BROKEN FLOWERS EPILOGUE PAGE 23 - Page 8

Sejal

Maan tried hard to stop those goons from taking away Zooni but goons were more powerful and if he would have tried harder, he could have lost his own life and Naaz's life, he couldn't endanger his life for Naaz's sake and for his own wife, Geet's sake.

Finally all the goons got off from the bus, there was fire everywhere around the area, someone said that "there is fire and killings going around the villages, so if we move forward then our lives are in danger, we have to stop here at least till everything calm down."

Naaz was so scared, after goons left, she hugged Maan tightly like she never wanted him to go, she closed her eyes and lost in his embrace. Amidst all these crazy things, she felt soothed in his embrace like she forgot whatever happened.

Naaz finally came back to her senses and realized what just happened. Maan noticed that she was breathing normally now, and he asked, "Geet, are you ok?" Naaz was looking around like he was talking with someone else, then Maan realized that she was not Geet, her name was Naaz.

Maan whispered in her ear, "Naaz, listen, till the end of our journey, you are GEET, we shouldn't give any reasons for doubts because our lives are still in danger, we can't take chances and plus we have to be more careful as you are pregnant. So I will call you GEET ONLY." Naaz nodded in agreement.

They left the bus and walked further to find some eating places and some places to stay and they stopped walking when they saw something. It wasn't like fiver star hotel, it was quite like a hut or poor lodge, ghetto places, Maan had a struggled life, whatever he achieved today because of his hard work so he could stay anywhere, Geet got shivered by looking at those places, she was holding Maan's hand tightly out of fear. She was walking very close by to Maan and their shoulders were almost touching. Maan didn't mind as he could understand the suffering she must be going through right now, and Maan actually enjoyed helping her like he made a goal in his mind that Geet was his sole responsibility. Suddenly he found a purpose of his life that he got this birth just to save her.

When Geet walked down from the bus, the first thing came into her mind was calling to her husband, Amir, to inform about this situation as her trip was delayed and God knew how long. Cell phones signals were not working in this area hence there was a long queue for using a public call booth, she told Maan that she wanted to make a phone call to her husband but by looking at the long line, Maan suggested her to first eat something while he would find a place to stay as driver had already informed that bus wouldn't move till next morning and we would look in to the situation then only we could go further. There was a rush everywhere. It wasn't easy to find a place to spend a night amidst all the chaos.

Geet sat down on the bench, Maan bought some food for her and then he ran towards a motel, which was the only motel in that area, but all rooms were gone by the time Maan reached, so he went back with defeated face.

Maan didn't want to call her wife to make her more worried. Hence he avoided calling her and he hadn't told his wife when he would be coming back to Srinagar as he wanted to keep it as surprise.

Geet ate some food and she left some for Maan, in the mid time she called her husband also but she couldn't reach out to him, it was really distressing for her but she had to give up, she saw Maan, walking towards her with defeated look.

"Maan, please eat something."Geet said while putting some artificial smile on her face to cheer him up as she couldn't see him panicked.

"Geet, I couldn't find a room, all were taken."Maan said while eating some food.

"No problem Maan, I am sure God will help us, and we will have some roof to stay."Geet said hopefully, like there was a confidence in her voice.

Finally after having food, they walked around the area to find the place to stay over a night.

Geet was having trouble while walking as she was pregnant, she was breathing heavily and Maan noticed it.

"Geet, stop, just sit down here, you shouldn't walk, you can't walk, you have to take care of yourself, for God's sake, how can you forget that you are pregnant, think about the strain, baby will face, how can you be so careless?"He said it with one tone with a fury like he was scolding his own wife. In his anger also, there was so kindness and sympathy, Geet was just staring at him while he spoke all those things in one line, she couldn't believe what she just heard, but somewhere deep in the heart, it felt good, the compassion he had in his eyes was hard to resist.

She couldn't utter a single word and she sat down, then he heard some noise coming up from far, some crazy crowd could be moving in this direction, he held Geet in his arms like a teddy bear was cradled in a lap. Geet felt warmth in his embrace when their body was touching and some sensation was felt inside of their body. He walked fast while holding her to find a place and finally someone looked at pregnant Geet and out of sympathy offered them a room. Relief was descended on their faces like they found water in the desert. There was a light smile on Maan's face, the filling of achievement, that now at least Geet didn't have to suffer, he wasn't worried about himself, he didn't want Geet to spend a night on roads like some beggar.

Few hours had already elapsed. The room they got wasn't like mansion or king's room, it was completely opposite of it, it had only needed furniture, one small bed, one bathroom, one cabinet and few things were laying down the floor, but at the middle of this riot, there wasn't any hope of getting luxury so they both were ok with whatever they got. Maan knew that after all Naaz wasn't his wife, so he shouldn't disrespect her in any form, hence he decided to spend a night on road while letting her enjoy the entire room by herself.

Geet was really sleepy, she decided to go to sleep, now there was only one small bed, and she was really uncomfortable finding Maan in his room, but she knew that she had to accept it after all he had done a lot for her, without him, she wouldn't exist, hence she tried hard to hide the uneasiness she was going through because of having a man in his room who was not her husband, but she felt instant trust in Maan, she knew that she was safe around Maan.

How hard Geet tried but her hesitance was apparent on her face, and Maan noticed it, Maan understood it and it was quite understandable as how could one lady trust a man without knowing much about him, because he didn't know that Geet had the same feelings of trust, and divinity for him as he did for her, he didn't know that she was going through the same emotions as him, he didn't know that she was going through the same fear of losing each other in riot as he did. Maan wanted to go outside but only one thing was stopping him that if Geet would get sick or something troublesome happened with her when he wasn't around then who would help her.

There was still some noise outside the house, it was really scary, and Geet was worried for Maan's well being. They heard the news about that other Muslim girl who was with them in the bus, Zooni, that she was raped and then murdered by those people. This news itself created goose bumps within her like her entire self was crucified with pain.

How can people be so cruel? How could they perceive different human beings based on religion? As God is never bias towards any religion then how could we human being do that?

Maan walked towards the door, and Geet screamed, "Maan, where are you going?"

Maan turned with a jerk after hearing her scream; he got so worried like something had happened with her. He felt relief while finding her in ok state.

"Geet, you shouldn't scream in this condition, and why are you screaming?"Maan asked.

"Where are you going? You can't leave me alone here." Geet said with innocent face.

"Geet, how ………can……..I ….live…….here? I will sleep outside; you can have this room for you."Maan stammered, feeling little shy by her question.

Geet walked towards Maan and grabbed him by his arm and pointed him to sit by the bedside. Maan couldn't speak anything and he whispered, "hmm she really knew how to scold like a wife.

SEJAL

 

 

 

 

 

amazing part.........