MG FF - Gharwali, Baharwali - note page 149 06/12 - Page 57

Chapter 17

Geet's eyes widened in shock & Maan stood still with panic as a second knock hit the door. They both saw the handle turn, and Geet began to brainstorm excuses for why her fiance was in her room when Pari's head popped round the door.

Her own eyes widened in surprise at the sight of Geet & Maan, both looking shocked like they'd just been caught doing something they weren't supposed to.

"Oh, sorry if I disturbed anything," she said quickly, her face blushing.

Geet realised what Pari was thinking - that her & Maan had been up to 'bedroom activities.'

"Pari, it's not what you think!" she said, horrified but Pari mumbled something & quickly shut the door.

"What happened to your sister?" Maan asked, confused.

Geet was too embarrassed to even say it. She cleared her throat nervously.

"Ahem, she er... well, Pari thought... wrongly assumed..."

"What?"

Geet felt her cheeks burn up. "Pari was under the false impression that me & you were... how should I put this... practising for our... ahem, wedding night."

Maan almost choked with disbelief.

"You have to put her straight," he said after a while, feeling incredibly awkward.

"And what am I supposed to say to her, we were arguing about your pretence of being Dadima?!"

"Yes, I'd rather you did tell her that & make me look like a fool rather than let her assume what she was assuming! Oh no, what if she tells Dev?"

"And Dev tells Dadima?"

An uncomfortable silence lingered in the air. Then Geet realised Maan was in her room.

"What are you still doing here, leave! Do you want someone else to find us & think we're up to no good?!"

Maan ran out of Geet's room like a bolt of lightning, glad he had escaped Geet's enquiry commission-style questioning but now worried about what Pari had wrongly assumed.

~

The next morning, Pari had come down for breakfast earlier, feeling rather disturbed by what she had encountered the night before.

She knew her sister very well, like the back of her hand, & didn't think that Geet would ever behave like that...

But maybe love & desire had taken over her & she had struggled to keep her feelings in check.

She shuddered at her last thought.

Dev appeared downstairs and saw his beautiful fiancee sat at the dining table, looking worried. He sat opposite her & smiled, but Pari was staring at the table, lost in thought.

"Pari?" He reached across the table & touched her hand, which brought her back to life. "What's wrong? You look worried."

As she looked up at Dev, Pari wondered if she should tell Dev what she had seen last night. Maybe Dev could talk to Maan about it... and Geet's self respect would be saved.

"Dev... I... well, I went to the bathroom last night and I heard voices coming from Geet's room. So I knocked on the door, & everything turned silent. I knocked again & opened the door, and... well, I saw Maan & Geet looking sheepish & guilty."

There was a silence as Dev digested what he had just been told.

"You think that they were...?" He trailed off suggestively.

Pari nodded, biting her lip.

"Bro doesn't seem like he'd do that though."

"And neither does Geet. But I don't know, maybe they just couldn't... resist."

Dev & Pari now shared the same worried expression on their faces.

Maan came downstairs, & both of them looked up to see him as he sat beside Dev. Maan saw two tensed faces glaring back at him.

"What's up with you two, lovers tiff?"

The word lovers triggered off the thought again in Dev & Pari's mind, and they both had to look away. Maan frowned at their strange behaviour & was about to pour himself some orange juice when he realised what Pari had assumed last night.

He almost dropped his juice in realisation.

"Uh... I... last night, between me and-"

Maan's speech was abrupted by Dadima's arrival, as the sound of bangles indicated she was on her way down. Dadima smiled at seeing the three of them sat together at breakfast.

"Good morning," she greeted as she took her position at the head of the table.

"Pari, where's Geet?"

"Ji, she likes to sleep in late."

Dadima smiled. "A girl after my own heart. What are you all waiting for, eat."

Maan, Dev & Pari experienced a loss of appetite. Dev & Pari couldn't believe what Maan & Geet had got up to, whilst Maan couldn't believe what they were wrongly assuming about him & Geet.

The girl in question, Geet, appeared at the top of the stairs.

Pari's head immediately jerked up & she shot her a look of disbelief. Geet internally groaned at her sister's big misunderstanding and made her way down, taking a seat beside her.

"Here she is, the sleeping beauty. Good morning, dear."

"Good morning, Dadima."

"I was waiting for you to arrive, actually. I'm afraid I have some bad news. I have old friends from Sweden visiting India, and they want to meet up with me at a hotel. So I have to postpone our shopping trip. The good news is, to make up for it, I've arranged a restuarant booking for you all at a 5 star hotel. A dinner date."

A dinner date was the last thing on their minds, but they all nodded, agreed & planted on fake smiles to please Dadima, who was delighted at their reaction.

"I'm sure you young lovers will have fun," she winked.

They all cringed at hearing the word lovers, with Dev shooting an accusatory look at Maan.

~

Half an hour later, Dadima had left the mansion for her visit to her Swedish friends.

This gave Dev & Pari the perfect opportunity to interrogate Maan & Geet.

"Bro, have you no shame, learn to keep a control of yourself!" Dev exclaimed.

"It's not what you think, Dev! Nothing like that happened!"

"You would say that, wouldn't you? Pari says you both looked as guilty as kids caught stealing sweets when she opened the door!"

Geet decided to intervene. "Pari, I'm your twin sister, you know me! Would I ever do anything obscure like that?"

"No, not usually, but..."

"But what?"

"You're a woman, you have needs!"

"Ugh, Pari! I promise you, nothing like that happened. In fact, it was the opposite, we were arguing."

"So why did you look so guilty?" asked Dev.

"Because we thought it was Dadima," added Maan. "Dev, I've never lied to you and you know that. I'm being completely honest when I say that it's not what you think, at all."

"Swear on KC to prove it."

"What?"

"Bro, I know how much you love the business, so swear on it."

"How can you swear on a business?" asked Geet.

"I'll swear on it if it'll make you believe me. I swear on KC that me & Geet did not... we were not... doing anything of that sort," said Maan, rolling his eyes. "Do you believe me now?"

Dev nodded, satisified.

"Pari?" Geet asked.

Pari also nodded, looking down.

"Good, I'm glad that awkward misunderstanding is out of the way," sighed a relieved Geet.

"We have another issue," Dev said dramatically.

"What?"

"We have the whole day ahead. What are we supposed to do?"

Precap: The future newly-weds try their hand at self-entertainment, the dinner date