Chapter 14
Naintara and Kiara went running towards the car, as soon as they heard the sound. Geet stood horrified too, as the car had some to a screeching halt, right behind her. It almost touched her, but there were no injuries. She had bent down to pick the ball and take it back to the court. She had not seen the car drive in and hence stood right in between the driveway. She was about to fall down, but somehow took support of the bonnet and stood straight. Dev came running out and all of them ran towards geet. Before they could say anything, Maan got out of the car screaming, "Geet, tumhein laga tuo nahin". He held her from her waist and pulled her away, to the side. He signaled the driver to drive away and he did so. Kiara, Naintara and dev stopped in their tracks and watched Maan Khurana hold a woman in his arms.
Daadima wondered what happened and came running to the bottom of the stairs. She smiled as she saw Maan holding Geet. She immediately called Dev, on noticing he was holding his cell phone in his hand. Dev wondered ehy she was calling him and turned back to look at her. She signaled him to take her call.
"Haan daadiji", he said.
"Chaup chap hum sab andar jayenge", she said. He turned to look at her, and she winked. He winked back and nodded his head. He smirked and looked to face Kiara and Naintara. Naintara looked at Dev and he gestured her to go in, along with Kiara. Naintara smirked and all of them went into the mansion very slowly, without making any noise.
Maan held Geet in a tight hug and asked again, "Geet you okay?"
Geet looked up and shook her head very slowly. He wiped her tears away. She was wet and Maan was wet too, for the first time in his life. Nevertheless, that did not matter to him.
He called out her name again to make sure she was okay. She felt dizzy; she looked at him, feebly.
"Mujhe chakkar", and before she could complete the sentence she fainted in his arms. Maan looked at her worried and called out to her, again. She would not respond. He scooped her into his arms and took her into the mansion. He was relieved to see, that there was no one, in the living room or the dining area. He took her to her bedroom, kicked open the door and put her on her bed. He sprinkled some water and she slowly opened her eyes. She whispered something, but he could not understand what she was trying to say.
"Geet, kya chahiye?", he asked, bending over her, to hear her, clearly.
She pointed out to a jug of water and looked in that direction she pointed.
"Water?", he asked and she nodded her head. He walked acroos the room to the other side of the bed. He poured some water from the jug that was on the side table of the bed, on the other side. HE bought it back to her and she sat up, slowly. She drank the water.
"Geet, change quickly, before you catch cold. I'll ask Nakul to get you something hot to drink", he said, picking up the intercom. She slowly got up and walked towards the bathroom to change. She came back after ten minutes and looked around the room. She did not find him anywhere.
"Gosh! Was I dreaming again?", she thought, holding her head. She slowly walked to the bed and sat there thinking, "How could my dream be so long? No, he was here. He bought me here", she mumbled to herself, when she heard a knock on the door.
"Aaeye", she said, and saw Nakul walk inside.
"Ji, Hot chocolate, with low fat whipped cream and chocolate sauce", he said, and placed it, on the side table close to her bed. A sudden wave of joy engulfed her, "Yes, I was not dreaming. He was here", she thought.
She wanted to confirm, anyways, just to make sure, it was Maan who had ordered the drink for her. She asked Nakul, "Kisne bataya aapko, lane ke liye?" while he turned to look at her, to answer the question, her heart was beating faster, to hear the name, "Maan". She waited for him to answer, biting her nails.
"Ji, Maan Saheb, ne", he uttered the words that made her jump with joy. Her insides did a salsa, while she tried very hard maintaining a straight face. he walked out of the room and she looked at the smiley face that was made on the whipped cream, with choclotae sauce. She smiled and sipped it, slowly, enjoying every bit of it. She recollected the hug and smiled even more. She pulled out her diary and started scribbling,
"Dearest Diary,
What do I say now? Our first hug- in the rain'!!!! That's it. I'm running short of words'!!!!!
Geet"
She signed it and dated it. She closed the book and sat on her bed, looking at the rain outside. The water sloshed against the huge glass windows and geet watched the droplets of water trickle down the glass windows outside. Her thoughts were disturbed, when the intercom rang.
"Maan hi honge", she thought, picking up the phone, but her smile, soon turned into a frown, when she heard Dev speak.
"Geet, dinner taiyyar hain. Do you wanna come to the dining room, or if you are not well, Nakul can get it to your room", he said.
"Ji, main aa jaungi. Koi baat nahin. I';m fine now", she said, getting down her head. She left the phone on her bed and made her way out, towards the dining room. She hoped to see him. She wanted to see, how his reactions would be, once she faced him, after their hug and him carrying her to the bedroom. She entered the dining room , to find everyone sitting there, but him. She stood in the middle of the room, not wanting to have dinner, until she felt someone touch her shoulder slightly and walked past her. She looked around and saw Maan walk into the dining room, talking on phone. He obviously did not notice or feel anything when his elbow touched her shoulder slightly. She smiled and followed him. she sat opposite to him, and continued to talk on phone. Daadima and Kiara rolled her eyes, while Dev signaled him, to hang up.
Maan understood Daadima was upset and he spoke up, "Sasha!" A couple of heads turned towards him, when he uttered the name, first being Naintara, then being Geet and last Kiara.
"I'll talk to you later! Finish the work, I'm having dinner now", he said, and did not even wait for her reply.
"Veerji, Paneer lenge aap?", asked Naintara, standing up to serve him.
He nodded his head and turned to talk to Daadima, and Dev. He looked at Geet, once in a while, but did not say anything. Geet, was unusually quiet and Kiara spoke up, "Mazaa aa gaya aaj, Geet! Hum bhaarish mein kabhi nahin beegte agar tum nahin hote to", she said, passing the juice to Naintara and turning to look at Geet.
Geet smiled and Kiara continued, "Hain na, Bhabhi", she said, turning to Naintara.
"Haan. Kitne saal ho gaye. Sach mein mazaa aa gaya", she said, smiling. Maan looked at all the three women and saw them smiling. he joined the dots together and came to the conclusion that these people were playing in the rain, which obviously must have started with Geet playing in the rain first.
"Aap theek tuo hain na, Geet?", asked Naintara. Geet looked at Maan, who looked at her. She looked into her plate and said, "Ji, main theek hoon".
They finished dinner. Kiara had to talk to Dev about something so both of them left. Daadima and Naintara got to talking to the maids about some household issues, which Geet did not want to interfere in. Maan took his phone and walked away, towards the living room. Geet thought for sometime and went running behind Maan, who was already walking towards the main door.
"Maan", she called out to him, and he stopped and turned around. she gestured him to wait and he gestured her to follow, outside. Maan walked slowly while Geet caught up with him, at the bottom of the stairs, at the entrance.
"Bolo", he said, texting someone.
"Thanks kehni thi", she said, panting heavily. He continued to text and did not look at her, "Kis liye?", he asked.
"Ji, woh mujhe andar uta'" and stopped, not knowing how to frame the right sentence. She felt shy talking about him carrying her in his arms. She looked down for sometime and finally spoke up, "Ji, woh hot chocolate mangwane ke liye".
Maan looked at her and said, "Oh! Its okay", and continued to walk when she ran behind him again.
"Ji, woh main yeh kehna chahti thi" and stopped when Maan looked up from his phone to her. She could not take his gaze and forgot what she had to say.
"Geet, tum pehle yeh batao, ki tum driveway ke beech mein kya kar rahin thi?", he asked, putting his hands, into his pant pockets.
"Ji, main ball lene gayi thi. Aur maine realize nahin kiya ki'" and he cut her.
"Oh realize nahin kiya? Very nice. Itna bada ghadi tumhein dikhai nahin diya?", he questioned.
"Ji, main us taraf dekh rahin thi", she said, showing in actions that she was faced the opposite direction, and the car came behind her.
"Geet, kya tumhein yeh nahin pata ki driveway se jaldi hat jaana chahiye? Yeh accha hua ki mere driver mein time pe brakes laga diya. Warna tum tuo drive way pe khade ho kar, taare ghin rahin thi", he told her, angrily.
"Accha ji. Tuo saari ghalti meri?", she asked, angrily. "Oh Mr. Khurana, kya aapke driver ji ko yeh nahin pata ki, drive way pe slow aani chahiye? Itne saare log kaam karte hain, aapke is raj mahal mein, aur aapke ghar ke log bhi tuo chal sakte hain, yahan, agar kisiko lag gayi tuo? Itni bhi kya jaldi hain, ek baar ghar pahunchne ke baad? Main gate se yahan is entrance tak slow chal sakta hain na?"
Maan pointed his finger and said, "Tum'" and was about to yell something, instead she yelled back, "Haan main, Geet Handa. Kya? Har baat pe chillana aur dara dhamkaana. Kuch aur aata hain aapko? Aap ko tuo thanks kehna bhi bekaar hain", she said, angrily. Maan looked at her, with his eyes, wide open and blood red in color.
She walked away angrily into the mansion, grumbling, "Yeh hamesha dusht daanav hi rahenge". Maan looked at her, for sometime, until she went inside and turend away angrily. He was walking back to the outhouse when the driver came to him.
"Saab woh ghalti ho gaye. Itna speed nahin aana chahiye tha mujhe", he said, joining his hands in front of Maan and looking apologetically.
Maan looked around and put his hands on his hips and said, "Tumhara kismet accha tha. Tum bach gaye. Warna agar us ladki ko kuch ho jaata tuo daadima, tumhein aur mujhe is ghar se bahar kar dete".
"Ji aapko?", he asked, skeptically.
"Haan mujhe. Maan Singh Khurana ko. Kyunki unhein lagta ki maine tumse kahan us ladki ko ghaadi se maarne ke liye. Kyunki us waqt main thi tha, ghaadi mein", he said.
The driver did not say anything and Maan continued, "Waise ek baat hain, gate ke andar aane ke baad, tumhein itna speed nahin aana chahiye. Kyunki yahan bahut saare log chal sakte hain, aur kisi ko bhi lag sakta hain. Agle baar se sambhal ke chalana"
"Ji saab, sambhal ke chalavunga", he said, fearfully.
"Jao", said Maan and the driver walked away. Maan walked into the outhouse and changed. HE thought about Geet's thanks and smiled. He smiled at the fact that she could not thank him for carrying her inside; instead, she changed it, and gave the chocolate drink excuse. He continued to do his work.
Maan worked for sometime and put his laptop to the side. He came out into the lawn and looked at the mansion. he smiled and turned around to go sit in the swing for sometime, when he found Geet sitting there. she looked at him and thought, "yeh yahan zaroor nahin aayenge" and smirked.
She was right, he was about to walk off, when she called out, "You can come here and sit. I am not going to eat you. If you want I will go inside", she said. He turned to look at her, and asked, "You think I'm scared of you?"
"Well, maybe. Since you try very hard to avoid me", she said, smirking.
He walked towards her and said, "Oh yeah, avoid you? Right, all day and night I'm only scheming and planning on how to avoid Geet Handa- the Punjab sherni", he said, sarcastically.
"Dekha, aap bhi maan gaye, ki main Punjab ki sherni hoon", she said, laughing.
"Punjab ki sherni", he imitated her, "lekin exams se darti hain" and started laughing. Geet got up from the swing angrily and was about to walk away. He pulled her back and pulled her close. he adjusted her strand of hair, behind her ear and looked at her. He looked calm and she looked frightened and embarrassed. She tried to free herself, when he hald her hands behind her and said, "Geet, don't walkout on me, I don't like it when you do that".
Her expression softened and she blinked her eyes, twice as faster. He went closer to her ear and Geet closed her eyes. He slowly loosened his hold on her hands and yelled in her ears, "Only I have the right to walk out on people" and laughed loudly and walked away into the outhouse. Geet screamed when he yelled in her ears and saw him laughing. She got scared, as for a fraction of second, she did not understand what happened. He turned back, laughing to look at her. She stood there all confused and angry and mortified.
"How dare he?" she thought. "Damn his attitude", she thought and walked away to the mansion and rolled off to sleep. She woke up late the next morning and when she took her shower, changed and came out, no one was at home.
Nakul informed her that there was a party in the farmhouse tonight and so Naintara and Kiara had gone to the farmhouse to take care of all the preparations. Daadima, Dev and Maan had gone to the office to meet some foreign delegates for whom the party was being thrown. Geet sat on the couch thinking what she should do. She wanted to know when she could leave to Singapore to meet her parents and sister as she was missing them. However, she realized today was not the right time as all of them were busy. She took Kiara's number from Nakul and called her to find out, if she needed any help.
Kiara picked the call and told her, that everything was done and that they were getting back home in sometime to have lunch. She waited for them to come for lunch and the trio had lunch together. Geet helped Naintara and Kiara choose saris for the party and was about to walk out when Naintara stopped her.
"Geet, whick sari are you wearing?", she asked.
"I won't be coming. I mean it's a business party. What will I come and do there?", she hesitated.
"But what will you do at home?" asked Kiara.
"I'll spend some time with my friends and best friend. I was supposed to meet her, but overslept and did not take her calls. She must be pretty angry", said Geet.
"Geet, I don't think you will get bored there and there is no need to hesitate to come to the party. Any way Bhabhi and me would keep, each other's companies while my brothers and Daadima do some serious business", said Kiara.
"Oh that's alright. I'll just catch up with my best friend. I'll be fine" assured Geet and Kiara did not force anymore. She went back to her room and caught up with Niharika and Niharika told her that she would come and pick her up and then they could go out shopping.
Geet got ready and waited for Niharika, outside. Niharika came and both of them sat on the swing and discussed what they would, do, since they had the rest of the evening. Geet saw Maan's car, drive in and park in front of the outhouse. She rolled her eyes and turned away. Niharika did not notice any of this and continued giving her various options for passing the time they had. Maan saw the both of them sit on the swing and walked away, with some folders.
Finally, they decided to go their cousin's place and gossip there for sometime. they also went to do some shopping and Geet got herself, some saris. By the time, they got back to the mansion, it was only 7pm.
"yaar, kya kare. Its only seven", said Niharika.
"Lets watch a movie?", asked Geet.
"Haan. But I have to get back too, right", she said, "It will get late", said Niharika.
"Hmm. Okay you should start then", said Geet.
"But when will the Khurana's come back?How will you stay along till then?", she asked, concerned.
"Oh no issues. I used to get scared to stay alone, but now I'm not scared", she said, recollecting Maan's words, that he would never let, tension or fear, come to anyone, as long as he is around.
"Okay then! Keep calling me and I'm so sorry, I cant stay back for longer", she said.
"Arey, don't worry.I'll keep calling", said Geet, smiling. Niharika left and Geet walked into the kitchen. She drank some water and was about to walk out, when Nakul told her that Daadima wanted to talk to her. She nodded and called Daadima back.
"Geet, I wanted to tell you to come here. I left a car and driver for you, to come here", she said.
"Daadiji, main theek hoon. I'l stay back at home", she said.
"But by the time, we come back, it may be very late", she said.
"Oh that;s okay Daadiji. I 'll watch TV for sometime and sleep early", she said, not wanting to face Maan Khurana. She was not happy with the way he spoke to her and felt she was giving him more importance than he deserved.
"Okay beta. Your wish! Take care. Have dinner and then go to bed", she said.
"Ji", she said and hung up. She watched TV for sometime and looked at all the shopping she had done. She tried the saris and thought she looked stunning in them. She did not want to change and hence decided to wear one for sometime. She was about to go and have dinner when she got a call from an unknown number. She thought for sometime, if she should answer the call or not and finally decided to answer it.
"geet", came a deep voice from the other side and she instantly realized it. Well, on second thoughts, how could she not?
"Ji?", she said, pretending not to know who it is
"Maan Khurana", he said, with arrogance.
Will get back in some time with another update. But cannot send PM's today. Will give a Precap, at the end of the other update 😆😉
Soumya
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