"Speak Up"
It had been five hours since Geet spoke a word with Maan. Maan cursed his temper because of which Geet wasn't talking with him. He had to do something soon otherwise there was no stopping him from losing his sanity.
*********
Naintara returned back to her room after her futile try at cajoling Savitri Devi to ask Maan to accompany her for dinner. Savitri Devi simply ignored her request saying Maan was busy. Naintara wasn't giving up that easily, she decided to go to Maan's office and ask him out.
********
Geet was sitting in her cabin when she heard violent sobs. She walked across the cabin and peeped down the window. And it was then that she ran'
*******
Maan was pacing up and down his cabin, thinking of ways to break her silence when he saw her running. He immediately got out of his cabin and followed her. He saw her waiting for the elevator and then taking the stairs instead. For a moment he thought of stopping her but then decided against it. He wanted to know why she was in such a rush.
Geet ran across the parking lot towards the main gate and took the young boy, probably 3 years old, in her arms. She stroked his hair as she tried to pacify him. She looked at the girl standing next to her and by the looks of it, it was evident Geet wanted to kill her. Maan saw Geet take that boy in her arms and he couldn't process anything that was happening. All he could do was admire her simple gestures. Then she did something he never saw coming'
She yelled at the other girl "what do you think you were doing"
He couldn't see the other girl as she stood with her back facing him. He heard her yell back "how can you just take that thing in your arms"
Maan's jaw tightened as he heard that girl shout at Geet. He was about to intervene when Geet retorted "SHUT UP, he is not a thing, he is a kid whom you mistreated, who do you think you are that you can slap a young boy as per your liking"
The young boy got scared and hugged her tightly. She tried to comfort him "It's ok . . . calm down"
"You don't like the poor ones, why are you dirtying your clothes touching him, who know he ma--
Geet shot that girl a glare before she could complete her sentence.
"Bloody begg--
Geet did not let her complete as she yelled "better shut your mouth before you regret your words"
Just when that girl was about to reply Maan cut in "what is happening here"
Almost immediately that girl turned as said "Maan, thank god you came, this girl here is creating a ruckus"
Before Geet could reply Maan said "I am very well aware who was creating whatever, Naintara, you are my grandmother's guest so I will not say much but I request you to kindly leave my office"
Naintara tried to speak but Maan silenced her by a deadly glare. Naintara pouted her lips as she left from there. Geet put the boy down on his feet and smiled at him and Maan smiled at her. The boy pulled her skirt and stuttered "di . . . di"
Geet smiled as she got on her knees and said "aapka naam kya hai"
"Tito" the boy replied as he kissed her cheek.
Geet smiled as she kissed his cheek in return and asked "Where are your parents"
The boy started crying as said between the sobs "no mamma . . . no papa . . . no parents"
Geet hugged him as he cried and said "everyone has parents I dont have"
Geet cupped his face as she wiped his tears and said "even I don't have parents but I am not crying, you're a big boy and big boys don't cry"
Just then two ladies in a sari came looking for the boy "Tito! Thank god you safe"
Geet glanced at the two ladies as she got on her feet and said "he's with you"
"Didi that is Sister Stella" he said pointing at the lady "and that is Sister Mary" he said as he pointed at the other lady.
One of the lady said "Thank you for taking care of him, we have been searching for him for the past one hour. We had brought the orphanage kids for an outing at the mall and he went missing. It's quite late we need to head back . . . thank you once again"
Geet smiled at them as one of them lifted Tito in her arms. As they walked away Geet waned at Tito and he did the same. Once they were no longer in sight she turned to face Maan who looked like he was in another world. She opened her mouth to speak but then remembered she was not talking with him and silently walked past him.
********
Yash and Meera were sitting at the edge of the Sukhna Lake, holding hands and staring at the placid waters.
"When are you telling Geet?"
"I'll don't want to tell her on phone, I want to see her face when I disclose about us to her. She would be so happy" Yash replied.
"So you'll wait for a month to tell her when she gets back" Meera asked.
"No! We will tell her this weekend when we go to Delhi. It'll be a great surprise for and till then we will not tell about us to anyone. I want her to be the first person I share the biggest happiness of my life with" Yash said as he kissed the back of her hand.
"Me too" Meera said as she placed her head at his shoulder.
********
Moments later Maan realised what had happened. She walked past him like he was invisible; she did not even once thank him for taking her side instead of supporting his Grandmother's guest. She was so damned irritating but strangely he adored her ignorance. She was a mystery to him. She was cruel enough to slap him, stomp his foot, make him drink salt coffee, stop talking with him but at the same time she was so kind and humble with that young boy. It wasn't like it was the first time he had seen someone behave so warmly with an orphan but seeing her do that was something different. He had stopped despising her yesterday itself but now he had developed respect for her. Yes, he respected the girl who practically did everything to harm him physically. There was not a single day when he was with her and he wasn't physically injured. Well, today though he wasn't yet subjected to physical torture but she had compensated that by giving mental torture--she wasn't talking with him.
A smile touched his face as he remembered that kid kissing her cheek. He wished it was him in place of that kid. He wondered how those rosy cheeks would feel against his lips. Wait a minute. What on earth was he thinking? This girl was driving him insane. The Maan Singh Khurana who never bothered to glance at a girl was day dreaming about kissing a girl's cheek. He went back to his cabin; he tried his level best not to look at her through the blinds but much to his misery or rather delight he ended up staring at her intently, watching her every delicate move. The way she pushed that strand of hair behind which was disturbing her sight, the way she made hundred different faces while reading the file, the way she bit her lips and pouted them when she couldn't understand something, the way she smiled, the way she--
Wait a second. What was he doing? He had definitely lost it. Where he should have been concentrating in his file he was concentrating on her movements instead he was checking her out.
Maan curled his fingers into a fist as he saw her talking with Aditya. At that moment, leaving all rationale, he just wanted to kick Aditya out of her cabin.
It had been fifteen minutes since he was controlling his urge to shoo Aditya away from her but he couldn't do that. He was THE Maan Singh Khurana after all.
To his relief, Aditya finally left her cabin and Maan let out a sigh. He had, had enough of her 'silent treatment'. It was just half an hour to office dispersal and he knew one thing for certain, if he would go home without talking with he would definitely be deprived of sleep. He had to do something and that too fast.
And then--
A plan seeded in his brain as he smiled wickedly. He went to Geet's cabin or to be more precise literally barged in and pulled her out of her seat. She was struck dumb and before she knew it she was standing outside the Archive room.
She looked at Maan with 'I'll kill you' written all over her face. He read her anger and confusion as he cleared his throat and said "talk with me"
Geet kept looking at him blankly as she crossed her hands across her chest. She wasn't going to budge an inch. He knew it and that was the reason he had got her here. He knew she was scared of the dark and also knew that the bulb of the old archive room was fused. He pulled her inside the room with him and shut the door behind him. It wasn't pitching dark, he could see through the air and make out the things around him but it was dark nevertheless and he for one knew it was enough to scare her. And his assumption was proven right just seconds later as he felt Geet's hand shiver. He smirked as he cornered Geet against the door and pinned her wrists across her side. Geet shut her eyes as she trembled in fear. She was dead scared of dark.
"Talk" Maan whispered in her ear.
Geet still did not open her mouth. She kept trying to free herself from his grip but he was way too strong for her.
"No point trying I won't let you go until you ask me to let you go . . . let's see how long can you fight your fear and stay in the dark" Maan said huskily.
Geet cursed her luck, why did he have to know she was the scared of the dark. Of course he would know, wasn't it she who hugged him out of her fear of dark.
And then--
She realised when she had hugged him that day she felt safe. She knew what she would do next. She would rather hug him than let him win. Although she couldn't hug him in true sense as he had pinned her writs but she could try and she did. She moved closer to him and rested her head on his shoulder as she closed her eyes. His breath constricted in his chest as he felt her body against his. His heart started thudding in his cheat as he felt her hair tickle his chin. He lost his sanity yet again as his hold on her hands loosened. She pushed him as she opened the door to run but to her hard luck he was too quick for her. He pulled her backwards as he yet again cornered her but this time he pinned her hands behind her back. He moved closer to her ears as he said "trying to trick me Geet . . . do you think it's that easy . . . now be a good girl and talk or else"
"Or else . . . bhaar mein jaye or else, I am not opening my mouth, karlo kya karoge" Geet murmured under her breath.
"Why are you murmuring, can't you just give up and speak" Maan chuckled seeing her nose scrunch.
Geet wanted to scream but she couldn't even do that. There was no way whatsoever she would talk with him unless he begs for it.
"Last warning, speak up or don't blame me for what I do next" Maan said as he looked her in the eye. Their spark was even more pronounced in the dark.
Perhaps Maan was wrong in judging the intensity of her fear of dark. They had been in that dark room for more than Fifteen minutes and she wasn't scared at all. What he did not know was, him being there with her was the reason she wasn't scared. The position they both were in, had any onlooker seen them like that he would most certainly think they were a couple. Maan's face was close to ear, her face rested at his shoulder, her hands locked behind her, his hands holding hers firmly yet cautious not to hurt her--they were almost hugging.
Suddenly another idea popped up in his mind. He smirked as he brought his face close to her lips "speak or else--
He moved even closer to her lips and she looked at him. She wasn't moving; she just kept standing there like nothing was happening. Maan thought she did not understand what he meant. So to make things clear for her, he decided to tell her what he would do if she doesn't open her mouth "if you do not speak I will kiss you"
When she did not utter a word he decided she needs a demo. He moved his lips closer to hers and stopped just when they were an inch apart. He knew she would speak up then, but she did not. Did she want him to kiss her? And just when he was sure she wasn't going to even move an inch she started laughing. Maan was flabbergasted. He was about to kiss her and she was laughing. What the hell was funny?
He did not realise when he left her hands and she ran from there. She went to her cabin and laughed her heart out. She laughed as she felt her stomach ache. She couldn't stop laughing. "Poor Maan, he doesn't know that I know"
Someone from behind called out "you know what"
Geet was too busy to notice whose voice it was, she just continued laughing as she said "I know that he is gay"
Vikrant was dumbstruck to hear that, he was so shocked that his Mobile that he was holding in his hand fell onto the marbled floor with a clatter. That brought Geet back to reality.
She turned to come face to face with a baffled Vikrant.
Vikrant asked impatiently "who told you that"
"no one . . . I figured it out, look it's like this . . . he doesn't mix up with the opposite gender, most of his employee's are male, all his clients are male" Geet replied.
"But that doesn't mean he is gay" Vikrant reasoned.
"wait, listen to me first . . . yesterday he was literally staring at my sandals and when I asked him what he was staring at he told me he was looking at my sandals. . . you're a guy right and you know a guy doesn't stare at ladies sandals . . . and think about it, Samira Jaiswal has been trying to get him to agree to do a deal with him for more than a year now, Adi sir I mean Aditya sir told me the deal would prove beneficial for the company but instead of working with Samira he chose to work with a new firm which also lead to minor losses" Geet said as she looked at the time and realised Pari must be waiting for her.
"You have a point" Vikrant said still engrossed in deep thought.
"I got to go now . . . nice meeting you" Geet said as she picked up her hand bag "BTW I'm Geet and you--
"Hi, I am Vikrant but call me Vicky" Vicky replied sadly.
"See you around" Geet smiled.
With that said Geet exited the cabin.
Vikrant's legs were glued to his spot. He thought about it and came to the conclusion Geet was right. After all may be this was the reason Maan was not ready to even go out on dates, forget about dating, he did not even once see the photos of the girls dadi ma would try show him. Vikrant shrugged his shoulders as he frowned and murmured "my brother is gay"
******
Vicky barges into Savitri Devi's room and "Maan bro is gay"
Savitri Devi looked at him with her jaw dropped to her knees.
******
So guys how was it . . . hope you liked it . . . 😃 plz comment . . .
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