'REMEMBER Geeet...' He took a deep breath before, continuing...
'Geet Handa...'
Maan's breath caught in his throat, hearing her name. He froze in his place... A chill crept through his veins... He hadn't heard of her name from anyone for years... and nor has he said or even tried to remember... He'd created his life to avoid them... Still a familiar pain '- Pain of remembrance shot through his soul... Her eyes... Her smile, which captured his soul once.. Flashed through his eyes...
He looked at his brother in a shock, looking deep into his half closed eyes... to search what has made him say her name, at this moment of time... Dev has to be immediately taken for the surgery, that might or might not save his life.. At any moment, he will be wheeled out of the Emergency Department. It's a Fifty ' Fifty chance, the doctors told the family. Dad, Mom, Dadimma, and Naintara, were waiting outside with the Doctors, because his brother requested to speak to him alone, and it seemed to be crazy to bring up Geet Handa'.an old wound between them, that Maan had long since set aside for the sake of family Harmony.
'Dev...'Maan started, only to be cut off by Dev.
'No Bro... Le... Let me...' His lips moved in a laboured whisper...and It was very obvious, the pain is eating him up, but determined to say, what he intended.
Maan Singh Khurana frowned at the dark anguish in Dev's eyes. Why speak of her now? Why waste any time at all on her when time was so precious?
'Dev... its water under the bridge,' he muttered, wanting to dismiss whatever lingering guilt Dev felt over the betrayal involved. 'and I have long forgiven and forgotten you for whatever happened...'. Maan leaned towards him, taking his hands...
'Nooo, Bb... Broo.' It took every ounce of strength for Dev to speak, even those words. Maan felt weak, not able to save his brother from this pain of guilt he is feeling.
'I... I lied... It wasn't Geet...in the... photos. She... was never with me...like that. I set it up...to get her out of your life.'
Standing in the last light of the fading day, seeping through the thin blinds... Maan's world just came crashing down... He forgot to blink... A chain of nightmarish images shattered his thoughts... and sent an instant tide of adrenaline crashing through him. His whole body clenched in denial... NO!.. No... it couldn't be... It couldn't be true... How.. how it can be??
Not Geet?
Yet why would Dev make such a statement, a confession of such destructive deceit, unless he wanted...needed...to clear his conscience? And if what he said was true...Horror swept through Maan's mind, unlocking a sealed compartment of memories, letting loose the ghosts of intense hurt and fury, images of those damning photos, that changed his world upside down... That driven him to cut Geet Handa out of his lfe... With those few photographs, what ended is, his life... his dreams... Forever and ever... And it changed everything... and it made him, what he is today... A complete different man...
The images on those photos rewrote the destiny of two people, who found their soul with each other... Maan and Geet. Dev with her in bed, everything about the women in bed, with Dev told its her ' her long black hair streaming across the pillow, the distinctive bracelet on her wrist ' three circles of white, rose and yellow gold he has gifted her, the birth mark on her waist.
Her face...the incredibly appealing face with joy always sparkling in vivid hazel eyes, the sexy full-lipped mouth that had so many different smiles, the fascinating dimples that came and went...had been hidden by Dev's head, bent low as though he was whispering something in her ear, still Maan could not bring himself to believe it... One side was his brother, whom he loved the most in his family after Dadimma... and other side his love, whom he found his soul... his life...
All the evidences was against Geet. The hair, the long lissome legs, the birthmark, the bracelet... and why should, Dev, his own brother, lie him something like that...
Apart from which, Dev had backed up the evidence, admitting to a playboy dalliance with her, belligerently stating he'd seen Geet first, and why shouldn't he have her when she was willing? Willing to laugh with Dev, flirt with him... Maan had dismissed it as just light-hearted fun between them, glad that Geet had felt comfortable with at least one member of his family. He'd actually felt grateful to his brother...until the photos had blasted him into a different reality.
Blinded by the unbearable images, rage over what he has seen on those photographs, he'd seen no reason to suspect a set-up, no reason to accept Geet's wild denials, no reason to believe her explanation that she'd mislaid the bracelet, then miraculously found it, no reason to think anything but she was a two-timing s**t who'd enjoyed having both brothers.
If what Dev telling is truth... Then '
Maan took a step back, as the horrendous truth sinks into his mind like seeing through a distorted though completely real mirror... It hanged above his head, like the sword of Damocles!
'Why?' The word croaked from his throat in a mere whisper... a throat that had tightened from a wild melee of surging emotions. 'I... I loved her, Dev.'
He turned away from Dev, hands clenched, barely able to contain the violence erupting in him. If his brother wasn't half-dead already, lying in front of him as white as the sheet covering his broken body...
'Why?' he cried again, struggling to understand such---such malignance. From his own brother whom he'd trusted...trusted ahead of Geet...because he was family and family honour meant his word was his bond. 'What satisfaction could it have given you? Destroying my love for her...'
Stabbing me so deeply in the heart, I've never let any other woman into it.
'Dad wanted her out of your life.' A judgment Maan had flouted. He still remember...
'Not suitable.' A ruling made.
A sad irony glittered through the pain in Dev's eyes as he struggled to spell out the rest. 'He had Naintara...picked out for you.'
Naintara Rathode, whom he had never ever considered, to be his life partner. Leave alone that, she was not even in his thoughts. But, even after the break-up with Geet, his family did not succeeded in making him marry her. Maan was adamant that, no women will replace her... not because he loved her, he told himself, but he did not wanted the species anywhere near him...
Dev married Naintara, out earning their father's approval and placing himself to eventually take over the Khurana multi-million dollar construction business. More than a marriage ' he would call it a business deal. A deal Bourne out of his Dad's brain. A business that complemented the Khurana property development company. The irony was that the grandchildren so eagerly anticipated by both Royal families had not been born. Naintara had suffered two miscarriages so far, and if anything happened to Dev...
'I was...jealous of you, Bro. The oldest son. The favoured son. I wanted Dad...to turn to me...have confidences in me...'
Maan's chain of thoughts was broken, by Dev's voice in agony. He shook his head, not knowing what to answer. His mind was spinning, trying to put the pieces together. 'Doesn't matter,' he growled, dropping back onto the chair under the weight of crushing despair.
And facing him, was his brother who might die in the next few hours. What good would it do to rail against him, when his thinking had been dominated by their father - their conniving, determined to get his own way father!
Life had moved on. Six years! Six years had passed after that dreadful night... 'Geeet...' was the only thought Maan was having then. He forgot his brother... His family... and everything around him... He closed his eyes. Her beautiful eyes... which always held a million shimmering stars... Which always told him, her unsaid words... were looking at him with tears..., pain... shock in them... Her smile, which always made him forget how to breath... has completely ceased. He'd brutally dismissed everything she'd said, rejecting everything she was. He failed completely. He failed her love... Maan Singh Khurana failed... He ruined everything with his own hands...
'Maan, all truths cannot be bottled up for all the time. And if ever you come to know the truth, I wish... you have the strength to face it then... '
Maan remembered her last words to him. She did not cry... she did not wait for his answer... just left... but he was too angry to care anything then... IF only... A lone tear escaped his eyes... She is gone... Gone forever... and I am alone, alone to face it... Deceived by his own family... To suffer alone... This is his punishment...
Maan brought his own will to bear on what had to be done now---let his brother be at peace with himself before the operation. He took a deep breath and spoke soothing words.
'I'm sorry if I made life difficult for you, Dev 'being the first son.'
'Not your fault Bro.'
The struggle for more breath was dreadful to watch. Smashed ribs, so much internal damage from the car accident...it was a wonder Dev was still alive. And conscious.
'Got to tell you----'
'You've said enough,' Maan cut in tersely, wanting to block out thoughts of Geet and determined to save his brother any more extreme distress.
'It's okay. I'll deal with it.'
'Listen...' His eyes begged patience.
Maan waited, hating having to watch Dev dragging up the effort to say more...
'Geet... Geet was pregnant...'
I am just rewriting each and every parts.. so it might take a while for me to complete. so, pls bear with me until then... and enjoy reading this...
Rithika
Part 2 : https://www.indiaforums.com/forum/fan-fictions/1708507/aastha-maaneet-ff-part-1-re-written?pn=2
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