MG Dancing Frm the Ashes 2 Chp 56 pg 39 - Page 5

Hey everyone. Thanks for the comments. been super busy, so wont be able to reply. Thanks for sticking by though.

Chapter 48 - Whenever you need me...

Geet stalked out of the house with her bag, fuming at every door, stone, leaf, man, she saw. No one was foolish enough to stand in her way.

"Geeet", she heard a yell behind her. Her legs stilled in spite of her anger, but she refused to turn. She felt Maan bound up behind her. He draped his arm around her.

"Where do you think you're going?", he panted.

"Buggeroffmaan," she growled

"Whaa...why? If it escaped your notice, I just punched the guy for you. Why the hell are you so angry?"

She rounded on him, glaring in his face, ''Just who told you to punch him? You had him thrown out before I could get in any punches myself. I've been spoiling for a fight for ages. Why do you always have to get in the way when I want to hit someone Real Hard"

"Get in the way...? When? This is the first''"

"Lyla??", she hissed, her eyes scrunched up. "You Carried Me Out Of The Room, Maan. I hate this; you always steal the thunderrr", she growled and whacked the bag on his shoulder.

Her irritation only grew as he stared at her dumbstruck and then burst into a shout of laughter, doubling over.

But then. she stared openly. This was the first time she had seen him laugh with open spontaneity. Astonishment took over and she barely registered being dragged by him into the car.

*********************************************************

Geet looked around the bar. It looked different to her. Oddly, she felt out of place, and yet this was the place she had frequented. She saw recognition in the eyes of one of the bartenders and nodded at him as she stirred her mocktail. She made room for Maan as he sat down next to her and ordered a drink. Her anger had subsided, but the event had left a bad taste in her mouth. They sat quietly for a while, observing the crowd around them, commenting on a few, waving at a few others they knew.

Maan seemed to know a lot of the crowd. She leant over to him, " Do you come here often?"

He nodded, turning to look at her, "I used to come here often, earlier. Still the same crowd "

She nodded. Vicky had mentioned once in passing, that prior to their Dad's death, Maan had been quite a party favourite. She looked at him, now.

The difference was plain to see. It made the Maan Singh Khurana phenomenon, look alien to him. The booze had seemed to loosen him up, and his stiff posture was falling away, as he looked around at the people in the crowd.

Something seemed to have caught his eye as she felt him stiffen suddenly. He half turned in his seat, lost in thought and at times glancing behind her. unconsciously. Seeming ill at ease, he began downing drinks faster.

She turned automatically, trying to find the source of his discomfort, but didn't know where to look in the crowd.

As she surreptitiously skimmed behind her , her gaze fell on a slim, pretty girl looking back at him. It wasn't anyone she had met before, and it wasn't long before the girl had walked up to them.

"Maan, how are you?".she said, her eyes seemed wistful as she observed Maan. Geet saw that he looked anything, but pleased. He was looking everywhere but at the girl, and his body seemed tensed again. It was a moment before he looked at her and nodded.

"I'm fine, Rasika. What brings you to Delhi?"

Geet saw his jaw clench as he looked away from her again, gulping his drink.

She looked at him for a moment, then replied, "I'm in India for a week. I work in New York now."

Maan gave a curt nod, looking away from her again. A chill was emanating from him, one like she had never felt from him.

Geet felt a wave of pity, as she realized Rasika too felt the nip in the air. She stuck out her hand towards Rasika and introduced herself, feeling sorry about the treatment Maan was meting out to her. Before Rasika could raise her hand to respond, Geet felt her hand being grabbed for the second time that evening , as Maan gruffly muttered, " We were just leaving".

He looked furious, if nothing else. His eyes had a glassy look, a testament to the number of drinks he had downed. Instinct told her to keep her mouth shut.

***

Stumbling towards the car, he opened the door. As his foot stumbled over nothing in particular again, she heard him curse.

"Maan...," she said quietly.

"I know, I know, ... I'm drunk", he slurred , and silently handed her the keys to his car.

As he sat in the car and battled with the seat belt buckle, he cursed again. "Geet, I can't go home in this state. Daadi will be livid. She hates it".

"I know, and that makes my place out of bounds too...wait, lemme think", she said.

She sat quietly, trying to think of a suitable place, but her mind kept flashing back to the girl in the bar. In all his grouchy ways, she had never seen Maan display such open animosity towards anyone. Some part of her told her that it was none of her business, but curiosity had taken a firm hold.

The silence stretched on, laying heavily between them. When she couldn't help it anymore, she turned in her seat, only to hear...

"She was my college girlfriend, when I was abroad. We used to live together...", he said wearily. She held her breath flabbergasted, but at the same time willing him to continue.

"I loved her... to the extent that I had bought a ring to propose. She left a day before I could, without a word, without a call. Just a bl***ing note saying she wanted out". He laid his head back on the seat, breathing heavily. "I never wanted to ever feel the way I had, when she left. But, I think I'm a sucker for punishment. Every other girl I dated... it's the same story."

Geet absorbed all the information. A lot about his comportment becoming clearer to her. And she couldn't blame him. She couldn't imagine how that must have felt and felt helpless at not being able to empathize. Nik obviously would never have done that. She had had that assurance with him, now that she thought about it. She had always taken for granted, how much Nik valued her. Something Maan hadn't seen much.

A sudden anger streaked through her at Rasika. It was absurd how blind the girl could've been, in seeing how incredible Maan was. To have hurt him so much that he carried the weight of it, all through these years.

She pulled his hand off, from where it was crushing the seat belt and weaved her fingers through it. Words failing her in comforting him, so she did what she felt like, whenever she was angry.

"Chuck her Maan, sounds like a *****, and a *****, and a...", she continued in that strain, till she saw a smile etch itself on his face.

"Let's go, I've got a place ... funny how I didn't think of it before".

****

Half an hour later found them in the Studio, empty cartons of pizza lying beside them. Geet watched his sleeping form on the exercise mats Geet had piled on the inner studio floor. She felt a rush of tenderness as she recalled the pain in his voice.

She reached for his phone and searched for a number. Having made a phone call, she pulled out a laundered curtain out of the store closet and spread it on Maan, snuggling into it herself.

********************************************

Something had awoken him in the middle of the night. He stirred, but his eyelids refused to come apart. Along with the throbbing he felt in his head, a familiar warm smell was all around him and he blearily tore his eyes open.

He thought the darkness made everything look distorted. But it was a beat before he realized what was in front of him. He pushed his hand out of the thick material covering him and felt the ringlets in front of his face. They were softer than they appeared and even in the dark, there was a lustre in them. He held them to his nose, looking around towards her peaceful face. As he tugged the covers closer to her chin, he realized she had used a curtain. A memory of another such curtain made him smile . She was stirring from the movement and he immediately stiffened, letting her relax and fall back to sleep. His watch dial glowed 3 am, and he allowed himself to be pulled back to sleep too.

***

A bit later he felt something poking his arm and then her voice coaxing him awake.

"Maan it's 7 am, Farhan's gonna be here in half an hour. Get up." She pulled the covers off him and nudged him again.

He groggily sat up, the pounding in his head rising in a crescendo. She seemed to have showered. Her hair was glistening wet and her clothes were a different pair of studio clothes. Her quick movement in gathering the mats was costing his headache a lot.

"Chalo, have this quickly", she whispered, "... and then take a shower." She pushed a glass in his hand and a large paper bag. He smiled at her whisper gratefully, and took a swig out of the glass. He gagged, lowering the glass in disgust. Almost immediately, she pushed the glass back to his mouth.

"Drink it!", she ordered. "It helps."

"What's in the bag?", he asked, handing her the empty glass and peeking in the bag. A pair of his trousers and a formal office shirt, peeked back at him.

"How'd you get these? When...??", he asked.

She flashed his phone at him with an impish grin, and then handed him a water bottle and a smaller paper bag. "Go on take a shower, I'm in the second studio...oh and eat that," was all she said, throwing his phone back at him.

He stared at her happy form. The events of the previous evening were returning quickly, but the anger and frustration didn't. In place of them a mellow, warm feeling had taken over. He let his gaze fall on the mats and the curtain and the smaller paper bag. It contained an apple and some sandwiches. He ate them quietly, trying to get them past the lump that was forming in his throat.

wow...maaneet and maaneet.

''Just who
told you to punch him? You had him thrown out
before I could get in any punches myself. I've been
spoiling for a fight for ages. Why do you always
have to get in the way when I want to hit someone
Real Hard" lolz
awesome...hehe

awesum part..poor maan..he never got a real luv..
loved the convo b/w maneet...
especially her anger...

so Maan's past is out and Geet was there to console him... liked it..

Love love loved!!! Loved the update! Geet sounded like a little kid, " Maan, you always steal my thunderr!" 😆 Thanks for the update!

Excellent one...
so this is maan's past...
eagerly waiting to know the next...