Tum Kaun Ho?
A Maaneet Fan Fic
Chapter 36
Mar. 23, 2011 5:30 pm
Maan had been having a good day. The office had been very busy and that was the way he liked it. Most of the busyness had been because he and a small group of associates had finally had their offer for Chocolate Reves, the French company he had visited months ago, accepted. Maan knew it was a small company, but his gut told him that it would continue to do very well, perhaps even become internationally renowned. However, this new acquisition required a lot of paperwork and conference calls. His work was compounded by Geet having leave the office to pick up a slightly ill JD early from preschool.
Maan smiled ruefully at the thought of Geet. He missed seeing her face. He felt like he hadn't seen her in years, though it wasn't true. Maan admitted to himself that he wouldn't need anything else to be perfectly content if Geet was with him. Looking at the clock, he saw that it was almost time for dinner. For weeks, Maan had looked forward to family dinners, something that he hadn't done for a long time. He knew it was because of Geet's presence that he had begun to enjoy spending time with his family.
Looking around his desk for any work that still needed completion, Maan saw a stack of mail that Chelsea had brought in earlier. He had been so busy that he hadn't had time to go through it. Maan really didn't want to deal with that stack now, he actually wanted to go to the kitchen and help Geet with their meal. However, he never liked to leave unfinished work. Leaving something unfinished only meant that it would be more of a headache the next day. He started going through the letters, when he realized that on the bottom was a large, full envelope, with a FedEx logo. He didn't know who that could be from, but was curious to see what it was. As soon as he saw the return address with the name HJN Investigations, Maan knew what it was.
Quickly opening the envelope, Maan saw that it contained a thick manilla folder and a folded sheet of paper. He opened the sheet of paper and found a note from Henry. He apologized for not giving him the information in person, but there had been a death in his family. He decided to overnight the information by FedEx, as Maan had been so insistent on having it as soon as possible. Maan put the letter down and stared at the folder that could tell him everything about Geet Handa's life. He moved to open it, but just as his fingers picked up the edge of the folder, he stopped.
A month ago Maan had been desperate to know every detail about Geet, to make certain that she was the real deal, and not some fake like Sameera. Somehow, the urgency that he had felt was no longer there, at least not the same way it had been before. What he really wanted was to find out everything from Geet herself. Yet, he wasn't sure if that was even possible. She never talked about herself, and he hadn't forgotten her response the one time he had asked about her family. If he read this report, he would know the facts of her life that she had yet to disclose. However, Maan didn't feel quite right doing that without Geet's knowledge. He was in such a dilemma, he decided not to do anything at the moment. He could figure out what to do later. Right now he felt like seeing Geet, so he left his office and headed towards the kitchen.
Mar. 23, 2011 9:15 pm
Geet was exhausted, physically and mentally. Ever since Holi and the conversation she had overheard, she had been on tender hooks. It was not that easy to leave a family that had meant everything to her for the past two years, and been important many years before that. If only Maan wasn't intent on coming closer to her, she wouldn't have this problem. But she knew Maan, and she knew that he wouldn't let go. The difficulty lay in finding a solution where the hurt her absence would cause the family was minimized. She had yet to find one, and had spent many late nights crying as she tried to figure a way out of the mess she was in.
Poor little JD had an upset stomach and had to come home early from preschool. Geet had tried to be upbeat as she nursed him, and indulged his whims, not wanting him to sense her depressed mood. She really didn't know how she was going to be able to leave him, but if she ended things with Maan, there would be no other choice left. Geet wished that she could pretend everything was fine, and just let events take their course, but that would be unfair to Maan. No, it was better for her to move out of the Khurana's lives just as soon as she could figure out a way to.
Putting all that aside for the moment, she was taking some time alone in her office. Geet had two purposes for working late. The obvious one was to catch up on the work she had missed while taking care of JD that afternoon. The other was to give herself a respite from the overwhelming emotions that continued to plague her. It worked a bit, at least she had something else to think about. It was good because she also found some paperwork that Chelsea should have given to Maan, but didn't.
It was for the company he had just bought, and she knew that he would want them in the morning. She thought about running it over to his office, but she didn't want to run into him. Maan had insisted on helping her with diner, on the pretext that taking care of a fussy JD would have tired her out. She had tried to get him to go away, but he was stubborn. She knew that he wanted to spend time with her, but it was difficult for her. It was so difficult to be around him and feel the terrible ache in her heart at the thought of leaving, but pretending that all was well. She really didn't feel up to dealing with that again.
From past experience Geet figured there was a fifty-fifty chance that Maan would be in his office at this hour. He didn't like to "work" after dinner, but he often took things to read during the evening. Sometimes he would come back two or three times to get more to do, and sometimes he would exercise for about an hour. Geet decided to check, and if his office light was on, she would wait 'til early morning. If the light was off, she would quickly drop off the papers and go to bed.
Luck was with Geet. When she walked down the hall to Maan's office, she saw that it was dark. She flipped on the light so that she wouldn't trip over anything, and made her way to his desk. She looked to see if he had a folder or basket with similar documents. He didn't, so she wrote on a sticky what the papers were and placed them next to his laptop. She just started moving away, when a large file caught her eye. The file had her name on it. She couldn't think why Maan would have a file with her name on it.
Mar. 23, 2011 9:41 pm
Maan was on his way to the kitchen for a glass of water, when he noticed the light on in his office. He knew that he had turned it off, so he was naturally curious as to who was in his office. He walked quickly to the door, and looking inside the room, saw Geet standing near his desk. He smiled seeing her there, until he noticed her face. It was absolutely white, and void of all expression.
"Geet," he called out, concern racing through him, seeing her in that state.
She turned more towards him, and as she did so, he saw the file in her hand. His mind had only been full of Geet that evening, first from spending time with her before and during dinner, then helping her put JD to bed, and finally attempting to distract himself with exercise when she insisted on being left alone to finish work from earlier in the day. He had forgotten all about that file that he had felt such a dilemma over.
"You had me investigated." Geet's tone was not questioning but accusatory. "If you wanted to know something about me, you should have had the decency to ask me, not go behind my back!"
"Geet, I haven't read that file," Maan said hastily, walking towards her with a pleading look on his face.
Geet backed up defensively, even as she asked, "Why not? You obviously paid money for it, so why shouldn't you read it?" Throwing the file down hard on his desk, she said through angry tears, "You should read it. I'm sure you'll find it very entertaining."
Without giving Maan a chance to respond, Geet ran out of the room, and down the hall. Maan wanted to go after her, but his guilt over the incident kept him from doing so. He moved slowly to his desk and picked up the file in his hands. He was about to rip the thing to shreds, when something stopped him. Somehow, he felt that destroying the file would not help the situation. His instincts were telling him to read what was in there, even as his conscience said it was wrong. After debating with himself, his instincts won. He felt that it would help him more to know what was contained in Geet's file, than to do the moral thing. Geet was already angry with him, and if there was something in the file that would explain why she was so upset, he wanted to know it.
Mar. 23, 2011 10:22 pm
Geet heard a knock on her door, and her name being called out softly by the man she loved. She had long since stopped crying and was now standing quietly at her window. She had been waiting for Maan to come, certain that he would. She called for him to come in, and somewhere inside she hoped that he hadn't read the contents of that file. As he entered the room and began to walk towards her, that hope was dashed. She could tell from the look of pity he was giving her that he had read it. That look of pity was what killed her most. Pity was not an emotion that she wanted Maan to feel for her.
When he was standing in front of her, Maan repeated her name softly and said, "I shouldn't have inquired into your past without your knowledge. But Geet, if I had asked you, would you have told me the truth?"
Geet closed her eyes in pain and turned away. "I don't know," she answered. "I've never actually spoken with anyone about what happened."
She took a few calming breaths before continuing. "Your investigator would only have been able to find a few facts and a few second hand opinions. I want you to read this. It's my account of what happened. I've never shared it with anyone else."
There were no lights on in Geet's room, but the moonlight was streaming through the window. In the moonlight, Maan could see Geet holding out a small, leather journal. Knowing what he knew, Maan was not sure if he would be able to bare reading Geet's own words about her experience. However, the trust that she showed in him by letting him read something no one else had, made it impossible for him to do anything else. Maan put out his hand, accepted the journal, turned on a nearby lamp, and began to read.
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