I See Right Through You- Chapter 34

Chapter:34

“Heart time bomb”

He just stared at the moon. Every single word she said replayed in his head.

You may, but before you do let me just tell you that you sound like an amazing guy. The girl you fell for did not realize what she had in front of her. She probably exhausted every way to push you away, to crush you. It’s not that she did not have any room in her life for you, she probably was scared to give you any room. She probably thought she didn’t deserve you. You may have screwed up, but I don’t think she gave you any other option. So don’t beat yourself up. It’s not your fault neither is it her fault. It’s the circumstances of the situation, like you said…she has demons she is fighting against. I’m not going to ask who she is or where is …or even why you are talking to your neighbor at this time of the night instead of her, but just know that wherever she is there is a void inside her heart. She misses you too regardless of how angry she may be at you right now. If its meant to be then she will come around. Don’t give up on her or true love just yet Mr.Neighbor.

Suddenly every doubt he had in his mind whether he was doing the right thing or not seemed clear. If the circumstances of the situation is at fault, then he is going to fight against those circumstances, even if it meant he had to pretend for a while who he truly was to her. If he was going to be honest then no, he had no idea where he was going with this plan of his or what he was even thinking when he came up with this plan. All he knew is that he didn’t mean to push her to the point of breaking point. All he wanted was to set her free. But he didn’t know. He didn’t know what the costs and consequences of setting her free were. Maybe it was that she didn’t have any room for him in her heart. Maybe it was that she was scared to give him any room. Maybe it was that she didn’t feel worthy for his love. But the biggest reason of all was that she didn’t want to feel. If she let herself feel love, then that meant she had to feel pain and that’s why she created a whole new persona for herself of a beautiful monster.

“Have you ever built a wall around your heart to keep all the pain away, even if it came at the cost of not letting love in?

His fingers tense and hold the metal railing of the balcony remembering her plea to Dev as she tried to run from him. It pained him deep, real deep to see her in so much pain and anguish. Any other person would think he is out of his mind, but YES! Yes, he was in love with a woman that was a walking time bomb, and her heart was the bomb. He already cut the wrong wire trying to diffuse her bomb and set her free causing her to lose her memories. God gave him another chance, and this time he would make sure he cut the right wire by winning her heart before time runs out and she get regains her memories. Otherwise if he fails and doesn’t win her heart before the possibility of her regaining her memories, the beautiful monster will come to surface and bury him and herself with the fire of the explosion that is her self-destruction. Suddenly the battlefield just became so much more dangerous, which meant no more time for feeling guilty. He was going to wake up tomorrow morning and work his deadly Maan Singh Khurana charm. He was going to make her feel his love. And it was going to be enough. It had to be.

****

It was a bright new day. The sun was stretching its rays even more today, right through Geet’s bedroom. She winced under the Sun’s gaze, frowning. Suddenly, her face relaxes, someone blocking the sun’s ray from falling on her face.  “Wake up. . paagli. I miss you!” She felt a hot husky whisper fan the side of her ear, before feeling warm lips come into contact with her neck. After a few seconds of all this sinking in, her eyes flutter awake, her body plunging her up.

She touches the side of her neck, glimpsing here and there. It was a dream, yet felt so damn real. She stands up and heads to the bathroom, splashing cold water over her face, still panting from the dream. She holds the edges of the sink, looking at her reflection in the mirror. Was this a sign? Did her subconscious know and remember something she doesn’t? Was it trying to tell her something? Geet takes a deep breath and then exhales slowly.  She was going to get to the bottom of this. She was going to smoke her secret admirer out. But for now she going to get ready for her first day back into college. She wasn’t going to lie, she was nervous. But now, she had a newfound confidence to tackle down each obstacle that stood in her way as a result of losing her memory. Her thoughts immediately rewinds to last night’s talk with Mr.Sexy Neighbor.   A smile pulls on her lips, grateful to him for more reasons than he may ever know.

*****

Maan hears her lock the bathroom door and the sound of water running. He finally uses the opportunity to come out of under the bed. He breathes a sigh of relief, knowing what he did was a huge risk, but he just couldn’t help himself. He grazes his lips with his finger, relishing in the small moment of sneaking in a kiss from the side of her neck. God did he miss her lips, but even that small contact was bliss. He knew after this she was definately thinking about getting to the bottom of this and finding out who her secret admirer is, to which Maan couldn’t help but grin. He wasn’t going to play easy nor was he going to give in any time soon.

“Pssst! Maan get your ass out of her room before she sees you!” Maan snaps out of his thoughts hearing Meera’s voice and leaves Geet’s room.

He picks up Meera and spins her around, Meera having to hold her screams, which were of more of shock.

Vicky and Dev just stare at each other with mouth wide open, gaping at their brother practically acting like well…Vicky.

“Thank you,” he mutters with a huge smile plastered on his face as he puts Meera down.

“uhh..your welcome. What were you doing in there anyway? You could of screwed things up!” Meera punches his shoulder.

“Messing with her poor head of course.” Armaan slams the refrigerator door shut, enjoying his piece of cake.

“Is that all you got Khurana. You are going to have to step up your game if you want to win her heart now,” Armaan teases.

“You don’t worry about that..I already won her heart once. I can do it again.”

“Isn’t someone overconfident?” Dev chuckles. “Don’t forget it’s Geet we are talking about.”

“Trust me. I know who I am dealing with.” Maan jibes with confidence.

“Anyways, it’s her first day back to college. She is no longer my secretary. I’ve spoken with the dean of the college and the professors. They are aware of her situation and are willing to still allow her to graduate, but she has a lot to catch up on.”

“Don’t worry bro. I’ll help her with her studies, like I usually do.” Dev holds back a smile, so no one could get suspicious.

“Pinky and Adi, you can continue your internships at Khurana Constructions, as with the rest of the interns. Don’t be late.”

“you got it.” Pinky and Adi say at the same time.

“Pindy, her father is being put to rest today. Go with her and then take her to meet her new empire, The Handa empire. I’ll take over things from there.”

“You got it Boss!” Pindy smiles.

*****

Here she was, in front of her college building with an unexplainable restlessness inside her heart that she puts aside, and strides in with confidence ready to take on anything and everything. Her gang of friends follow from behind protectively and happy with the attitude they saw Geet take with every step. This was the Geet they knew and the college knew very well and feared, which made them happy as hopefully no one would realize she didn’t have her memories and take advantage of the situation.

A guy with his back against the wall sees Geet walking toward him, taking his chance he whistles. ” Missed you babes. New look I like it,” he grins peering really close to her face.

Geet just stared at him, hiding the shock she was experiencing. Did this guy really just whistle at her? Boy did she get the urge to smash the teeth that he was showcasing as he grinned at her.

Geet’s friends froze. Meera giving the “oh fuck” look at Dev and Vicky. Vicky glared his eyes hinting that she should keep quite, because one wrong move and this guy could spill or even hint something to Geet about her usual ways. All they could do is pray nothing of such sort would happen.

“well aren’t you something. I’m sure if you were important I would have been filled in sweetheart.Now please move your face away from mine before I decide to get physical.” She says with a smile, that was of course forced.

Passer-byers chuckled while Geet’s friend’s breathed a sigh of relief. She may have forgotten her memories, but she was still her strong self.

“So bitchy and uptight. God I missed you. I’ll see you later” he winks and walks away leaving Geet even more stunned with his words. Wait what did he just say to her? Did this guy have no self-respect? What the hell did he think she was?

A scream of pain brought Geet out of her thoughts. She finds the guy squirming on the ground to her shock.

“What the hell dude! What is your problem!” The poor guy yelled from the ground.

The other guy turns around and Geet gets another surprise. Well wasn’t today just a day full of surprises.

“Haven’t you heard, I’m the new bodyguard.”

Geet looked at her friends, who were just as clueless as she was.

“Think twice before coming up to Miss Geet Handa’s face again or you might not just have a face to show her!” He sneered.

Geet felt like she was going to faint. What the hell was happening? Why were all the students looking at her weird. Like as if they had fear in their eyes. She would set Armaan straight later. This was just overboard! She did not need a freaking bodyguard for god sakes.

“Well with all this commotion, one would know Miss Geet Handa has made her presence very welcome .”

Geet turns around and sees a guy probably in his early fifties in a suit looking straight at her. She was praying inside that, that wasn’t the person she thought he was.

“Mr. Malhotra, I apologize. Geet was just going to class.” Armaan comes to Geet’s defense.

Crap he was the dean. Well so much for making a good impression on her first day back. But in her defense she didn’t even do anything. She gives a glare at Armaan. Who the hell did he think of himself! Oh yeah, how could she forget her bodyguard and this whole time she thought he was her child best friend. Boy did not having any memories suck right now!

“Right. Miss Geet a word in my office please. Then you can join everybody in class.”

Geet nodes and follows behind him.

*****

“Miss Geet , you know even with your memories gone, you haven’t changed one bit. Guess one shouldn’t hold high hopes.”

“Excuse me?” Geet felt appalled. Did he just attack her character?

“I know who you are. A person like you can’t change. You and your little boyfriend. God I don’t know what he sees in you. If i weren’t for him I wouldn’t have to bend so much more rules for you. I have bended enough. Graduation is two weeks away and yet here you are shamelessly trying to get it without even trying.”

Geet reddens, and was about to open her mouth when he interrupts. “No please. I know who you are. You are Miss Geet Handa, well I’m done dancing around your authority. This isn’t your playground, this is a very prestige college. I may have allowed you to come back, on your boyfriend’s request, but I doubt you can ever see that degree. You have to study and work for it and let’s just say that’s not exactly your cup of tea.”

She held back the tears trying to form in her eyes. Never did she feel so crushed and insulted. The man in front of her knew she had no memories, yet felt privileged to take advantage of her situation and insult her. Well not on her watch.

“No you are wrong Mr.Malhotra. You have no idea who I am, neither do I. But we both are surely about to find out aren’t we?” Geet hisses, watching fear replacing the happiness and satisfaction in his eyes. Geet wasn’t happy, only one thing ran through her mind. What did she ever do to him? And was she really who she just described her as? It didn’t matter, no guy this insensitive deserved to be the dean and so called mentor of students.

“You can’t hurt me, not anymore Miss Geet Handa. I’ve got respect, something you don’t have, at least not inside the walls of  this college.” He chuckles.

Ripples of shock rocked through Geet’s core. No she was refusing to believe anything that came out of this guy’s mouth. He was just trying to take advantage and paint an ugly image of herself for his sweet revenge. Pinky’s words raced through her mind. I may have never met you before but if anybody knew one thing about the Miss Geet Handa it was how she took life head on. You oozed with confidence and a classy persona. You had this very unique style of getting whatever you wanted it, because of the strong will you carried with your walk.

“Let’s play a game of hot and cold shall we?” she says testing the sound of her voice. She wasn’t going to let this bastard in front of her break her.

“I don’t know what I did to you, but right now I have a pretty good guess. It’s not my name that made you dance around my authority it was what I knew about you. And now that that is gone, you are trying to get rid of me because I can’t remember to hold it against you. Am I getting hotter? “

The fear and shock written over his face spoke for itself.

“Well guess what! I don’t know what the Geet you knew would do to you right now in a situation like this, but I certainly know what this Geet will do right now. “

“Like I said you can’t hurt me anymore,” a tear threatened to spill from his eyes, melting Geet’s anger. What the hell did she do to this guy?

“I’m walking away from this college. I don’t need your degree. In case you haven’t heard, I just inherited the Handa empire. Oh and in case you talk to my boyfriend also, tell him I’m smoking him out!” She slams the door open and rushes out to find her all her friends outside the door eavesdropping.

Armaan, Dev, and Vicky all rush to deal with Mr.Malhotra, but Geet blocks their way.

“Don’t you dare. This is my battle and I can handle myself.” Geet glares down at them.

“and I don’t need a bodyguard” she spit out looking at Armaan.

“Go to class, I’ll see you guys later.” She walks away, only for Armaan to follow her as he called out to her.

“well well look at here. First day back and you already got men chasing after you. God, Geet just how do you do it?” Naintara blocks Geet’s way, smirking.

“Don’t tell me you missed me too?” Geet says sarcastically. This day was just getting old.

“Geet don’t waste your breathe. Let’s get out of here.” Armaan butts in trying to save the situation before it got ugly.  Whose damn idea was it for Geet to come back to college, because it was plain stupid.

“Well well, you are her bodyguard now, how interesting. Words travel fast you see. It’s a shame, she degraded you to that. A handsome man like you deserves better.” She runs her finger down his face, only for him to grab her hand and push her against the wall with his body.

“Is that person you” Armaan grins.

“Only if you want it to be.” Naintara giggles.

Geet couldn’t believe her eyes, and just walks out of the college. This place was not a college, but a mental asylum and if she stayed any longer she might just as well lose her mind. The tears rolling down her cheeks, were the first sign of it.

****

“She what? Omg! Where is she now? ” Maan ran his hand through his hair in frustration as he spoke on the phone with Pindy Queen.

“No point in going now. Her father already got cremated. Why are you letting me know now that she disappeared? Go find her! I am not paying you for nothing!” Maan hangs up, wanting to break his phone.

“Geet where are you? This is not supposed to be happening like this. You were supposed to get a fresh start not fed hints about your past.” Maan talked with himself.

“DAMN!” he slams his fist against his desk.

****

Geet was aimlessly walking, with no direction. All she could think about were his words and how he feared her.

“Geet wait up!”

Geet stops in her tracks to find Dev breathless, having run after her.

“You want to talk about what happened?” He asks, placing his hand softly against her shoulder for comfort.

“Not unless you want to tell me who I was?” She softly bites back.

He sighs, running a hand through his hair. “Geet everything happens for a reason. Sometimes things come as blessing in disguise. Come on let’s sit down.” He entwines his fingers with her hand taking her by surprise and takes her to sit down on a nearby bench.

“What do you mean by that?” She asked looking straight into his eyes, a man who claims to be her best friend in college. Maybe he would enlighten her with some truth she hoped.

“Your memories were your enemy Geet. It held you prisoner for such a long time. You pushed people away from yourself to protect your heart from ever getting hurt again. For the longest time, I watched you party and drink your heart away, as if putting on this mask that you were the happiest and strongest person on this planet and nothing could break you down. But you were in pain. I tried to help you ease your pain, to get you to open up, but you pushed me away. I watched you from a distance, giving you your space or you threatened to walk away from me forever. I don’t know who hurt you, but I’m glad your free. You are finally free Geet…from yourself.”

I didn’t even notice when tears had escaped and trailed down my cheeks. I was crying for the girl that Dev described. A girl who felt so helpless and lonely. A girl that was supposed to be…me.

Dev wiped my tears away and shook his head saying, “You are Geet Handa! You know what that means? Men worshipped you and women envied and wanted to be you. You didn’t show any weakness. You still are that same person, just free from your demons. I didn’t want the shadow of who you were to fall on you and open your wounds. That is why none of us want to talk about the past. This is your chance to move forward. To start letting people in…to let me in.” He squeezed her hand hard, glaring deep inside her eyes.

At that moment she knew that he meant more than just a friend to this man. She felt angry at the Geet that she used to be for hurting him and pushing him away, but she couldn’t shake off the feeling that she might have not seen him the way he saw her. He said she was hurt and pushed people away. Her thoughts immediately go back to the letter that received from her secret admirer at the hospital. Was she hurt by him?

“Geet say something,” Dev whispers bringing her out of her thoughts.

I look at him feeling so much gratitude for having such a friend in my life. “Thank you.” I smile.

“There is so much I want to tell you, but when the time comes.” He kisses my forehead and despite wanting to she felt nothing with his touch.

No matter how she wanted to feel for the man who supported her in her darkest times, she felt nothing. One thing was clear that he was not her secret admirer because she could see the hope in his eyes that maybe there could be something between them in the future.

“Dev, I can see you have feelings for me, but I don’t remember anything nor feel anything. I don’t want you to get your hopes up. I don’t want to hurt you more than I already have.”

“Sweetheart, I have loved you this long with no expectations from you. But don’t take that hope from me. It’s all I have left…please .”A tear falls straight down his eyes.

I gasp seeing his pain. “I won’t,” Geet whispers, and instantly she could feel Dev inch closer to her face, while she stood frozen.

Just then Dev’s cellphone rings, breaking the silence in the air. Geet moves her face away embarrassed. She didn’t want to kiss him, but at the same time couldn’t get herself to move seeing the pain he was in all because of her.

“I found her. Don’t worry she is fine.” He smiles warmly at Geet, all the while Geet wondering who she was talking too.

He hangs up when she could clearly see the guy on the other end sounding very worried and almost screaming.

Who was he, and why was he so worried about me ! Geet thought to herself.

Right when she wanted to ask Dev he interrupts her. “Let’s go. Now that you have walked away from college, not that you even needed the degree. Your empire awaits you Miss Handa” He grins, standing up placing his hand out to her.

She giggles taking his hand and gets inside the car to go see how her Empire awaits for her. She looks out the window the whole time, letting Dev’s information about herself sink in. She had mixed feelings and suddenly more unanswered questions than before. She was all the more determined to find out who her mysterious lover was. Was he the reason she became who she used to be? Did his love ruin her? But isn’t love supposed to be your savior? Was he her savior ? Did she want to find him?

The answer was YES!  Even if there was pain involved, she needed to fill the emptiness that she felt inside her heart since the moment she woke up inside that hospital. It was better to feel something, than feel nothing at all. Even if he did ruin her, she would welcome the pain with the fact that maybe what she felt was real love. If its meant to be this is not how her story will end. She would make sure of it.

Dev could sense her lost inside her thoughts, but he was happy with himself. He had won a little piece of her heart and was going to make sure he won the rest of it too. He didn’t feel guilty, he loved her before Maan came into the picture. He couldn’t sit back and watch him lose Geet to Maan again. This time he would win her over! God was giving him a second chance that Maan lost.

Pre-cap:

Geet takes her first step inside her Empire that awaited for her only to find herself colliding with a hard and heaving chest.

Hi my lovely readers ❤ I missed you all! I know its been a year since I disappeared. I’m trying to get into the flow of things. Can’t promise regular updates, but I am trying to at least come back with updates. I know there was not much of Maaneet in this update, but you can pretty much guess there will be from the pre-cap. This chapter was important as it shows the players in the field of who wants to win over Geet’s heart, and her coming to terms with everything around her. She wants to know who her secret admirer is and will step up her game! Let the fun begin 😛