A bend in the road - Vol 1

48. The Fiance

She was twisting her hair into a bun when she felt arms sneak up from behind her, one palm closing her mouth, and the other pulling her back closer to his chest.

"Stop fighting me. You should get used to this by now" she heard him say as he buried his face in her hair.

Usually, by the time she hears his voice, she would relax, Maan knew, but this time, she didn't.

Instead, he felt a sharp pain in his ribs where she elbowed him.

He staggered more out of surprise than anything else.

"Geet?" He said loosening his hold, allowing her to step away from his embrace.

Only when she had turned had he felt a bigger surprise.

It wasn't Geet.

Instead there was a woman whom he had never seen. She was skinny and a foot shorter than Geet. Her oval face was framed with her jet black straight hair that she were to tie into a bun but now cascaded down to her waist.

She was wearing the night dress Maan had seen Geet wear so many times.

"Who are you?" She asked crouching back, her hands already feeling the nearest table to find something sharp if only for self defense.

Even in that stage, he sort of felt a little impressed at the girl's reflexes.

Before he could answer her question however, there's a voice that disturbed the little tensed moment.

"Maan..."

Both Maan and Neelima looked towards the door to find Geet who was looking at the pair who stood away from each other as if they were stuck by something.

"When did you come?" Geet said coming to stand next to him, reaching out to grab his hand unknowingly, entwining her fingers with his.

"Just now" he said looking down at her with a smile.

Watching them thus, Neelima suddenly felt she like an intruder; a voyeur even, which is strange because all they did was holding hands, which she believed they weren't even aware of.

"You came directly from office?"

"No, I went for a fashion show on my way." He said making her frown at him, and she looked like she really considered his obvious sarcasm for a moment.

"You look a total alien to fashion at the moment to be honest" she told him very gently as if she is trying to not hurt his feelings.

If anything it only made Neelima bite on to a smile. The little tension eased in her shoulders and although she still didn't know who this man was, she was pretty sure whatever transpired between them earlier was a total misunderstanding on his part.

She was stupid enough to not carry an extra pair of clothes and had to do with Geet's night clothes so she couldn't blame him either.

They were pulling each other's legs, when she finally felt that her presence was totally forgotten. She was sure, if she slipped away from the scene, she wouldn't even be missed.

"What's the hot chocolate for?" Maan asked suddenly. "Do you not want to fit into your dresses anymore"

"Are you calling me fat?"

"I don't believe in stating the obvious"

"You're one big dusht"

"You forgot the suffix to that endearment"

"Dusht Danav"

"Thanks. Now I feel complete"

Geet rolled her pretty eyes at him.