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Oh you too...😃...And I'm not even ashamed!! 😆
Disclaimer: Exhausted to the bone so a short chapter today. Chapter is unedited. Apologies for errors in advance.
Chapter 8:
"Stress."
"Fregoli Delusion."
"Low blood pressure."
"Psychotic disorder."
"Alcohol poisoning."
"Manic Episodes."
"Dehydration."
A pause.
"Geet."
"Satya."
It was a stalemate. Neither liked the fake illness that the other was coming up with.
"How about asking the fake patient?" Maan asked looking up from the file he was reading. He was cozily tucked in bed in pajamas while Geet and Satya argued about what he should be diagnosed with.
"How about using 'exhaustion' as a reason?" Maan asked eagerly. Satya and Geet continued to ignore him.
"Geet, I don't want him to be fired for being mentally unstable," Satya said.
"So it's okay if he seems like a sissy and get bashed by his employees and public alike? Dalal Street will have him for breakfast." Geet challenged. Satya sighed. Maan frankly didn't care. Coming to the hospital seemed like a bad idea now. He should have stuck to the original plan of escaping to an exotic location with few female friends. Geet and Satya were getting extremely chummy and it the thing that was making their bond stronger by the second was the copious amount of gossip stories about him which they were exchanging rapidly.
Maan sighed. Introducing the two was such a bad idea.
"Get some rest Maan. You are going to make a lot of people unhappy tomorrow," Geet said and bid him good night. Satya had already left and Geet had come in before she left for the day.
"Sit here for few minutes Geet. We haven't talked in ages," Maan said his eyes laden with sleep. Geet complied. Maan was quiet for many moments, which was strange.
"I found out a little," he began. Geet sighed. "Maan'" She started.
"Geet, hear me out. Please. I agree that in the beginning all this was nothing more than my curiosity. But once I started getting involved I realized how petty I was being. The amount of destruction the Khurana Group is making is not only with respect to money but also how they are systematically damaging the quality of services and not bothering about recognizing or acknowledging people." Maan said. Geet nodded.
"What have you found out?" Geet said.
"Do you remember that your father was working in a different company just before his death?"
"I didn't know firsthand actually. My mother told me several years later that when we moved away from your neighborhood papa had quit his job at Khuranas and found his own company. Around the same time he married mom too," Geet replied.
"I started from that point. The time when Khurana Group was in dumps and the construction business was involved in a scandal. My father was involved in a scandal involving under quoting tenders and bribing public sector individuals to gain contracts." Maan said.
"You know that your father just didn't work for Khuranas right? He was the general partner along with my father and owned quite a substantial amount of equity."
"I know that. Mom told me that he and your father fell apart due to some differences in opinion so father quit the company." Geet replied.
"It is possible that it might not have been the case," Maan said slowly. Geet looked at him surprised.
"How do you know that?" Geet whispered.
"The funding to start your father's company came from one of my father's paper companies." Maan said. Geet looked shocked.
"Everything is muddy and confusing Geet. I am unable to filter truth and fabricated information. Please, trust me. I will find out what really happened." Maan said earnestly. Geet nodded averting her eyes. Maan personally hated it whenever she did that ' when she hid his vulnerability from him.
"I found him, you know." Geet said after handful of moments later. Maan looked up and watched her. She was still looking at her hands which were clasped on her lap.
"It was raining that afternoon. Mom and Nayantara were out and I had decided to stay at home. I was playing outside and I got this sickening feeling in my stomach. The feeling of dread, you know? I ignored it and played in slow drizzle and after a while I couldn't take that feeling anymore. I went inside singing and calling out for my father." Geet looked up then with a forced smile and eyes red. Maan took her hands in his and squeezed them.
"He was hanging from the ceiling like the way you see in movies. Only that the sight isn't so pleasant. I cried aloud in surprise and shock for having witnessed such a thing. After screaming for minutes our house help who had gone out to purchase vegetables came rushing in. By the time mom and Tara came home, father was made to lie on sofa. He didn't leave a suicide note nor did he say goodbye. For one moment he was there and the next he wasn't." Geet explained in most passive voice she could muster.
He could see that she was struggling to piece the story together as he knew how close she really was with her father.
"I am sorry Geet." Maan said and pulled her to him.
He held her for the rest of the night as she tried to come to terms with her father's death which even after one and half decade left her raw and wounded.
To be continued.
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