Hi gals....here is your next part.
I am sorry abt not sending PMs for this update...IF is acting wierd...MY PMS were just not going through....
Laughter brings sunshine in life......But the tears create unforgettable RAINBOWS!
~Baba Palloji
PART 25
"Can you spare two minutes?"
Maan saw Geet standing at the door through the corner of his eyes. He was surprised she was still here. It was well past 7 a.m. She was usually gone by this time.
"How come you are here still?" he asked her working up the lather of the shaving cream against his jawline. Geet stood there transfixed.
"It is Sunday. My day off...." she quietly told him and entered the room slowly.
"Sunday!!! It escaped my mind...." Maan murmured and signalled her to sit across him.
A week and a few days had glided away. Geet had got a temporary job at the Army Canteen till they stayed in Ambala and Maan was busy training the beginners. He was always occupied with work. He returned late at night after 12 and she was sleep by then. Early in the morning before he awoke she was gone. The whole week had been so tiring for both of them. After that memorable horse ride and succeeding lunch at home...they hardly got to spend time together.
"How is the work going? Is it overtaxing?" Maan asked her.
"Everything is fine. Actually last night Bhaiyya called up to tell me that things were still out of hand at Delhi and Abohar I had to wait for another two weeks maximum to fall back to normal life."
"That's fine. I am actually enjoying my time here. It feels more at home...."
Geet looked at him wistfully. She was hating it here. The job at the canteen was fatiguing to the core. And to manage a room full of youngsters majority being males with their tongues wagging in full usage was getting on her nerves. Geet had actually grabbed the job when Ronnie had suggested it thinking that probably this would be a chance to spend more time with Ronnie and away from Maan to settle her feelings. But she had been disastrously wrong.....
Ronnie turned out to be a big time loser. He spent the whole time in the canteen either getting into unnecessary fights or in scandalizing the system. He never had anything nice to say...and Geet's ears bled with his outrageously filthy language. Geet had been initially shocked to see this side of him but had later resigned to the fact that we do tend to make mistakes in recognizing people.
She was partially employed to repair all the damages that Ronnie caused in the Canteen and to intervene and stop his brawls. Infact every morning she went to work she made sure to buy a strip of Band-Aid on the way. Ronnie always needed it.
Army trainees were supposed to be 'discplined' but the crowd visiting Canteen seemed to come from some uncivilized barbaric tribe area. They didn't know the D of Discipline.
Ronnie was helpful enough to drop Geet back home every night after her duties and Geet had tried many a time to tell him to tone down his careless behaviour but he had laughed it off as some outdated joke.
Geet felt helpless. She wanted to help Ronnie out....She believed that once a friendship was struck between two people they had to be there for each other however dirty situations got. And she was not a 'quitter' to run away from Ronnie.
The work at the Canteen, Ronnie's other side and most importantly the icreasing time she spent AWAY from Maan was burdening her. She wanted to shout out with frustration ....But being Geet...she just let things be as they were.
The pain of loving Maan had only increased manifold with each ticking second.....Every minute without him was felt worthless. She felt hopeless. To add to her misery she had not spoken to him for the entire week. They hardly met each other.
From Ronnie's constant blabber she had got to know that he was training a batch of fresh fliers and the everyone was mighty impressed with him. He was the talk of the Camp- Handsome, sincere and skilled. The girls fawned over him and the guys envied him. Ronnie hated him....Ronnie too was training under Maan and he kept telling Geet that Maan was a ZILLION FOLD MOGAMBO!
Every day Ronnie invented a new name for Maan and every day Geet had to tell him to shut up. It was a daily ritual.
But Geet was aware that Maan was happy...Happy to be back doing the thing he loved the most- FLYING! Geet was happy for him....Many times she had wanted to come and open up to Maan about the daily pressures at her workplace but had stopped herself. She couldn't spoil Maan's stay here with her problems.
"Love makes you weak....." she had read in many books. On the contrary it had made her strong...strong enough to bear all the tension without breathing a word even to her hearbeat- Maan!
Maan turned and saw the pained expression on Geet's face. Was he imagining it there?
"What's troubling you Geet?"
Geet broke out of her thoughts and looked at him.
"Nothing...." she mumbled.
Maan could sense the change in her.
She walked up to him and took the razor blade from his hand and swiped it down his jaw. A neat swath was left in that layer of lather. Maan stared hard at her....something was eating her up inside. And knowing Geet, he was dead sure she would never tell him the reason of that pain etched across her face. Her hand was shivering while scraping off the lather from Maan's jaw.
Geet felt the cologne sting her senses. She was afraid she would burst out her feelings if he showed more concern. It was threatening to her endurance. She stopped her hand midway, pushed the blade back into his palm and left the room without a backward glance.
Maan saw the door close behind her. The Geet he remembered hadn't walked out of the room...a stranger had walked out of the room.....
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"Coffee?" he raised an eyebrow looking into the contents of the cup she was holding.
The TV was switched on and but there was a glazed look on Geet's face...as if she was in some distant land. Maan took the remote from her hand and turned of the blaring box. He sat down next to her.
"When did you start drinking coffee?" he repeated.
"Ronnie insisted...." her voice was lifeless.
Maan was seriously worried now.
He had been mad at her when she had informed him that she would be taking up a Canteen job at the Base. He had arranged a driving job for her but she had insisted on opting for that job. Maan remembered from his days all the crap that went on in the Canteen. Sameer and he had taken to the habit of eating out. They couldn't stand the brash behaviour that was displayed in the Canteen.
Geet's revalation that Ronnie had got her drinking coffee further irritated him. Ronnie was training under him and his behaviour was a missile of indiscipline. He had been meaning to tell Geet to speak to Ronnie, but seeing her so down he decided to postpone the talk for later.
"Do they misbehave with you in the Canteen?" he asked gently.
She looked fixedly at her fingers and shook her head in negative.
"How is your training going?" she suddenly looked up and directed the question out of the blue at him.
"Great...I am loving every bit of it."
She smiled bravely at him. Maan saw the strain in that smile....
He covered his hand over hers and caringly asked "What's troubling you sweetheart. Let it out..."
She took a deep breath and mentally forbade her tears from rushing forth....What was she to tell him??? That she was finding it hard without him, that Ronnie was not the funny and loving buddy she had believed him to be...that she MISSED HIM TERRIBLY!!!!
She let her head rest on his shoulder and closed her eyes muttering "I am just exhausted....I am going to sleep the whole day today."
"Highly unlike Geet!" Maan thought to himself. Geet sleeping on a Sunday....Even back in Delhi he vividly remembered the shopping sprees she and Dadi used to undertake on her days off.
Geet complain used to always be BOREDOM....Never exhaustion.
"I was thinking of taking you out for lunch" he attempted.
"Sorry Maan...I need the sleep. You carry on..." she stood up and went upstairs.
Her cell sprang to life when she reached the third step. Maan watched as her expression crumpled visibly with infinte worry handcuffing her features.
"I'll be there..." she urgently told and flew across the room towards the door.
"Geet....Where are you going?" Maan asked her.
"Ronnie needs me...Bye!"
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Maan sat there waiting for the burning sensation to cool down...."Ronnie needs me..."
The words played in his head like some broken record. He couldn't believe that he girl who had been complaining about fatigue a few seconds ago to him ran out of the door without caring to look at him even.
He was not shocked....he was knocked out with shock.
This whole week had been packed and he had hardly got time to see her. And now when was making an effort to spend some time with her she was running away.
"A girl in love doesn't jump up and run like that for another guy when the person she loves is trying to do something nice for her....." he thought sourly.
He didn't like it....Ronnie was a rotten guy and he hated the fact that Geet spent most of her time with him.
"Is she still in love with me? Has she fallen out of love with me? Has she started developing feelings for Ronnie? Why did it matter to him that this whole week he had been dying to hear her chatter, to see her smile...? Why did he want her still be in love with him?"
The questions banged his head as if it were a punchbag. He looked accusingly at the Coffee mug that Geet had left on the table.
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"Where is he?" Geet ran into the club and shook Adi by his shoulders.
Adi had called Geet to inform him that Ronnie was yet again fighting with a fellow at the local club. The fight was getting dangerous with each second. He wanted Geet to stop Ronnie.
Adi looked dead worried and pointed towards the pool. Geet rushed towards the crowds that were cheering wildly while looking into the waters.
She saw two guys....The black tee shirt fellow she recognized as Ronnie and the other guy was dressed in a green shirt. Their hands were handcuffed and the they were thrashing wildly in the pool like water buffalos.
"Ronnie...stop it! Come out right now..." she screamed.
Her voice was drowned by the increasing cheers. Geet felt sick....Fun was at a different level and these life-threatening games were at a different level. She saw the other guy aim a kick at Ronnie and then Ronnie yell in pain.
Geet couldn't stand there watching this show of reckless powerplay. She turned away.
Two minutes later the shouts subsided and she saw Ronnie climb out of the pool victorious while the other guy lay at the floor of the pool, his hands still handcuffed.
She saw Ronnie spot her and smile with a wave of his hand. She glared right back at him with disgust loaded in her eyes. He approached her after talking to a gang of his cronies. Geet saw some people take the other guy out of the pool and release his wrists.
"Now spare me the lecture and give me the congratulations..." Ronnie grinned unashamedly.
Geet couldn't understand if this was the lowest he could stoop or were there things still had to discover about him.
"Ronnie....For heaven's sake. You are an ARMY OFFICER. At least show respect to that fact...."
"Geet....Has Maan been preaching to you about Army Ideals? Gimme a break....I love this....the thrill, the feeling...It keeps me alive. You love driving...likewise this is my getaway...."
"What was the fight about?" she asked him, her tone was razored with seriousness.
"He wanted to settle scores with Horny Ronnie for winking at his girlfriend. I settled his permanent account...." Ronnie supplied off-handedly.
Geet shook her head...the nickname had been funny at first but now it irritated the hell out of her.
"So...you want me to drop you home?" he asked her as if they had been discussing hobbies moments ago.
Geet sighed and walked out with him.
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Maan heard the purr of the engine and pulled the curtains to see Geet sitting behind a drenched Ronnie on the bike. Her hand was on his shoulder and her expression was hard to read.
He frowned as he saw her get of the bike and talk something to Ronnie seriously. Ronnie was laughing away.
He opened the front door and stepped out on the gravel path leading to the gate. His steps were hesitant and yet forced.
"....marry me...!" he heard Ronnie tell Geet in the most serious tone. Maan could only see the back of Geet's head.
He stopped in his tracks.....That didn't sound like a mock proposal at all!!!
love
pallo
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Edited by livelygal - 13 years ago
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