Yash was bursting with anger at the detective agency who he had hired to locate Geet. Much to his dismay it had been more than 12 hours since he assigned them the job of finding his sister yet there was no progress whatsoever. It had been a whole 21 hours since the last time he saw his baby sister. He was growing restless, marching up and down the hallway as he blasted at the detective talking over phone with him.
He threw his phone onto the ground as he shut the door of his bed room behind him. He sat there on his bed as he looked at the letter he'd found in Geet's room this morning when he went to give her, her post birthday gift. Yes... he gives her pre birthday, birthday and post birthday gifts. Insane isn't it but he's been doing this since her 5th birthday. In fact for that matter there hasn't been a single month in the past 16 years when he hadn't gifted Geet something or the other.
So like every year he went to her room that morning but only to find it empty this time. He thought she must be up early, but as he was about to leave something caught his attention. It was a pink envelope carefully kept under the perfume on the dressing table. He walked over to where the envelope was kept, slowly lifted it and once he read it-- he got the shock of his life. Geet had run away.
Veerji,
I'm going but I will come back in 20 days before grandpa gets back from his 'teerth yatra'. I just need this one chance to live my life. if I will ask you, you will not permit me to go so I am sneaking out. please forgive me and don't worry about me. I will miss you.
I love you
Your princess.
"princess where you are... please come back" A tear escaped his eyes and made its way down his cheek.
He walked over to the side drawer, opened it and as he stared at its contents tears streamed down his face. He saw all those things that Geet had given him. he lifted a card, it was the very first gift presented by Geet to him. she was 2 then. She'd just learned to write when she made that for him. he ran his hand over it as he remembered just much his sister loved him. It had a caricature depicting a boy holding the hands of a young a girl. Under it was written "bst vigi in wold". A smile dawned his face as he chuckled remembering her pronunciation of these words when he'd asked her to read it for him. she pronounced it just like she'd written it. He remembered taking her in his arms after she gave him the card; he remembered how he kissed her cheek in gratitude. He remembered how she wiped it away; she hated wet kisses, still does. He remembered how he kissed her repeatedly until she stopped wiping away his kisses.
Then he saw a hand-made bracelet. She was 4 when she made that for him. she had wasted 10 erasers for it. She'd cut the erasers in tiny rectangles and sewn the pieces together. Each piece had a letter written over it with sketch pen. As an integrated whole, together it read like this "love you viju". As he read Viju he was instantly reminded of the significance behind that word. She was one year four months eight days and three hours old then, yes he counted the hours as well; it was her very first word. Generally the first word a child speaks is either ma or pa but her first word was Viju. It meant a lot to him that the first thing his baby sister spoke was addressed to him; it was for him and about him. he was overwhelmed with love for his princess that day. he wore it around his wrist as a tear rolled down his cheeks.
He closed the drawer as he could no longer look at those things for the fear of breaking down. He got up from the bed as he looked at the side wall where he'd hung all the paintings Geet had made for him. he looked at her very first painting, she was 12 when she'd painted it; it was an acrylic painting. She'd drawn a scene on the beach. It was simply serene: setting sun, red horizon, a few blackish clouds, deep blue sea and a dark shadow of two children a girl and a boy holding hands looking at the wide horizon. He knew it was him holding Geet's hand. Then he glanced at one of his favourites, it was rather art at its best, a girl dressed in Indian with her veil covering her eyes and only exposing her face below the nose, she was sitting in a meadow with sitar in her hands. Geet could do wonders with a brush. Then after staring at all the other painting that adorned the walls of his room, each of them made by Geet he left his room.
That night he slept in her room, he needed to feel her presence around him.
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The day Geet arrived in Delhi though exhausted she was in no mood to waste a single minute of her vacation. She changed into a pair of white T-shirt and grey jeans with sneakers covering her feet. Once dressed, she left the flat and headed to red fort. She'd always wanted to go there. she spent the next few hours roaming around Delhi after which she went to a restaurant ate her dinner and went back to the flat. She had a lot of places to explore in two days to follow for which she was going to be in Delhi. Her next destination after Delhi would be Agra followed by Jaipur than Shimla and last Goa. She had everything planned.
She opened her purse, slipped her fingers inside it and took out a piece of paper. It was her check list...
Red fort... check
Lotus temple... check
Lodi gardens... check
Jama masjid... check
Akshardham temple... check
Now only India gate, humayun's tomb and shopping malls were left to be explored. Once the rechecking of her schedule for the next 2 days that she would be in Delhi was done, she crashed on her bed. she was so lost relishing her freedom that she forgot to switch on her cell that she'd switched off before going for sightseeing.
Throughout the day Pari called Geet's number numerous times but to her bad luck it was switched off. Pari was regretting letting Geet go alone, big time. But how was she supposed to know Geet would behave so irresponsibly. After one last futile try to contact Geet, Pari hit bed reluctantly.
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The next day Pari decided to check on Yash so she went to the Handa mansion. The scene at the mansion was much worse than she and Geet had imagined it to be. She knew Yash would be upset but his condition did not qualify as merely being upset rather he was wretched inside out. As she entered the mansion she saw a worried Yash sitting on the couch with his hands on his head. He had his eyes closed and hence did not see Pari come in. she did not have it in her to face him, so she quietly left without making her presence obvious.
Meanwhile Geet, who was completely oblivious to her brother's misery, was getting ready for yet another adventurous day. She wore a simple churidar suit, with little makeup on her face just eye liner and lip gloss. She was dressed rather simply, anyway she looked beautiful.
On the contrary, Maan who was sitting in his study cursed himself for promising Annie he would do whatever she asked from him in order to get her forgiveness for ditching her at the airport. it was a grave mistake. Now he was left with no option but to go shopping with Annie that too for her shopping; for heaven's sake he had to shop for a girl, the thought was almost revolting. He was a man of his word; there was no way in the world that he would back out of his promise. Though Maan had gifted Annie numerous gifts but he never bothered to get any of them by himself. he would simply call the mall, and ask them to deliver their best commodities be it clothing or accessories at his office.
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"Annie how much more time"
"bro just 1 more minute"
"your 1 minute seems to extent to eternity. I can't wait here all my life, you see, I have more productive work to be done. What the hell are you doing in there---sleeping" Maan yelled in frustration. His dear sister had been in the changing room for more than 15 minutes now and he was left waiting for her to come out. And when finally she decided to step out of the changing room, she paid no heed to a fuming Maan standing outside it waiting for her as she walked past him and kept the dresses back at the counter. Apparently the princess did not like any of the dresses she tried. Maan frowned at her and his bad luck. This girl had practically tried more than 25 dresses, dragging him along with her to over 10 shops and yet she seems to like none of them. She was testing his patience big time.
On the other hand, Geet was enjoying every single moment of her time in Delhi. Coincidently, she was in the same mall as Annie and Maan, though in different departments. She was looking for something in archive corner as a present for her veju. She wanted to gift him something very special as a token of appreciation for all that he had done for her. she found just the apt gifts but the problem was she was confused as to which one to choose among the two. First one of them was a partially transparent azure crystal angel with "I sought my soul, but my soul I could not see. I sought my God, but my God eluded me. I sought my brother and I found all three." carved on it. The other one was a simple wooden art piece with a young girl sitting on a big boy's lap kissing him on the cheek holding a card in her hands which read "There's no other love like a love for a brother and there's no other love like a love from a brother... bro you are the best". After pondering over it for a long time she decided to take the wooden art piece. Then after getting it packed, she quickly chooses something for Meera, Pari and Arjun. She wanted to take something for her grandfather but decided against it as she knew Yash will not tell him about her stunt of running away. Not that she wanted him to tell grandpa anything. She would be back before he returned from his trip and he was never to know any of it. She'd make sure of that. After some three hours of shopping she decided it was enough. Shopping was not as easy as she assumed it to be, it was indeed tiresome.
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Geet was on her way out of the mall when she heard a loud scream. She instantly turned around to figure out the source of the scream and the sight in front her, enraged her to no end. She seldom lost her cool but when it came to manhandling of women, she was not in her own control. Though she had never witnessed any such incident but she had read about stuff like that and also watched quite a few documentaries on the topic. And whenever she would either read or watch women being mistreated it irked her to no end.
A well built man was dragging a girl some 19 years old forcibly out of a shop. The girl was shouting for him to leave her hand but the man took no notice of it and kept pulling her out with him. Geet could not stand the sight in front of her and she did what her mind asked her to'she ran towards the indifferent, inhuman, insufferable jerk and pulled the girl's hand out of his grip. He looked at her dumbfounded. And before he knew it something soft yet hard hit his cheek.
Geet slapped him with all her might; her slap was so hard that for a moment she could not believe she could possess that much strength in her.
The girl was about say something when Geet cut her'"you don't need to worry. I will not let him hurt to you"
With that said Geet turned to face the unfeeling man who looked at her with sheer dislike "who do you think you are some prince or something that you can treat people the way you please. Jerks like you should be dumped in a gutter coz that is where you belong. What do think... you can handle a girl the way you like and no one will question you. let me tell you something, you are miserably mistaken. If you have an edge over women physically doesn't mean you can use it to your advantage any time"
The man opened his mouth to speak but he was silenced by yet another strike at his cheek. His hands automatically went up to his swollen and red cheek and as he realised he had been slapped by a women not once but twice he burned in anger. When he was ready to blast at the stupid women in front him he was slapped once again "don't you dare say anything or else I will not hesitate to slap you all over again"
"how dare you... do you know who you are talking with" he yelled at Geet.
"yes... I am talking with a rich spoilt brat of a man who doesn't know the 'E' of etiquette" she retorted.
"that comes from a woman who goes about yelling and slapping random strangers in a mall" he snapped back.
"you are the one who was dragging a poor girl ruthlessly just coz she is defenceless against your so called physical strength" Geet barked at him.
Anvesha who was enjoying the rare sight of Maan Singh Khurana being told off by a mere girl, felt it was a bit over the top now and it was time for her to clear the other girls lovely misunderstanding "um... he is my brother... he was just trying to take me home... forcibly... coz I wanted to shop for some time more... " Annie said sluggishly.
Though Annie could have stopped this showdown way earlier she did not want to. After all how many times do you get to witness Maan Singh Khurana being cornered and after ditching her at the airport he so deserved it. The sole reason she asked him to take her shopping was because she was well aware this would irk him and she wanted her revenge. She purposely rejected all the dresses and accessories though she really liked some of them but she knew better than that . She could have bought them later as at that moment the only thing playing in her mind was'how to annoy her dear bro. This was the reason she started screaming in the first place when he held her hand to get her out of the shop. Her screams made Maan way more agitated as he dragged her behind him. and when some random girl slapped Maan she was about to correct her but thought the better of it "some free entertainment won't hurt" and enjoyed Maan's plight.
Geet closed her eyes as she bit her lower lip after hearing what the girl had to say "oops"
Maan looked at her sudden change of expressions and his anger multiplied two fold. How dare a mere girl slap him, him 'THE Maan Singh Khurana? Who the hell does she think she is? He will surely give her a piece of his brain he thought.
Geet looked up only to meet his piercing gaze, he looked at her with such fury that she felt she would burn under his gaze. If only looks could burn you to death.
She mustered all her courage to speak.
"I'm sorry" she said in almost inaudible whisper.
"what the hell do you think of yourself" Maan snarled at her.
"I said I'm sorry" she was taken aback with his cold response.
"like I care. You would fall at my knees and plead sorry even then I give wouldn't give a damn" he shouted.
"look Mr Anger-On-My-Nose, it was you who dragged your sister in a mall and it is solely your fault that I mistook it as manhandling of a girl which as a matter of fact you were. So technically you should be the one apologising for your indecent act but instead it is me doing what you should have done and even after that you here have the audacity to yell at me where actually you should be appreciating my decency of saying sorry to an inhuman, unfeeling, beyond the pale jerk that you are" Geet retorted.
With that said Geet picked up her shopping bags that she'd dropped in an attempt to pull the girl out of this man's grip and exited the mall.
Maan stood there affronted trying to figure out what had just happened and that was when he heard a loud sound of laughter. He turned to his left to come face to face with a delightfully amused Annie holding her stomach and trying hard to suppress her laughter. He shot her a deadly glare as if warning her to shut up otherwise he would eat her up all raw. Annie continued laughing and as her laughter became louder it enraged an already angry Maan to no end.
Unable to hold back his anger he blurted out "what's so funny"
Annie stopped laughing momentarily but as she looked at his face she started laughing even harder. Agitated, Maan left the spot and went to where his car was parked.
Annie at once did not follow him as she had better job to be done or rather she had a plan to make. When she saw that girl stand up to Maan she knew she is the one. A wicked plan seeded in her brain as she realised she had finally found her sister-in-law. She decided she would find the girl and no matter what she will hook her up with her brother. But before that she needed to tell Vicky, her childhood partner in crime about the lovely incident.
Just as Annie was about to follow Maan something caught her eye--- it was a charm bracelet. She remembered seeing this that girl's hand. It probably slipped out of her wrist when she slapped Maan the second or third time. Annie bent on her knee, lifted and carefully kept it in her purse. With that done she raced towards the parking lot lest Maan would leave her alone in anger which he actually did. By the time she reached the car parking, he was nowhere to be seen nor was his car anywhere around. She took a cab, but instead of going home she went to the Khurana mansion. After all she had to tell Vicky. on her way to the mansion she carefully glanced at the bracelet and realised a name was inscribed on it--- Geet. "wow... classy name...but Geet Maan Singh Khurana sounds so much better... yep... just perfect" she murmured to herself.
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On her way back to the apartment Geet realised how very lucky she was to have a brother like Yash. After that girl's shocking revelation and witnessing how a brother could possibly treat his sister she felt fortunate for not having a brother that the unfeeling man was. She wanted to go back there and kick the man's a**. She wondered how anyone could possibly be so downright rude. There she was apologising and he was yelling at her in turn. Yes she misunderstood but she apologised. What else did he want her to do, fall at his knees and say sorry. Hell no. She developed an instant dislike for the man and wished to never see his face again. Little did she know destiny had other plans in store for them!
Once in the flat she remembered she hadn't contacted Pari since she came to Delhi. She looked for her cell in her clutch purse, took it out, switched it on and dialled Pari's number. Pari received the call in just one ring.
"where the hell have you been? Do you understand how worried I have been? How can you be so irresponsible Geet? have you any idea what I have gone through thinking something could have happened to you. I gave you a cell so I could be in contact with you and not for you to keep it switched off day and night" Pari yelled at Geet not letting Geet utter a word in between her tirade.
"I'm sorry" Geet said innocently.
"Geet... sweetheart I was so scared. Had you not given me a call tonight I was going to tell Yash veerji about our stunt" Pari said rather softly.
"thank goodness I called otherwise instead of the normal tweeting of birds I would have woken up to the angry growls of veerji" Geet chuckled not really understanding the gravity of the situation.
"Geet it's not funny... you haven't seen his condition" Pari scolded her.
"what do you mean" asked a worried Geet.
Pari told Geet all about her short visit to the mansion, she told her about the detectives and expressed her fear that maybe their plan was a mistake and she shouldn't have run away.
A never ending guilt sprouted in Geet as she heard about Yash's condition from Pari. She wanted to bang her head with the wall for giving pain to her brother, the brother whom she loved more than life itself, the brother who was her mother and father both, the brother who never let a single tear escape her eyes and here she gave him endless tears. How in the name of god was she to ever forgive herself. She was ashamed at her act of running away. Pari was right; they had made a huge mistake.
For Yash's happiness if she would have to give up her freedom she would more than willingly do that. If it was for his sake she would live her entire life locked up in the mansion and not complaint once. She will not be the cause for her brother's suffering. Not in the end of the world.
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Maan strode through the hall way as he ignored his dadi's worried call and shut his bedroom door behind him.
shortly after Maan, Annie arrived at the mansion. Dadi asked her what was wrong with Maan. Annie lied that Maan was angry at her for forcing him to take her shopping. Just then Vicky came in and by a look at Annie he knew she was up to something. Annie bid her goodbye to Savitri Devi and asked Vicky to drop her home.
On their way to the Raichand penthouse, she told Vicky all about the events of day and how Maan Singh Khurana got snapped by a girl. The initial shock that Vicky felt at knowing about the little encounter of Maan and that girl was replaced by boundless joy as he realised he was soon going to get a lovely bhabhi who had the guts to tell off his big bro. He too like Annie wanted to hook up his brother with this girl though he hadn't seen her yet, he just knew she was the one. he and Annie decided to find her and make her their bhabhi 'no matter what'.
In the mean time, Maan could not stop thinking about his unwanted encounter with a stupid, idiot, brainless women who acted like the most foolish human living on earth, he was sure god wanted to make her a cat but she accidently landed in human form much to the misfortune of mankind. Maan Singh Khurana, Delhi's most eligible bachelor, a business tycoon was slapped by a woman. He just wanted to meet her once for no one gets away after messing with him. She needed to be taught a lesson.
And he sat there with a bruised ego cursing that unbearable woman.
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