Chapter 14:

Guilt

 

Saturday morning Geet woke up because of the pain. She rubbed some balm on it and bandaged it. Working with an injured wrist seemed very difficult and she hardly managed to even make a proper cup of coffee. Just then she saw a young guy walking into BG. He wore a black trousers and a white shirt which was half open. One of his hands was bandaged by a black and white handkerchief. He had short, spiky hair and wore an earring on one ear. He spotted Geet and came towards her. After yesterdays incident she was not keen to meet this fast approaching person. She was holding the stick under the counter which she had brought from home and was going to raise it when he spoke:

"Geetu?" This voice was familiar. Only back home they had called her Geetu. But who was he?

"Geetu, main Romeo." That name didn't sound a bell but the way he lisped…

"Romesh?"

"Yaar, Romesh nahin, ab main Romeo hu." Both hugged a friendly hug. 

"Tum yaha kaise aaye? Pata hain main HP chorne ke baad tumhare ghar aayi thi. Waha pata chala to tum shift hogaye."

"Haan wo sorry. Kya hain na, mummy papa Delhi aagaye or unhone wo ghar rent pe dediya. Lekin tu Delhi main kaise Geetu?

Geet told him all about what had happened after he had left. Romeo was happy that his friend had moved out. He was amazed that Geet had learned cooking professionally. He always used to sneak into Geet's kitchen so her mother could give him something to eat. Not that he did not get enough at home, but Geet's mother had magic in her hands and as he saw yesterday Geet had that, too.

"Romeo, how did you find me?"

"I was at the food festival yesterday. I hear some women talk about you and then the called you Geet. At first I thought you may be some other Geet but when I tasked the food I was convinced it was you. So I asked around and found you."

"And what are you doing? I mean you must be finished with college, na."

"Haan, I wanted to enjoy life a little bit but my parents said I should start working." He pouted. "They don't mind where I work and how much I earn, as long as I work."

Geet thought about how to help him out. Then she said: "Suno Romeo ek idea hain jisse tumhari bhi aur meri bhi problem solve ho sakti hain. I need someone to help me out because my left wrist is injured. In turn I will pay you a salary of say, half of the day's income." Romeo was happy. He could spend time with his friend and work with her at the same time. He negotiated with the salary as he thought it was too high and Geet had nothing else whereas he had parents to take care of him in any case.

The first calls started to arrive and people ordered coffee and breakfast. Romeo was a good help. He delivered orders into the entire building and took care of the dishes while Geet cooked.

 

Maan had entered his cabin and took out the menu card from his pocket. He waned to see Geet and breakfast was a good excuse. He looked at what all Geet had to offer. It was quite a lot considering the fact that she worked there alone. He looked for continental breakfast and found something he liked. He called Tasha and ordered his breakfast. Ten minutes last there was a knock on his door.

"Come in Geet" he said with a smile. But instead Romeo came in. He had put on an apron which read Bistro Geet and carried tray with the mug and plate.

"Good morning sir, here is your breakfast. Anything else?"

"Who are you?" Maan asked perplexed.

"Oh I'm Romeo, Geet's new assistant. I am currently helping her out."

He left and Maan got up at once.

"What problem does Geet have? Just yesterday I told her not to simply trust people and there she comes today with a new assistant, that too some flirt type looking guy." He called the reception and asked Pinky to send Geet to his cabin immediately. Five minutes later Geet came in. She had both hands behind her back. Maan grabbed her by her shoulder and shoved her onto the couch.

"Tumhe meri baat samaj mein nahin aati kya? Kal hi tumhe bola tha ke aise kisis pe wishwaas nahin karna chahije aur tum?"

Geet didn't understand a word.

"Sir, who are you talking about?"

"Romeo." Geet laughed. Maan grabbed her wrist and pulled her closer. Geet screamed. He had unknowingly grabbed her bandaged wrist and he let go instantly. He saw the bandage and asked:

"Geet, kya hua tumhari kalahai ko?" Geet didn't say anything but just got up.

"Geet, maine tumse kuch poocha hain."

"Sir, woh aap hi ne kal meri kalahi…." Maan remembered the dance when Geet had cried out and the time in the car when she had said it pained. She had meant her wrist all along.

"Pehle kyun kuch nahin kaha?" He opened the bandage ignoring Geet's protest and was shocked at the sight. The entire wrist was blue violet brown. He called Adi and said to cancel his appointments till lunch.

"Chalo Geet. I'll take you to the hospital. This needs to be properly looked after."

Geet followed him, the pain killers she had taken were not working well and she couldn't work like this either. The doctor plastered her arm till the elbow. A simple bandage would not help here anymore. He also gave her a prescription for some painkillers which Maan bought before returning.

 

"Geet, you can't work like this, take the day off."

"No, sir. Romeo just started today and he doesn't even know the c of cooking. Waise, I promised him salary from the profit we will make today." She said quickly.

Maan didn't say anything and Geet continued:

"Sir, I know Romesh since my childhood, we have been very good friends since. The house Meera and I stayed in when we were in Mumbai belongs to his parents only. I just needed help so I asked him to stay."

Maan sighed, so it was this simple. They were friends and that too from childhood. He remembered to have read about Romesh in Geet's scrapbook, too.

He gave Geet a quick glace and said:

"Ok, if you want him to help you then fine, but he will be a KC employee and take salary from ME. More over I will get someone else to work with you as well since one of your arms is plastered and it needs rest. Samji?"

Geet nodded. "Lekin sir I want to interview the person, after all he will work with me."

"HE?"

"I mean jo bhi ho."

"Hmm."

 

They reached KC, Maan ordered Adi to find Geet a help and went back to work.

Geet was happy to get a help. She couldn't do most of the work and Romeo was still very much dependent on Geet's guidance. After Geet reached home Meera wasn't there as she, too, had to attend the launch party. She wondered how she will cook when there was a knock on the door. Maan sir's driver stood in front of her and handed her a food parcel. Geet thanked him and opened the bag.

It had a note to it:

 

Geet, this is food for you as I know Meera will be at the launch party and you won't be able to cook properly. Eat it all up. Maan sir.

 

The sir had been crossed out.

'Babaji, yeh Maan sir mujhe na bilkul samaj mein nahin aate. Pehle meri kalahi tordi, phir hospital leke gaye, Romeo ko KC ka employee banadiya aur phir meri help ke liye kissi ko dhoond rahe hai, aur ab yeh khaana bhi. Parr, sorry nahin bola.'

Geet opened the parcels and found home made food. It looked tasty. Without wasting a minute she started eating. Even though she cooked very well she appreciated food as it came to her plate. Her mother had always told

her never to expect from someone what you might be able to offer them.

She wanted to thank Maan sir but tomorrow was Sunday and she didn't have Dadi's number either. So she had to wait till Monday.

 

Mean while at the launch party, Meera, Pinky and Adi were enjoying themselves. Tasha had been running away from one of Mr Chopra's associates who kept asking her for a dance and Sasha had a disaster when one of her heels broke while dancing. Maan on the other hand thought of Geet. Guilt was eating him up since he saw her wrist. Instead of shouting wild accusations at him for mistreating her, she had kept quiet and only spoke up when he had insisted. He didn't understand her. What was she made of?

There was one person amongst them that was an uninvited guest. Dressed according to the theme and with a drink in his hand he looked liked an ordinary guest. But he was only interested in a few people whom he observed for some time before leaving unnoticed. 

 

Somewhere in Canada a car broke down. Dev cursed his bad luck and looked at his wife Naintara who gave him an I-told-you-so look. Both had to attend a business meeting but Naintara had insisted to postpone it since their car was behaving weirdly for the last couple of days. Now they were stuck in the middle of nowhere.

"Do something Dev. You were the one insisting we should go today itself instead of waiting for a couple of days."

"Naintara don't start again. I told you we are running out of time. According to our plan this deal needs to be signed before the date other wise all our planning will go down the drain."

Naintara sighed. She knew Dev was right. They had worked so hard for this and even if they were stuck now, they should be happy that everything was going according to their wishes.

"Call home and ask them to send another car."

"Can't, no body is home, remember! Your mother took Nisha to your maika." Both sighed. But after all they had gone through a broken car seemed like a very little problem only.

 

Back at the launch party, Maan was ordering a cocktail. He sipped it and found the taste horrible. He enquired as to what drink it was and couldn't believe that it was his favourite. 'It seems like Geet's cocktails have changed my taste buds. Nothing tastes anymore.' He gulped it down nevertheless and looked at the dance floor. He remembered his dance with Geet and again felt bad. Sasha had just broken a heel while dancing with someone. He chuckled. He used to have so much fun in parties. Dancing with friends and joking with people. So much had changed after Samira. He didn't feel like letting anyone close to him but now there was Geet.

He had always been proud of him being MAAN SINGH KHURANA. He attracted girls like a magnet but the one that he wanted seemed to go further away the closer he got to her. He had to think. They had to find a common ground; some reason he could have her around. Then it struck him. He smiled and the more he thought about it the wider his smile grew. He felt like being on cloud nine. He made his way towards Meera and pulled her onto the dance floor. Meera was shocked but didn't protest.

"Listen Meera, I need to know something." He talked to Meera who didn't understand why MK was asking her all this. He could find out Monday morning by himself. Then he said something to her that made her smile. She got it. MK was a genius. Mission Geet was on.

~~~~~~~

Here I introduced more characters:

Dev and Naintara (imagine abhinav shukla and the naintara from the show)

Nisha, their daughter

Samira

-> I will tell more about them later on. Just enjoy them as they are in the story.