Part 83
He asked Geet what she liked about him. Did she really like him?
Facing her startled expression and prolonged silence, Maan got up and walked away.
++++
it was a long time after Maan left that Geet came back to herself. She wanted to stop Maan and explain that he was absolutely wrong.
She ran up to Maan's room and knocked for a long time. But he didn't respond, nor did he open the gate.
Geet thought maybe she should let him cool down tonight and talk tomorrow morning.
She just wanted to tell him it was the total opposite of what he said. She liked him because he never made feel that she owes him anything. He never made her feel there is a difference of class money or power between them. He never acted like he has any hold or right over her, never lorded over her. He never made her feel that he has done her any favors or provided any significant help. He only treated her like an equal. Respected her like a gentleman. Pampered her like a princess. How could she come up with a simple answer of why she liked him or when she started liking him. She just did.
+++++
He locked himself in his room and collapsed on the floor.
No longer able to stop the final terrible thought from emerging the one last question he didn't ask Geet.
Would she feel the same for someone if it was them who had helped her one year back instead of Maan?
Would she have just as easily agreed to marry someone else?
Would she be saying I like you to someone else one year down the line?
Or maybe it won't even take one year. After all
If the other person was better than Maan by even a small percentage, maybe Geet would have been much happier and fallen in love much faster.
Was he replaceable by any decent rich guy who would help her?
Maan ignored the rows of alcohol and held the small syringe filled with ****.
There was a time he hated the sensation these things brought on.
He only drank on social occasions to numb himself to the mindless repeated chatter. To dull down his senses and be able to bear and deal with the stupid people clamoring around him.
He didn't want to be just numb now. He wanted oblivion. He wanted his thoughts to stop altogether.
His hands shook as he inserted the needle in his body.
The drowned and blurry voice of logic and reason screamed at him to stop with its last struggle.
With chattering teeth and numb fingers, he slowly pushed the plunger and emptied the syringe into his body.
++++
Geet sees his Porche literally zoom over the freeway rashly cutting through all the trafic...zig zag.
She frowns in concern as she identifies his car.
She called him but no call pick.
It was not possible for her to chase him.
She is trying his number.
Since it’s all in vain she calls his secretary.
G- Where is your sir?
S- mam ...he...
G- I saw his car speeding very dangerously on the road. Is he driving it? Are you not with him?
S- yes...no
G- what???? He is not picking up my call. Ask him to stop acting like a coke head.
S- emmmm .....well ....he...
Geet ne hazaae baar call kiya...tab jaake call uthaya
G- what is wrong with you??? Why are you not picking up my call?
M- What??? I was driving.
G- I could see that how you were driving. Are you an idiot! What consequences it could have in you, on innocents and on your company's reputation. Are you a Teenager??
Geet starts giving piece of her mind to Maan. Worry made her lose all the inhibition.
G- I thought you were better than this. But You too are a Rich brat. Who does illegal stuff & doesn't think of consequences!
M- Who the f*** are you huh? Who do you think you are? A woman whose career I sponsored, the house she lives is paid by me, clothes you wear paid by me, food she eats is by me. You know how many women like you I can get in the time frame you are ranting nonsense.
She is silent.
Hangs up.
He is under influence of a substance.
Geet held the phone tightly against her, her heart hammering in her chest.
This wasn't him.
This broken, bitter man wasn't the Maan she had grown to know, the one who hid his scars behind sharp intellect and distant charm. He was always self-destructive, always distant, but this was a new low—a place she never thought he would reach.
The substance was talking now, not him.
++++++
Next Morning, Maan woke up with a splitting headache, his mind clouded with the remnants of the night before. He blinked at the harsh sunlight streaming through the curtains, squinting as the room slowly came into focus. The space felt empty, unnervingly so.
"Geet?" he called out, his voice hoarse, but there was no response. He sat up, clutching his head, feeling the weight of last night's destructive behavior pressing down on him.
He walks towards her room.
His eyes swept across the room, searching for any sign of her—her things, her presence—but it was as if she had never been there.
The room was clean, orderly. The usual items she left scattered—her book, a scarf, her scent—were all gone. There was nothing. A cold sense of dread filled him. He stood up, swaying slightly, and stumbled toward the closet, pulling open the door. Empty. Her clothes were gone.
The bathroom door was ajar; he pushed it open, expecting to see her toiletries on the sink. It was bare.
Panic began to build in his chest. He grabbed his phone, dialing her number, but the call went straight to voicemail. Again. And again. His calls went unanswered, his texts left unread.
He checked his messages for anything—something that might explain her sudden absence. Finally, he saw it. A single text from her, sent in the early hours of the morning.
"I need time away. Don't look for me. I'm going to find myself."
Maan stared at the message, his heart dropping into a bottomless pit. His hands trembled, and he sank down onto the bed, the silence of the room deafening. His mind raced back to their argument, to the venomous words he had hurled at her while under the influence, the ugliness of his jealousy, his desperation spilling out in the worst way.
He knew she was hurt. But he never thought she'd actually leave.
He clenched his fists, anger at himself bubbling up. He had pushed her away. The only woman he couldn’t stop thinking about, the only one who had ever seen him for more than the darkness everyone else feared.
And now, she was gone.
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