Translucence - Finished. - Page 10

Originally posted by: Boogleton.Schiz

You talking about me?

How dare you doubt me, I'm an innocent bacha 😳

Originally posted by: manashi

Yeah, and I am the Queen of England.😳

Chapter 3:

"Ma'am you can't go in there. He is in a meeting and has explicitly ordered not to be disturbed." Varun's secretary pleaded and stood between her and the door.

"Get the f**k out of my face," Mitalee hissed. When Varun's secretary hesitated, she shoved the girl aside and opened the door. Varun was seated behind the desk, head in his hands and ignoring the constant ringing of the phones. When Varun heard the door barge open he looked up to see a fuming Mitalee. When it came to business, the order of their birth was clearly forgotten and she dropped all the politeness she could muster for her older brothers or anyone for that matter.

"Mitalee…" Varun whispered and winced when she slammed a file on his face.

"Explain." She fumed.

"I am confident about this project Mitalee. I don't understand why either you or Vikram don't believe in my abilities or my decisions. Trust me on this one. It is going to be a success." Varun almost pleaded. Mitalee sat in the chair opposite to him and narrowed her eyes. Varun looked little terrified when she smiled. It was never a good sign.

"You have already drowned enough money in movie ventures Varun have you not learnt anything? Vikram is out for your blood and by not answering his phone, you are making him madder," Mitalee said. After meeting his father for the customary weekly update, Vikram had left the country and was meeting people from a South African steel company. Varun had struck exactly when Vikram was out of country given how he was also a CXO like his older brother and using that he had pulled a few strings. As a rule Dileep Khurana was to be informed whenever a transaction by one of the family members exceeded a specific amount limit. Customarily amounts exceeding the limits were red flagged for the purpose of tracking and was presented to the chairman in the daily report. The amount Varun had conveniently invested in a movie wasn't close to that limit but it wasn't a small sum.

Varun had a talent in convincing people to do his bidding by pathetically begging them. Khurana construction was the major subcontractor in a bridge rebuilding project. The finance had flown in after lot of haggling, bribing and in some cases threatening. Vikram played it rough and she was no saint. She had stood in sidelines and seen the proceedings. She was one of the major benefactors of the finance given how her company was eying an iron and steel company to acquiesce or at least become a major shareholder. It was a win-win situation for both Mitalee and Vikram as she could push in a subsidized rate for the raw material for their construction company. It was a strategic move that would help them somehow recover Khurana Capital, the company that specialized in mezzanine financing. Her father was impressed when she presented the business case and had given a go ahead.

But they had grossly underestimated the conniving Varun.

"Mitalee both of you are overreacting. You could have simply done a leveraged buy-out given how there is no bank who is going to say no to us," Varun said shrewdly. Mitalee peered at Varun.

"Father wants to talk to you. Go now." She said. "I was here to give you the message personally since you weren't picking the phone. Vikram is going to be back in two days and then he will have your hide." Mitalee said casually and walked out. He knew that there was something else at play here but he wasn't able to figure out what.

"Maan can help you out," Varun blurted out. Mitalee who was about to step out of the cabin stopped and hung her head. Her shoulder length hair fell as a curtain around her face making it impossible to judge her expression.

"You shouldn't have said that Varun. And just for saying that I am going to tell father about how the land that you owned as a part of inheritance was handed to your mistress last month. That was a gift from mother to each one of us you asshole. You insulted her memory by doing that cheap act." She whispered harshly and walked out of the door. She slammed the door at her wake that shook his ribcage a little.

"How the f**k does she knows about that!" Varun whispered and dreaded the meeting with his father.

-- o00o --

"I realized something last night," Maan asked Geet as she checked his chart as he had declared himself that he was to be discharged. She tilted her head and peered at him.

"After our confrontation last noon I kept feeling that something was not right."

"You realized that you were overstepping your bounds?" Geet asked in surprise. Maan rarely revisited their older conversation let alone apologize.

"Of course not; I was right yesterday. It's something else," Maan said waving her hand. Geet glowered at his audacity. 'He isn't apologizing for what he said yesterday Geet' She thought.

"I realized that I don't like you when you call me 'sir'. It gives me heebie-jeebies." Maan shivered for the effect. Geet's frown slowly turned to a smile.

"I shouldn't have said that to you now, right?" Maan looked at her wide eyed. She nodded happily. "You are going to annoy me by calling me 'sir' all the time, right?" He added. She nodded vigorously. He sighed. "I guess I deserve that punishment," he said and shrugged.

"I thought you were going to stay here for couple of days more?" Geet asked as she sat down and started filling out his discharge paperwork. Maan always vehemently refused to fill paperwork so the hospital director had asked the resident on duty to do it for him.

"I am kind of bored of this place. Besides there is this girl I am dating who is telling all sorts of nonsense to a stupid tabloid about me being admitted to this hospital. You know how these tabloids are. They never leave you alone," Maan said. Her hands stilled. She knew how media was, of course. It gave her the creeps when she remembered how she was followed by those news hounds.

"Can you just sign in these places now? I will fill them out later," she said handing over the file. Maan signed his name in several places and handed the file over to her.

"Let me take a look at your cut on forehead once," Geet said.

"Your name reminds me of Ernst Vincent Wright." Maan said closing his eyes involuntarily as Geet's cool hands roamed over his cheekbones and forehead.

"What about him?" Geet asked. She gently tapped his cheeks which made him open his eyes only to see that she was pulling away from him.

"He wrote a fifty thousand word novel without using the letter 'e' in it. You came to my mind when I first heard about it and I had to shell almost five grand to purchase a copy. The first thing I did was tear up the introduction from the book which had letter 'e' in it and write your name on the first page. It seemed so… paradoxical you know?" Maan said reminiscing his days at the Ivy League.

Geet looked up and stared at him.

"What? Don't you find how unusually creepy both our names are? Fifty percent of our names are made of vowels; while mine has the first vowel, yours has the second. The last letter in my name is the letter next in series to the first letter in my name. However in your case, the first letter is seventh from the start and the last letter is seventh from last." He said. Geet continued staring.

"How does a zany guy like you manage to get that many women?" She asked in wonder.

"It's quite simple. Please note that this information is highly confidential. If you utter it to anyone else, I might kill you in your sleep," she rolled her eyes at that and went back to checking his arm and wrist.

"I am the charming guy, the guy who parties hard and is utmost fun to be with. The women I date love that kind of a man and it suits me just fine," he said staring at crown of her head. Geet was bandaging his palm to cover the smaller cuts.

"There, all done. You are good to go sir," she said with a wan smile. Maan merely scowled. His face relaxed as she helped him to his jacket and swallowed a smile.

"I am actually little surprised that you behaved so well last evening. I almost expected to see a woman in your bed when I came in," Geet said casually. She smoothed his back thus missing the frown that crossed his face. He let out a breath and slowly relaxed his face as she came back to stand in front of him.

"You sound almost disappointed Geet. There are DVDs available you know? There are like a million videos on internet too and…" He swallowed a smile as realization dawned on her face and a scowl spread her face.

"You didn't sneak out of the hospital last night now, did you?" Geet asked shrewdly. She had been dealing with Maan for few years as a patient in this hospital so she had some knowledge about the stunts he generally puled. Maan had the trademark wide eyed 'I have no idea what you are talking about' look.

"You totally did!" Geet exclaimed when there was no response from him.

"That stupid girl I am dating had made damaging statements about the incident that got me these cuts. I had gone out for few hours to take care of it." Maan said walking out of the ward.

"What did she say?" Geet asked walking next to him. Maan didn't answer seeing the flurry of activity around him and waited for them to get to the other end of corridor.

"She claimed that this was my family's doing." Maan said casually as they walked towards the elevators. Maan passed the elevators and stood by the stairs. It was a silent invitation for her to join him. She sighed and walked towards the stairs.

"Did they?" She asked quietly after three minutes.

"Took you long enough to ask," Maan said. He didn't answer and was glad that she didn't press for an answer.

"I called that man – a womanizer and a cheat. He got little angry on me," Maan replied. Geet looked at him disapprovingly.

"Don't look at me like that Geet and don't tell me I am wrong. You of all the people should know what he is capable of given how he destroyed your father, after all."