Nobody other than Geet knew who he was. Romeo was startled and he asked, “Aap kaun hain?”

“Main kaun hoon? Main Maan Singh Khurana, is company ka owner.”

Romeo’s body language changed and he looked more deferential.

Maan continued to shout, “Aur tum yahan kaam karne aate ho ya flirt karne? Nikal jao abhi ke abhi yahan se. You are fired.”

“Maan?” Geet was shocked. Then she controlled her temper and corrected herself, “Sir! Romeo mehnati worker hai. Aap bina matlab ise fire kyon kar rahe hain?”

“Ye meri company hai aur mujhe apne decisions kissi ko explain karne ki zaroorat nahin hai.”

Maan left the place with this and Geet quickly reassured Romeo, “Romeo. Tumhein kahin jaane ki zaroorat nahin hai. Tum apna kaam karo. Chinta mat karo. Mera gussa ye tumhare oopar nikaal rahe hain. Main aisa nahin hone doongi.” Then she ran after Maan.

“Sir. Aapka gussa mujh par hai. Aap woh Romeo par kyon nikaal rahe hain.”

“Tumhein aisa kyon lagta hai Geet ki meri duniya tumhare chaaro or ghoomti hai. Main kissi ka gussa kissi par nahin nikaal raha.”

“Mujhe nahin pata ki aapki duniya mere chaaro or ghoomti hai ya nahin. Lekin itna to saaf hai ki main kya karti hoon, kya sochti hoon, mere aas paas kaun hai, isse aapko farq padta hai. Romeo mera dost hai, mujhe khush dekhna chahta hai, mere saath thoda hansi-mazaak kar leta hai to aapko usse khunnas ho rahi hai.”

“Geet!” Maan was enraged. She had bluntly told him what was happening to him and he was not ready to accept it.

“Agar aisa nahin hai to Romeo kahin nahin jaayega. Maine use bola hai ki woh kaam karta rahe. Agar aapko use nikaalna hai to wapas aa kar bol kar jaiye.”

Maan did not reply to that and walked away from there. Geet went back to the shop-floor.

—

Geet became busy with the workers and she did not have time to dwell on what happened with Maan. She had decided to stay in the office until the work was finished. Everyone tried to send her home for the night, but she did not agree. Finally they made her agree to take some rest in the office itself. They also arranged for her to eat something, but she was too nervous about the whole thing. She did not eat much. She came to her cabin, sank in to her chair and slept off almost immediately from the exhaustion.

She woke up in the morning when the landline in her office rang.

“Hello?”

There was no reply from the other end as Maan was coming out of his jeep at his farmhouse.

“Hello? Aap theek to hain na?” She remembered how Maan had left yesterday and got worried for him.

“Tumhein kaise pata chala ki phone par main hoon?”

“Ji… Woh… Haan… Aapi gaadi ki awaaz…” She fumbled for the explanation.

“Geet. Mere cabin mein ek green color ki file padi hui hai. Us par ek Chinese company ka naam likha hoga. Tum abhi ke abhi woh file le kar mere farm house par aao.”

“Farmhouse? Abhi? Lekin office mein bahut kaam hai. Main peon ke haathon bhijwa deti hoon.”

“Agar main peon ke saath hi woh file discuss kar sakta to supervisor ki job to uski honi chahiye thi na. Tumhari kyon hai?”

Geet tried hard to not get angry and replied as calmly as she could, “Main aa rahi hoon.”

“Aadhe ghante mein mujhe tum yahan chahiye.” Maan said and disconnected the call.

—

Geet reached the farm house just in time and rushed to meet Maan. She asked one of the housekeeping staff where Maan was and barged into the room. She was surprised to see a party going on there. With her enxhausted face and crumpled clothes, she was looking completely out of place and she grew extremely conscious of the glances she was getting from the people there.

She couldn’t fathom why Maan would call her to a party with an official file. She decided to find him, hand him the file and leave immediately. As soon as she spotted Maan she walked quickly towards him.

“Sir. Aapne ye file mangwayi thi,” She said ignoring her surroundings.

Maan was talking to a girl then. He pretended not to even look at her and said, “Wait karo. Main abhi busy hoon.”

“Par…”

“Geet. Maine kaha na main busy hoon. Tum yahin wait karo.”

Geet had no option but to shut up. She started moving away and looked around trying to find a lonely corner. Just then the music started and Geet saw Maan inviting the girl he was talking to for a dance.

She looked at the girl. Short dress, high heels, latest accessories, short, stylish hair – everything that Maan used to tease her about at one point of time.

Why did he call her here? To make her uncomfortable, jealous? She should not give in to this, she thought. But she could not take her eyes off them once they started dancing. She remembered the time when he had dragged her to the dance floor in a similar party. Both of them were angry at each other then. But that dance had showed something else. Something that they had taken a long time to accept to themselves. Their passion, their desire for each other, their love! And what was he doing today dancing with this girl? Trying to insult those moments, those memories, that feeling, that love. As the song ended and he lifted the girl up as a finale to the dance, Geet could hold herself no longer. Her eyes became moist and before he could see her crying, she left from there.

Maan immediately noticed that she was missing. That wouldn’t do for him. She had to be there. She had to see that she did not matter to him. That he was not affected by her presence. That his life could go on with others irrespective of her presence or absence. But how would she know if she was absent? She had to be present. He walked out of the room to find her.

He did not have to look hard. She was trying to get away from there, get away from him. He ran after her and pulled her by hand. He held her close and clutched her waist with one of his hands. He glared at her with his steely eyes without saying anything.

She burst out finally, “Ye kya kar rahe hain aap? Kyon apna tamasha bana rahe hain? Kyon aisi harkatein kar rahe hain, jo karne ki izaazat khud aapka man aapko kabhi nahin de sakta? Bas kariye.”

Maan continued glaring at her unwaveringly, “Geet. Aisa kya kar diya hai maine? Dance hi to kar raha hoon. Ismein galat kya hai?”

—

To be continued