A Tinge of Jealousy (Maaneet OS)
Geet sat in the coffee shop by Khurana Constructions during breaktime. She always just took her break in the cafeteria at the office, but today she wanted something else, something different from the work environment.
She sat in the back of shop, away from the general public, where she could see everyone, but no one could see her, sipping her cup of coffee and eating the biscuits. Geet was waiting to surprise her husband who came to this store everyday, hating the cafeteria at Khurana Industries. Even though he had asked her numerous times to join him at Coffee Corner, she had always declined, but today was a first.
When she heard the door bell on the coffee shop ringing once again, she was disturbed out of her thoughts, and directed her attention to the door to find him entering with a woman of about her age, laughing and talking away freely. She put her coffee cup down and just stared, trying to listen in on the conversation, and figure out what the heck her husband was doing at a coffee store with a woman she didn't know.
As they moved towards her, she quickly buried her head in the menu card in front of her, not wanting to be seen by either, and she was successful. The couple took their seats at the booth right behind her, still laughing about something or the other.
"Maaan. You are so cute, but anyways, when are you coming to visit Sam? She's been missing you a lot, and is really mad that you haven't even bothered to pick up her phone calls" said the woman, and Geet's eyes widened in surprise. Sam? That was probably the nickname for Sameera! Wasn't she Maan's ex-flame? He's back together with her? That too behind my back? She stopped her train of thoughts in order to catch further insight into the conversation.
"Oh Come on Pari. I just saw her last week. But I'll definitely try and stop by sometime soon, maybe even today" Maan replied, his voice still holding the same happiness. "You know na, I can't tell Geet about this yet. I don't know how she would handle it" he continued, his voice turning slightly serious.
"Well of course. But you have to tell her soon Maan. You can't hide such a big thing from her. After all she's your wife, and she loves you a lot. I'm sure she'll support you" reassured the other woman, Pari, as she reached out and took hold of Maan's hand, conveying her support and reassurance.
"I will tell her Pari. I can't keep her in the dark about such an important issue. I'll tell her soon, but anyways, how is Sam doing? God I miss her a lot" said Maan, changing the topic and trying to distract Pari.
Geet sunk lower in her seat after hearing Maan's words. The Maan Singh Khurana that claimed that he loved her more than anything else in the world, was with another woman behind her back, seeing her secretively, not telling Geet anything about her. Oh god. And she had fallen in love with someone to be betrayed. Losing love twice, that can only happen to me she thought to herself, as the tears welled up in her eyes. Both Dev and Maan.
She abruptly got up from her seat and rushed out of the store, back to Khurana Constructions, hoping that work would keep her mind off of Maan's betrayal. An hour later, as she was filling out some papers at the front desk, she saw Maan entering the office, a wide grin on his face, as he told someone on the phone "Of course Sam, I'll come visit you for sure today. Don't worry. I miss you too."
However, as soon as he saw , he hung up the phone, and walked over to his wife.
"Mr. Khurana. Where are you coming from?" she asked, her voice distant and cold.
Mr. Khurana? She only calls me that when she's mad at me. Sighhhh. What have I done this time? He thought to himself. "Geet. I'm coming from the coffee store. I go there everyday. You know that" he said, taking her by the shoulders and turning her around to face him.
Her eyes piercing through him, she continued her questioning him, "And were you with anyone?" Maan was just bewildered at her questions. Why was she asking him about all this?
"Um…no" he replied, still unsure of himself and her questions.
And that was it. Geet turned away from him with a huff, and walked away, her heels clanking on the floor as she stormed towards her cabin in anger. The audacity of this man! He had lied to her so easily. Not with anyone? Humph. I'll show him. I'm going to catch him red handed at his girlfriend's place. Just you watch Maan Singh Khurana. Just you wait and watch to see what Geet can do.
*********
At 6 o'clock, Geet saw Maan walking out of the office, making his way to his car. And she decided to follow him. Let's see who this Sam is that s stealing away all my husband's attention.
And so she got into her car, and followed MSK at a safe distance, making sure that he wouldn't see her with the other cars there. Geet followed him into a small apartment complex, entering a house in the far corner.
Seated in the car, she took deep breaths. Phew Geet, calm down. It's ok. Just have faith and courage. You can do this. She kept on giving herself a peptalk, giving herself the courage to face the situation that was coming up. And finally about fifteen minutes after Maan had entered the apartment, Geet stepped out of the car, closing the door behind her and making her way to the same place where her husband was.
204. She stared at the number on the door for a whole five minutes, not knowing whether or not she should knock. But when she heard a girl scream inside, she took a deep breath and knocked on the door loud and clear.
"Yes?" questioned the woman who opened the door, who Geet recognized as Pari from the coffee shop. "How can I help you?"
"Um..woh….is..is Maan Khurana here?" Geet asked, looking the woman straight in the eye and unable to hide her nervousness. Pari peered at the woman in front of her closely, dressed in a blue salwar, small black framed glasses on her face, she was definitely someone she had never seen before.
"Sam! Stop!" screamed Maan laughing, and that brought both women out of their respective thoughts. Geet's sense of calm completely flew out the window as she ran into the house, bracing herself for the worst situation possible. But what met her eyes was another shock altogether.
She saw Maan on the floor being tickled by a young girl, a girl of about 6 years. "Sam...Sam stop!" he laughed again, trying to get away from the tickling but unable to do so, as he laughed uncontrollably. He looked so cute there, on the floor, wrestling the little girl who was giggling away.
Geet just stood in shock, not knowing what to say or do. This was definitely not the scene she had expected to see entering the house.
"Maan...." she stuttered finally, regaining her voice and her thoughts as she tried to comprehend what was happening. Both Maan and Sam stopped instantaneously and looked up to see the woman standing near the doorway of the living room. "Ge..Geet?" Maan finally managed to blurt out, his face paling as he looked like he had seen a ghost.
He scrambled up immediately, making his way over to his wife as she just stood there motionless, a blank look on her face. As he reached over to touch her though, she immediately moved back, shoving him away "Mr. Khurana. This is the last thing that I expected from you. Having a daughter this old and hiding this from me. What kind of man are you? When were you even planning on telling me all this?" she screamed, her voice filled with rage and the tears easily streaming down her face.
"Geet. That is definitely not the situation here. I don't have a daughter" replied Maan, his face even more confused at her flow of thoughts. Where in the name of heaven was she pulling all these crazy ideas from? However before he could finish his explanation, she ran out of the house.
Maan turned to Pari, "I'll see you later. I have got to go clear this up" and saying that he ran behind his wife, hoping to catch wherever she was going. The tears still flowing down her cheeks, her eyes puffy and red, Geet jumped into her car and headed home, not even thinking rationally about the situation, and Maan was close behind on his wife's trail.
**********
"Geeeeet!" screamed Maan as he pushed the door of his house open and made his way to the bedroom, only to see a big duffel bag lying on the bed, open, and the crying Geet in front of the closet, grabbing everything she could and throwing it into the bag.
"Geet. What is wrong with you? I don't have a daughter" said Maan firmly, as he grabbed his wife by the shoulders who then struggled to get away, not standing still in his arms.
"Maan. Shut UP. Just shut up. I saw you with Pari today telling her that you missed Sam, and thinking that you had a girlfriend I followed you. But you have a daughter. A DAUGHTER MAAN" sobbed Geet uncontrollably, as she clutched the collars of his shirt and literally shook him.
"Geet. Geeet......" began Maan, as he tried to calm his screaming wife who was shaking her head and fidgeting crazily. Not knowing what else today, he grabbed her face and bent his head over hers, as he planted a mouth searing kiss on her lips, knowing that that would shut her up.
And he was right. That kiss shocked the girl so much that she stilled immediately, and looked up at her husband a dumbfounded look in her eyes.
"Geet. I was going to tell you this when we both had more time, but well if this is how you want to find out, then so be it. Sam is not my daughter. She's Pari's daughter with some other man who ran away from her. The poor girl has blood cancer and we are sponsoring her treatment. Pari is too poor to do so, and she was a good friend of mine before this fiasco. I was just visiting her to see how she was doing. Geet, baby, I would never ever cheat on you" he spoke softly, his voice soothing, calming her down slowly.
Needless to say Geet was shocked once again and she fell on the bed, burying her face in her hands. "Oy babaji. What have I just done?" she said to herself. Turning to Maan once again "And she's not your daughter?" her voice a pleading, just that she needed confirmation that her Maan was still hers.
Maan smiled softly, as he threw the duffel bag on the floor and took the seat next to his wife. Holding her hands in his own, and he looked right into her eyes, the dark brown pools which he would oh so often get lost in, and answered "She's definitely not my daughter. We're sponsoring her treatment, and I wanted you to meet her too."
"Oh I am so sorry Maan, So sorry for not trusting you there" she said, as she buried her face in his chest put her arms around him.
His answer was a kiss on her forehead, reassuring her that everything was still fine between them. Trying to lighten the situation up a bit, he continued "So Madam, what were you doing in the coffee shop today? I thought you hated it" he smirked, as he pulled her away and tilted her bent face upwards again.
A deep red blush appeared on her cheeks as she smiled and immediately lowered her eyes again. "I…I just wanted to tell you something, but saw you with Pari and…."
"And so Mrs. Geet Khurana was jealous, eh?" he questioned, not wanting to stop the teasing and let his poor wife go.
"Woh…I….I just misunderstood when I heard the name Sam and thought Sameera and heard you saying you missed her, you were hesitant to tell me…" she whispered back slowly, barely audible to even Maan, who was seated right next to her.
"Geet. How many times do I have to tell you? I'm completely over Sameera, she was just a passing moment in my life. I love you, and I would never ever do that. And as for why I didn't tell you about Sam's leukemia, well I just didn't know how you would react to us sponsoring it. That's it. I truly did not want to hide it from you, because I do know how much you love kids, but I didn't know if you would be able to handle seeing the girl pass away if the treatment is not successful" he smiled as he pulled her back towards him and wrapped his arms around her wait.
"So Mrs. Khurana…what did you have to tell me?" he mumbled. Even though he loved the comfortable silence that had formed between them, his curiosity was getting the better of him.
"I'm..You…we're going to be parents" she said quickly, not knowing how exactly he would react as she let her grip on him lose, waiting for his response.
Maan froze. Did he hear right? He was going to be a dad? HE WAS GOING TO BE A DAD!!
"I'm going to be a DAD!!!! OH MY GOD. WHEN? HOW?" he screamed, a wide grin forming on his face as he looked down at his wife who was looking at him, the tears all dried up and her eyes twinkling with happiness.
"When? I found out today, when I got a checkup done and Muskaan told me. It's been three months. I can't believe I didn't figure it out though. Muskaan was so excited that we both would be moms at the same time! And how. I think you should know the how, considering you're a grown man Mr. Khurana who should know his birds and bees" she answered, the teasing returning to her voice as she looked proudly at her husband.
"Oh Geet That was the best news ever. I love you so much" he said, before bending down to capture her lips with his own, and enter a world with just the two of them, and the love they shared.
The End.
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Hi Everyone!
Thanks so much for reading! I hope you liked this story!
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Cheers!
~Naina
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