Part-24
"Yes Dad,How many times will you tell? I know this meeting is important!!" said Maan,irritated as he walked in his cabin,flunged his coat over his chair & sat down,his one hand flipping the pages of a file & his phone on the other "If this meeting goes well,then we might strike a deal with clients from New York & ofcourse Dadima would be elated!"
"Good you understand as now-a-days you are always behind your fiancee!"
"Oh Come On Dad,you should be happy that I have sealed my relationship with Geet!" he said with a smirk.
"Don't try to be cool Maan! You are in love with her!" said Yash in a dejected voice
"Dad please! Don't start all over again!" Maan wanted to avoid that topic
"You can fool yourself not me! I still can't believe you have fallen for her, i told you to maintain distance from her but you did not listen to me!" saying this,Yash rang off.
Nothing much had changed after that night & even if Geet & him felt any changes within them,they were careful to conceal it.Maan still couldn't forget the feel of her soft lips...he felt the fire burn in her in the same way as in him. He felt great about that.He didn't know what love really meant as he had been in an atmosphere of intense business competition that he didn't have time to think about anything else & he passed his little leisure time with girls that gave him pleasure.But since Geet entered his life,he has ample time to think about her.She has affected him in a manner that no one had ever done before.After all,it's not a child's play to divert Maan Khurana's attention!So yes...he has changed somewhere...he thought.
Maan had been busy with the staff preparing for the meeting but still he kept looking at the entrance every now & then hoping that Geet would arrive any moment.But Geet did not come... Maan grew restless.He wanted her to be there beside him..Just then he remembered that Geet's exam results were to be out that day..so yes she won't be coming.He sighed. He called her but she did not pick up the phone.He assumed that she would be celebrating with her friends.Soon Geet would again be busy preparing for her final CAT exams & he would indulge with his future projects.Maan sighed again but he were happy for the fact that they would get married soon after her exams.
Maan was then engrossed in work the entire morning but still he expected a call from her but Geet did not call him.Maan couldn't help but think what was Geet doing?Was she with Karan,he thought but later he dismissed the idea.
It was close to noon.The clients were just to arrive.Maan was confident about the preparations. They were in the conference room where Adi was placing the files before every chair. Just then Maan's phone rang.He eagerly looked at the screen.It was Geet's father,Mohinder. He said in a worried tone
"Maan beta,Geet ka phone switched off aa raha hai...she did not even tell us where she is...we even called up in college,she is not there...is she...Is she there with you?"
Maan couldn't believe whatever was told to him.He was stunned...his heart missed a beat.He wanted to ask him further but he did not want her parents to be worried.He thought it best to lie.
"U-Uncle..Geet is there over here,uska phone kharab ho gaya, don't worry,she will be back home by evening..." he succeeded to complete his sentance in a normal tone. Mohinder seemed relieved.He rang off.
Maan hands were shaking when he ended the call.Geet had never done like that before
"Kahan ho Geet?...where are you?...uncle ko toh bol diya that you will return by dusk..lekin agar.Calm dowm Maan,nothing has happened.Everything will be fine" he gave a false assurance to himself but deep inside he knew that it was a very big problem...& nothing was alright.
Seeing Maan tensed,Adi asked him what had happened.
"Adi...Geet is missing since morning..pata nahi where is she...what she is doing...i am feeling very tensed..I-" Maan broke.
Adi was shocked to hear the intensity of his voice.He had never ever seen Maan behaving in such a manner.Maan maintained his cool in hardest of hard situation.It was impossible for anyone to even guess what was going on inside Maan's mind.But for the first time,Adi could actually sense & see a strong fear in him...the fear to lose the beloved...
"Sir,i will handle eyerything here,don't worry & anyways the clients will be late,aap Geet ko doondiye"
Maan rushed to her college at once.He was told that Geet came,collected her results & went away.She did not speak to anyone & left in a hurry.Maan again tried to call her many times but her phone was switched off.With every passing second,he was taken over by fear & uncertainty.He inquired about her in the neighbourhood & all possible places she could go but no one saw her.He was driving from one place to another like a senseless man hoping that he would find her safe & secure...but to no avail.He then sought help from the police.
"Mr Maan Singh Khurana,leave it to Delhi police.We will do every possible thing to get Ms Geet back" assured Police Commissoner Arjun.
"You have to get Geet back at any cost!!!"Maan sounded fierce.
"We will.Well,are there any chances of kidnapping according to you?"
"Geet is missing since six hours!There was no ransom call.."
Arjun nodded.He took every other precise detail from Maan & started their investigations immediately.Maan told them that the media should not come to know anything about this.He was hopeful.Nothing can happen to Geet,he assured himself.There were various tense moments to pass.The clock's tick-tock sounded louder than ever conveying him that there was very little time for night to usher him.He waited patienly for some news in his favour.He tried to kept his mind free from any ill-thoughts.For the first time he felt as if fear had conquered him.
As her cell was switched off,it was impossible for the police to trace her from that angle.The Delhi police all over were alerted with her car number.It was somewhere close to evening when Maan received a call from Arjun.
"Mr Khurana...we have searched every nook & corner of Delhi..she is not in the city..her car couldn't be traced"
That sounded like a huge blow to Maan.He felt like his body would melt.He felt a roar of shiver run in his body.His mind failed to work but the next words of Arjun seemed too click him somewhere
"...Mr Khurana,did Ms Geet mention in particular about any other place to you where she could be found?"
Maan at once remembered about the air ticket to Goa!Yes Goa!She did mention it! but it was for her friend...but...maybe..maybe..she too went with her...yes!there are numerous possibilities!Yes she could have gone to Goa!,he thought.There was new ray of hope.He refused to believe that Geet was lost.
After a long pause,Maan finally spoke.
"Ye-es,she told me about her friend going to Goa!"
"Roger Mr Khurana!Did she mention the name of her friend?"
"N-No"
"It's okay...We will at once make inquiries at the airport & train stations & even alert the Goa police!Don't lose hope Sir!"
Arjun rang off.There were only three hours left for night to come.His heart believed that Geet would come.He chose to remain optimistic by even waiting for Geet to call him.All the memories of her rushed themselves into Maan's mind,their fights,her foolishness,her anger,their intimacy everything played like a film in his eyes.He could feel tears building up in him.Tears! The word to which he had been unfamiliar until then...
The police made inquiries with the airport officials but there was no passenger with the name of Geet going to Goa & all the passengers going there had no connection with Geet.The train station inquiries also met with the same fate.But even then,the Goa police searched their state & as expected Geet was nowhere in Goa too...
"Sorry Mr Khurana,Geet hamein kahi nahi mili..."said Arjun with an air of defeat.
"Kahin nahi mili?What the hell are you speaking?Don't tell me she just disappeared in thin air!!!you told me you will get her back safely!,didn't you????What is Geet for me,you will never understand!!!!i will not take no for an answer!!!you have to find her in any way!!!!"
Maan was filled with anger & anguish.There was an outpour of feelings & emotions that made Maan realize that even he was human who was helpless in this situation despite all the power & money that he had...
"We are trying our level best.." Arjun assured him again
"I don't want you to try,i want you to give me the results!!!" he banged his fist on the table.
The inspectors left...
Maan sat forlorn in a bench near an isolated road.The sun was just about to set. He felt like the breeze was colder than otherwise.He did not feel like multi-millionair Maan Singh Khurana but only Maan who has lost his dearest & was not able to find it.Darkness stood before him with mocking eyes teasing him over his defeat.His senses had become numb except for his eyes which only waited to see a glimpse of Geet.He wanted to cry hard but tears refuse to roll down.How will her parents react?What will they say?What would he say to them?How will he face them?numerous question lined up in front of him.
"Where are you Geet...please come back soon...why are you doing this..why..Geet if you know about the will..about Dev...about the shoe factory...then you can punish me...say anything to me...but please come back.Don't marry me,i won't dominate you..but come back safe & sound..Maan is incomplete without you Geet because I...I love you Geet...i really really really love you...my existence is only for you.Don't leave me...come back..."
The first breakdown which he had ever had.He finally understood he loved her.In the entire day,he had forgotten everything about himself...his business,his power which he had claimed to be everything to him suddenly seemed to be so inferior to Geet.
"and what if you fall for me?"
She had asked him in a challenging tone when he had confronted her with his laptop.He had mocked her but now it was the truth of his life & he had hardly expected that his feelings of love would show up in this manner to him...
Just then there was a call from Arjun
"Mr Khurana,there happened a car accident half an hour ago near the Delhi highway & the car has been identified as that of Geet,she is rushed to hospital. But Sir--"
The phone dropped from his hand to the ground.Maan stopped dead.His vision began to blur.He felt like his entire life had come to a full stop.He ceased to hear the next words of Arjun except the name of the hospital...
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