Maan smiled and told her, “Geet tum thaki hui ho. So jaate hain.” But this made her embarrassed. She kept up a brave face, “Nahin Maan. Main theek hoon.” Maan felt very amused. If she was really awake she would have felt very awkward expressing such desperation for their union. She might be a sherni to the world, but he still had to prod her deep to get her inner feelings out of them. Right now she wouldn’t agree to sleep. But Maan always knew how to have his way around her, while giving her the impression that she was in-charge.

He kissed her forehead and pushed her to lie down on the make-shift hay bed. He also lied down with her. He kissed her forehead again and then moved his lips towards her eyes making her close them. He kissed her eyelids and then the tip of her nose. Next he moved to her cheeks and chin. He avoided her neck, arms and belly as he thought that would excite her instead of relaxing her.

He noticed her feet and touched them lightly, caressing them a bit and taking off the dirt from them. On a sudden urge, he bent down and planted a kiss on one of her feet. Although she was half asleep, this startled Geet. She sat up, “Maan. Ye aap kya kar rahe hain?” She was aghast. She respected him to much to let him touch her feet, let alone kiss it.

Maan looked up at her, then moved away from her feet towards her face and put his hand on her mouth, “Chup. Bilkul chup. Aaj jo main chahunga wahi hoga. Samjhi tum.” He had that look in his eyes that always silenced her. Her eyes conveyed her submission. Then he made her lie down again and repeated the kisses on her face. She relaxed as he caressed her head and hair. Then he moved again to his feet. He did not kiss them this time to avoid startling her again. Instead he massaged her feet and ankles lightly. They were obviously tired from all the running around. He, then, lifted her salwaar a bit and massaged her calves as well. He noticed that she was almost asleep by then. He massaged her thighs through the fabric of her salwaar. By the time he was done, she was completely asleep. He smiled. His little plan had succeeded.

He slipped his hand beneath her shoulders to take her in his arms. She comfortably snuggled up closer to him as he lied down beside her to sleep.

—

Geet woke up see Maan standing near the door of the hut. He looked at her and smiled, “Good morning Geet.”

“Good morning,” she said cheerfully. And then she remembered the incidents of last night and looked confused for a while about what had happened. She realized that her memory was hazy after a while and then she did not remember anything at all. She must have fallen asleep.

Maan was amusingly watching her expressions as she tried to remember what happened last night.

“Maan. Kal raat main…” she started blurting it out and then suddenly realized what she was doing.

Maan walked towards her and faked innocence while asking, “Kya hua Geet. Kal raat ke baare mein kuchh kah rahi thi tum? Kya hua tha?”

Geet by then had remembered how he had deliberately made her relax so that she could fall asleep. She was embarrassed at her self as well as slightly irritated at him. She stood up and said, “Kuchh nahin.”

Then she tried to move away, but Maan pulled her by hands and wrapped his arms around her bringing her very close as he looked at her lovingly. Geet finally said, “I am sorry. Main kal raat so gayi…”

“Geet. Sorry bolne ki zaroorat nahin hai. Lekin haan. Pachhtaogi to tum zaroor,” he was clearly being naughty, “Tumhein pata bhi nahin hai ki is ek raat ke badle main tumhein kitni raatein jagane waala hoon. Ab to permission mil gayi hai mujhe.”

Geet looked down blushing and also feeling nervous.

—

“Geet!” Teji’s shout brought them out of their reverie and they hastily separated. Teji had arrived there with the police. He must have been searching for them. He glared at Maan and Geet and asked, “Ye sab kya ho raha hai? Geet chal yahan se.”

Geet looked nervously at Maan and he blinked assuringly. Then he moved confidently towards Teji and folded his hands to greet him, “Sat Sri Akal Veer ji. Maine apna parichay aapko nahin diya. Main Maan Singh Khurana,” he paused and added softly while looking at Geet, “Geet ka pati.”

“Kya? Ye kya mazaak hai? Geet?” Teji questioned Geet directly.

Geet was still quite nervous, but when she saw Maan’s smiling and happy face, she also gained courage, “Ye sahi kah rahe hain. Mujhe manane ke liye ye Balwant Singh ban kar hamare ghar mein aaye the.”

“To hamare ghar mein Maan Singh Khurana ban kar kaun rah raha hai?” Teji was immediately worried.

“Woh Dev hai. Mera bhai,” Mana explained.

Geet realized that they had no clue about Dev and Nandini. She asked hurriedly, “Veerji. Nandini aur Dev mile kya?”

“Haan. Woh log mil gaye hain.” Teji had no clue about how to react to this bizarre situation. So, he just kept up with his strict manners and asked them to come home with him. He decided to let Beeji handle the situation.

—

Now that the secret was out, Geet was not at all mindful of her behaviour towards Maan. She didn’t budge from  his side through out their walk out of the jungle. She held his arms and leaned on him for support when she felt tired. She naturally took her place beside him on the police jeap that would take them back. Teji was unable to say anything to them, but he wasn’t happy about her behaviour at all. All this public display of affection was not to his liking. He kept glaring at her, which she was oblivious of. His glares did not skip Maan’s notice. But Maan wasn’t the one who could be bothered about it. He, in fact, found his frustration funny and even smiled to himself couple of times thinking of how Teji must be feeling at the moment.

Beeji was relieved to see them back. Dev and Nandini had come back earlier and Nandini had already sung praises of Balwant. How he cared for everyone’s safety before his own, made them go away from there and fought the goons alone.

As Beeji turned towards Balwant to thank him, she noticed his short hair and missing turban. She was extremely surprised and looked at Teji with quizzing eyes, who in turn glared at Geet and Maan.

Maan came forward and folded his hands to greet Beeji, “Mujhe maaf kar dijiye Maasi ji. Jhooth bol kar aapke ghar mein aana pada. Lekin Geet ko manane ke liye mere paas koi aur chaara nahin tha.”

Beeji was unable to make any sense of what he was saying. Geet came forward and told her that Balwant is actually Maan. She also told her that Maan loved her beyond anything and he took on even the humiliation of working as a driver of the household just to get her back. He cared not only for her, but also for her family. So, even after she had forgiven him he waited to make sure that her family also has a good impression of him. Geet apologized for herself as well as for Maan for lying to her.

“Lekin Maasi. Aap ye to maanti hain na ki Maan bahut achchhe insaan hain aur woh mujhse bahut pyaar karte hain. Meri chot ko to inhone apne pyaar se bahut pahle theek kar diya hai. Aur is parivaar ke bhi hamesha saath rahe.”

—

To be continued