Nothing Can Keep Us ApartPart 39 - How do you sleep?
As nice as it was for Geet to spend all of Sunday with her new family, she did have to go back to work the next day. Mr. Chopra was coming back from his business trip and the launch party was scheduled for Friday. Geet was so involved in getting everything ready that she spent every spare minute at home thinking and planning for the party. She had help from the companies employees, and especially Muskaan, but Geet didn't want to leave anything to chance. She knew how important this contract and project was to Maan, and she was determined to make him proud of her.
When Maan came out of the bathroom after getting ready for the night, he noticed that Geet was not in bed like she usually was. Although she was in her night dress, she also had a pad of paper and a pencil, which she was using to make notes. Geet walked to one side of the room, and then the other as she spoke quickly to herself. Maan thought that she looked adorable, pacing back and forth, so deep in thought, chewing on the end of her pencil occasionally. Maan just stood leaning against the doorway, content to watch his wife, until he noticed that she spent more time rubbing her lower back, than writing.
"Geet!" barked Maan, in an angry voice that shocked Geet, causing her to drop her notebook and pencil. "What are you doing?"
"Woh...uh...I was just working out some details for Mr. Chopra's launch party."
"Geet, you have plenty of time at the office to work on that, you don't need to spend all your time at home on it as well."
"But, Maan, I want to do a good job. You're always telling people that there should be no mistakes. I'm just trying to make this party perfect for you."
"Geet, I have faith in your abilities. I'm sure you won't make any mistakes. What I'm more concerned with is that you don't take care of yourself like you should." Geet gave Maan a confused look, to which Maan responded with, "Your back is hurting you, isn't it?"
"Yes, a little, but.."
"No buts. Come over here and lie down on your side."
Geet did as Maan said, and laid down on her left side curling her legs slightly. Maan knelt on the bed next to Geet and began slowly rubbing her lower back. Geet gave a hiss somewhere between pain and pleasure as Maan's fingers started their kneading motion. Maan could feel the knots in Geet's muscles, which again made him upset.
"Geet, I'm not very happy with you. You aren't paying enough attention to your health. How long would you have waited before telling me your back hurt? If you have pain, you need to tell me about it, immediately."
"Maan, I can't tell you every time I have a small pain."
"Yes you can."
"You're just being ridiculous and over protective again." Geet gave a cute pout, but as her face was turned away from Maan, it had no effect on him.
"No, I am not."
"Mann, it will be a waste of time."
"It won't."
"Maan, we're never going to agree about this, you know."
"You don't have to agree, Geet, you just have to do what I say."
"Maan Singh Khurana, sometimes you make me want to scream!" thought Geet angrily to herself.
Taking her silence as surrender, Maan changed the subject. "You know, Geet, next month is the Sixth International Structural Engineering and Construction Conference in Zurich."
"Oh, are you going?" asked Geet, while giving a slight sigh in response to Maan's rubbing.
"I usually do, and I can't tell you how much I would like to avoid all the drama that will be happening because of Pari's wedding. That girl is crazy and she makes everyone around her crazy. I'd just as soon miss the whole thing, but I don't want to leave you and the baby. If something happened to either of you, I'd never be able to forgive myself."
"Oh, Maan," said Geet with a hitch in her voice, "that's so sweet. But, you shouldn't have to change your business decisions for me. If you want to go, then go, I won't stop you."
"Geet, it's not like that. Anyway, I thought that I could send Sasha to represent our company, and when the conference is over, she can spend a few weeks inspecting our London and France projects. What do you think of that idea?"
"Well, she is the company's head architect. I'm sure she would appreciate being given the responsibility, so I think you should send her." Geet said the last few words with through a small yawn. Maan asked if she was tired and should he stop rubbing her back.
"No, don't stop. It feels really good, actually." A few moments passed before Geet went on, "You better be careful, Mr. Khurana, I could get used to this."
"Maybe that's my plan, Mrs. Khurana," responded Maan, in a tone that was almost flirtatious.
"Hmmmm," was the only reply that Geet gave.
Maan again changed the topic by asking Geet what she had been talking about that afternoon with Dadi and Mami. He knew that they had told her of their plans for her Godh bharai, but he wanted to listen to what Geet had to say about it. Geet told him about the decision to have the celebration at the mansion, since the wedding would be held at Mamu's and Mami's residence. Though she was very enthusiastic about the idea, Maan could tell that it made her sad that she couldn't have her family be part of the celebration. Maan had an idea about that, but he kept it to himself, preferring to give her a nice surprise, rather than promise something that might lead to disappointment.
They talked for a few more minutes, Maan continuously rubbing up and down Geet's back gently. Maan finally decided that he should stop, as it was getting late. He got off the bed and went to turn off the lights. As he was getting settled back on the bed Geet grabbed his hand suddenly. To Maan's surprise she pulled him towards her quite hard and placed his hand on her abdomen.
"Can you feel it?" questioned Geet. "The baby is really active right now."
Maan could feel movement against the place where his hand was resting. It was stronger than the last time Geet had made him feel the baby's kicking. Maan was thrilled that Geet had been the one to initiate the contact. He had often wanted to ask her if he could touch her in order to feel the baby, but he was always afraid she would take his meaning wrong. As he lay next to his wife, his hand splayed across her stomach, Maan became surprised at how energetic the baby seemed to be.
"Wow, how do you sleep with all that movement from the baby?" Maan inquired incredulously.
"I find it comforting. It lets me know that the baby is doing alright."
Maan didn't have any response. He was too in awe of the whole situation. Maan and Geet stayed close together, both drifting off to sleep with their hands covering their baby in protection and love.
****************
"What?" cried Sasha so loud that it attracted the attention of the nearby staff, even though the office door was closed.
"We've decided to send you to the ISEC meeting next month in Zurich, as well as to look over some of our European projects." Maan was busy at his computer, so he did not see the look of utter shock on Sasha's face.
Sasha had absolutely no idea how to react to what she had just been told. In normal circumstances she might have felt happy that MK was giving her such a big responsibility. However, seeing the innocent looking smile on Geet's face, as well as Maan's almost total disregard, she had the horrible feeling that this was a plot to get her out of MK's life for good.
"But, MK, you've always been the one who represented the company at these international conferences."
"So, now I'm giving that responsibility to you. If you don't think you can handle it, I'm sure somebody else will be able to, Adi, perhaps."
Sasha felt a moment of panic at the thought that MK might think she wasn't capable of any work he would give her. "No, MK, I can do it, no problem. I was just a bit surprised, that's all."
"Very, good. Muskaan will make all your arrangement and give you the details when necessary. You can go back to your work now."
Sasha gave a grimace that was an attempt at a smile, and slowly left MK's and the behenji's office in a daze. She felt sick to her stomach. She knew that the conference was coming up, and had been looking forward to a few weeks without MK in the office. She had been counting on being able to make life miserable for Geet while MK was away. Now, it was she who was going to be gone, giving that behenji opportunities to do who knows what without Sasha even knowing about it. The only thing she could think to make this situation bearable was to have Tasha phone her everyday to let her know what was happening.
"That stupid behenji is not going to win against Sasha. Somehow I will find a way to get rid of her. She might be safe for now, but when I come back, she'd better watch out!"
Precap:
Mr. Chopra's launch party. Does Maan like it?
And Thanks Goes To:Nothing that I can think of.
pm list updated to include Smiley1279, ameena_sneha, -Zoya-, Amrinag, sakuraa, mandu,
So the Sixth International Structural Engineering and Construction Conference is a real conference that is scheduled to meet next year in Zurich. I'm only mentioning this because I wanted to point out that I'm not using this as an indication of when the story takes place, I just didn't want to try and make up a name that sounded convincing for a construction conference that Maan would likely attend. I used goolge to find out about this one. Google is my friend.❤️
Edited by laxmi2010 - 13 years ago
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