FF: Serendipity [Completed] - Page 21

Originally posted by: vibhashekhar

Originally posted by: RockBarbie

Do you mind if I use this as banner for this story? It's exactly what was in my mind when I started writing this.

Originally posted by: vibhashekhar

Chapter 15:

Geet watched the way he tilted his a little and tell her he liked her as if he was commenting on weather. It had come as a well thought statement after careful observation of interactions and the way people around him slipped in and out of personality as if their own skin seemed foreign. In his movements it occurred to her that he wasn't waiting for a response to his statement. In a way it was good because she was currently unable to formulate a response and would have been reduced to a bumbling mess of words and emotions.

"In a way I am glad Tara is marrying Dev." Maan said several moments later. Geet's spoon stilled mid-air and her throat constricted.

"Why do you say that?" She asked.

Maan chewed his food slowly cocked his head as if words were formulating in his mind. "It's in the way the two have the tendency to walk into a person life and create an avalanche of emotions in them and then step out as if every memory, every moment they have spent with others was a thing they had to do to get from point A to point B, you know?"

"That's a bit pessimistic, don't you think?" She didn't exactly disagree with him and logically it made all the sense, what he said. But she didn't wholeheartedly subscribe to that thought process. "Tara has always been about wordplay and mind games," Geet said distractedly.

Maan stilled, staring at a photo on the wall; a poster about saving earth with the slogan "Save the Earth, it's the only planet with chocolate". It was a gift from an online acquaintance within the community he mingled with. It had seemed like a joke at first glance but he had come to appreciate the deeper meaning behind the seemingly gag gift. "There is a constant scare towards our species though we don't tend to behave that way. But in all our hearts we know that we are only one large meteor away in complete annihilation or a bad virus outbreak which can easily wipe out every living being on this planet. Yet, yet, we hope and thrive and invent new things, are greedy and fight for petty things. In grand scheme of things, we are pretty insignificant yet the fact that there is viable life on this planet makes this planet both unique and special."

A honeyed hum settles in the room dissolving the both in warmth and heady smell of sweetness. Geet drops her fork and settles her chin on her palm, elbow resting on table. She doesn't want to disturb the microcosm of his world. She doesn't fully comprehend the gravity of his words yet she manages to nod her head shooing an acknowledgment and asking him to continue at the same time.

"People who we invite into our lives are that way, you know? We are involved in our thoughts, in our choices, in our day to day lives living a life that we feel is right and the best for us. The men and women who come to our lives - sometimes by choice and many, many, many times by pure...chance. These people can change us for the better or leave a wake of broken hearts, tainted hopes and tethered relationships when they walk out of the perimeter they designed in our life and nurtured with moments and memories. Yet, we continue on the same pattern anyway, don't we?" Maan looks away from the poster and finally looks at Geet, who is looking at him with an unreadable expression. "What is it?"

Geet smiled softly. "Have you wondered why we never met before Dev and Tara's decision to get married?" Maan's face registered a surprise. Geet ran her palm on her face and swiped the curls away from her forehead. "Our best friends were dating and somehow we never really met all this time."

"Why do you think so?" He asked, standing up. She mimicked his actions and started collecting used utensils and piling them together.

"I have thought about this several times and every time I have a new answer." Geet chuckled and took handful of utensils to kitchen and dumped them in sink. Maan followed her heel. "I don't exactly know but I guess there were always near misses. Do you remember the time Dev and Tara invited us for a brunch?" Maan nodded. "I was held up because something had come up and you had to leave the brunch early because you got called in. I was practically running towards restaurant and we crossed our path at the restaurant entrance. I didn't stop and you didn't look. We passed each other and I came to know later that the person I saw at entrance was you. We have had several run-ins before yet we never managed to meet face to face and exchange words. It felt...strange, you know?" She stood unmoving in front of skin, water running through her fingers and splashing on utensils under her hands. She smiled when she felt Maan's presence next to her, invading her space and marking as his own.

"Do you think it's unnatural if I say I never gave it a thought?" Maan asked softly. He was venturing into an area he had guarded his heart against. He had trained his mind to not to wander off in directions which are foreign to him.

"Do you mind if I say it stings a bit?" Geet chuckled, good natured. Maan bit his lip and shook his head.

"I do feel like an asshole, you know?" He replied, asked, continuing to speak in questions and answering at the same time. He had never felt this...alive before. Geet let out a surprise laugh, her shoulders touching his when riddled with laughter.

"I thought you were one, given the way you detached yourself from equation and spoke to me as a...dynamic parameter." Geet said, eyes sparkling amber.

Maan's response laughter made her breathless. "Detachment has always been in my nature Geet. My parents didn't understand it, my friends couldn't wrap their heads around it and I thought I was wired wrong." Maan replied wryly.

Geet handed washed utensils to him for wiping away the water and stacking. "Everyone except Dev and Tara, right?" She asked.

Maan nodded. "I don't know why Tara chose to hang around with me. After few weeks of interactions it was just natural to seek each other out. And I thought that was pure chance that I met her the way I did and as I met Dev for that matter and we all happen to be there at the same place anyway. And then, we ran to each other in a darkened elevator - the last place I thought I would walk into and survive it, let alone meet a person and continue to interact on a continual basis without an agenda attached to it. It was like..."

"...like serendipity." She finished for him.

Maan could only smile at that. "Yes. It was." He said. Geet whipped her head towards him and this time, she didn't hide the smile blooming on her face. Unwittingly Maan had accepted that they were past the interactions necessary to plan an engagement and a wedding.

They were now closer than that.

-TBC

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!

Originally posted by: dqno1

😃 You forgot to add your new banner Sookie

res

Originally posted by: dqno1

So lovely, the way they are, the way they are evolving; becoming alien from their very selves.

I think I love this part most in new relationships, when two people are full of trust and hope.

His observations about the planet are so true and yet most people would not discuss this as after dinner convo.

I am loving this story ..

Thanks for updating 😃