*hides behind chair* HIII. I know I am really late (like a month) but my boyfriend's grandma passed away so I was away for two weeks and then I had to cover shifts at the hospital since people covered mine for two weeks, all in all I had absolutely no time between work and my boyfriend. Sorry. I also haven't watched Beintehaa in the past month so I have no idea what is going on in the show but my friend says it sucks, so I guess I am probably not going to bother catching up. Anyway here is the next chapter! NO ONE GUESSED WHO THE COUPLE WAS, it's not Aayat + Rizwan or Fahad + Nafeesa, so you all are in for a surprise ;) Do let me know what you think!
AND AND AND EID MUBARAK TO EVERYONE WHO CELEBRATES!
Chapter 5 - The Folly
3:30pm
Aaliya's POV
I felt like time stopped and my heart sank in my chest as the car hit Zain, the bags dropped out of his hands and he went flying through the air with the force of the hit. That whole time slowing down thing, yeah, it actually happens, I felt like he was in the air for a long time before he hit the ground. He fell on his left side and I am sure I heard something crack.
"Zain!" I yelled running towards him and falling to the floor beside him. "Zain." I said holding his face in between my hands. "Zain!" I tried again but he didn't even move. I put my fingers underneath his nose, he was breathing. "Zain, aankhe kholo!"
"Bhaiyoo." Barkat said from next to me, I hadn't even noticed that she was right by me with Mom and Mami. "Maa, call dad!" She called out to a crying Mami who snapped out of it and nodded.
"Zain." I said shaking him. "Zain Abdullah, you better wake up right now or I am never going to talk to you again." I cried hitting his arm.
"Owww, Mamu Ki Bhanji." He groaned blinking a few times. He looked around dazed, his pupils were fully dilated and he cringed every few seconds, I was sure that he had a concussion. I moved my hands behind his head, on the base of his neck and dragged them upwards through his hair. There was no blood on the back of his head, with was a good sign but his forehead had a huge gash in it. He looked around like he didn't know what was happening before he tried to get up. Barkat helped me to get him to sit upright.
"Tum theek toh ho naa?" I asked touching the wound on his forehead that was bleeding. [Are you okay?]
I suddenly felt my heart plummet and my mind started ticking putting the past few minutes together "Aise road cross karte hai kya? Dekhkar nahi chal sakte, kuch hogaya hota toh?" I didn't know where all this was coming from, but I felt restless and I wanted him to talk but he wasn't and that worried me. "Chalo." I said grabbing his arm to help him stand up but he let out a loud yell. "Sorry! Sorry!" I said realizing that it was the arm he fell on. Stupid stupid Aaliya! [Is that how you cross the road? Can't you look properly, what if something happened to you?]
"Zain! Allah ka lakh shukar hai ki tum theek ho." Mami sighed as Barkat and I helped Zain up. My mom got a handkerchief out of her bag and handed it to me. I wiped the blood off his face and pressed it over the wound on his forehead, applying pressure to stop the bleeding. [Thank god that you're fine.]
"Uss car mein koi dent-went toh nahi aaya?" Zain laughed holding the handkerchief to his forehead himself. [I didn't dent the car or anything right?]
"Shut up!" I said to him, he would be joking at a time like this. "It's not funny."
"Chill, I am okay." He said.
"Yeah, dikh hi raha hai." I said looking at his arm, which was hanging at an awkward angle. [Yeah, I can see that.]
"Ek toh accident hua hai, aur uppar sai mujhe hi daant rahi ho." He complained looking at me. [First I get in an accident and now you're yelling at me?]
"Shukr maano maar nahi rahi hoon." I said. [Be greatful that I am not hitting you.]
"I am so sorry..." A voice came from behind me. "Maine toh aapko dekha hi nahi..." It was a guy, possibly Zain's age, so he was driving the car. [I didn't even see you.]
"What do you mean dekha nahi?" I said to him feeling the anger boil within me. "Agar dikhtha nahi toh car maat chalaya karo, itna bada aadmi dikha nahi. Tum andhe ho? Isse kuch hojata naa toh..." I yelled as he cowered under my glare. [What do you mean you didn't see him? If you can't see then don't drive, how do you miss such a huge man? Are you blind? What if something happened to him?]
"Calm down Aaliya!" Zain said grabbing my hand. "It's okay dude, accidents happen, I wasn't looking either." Zain said to him.
"It's not okay! CALL THE POLICE. THIS IDIOT."
"I am so sorry." He said again to Zain.
"Don't talk to him. Barkat! Write down his plate number and get his name, this idiot..."
"I am really sorry." He said again as Barkat noted down his plate number.
"You better be." I murmured. "Ab chalo!" I said to Zain. "I'll drive." I turned around to see Mami and Mom looking at me peculiarly, they looked at me and then down and then at Zain. What the hell? It took me a while to realize that my hand was still intertwined with Zain's. I let his hand go and let Barkat lead him to the car. The drive home was quiet, I was still feeling uneasy about what had happened, the thought of something happening to him killing me. Mom and Mami kept looking at Zain while Barkat just sat there tensed.
We were greeted by the rest of the family when we got out of the car. They led Zain to his room where the doctor was already ready with a nurse at his side. The doctor, of course, pushed everyone out of the room as he examined Zain. I paced the hallway outside his room waiting, it was an hour later that the doctor let us back in.
"There was no fracture in his arm, I just had to pop his shoulder back into its place. It will hurt for a few days but there's nothing wrong with it. Luckily he doesn't have a concussion. The gash in his forehead was quite deep so I had to stitch it, his bandage needs to be changed every day and he should not be straining himself for at least a week. I am leaving a bottle of pain meds here, he should take them twice a day but no more than that." The doctor instructed everyone before leaving, Fahad followed behind him.
"Hello." Zain smiled at everyone as they stepped stared at him, his usually large room looked a lot smaller with everyone in it.
"Bhaiyoo, aap theek ho naa?" Barkat asked. [Are you okay?]
"Yaar, thodi si hi chot lagi hai, chill Bak-Bak." He replied smiling, idiot, he could try and hide it but I noticed that he cringed every time he moved even a little bit. [It's just a scrape, chill.]
"Mein tumhare liye soup lekar aati hoon." Mami said getting up from the stool that was beside his bed. [I'll get you some soup.]
"Zain ko rest karne dete hai." Mamu said looking around the room. Everyone nodded and started walking out the door, their faces still filled with worry. [We should let Zain rest.]
"Chalo Aaliya." My mom said looking at me. I looked at her and internally sighed, I didn't want to leave but I couldn't stay without causing them to be suspicious...and they seemed to be watching me really closely after the incident. I nodded and followed her outside.
5:30pm
Zain's POV
After insisting and begging to be allowed to move from the confines of my room my mother finally allowed me to walk to the living room and sit among everyone else. I chose to sit in the one in the middle, claiming that it was the optimal position for the AC but the truth was I just wanted to sit next to Aaliya. I knew for a fact that her mind was working overtime, she had that worried look on her face and kept looking at me. It was kind of sweet that she was so worried for me, I honestly thought she was going to hit the guy who hit me. That would have been really amusing to watch to be quite honest, maybe I should have let her on him.
I sighed as Mom and Phuphi came to sit by us running any chance I had to hold a conversation with Aaliya, Barkat was sitting across from us typing away on her iPhone...as usual.
"Zain, yeh dekho." Mom said smiling and passing me a thick envelope. [Zain look at this.] She looked a bit too perky, and I knew my mother a bit too well, having spend nine months inside her and the remaining 23 in her close vicinity, so it wasn't hard to conclude that she's up to something.
"Yeh kya hai?" I asked confused, and a bit afraid. But no one must know the latter, it doesn't go well with my image. [What is this?]
"Open it." She said excitedly.
Okay then, my mother was being awfully cryptic. What the hell was in this envelope? I held the envelope up in the air and shook the contents out of it. To my surprise a bunch of pictures fell out.
"Yeh ka hai?" I asked confused picking them up, they were pictures of girls. What the hell? [What is this?]
"Tasveerain..." Mom replied. [Pictures.]
"Kiski?" [Of?]
"Ladkiyon ki." [Girls]
"Lekin kyun?" I asked, obviously I knew they were pictures of girls, I had functioning eyes and a brain. But why was I supposed to look at them? [But why?]
"Baat saaf hai Zain, ab Fahad ki shaadi hojaygi toh mujhe tumhari shaadi kai baare mein bhi to sochna padega. Aur tumne kaha tha ki tum ek aisi ladki sai nikaah karoge joh mujhe pasand ho." She said. What? Nooo, what? What? What? WHAAAT? [It's quite clear, Fahad is going to get married soon and now I need to start thinking about your wedding. You said that you would marry a girl I liked.]
"But mom-." I started to say but she interrupted me.
"Ab yeh maat kehna ki meine shaadi nahi karni." She said. [Don't say that you don't want to get married now.]
"Lekin mom-" [But mom-]
"Pictures dekho! At least mujhe pata toh chale ki tumhari pasand kya hai." [Look at the pictures, I should know what your likes and dislikes are.]
I looked to my left to see a flabbergasted Aaliya, her eyes were wide as she looked at my mom and then back at me, and then down to the envelope in my hand. What was I supposed to say now? Well I could just look at Aaliya and yell I LIKE THIS ONE. Or I could just kiss her and then I wouldn't have to speak because...well I think they'd understand.
"Acha, tum rehne doh. Aaliya! Tum choose karo." Mom said passing the pictures to Aaliya. PSHFTTT. Yeah, let Aaliya choose mother, if you only knew. [All right, leave it. Aaliya! You choose.]
"Meh-." Aaliya said...well stuttered. I looked at her questioningly, how do we get out of this one?
"Haan, yeh waali kaisi hai? Sundar hai naa? Iske dad Khan Villas ke maalik hai." Mom said passing the first picture to Aaliya. Aaliya looked at me and then down at the picture and then back up at me again. She looked kind of pissed, ah, she was jealous, and I f**king adored jealous Aaliya. [Yes, what about her? Isn't she pretty? Her dad is the owner of Khan Villas.]
"Dikhana." I said just to spite her. [Show me.] I took the picture in my hand and looked at it, she was pretty enough I guess. Her smile was very fake though, and her eyes weren't as deep and mesmerizing as Aaliya's. "She's hot." I said to annoy Aaliya. I watched amused as her eyes grew wide and anger flashed across her face. Her cheeks colored making her look even more beautiful than she usually did. She glared at me and then turned away, a sour look on her face.
"Theek hai, iski naak thodi moti nahi?" She said looking at Mom. I tried to stifle my laughter and looked at the picture again. Her nose was quite normal to be honest. [She's allright, isn't her nose really big?]
"Acha? Yeh waali? Iska naam Asma hai, Abbas Textiles ki sole owner. Bahut pyari hai." Mom said passing another picture to Aaliya. I grabbed it out of her hand before she could look at it. [Really? What about her? Her name is Asma, the sole owner of Abbas Textiles, she's adorable.]
"Dekhao. Oh wow, yeh toh aur bhi zyada hot hai." I said, and she was but she wasn't Aaliya. [Show me, oh wow, she's even hotter.] Aaliya's glare grew darker, and she sarcastically smiled at me before pinching my side covertly. Owww, the woman needs to cut her nails. She grabbed the photo out of my hand and took a good look at the picture, her face was quite interesting to watch.
"Haan, mami yeh thodi zyada hi hot hai, iss bandar ke saath jodi kuch jaamegi nahi." She said smiling and threw the picture on the center table. [Yeah Mami, she's way too hot, this monkey can't possibly match up.]
"Acha?" Mom laughed and passed another picture to me. I took a look at the picture and then at my mom and then back at the picture confused. What the hell- was she...
"Mom, yeh toh Aaliya-" [Mom, this is Aaliya-]
"Oh! Sorry! Shabana, yeh toh Mrs. Hussain ko bejhni thi naa, unke betai Arman ko dekhane ke liye." Mom said looking at Phuphs. WHO THE f**k IS ARMAN? AND WHY DOES HE NEED TO LOOK AT A PICTURE OF MY WOMAN? [Oh sorry. Shabana, we were supposed to send this to Mrs. Hussain, for her son Arman.]
"Haan Bhabi! Waise ladka bahut acha hengai." Phuphs said sounding like she was half in love with the guy. What? She was supposed to say that about me...BUT WHO THE HELL IS ARMAN? [Yeah, he's a nice boy.]
"Bilkul, doctor hai. Handsome hai, aur itne ache ghar sai bhi hai." My mom answered. Doctor? Oh shit, it can't be. [Absolutely, he's a doctor, he's handsome and he's from a good family.]
"Arman? Hussain? Woh Delhi waala?" That asshole was the most boring person on Earth, he always sat in the corner of the room and read books. He didn't watch sports, he didn't play outside or pull pranks on other people with us when we were kids.
"Haan." Mom said.
"Woh toh bilkul boring type ka hai, Aaliya aur uske saath?" He would bore her to death, Aaliya needed someone upbeat, someone fun, someone spontaneous - Aaliya needed me! [He's completely boring, Aaliya with him?]
"Haan phir toh-" [Yeah, that's why-]
"Mom, Aaliya sirf 22 saal ki hai!" I yelled. [Mom, Aaliya's only 22.]
"Zain, tum itne excited kyun ho rahe ho?" My mom asked. [Zain why are you getting so excited?]
"Aaliya tum hi batao." I said turning to Aaliya who was still wide-eyed. [Aaliya, you tell me.]
"Mein-"
"Aaliya ko koi problem nahi hengi bhabhi, iske liye aisa hi ladka chahiye mujhe. Ab 22 ki toh ho hi gaye hai, degree bhi khatam ho hi gayi hai toh abhi sai sochna hi padega." Phuphs said. [Aaliya has no problems with it, he's exactly the type of man I want for my daughter. She's already 22, she's almost done school so I have to start thinking about this now.]
I looked at Aaliya and then back at our moms. There was no way in hell Aaliya was marrying anyone, no Arman Hussain or anyone else. She was going to be Aaliya Zain Abdullah and that was it.
"Mom, Phuphs...humne aap ko kuch batana hai." [We need to tell you something.]
"Ah, beta baad mein. Humko Nafeesa kai ghar jaana hai. Chalo Shabana." Mom said getting up and scurrying away with Phuphi. [Later, we need to go to Nafeesa's house, let's go Shabana!]
I turned around to look at Aaliya who was staring at me.
"What the hell was that?" I asked.
"I have no idea." She replied.
"Bhaiyoo...aapko mom aur phuphi ka behavior thoda ajeeb nahi laga?" Barkat piped up from her place. [Didn't you find their behavior a bit odd?]
"Kaise?" I asked. [How?]
"Baat unhone chedi bhi aur puri bhi nahi ki...aise hi bhaag gaye." Barkat noticed. [She brought the topic up and they didn't even finish talking about it, they just ran out.]
"Yeh hot hai naa..." Aaliya said throwing a picture at me. "...toh isse hi shaadi karlena idiot." She said before stomping up the stairs. [She's hot right? So marry her you idiot.]
"Aaliya! I was just kidding! Come back." I yelled after her but to no avail.
"Ooohhh burn." Barkat laughed typing away on her phone yet again.
"Shut up Bak-bak. Aur yeh kisko saare din text karti rehti hai?" I asked. It was almost as if she was glued to the phone 24/7 these days. [And who do you keep texting all day?]
"Apne friends sai bhaiyoo." She rolled her eyes before getting up. [My friends obviously.]
"Don't leave me all alone." I pleaded.
"Too bad." She laughed before going up the stairs.
9:30pm
Zain's POV
Mom and Phuphi came home after dinner and didn't talk to Aaliya or me before they scurried away to mom's room on some apparently "wedding business". It was almost as if they were working on some secret mission that no one should know about because they shut the door and then went on whispering.
And how do I know? Because I am totally besharam, and I stood outside the door, with my ear to it. Sue me. It wouldn't have done it if it hadn't been completely necessary, but sadly no good came out of it because I couldn't make out a word. All I knew was that I was screwed and so was Aaliya.
Aaliya was also mad at me, which sucked...a lot. She refused to talk to me, every time I would start to talk she would walk away after glaring at me. Maybe I went a bit overboard with making her jealous...maybe. She had announced that she was going to sleep and disappeared, she is so cruel to me.
And that is exactly why, I, the Zain Abdullah, was sneaking around my own house like a thief. I couldn't climb terraces and do the more romantic stuff because I was injured and under the influence of pain medications. So that is exactly why I was crawling, using one arm at that, around on the floor of my house, we needed to hire new cleaners because the sides of the wall were filthy. Seriously.
I heard Aayat's snore before I even crawled into the room, I thought Aaliya would be on the other side of the bed but she the bed was empty. I stood up and looked around the room but she was nowhere to be found, nor was my sister for a matter of fact. I was about to leave, feeling dejected, when I noticed two people on the little terrace outside the room. Bingo.
I slowly walked towards the open French doors when I heard whispering and the whisper sounded very masculine at that. I could now make out that one person was a woman with long straight hair, also known as the bane of my existence since my parents walked into the house with her - aka Barkat Abdullah. I was about to say something when I felt a hand clasp over my mouth, I turned around shocked to see Aaliya. Holy, she scared the hell out of me. I gave her a questioning look and she looked towards the terrace.
"Speak quietly." She whispered removing her hand.
"What is going on?" I whispered.
"That's what I am trying to find out." Aaliya whispered.
"There is a guy out there." I said looking towards Barkat and whoever, I heard her giggle quietly and saw that she hit the guy in the arm.
"Really? I hadn't noticed." Aaliya said, sarcasm dripping from her voice.
"Oh, I am going to kill him." I said suddenly feeling angry, who the hell was this guy and why was he at my house?
"Are you stupid?" She whispered. "This is probably why she didn't tell you, we have to talk to her. She might like this guy."
"Like...she's a little girl."
"She's only four years younger than you!" She whispered sounding exasperated. Exactly, she is four years younger than me...she can't like a guy.
"That is exactly my point."
"Shut up with your double standards." She said whacking me in the head, hard.
"OW." I yelped, Aaliya's eyes grew wide as she turned towards the terrace. I followed her gaze to see a frozen Barkat, standing beside a guy...we will proceed to call him cradle-robber for frolicking with my little sister.
"B-Bhaiyoo." Barkat stammered her eyes still wide.
The cradle-robber had the same look on his face. I walked out onto the terrace with Aaliya behind me.
"What is going on here? Yeh kaun hai?" I said glaring at the cradle-robber, I smiled on the inside when I noticed him gulp nervously.
"Uh...woh..."
"Arjun Kirloskar." The guy said holding his hand out, I looked at him and noticed that he was suddenly not scared anymore. And I didn't like that, so I did not shake the cradle-robber's hand. I looked at Barkat expectedly and she looked at Aaliya almost pleadingly, ah, nothing is going to save you from this sister dearest. [Imagine Rithvik Dhanjani as Arjun, I wasn't going to have Asha as Barkat without giving her Rithvik].
"Uh...Bhaiyoo. This is Arjun, um, I like him?" Barkat said, it sounded more like a question than a statement.
"Oh do you now? Are you sure about that- OW WOMAN." I yelped as Aaliya whacked me yet again.
"Stop scaring the poor girl Zain. We can have this conversation like civilized adults." Aaliya said pointing towards the patio chairs on the side of the terrace. "Why don't we have a seat, I feel like a lot of talking needs to be done here." Aaliya said smiling at the cradle-robber. TRAITOR. My own girlfriend is a traitor!
"I can't believe you hid this from me." I said to Barkat.
"Isn't that a double standard considering that you didn't tell me about yourself and Aaliya." Barkat said back. Oh man, I didn't have a response to that so I did what anyone in my situation would do, I glared.
"Speak." I said sitting down on the patio sofa beside Aaliya with Barkat and cradle-robber sitting across us. I kept a close watch on the cradle-robber, he looked kind of scared and I fed off his fear like Electro fed off electricity.
"Uh...well, this is Arjun. I like him." Barkat said.
"You said that before Barkat." I reminded her, I noticed her eyes widen with surprise when I didn't use her nickname, ah, see now the little sister knows I am serious as...whatever is really serious. I need to work on these metaphors.
"We went to high school together." She said.
"I gathered as much." I quipped back causing Aaliya to smack me, yet again. "CAN YOU STOP HITTING ME WOMAN?" I said looking at her.
"Shut up." She said to me before turning around to the cradle-robber and my lying sister. "Why don't we start with the basics? How long have you two known each other?"
"Three years."
"THREE YEARS?"
"We've known each other for three years, but we just recently started seeing each other." The cradle-robber cleared up. Why was he speaking? I sent a glare his way to make him realize that I didn't appreciate his voice.
"All right, and why don't you tell us a little about yourself Arjun?" Aaliya asked the cradle-robber, I gave her an exasperated look which she surely did not notice, seriously, why is she so chummy with the cradle-robber. NO.
"Uh, I am in my first year of MBA and I also work as a marketing executive for Ubisoft."
"The gaming company?" I asked. He nodded, hm, that was kind of impressive. NOT. Well it was, but I wasn't fooled.
"What about your family?" Aaliya asked.
"Both my parents passed away in a car crash when I was 16, I am an only child and we weren't excessively close to our relatives so technically I have no family." He replied a slight sad smile on his face. I could feel my heart melting a little bit and it pissed me off. A lot.
"Oh, I am sorry for your loss. It must be hard having to support yourself." Aaliya said sadly.
"It was at first, but life teaches you how to succeed." He smiled.
"And where do you live?" Aaliya asked.
"Uh, I have a penthouse at the Taj Wellington Mews in Colaba." He answered causing my interest to peak. Being a Mumbai resident and the son of a business man that owned half the buildings in all of Mumbai I knew that the area and the place he was talking about was expensive. So in the order of most to least likely he was either- a drug dealer or had some other shady business, the son of wealthy but deceased parents or he was doing good at his job.
"And how exactly can you afford that?" I asked looking at him.
"ZAIN!" Aaliya hissed.
"What? I am just making sure he's not a drug dealer or something." I said to her.
"I assure you that I do nothing of the sort, my parents didn't leave me behind with nothing to my name and I made wise decisions - investing the money and such. I've been working since the age of 17. I know this is all coming as a shock to you, but I love your sister. A lot. I have for a long time, ever since high school but I didn't have the nerve to tell her then so I didn't. We only met each other again a year ago and we wanted to tell you but she was scared that your family wouldn't approve since I am not Muslim." He said sounding confident. And I had to give it to the man, he sounded like he meant all of it. I looked over at my smiling sister, who was staring at the cradle-robber.
"Do you love him?" I asked.
"Yes." She said looking at me.
I let out a loud sigh and then looked at Aaliya who smiled at me and nodded, it was kind of amazing that she knew what I was thinking. "Well then, we'll work on the whole breaking this to the parents things. But don't get to happy, I haven't approved yet. I'll be watching you closely." I said looking at the cradle robber, he nodded but smiled. "Now get out of here, if I ever find you here at this time of the night I'll throw you down from the roof." I said. "And for goodness sake do not climb down the pipe. My room is across the hall, my terrace has stairs to the poolside."
X-X-X-X-X
Aaliya's POV
"He seems like a genuine guy." I said once we made our way back to the poolside.
"He does not."
"Zain, admit it. You would have liked him if he wasn't in love with your sister."
"He's a cradle robber!" Zain yelled exasperated.
"What?" I laughed.
"I call him cradle robber in my head."
"Barkat is like two years younger than me."
"Exactly."
"Zain, that's not a huge difference."
"Whatever. Are you still mad at me?" He pouted from beside me.
"No, but you are an idiot."
"I think you are cute when jealous, so yeah..."
"Now about Ammi and Mami, what do we do?"
"Uh, well. We need to tell them, they seem really intent of this rishta business."
"Okay, I will talk to ammi, you talk to mami."
"Done."
Edited by astonm - 10 years ago
comment:
p_commentcount