~CONTACT~THREAD 2//ch-23-A/Updated pg-75(26/8/11) - Page 18

               CHAPTER-17 (LONG INTO THE NIGHT)

"Geeett'.are you ok?"

"I need the day off------I have some urgent personal business to attend to."

" o' k..", Maan said slowly and the man who had never let up on his employees before that time, never gave any unprecedented leave to anyone just stood  and eyed her as she huffed and marched out.

Geet hated herself for being so restless. She wanted to be with Maan and she hated the fact that he was doing exactly as she had asked him to do, he was maintaining a distance from her, and it was effecting them in such a way that they weren't even talking freely as they had before, a layer of forced consciousness has settled in between them. She was so angry on herself, on Maan and on the world in general and NOW Dips was angry on her as she had been on the receiving end of Geet's mood swings.

"aaahhh!!!" Geet stomped her foot and went to pacify Dips who had moved away from her to sit in a separate table at the food court that they had decided to have their lunch.

"Dips, you r my sweetheart----my sweet sweet cuddly poohbear!!!" she hugged Dips from the side.

After a lot more maska and 2 big scoops of icecream, Dips let her off the hook----

"Hey! Keep that phone down, Geet--- no more calls".Dips said as soon as she saw Geet take out her cell and start dialing------

"Just this one call Dips, then I promise I will not touch my phone, please?"

Maan eyed the phone, he felt as if it had gotten slightly bigger in proportion since the last time he had glanced at it, which was 5 minutes back. He stretched out his hand and then took it back. He really didn't need to call her. The information that he wanted could be easily obtained from Adi or Sasha.

It took all about 15 minutes more for his resolve to crumble and then he dialed the number which till then he had not even called and yet knew by heart. Just as he finished dialing, Adi knocked and entered and almost as if guilty of doing something he shouldn't be doing, he hastily and abruptly cut the call.

"Yes Adi?"

"Sir, Geet had given me this file, it contains all the draft drawings that she and Sasha had chalked up."

It was as if even from the distance, she knew when he needed anything. He was about to call her for this very file. It was by four in the evening that Maan caved in and decided to call her to ask about some non-existent client reasoning with himself that it was just becoz she had left in a very disturbed frame of mind and that he should know what was the reason and that he would have done so for anyone else of his employees.

He  dialed Geet's cell number.

The disappointment that he felt as he slowly kept the receiver down was so much that he closed his eyes and reclined back on his chair. And then he felt disgusted on himself-------

"Thank God her cell is switched off, I  never stopped to think what I would have said if she told me she knew there is no such client, Maan Singh Khurana never does such things, get a grip Maan or you will become a laughing stock, get back to work." And so saying he called up Adi for the latest accounts file and started working.

Dips had insisted and then switched off her mobile. So, by the time Geet switched on her cell it was already 10pm . as soon as she switched it on her missed call alert showed of all the 8 or so callers who had called her in the whole day, but the number that her eyes honed on to------that one number which she had stored under the name AB-------

She pressed the details and saw that the call had come by four in the afternoon.

"He called me------------." The wondrous feeling that filled her being was such that she felt a tingle in each and every pore of her body. Her heart soared like a bird spreading its wings to fly.

"He called me----------." She did a full twirl on the spot.

"Dips-------D'i---p---s----D---i---p's--------."

"WHAT? Where is the fire?" Dips came rushing in.

Geet took hold of her and started waltzing with her.

"O---K--., I accept your proposal, when do we marry?" Dips asked with a straight face.

"He called me---------for the first time-----he called me-----." She realesed Dips and started a slow dance all around the room.

"Huh! I don't know."

"Didn't you just say he called you?"

"Nop'no'no, he called me around four, but my cell was switched off, thanks to you, and now I switched it on and there it was AB called at 4.10pm"

"So, don't you want to know what he wanted or why he had called you?"

Geet stiopped her dance.

"Yeah, I have no idea why he called me," and she covered her mouth with her finger-tips and gave a giggle.-------

"Iam being stupid!!!!"

"Yeah," Dips nodded her head, "You have absolutely no idea why he had called you and you are being so happy and dancing-------, so you have my permission, you can call yourself stupid."

"But Dips stupidity feels so good!" Geet gave her a big smile.

"See I can't stop myself, this smile hastened itself on my face."

"So go on, call him back, ask him why he had called you?"

Now?"

"Yeah, what's wrong with now? Won't you have called this Adi, if you would have seen a missed call from him? So, call your AB."

Geet dialed Maan's number and then cut the call, she did it 2 more times and then on the fourth time she kept the cell to her ear and listened to the peals as it rang on the other end. The call went unanswered.

Maan had gone to a business meeting over a dinner organized by a prospective client. He wanted that deal very badly as it would be a star in the list of his achievements. While in the  meeting he had kept his mobile in the silent mode so as not to be disturbed. He came back from his meeting elated with the way that the discussion had progressed and then after he came out of his shower he remembered that he had kept his cell on the silent mode. So, as soon as he took it in his hands he saw there were quite a few calls which he hadn't answered and among all those was Geet too who had called him at 10.15pm and without stopping to think he dialed her number.

"um----Ulo!" a very sleepy Geet answered.

Maan looked at the watch kept on the night stand beside his bed, it was half past 12am and he cursed himself.

"Iam sorry Geet, I didn't see the time-----we will talk tomorrow-----."

"Maan Sir? NO'N'no, iam awake-----iam awake."

His eyes sprang open, he was already aroused with just that image of her----

"aah Geet why did u call, I only just saw the missed call from you."

"aammmhh!! But sir woh, I switched on my cell around 10 and then I saw that you had called me, so I wanted to know why you had called me------so I gave you a call------."

Maan gulped the way she almost purred at the start trying to remember dragging through the drudges of her sleepy mind and another set of images of her flashed in his mind, here on his bed, sensuous and fluid like satin of passion, purring up to him, looking through her half closed, drugging eyes.

Maan gave himself a mental shake.

"Its o.k., I just needed a file and Adi gave it to me."

"O.k."

Both held on to their cells, reluctant to let go and unsure how to continue.

"What is it that you are playing?"

"Oh! That is Kenny G's 'Soul', Instrumental, have you heard him, he plays the best Saxophone ever."

"No, I haven't heard him, I love to hear 'Ravi Shankar's Sitar. So if you were sleeping why is it still playing?"

"Actually Maan sir, I have a habit of playing something or other while going to sleep, gives me a good night's sleep----actually when I was small and used to get scared of the dark, my Ma used to put some song on for me to listen to and that way I wasn't afraid to sleep alone----so, I guess I still have the habit."

"So, are you still afraid of the dark?"

"Yeah, at times, I have another bad habit-------" and she stopped, getting conscious of what she had been about to say.

"Yes? What is it?"

"Iam boring you with these sir-----."

"No tell me what is it?'

"You will laugh at me  Maan Sir."

"No, I won't, and don't you think you can call me Maan now where noone is listening---after all you are about to tell me one of your secrets!!"

"see you are laughing and I haven't yet told you what I do."

"No, iam not laughing, so tell what do you do?"

"Actually I still am afraid to sleep in complete dark and I have to put on some sort of lamp on so there shouldn't be complete darkness and one day it so happened that my night lamp went out and at that time of night Uncle couldn't go to bring another lamp, so I stocked up on torch batteries taking them from every remote or battery operated device, and all night long whenever I opened my eyes, I changed the batteries so that I won't go without some light."

Maan struggled not to laugh, "Humm!!! Did you sleep at all that night?"

"I did---by bits, but from then on I have an extra pair of night lamp bulbs always stocked up."

"Supposedly there is a major power cut which goes on for more than 2 to 3 days, then what will you do?"

"I will constantly talk to my Ma then! Simple!"

And they both laughed.

They talked on and both fell asleep cradling the phone to their ears.

 It was almost 10am when Geet came down the stairs from the first floor of the office and saw Maan standing and talking with Sasha and Adi. He had to go to a site that morning and so had just then come in the office. And as soon as Geet's feet touched the floor, Maan turned, they both stared at each other over the distance. There was some 30 feet separating them, the air was full of sounds of the office employees, copiers, fax machines, computers, people talking and yet Geet felt the quick chill of awareness race up her spine. The night lay between them, just conversation, but yet it brought froth an intimateness which wasn't there before. A subtle shift in their outlook, a subtle shift in their relationship. They had kissed, but these weeks of restraint, of self denial, exerted by both and the conversation the night before had opened up some door which was reflected in both their eyes. Both could feel the change. There was and longing in their eyes as they stood gazing at each other from two ends of a roomful of people, both oblivious to everyone else.

But people did notice. Adi was happy and hopeful that his Maan Sir has found his happiness, Pinky, a romantic at heart, sighed with a dreamy expression looking at them and Sasha seethed with jealousy.

That day the KC staff had to chalk up a very quick set of drawings to show the clients with whom MSK had had his dinner the night before as they had to go there and present it before them. Everyone was busy and rushing about. Both Maan and Geet didn't get to be in the same room even let alone  see each other over the afternoon. At exactly 5pm he clients came and the KC staff presented before them their presentation. It was a flawless one and by the time it finished the clients were pretty impressed and the whole KC was in high spirits. Geet was the star of the event as she had again captured the essence of what the client wanted from the outline that MSK had provided his staff and had made the deal clincher when she had suggested that they extend their portico to make it into a pergola, it was THAT which had sealed the deal and everyone knew it. Sasha had seen red when the client singled out Geet for their praise.

Geet was flying with her success , flushed with the praises and she was almost skipping her way towards the ground floor, talking two to dozen.

"Maan sir did you see how Mr. Muguel was going on about that rooftop, he was so surprised to know that I had designed that pergola, did you hear how he was telling his team that I have the potential ton outrun them?"

Her laughter was infectious, her happiness was contagious-----Maan felt his heart spring along with the sparkle in her eyes.

"I don't think, they agreed,"  she frowned remembering how the team under discussion had scowled at her-----------

"Idiots" Maan leaned towards her.

Maan lost his ability to reason, lost all sense of what was right and good and proper. He knew only what was necessary, and it was suddenly very necessary to kiss her.

She could almost taste the tension in the air and retorted to levity----

"No way sir, they were not idiots, actually they are of very high------."