Chapter 2
By the time they finished exploring the house it was dinnertime. Nakul called them for dinner. They joined Dadima and Pari . When Dev asked "where is bro?" Nakul replied "chote saab called saying he'll be late" and turned to dadima saying he has asked her to take medicines on time. Dadima muttered something like she is no child and knows how to take care of herself.
They continued their dinner and Dadima asked "So, Geet you are here for a job, when is your interview?" "Actually, Dadima, I have to join 'S.S.V college' as a lecturer next month but I don't want to live in a hostel and wanted to find a house near the college and shift before my term starts", saying so she thanked Dadi for offering to put up with her until she found a suitable accommodation . "Beta, please don't be formal, aap dev ke friend hain and you are always welcome aur kuch help chahiye to please don't hesitate" said Dadi. Pari asked if Meera too is going to stay with her. "Nahi ,I just wanted to make sure that the place is comfortable and secure as Geet will be staying alone and she is new to this place, so I ..." Geet interrupted saying Meera is not her friend but she is her Dadi and she wouldn't stop worrying until she was satisfied with all the arrangements from housing, to food to travel. Dadi chided, "Aaj kal bacho ko interference pasand nahin, lekin aapko khush hona chahiye ki Meera aapki itni care karti hain." Geet gave an apologetic look and mouthed a sorry . Dadi than inquired about Geet's family. She told them that her parents died when she was twelve and she moved in with her Nani after that, but Nani too expired 4 yrs back. When Dadi asked if she has no other family, she said that her extended family from her fathers side are settled in Punjab and that she is not in touch with them. When Dadi said she is sorry she said not to be as Meera and her family have been always there for her. Sehgal's were her Nani's neighbors and she and Meera have been friends as earlier she would be spend her vacations there but after she shifted, the Sehgal home became second home to her. "No, it was not only Geet's second home but also mine as i would all the time be at Geet's Nani's house and only go home for sleeping.", corrected Meera.
Pari was so thrilled listening to their stories like how they were practically inseparable. From doing their home work together to spending the better part of their time in the backyard of Geet's house playing everything from marbles to cricket and how they would sit on the low wall joining the two houses talking and dreaming of their future eating kulfis, Nani had prepared and so on and so forth. Dev butted in saying not to believe them and that both of them when alone fight like cats and dog all the time, its only when somebody else says a bad word about anyone of them do they join hands and make sure that the person would rather wish to be either deaf or dead. Meera and Geet laughed at that and filled them with details how they would support each other and save each other's back when in trouble. Pari wished she too had a friend like that. Geet and Meera smiled at that and they continued their dinner while talking about random stuff.
After dinner, Dadima usually went to the garden for a walk and asked Geet and Meera to join her and offered them ice-creams instead of kulfis after that, Geet said she did love to but she had to review her project and would take up her offer some other time, and than she asked her to proceed with Meera and winked at Dev when no one was looking. Pari decided to join them which made Dadi very happy. Dev had already excused himself as he had to attend a conference call.
She went to her room feeling happy as Meera was spending time with Dev's family. She soon got busy proofreading her reports and lost track of time.
At around 11.30 she realized Meera was not back and decided to call her when her cell rang it was dev, asking her to come to the garden at the back immediately, he had a surprise for her.
She left her room and was looking around for help to find her way to the garden, when she heard it, a deep baritone piercing the calm, that prevailed 'Nakul, coffee, abhi '. She twirled herself towards the stairway to find the source and then.. she saw him , he had his back to her and was at the end of the stairs, for a moment she had this inescapable urge to call out to him, but than thought better and ran after him and turned him around and was shocked to actually find a large eared monster with fangs for teeth staring back at her with marble sized eyes. She kept staring back at him ...He was actually a MONSTER, and than she blinked and that's when she realized it was her imagination, she had not run after him... No, she had not ...she was still rooted in the same place... she looked up and he was not there, she sighed in relief and shook her head in order to lose the image her mind had conjured. She thought of going back to her room when a servant showed up and offered to take her to the garden. She nodded and followed him out.
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unable to post link, to see the monster geet imagined, visit
http://www.google.co.in/imgres?imgurl=http://www.umich.edu/~engl415/childad/ChildAdimages/monster.gif&imgrefurl=http://www.umich.edu/~engl415/childad/child.htm&h=360&w=285&sz=73&tbnid=PAUZY__tUpyJFM:&tbnh=90&tbnw=71&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dscary%2Bmonster%2Bfaces%26tbm%3Disch%26tbo%3Du&zoom=1&q=scary+monster+faces&docid=npozjzKXmIcGBM&sa=X&ei=tq-fT6y0MovxrQfAmIj2AQ&ved=0CEAQ9QEwBA
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