Toxic movie - spoiler filled thread....
Priyanka's Mum on Neckline : " Be dignified, dayre mein raho "
Mahabharat ki Pathshala Season 1 (Sign-Up open)
Chapter 6: Brakes
He looked at ringing cell phone wearily. It was already close to midnight and work in past few days had made his schedule too hectic to catch even a decent night sleep. When ringing persisted and his sleep bid goodbye for the night, he solemnly picked up and muttered in a hello.
"Is this Maan Singh Khurana?" A husky female voice asked in hesitation. He hesitated a moment and checked the number. It was Dev.
"Yes?" He answered slowly.
"This is Geet. Can you meet me now please?" The hesitancy in her voice hadn't left yet. His answer was immediate.
"Text me your address. I will be there", he hung up without a second thought.
Less than twenty minutes later he found himself in front of Bar Lapin and wondered why Geet had called him to a bar that late in the night. The answer came very soon as he made his way towards lounge and saw Geet next to an inebriated Dev. He sighed. He hadn't signed up for this. Yet, here he was.
"I didn't know who else to call." The simplistic statement made him look up to her for a moment. He nodded in response.
"I will take him home", he replied and slung Dev's arm around him and dragged him out singled armed. Geet settled the bill and joined him outside. The chill in air made her shiver slightly.
"It's already quite late, let me drop you first. He is too sloshed to realize how late it is anyway", he said gently shoving Dev into backseat of his car. Geet nodded and smiled with gratitude. It was too late and she was too tired for more words. It seemed Maan was too.
"How did you find him?" Maan asked once they were on the road for few minutes.
"He called me actually. He was sobbing and was uttering something incoherent. I couldn't make out what he was saying and after wrestling with words for few minutes I realized that he was here. I couldn't get any cab and didn't know what to do as it was getting really late." She replied not looking at him, rubbing her temples. It had been a long day at work and the way it was ending wasn't something she desired it to be so. Maan didn't reply but only hummed in response. It was obvious from her voice that she was exhausted and in all honesty so was he.
"Are you a doctor?" He asked her eying at her scrubs. She gave a tired chuckle.
"No, I am a surgical nurse. I was about to change and leave for home when I received the call. I guess the situation got best of me and I just ran over here", she sighed.
"You ran?" He asked her incredulous with an evident smile.
"Yeah, pretty pathetic isn't it?" She asked looking out of the window. He didn't know what to make out of it. He couldn't understand her empathy nor could he understand the perplexity which she was clearly showing. And moreover, he really didn't know how to respond to her question. But he tried to give her an answer anyway.
"People don't stop loving each other overnight do they? No matter how deep the hurt is, it takes months to heal and get over a person. And here we are talking about relationship of what, four years? No, it isn't pathetic to run to a person just to see if he is alright. It's just human." The slow baritone of his voice filled the car. She had her head rested on the window trying to fit in random thoughts in an order. Every emotion in her was jumbled and the way she felt for Dev was reduced to one that of old acquaintances. How did it come to this in only a matter of ten days?
"Don't dissect everything you are feeling right now. It will only worsen your headache." Maan said as she opened car door to get out. She halted.
"Thank you, for being there." His name had popped up in her head when she was trying to find a solution with a drunken Dev. Maan only nodded.
"Drive safe", she said and disappeared into night without waiting for a response.
--o00o--
The bartender looks at her in sheer pity which makes her skin crawl. But she understood where he was coming from. She sat there in that corner table drinking a cola and watching Dev. Dev's drinking hadn't escalated but he had refused to listen to her. They were still walking on egg shells completely avoiding the topic – what next. She had taken back several steps and the distance between them had now become a chasm. He was wallowing in his self pity and a depression she couldn't understand or fathom and she felt he was slipping away from everything tangible. She tried to reason with him about him visiting a bar every evening. He countered saying that it was his escape from the confusion constantly brewing in corners of his heart. His jumbled mind untangled in a delicious way when intoxicated and that liberating feeling had started to addict him in these stressful times.
She dropped by that bar one evening when wondering if she would find Dev there hoping that she would be disappointed. But she wasn't. He was sitting there on a bar stool lone at the corner and nursing a drink. She had slid to a shadowy corner and had ordered cola. She didn't know at all the reason for her perseverance. She didn't owe him anything. Yet, there was something nagging her, telling her to be there for him when he was in slumps.
"What are you doing here?" A surprised Maan's voice broke her reverie. She looked up in surprise.
"I have been asking the same question for about two weeks now."
"You are here every day?" He didn't bother to hide his surprise.
"No, not every day, just couple of days a week." She replied tracing her finger on condensation formed on cold cola glass. He looked around the lounge and did a double take when his eyes fell on Dev. He sighed and couldn't help but feel a little irritated.
"You know stalking is illegal right?" He asked her wryly. She chuckled. She expected something like that from him; nothing malicious but a direct assault on her rationality.
"I am not stalking him Maan. I am just repaying an old favor. I don't like obligations", she responded sullenly. He looked at her quizzically.
"Dev has always been the caretaker in our relationship you know. I was doing a job and also studying at the same time. I worked late nights and sometimes started my work too early in the morning. He always managed to make sure that I reached home safe in the night. He picked me up from wherever I was and dropped me home. I even fought with him several times not to do so. It was suffocating for me who never really had that sort of protective shield from anyone else, not even my parents for that matter."
"Why did he do it then?"
"He never told me. But I guess it was that stupid instinct of his which makes him do these things. From that day onwards I stopped questioning his motives and allowed him to be. For the first time in my life I was freely offered a protective shield. And at that time I didn't have the heart to decline or profess my neo feminist manifesto", she said with a smile. Maan smiled in response too.
"You are here because you cannot see him alone, isn't it?" He asked her sipping his own cola. She had raised her eyebrows when he had ordered a non-alcoholic drink.
"I prefer soda and besides, alcohol is overrated", he had grinned at her quizzical look. She had shaken her head and clink her glass to his.
"So whenever Dev made some useless excuse to run away from a meeting or a presentation, he was actually escorting you all over the city?" He asked her with raised eyebrows, mirth evident in his eyes. Her eyes widened in surprise and realized what she had disclosed to the colleague of her ex. She laughed lightly in response while Maan joined in few moments later.
"I understand", Maan said after many minutes of silence. He did understand actually.
What she was doing wasn't an act of love.
She was only honoring the care, respect and protection she had received from the relationship.
To be continued.
Fan Fictions
Anupamaa
108 Base Hospital Uri
Geet - Hui Sabse Parayee
Web Series
Arjun
