FF:Love makes Life Beautiful!Maneet-Ch19-P142*updt - Page 83

Chapter 18

"Geet, I don't have any problem, even if you stay longer. I say a lot of things in anger, but I never seriously meant them"

"But I have a problem staying here", she said.

"Geet!", he uttered her name.

"Haan! Sahi suna aapne. Mujhe yahan rehne mein problem hain, Maan. Kyunki main aapke aas paas nahin rehna chahti hoon".

"Geet, ab tum mujhe insult kar rahe ho", he reminded her.

"Bilkul nahin. AAp mere aas paas nahin rehna chahte hain, kyunki aap mujhse nafrat karte hain. Lekin main aapke aas paas nahin rehna chahti hoon, kyunki main aapse pyaar karti hoon", she said.

Maan's eyes widened in shock and his face turned red. He moved back, away from her. He glared at her and said, "Geet do you know '"

She continued, "I know what I'm saying Maan. Haan, main aapse pyaar karne lagi hoon, Maan. Mujhe nahin pata kab hua aur kaise hua. Lekin, mere yahan aane ke kuch dino baad hi, main yeh jaan gayi thi ki aap itna bure nahin hain, jitna aap apne aap ko portray karte hain. Aur main aapse pyaar karne lagi- aapke gusse se, aapke baton se, aur aapse judi hui har choti si baat se ", she said, looking into his eyes. She looked at his eyes, which showed no expression and remained the same.

She went close to him. She cupped his face with her hands and said, "I do not know the Maan Khurana, the world knows. I do not want to know anytime. However, I know the Maan Khurana who appears tough outside, but is soft from within. And that is the Maan Khurana I fell in love with it. I know the Maan Khurana who loves his daadima and can do anything for her. I fell in love with his unconditional love and irrevocable respect for his grandmother. I know the Maan Khurana who encouraged me, to stay calm and composed, because every problem has a solution. I fell in love with the Maan Khurana who came and advised me to stay serene when unknowingly he was the problem and the solution to all my problems. I fell in love with the Maan Khurana, who has some cardinal rules set in life and would never change them even if the world comes to an end. I fell in love with his smile, with his anger, with his attitude, with his ego, with his dedication for his work and commitment for his people. In short, I am completely and irrevocably in love with you, Maan. I would never think of any other man, in this lifetime or in any other lifetime".

Tears rolled down her eyes and she looked at him and he looked back at her, speechless. She smiled and said, "Don't worry, I will never ask you to, love me, back. You don't have to. I will not trouble you again, as long as I stay here. I know you would prefer it that way. You are the best thing that happened to me, in my whole life and I will never forget you".

She gave a slight peck on his cheek and walked away. Maan stood rooted to the spot recollecting everything Geet has just said and unable to believe the confession that just happened.

He walked to the outhouse slowly, recollecting how she never spoke back when he taunted her or insulted her most of the times. He remembered how she begged him to let her take her exams and how he challenged her and tortured her. He stood at the door of the outhouse unable to think. His mind went blank. He fell onto the bed and gaped at the ceiling.

Her words came back to him, "Mere Veerji ne mujhe maarne tak ki dhamki diya, agar maine che mahino ke andar andar shaadi nahin ki, kisi aur se"

"You are the best thing that happened to me, in my whole life and I will never forget you"

"I am completely and irrevocably in love with you, Maan"

Maan sat up on the bed as her words re-echoed in his ears. He could not sleep. HE could not see her in tears. HE did not know his rejection would have so much impact on her, on her life and on her survival as a whole. He tossed and turned all night, not knowing what to do. He knew, she was in love with him, but marriage, love etc were not his cup of tea. He remembered the time; she told him how worried she was, about her job and life-partner. He did not know that his one decision, out of haste and arrogance, would so profoundly and poignantly affect someone's life.

She had told him clearly, what her feelings were. When he knew he was not a marriage type material then why was he thinking so much about her? Why was he letting her affect him, why was he letting her tears and her words affect him? Why were emotions and sentiments slowly creeping into his life, in the past few weeks, when he never let them affect him, for the last so many years of his life. Unable to get an answer to all these questions, Maan stayed up all night. Maan, finally got up at 6 and went to the gym. He got ready early, had breakfast, and was in office by 8am.

Geet was up too, early, unable to sleep, wondering how her confession would have effect on Maan. She made breakfast that morning, as she did not have anything else to do. She decided it was time to persuade Daadima to get her papers ready for Singapore. It was better that she left Khurana Mansion, before things go out of hand. She did not know what impact her confession made on Maan, but she certainly knew that she was not wrong. She was in love with him and there is no denying the fact. Since she was in love, she also had the courage to go and tell him, what she felt about him and what she thought of him.

It was remarkable she thought how everything changed in one night. She confessed to Maan Singh Khurana and walked away. For once, it was she would do the speaking and he listened. Was she scared to face him? Well, not really, she thought. When she was not wrong in falling in love, when she was not wrong in telling him, the feelings of her heart, why should she be worried? What can he do? At the most, he might throw her out of the Khurana Mansion, but beyond that, he is not that heartless to hurt her. She did a quick reasoning while standing in the kitchen about all the possible scenarios and all the possible things Maan could do, while making some parathas. She realized she would be okay and she was capable enough to handle anything that comes her way. She smiled at the thought and thanked him once again, silently, for telling her that everything in life has a solution.

It was about an hour or so, when all of them gathered at the Dining table. Daadima asked for Maan, while Geet served the parathas and Nakul told her, that he left to office by 8am, that day.

"Hey bhagwan, kya hoga Maan ka?", remarked Daadima.

Everyone had breakfast and Kiara and Naintara told Dev that they would accompany him to the construction site of their new project, as they wanted to see it. Dev agreed and Asked Daadima, who refused to go out. She wanted to relax. Geet, on the other hand wondered if Maan had gotten to work early because of the previous night or because of his workaholic nature. While she sat thinking, Dev asked her to join them too.

Geet initially refused, but Kiara told her that she would get bored at home, so she should go with them. Geet agreed and all of them got ready and left to their Gurgaon site. On his way, Dev had a few calls to make, so none of them spoke much. as they reached the site, the engineer told them that Maan and Sasha were present at the site too. Geet's heart skipped a beat. She would now come face to face with him, after the previous night confession. She told her self to relax and it was no big deal.

Dev wondered why Sasha was here, when she was not in-charge of the project. They made their way around the site first, before going and meeting Maan. Kiara, Naintara explained to Geet about the project and the construction. Dev spoke to the architects and the engineers there, while keeping an eye on the women. He excused himself and walked to them,

"You women ought to be very careful. This place is not a suitable one for gossip, so please watch out, where you stand and keep a track of what is happening around you", he warned them. He saw all of them laughing and talking right beside the huge elevator kind of structure that was doing rounds to the ground floor and the top floors in transporting some material.

"Okay Veerji", said Kiara, looking around and realizing he was right.

"Also remember Maan Bro, is on the site. Kuch ghalat hua, tuo hum sab ki khair nahin", he pointed what. All of them nodded and walked to a safer place, while they continued to talk about their other construction projects.

After a while, Dev joined them and suggested they should go into the manager's chamber, and drink something, as it was very hot outside. Maan and Sasha were already in there. Maan was looking through some files, and Sasha kept looking at him more ofthen than at the designs in fron of her. She noticed his shirt button broken and pointed out the same.

"Oho! Ab yeh kaise hua?", he thought, looking at his shirt. "I'll have to call for another shirt, from home", he said, standing up, to call his driver.

"MK, iski kya zaroorat hain? Main fix karu?", she asked, standing up, smiling slightly.

"No! I'll just ask for another shirt. I have to go for a meeting too", he said, walking towards the door.

"Late ho jaeyega, MK- meeting ke liye- Think about it, the driver has to go all the way back home and bring another shirt", she said.

"Hmm!", he said, thinking.

"I'll fix it, in a couple of minutes and then we can attend the meeting. Is that okay?", she asked.

"Why take the trouble Sasha, let it be", he said, "It's anyways, not that evident. I'll finish the meeting and then go home and change the shirt".

She walked towards him and looked at the button. "MK, I'll fix it", she said, touching his shirt a little, to check the button properly. Maan remembered Geet holding him, by his collar. He held Sasha's hands and pushed her away, looking at her angrily.

"Sasha, stay in your limits", he warned her, adjusting his shirt.

"Par MK, main tuo.." and went close to him, pointing to his shirt button. Maan held her hands so that she would not touch him, and the door fell open.  Dev and others stood there, while Sasha turned back to see, who it was. Sasha immediately let go his hands, pretending to blush and smile. Naintara rolled her eyes, while Kiara and Dev maintained a straight face, as though they had nothing to do with her.

Geet looked at Maan and Sasha. Dev walked in, while Sasha spoke looking at the other three women, "Actually MK's shirt button was broken, so I was fixing it".

"Oh never mind. We do not want to know", said Kiara, smiling.

Naintara smirked at Kiara's cool reply as Sasha had tried her level best to put up an act that there was something fishy between Maan and her. But to her dismay, it had no effect on anyone, not even Maan, himself.

"Come on, in Ladies", said Maan, while Geet looked everywhere but him. Everyone walked in and sat in the couch. Maan sat opposite to Dev, while Sasha sat beside Maan. Geet looked at her and felt like laughing.

"Kaisi ladki hain, ek choti si button episode ke liye, itna Sharma rahin hain", she thought to herself.

Naintara caught her small mischievous smile and questioned her with her eyes. Geet texted the same thing to Naintara and Naintara burst out laughing all of a sudden and forwarded the same message to Kiara. Geet laughed as she looked away and Maan looked at her, wondering what happened.

"Kya hua Naintara? Aur Geet tum bhi has rahe ho, kis baath pe?", asked Dev, looking slightly amused.

"Koi PJ ka forward aaya hoga, uske cheap friends se", said Sasha immediately, trying to insult Geet, forgetting the fact that the entire Khurana household was present there.

Geet looked at her, seriously and burst out laughing while Kiara and Naintara joined in too.

"You're right. It was a PJ. But I appreciate my friends for making me laugh", Geet retorted back. Maan looked at her and decided not to interfere. He wanted to see, how far these women would go with their words.

"Oh! So what was there to laugh so much for a PJ?", snarled Sasha.

"Why do you need reasons to smile and laugh? It's nice to see people smiling and laughing. And it is always nice to keep smiling, you never know who's falling in love with it", she said, smiling, recollecting the few times, Maan had smiled, that astounded her. Maan too, remembered Geet's words on how she fell in love with his smile. While both of them, sat thinking about their conversations, Sasha spoke up again.

"Oh really? How come only you smile so much and laugh like a mad girl, when everyone else try to behave normal?", she asked.

"That's because, It comes naturally to me- smiling and laughing.  However, for some people even that has to come as a part of their make-up kit.  You know, where they could choose, that today along with mascara and pink color blush, they'd wear a small smile too. And with red color lipstick and a black color eye shadow, they'd wear a frown tomorrow", she said and Dev smirked at her statement. Maan looked up from his folders, while Sasha's face changed colors and turned red due to anger.

"Excuse Me, I have some phone calls to make", she said and fumed out of the room.

Naintara high-fived Geet and they exchanged quick smiles. Maan cleared his throat and both of them turned to look at him. He looked at Geet and Geet stared back at him. Dev got a phone call and so when out of the room to take the call. Kiara and Naintara got up to go get some snacks from the car and Kiara also wanted to check how Daadima was doing. Maan continued to look at Geet, who did not give up, looking at him. She got up and went to his side of the couch. She walked past him, and took the needle and thread that Sasha had left on the table. She came back and knelt before him, on the floor. She held his shirt and pulled him, when he yelled, "geet, what are you doing?"

"Trying to complete the work that you're so called employee left incomplete", she said and started stitiching the button. He looked away and said, "You did not have to do it"

Geet did not hear what he said and instead said, "Waise, isse yahan thread aur needle kahan se mila? Kya woh aapne make up kit ke saath saath yeh sab ki carry karti hain, apne hand bag mein?", and started laughing.

"Geet, you were harsh to her a couple of minutes back", he told her.

"Oh really Mr. Khurana? I was just giving her a piece of her own medicine", she said, and continued stitching.

"That make up comment and the whole smile and frown thing was rude", he said.

"Was not her comments about my friends being cheap etc not rude?", she asked, stopping the stitching to look at him. he had nothing to say. She smiled at him and continued to stitch.

"Jaldi karo", he said.

"Haan! Mujhe bhi uski tarah kisiko show off nahin karni, ki main aapke bahut khareeb thi", she said, going close to him, and cutting away, that extra piece of the thread with her teeth.

"Geet!", he said, raising his tone.

"Haan Main Geet, aur aap Maan!", she said, standing up and keeping the needle and thread on the table. She walked back to her couch and sat there. Maan looked at her, while she looked around the room.

"Thanks", he said, looking at his button.

"Mujhe kyun keh rahen hain? Jaake use keh dijiye, aakhir needle aur thread tuo usi ki hain na", she said, picking up a magazine to read.

"Geet, mujhe laga ki tum, kal ke baad.." and stopped when he heard voices outside the door.

Geet understood what he meant and texted him her answer, "Aapko kya laga, kal ke baad, main aapke saamne nahin aungi aur acche se baath karungi, tuo tameez se pesh aungi etc etc, like a girl madly in love? Ji nahin- you probably expected too much from Geet Handa. I will not change just because I am in love with you, just like how I like you the way you are and don't expect you to change. So, our war will not end. Even if love comes in between. Because that is what makes our undefined relationship better. Atleast I get to argue with you, which not many people can do ;-) ".