Note on the OS
This is a different look at how Maan finds out and reacts to the fact that Dev donated blood to save his life.
—
Geet entered the room to find Maan pacing up and down in the room. His anger was scaring her to death. But it was not clear to her what was the best way out. Maan wanted the truth. She wanted to tell him the truth. But she was scared of his reaction. He might get even more angry and frustrated if he got to know the truth of blood donation. What if he took it out on Dev? As much as she hated Dev, she was heavily indebted to him for saving Maan’s life. If Dadi Ma wanted him to stay in Khurana Mansion until he recovers, she should ensure that. That much she owed to him.
But all this at the cost of giving pain to Maan. Her heart cried out. What was she to do? She knew his anger. And it pained her when she was unable to calm him down.
He noticed her and came to her immediately. Holding her at the shoulder, he pinned her to the wall near the door. His eyes were fiery with anger and aggression. He was hurting her, but she could not complain.
“Kya baat hui hai tumhari us insaan se jo tum itni badal gayi ho? Aakhir kiya kya hai usne?”
His anger had scared her so much that even if she wanted to, she was unable to say anything to him in reply. She was literally shaking from fear. She looked down and silently cried.
“Kyon meri kissi baat ka jawaab nahin hai tumhare paas Geet? Kyon nazarein nahin mila pa rahi ho mujhse? Aisa kya ho gaya hai?”
Still no reply.
His frustration knew no bounds and he became even more aggressive.
“Meri taraf dekho Geet,” he ordered, not requested, in a rising voice. She was forced to look at him. If she was shaking in fear, his entire body was shaking with anger.
A look into her eyes and his possessiveness acquired maddening proportions. The mere thought that she was keeping something from him stirred some of his deep seated insecurities, although he knew better than to doubt her fidelity. He felt a primitive, animalistic urge to mark her as his own.
His lips moved closer to hers and his hands tigheted their grip on her shoulder, pushing her against the wall with even more force. It hurt her so much that she cried out his name, “Maan!”
But in his mad rage he mistook it to be her resistance towards his approaching kiss. He lost any human restraint that was still there in him. He jerked her body, pulling her close to him, wrapping his left arm around her. His grip was so tight that she could not even have moved a bit. Thankfully it was not hurting her like earlier.
With the other arm, he grabbed her hair and pulled her head back. She did not resist it and that ensured that she was not hurt.
“Tumhein mere kareeb aane se problem hai Geet? Rok sakti ho mujhe?” he hissed and assaulted her exposed neck with his lips and tongue.
If anyone else would have touched her in this manner, she would have felt disgusted and would have revolted. But with Maan – she understood this animal in him. His first and the last concern in the world was Geet. It may not have been an ideal manifestation of the concern, but this was just his way. She also hoped that it would calm down his anger a bit.
And if she meant the world to him, even he had a hold over her that defied any rationale. Even in this situation with him being so angry, and her being so scared, his touch was affecting her. Even if her brain had asked her to resist, her body would not let her. Her breathing became heavy as he furiously kissed, licked and nibbled on her neck, earlobes, shoulders, cheeks, chin, eyes and forehead. She would have lost her balance when he attacked her lips, except for the support his arms were providing. The long, demanding kiss left her breathless. ‘First kiss,’ she marked the moment permanently in her mind.
She was unstable when he finally withdrew from the kiss. As he looked at her tear-stained, dishevelled face, something struck him. He suddenly came back to his senses, left her and took a step back. She had to support herself against the wall when he left her. The anger and aggressiveness of his face disappared and was replaced by shock, which in turn was replaced by pain, disgust and disbelief. He stared at her for a moment and then suddenly left the room. It took her a while to regain composure and think about what had just happened.
—
By the time Geet recovered, Maan had left the room. Where would he have gone? She thought for a moment and she knew exactly where to look for him.
He was her husband now and and she should have been used to his closeness, his body and its effects on her. Yet when she saw him practising Tai-Chi, it had the same effect on her as was the case when she had seen him like this for the first time. She gasped. The difference was that then she was scared of the feelings and desires his well-toned body and his graceful moves evoked in her. This time she could give in to them. She forgot about all the issues, all the tension they had to tackle. For those few moments, she forgot about everything that was bothering them. She walked towards him in a trance.
Strangely though he did not notice her. He was too absorbed with himself. He was done with Tai-chi and was doing stomach crunches lying on the floor. She observed him for couple of seconds. Suddenly she noticed the furiousness of his crunches and it brought her out of her trance.
He seemed totally oblivious to his surroundings, even of what he himself was doing. The crunches were so fast and furious that even with his training and practice, they could have hurt his body. Geet sensed trouble and called his name to bring him out of his thoughts. But he did not listen to her. She got scared and cried out loud, “Maan!”
He heard her this time. He looked blank for a moment as if he was not able to understand what was going on. And the he looked at her. Her eyes were filled with tears of concern and worry.
Maan got up. “Kya hua Geet?” he asked in a concerned and calm voice.
She did not reply, instead just stared at him for a few seconds. Then went ahead and hugged him tight putting her arms around his bare upper body.
Maan was confused, but responding to her hug was his natural reaction. He closed his eyes feeling her so close to himself and tightened his grip around her body. Both of them lost a sense of time as they stayed in that hug for at least a minute or two before breaking it.
It was Maan who became conscious first, broke the hug and stepped back creating some physical distance between them. He looked at Geet and figured that she was calm now.
She first needed to clear his immediate misunderstanding, but she suddenly became conscious of their closeness and his bare body. She stuttered, “Maan… Woh… abhi maine… kamre mein… main aapko rok nahin… rahi thi…”
“I am sorry Geet. Maine phir se tumhare saath galat…”
“Nahin. Nahin Maan. Aap sorry kyon kah rahe hain? Ye to…” she hesitated, but added with lowered eyes, “aapka haq hai. Main bas ye kah rahi thi ki main aapko rok nahin rahi thi. Aapne zor se pakad rakha tha to mujhe dard ho raha tha – isliye…”
“Kya? Geet tum theek to ho na? Tumne kuchh kaha kyon nahin Geet? Nahin – mujhe khud hi dhyaan rakhna chahiye tha. I am sorry Geet. Tum theek to ho…”
“Maan!” she interrupted, “Main bilkul theek hoon. Aap please shaant ho jaiye.”
They both were silent for a few seconds. Maan broke the silence.
“Geet tum kamre mein ja kar aaraam karo.”
“Mujhe aapke sawalon ke jawaab dene hain Maan. Aap please…”
“Nahin Geet. Main pahle hi tumhein bahut pareshaan kar chuka hoon. Mujhe kuchh nahin poochhna hai tumse. Doctor ne tumhein stree-free rakhne ko kaha hai aur main tumhara khayal rakhne ki jagah tumhare saath…”
Tears again clouded her eyes as she raised her hand to cover his lips and shut him up, “Bas Maan! Khud ko blame karna band kijiye. Mujhe pata hai ki aap gussa hain. Aur agar aapko gussa aa raha hai to khud par mat nikaliye. Mujhpe gussa kijiye. Yahi sahi bhi hai. Saare problems ki wajah main hi to hoon.”
“Geet. Aisa kyon kah rahi ho? Aisi kya problem aa gayi hai, jisne tumhein…?”
“Meri zidd thi, meri galti thi jiski wajah se woh accident hua aur aapki jaan khatre mein pad gayi…”
“Phir se ye baat kyon Geet? Maine kaha tha na tumse ki tumne hi meri jaan bachayi bhi hai.”
“Maine aapki jaan nahin bachayi hai Maan. Main bacha hi nahin sakti thi.”
Maan looked at her questioningly and did not say anything.
“Aapki jaan… Aapki jaan apna khoon de kar… Dev ne bachayi hai.”
Did he hear that right? Dev? She had to take Dev’s help to save his life. He felt like his entire world had come crashing down. He was indebted to that low-life for saving his life. Why did Geet do that? Why Dev? Why not someone else?
—
To be continued