FF-Tum Kaun Ho (Epilogue) - Page 12

oh no...no geet wnt go to maan...n maan will again b furious...continue soon...

Hi,

Lovely update! Dadi and Naintara are too much...lolz. Do continue soon.

wow what fascinating part

Dadi is having so much fun with Maan and Geet. Maan is about to go crazy! Thanks for the update!

Luvely prt,poor maan not geetng time to spend wid geet

Tum Kaun Ho?

A Maaneet Fan Fic

Chapter 75
July 1, 2011 1:20 pm

"So, my little Gitika has finally captured her prince charming and is getting married to him, too!" Geet, who had been busy at the counter chopping vegetables, turned when she heard the familiar voice, her eyes lighting up.

"Mrs. Gupta!" she exclaimed happily, rushing into the older woman's outstretched arms. "How are you? How is Florida? How is Mr. Gupta?"

"I'm fine and so is my husband. The warmer weather is definitely agreeing with him."

For a few minutes Geet questioned Mrs. Gutpa about her life and how everything was. They hadn't see each other for almost two years, though they had spoken occasionally. It wasn't long before another person joined them as well.

"Guptie! So you finally arrived." Maan walked over and though he was smiling at Mrs. Gupta, his arms immediately went around Geet. "Well, Guptie, what do you think? I finally found my Mishti and she cooks just as good as you."

"Well, I should hope so, seeing as I taught her all my best recipes. She always seemed particularly interested in learning your favorite dishes, Maan." Geet blushed and hung her head at that reminder of her college crush on Maan.

"You had Guptie teach you how to make my favorite foods? When did that happen?"

"It happened those years you were busy ignoring me."

"I know, I was an ignorant fool to not know what a wonderful person you were. Well, I promise not to ignore you any more. In fact, I promise to make up for all those years of neglect." Maan had turned Geet around to face him, and very eagerly moved in to kiss her, stopped only when Mrs. Gupta coughed to get his attention.

"Maan, you are still the naughty little boy I used to chase out of my kitchen. Can't you leave the poor girl alone for even a second? And I don't think your grandmother would be too happy to see you together like this."

"Guptie, not you too! Is it so wrong for me to want to romance my own fiance just a little?"

"Maan, there is a time and a place for that, and in front of your old cook is not the place. Now, you two both go back to the family and don't let Savitriji catch you together. I'll stay here and finish the food."

"Mrs. Gupta, I can't let you do that. You're retired, but more importantly, you're here as our guest."

"Geet, I'm happy to do it. After all, I worked for this family for over 40 years, and you and Maan are like children to me. I'm not doing this as your old cook, but as family. Now you two run along and enjoy."

July 1, 2011 1:35 pm

Naintara was rushing down the stairs, looking for Dadi, trying to keep straight in her head everything that was left to do. She had long ago packed off the boys and Meenal with Dev for some play time in the backyard. Hopefully, they could keep themselves entertained for a few hours. Just as she was about to turn the corner, she heard the doorbell ring. When Nakul opened the door, she had a hard time believing what she saw.

"Arjun? Annie? What are you doing here?"

"I invited them to the wedding, Di," said Geet, who also came into the hallway from the kitchen area. Naintara felt so flustered by the unexpected arrival of her cousin, that she failed to notice that Maan had come from the same direction.

"Are they staying here? But, the house is full. Where will we put them?"

"Di, I've already made arrangements. Padma Aunty will stay with Dadi, so Arjun and Annie can have her room."

July 4, 2011 11:22 am

"Naintara, you can't keep avoiding me."

"I don't see what choice I have. You won't listen to reason."

"You're the one who won't listen to reason. This Khurana family has got you so brainwashed, you don't even care for anyone else."

"Arjun, what are you talking about? Nobody has me brainwashed."

"Oh, really? Today is a U.S. holiday. Everyone is taking a break, but not you. You're spending all your time on this wedding, for people who don't even care about you, and not giving any consideration to your mother?"

"Arjun, you're just talking crazy now. Of course they care about me. Dev, Geet, Dadi, Maan, they all l..."

"Love you? If they loved you, then why are they still having this wedding? Why, when they know that your mother is sick and in jail, are they all flitting around, happy as can be, letting you do all the hard work? Wow, that's some 'LOVE'!" Naintara was struck speechless by Arjun's words, not even sure where to start a response.

"You...You honestly think that Maan and Geet should have postponed their wedding just because my crazy mother is in jail? You think, because they've gone ahead with the wedding, that means they don't care about me? Well let me tell you something, Mr. Arjun Singh Rathore, Geet wanted to postpone the wedding and I wouldn't let her. Geet is my best friend, and I promised myself that I would make sure the wedding happened. If this is what you came here for, then you can just go back to London. I don't need your help!"

Naintara couldn't contain her tears any longer. With her hand over her mouth, attempting to stifle her sobs, she turned to rush out of the study where she and Arjun had been arguing. Before she left the room, Geet came hurrying in, having responded to the loud arguments. Her arms immediately went around Naintara, who continued sobbing.

"Di, please don't cry. I didn't invite Arjun here so you two could fight. I invited him so you both could work things out."

"I don't want to work things out. Geet you don't even know what it is he wants!" Naintara wailed.

"Naintara, I'm sorry for what I said, but you're taking me all wrong. All I really want is for you to spend a little time with Chachi. She's your mother, and she's sick. You're the only one she really responds to, and she needs your help."

"She doesn't need my help, and I don't think she really is sick. I think she's faking just to save herself. Vicky and Meera were killed in Texas. They have the death penalty in Texas, you know. She only cares about herself, not me. She doesn't care about how horrible I feel every time I think about what she's done. She doesn't care that JD is going to hate me when he finds out that I'm the reason his parents are dead."

"Naintara," said Geet gently, "JD is not going to hate you. He loves you, he love his Tayi. And your mother is sick, I'm sure of that. You don't need to feel guilty for what she's done."

Arjun walked over to the two women and softly pulled Naintara around to look at him. "Believe it or not, I understand how you feel. I have those same feelings of guilt, that my marriage to Annie was the last trigger to set her off. I know the psychologist hasn't said anything yet, but I'm not stupid. I made the connection to my marriage and the timing of Vicky and Meera's deaths. But, that doesn't mean that I shouldn't try to help Chachi as much as I can. It doesn't mean that I should forget all the times she cared for me and just leave her to strangers. The thing is, Naintara, I can arrange for doctors and lawyers. I can pay for her treatment, but you are the only person that she really cares about now. I don't think she will recover if you aren't involved in her treatment."

"Arjun, I can't. I can't face her. I don't have the strength."

"You can face her, Naintara," said Dadi, who had come into the room quietly, only letting her presence be known at that point. "You can face her, not alone, but with your family beside you."

Dadi walked over to Naintara and placed her hand lovingly on her tearstained cheek. "I made a mistake, Beti. I felt that considering the circumstances, it would be best for us to stay away from your mother's case. After all, if it came to a trial, we would certainly be on opposite sides. I felt that with Arjun here, it would be better to let him take care of everything. That was wrong. You are my precious Bahu, a very important member of our family. No matter what happens, you will always have our love and support, even in this difficult instance."

Looking over to Arjun, Dadi continued, "My understanding is that Armita is still under evaluation. In only a few days, the wedding will be completed. After that, I will personally accompany Naintara on every visit with her mother, the lawyers, the police, anyone involved. Until Dev has to return home for work, I am sure he will do the same. No matter what happens, we will be there with Naintara. We will be her strength."

For the first time since Arjun had arrived at the Khurana mansion, he gave a genuine smile. "Thank you, Mrs. Khurana. That's really all I wanted."

July 4, 2011 12:59 pm

"Was it someone name Naintara Khurana, who sometime back was very angry when I kept things from her, or was I just imagining that?"

Naintara narrowed her eyes across their bedroom at Dev, before replying, "Ha, ha, ha, very funny."

"I wasn't trying to be funny. Why didn't you tell me what was going on with your mother, instead of trying to do everything on your own? I don't want you to superwoman, I just want you to be my woman."

"Your woman?"

"Yes, my woman. My wife, the mother of my children, my life companion, etc. The woman who shares all her troubles with me, not one who suffers in silence."

Naintara heard the irritation in her husband's voice, and responded by holding her ears. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I didn't tell you that my psycho mother was freaking me out."

"You should be. I'm sorry that I didn't realize how much stress you were under." Dev pulled Naintara into his arms, but continued talking. "We really need to work on our verbal communications skills, I think."

"Really."

"Yes, really. For example, right now, I'd very much like to kiss my wife. Do you think she will allow it?"

There were times when verbal communication was needed. Then there were times when it was superfluous. This was definitely one of those times. Without wasting one moment on speaking, Naintara leaned up and pressed her lips to Dev's in answer to her question.