was forced into it, so I can't take credit."

Aarav looked genuinely surprised. "Forced?"

Geet nodded seriously. "Avantika Auntie chose it, Mumma approved it and Meera threatened to disown me when I suggested wearing something simpler, so technically I had no freedom in the decision."

Aarav's gaze moved briefly over the deep blue lehenga before he smiled. "They made a good decision."

A small warmth touched Geet's cheeks before she could prevent it.

Across the room, Maan stopped pretending he was not watching.

Rhea had apparently asked him a question twice before he realised she was waiting for an answer, and when she touched his arm lightly to regain his attention, he finally looked towards her.

"Sorry, what did you say?" Maan asked, although even while speaking to Rhea, his attention remained noticeably divided.

Rhea laughed as she tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "I asked whether you're applying to universities in Delhi or looking abroad."

"Probably Delhi," Maan answered, but the moment his gaze wandered towards Geet again, Aditya sighed so dramatically that Maan turned towards him.

Aditya shook his head. "This is painful."

Maan frowned. "What is painful?"

"You."

Yash coughed into his fist in a poor attempt to disguise his laughter.

Maan's irritation deepened as he looked between both boys. "I have no idea what either of you are talking about."

Aditya nodded agreeably. "Of course you don't."

Maan would have responded, but Pammi called Geet from the opposite side of the room before he had the chance, and when Geet excused herself from Aarav and walked away, the tightness in Maan's expression eased without him realising.

Yash noticed that too.

"You look happier," he remarked casually.

Maan immediately turned towards him. "I looked exactly the same before."

"Of course you did," Yash replied, the smile on his face becoming impossible to disguise.

"Stop smiling."

"I'm not smiling."

"You are literally smiling while saying that."

Yash took another drink and wisely looked away.

Dinner was served in the garden shortly afterwards, where several long tables had been arranged beneath strings of warm lights, and although the older relatives occupied most of the seats nearest the house, the younger group ended up together towards the other side with Geet beside Meera, Aditya opposite them, Yash beside him and Maan taking the remaining chair at the end after being intercepted by so many relatives on his way outside that Geet had already finished arranging half her plate by the time he finally sat down.

Geet was reaching towards the salad bowl when Rhea passed behind Maan's chair and stopped beside him.

Rhea leaned down slightly, resting one hand against the back of Maan's seat while saying something quietly near his ear, and although Geet could not hear a single word over the surrounding conversations, she had absolutely no difficulty seeing the way Maan smiled in response. Her hand stopped above the salad.

Meera noticed immediately.

Without turning towards her best friend, Geet picked up a slice of cucumber with her fork and stabbed the prongs through it with considerably more force than the vegetable deserved before lifting it towards her mouth and shoving it in.

Meera's lips twitched and Geet chewed while staring determinedly towards the opposite side of the garden. Rhea remained there for another few seconds before finally moving away. Geet stabbed another cucumber, this time more forcefully.

Maan looked towards her hearing the scrape of her fork against the plate.

"So what exactly did the cucumber do to you?" Maan asked, his brows lifting as he watched Geet spear another piece with unnecessary aggression.

Geet stopped halfway through raising the fork and turned towards him with an incredulous expression. "Excuse me?"

Maan gestured towards her plate as though the evidence was obvious. "You've attacked 3 pieces of cucumber in less than a minute."

Aditya immediately looked towards Geet's plate, while Yash turned too, clearly interested now that somebody had started an argument.

Geet narrowed her eyes at Maan. "Why are you monitoring the way I eat my salad?"

"I'm not monitoring you," Maan replied as he reached towards the water jug. "You're stabbing the plate hard enough for people 2 tables away to hear you."

"I like cucumber."

"That doesn't explain the violence."

Beside Geet, Meera made a strangled sound that sounded suspiciously like suppressed laughter. "Are you all right?" Geet asked glowering at her.

Meera covered her mouth with one hand and nodded quickly.

Maan's eyes narrowed suspiciously as he looked between both girls. "What is wrong with her?"

"Nothing," Geet answered before stabbing another cucumber and shoving it into her mouth with deliberate calm.

Aditya watched the movement before glancing towards where Rhea had disappeared, and understanding spread across his face so quickly that Geet immediately pointed her fork towards him.

"Whatever you're thinking, stop."

Aditya lifted both hands. "I haven't said anything."

"You made a face."

"I have a face."

"You made a specific face."

Yash started laughing.

Maan looked increasingly confused as he asked, "Why does everyone keep accusing people of making faces tonight?"

Geet swallowed the cucumber and gave him a deliberately innocent smile. "Perhaps some people's faces are particularly irritating tonight."

Maan stared at her for a moment, clearly trying to decide whether the insult had been directed at him, while Meera ducked her head again and Yash looked towards Aditya with the expression of somebody desperately trying not to make the situation worse by laughing.

Maan eventually shook his head and reached for the serving bowl in front of him, although Geet noticed the amused smile he was trying to hide and stabbed another cucumber purely because it made her feel better.

Meera leaned slightly closer and whispered, "The cucumber is innocent."

Geet turned slowly towards her.

Meera immediately started eating.

"If you say another word," Geet murmured quietly enough that only Meera could hear, "I will tell everybody about your eyebrows."

Meera's eyes widened. "I was 11."

"You still cried."

"They looked uneven."

"They were exactly the same."

"They were not."

Across the table, Aditya looked up with immediate interest. "What happened to your eyebrows?"

"Nothing," Meera replied far too quickly as she turned towards him with a glare.

Geet smiled sweetly and reached for her glass.

Meera retaliated beneath the table with a light kick.

Geet kicked back.

Unfortunately, Meera moved her leg.

Geet's foot connected with Maan instead.

Maan stopped halfway through lifting his glass and slowly lowered it again while Geet froze, Meera looked down and Yash, who had seen the entire exchange, started laughing before Maan had even spoken.

"Did you just kick me?" Maan asked, turning towards Geet with a mixture of disbelief and amusement.

Geet straightened in her seat and attempted to arrange her face into an innocent expression. "No."

Maan stared at her. "Geet, I physically felt your foot hit my leg."

She considered that for a second before replying, "Then why did you ask?"

Aditya burst out laughing loudly enough that one of the older relatives nearby glanced towards them.

Maan looked beneath the table briefly, as though there might be another explanation hiding somewhere under it, before turning back towards Geet. "Why did you kick me?"

Geet sighed because apparently honesty was unavoidable. "I wasn't trying to kick you."

"That is not reassuring."

"I was kicking Meera."

Meera's head snapped towards her. "Why are you involving me?"

"Because you moved your leg."

"I did not move."

"You obviously moved, otherwise I would have kicked you instead of him."

Maan leaned back in his chair and looked between both girls with an expression somewhere between amusement and disbelief. "Do you realise every explanation is making this worse?"

Geet lifted one shoulder before reaching for another cucumber. "Fine, I'm sorry your leg happened to be in the path of a private disagreement."

Maan nodded slowly. "That might be the worst apology I have ever received."

Geet speared the cucumber and pointed it towards him. "Then perhaps stop demanding apologies from people who clearly don't mean them."

Yash laughed again, while Aditya pointed his fork towards Geet and declared that he personally thought her logic was excellent.

Maan turned towards him. "Nobody asked you."

Aditya shrugged before taking another bite of food. "That has never stopped me before."

Meera finally laughed properly, while Geet gave Maan a smug smile and placed the cucumber into her mouth.

For several minutes, the conversation moved towards school, university applications and the hotel project their fathers had completed, until Rhea appeared again beside Maan's chair to tell him her family was leaving shortly.

Geet noticed without intending to.

Rhea rested one hand lightly against Maan's shoulder as she thanked him for keeping her company earlier, and when Maan looked up at her and smiled before telling her he would see her again, Geet's fork descended into another cucumber with enough force to make the prongs scrape against the plate.

The crunch when she bit into it was unnecessarily aggressive.

Maan's gaze shifted towards her.

Geet stared at her plate.

He looked from the cucumber towards her face.

A slow smile began appearing across his.

Geet noticed from the corner of her eye and deliberately ignored him.

Unfortunately, Aarav chose that exact moment to arrive beside their table.

He had apparently come to say goodbye because his parents were leaving early, and after greeting Yash, Aditya and Meera politely, he turned towards Geet with a smile that immediately made Maan's own disappear.

"I'll send you those chemistry notes tonight," Aarav promised as he rested one hand against the back of an empty chair.

Geet looked up at him and raised her eyebrows. "You mean the notes you promised me 3 days ago?"

Aarav grimaced. "I forgot."

"You forgot because you don't have them."

"I have them."

"You're lying."

"I'll prove it."

Geet laughed and placed her fork down. "I'll believe you when I see them."

From the end of the table, Maan watched the entire exchange with an increasingly unpleasant expression.

Aarav seemed not to notice as he asked Geet, "Are you going to Rohan's birthday next Saturday?"

Geet had not decided.

She was about to say exactly that when Maan answered for her.

"She has exams."

The entire table went quiet.

Geet slowly turned her head towards him.

Yash looked at Maan.

Aditya stopped chewing.

Meera lowered her eyes towards her plate because she already knew what was coming.

Aarav looked understandably confused before pointing out, "The party is Saturday."

Maan nodded as though that strengthened his argument. "Exams still exist on Mondays."

Geet stared at him for another second before closing her eyes briefly, and when she opened them again, she turned back towards Aarav with a polite smile. "Ignore him@ she said as she gestured vaguely towards Maan. "He has recently developed a condition where he answers questions nobody asked."

Yash immediately started laughing.

Maan frowned. "I was helping."

"You were absolutely not helping," Geet corrected as she turned towards him. "Nobody asked you whether I should go."

"You do have exams."

"So does half our school."

"That doesn't mean you need to go to a party."

Geet's brows rose. "Thank you, Papa."

Yash choked on his water.

Aditya reached across and slapped his back while laughing so hard that he nearly knocked over his own glass, and even Aarav lowered his face briefly as though trying not to smile.

Maan looked deeply unimpressed. "I am not behaving like your father."

"You told me that last year too."

"Because I'm not."

Geet lifted one hand and began counting against her fingers. "You answered a question on my behalf, attempted to organise my weekend around revision and are now explaining whether I need to attend somebody else's birthday. You're approximately 2 questions away from asking whether I packed a jumper."

Aditya lost whatever remained of his self-control.

Yash laughed harder.

Meera covered her mouth.

Maan looked around the table as though genuinely betrayed by the complete absence of support. "You're all idiots."

Geet smiled sweetly. "Very mature response."

Aarav cleared his throat, although amusement remained on his face as he looked back towards Geet. "So, are you coming?"

Geet knew she probably was not.

Then her gaze flickered briefly towards the path where Rhea had disappeared.

Maan was still watching her.

Geet smiled at Aarav.

"Maybe," she replied, allowing the answer to linger just long enough before adding, "message me the details."

Maan's jaw tightened immediately.

Geet saw it.

A small, deeply satisfying spark of victory settled inside her.

Aarav smiled and promised he would before saying goodbye to everyone and heading back towards his parents.

Maan waited until Aarav was far enough away before turning towards Geet. "You don't even like parties."

Geet calmly picked up her fork and speared another cucumber. "I like some parties."

"You complained through Meera's entire birthday last year."

Meera looked offended as she pointed towards herself. "Why does everybody keep bringing my birthday into this?"

Geet gestured towards her with the cucumber. "Because you made us play charades."

"Everybody likes charades."

"Nobody likes charades," Geet argued. "People tolerate it because they love you."

Aditya nodded immediately. "I agree with Geet."

Meera glared across the table. "Nobody asked you either."

Aditya grinned. "See, now you sound exactly like your brother."

Maan ignored them because his attention remained entirely fixed on Geet. "Do you even like Aarav?"

The question made some of the humour disappear from her face.

Geet looked towards him properly.

There was something different in Maan's expression, something more intense than the ordinary protectiveness she had grown accustomed to, and for one brief second she wondered whether Meera had been right when she claimed her brother noticed far more than he pretended.

Then Rhea's hand on Maan's arm returned to her mind.

Geet lifted one shoulder. "Maybe I do."

Maan's brows pulled together. "You've spoken to him for about 20 minutes."

Geet paused with the fork halfway towards her mouth.

Slowly, she lowered it.

"How do you know how long I was speaking to him?"

The silence around the table became immediate.

Yash turned towards Maan.

Aditya did the same.

Meera's eyes widened slightly.

Maan realised his mistake.

"I saw you talking earlier."

Geet's mouth curved slowly. "For 20 minutes?"

"I wasn't timing it."

"You apparently have a very accurate internal clock."

Yash coughed into his fist, although nobody believed he was actually coughing.

Maan shot him a glare before turning back towards Geet. "My point is that you barely know him."

Geet rested her elbow lightly against the table and regarded Maan with exaggerated patience. "And how exactly do you think people get to know one another? Do you expect me to request his complete biography, medical history and family tree before speaking to him?"

"That is not what I said."

"You're behaving like I announced our engagement."

"I'm not."

"You look like you're about to investigate his family."

Maan replied too quickly. "I know his family."

Geet blinked.

Aditya burst into another fit of laughter.

Maan closed his eyes briefly, already recognising the mistake.

Geet leaned slightly towards him, clearly delighted now. "You know his family?"

"His father has worked with Uncle before."

"And you just happened to remember that immediately?"

"Yes."

Geet nodded slowly while attempting unsuccessfully to suppress her smile. "Completely normal behaviour."

"Stop making it sound strange."

"I'm not making it sound like anything," she replied, picking up her fork again. "You're doing all the work yourself."

Meera had gone completely silent because she knew attempting to speak would make her laugh, while Yash looked openly delighted by his best friend's discomfort.

Maan eventually turned towards him with visible irritation. "You have nothing to say about your 14-year-old sister giving boys her number?"

Geet's head snapped towards him. "I did not give him my number."

Maan looked back at her. "He said he was messaging you."

"Because we are in the same chemistry group," Geet explained slowly, as though speaking to somebody who required additional help understanding ordinary concepts.

Yash shrugged and reached for another piece of naan. "She's speaking to somebody from school, Maan, not eloping."

Maan stared at him in disbelief. "You're useless."

Yash grinned. "Apparently I'm simply less dramatic than you."

Geet immediately pointed towards her brother. "Exactly."

Maan turned back towards her. "Do not encourage him."

Yash laughed as Geet replied, "He doesn't need encouragement."

The argument finally dissolved when Pammi called across the table and told them that if they had enough energy to fight this much, they had enough energy to help clear everything after dinner, and the effect on all 5 was immediate enough to make Mohinder, who was sitting nearby, laugh into his drink.

"Amazing," Mohinder commented as he looked towards Pammi with admiration. "You managed in 1 sentence what the rest of us have failed to do for years."

Pammi gave him a warning look. "You can help too."

Mohinder's amusement disappeared immediately as he turned towards the younger group. "Children, continue arguing."

That made Geet laugh despite herself, while even Maan's irritation finally eased.

Chapt 4 continued below.

Chapter 4 continued

Later that evening, once most of the guests had moved away from the tables and music played softly from speakers near the patio, Geet stood beside the dessert section debating whether taking a 2nd gulab jamun undermined the healthy reputation relatives now seemed determined to assign her.

She had already decided that life was too short for unnecessary sacrifice when Maan appeared beside her.

His gaze moved towards the bowl in her hand.

Geet noticed immediately and pointed the spoon towards him. "Think extremely carefully before you speak."

Maan lifted both hands in surrender, although amusement was already visible in his expression. "I haven't said anything."

"You were about to."

"I was going to say I'm impressed."

Geet narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "By what?"

Maan glanced towards the gulab jamun before looking back at her. "That despite your entire transformation, some things have remained exactly the same."

Geet stared at him. "Are you referring to my dessert?"

"I didn't say that."

"You didn't need to because your face said it for you."

Maan laughed softly, and despite Geet's determination to remain annoyed with him, some of the tension from dinner eased because this version of them felt too familiar to resist. She took another bite before looking deliberately towards the garden. "Shouldn't you be somewhere entertaining your fan club?"

Maan's laughter stopped as he turned his head towards her. "My what?"

Geet shrugged with forced carelessness while concentrating far too intensely on cutting the gulab jamun with her spoon. "The girls who spent half the evening finding reasons to touch your arm. I assumed you were busy."

For several seconds, Maan simply looked at her before understanding appeared slowly across his face. "Are you talking about Rhea?"

Geet took another bite. "I don't know her name."

Maan's brows rose. "But you noticed her."

Geet immediately regretted saying anything.

She swallowed and tried to recover. "She was difficult not to notice considering she practically attached herself to you."

The smile that appeared on Maan's face was slow enough to make Geet instantly suspicious.

"What?" she demanded, turning fully towards him.

Maan leaned one shoulder casually against the table. "Nothing."

"You're smiling."

"I'm allowed to smile."

"You smile like that when you're about to say something irritating."

Maan studied her for another moment before finally asking, "Were you jealous?"

Geet nearly inhaled the piece of gulab jamun in her mouth.

She coughed once, recovered and then stared at him with genuine disbelief. "Jealous?"

Maan nodded, clearly enjoying himself now. "That is what it sounded like."

Geet laughed because the alternative was allowing him to see just how accurately the accusation had landed. "Please don't flatter yourself," she replied as she shook her head. "I was simply wondering whether all the architecture Rajveer Uncle talks about has finally gone to your head because apparently you now require girls hanging from both arms like decorative pillars."

Maan stared at her before laughing loudly enough that Meera turned from across the garden to look towards them.

Geet calmly took another bite of dessert as though she had said nothing unusual.

When Maan finally managed to speak again, he shook his head. "Decorative pillars?"

"You understand buildings," Geet explained with a shrug. "I was trying to communicate in a language you recognise."

Maan continued smiling as he looked at her. "You've become very funny lately."

Geet's expression softened into something smug. "I was always funny. You were too busy calling me football to notice."

Something about the answer changed the atmosphere between them, because Maan's smile faded slightly without disappearing altogether and, when his gaze settled on Geet again, the teasing in his expression softened into something she did not immediately recognise.

For a few seconds, neither reached for another joke.

Then Maan glanced towards the bowl in her hand and ruined the moment by saying, "You realise that's your 2nd one?"

Geet's expression hardened immediately. "There he is."

Maan laughed when she attempted to move away and reached instinctively to catch her lightly by the wrist before she could take more than a step.

Geet stopped.

Her gaze dropped towards his hand.

Maan seemed to notice the contact at the same moment because his fingers loosened almost immediately.

For one brief second, the noise from the garden seemed oddly distant.

Geet looked up towards him.

Maan was already watching her.

Neither of them appeared to know what to do with the unfamiliar silence that settled between them.

Fortunately, Aditya destroyed it.

He appeared beside them without warning and reached directly towards Geet's dessert bowl, which made her slap his hand away on instinct.

"Get your own," Geet complained as she pulled the bowl closer against her body.

Aditya looked personally offended as he gestured towards the table. "There are approximately 40 more sitting right there."

"Exactly, so why are you stealing mine?"

"Because yours was closer."

"That is the behaviour of a starving animal."

Aditya looked towards Maan for support. "He spent years calling you football because of this exact behaviour."

Geet's eyes narrowed immediately.

Maan lifted both hands and stepped back. "Do not involve me."

"You invented the nickname," Aditya reminded him.

"I was 12."

Geet gave Maan an unimpressed look. "You continued using it until approximately last week."

"That is completely different."

Aditya glanced between them. "It sounds exactly the same."

Geet pointed her spoon towards him. "For once in your life, Adi is correct."

Aditya's face brightened. "Can somebody record that?"

"Don't push it."

Yash and Meera joined them moments later, and within minutes the conversation deteriorated into a full argument about childhood nicknames, with Meera reminding everyone that Yash once cried because Maan called him a giraffe after a sudden growth spurt, while Yash immediately retaliated by exposing the eyebrow incident Geet had threatened Meera with earlier.

By the time Avantika finally came outside and told them everybody was trying to take family photographs, Meera was threatening to murder Yash, Aditya had somehow successfully stolen the last bite of Geet's abandoned gulab jamun and Maan was laughing hard enough that Rajveer had to call his name twice before he responded.

Organising the photograph took almost 10 minutes because Pammi wanted Geet beside her, Avantika insisted Geet should stand with Meera, Mohinder complained that Yash and Aditya were too tall to stand at the front and Rajveer eventually announced that if everybody continued behaving as though they were organising a parliamentary seating plan, he would ask the photographer to take the picture without any of them.

Somehow, when everybody finally settled, Geet found herself directly beside Maan.

She looked towards him.

Maan looked down at her.

"Don't step on me," Geet whispered while the photographer attempted to convince Mohinder to move slightly to the left.

Maan's eyebrows rose. "You're the person who kicked me during dinner."

"That was an accident."

"You denied it."

"I panicked."

Maan's mouth twitched. "You have terrible instincts."

Geet turned towards the camera and smiled sweetly while murmuring, "And yet you've somehow survived 14 years around me."

Maan looked towards her rather than the camera. "Barely."

The flash went off while Geet was still trying not to laugh, and neither of them noticed that almost everybody else was looking directly ahead while Maan's eyes remained on her.

The celebration ended late enough that both families abandoned any serious attempt to clean the entire house that night, with Pammi and Avantika agreeing they would deal with the remaining mess in the morning while the younger group collapsed around the living room among discarded cushions, empty glasses and gift bags nobody seemed to remember receiving.

Geet sat cross-legged on the floor beside Meera while scrolling through the photographs relatives had already started sending into the family group chat, pausing when she reached the large family picture and immediately laughing as she tilted the phone towards Meera.

"Look at Papa's face," Geet said, enlarging the image with her fingers. "He looks like somebody forced him to attend his own party."

Mohinder happened to be walking behind the sofa and leaned over both girls to inspect the photograph before defending himself. "That is because your mother spent 20 minutes deciding where everyone should stand."

From across the room, Pammi called back, "It was 3 minutes."

Mohinder straightened and looked towards Rajveer with the weary expression of a man seeking support. "Marriage has taught me not to challenge my wife's version of time."

Pammi pointed towards him. "Keep talking and you can sleep in the guest room."

Rajveer, who was sitting nearby with a cup of tea, immediately lifted one hand towards his friend. "The Khurana house has several spare rooms if you need asylum."

Avantika gave both husbands an unimpressed look. "Neither of you is remotely funny."

The younger group burst into laughter while Mohinder informed Rajveer that at least somebody appreciated them.

Geet returned her attention to the photographs, swiping through several candid images until she reached one taken earlier in the evening.

Maan stood beside Rhea.

Rhea was looking up at him while smiling.

Maan was smiling back.

That same irritating flicker returned inside Geet, and before she could examine it too closely, she swiped the photograph away faster than necessary.

Meera saw.

She did not say a word.

Her expression said enough.

Geet turned towards her. "Whatever you're thinking, stop."

Meera leaned closer and lowered her voice. "I still haven't said anything."

"You don't need words. Your face is irritating."

"My face is beautiful."

Geet stared at her. "That confidence is becoming a serious problem."

Meera grinned. "You taught me."

Geet rolled her eyes and returned to the phone.

Across the room, Maan was staring at his own screen.

Avantika had uploaded one of the photographs from earlier in the evening, and beneath it Aarav had apparently left a comment telling Geet she looked beautiful.

Maan read it twice.

Aditya, sitting beside him, noticed exactly where he was looking.

"This is becoming embarrassing," Aditya murmured quietly enough that the adults would not hear.

Maan locked his phone and turned towards him. "What is?"

Aditya glanced deliberately towards Geet.

Maan followed the movement despite himself.

She was laughing at something Meera had shown her, one hand covering her mouth while the other still held the phone.

Aditya leaned slightly closer and asked, "You do realise she isn't 9 anymore, right?"

Maan turned back towards him, irritation immediately appearing in his expression because he understood exactly what Aditya was implying and had no intention of discussing it. "She's 14."

Aditya nodded slowly. "That was not actually what I asked."

Maan's eyes narrowed. "What exactly are you trying to say?"

Aditya leaned back against the sofa and shrugged. "Nothing particularly complicated. I'm simply pointing out that you spent half the evening looking like you wanted to throw Aarav into the swimming pool."

Maan scoffed. "I barely noticed him."

Aditya gave him a look of complete disbelief. "You knew his father's employment history."

Maan glared at him.

Aditya lifted both hands. "Fine. You barely noticed him."

Maan looked away, although when Geet laughed again from across the room, his gaze returned towards her before he could stop it.

Aditya saw.

This time, he wisely chose not to comment.

Maan told himself the explanation remained exactly what it had always been because Geet was family, he had known her practically since birth and he knew perfectly well how boys their age thought, which meant there was nothing unusual about wanting to make sure she was not being taken advantage of.

That explanation covered almost everything.

It did not explain why he had enjoyed realising that Geet had noticed Rhea, nor did it explain why accusing her of jealousy had made something warm and unfamiliar settle inside his chest.

It certainly did not explain why holding Geet's wrist for barely a few seconds had suddenly felt different from the thousands of times they had pushed, grabbed, chased and fought with one another throughout childhood.

Across the room, Geet remained equally determined not to examine herself too carefully.

She told herself she had flirted with Aarav because she enjoyed the attention and because watching Maan become irritated was entertaining, and while both explanations were true, they were not quite complete.

She had liked the fact that Aarav thought she was pretty because, although Geet no longer needed anybody else's approval to feel confident, there was still something quietly satisfying about receiving the kind of attention she had once believed would never belong to her.

She had also liked irritating Maan because seeing him bothered by another boy had soothed the annoyance she had felt every time Rhea touched his arm.

That part was considerably harder to explain.

Somewhere beneath the banter, the ridiculous arguments, the childhood nicknames and the years spent taking one another's presence for granted, something had begun shifting into a space neither of them knew how to name.

Geet still saw Maan as the boy who had spent years calling her football, interfering in her business and behaving as though being 3 years older somehow gave him authority over every decision she made, while Maan still insisted she was simply the little girl who had grown up beside him and therefore triggered the same protectiveness she always had.

The problem was that neither explanation fit quite as comfortably anymore, because everybody else had started looking at Geet differently and Maan, despite all his efforts to deny it, was beginning to do exactly the same.

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