Chapter 88

It was consistent vibration of maan's phone which made him wake up.

He stumbled over the newspaper which had been slipped from below the door. He lifted the paper before reaching his phone.

It was adi's cracked voice.

Adi y the hell r u calling me so early and that too so many times.

Sirrr. Wo paper'

Kya hai adi?

Sir morning daily' did u see it?

Yes I have it? Y r u behaving like a bomb blast.

It is. Sir aap paper dekhiye fir mujhe kya karna hai bataiye. I have taken the total info about this newspaper and who the writer is. Sir isme geet ne kuch nahi kiya hoga sir. Dnt blame her. office mein rumor rum kar raha hai geet has done this too insult u. but sir she will never do this.

Adi stop ur nonsense. Geet is with me.

Sir she will go mad..

Adi''.. mad about what.

Sir aap paper dekhiye... nahi mat dekhiye'.

Adi do u want to goto asylum.

Sir I will wait for ur instruction till u read the paper.

Maan cut the phone and opened the paper.

Geet opened one eye and asked.

Kya hua adi ko subh subh daat rahe ho? Fir hitler ban gaye aap.

Maan was dumbstruck seeing the article on him. they talked about affair of him with geet and there were some awful photos. The paper promised that the news was no gossip but had authentic proofs and many photos which wud be printed in coming issues. Maan looked at the photo it was bad..actually worse.

He closed his eyes and crushed the paper.

Realisation dawned on geet. she had completely forgotten the phone. Last evening hse had to deliver the money. She had been on cloud nine after seeing maan that she forgot all about it.

So they print ed it. She whispered.

Its nothing. Just a stupid article he said to cheer her up.

But when he looked at her. her face had lost all color and she sat like a rag doll on the bed.

They printed it. Tears rolled down.

Geet. he rushed to her. he didn't want her to take tension in such condition.

Geet its nothing.

Its all my fault. Unko kal paise dene the.

Kise? Stop crying.

She told him how someone had been blackmailing her with their photos to be printed. She showed him the letters and photos.

Someone has sneaked into our house and taken these photos when we went for lunch. And these are andaman pics from yash's camera. I had these in my lappy. My lappy had some software problem and went for' ok sasha took it to be taken care off.

Sasha is gonna pay big time. I will make sure to ruin her career. She will never work for anyone. Noone is gonna hire her. how dare she'

She has made u cry a little too much. Now I wont let a tear drop from ur eyes. I will set everything straight just trust me.

Hhmm.. it will be all right. U r not angry on me?

Its just not ur fault. He kissed her on forehead and wrapped his arm around her to make her sit.

Maan made calls to adi and dev and instructed them for what had to be done.

Geet sat silently in one corner waiting for maan to complete his arrangements.

~.~.~

Adi and Dev had arranged for a press meet one of the finest hotels. The media persons were led to the dining area before going to the banquet hall where the arrangments for press meet was being set. It was just 11 in the morning and yash and nuts were busy in the banquet hall as Adi and Dev handled the media in dinning area. Basic reason was to get time to arrange as per maan's instruction. Maan had wnted an early meet as the more time media wud get the more gossip will run. He wanted to be the first to speak over the issue. By calling for a meet on his own he saved daadi from the ordeal of answering the press.

As the media personal entered the hall they were shocked. Absence of Maan Singh Khurana was already calling suspicion and then they were treated too well with a multicuisine brunch. All this treatment gave them the impression that maan will deny any connection with the girl and ask them not to publish such rumors. However on entering the hall all prejudice was shattered and each person gaped at the photos. Maan had asked for postersize photos of him with geet to be placed all over the hall. But none of them showed them to be married. He had saved those photo as slide show on projector once he wud gesture Adi to do so.

( photos of andaman, their honeymoon, and other homely photos of the two )

Maan entered and sat on the dias as the media silenced to hear from him. geet was still not there with him.

Reporter ' sir will u quote about her abortion?

Reporter - Sir are u announcing that u have an affair with geet?

Affair? Ok can I ask u some questions' if u dnt mind.

R ' me ?

Yeah just a few. Then I will answer all the questions u want..

R ' ok.

So ur name? The person behind u is the photographer at ur newspaper? And u work together..

Im shweta. Yes, we r partners' we go together for such meets.

So u know each other well.

Yeah partners for quite sometime.

Then do u know how long he has been married?

Ahh 7 yrs. 2 kids.

And u.. do u know when is shweta's marriage anniversary?

No. I dnt remember. The photographer answered with a shrug.

I believe its in december.

How many years?

3. no 4.

R ' 5yrs.

Maan smirked.

Do u know how her husband proposed her?

No.

Sir we r not so free. She is shy types. U knw some r hesitant sharing personal lives.

Kids?

No.

Still can u tell me y no kids? Do they have some problem?

R ' u r getting personal'

Maan raised his eyebrow'..

Its like crossing the line. U r hitting my privacy.

Hitting ur privacy? Right.. that's what is bugging u. ur collegue for years doesn't know ur personal details and u want me to publish my smallest detail on news channel. Its no gossip madam. U dnt like talking kids infront of so many people and one person sneaks into my home' my bedroom takes objectionable photos of me with my wife and publishes it for public. Ur private life shudnt be discussed and my conjugal life and most intimate moments with my wife is public property.

R2 ' excuse me did u say wife? Is geet ur wife?

Yes. Geet me is my lawfully wedded wife. He signalled adi and the lights were dimmed and slide show of their wedding photos and other started.

( wedding ones, car in which geet was sleeping in his arms, function ones including karvachauth and some family photos with daadi, dev and NT)

U can continue asking questions. Im ready to answer if they r decent enuf to be.

When did u get married? Today morning? To get rid of the gossip.

3yrs ago. U can see the copy of marriage registration done at her maternal place.

There was abuzz amongst the crowd. This was very unexpected for them.

U people have done half ur homework' dnt u all enquire details about us..

We r married.

Happily married. A voice added to his and everyone turned to look back at the holder of the voice. It was none other than geet. maan had signalled dev to bring her in. she had been waiting for maan's que to come in. he didn't want geet to be jammed with questions from begginning to make her feel awkward. Becoz media wud have attacked her first knowing she is not used to this and wud fumble. They had nothing to hide but he didn't want geet to be put in a spot.

Im sorry for being late. Geet approached the dias and maan took her hand and made her sit on the chair next to his.

They both held their hands a little longer..beamed a smile at each other and then sat facing the crowd for questions.

Sir y didn't u announce ur marriage earlier?

Never felt the need for? She is my wife we know that our families and concerned persons know.. y do I need to publish it. None of u ever asked if im married. I never denied my marital status. Just like a friend of urs doesn't like talking her personal life publicly I didn't. whats wrong in that' he said pointing towards shweta.

Miss geet didn't u felt the need for others to know when girls come after ur husband.

It is Mrs geet Singh khurana. No we trust each other. I know no girl can take my place in his life. Geet chuckled then and u know its very satisfying to know that u have a husband over whom girls drool and dream. She laughed and leaned into maan's arms. its pleasure to know he is mine.

But ur backstage existence?

I wanted it too.. I had my own life' studies etc and I didn't want it to be a talk of town. But todaywhen u have made a new angle to us we had to come forward.

We have info that u r pregnant?

Yes we r expecting a baby and we r very happy about it. Maan held geet by her shoulder. the reporters can see the shine of internal happiness showing on both their faces.

There were many questions about their lives which they answered well.

As they walked out of the hall adi informed maan.

Sir that reporter which did the article on u has been fired. There will be an apology printed by her in tommorow's newspaper. We did as u told for sasha. It has been made sure she can never work in any other company else she wants to be a typist.

They headed straight for Khurana Mansion where daadi had planned a traditional grih pravesh for them which theyu had missed on their wedding day. It was indeed their real Grihpravesh.

They lived happily everafter''..

note below.. pls read.