Chapter 9: Love
Aaj Kal
Love is a complex
entity; even the most genius scientists and doctors failed to understand the
substratum of depth and emotion in it. Nobody can understand when it neither
began nor can correctly identify its symptoms. Yet every species on this earth
yearn to experience unexplainable feeling of being in love. It comes at its own
mercy and when it does come it brings new and unimaginable feelings with
associated with it. As it comes, it streaks one's life with bright new colors.
Although it seems the
best thing to be in love, it is in fact one of the most dangerous feelings to
be associated with. It fails to distinguish between actual love that crops up
to satisfy one's heart and fleeting love that bases its foundation in
satisfying the senses. Men and women around the world are always in search of
true love, but they become so engrossed in finding that true love, that they
fail to recognize the actual meaning of it.
Love in true sense is
a secure feeling that envelops a person, assuring his/her safety and security.
It is not necessary that love should be between a man and a woman; it can be as
simple as between a mother and child or between two very good friends. It is
the sense of warm and caring feeling that sets the foundation of true love. Failing
to see this, men and women, who are intent on finding love, are always on the
lookout for the opposite sex to fulfill their physical desires. Just the
thought of this had what made Geet run away from even the shadows of love.
"Geet?" she thought
she heard a distant voice, shaking away her thoughts. "Geet," the voice again
called out, this time it came from a nearer distance.
"Huh?" she asked
opening her eyes and found she was still hugging Maan. She hurriedly got out of
his embrace, flushed at her own act.
Maan eyed her anxiety
curiously, as she fidgeted with her fingers, unable to meet him in the eye.
"Hum chalien?" he asked wondering where she was lost.
"Yes," she whispered,
turning away and walking, before he could question her any futher.
Maan shrugged at the
sudden change in behavior, brushing it away as normal. He silently followed
behind her as she led the way out of the college, towards the parking lot. Just
as they were about to walk out of the gates a loud voice called out Geet.
"Geeto!" the voice
called out again. Geet turned around to be faced in a distance by a bunch of
girls waving at her. She hesitantly waved back and looked at Maan who stood
bewildered at her. "Geeto! Aajao yahaan," the girl called out again, gesturing
her to come towards them.
"Friends?" Maan asked,
coming to stand beside her and she nodded affirmatively. "Toh why don't we go
and say hi."
"Nahi," she replied
too quickly.
"Kyun?" he asked
bewildered at first but soon it turned into a smirk. "Tum darti ho kya ki voh
log mujhse flirting karenge aur pappiyan denge?" he whispered near near ears.
"Haaโ" she began to
nod her head, involuntarily, but soon composed herself, "mera matlab hai ki
nahi, nahi main kyun daroongi? They are my friends," she said little unsure of
herself.
"Toh phir kya problem
hai?" he asked innocently.
Geet straightened
herself, "Problem?" she asked nonchalantly. "No problem at all!" she said
confidently.
"Are you sure?" he
teased. "I mean if you scared I have no problem in heading out."
"Hm darr?" she asked
arrogantly while Maan nodded in the affirmative. " Aur main?" she scoffed. "No
way Mr. Khurana."
"Where there is a way,
there is a will ma," he said calmly. "Anyway, since you insist I shall tag
along. Magar don't blame me if they flirt or try to give me flying kisses," he
said looking away while secretly smiling.
"Don't bet on it Mr.
Khurana!" she said narrowing her eyes.
"Then prove me wrong
Mrs. Khurana," he challenged.
"My pleasure Mr.
Khurana," she said smugly. "Magar ek shart par," she said looking at him
cautiously.
"I'm listening."
"You cannot do
anything. I shall do all the talking and introducing. You will not open your
mouth or do any kind of other ishaara. Is that clear?" she said sternly.
"Aapka hokum sar
aankhon par," he said humbly bowing down and totally enjoying the new kind of
feelings Geet was portraying.
"Follow me Mr.
Khurana," she said snapping her fingers and turning around to walk.
"After you Mrs.
Khurana," he said grinning widely at the turn of events.
Maan and Geet strode
across the ground before they reached a group of girls eagerly looking at Geet
before curiously eyeing the man who came along with her. Ignoring their
puzzling looks Geet walked confidently towards them. They reached the group of
girls who were sitting by the large fencing area, overlooking the basketball
court. Few guys were playing in the court while these girls sat facing away
from them; some on their bikes while others on the steps.
"Hello, all my
beautiful people," Geet said cheerfully, ignoring the drooling looks her
friends were giving towards Maan. Seeing them continuing to look at Maan, she
waved her hands furiously in the air, "Hello, main aap logon se baat kar rahi
hoon."
"Geet, yeh special
specimen kaun hai?" the girl dressed in casual t-shirt and dark blue jeans
asked dreamily. Her small round face and sharp features complimented her short hair
and fair skin.
Before she could ask
anything further another girl nearby piqued in, "Oi tubelight, Minu tumhe pata
nahi ki voh kaun hai. Voh hai humari Delhi ki sabse wanted bachelor, the
handsome hunk, the angry young man, my Mr. dreamy, Mr. Maan Singh Khurana," the
girl finished dramatically before drowning in her thoughts about him.
"Kya you mean, the
Maan Singh Khurana, theโฆMaanโฆSinghโฆKhurana?" two other girls joined in,
stressing each syllable of his name.
"Girls, kuch toh
sharam karo. Stop drooling over him, atleast not in front of him," another girl
said whacking the others. "Behind the doors mein baat hi kuch aur hai," she
giggled.
Geet, who had been watching
her friends continuously drooling over Maan, looked appalled at their amount of
attention towards him. "What the hell!" she thought angrily. She, their best
friend, had been standing in front of them for the past five minutes and all
they could talk or see was Maan. She wondered if she was visible at all to
them. She mentally slapped herself for acceding to his challenge in bringing
him here. "Arre besharamon!" she yelled loudly. "Main yahaan hoon, aap log use
kyun ghoor rahe ho?" she asked miffed.
Geet's loud voice
brought all the girls back to reality and they scrambled to regain their
original postures. She looked clearly angry, as they looked back guiltily at
their friend. "Ha! Arre Geet tum? I never saw you come. Tum kab aayi?" Minu
asked laughing nervously.
"I have been standing
here for the past five minutes," Geet said, gritting her teeth.
"Of course, we knew
that," the other girl beside Minu said, "Haina girls?"
All the girls nodded
immediately, fearing Geet's anger. "Anyways, I don't have time for all this,"
Geet said waving her hands away. "Aap logon ko kuch kaam tha?" she asked, her
tone a bit edgy.
"Arre Geet, gussa mat
ho yaar. We are sorry," Minu said, holding her ears. Everyone came around her
and hugged her tightly before looking back at her. "By the way Geet, tum kahaan
thi for these past few days? We were worried sick. We tried calling your house
magar nobody was answering properly. They said you wont come back to college
anymore. Is everything alright?"
Geet sighed; they did
look worried about her. She had not informed them of her sudden disappearance back
to her native village, where she had been summoned urgently. She only knew the
reason behind the urgency later that it was her marriage. In a hurry to marry
her away, the marriage preparations were done quickly giving her no chance to
inform her friends and later. "Voh hamaari gaav mein kuch zaroori kaam tha,
isiliye I have to leave in a hurry," she said looking away.
"Thank god. Atleast ek
phone kiya hoti," Minu scolded. "You are not leaving us, are you?"
"Nahi, I'm back. There
was a little discrepancy back home," she lied.
"Chalo now that you
are fine, jaldi batao ki tumhe Maan Singh Khurana kaise pata hai?" the other
girl eagerly, earning her a smack on the head. "What, I was just curious as you
guys," she whined.
"I'll pretend I didn't
hear that," Geet said not wanting to show her irritation in front of Maan. "Now
I'm back to college guys."
Maan, who was watching
the scene unfold in front of him, smirked at Geet's frustration and her
friends' drooling session. He was enjoying her restlessness while all the
girls' attention was towards him. Just to add some spice to the already
garnished dish, he leaned forward a bit towards her and spoke in a low tone,
"Geet, won't you introduce me to your lovely friends. They too seem eager to
know me." She turned around and glared at him, causing him to wipe the smirk
off his face. But then he gathered enough courage to utter, "Are you afraid
now?" he asked hoping against hope he struck the right chord.
"Don't get too excited
Khurana," she hissed through her teeth before plastering a fake smile on her
face. "Oh sorry main bhool hi gayi ki Maan mere saath the," she said casually.
"Maan?" all her
friends thought puzzled at her reference to him, as though he was a well-known
acquaintance.
"This is Maan, Maan
Singh Khurana. A very good and close friend of mine," she said grabbing him by
his hand and wrapping her arms around his hand. She plastered a smile on her
face yet her eyes fiercely looked for any kind of change in her friend's
behavior.
"Close friend?"
someone from the group asked. "Hume pata bina tume kaise close friend mil
gaya?"
"Vohโฆ" Geet stuttered
for a minute trying to come up with a good excuse. "Haan, voh kya hena, my
family and their family are close friends. Hum bachpan se dost the, bas kuch
saalon mein we drifted apart but now that we met again we couldn't help giving
each other's company," she said hurried, praying her friends wouldn't catch her
carelessly lying. Although she wanted to claim her right over him, to keep her
friends at bay, it would raise too many questions about their marriage. She
couldn't introduce him as her husband, because later it would be difficult to
explain if they parted ways. Her friends would ask too many unnecessary
questions that she wouldn't be able to answer. Yet to introduce him casually as
a friend would only invite her all-too-interested friends to hope for a chance
against him. So the best solution was to lie that he was a childhood friend, a
close childhood friend. That would keep those girls at bay, wouldn't it? Geet
thought unsure of it would. She inched closer towards Maan, tightening her hold
on him, just to make sure she gave the idea that he was off limits.
"Wow Geet, you are
sooo lucky," Minu said eyeing Maan as though he was some kind of forbidden
candy she couldn't reach out to.
"Hmm, so toh hoon,
Maan let me introduce you to my friends here," she said pulling him with her.
"Yeh hai humari group ki miss showpiece, Sindhu," she said pointing to the girl
in western one-piece dress until her knee. She smiled eagerly, revealing her
not so perfect teeth. She was of medium height, with mid-length hair, let out
freely. She stood with one hand on her hip, like a statue. She extended her
hand towards Maan while Geet tactfully pushed it away.
"Showpiece?" Maan
asked confusedly.
"Haan, bilkul. Yeh
hamesha kuch nahi karti sirf showpiece ki tarah khadi rehti hai," Geet said
while Sindhu grinned sheepishly at Maan. Geet next moved ahead towards the next
girl in the group, "Aur yeh hai Minu, enough said."
"Hellโ" Minu began
only to find Geet hurrying towards the next girl.
"Yeh Gubbi, I mean
Malavika," correcting herself.
"Yeh hai humari group
ki mouthpiece, Ramya," Geet said pointing to a girl dressed in traditional
salwar suit and large rectangle black-rimmed glasses. "This is our group's
model, Ms Sonโ," she began pointing to a girl who was skimpily dressed but the
girl put her hand forward, gesturing her to stop. Geet looked at her, puzzled
at her gesture and stood mum, as the girl came forward and stood haughtily,
with her head held high.
"Hi, Sonika, Sonika
Malhotra," she said arrogantly and moved forward and hugged him tightly, to the
dismay of Geet. "But for close friends I am Sonu," she said winking.
Geet stood with her
mouth wide open, this woman had the guts to hug him in spite of her claim over
him. "Sonu!" she yelled, making her and Maan jump out of embrace. "Choddo na
use hugs pasand nahi hai," she said jerking Sonika away from him. Damn, she had
made a very wrong choice of trying to introduce her friends to him. It would be
no use trying to stop her good-for-nothing friends so she decided to warn Maan.
She bent forward, "Maan you said you wouldn't cheat. Yeh kya hai, now you are
all too eager to hug everyone?" she whispered, her voice dangerously close in
his ears.
"Arre Geet why are you
getting worked up? Agar voh log mujhe zabardasti karein toh main kya karoon.
Wouldn't it be rude to push them away?" he mocked. Geet, unable to say or do
anything, simply grunted in response. She decided the rest of the introductions
could be done from the place she stood.
"Yeh hai Pari, that's
Sangeeta, and lastly those two are Priya 1 and Priya 2," she said quickly
avoiding to go near the girls anymore.
"Arre Geet tum vahaan
door se introductions kyun kar rahi ho, atleast let me get a closer glance at Mr.
Dreamy," Pari said dejectedly.
"Bas, bas, ho gaya
introduction. We have to leave now," she said pushing Maan the other way near
the parking lot.
"Magar," all the girls
called back alarmed at their sudden exit.
"Magar vagar kuch
nahi, hum kal milenge, bye!" Geet replied back while pulling Maan with her. As
soon as they reached a safe distance away from them Geet stopped running and
let go of Maan's hand, sure that they weren't anywhere near them. She was
hungrily panting for air and bent low, holding her knees tight and her eyes
shut tight. Maan looked at her lovingly as she stood facing side-ways from him.
He had thoroughly enjoyed her restlessness throughout the encounter with her
friends. Although she had technically never claimed her right on him, she had
hinted it through her actions. He loved the way she had possessively pulled him
away from the scene when she thought it got out of hand. Just as he was
thinking along the lines, Geet straightened up and smoothed out her clothes. She
cleared her throat and looked straignt at Maan, as though she didn't notice
anything happened. "Hum ghar chalein," she said indifferently before heading
towards their car. Maan, who was first surprised by her indifference, soon
chuckled at her response to not talk about what had happened a few moments ago.
He knew she was clearly miffed at her friends' welcoming of him but he had
liked it nonetheless. At least they had indirectly help her come closer to him.
He had no complaints against the turn of the events today, right from her
wiping of his cheeks to forcefully bringing him away from her friends. Every
instance she had unknowingly claimed her right over him. He just wished more
such events in the future took place to make her permanently and openly claim
her right over him.
Maan brought his car
out of the parking lot and Geet slid into her seat in the front beside him. He
headed home and turned towards to look at her, only to find her looking away
from him. He had expected her to say something, anything, but she sat awfully
quiet beside him. A slight panic slowly crept in his mind but he mindlessly
brushed it away before it took full shape and destroyed his hope.
Geet had seen all her friends wanting to "fall in
love" and used to always be on the lookout for men to execute their plans. They
would see a guy in the morning, fall in 'love' with him instantly, and by
evening go out with him, and finally the next day breakup with him. She had
never believed in that nonsense. For her, love between men and women, was only physical,
it could only produce pleasure and/or progeny and nothing beyond. The
non-belief in the subject of love had slowly been turning into her fear, fear
that even she may be falling for the physical aspects of it, or so she thought.
haan haan mujhe pata hai main bahut buri hoon for not giving regular updates magar kya karoon my evil brain randomly comes up with new OS ideas preventing me from updating this... but dont worry now this shall be my priority promise. ek minute did i just promise ๐ฒ๐คฃ
also i know u might find the J track as dragging but i want the readers to know who all geet now watches out for for future references๐ next update i am planning for a small 1 or two month leap to address the staying in outhouse issue. so what say guys how will maaneet convince to stay in diff rooms or will they stay in the same room back in the mansion... watch out for the next update ๐ oi teri completely forgot hit the LIKE button peeshhh๐ณ ๐