Disclaimer: Chapter is unedited. Apologies for errors in advance.
Chapter 6:
"What kind of f**kery is this?" Vikram yelled. Mitalee who was sitting on the sofa looked at her brother who was creating a ruckus in his private office. He had flown in that morning after a moderately successful meeting. Mitalee hadn't let anyone tell Vikram about the news of Maan joining Varun and she had also asked her father not to make it public till Vikram was seated in flight. The man had one hell of a temper that was similar to their father whenever things took an unexpected turn and he felt that he was losing control.
"Varun invested that initial funding we got for bridge reconstruction to a stupid high budget movie. Father got annoyed with him and offered him a way out. Varun being Varun accepted it without knowing the clause. I personally don't think Varun doesn't care that he has to work with Maan. In fact I believe that he will be much happier with Maan than he ever was with us," Mitalee replied.
"Father is up to something Mitalee, I can feel it. He doesn't trust us, does he?" Vikram asked pacing his office. Mitalee was thoughtful.
"I don't know Vikram. Of late his decisions have been really confusing; either that or he is planning something drastic that involves all of us. I mean, he is inviting Maan to the house more frequently than before and their fights are getting more and more personal. He didn't care rat's ass when Maan was living in the other part of the house when he was a kid but now that he is making scandalous headlines, father had a major heart transformation. What a load of bullshit," Mitalee said maliciously. She didn't like the fact that her father had suddenly started favoring her little brother.
"Get someone to keep an eye on both of them," Vikram said.
"It's already taken care of." Mitalee said and stood up. Once she neared the door, she turned around and said, "And don't ever give me orders. I am as much neck deep in this shit as you are. Understand?" She said and walked out of his cabin.
"Bitch" He growled in frustration and picked up the blaring phone.
-- o00o --
"So? Are you coming or not?" Nayantara asked her sister reading newspaper. She was pestering Geet to go to a party with her, meet couple of guys and basically have a good time. But Geet was just being Geet.
"Not interested," she replied and continued eating her oatmeal. Maya who was sitting next to Geet at the dining table rolled her eyes. At a very young age she had realized that her step sister was much different from her. She was very scared that she would be dealing with a Cinderella syndrome in her family when her father married Maya. But she was pleasantly surprised how Maya dealt with both her daughters in equal fashion ' plain indifference. She didn't favor Nayantara nor did she disregard Geet. Even after her father's death Maya had dealt with her the same way as she did when he was alive and for that Geet was really glad.
"You have been working too hard Geet I think you should take a break tonight and have a good time. Celebrating being young and all you know?" She said casually. Geet stared at her stepmom. "What?" Her mother looked at her. "I am serious Geet. You look so exhausted these days." She patted Geet's hand. Geet looked at her mother wearily. Maya simply shrugged. Geet gulped down rest of her oatmeal and chugged a tall glass of orange juice. Maya looked at her daughter's antics bemused.
"Well, this is interesting. Geet, listen to this," Nayantara said making Geet stop from leaving the dining table. "Maan Khurana is now COO of the lesser known companies ' Khurana Electricals and Khurana Heavy Transport that come under Khurana Group. His older brother Varun is the CEO. Interesting, isn't it?" Nayantara said.
"What?" Geet said and snatched the paper from Nayantara. Maya and Nayantara exchanged a look. Geet read the article and Maya could see that the way her eyebrows were furrowed, she was angry.
"Bloody hell," Geet exclaimed and stormed out dropping the newspaper on the dining table.
Nayantara and Maya exchanged surprised looks. An angry Geet was pretty rare sight and Maya wondered why that bit of news item bothered her daughter that much.
-- o00o --
Geet found herself a seat in local train and rested her head on the window pane. Rock music blared in her earphones in a language not understood by her but the beat definitely made her bob her head. Invariably her thoughts went to Maan and the latest news associated with him; him being a part of the Khurana group of companies officially. She didn't know why he agreed to his father's wishes. Of late she had been seeing too much of him at the hospital and she didn't know where they were going with this game of push and pull. They were good friends with too much of history between them and not to mention the connection between their families. His life in recent years wasn't something she could comprehend and she was extremely disappointed in the way he had led his life till date. And now he had decided to change all of a sudden.
The first time she had seen his face splashed on a tabloid had made her head spin. She had taken the rest of the day off from work and had rode bicycle for most part of the afternoon trying to get a hang of what he was doing. She had picked her cellphone to give him a call and ask him if this is what he wanted; ask him if this what he liked. A year later she was accustomed to seeing him in news or in page three spread where he was flanked by several young women with one of them being his girlfriend. It annoyed her to see that every time she his photo appeared in newspaper, the face and name of the woman was always different.
They were still in touch, of course but she stopped herself from telling things she once would have told him without caring two hoots about it. She could see conflict dancing in his eyes when he had arms around a woman and spoke to her clearly about something mundane. She trained herself not to be bothered about his frivolous attitude. The gentle teasing between them had evolved into a verbal spar with innuendos which had thrown her into a loop but she had gotten back at him with equal fervor and creativity. They had consciously changed the entire definition of their relationship to that one of a doctor-patient who simply got along well. She had realized it very well and she had molded to that role accordingly. Gone were the conversations where they spoke of past, present and a probable future. It was now replaced with light superficial banter that had a lifeline of less than few hours. She didn't like it but she adjusted to it quickly.
Every meeting between them made her feel like they were at crossroads and every time he morphed back to the little boy she was friends with, she felt like they were back together again. The disorder in their relationship itself was the only thing static in her life.
She decided to wish him good luck on his first job and took out her cellphone to send him a message saying so.
-- o00o --
He was buttoning the cufflinks when he saw his Blackberry buzz. He saw that he had a new message and ignored it for minutes. Once finished dressing, he saw that the message was from Geet wishing him good luck. A slow smile spread across his face and he sat down staring at the Blackberry.
Geet was a strong girl and she always hid her emotions very well. When he met her on the day of her father's funeral, she looked several years older than him. It was one of the very few instances when he had seen or heard her cry and it had left him very upset.
He had refused to acknowledge the disappointment in her eyes when she saw his name slandered in public. She was most excited when he was accepted to MIT and had boasted about his achievements with her friends. And years later her eyes were shifty whenever he spoke to her in public and she stood several feet away from him. Her act has churned his stomach but he couldn't blame her apprehension. He was a playboy after all and being in same photo frame as him was notorious to anyone's credibility. Initially she was extremely awkward in his presence and she was thoroughly confused with his choices in life. To his chagrin there came a day when he failed to see a hint of recognizable emotion on her face. It was one of those days when alcohol had made his system go haywire and had ended up in hospital hours later. She had met him when he regained consciousness and he saw that she had the same persona of the girl with who he used to play as a kid. His happiness however was short lived when he realized that she had let go of him.
The relationship that they had now was something that wasn't built on whatever they had before. It was built on awkwardness, confusion, apprehension, flirtation, attraction and incomprehensible pull. Yet the past that they had somehow managed to intervene in the pachydermatous companionship making things even more complicated.
Once everything was over he would explain it to her; his discernment, his choices, his opinions, his betrayal, his misgivings, her misunderstandings, her importance, her confusion and if she permitted, then perhaps even them.
Till then he only had his choices to blame.
To be continuedMusic Companion for the day: Namino Yukusaki by The Ricecookers
Bade Achche Lagte Hain Naya Season
