A ZAYA SS| Meet Me Halfway|Last Part-Page 15

Zain rang the bell to his house. Chand bibi opened the door.

"Zain beta!" she gasped.

"Tum toh kal aane vale the na? aaj kaise?"

"Woh meeting jaldi khatam ho gaya.. toh socha jaldi aa jau
ghar.. vaise bhi Singapore mein kya
rakha hai?"

Chand bibi looked at him
disbelievingly for a minute and then smiled

"Dulhan ke liye aaye ho na itna
jaldi?"

Zain looked everywhere else but at
her and said

"na..nai toh, main uss MKB ke
liye kyun aaunga jaldi.. wo-woh dad se
pata chala ki Mumbai mein barish ho rai thi toh isiliye-"

"haan haan thik hai. Main sab
janti hun" said chand bibi, her eyes twinkling.

Zain smiled and entered.

Zain? His mom called. "you were going to come tomorrow na?"

"Rehne doon Surraiya Begum, Aliya ke liye aaya hai jaldi..
hain na Zain?" asked his dad teasing him.

"kyun dad? Apko miss nai kar sakta?" said Zain, trying to
avoid the question.

"zarur kar sakte ho beta, but I guess Aliya ko zyada miss
kar rahe honge.."

"Dad, please.."

The fact was Zain was indeed missing her. All the time spent
in Singapore was a torture for him. All
he could do was think about her and miss their kitkit. He just couldn't sleep
without her kicking. He missed her scent. Her voice. Her laughter. Her smirk.
At first he thought he was going mad. He had replaced her scared face with a
smiling one as his screensaver. And all
he could do was talk to her picture and over think about the fact that she had
not called him once during his long stay of one week. One week! That was 168
hours.. meaning 10080 minutes. And that was 604800 seconds. How could she! Above
all he missed the time spent with her. His hands had developed a habit of
twitching towards his i-phone during seven in the evening, India time. Then it
hit him like a train. Why he became so inefficient. She was not with him. He
was in denial first. What could he do? For he was experiencing something he did
not believe in. But the longer he pondered the situation, the more restless he
was becoming. He longed to see her again. To tease her. To fight with her. To
touch her. To kiss her.

His eyes searched for her in the hallways. Sensing her son's
dilemma, Surraiya said:"Zain beta jao, fresh ho jao. Khana laga do chand bibi,
bharkhat bhi college se aati hi hogi. Usman saab,aap vapas office jaa rahe
hai?"

Zain tuned out the conversation as a new realization struck
him.

He loved her all right. Maybe love was a bit too farfetched.
Immensely attracted to her. Ya. That was it. But did she love him? Err.. immensely
attracted to him?

He started to panic. What if she did not? What if she did
not want to? What if she hated him? What was he supposed to do? Even
if she reciprocated his feelings, he very well could not burst inside their
room and proclaim his undying love (immense attraction) to her. She probably will die of heart attack. He might
as well electrocute her. But if anything
Zain was sure of, he was of himself. Not to sound like a cocky bas***d, but he
knew he had charms. And he also knew that she was at the least a bit affected
by him. Even if she was not immensely attracted to him, he will not back down. He
will go all the way. He will win her over. Because she was his, and he, hers. Alwayswas. Always is. And always will be.