His instinctive reaction was to shake her up and ask her right away – Why! Why did she do that… But he had not completely lost his mind. Just a while back, in his aggression, he had hurt her. He shouldn’t be repeating that mistake. He couldn’t understand why it happened, but he realized that in his anger he became her assaulter, from her protector. Right now, he had to protect her from himself.

He tried his best to remain calm as he told her, “Kamre mein jao Geet. Tumhein aaraam ki zaroorat hai.”

Geet was surprised and scared. Why was he so calm? He should have bursted out with anger and questions for her. She suddenly remembered when he had become unexpectedly calm after the fiasco at his farmhouse party. He had planned to leave her forever then. What was he planning now? She was scared to death.

“Maan. Please meri baat suniye…”

Maan spoke angrily this time, although he consciously tried not to shout, “Tumne suna nahin maine kya kaha? Jao yahan se. Kamre mein jao.”

There was no scope for disobeying him. She would fuel his anger further if she did not listen to him. She moved backwards, scared to death, but unable to do anything.

He saw her receding figure and turned away. To get control over his thoughts and to release his anger, he started working out again.

Geet did not go back to her room. She hid behind a pillar, where he would not notice her and kept looking at him. She was feeling helpless and started crying. She pressed her mouth with her hands so that she did not make any noise. While she could not bring herself to leave him alone in this state, she could not afford to anger him further by making her presence felt either. She sank down on her knees and finally felt so exhausted and hopeless that she rested her back against the pillar and closed her eyes.

She stayed like that for around fifteen minutes, after which she felt someone’s presence, his presence around her. She opened her eyes and stood up startled. He was there watching her.

She got too scared thinking he would be angry that she did not listen to him, “Main… Maan… I am sorry. Main jati hoon.”

She turned to leave and got pulled back by his familiar, firm hands.

His voice reflected only pain when he asked, “Kyon Geet? Aisa kyon kiya tumne? Kyon madad maangne gayi usse? Us insaan se jiski shakal tak dekhna tumhein manzoor nahin hai!”

One of his hands was around her waist, and with the other he supported her at the upper back.

“Aapke blood group ka khoon kahin nahin mil raha tha Maan. Humne Delhi aur Chandigarh mein bhi pata karwaya tha. Meri saari ummeed khatm ho gayi thi Maan. Mere paas aur koi chaara nahin tha. Mujhe pata hai ki isse aapko bahut bura laga hai, bahut gussa aa raha hai, lekin mere liye aapki zindagi se badh kar kuchh nahin tha Maan. Dev se main jitni bhi nafrat karti hoon, usse bahut zyada aapse pyaar karti hoon. Maan ke bina Geet ka koi astitva nahin hai. Main apni nafrat ke liye aapki zindagi se kaise khel sakti thi?” she finally poured her heart out. She was still scared of his reaction, but simply by coming out clean to him, a huge burden had been lifted off her heart.

He pulled her in a hug. There were so many things he wanted to tell her. He wanted to tell her that no one can love the way she loved him. He wanted to tell her that how lucky he was to have her. He wanted to tell her that he was really sorry that due to him she had to feel indebted to the person she hated the most. But he had tears in his eyes and he would have choked on his words, if he had tried to voice these feelings. Somewhere he was sure that his Mishti understood the love, respect and gratitude he felt towards her. Not just for this sacrifice of her, but for every moment of happiness and love that she had brought in his life. He hoped that she was listening to his heartbeats right then and was able to hear all that was there in his heart.

And then a feeling of remorse took over. For how he had treated her earlier in the day. How insulted and humiliated she must have felt. Why did he do things in his anger that were a black mark on the sanctity of their relationship?

He broke the hug, cupped her face in his hands and said, “Geet. Mujhe maaf kar do. Maine kamre mein tumhare saath jaise behave kiya, mujhe nahin karna chahiye tha.”

“Maan. Aap aisa kah ke pyaar ke yaadgaar palon ko bura kyon bana rahe hain.” She blushed and lowered her eyes as she continued, “Pahli kiss to zindagi bhar yaad rakhne ki cheez hoti hai na?”

“Kis mitti ki bani ho Geet? Meri galtiyon mein bhi pyaar dekhti ho.”

“Auron ka nahin pata mujhe, par main to jaanti hoon ki us gusse mein pyaar ke alawa kuchh nahin tha. Sirf mere liye pyaar, sirf meri chinta,” she smiled looking into his eyes and then added to lighten the mood, “Haan! Bas agar aap mere haath aur kandhe na todein apni ye badi si majboot body ka fayda utha kar, to achchha rahega.”

Maan finally smiled. He was so overwhelmed that he did not know what should he do express himself. She was so much better at it than him. With immense love, he went ahead and picked her up in his arms.

“Maan – main bilkul theek hoon. Aapko mujhe utha kar le jaane ki zaroorat nahin hai.”

“Tumhein zaroorat nahin hogi Geet. Mujhe hai – tumhein apne paas rakhne ki, tumhein chhone ki!” He looked at her smiling and blushing face and fervently wished that he could find ways of expressing how much he needed to love her!

—

He settled her on the bed and lovingly caressed her forehead and cheek.

“Geet. Ab tum so jao. Raat kaafi ho chuki hai. Aur tumhein aaraam ki zaroorat bhi hai. ”

“Aur aap?”

“Main doosre kamre ke bathroom mein ja kar shower le leta hoon, takin tumhari neend kharaab na ho.”

“Nahin! Mujhe abhi nahin sona hai. Aap mere paas baithiye.”

“Par Geet…”

“Main kuchh nahin sun rahi. Jab se Shimla se nikle hain, jaise pareshaaniyon ki baadh aa gai hai. Mujhe thodi der shaanti se aapke saath baithna hai.”

Maan smiled, “Theek hai begam sahiba. Aapka huqm sar-aankhon par!”

He settled himself beside her and started stroking and caressing her forehead.

“Ab main yahan hoon to tum kuchh bol nahin rahi ho.”

“Ye lo. Har waqt bolna zaroori hai kya. Khud hi to aap shikayat karte rahte ho ki kitna bak bak karti hoon main.”

“Tum bak bak karti ho to main shikayat karne ke liye to munh kholta hoon, warna Geet – mujhe to dhang se baat karna bhi nahin aata. Apne dil ki baat batana to bilkul nahin aata.”

“To kya hua main hoon na hum dono ke liye bolne ke liye.”

Both of them smiled.

Maan noticed some papers on the side table.

“Woh kya hain Geet?”

Geet was startled, “Woh… Kuchh nahin…”

“Kuchh kaise nahin…” Before Geet could do anything Maan reached out for the papers and started looking at them, “Test results? Woh to kal milne waale the.”

“Haan – par doctor ka phone aaya tha ki taiyaar ho gaye hain to main aaj hi le aayi.”

“Phone to hamesha mere mobile par aata hai.”

“Aap ka mobile engaged tha to unhone ghar ke landline par kiya tha.”

“Aur tumne mujhe abhi tak bataya kyon nahin.”

“Woh… main batane hi waali thi…”

As Maan went through the reports, his eyes glittered with happiness and naughtiness. Geet was biting her lips in shyness and nervousness.

“To ye baat hai, Geet! Tum mujhse bachna chahti thi?” The reports indicated that Geet as well as the baby was fine and there was no danger to either of them now.

“Nahin… woh.. Main… Batane hi waali thi…”

Maan put the papers away, turned to her, pulled her closer and asked in his heavy voice, “Kya batane waali thi Geet?”

“Woh.. Reports ke baare mein…”

“Kyon? Kya badal gaya reports ke aane se?” he paused to see her reaction. Her shyness made him tease her even more, “Bolo Geet. Ab saari bak-bak karne ki taqat kahan chali gayi?”

He moved forward to kiss her. She closed her eyes, but he backed off at the last moment.

She opened her eyes and looked at him in cofusion.

“Nahin Geet. Aise nahin. Hamari suhaag raat yaadgaar honi chahiye. Tum aaj aaraam kar lo.” He paused and added with a mischievous smile, “Zaroorat padegi.”

With this, he made her lie on the bed, ran his hand from her forehead over her eyes to make her close them and kissed on her eyes.

He went out to another bathroom to take his shower and looked at the watch. He still had time to make calls and arrange things for tomorrow.

—

To be continued