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Chapter 4 ~ Captain Hooda
Adrenaline, as Google describes--is a stress hormone that kicks in your flight or fight response to fear, panic or threat. It causes forceful contractions of the heart, which was quite evident in my case here. Though frankly, my flight or fight system seemed a bit damaged since I was doing neither of them. So basically, I was screwed.
In the panic of the moment, I let my gaze wander down his form and regretted it immediately as I found his glistened bare-chest peeking through the towel around his neck followed by black sweats that hung low, very low. Hastily, I returned my wide-eyed gaze back to ruffled, damp hair covered brown actually, dark brown eyes.
"You're naked... " My voice was croakier than I expected it to be.
He reared back as if I'd slapped him, releasing me from his restraint.
"You and I, have different definitions of naked" he scowled, shoving his damp hair out of his face and pulling the ends of the towel closer together.
I straightaway receded from the shelf and tried to compose my breathing. After all, I can't let this stalker have the pleasure of knowing how terrified I was of him. "Please let me go, and I promise I won't make a scene" I say, lifting my arms in defence.
"How did you get in the house?"
"You have some nerve asking me that" I could feel my calmness slowly wearing off.
"my nerve is not something you should be worried about" he snapped. Giving me a head-to-toe scan.
I recoiled back a little, "o-okay look, I don't know who you are and why you appear like you have taken a shower here--"
"You don't know me?" He looks a bit taken aback. Rightly so because I have decided to go in the denial mood. Maybe he will leave me alone if I deny to ever have met him.
"Of course not. How would I?" I force myself to look as ignorant as possible.
He takes a step toward me, "so you didn't follow me here?" He almost sounds irritated now. Since I wasn't wearing my sky-high heels today, he could easily tower over me.
"Why would I follow you, you are following me" sliding my back on the shelf, I move towards the door hoping he gets distracted, so I could make a run for it.
"I am following" he points towards himself, then towards me, "you?"
I nod my head nervously, peeking at the door again.
"You are in my house and I am following you" he looks bemused, which confuses me as well.
"Are you seriously calling this your house?"
"What else should I call it?"
"Quit the games. This is Arjun's house." His eyebrows lift up in surprise.
"How do you know Arjun?"
Was he seriously going to continue this dumb game? I hunt the area for some kind of inspiration to get rid of this man. In the end, I go for the most childish act. The famous 'look who is behind you'. As soon as he falls for the trick, I bolt towards the library door only to find myself colliding with someone other than the door. Damn! What is with this place?
"Zoya?"
I teetered back a little before straitening up to a familiar face. I blink in confusion. It doesn't exactly match with the pictures Noor had shown me but close enough. He looked a little more mature now than those pictures. Sleek gelled back hair, black-framed glasses. But that boyish glint was still present in his eyes though. This has to be Arjun.
"Arjun?" He smiles as a reply. Hastily, I grab his upper arms with joy. "Allah! I am so glad you are here, this man--" I turn around to point but instead find the very man in question, standing next to us now. I gulp and continue, "this ma--"
"--Is Aditya, my brother" Arjun cuts in.
Aditya?
Air gushes out of my lungs. My shoulders stiffen and I stare in horror at the two men. "You're what?" I murmur.
Before Arjun can answer, his brother beats him to it by leaning in, "brother" he whispers near my ear.
I cough softly, clearing an invisible lump in my throat.
"Oh." It is the only response I can manage.
Even though I avoid glancing at him from sheer embarrassment, I know for a fact he was totally smirking at me. He must be having a gala time in his head right now. My cheeks burn with just the thought of it.
"Anyway, I am sorry, Adi. I forgot to tell you about Zoya coming today. This is Zoya, Noor's roommate and she is here with our brownies for tonight." Arjun explains. If only he had come a little earlier, would have saved me from this mortifying situation.
"Ah, Noor," he says grinning at Arjun. They exchange stares between themselves as if they were transmitting some kind of a secret message.
"She works at the millennium in T2 terminal" Arjun continues.
How the hell did he know that? Must have been stupid Noor with her big mouth.
"Oh really? I didn't know that" he was sneering, I could see it through my peripheral vision.
"Yeah so, the brownies are in the kitchen. It was really nice meeting you Arjun but I have to go now ,"I urgently recite and begin my way towards the door.
"Hey wait, Zoya!" Arjun calls me back. I reluctantly stay and turn back around. Still avoiding Mr. Half naked over there.
"I wanted to invite you for the party, actually."
"Who, me?"
"Yeah..."
"Why?"
"Because I have heard so much about you from Noor so I thought since she is coming, you should accompany her. We can all get to know each other better."
"Noor is coming?"
"I think so." He looks a little lost now.
I am going to kill that girl. Slow painful death.
I sigh with a fake smile, "I can't, I have work, but maybe next time." And before he can say anything I wave an enthusiastic goodbye and surge out of his house. I cannot handle any more of this drama today.
After entering the elevator, I take a look at my outfit and wince. Just a plain long white kurta that had slits at sides showing off bits of my waist over my ripped jeans. Couldn't I have chosen a better outfit?
The doors are about to close when a masculine arm abruptly stops it. The same arm that was holding me down a few minutes back. Startled I turn around. Crap! He was here to gloat and make fun of me.
I stared into his dark eyes, ready for the humiliation to begin. Instead, I discover my keychain dangling in front of my face.
"You forgot your weapon inside." I waited for a beat and snatched my keychain out of his grip. "Thank you" I mumble, jabbing at the close button. I do my best to focus on the button but when the door started closing, for no good reason I peeped at his bare chest one last time.
On my way to the restaurant I sent a super pissed text to Noor stating:
You better call me as soon as possible Noor Ali Khan! And you better have a damn good explanation of why you are going to Arjun Hooda's Party!!!!!
** **
By the time I was able to breathe a little, the evening was already rolling in. A week-long spa and massage couldn't do justice to my aching back right now. I head over to the staff restroom to take a break. As soon as I enter, I lean over a washbasin counter and take the weight off my feet. Just a minute of rescue from these blood-sucking heels will do. I don't have the will to examine my vision in the mirror since I know, I will be more than disappointed. Hours of running around would have taken a toll on my looks, let alone my hair. And as expected when I take a peek, my hair looks a bit messy, strands coming out of the neatly tied ponytail, and my liner is smudged. I wet a piece of tissue paper and blob under my eyes to get rid of the black lines. It takes another two minutes to fix my ponytail and then I look decent enough to pull another hour or so. I tilt my head and take a good stare at myself.
What is it? Sure, compared to the catastrophe yesterday, today proved to be a better day where I didn't have any mix-ups. I was finally getting the hang of this job. But there was still something missing that I couldn't put my thoughts around. That hollow I felt should have been better, I was distracted the entire day.
Screw it! No time for silly feelings, I need this job and will do it with perfection. Before making an exit, I check my phone again for Noor's response but I don't find any... The idiot was avoiding me.
Finally, I make an exit from the restroom and turn towards the restaurant to check for any new orders when my feet come to a dead halt. I'll give you people a second to make a wild guess. Don't even need a second, do you?
Yeah, that's right--Freaking Stalker!
I watch in fascination as Aditya, the stalker, tosses a cocktail shaker in the air in a plain grey t-shirt behind the bar. Confused? So am I. But somehow his presence doesn't shock me as much as it should have. There was a strange familiarity to his presence. It was insane to find him behind the bar shaking and tossing cocktails and laughing along with the customers. What are the odds that I am seeing this man for the third time within seventy-two hours? This has to be destiny playing a joke on me or something.
I debate whether to walkover and interrogate his appearance behind the bar, however, exhaustion wins and declines myself from any other drama. I am about to retreat towards the kitchen when his eyes capture mine and stay glued to them. This would be a good time to look away and exit to give a proper brush off. But something crackling in his gaze held me back, the air around me felt warm suddenly and a sense of anticipation lingered. It did weird things to my pulsation. Why did he look at me like that? The moment is broken with his dark-eyed wink.
I jerk my head back in astonishment. Surely I must have imagined that. Right?
My shoes click as I take purposeful steps in the direction of our new bartender for tonight. He scoffs as if this was expected, and goes back to handling his drinks. My irritation grows.
"You realize stalking is an actual offense, right?" I say, casually leaning on the customer side of the bar.
He continues to rub salt around a shot glass, "oh, so now you magically recognize me?"
Oops...
"And you are magically a bartender in the restaurant I work in," I say, getting a little irritated that he didn't have the courtesy to look up.
He takes the bottle of tequila and pours it from above into the shot with full concentration, "you started working here yesterday, Miss Siddhiqui."
"How did you know my name?"
Finally, he glanced my way.
My breath caught when he moved his arm towards me.
"Quite obvious when you flash it around," he smirks pulling at my name tag.
I feel a twinge in my belly.
Oops...
"Okay let's say you read my name tag but you have to admit, it's weird that you are present everywhere I go since yesterday "
"I could say the same thing, after all you attacked me in my own house." He throws a tiny cut lemon my way.
My eyes broaden in shock.
"I attacked you, I attacked you?" I have gotten few customers attention by now with my rising tone.
"Remind me again who was pinned against your bookshelf" I whisper-hissed.
He grins in a suggestive way. "I could remind you but we have an audience" he leaned in to rest his forearms on the bar opposite to mine. I felt a light brush where his fingers touched mine ever so lightly. Electricity running through your veins would probably feel similar to what I felt at the moment. Instantly, I recoil my arms and look away in the other direction to avoid eye contact. "Aren't you supposed to be at your brother's party?" I question in a rush to skip the other topic.
He drums his fingers against the wooden bar top, "Nah, a room full of drunk idiots is not something I enjoy very much."
"You are behind a bar, Aditya" I smile.
"Doesn't mean I want to drink"
"Why, not?"
"Because I don't drink" he snaps.
"Says the bar-man tossing drinks like he has exceptional training in it" I studied him, in confusion.
His jaw tightened as though a mask had slipped off his usual composed self. It lasted for an instant before he pulled it back on. "Appearances can be deceptive" and with that he walks away without a second glance.
What the hell?
Just a moment later, Mahi drops in to startle me with her question "Why did the Captain leave so abruptly?"
Hold the horses, who? I really need help these days with my wild imaginations.
"I am sorry, who?" I ask in the most poised way possible.
"Captain Hooda--he was just here, Zoya" she says waving her hand.
"Why are you calling him Captain, Mahi?" I was almost whispering by now.
She had an annoyed look on her face by now, "what else do you call a pilot?"
"You mean that man, who was blending and flinging drinks, sometime back?" I scratch the back of my head in agitation.
"Yes Zoya, that was Captain Hooda, Aditya Hooda. And this restaurant is owned by his brother, Arjun. I thought Ashish must have mentioned it to you."
It all then comes back to me ---
"You hang out at the airport? Who does that?
"What, you have never done that? It's fun
"Usually it takes a ticket to hang out at the airport'
"Not if you know the right people.
Shit.
Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit.
** **
Directions and Uber drivers don't gel well together. I had explained more than twenty times by now to my driver about the exit I was standing at but still, it was taking him longer than expected. Just follow the maps, how hard is that?
It was nearly 12 am, nevertheless, the city was not affected, it was quite alive at that hour. The city was blazing with lights and horns. I shifted from one foot to the other in thoughts, still processing the information Mahi had passed on. Why did he have to be so secretive about it? Could have just told me and saved all that stalking drama for both of us.
The blaring of the horn behind me snapped me out of my thoughts. I check the number plate of the car, only to be disappointed that it wasn't my cab. Taking my phone out I decided to check for my useless driver when the honking continued as if it was in my direction. Staring at my phone I move away a little to give space to the impatient driver.
To my annoyance, the horn blared even more frequently. Pissed off, I spin around.
"KYA HAI" I yell, louder than I intended to.
As expected, captain hood steps out of the car.
"Get in the car," he orders.
He can be a captain in his own world but he was not the captain of me!!
I cross my arms in defence and stare back, "you are not the captain of me."
He arches his left brow. "So you know."
"Uh-huh," I reply.
"Well good for you. Now get in without making a scene" he leans against his half-open car door.
I take a deep breath and cross my arms tighter around myself. "Are you insane? I am not getting into a stranger's car."
"Is the cab driver coming to get you, your relative?" Sarcasm dripped from each of his words.
I glared at him. No words necessary.
"Okay look I don't have all the time in the world. Your friend Noor is drunk as f**k in my house and Arjun requires your help."
I uncross my arms immediately in shock.
"Is she okay" I rush wide-eyed towards him.
"Sooner you get in the car, we can find out," his voice softens.
Without further argument, I got into Aditya Hooda's car for the first time.
Edited by Dragonfly88 - 7 years ago
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Doon
