He turns and walks back..and stands in front of the dressing table..where he just smiles thinking about the moment he entered in last time and Geet was getting ready to leave for the event. Her cheeks were glowing with the effect of pink colour dress she was wearing...He was so much longing to cup them with his palms and take her into his embrace promising to never let go of her henceforth but it doesn't seem to be as easy as he thought it to be. Just then, he got to see the Kundan Necklace which was kept in the side table with a post it note saying "THANK YOU".

He takes a long sigh... He takes that note and gently kisses it..as if that's a first love note for him...he is really going mad with silly thoughts.

All these years, he has lived all alone in his own world but today, he truly feels lonely. He wanted to be with her..Kneel down, hold her hands and ask for apologies for all what he has done to her. But he hasn't yet got a chance. Like Prem said, Telling a mere sorry is just not enough...he needs to know more about her...but how and where to start? He just sits down in the rocking chair and all lost looking at the ceiling .

____

Over there in the terrace, jute netted beds have been arranged neatly (Its known as CHAR PAI in hindi don't know what you call it in English). Geet makes a slow entry and finds Rajji, Nandini and Preetho are already settled down and they all are playing with Tej-Simran's son Pappu who is mere one and half years old.

The moment Nandini and Rajji got to see Geet..They run to her and hug her and take her to the beds that has been arranged neatly in the terrace.

Geet composes herself and as usual she has masked all what she is going thro behind her smiling face. She takes her seat in the centre bed..

N:

Preetho: and she winks at Nandini and both laugh out loud.

N: (Simran-Tej's son)

G:

Preetho: (She was here for some time and then Tej bhai called for her)

Geet:

Preetho and Nandini look at each other and giggle. Rajji and Geet look at each other and wondering what Preetho and Nandini are upto.

Preetho: (You are impossible...now, you think seriously..what could be the possible work that Tej Bhai had to get it done with Simran Bhabhi?)(Now you see, you will also get a call from your hubby and you will also escape from here)

Geet just couldn't help but giving into their talks by listening quietly.

She smiles sadly...

Geet diverts her attention by carrying Pappu in her hand and starts playing with him..and at the same time, Rajji, hands over a carry bag.

Geet:

Geet peeps into the carry bag and takes out the things...it's a incomplete crochet handbag with the strings of yarn and a crochet needle still attached to it. Geet had started making this just few days before her wedding she had almost done with it. Only the handles needs to be done. she couldn't complete it for obvious reasons. Geet looks at it with a blankness written all over her face.

Rajji:

Geet:

R:

Geet:

Rajji rushes to switch on the extra lights that would help Geet to do her crochet and she leaves from terrace ...

R:

Geet seriously thinks...

G:

Rajji didnt even care enough to listen to Geet's pleads. She simply zoomed towards Geet's room to get Geet's laptop

N:

Geet:

Geet sighs.. and checks on the bag and trying to recollect how to complete it.

G:

Preetho:

Geet looks at her questioningly..

Preetho:

Geet hits her head with her palm...literally giving up. The more she is diverting herself from these kind of talks, she is pulled into it again and again.

Nandini Giggles..

Preetho:

Preetho and Nandini take hi fy and laugh out loud. All Geet does is sadly smiles at their silly imaginations...deep within her she is craving for all Nandini and Preetho says happens to be true but alas only her babaji knows the actual value of their relationship.. she again tries to give her full concentration in planning completion of this crochet handbag...but her ears cannot help hearing sharply...afterall the talks are all about her and Maan being together atleast in form of imaginations.

Preetho:

(Yeah.. I know..I heard what all happened in the hall.. lot of hugging and kissing and that too in front of people around...then what would these two do when let are alone?)

Now, Nandini Pokes Preetho and signals her to keep quite. Nandini is still feeling bad for all what had happened in the hall and Preetho doesn't even know the actual reason behind it.

AND ...that's it...Geet cannot tolerate it any more. She jumps out of bed with all anger....

G: (Are you both done?)

Nandini and Preeto too stand up ...and look back at Geet. Never they have witnessed Geet to be so disturbed.

G:

Nandini understood that Geet is upset...she tries to console Geet...Preetho also is made to feel small with what Geet just said and she holds Geet's hand..

Preetho: (We were just trying to have fun and be funny)

Geet:

Nandini and Preetho get into a deep silence now while Geet continues

holds on to Preetho's shoulder..Even you are a married woman... and don't you feel to live this moment only for YOURSELF?

Preetho responds to Geet Positively...

Nandini:

Geet pats on Preetho and Nandini's cheeks at the same time with a smile...

Back to Maan...

Maan is still seated in the rocking chair glaring at the blank ceiling thinking about all what happened today. He didn't liked when Geet left him alone in this room... in one day, he is feeling this low, then how she would have felt all these days? he just discussed with Prem and how to progress further? Just then, there's a knock on the door and he moves to open the door to find Rajji standing over there.

Rajji:

Maan wonders where Geet keeps it. While Rajji walks in...

Rajji straight away gets inside the room and opens the cupboard to find the blue laptop bag in the lower shelf. While Maan finds the bag to be familiar, he takes the bag from Rajji and opens it to confirm it. YES it was Annie's laptop which Annie would have used barely for six months and she dropped it by mistake and the plastic case that covers the laptop monitor broke on the left side...Even though it was still in a good working condition, Annie was adamant to get the latest I-Pad that was upto date with latest features and she had left this laptop in her study table in her room.

Back to present, He checks the left side of the monitor..it clearly shows that it has been repaired.

Maan ST: Just then the ultimate truth strike him...,

He is lost in his past world when Rajji calls for him.

Rajji:

Maan:

Rajji:

Rajji is all excited and Maan is wondering with what she just blabbered.

Maan:

Rajji hits her own head thinking what she just said.

Rajji:

Rajji leaves from there carrying the lappy bag with her. Maan is really wondering. Like this laptop, there must be hundreds of tiny miny things that he needs to know about Geet but how? He was about to close Geet's Cupboard that's when he got drawn to the contents of the cupboard. As if its a small world behind those doors. It had her dresses neatly folded and displayed in hangers. ..he gently touches with his palm ... wonder why he feels she had limited collections of them. Then he moves to the next cabin...it had various prizes, shields and certificates of appreciation and achievements that she had won.. Quiz, debates, creative writing. He was checking on each and every academic achievements and feeling so proud about his wife.

One thing that drawn his attention was given a special honour shield the certificate attached to it read "IT'S A HONOUR TO AWARD MS GEET HANDA FOR SIMPLE TRANSLATIONS GIVEN TO SHAKESPEAR'S PLAY JULIUS CAESAR FROM SHAKESPEAREAN ENGLISH TO SIMPLE ENGLISH, HINDI AND PUNJABI. HELPING THE STUDENTS TO UNDERSTAND THE PLAY IN DIFFERENT LANGUAGES"

He just checked the first page of the English version and it was really interesting and creative writing ...Again, his smile fades thinking about the loss in missing her final year of her college days where in she missed so many opportunities in expressing her creative side, and she had to compromise for the sake of this sudden wedding and she never ever raised her voice against this where as he was fuming in fire of hatred against her and her family and his mind filled with assumption of her to be an uneducated country brute. His head dipped in shame...knowing just this much about her and still a very long long way to go. He sighs and keeps those three books back on its respective place aiming to read them one by one.

The other shelf had some photo albums...His eyes fell on a huge album which was titled "SWEET MEMORIES" .. Then till now..He opens it to see it. It had all collections of photos...the very first photo where young Ranoma is carrying a New born baby. Ofcourse it seems to be Geet...A cute smile touches his lips.

there's another one...where she is approx. 6-8 months old and both Rano and Mohider hold her together...a Pic of her first day to school.. and another cute pic where she is approximately 6 years old and a baby is resting in her lap..

Like this there were many more where she is with her family and friends...and so on primarily arranged age wise He caresses each and every image of hers to feel the nostalgia of different phases of her life right from her infant stage passing thro her childhood, teenage and adulthood.. some clicked with her school and college friends..and some clicked during academic events... and then his smile slowly vanishes seeing emptiness in the album...There has been no progress i.e no recent pictures or say this album is in a "Stand still for the last one year and he really feels edgy about it"

He keeps the album in its place. And he moves to another shelf where she has some childhood collections of dolls and tiny miny things. He moves few things to get a better glance of the things stored..and just then, something fell in his feet. He slowly takes it in his hand. It's a neatly gift wrapped item..he could feel there's some kind of cloth or fabric that's neatly folded in a rectangular form and Gift wrapped

Maan ST:

He is more curious to know about it..he checks the Label card attached to it and it confuses him even more...There are few lines written and then scratched but he is still able to read it... first line is written and scratched... "To My dear" the second line, its written, "For my close friend" and its again scratched... and then, its written, "To my dearest"...and again "My dearest" is scratched out...then, "To My"...again that has been scratched off...and Finally, its zeroed on "TO"... without any scratching on it but left blank for whom its addressed to.

Wonder what is this gift all about? And why so many scribbling on the label and why she hasn't opened it yet?

He is so curious to open it but withheld himself to do so...He keeps it back to its place safely...and still the question remains...

He checks the time and the night seems to be long and this room has already started to consume him with its loneliness. He desperately wants her presence by his side and moves out of his room finding his way to the staircase that takes him to the terrace and he is there...his racing heart calms down from the moment he gets a clear view of his sweet angel...

(To be continued...)

Meantime, please tell me how you liked it so far.