I had to do something. Something so that this woman would be out of my path. But what could I do? I had to find out. And for that, I had to join them and that was exactly what I did.
"Hi everyone"
"hey Bobby. Kaha gayab ho gayi thi tum? Hum sab tumhaari intezaar kar rahe the." Aliya asked me trying to be all so sweet and impress my Zain. But I'm not a fool Aliya.
"Main toh yahi this. Socha kind meri didi ki sab me saath baat hojaaye phir main aau" she did not seem comfortable because all my friends started questioning our relationship which she answered.
"Guys baatein toh hot I rehti hai, drinks hi toh lo" Shawn said abruptly. What a lovely timing yaar. I still remember the kind of lecture I heard after I offered miss perfect some champagne in her welcome party. Sharap haram hota hai my foot. Let her give the same lecture I'm sure all my friends will disapprove her addition right here.
"ha yaar. Tab se bas baat kiye jaa rahe hai. Host ji, drinks order karenge? " kartar asked.
I would have whacked him if it was any other day but not today. He must be surprised at that too as I gave a sugary sweet smile.
"Abb yeh kaunsi nayi pub hai kind mujhe order Karna pade? Aap sabko dekhke hi waiters pehchaan lenge aur aapki drinks denge. Bas Aliya di keliye hume order Karna padega. Woh alcohol nahin leti na" I said looking at her affectionately. The reaction was as expected. All my friends looked at each other's face and then at Aliya. But that chudail's eyes were fixed on Zain!I wanted to strangle her right there.
"Sachi Aliya, tum sharap nahin peeti? I mean, you've started abroad for so many years , phir bhi tum alcohol nahin peeti ho? Not even beer?",Natasha asked her. Time for a speech I guess.
"No. Not even beer. I did not see the need to do so. Maine bachpan se apni ammi se yahi seekha hai ki sharap haram hota hai. Aur main iss duniya ki kisi bhi kone me rahu, unki baaton ko kabhi nahin taalti. At the same time, main kisi pe bhi apni principles ko force nahin karti. Toh aapko mere baare me sochne ki zaroorath nahin hai. Aap sab wahi pee sakte hai joh humesha peete ho. I think I'll have some juice" she said adding a smile at the end. And what was worse, these people seemed impressed! Especially Zain. He was just starting at her without even blinking. I clenched my first and tightened my jaws to control my anger but it did not seem to help. I had to hurry.
"Fine, so main aap sab keep liye aapki regulars aur di me liye orange juice order karti hoon" I said in a hurry and was about to leave when Zain me.
"Bobby, mere liye koi soft drink order karo and not my regular", he spoke pretty emphasizingly earning admiring and loving(?) looks from Aliya. How I wanted to separate those eyes from that pretty skull or hers. I wanted to ask Zain why as I noticed something. Zain had raised his eyebrows and looking at Rizwan. Rizwan gave a questioning look to which Zain simply nodded. What the hell! Was he trying to be supportive or impress her? But anyone else who would have seen the dynamics between the two would have thought that there was something cooking between the two. I turned to Aliya to see her looking at Zain and Rizwan with narrowed eyes. Wait. So now does Aliya think that something is cooking between Zain and rizwan? Awesome. Now u know exactly what to do.
You were trying to impress her weren't you Zain? Now you will not be able to look into her eyes. And breaking of your friendship automatically meant her exit from the group. Poor Zain. Even if you were now trying to just support her, she would think you were just trying to impress her and be the hero in front of everyone and not support her genuinely. Because handling yourself after a glass of vodka instead of some soft drink will not be easy for you, isn't it Zain? So you will drink vodka instead of soft drink, and unfortunately, behave drunk. And Aliya will think that you yourself instructed Rizwan to spike your drink. Even if not, I'll make her think so.
I don't know why but she seemed so genuine that I remembered dad's words. He had always tried to stop me from drinking. He had always tried to instill each and every value of our religion in me. But somehow MIT had been successful in making me overlook this principle of my maker. I had taken to alcohol too as a part of the cool gang of Indians out there in a foreign land but had failed to let go if the coolness when I returned. Dad had always been unhappy about this and had advice me to let go off the drinking habit bit I had always neglected his words.
Somehow I had a arrange urge to think about call his words when I heard Aliya speak about her parents teaching her these principles which she follows religiously. her words and more than that, her eyes clearly showcased the fact That her following the principle was not an effect of her religiousness but of her love and respect for her mother who was no more with her. I remember Bobby once mentioning that she lost her mother when she was 10 which meant Aliya was around 12. She would have been very close her probably. And I wanted to join her. Not just to support her decision and feelings connected to it but also respect my own relationships and the emotions attached to it. I wanted to do it for dad, and for the love we have for each other. I wanted to do it because my conscious was shouting out inside me that this was right.
"Bobby, mere liye koi soft drink order karo and not my regular", I spoke as I saw Bobby was just about to leave.
By instinct, I looked at Aliya. And as usual she had an expression I could not decipher. I wonder if I would ever be able to gauge her feelings by her expressions. But all I could say was that she was affected. She was clearly affected by my words and actions. But was it a positive effect or a negative one, I did not know. I quickly looked at Rizwan. In fact I just wanted to avoid contact with her eyes. Rizwan's eyes were not undecipherable for good. He clearly wanted to know if I was doing it for myself or just to I impress her.I just nodded slightly, looking straight into his eyes signifying that I did all this out of my own accord.
I turned to look at everyone again when I found Bobby still standing there, with a victorious smirk on her face. Something is going on in that little head of gets I'm sure.
"Bobby, tum abb tak yahi khadi ho?" I asked her.
She clearly fumbled before she found some lame excuse and rushed out of the place. I did not get positive vibes from her but decided to ignore it for good and resumes to chatting. Aliya had lost the admiring look. She seemed lost. In fact she seemed to be thinking hard about something. I wonder why this girl thinks so much.
We had spent a few minutes chatting about anything and everything in the world when the waiter served our drinks. Bobby had ordered some fruit juice for Aliya and some transparent soft drink for me. I never knew fruit juices were available in this place.
I picked my glass and was about to take a sip when I saw Aliya. Her face was contorted in the cutest way possible with the most endearing pout of the world on the adoring face of hers...
"Kya hua" I sales her in amusement just to be greeted by a pair of puppy eyes.
"Mujhe orange bilkul pasand nahin hai," she said in a childish tone."...mujhe toh iski smell are bhi nafrat hai"
"Bobby toh yeh baat tumhe nahin pata tha?" Alisha asked Bobby.
Both the sisters' eyes widened at that time and they looked at each other nervously.
"Woh...London-jaane-se-pehle-main-orange-leeti-thi. Lekin-waha-jaane-ke-baad-mera-taste-badal-gaya. Aur... Wapis aane ke baad bhi,... Kabhi iss baare me humaari baat nahin Hui...toh, Bobby kuch nahin jaanti. Hai na Bobby?" Things seemed fisher than ever!
"h..h..haa. Di is right. I did need t know. Main much aur order karti hoon."
Why were both of them fumbling? I could clearly see that Aliya was not alright. Just like the day when Sana asked her about Zubair. She seemed tensed. She seems is hiding something for sure. But what could it be?
"Ha Bobby, may be you can order just a coke for me" Aliya spoke up breaking my thoughts.
"Uh, may we can exchange our drinks. I don't mind having orange juice. So instead of wasting the juice, you can exchange it with mine." I told her casually.
"Nahin" Bobby shouted instantly and all of us looked at her flabbergasted face.
"Mera matlab,main dust a order karleti hoon na. Zain ko kisi aur ki juice peene ko kya zaroorath hai?"
"Bobby, hum dono me apne drinks jhoota nahin kiya hai. Aur kya problem hai agar yeh juice mere liye order nahin kiya hai? Peene mar thodi jaunga." I spoke casually and kept my glass in the counter and pulled the glass out of Aliya's hand, I took a sip from it. It tasted pretty good ha. I looked at Aliya to see a you-can-never-change expression on her face. I just shrugged and went back to my juice but observed her pick my glass and gulp the drink with a strange expression on her face.She stopped for a second and looked at the glass with dazed eyes. What the hell is wrong? She then drank the entire drink in one go and gulped hard. She shook her head rigorously and looked at me with narrowed eyes.
That's chapter 10(A)
Next is Drama Queen Senior.
Thank you again for your support.
I am still waiting for unreses
Do like and comment
P.S. Sumi, its OK... But geet0910 exists.. She even commented on the previous chapter.
P.P.S. all the lovely writers of the forum, I'm loving your works, they are amazing. But I can't comment , thanks to my super slow phone and net.
P.P.P.S. Congo to avi Jaan for becoming a rockerz and alina for becoming a Dazzler. Love you both.
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