AsYa FF| ~Woh Actually Thread 3 ~ part 19 on page 112 - Page 37

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Part15 - A Night Of Confessions (A)

"What do you meanby I don't know? I had specifically ordered for white lilies those are thebride's favourites so how can you say I've ordered for stupid orchids. Don'ttransfer your fault on me..." Zoya literally yelled in the phone while Dilshadand Najma stared at her, they had never seen her angry. She was stern and strictwhen it came to business and no doubt she was a wonderful wedding planner; shedelivered everything that the client's desired and even more and now that herclients were her best friends she would not tolerate any goof ups.

"Yes cancel thedamn order Mr Shah and get me the lilies." She gritted her teeth to stopherself from bursting at him again. Poor guy was already stuttering at theother end.

"Yes for thedecoration and a small hand bouquet for the bride to hold." Even though Amrinand Rehaan were muslim they had decided their wedding to not be typicallyreligious, they wanted it to be a blend of both American and Indian culturehence Amrin was going to walk down the aisle beside her father with a bouquetin her hand. It would definitely be something to watch a bride in Red Indianlehenga walking down the aisle to say "Qubool Hai". Yep very American-Indian!

"Oh please don'ttell me I have to come there to finalize things. I'll send my PA to do that andremember this Mr Shah if I get anything other than lilies I'm not going to paythe remaining money." With that she hung up the phone. Dilshad moved towardsher to tell her to have her breakfast when Zoya dialled her PA's number andbegan talking.

"Hi, Abdul youwill have to go to the florist to finalize the flowers..." "Yes I know they werefinalized but the idiot ordered orchids so now you will have to go again." She pleaded but something he said had her eyes turn wide.

"Your wife is in labour? Why is she in labour now can't she wait a little?" she blurted out withoutthinking. Asad had just come out of his room and he raised his eyebrowamusingly at her outburst. She soon realized what she had said in the momentand apologized.

"I'm so sorry Abdul, congratulations, Allah hafiz." She hung up before she furtherembarrassed herself by saying something equally stupid.

Dilshad who was waiting for her to finish her call to invite her over to the breakfast table stopped when once again Zoya called Amrin.

Uff this girl and her phone." she muttered and walked back to serve Asad.

"Amrin Moin Shaikh you better name one of your kids after me."

Everyone looked at her with different expressions. Asad massaged his forehead, Najma was giggling, Dilshad shook her head in a motherly gesture and Ayaan was having a hard time controlling his laughter. When finally Zoya was done with the call Dilshad stopped her from making another call and dragged her to the dining table making her sit on her chair and began serving her the breakfast. No doubt Zoya was hungry and she began scarfing down the hot parathas.

"Zo-Ms Farooquiyou can eat like a human no one will tell you anything." He smiled that teensy smile while Zoya glared at him.

"Phupi can you pack some parathas for me, I'll be leaving and I won't be back home till late in the night. I have to go to the florist and then food tasting and cake selection for the wedding." Dilshad smiled at her and was about to go inside the kitchen when she heard Asad saying something.

Ms Farooqui you should be back here by 8." He said while reading his newspaper. Zoya looked at him incredulously.

"Are you kiddingme Mr Khan? Didn't I just say I'll be back late? The caterer's shop is very far from home and I'm sorry if I don't own a magic carpet." She replied sarcastically.

"Then make sure you will leave early enough to reach here by 8." He shrugged nonchalantly. Zoya was just about to pick up the bottle of jam to throw on his big head but beforeshe could kill him Dilshad intervened.

"Asad, why don'tyou go along with Zoya? This way you can be assured she is safe and she can finish her work without a ticking clock on her head."

But Ammi I've got work."

"And so does she!Isn't her work important too?" Dilshad raised her eyebrow. Asad knew he wasfighting a lost battle and so he agreed grumbling to himself while Zoya heldher head high in pride.

Once theyfinished their breakfast an overexcited ran outside and stood beside the carwhile Asad took his own leisure time to pack his laptop, to make his tie, toremove the invisible threads on his cuffs and only when his Ms Farooqui shouted a loud "Mr Khan' did he fasten his pace. He saw Zoya almost jumping up and downlike a kid going to Disneyland.

"Ooh this is so exciting na Mr Khan? Like a long drive!"

"Ms Farooqui don't concoct stupid things in your pea-sized brain if ammi hadn't forced me Iwould've never agreed for this. And pray tell what's so exciting in work? Isn't it so monotonous?"

"Monotonous?Pfft, yeah that's your boring work Mr Khan not mine. I love planning weddings.Weddings are so cute na? The way the bride and the groom meet and talk secretly, the way all relatives gush about them, the whole surrounding becomesso colourful and cheerful, full of music and lights and..."

"Don't you ever use something called as a full stop? And cute? Weddings sure, but marriage never! The blushing bride and groom who are so lovey dovey, become two enemies on a battlefield, the relatives who gush about them are the ones who taunt them the most after the cute wedding is over, the once cheerful and colourful surroundingbecomes dull and drab and boring. Now can you for God's sake stop with themarriage talks it gives me a freaking headache." He massaged his forehead inhis signature style. There was two minutes of complete awkward silence whenZoya spoke up.

"Phupi is behind your life to get you married na Mr Khan?" she made the clicking sound of hertongue to display her pity. Asad let out an exasperated sigh. The girl couldnever shut up could she?

"By the way since when did you become such a huge fan of weddings? The last time I checked you despised them." He raised his eyes mocking her.

"It's nothing like that Mr... wait a minute how did you know that?" she looked at himaccusingly.

"Know what?" hescrunched his eyebrows in confusion.

"How did you knowI don't like marriages?"

Asad bit his lipinwardly. "Wild guess."

"Yeah right!' shewasn't buying it.

"Rehaan told me last night. Said even though you are a wedding planner and you love your job you still don't like marriages and that you are not too fond of getting into an alliance yourself."

"That tattling idiot!" she muttered under her breath. "Well Mr Khan your lil informer surelydidn't tell you this that I don't like the idea of getting married myself, butI do enjoy weddings. I think they are cute."

"So that's truethen huh? You don't wanna get married?" he waited to listen to her reply butshe didn't. He turned only to see her staring out of the window looking at thepassing trees and buildings and the stalls on the road. Maybe she didn't wantto answer or she didn't have the answer. Whatever maybe the reason for MsChatter-box's silence he decided not to pursue it and bask in the peace whichmay not last long.

Zoya may belooking out but her mind kept replaying his question. What could she answerwhen she was confused herself. Before coming to India, she was 100% sure abouther decision to never get married. She had seen it for herself what a marriagecan do to people. Her mother, her sister and she had suffered enough at thehands of her so-called father to know marriage was cruel and left one with abitter taste in the mouth. Films and TV serials portrayed the dream marriagewith a happy ending but her parent's marriage never had a happy ending. Asadhad been right, the loving couple become bitter after the marriage and thebitterness many times take a violent turn, she shuddered at the thought ofgoing through what her mum had been suffering. But then again she had somehowstarted to believe that falling in love may be beautiful. She has seen enoughcouples deeply and madly in love to know it. Her appi and jeeju are in loveeven after so many years of marriage, yes they fight but they make up too;Amrin and Rehaan are in love. She being the single lady amongst all her friendsalways felt like there was something missing, maybe it was the wholeness that apartner gave, the feeling of being complete and satisfied. She had everythingshe wanted and if all those couldn't provide her with that feeling ofcompleteness she knew she wanted that someone who could make her feel that. Butshe was scared and she was scarred, not physically but emotionally andmentally. She was scared to love and she didn't think anyone would want to bewith someone who carried a lot of baggage with her. She was confused and so shedecided to run away with the topic whenever it appeared.

As much as Asadloved the peace, he was being restless. For some reason he didn't like Zoya'ssilence. It bothered him but there was nothing he could do. He didn't want toget too close to her and hence he fought with her at every moment to preventher from coming close to him and yet circumstances only brought them closerevery time throwing all his silly thoughts out of the window. Last night theyhad been together more than ever and he liked it and now he longed for it buthe somehow reigned in his desires. He couldn't be falling for his Ms Farooqui,love only shattered people leaving them crippled. Love, a word which issupposed to be so full of a plethora of emotions is usually devoid of any. Hisfather had proved it to him...

oOo

For the firsttime in his life he actually longed to go back to his office. He now realizedbeing a wedding planner isn't a child's play. Roaming around in the blazingheat, he now missed his cool and cozy office where he worked just sittingbehind the desk. The only time he felt a little content was when they went to the caterers for food tasting. He was happy he could finally rest his feet,lean back on the chair and fill his hungry stomach. The visit to the cake shop was the worst. The numerous flowery two-tiered and three-tiered cakes made him nauseous and he was glad Zoya didn't take eons to decide which one was to beordered. It was late in the night when they were finally done and sat inside the car to return back home. Asad was tired and he just wanted to fall on the bed. Zoya leaned back in the seat and rubbed her neck. As much as she lovedplanning weddings, the task was very tiring and left her completely exhaustedat the end of the day. She remembered she had to get the appointment of theparlour, ask Abdul about his wife and even call the hotel booked for Amrin and Rehaan's honeymoon to check if all the preparations would be done before they reach but her eyes kept drifting shut and so she decided to make the necessary calls in the morning.

"So Mr Khan how did you find a day in the life of a wedding planner?" she mumbled sleepily.

"Horrible! And it just strengthened my resolve to never get married. It's a pain in the ass."

"I second that."She giggled and slowly drifted off to sleep. Only after a few minutes she was woken up from her sleep when she felt the car jerk and heard some rumblingnoise. She half opened her eyes and mumbled sleepily,

"What happened Asad." But she got no response so she opened her eyes awake to see the car haltin the middle of the road. It was dark and they were surrounded by the woods onboth the side. Asad hit the accelerator again and again, the car whirred butdid not stir. Zoya's face pulled down in a grimace and she let her head fall backon the seat.

"Car problems?"

"No shit Sherlock." He muttered grumpily.

"What are we going to do?" she asked as Asad took out the keys of the car, opened his doorand got out stretching his hands and flexing his fingers.

"We are going to move out the car stretch a little, maybe attend to the call of nature and then find some sticks for the fire; this place can get very cold at night. C'mon out you come."

Zoya looked horrified at the prospect of spending night in a forest on a deserted road.When she saw Asad move away from the car she came out hastily and shouted,

"Are you kiddingme? Can't you call a mechanic or someone?"

He removed hisphone from his pocket and shoved it on her face.

"No network MsKnow-it-all! Now I'm going ahead to find us a nice warm place. You can staybehind in the car all alone or you come with me. Your call." He threw the keys at her which she caught in her hands awkwardly after which he turned around andbegan walking ahead. Zoya looked at him, frustrated with everything and wentinside the car. She sat there for a few minutes suddenly becoming hyper awareabout her surroundings as she whipped her head around at even the slightest ofsound made by the cricket or the ruffling of leaves. When she heard the howlingof the wolf or dog or whatever she panicked and ran out of the car followingthe path Asad took, she stumbled quiet a lot but finally saw Asad sitting onhis knees and arranging the wood to make a small fire. She wiped the sweat off her forehead and silently sat next to him. Asad smiled and took out the lighterfrom his pocket to light the fire. Warmness spread around and Zoya felt herselfrelax a bit but not so much. She didn't quite like the idea of sitting on thedirty ground and spoiling her pretty dress. She made a face and began dustingsome of the mud off her dress. Asad shook his head and stood up, Zoya stared athim in confusion. He returned back with a few leaves that had fallen around atree and dropped it on the floor, motioning her to sit on it. Zoya flashed herbeautiful dimples and he thought he forgot to breathe for a second. He settledhimself beside her as he continued to stare at her, her face glowed due thefire making her look even more beautiful.

"I'm glad youdecided to come after me, there are wolves in the forest."

Zoya shivered andlooked behind consciously. Asad chuckled looking at her scared face and he liedback on the ground with his hand around his eyes to shield them from the lightof the fire.

Asad if you don'tmind can I ask a question? I've tried asking the same to phupi and Najma butthey always change the topic."

"Mm-Hmm." He hummedwhile keeping his eyes closed.

Zoya took in adeep breath and asked, "Where is Rashid uncle?"

XXX

A/N - Have I lostsome viewers? Seems like I have! Hence a cliffy to keep the remainder hooked.😆

I'm back from thevacation along with an update. It's a long one so hope you guys liked it.

Part B of thiswill be up ONLY when I get 20 pages of genuine comments. Not spams but commentsabout the story, about the fiction, how I am doing as a writer, how I should bedoing, the things this story lacks and the things it has. Negative positive everythingis welcome but I need 20 pages of real comments to get going.

All the writerson whose story I comment I'm sorry for being invisible for such a long time I'llget back to commenting in a while.

Love,

Sadie!😃