"Saab, you are not meant to be here...," she said, tying up her long hair...
He looked up at her. She had the brightest smile he had ever seen...
She removed a strand of hair from her white forehead and sat down on the bed next to him...
"Why do you think so?"
"It's obvious Saab, look at you... you are not meant to be here..."
"I guess so..."
He stood up and took out his wallet...
"How much...?"
"Nothing Saab...you go..."
"But...?"
"Saab I didn't do anything...I don't deserve anything..."
"That look of yours is worth a million pounds" he tried to put up a smile on his face, but just managed to smirk...
"Thank you, Saab that was more than enough" she smiled and stood up, she brushed her right hand to his left hand and walked out of the bedroom...
"What will you tell that lady sitting outside?"
"Which one Saab...? There are so many women sitting outside..."
"The one which does all the accounting..."
She turned back and walked up to him and touched his cheek, then gently patted it and smiled,
"I'll manage, Saab". She walked out of the room and closed the main door behind her.
Arnav walked out of the room after sometime. He saw a fat woman shouting at the girl...
"Ae Zarina, what the hell is wrong with you? Don't give me your "he was not meant to be here" crap like the last time"
Arnav walked out of the old building and stood there for a while.
A girl came out after sometime...
"Saab, you were with Zarina?"
Arnav looked at her, "yes..."
"Saab, please save Zarina... Begum Sahiba will kill her..."
"What?"
"She will kill her Saab... she will kill her..." and she ran in...
"Excuse me...hello? Shit..." Arnav ran back into the old building...
He saw the fat woman dragging Zarina by her hair...
"STOP"
"Aah, "The not meant to be here" is here..."
"Leave that girl...Zarina..."
"I am the one who orders here...no one orders me..."
Arnav walked up to her and held Zarina's hand
"Saab, I told you to go away..."
"Just be quiet Zarina...," he looked at Begum Sahiba "how much do you want?"
"There you go...very intelligent boy...5000 rupees please..."
He let go Zarina's hand. He took out took out 20,000 rupees from his wallet and shoved it into Begum Sahiba's hand.
"Is that enough? I want to take Zarina with me..."
"Saab, what are you saying?"
"I'll just take 5000 rupees and you should leave right now...," shouted Begum Sahiba, she turned around to get the balance... Arnav looked at Zarina and she gestured him to wait somewhere outside. Begum Sahiba returned him the money and "OUT! And I don't want you to show your face here, ever again..." she yelled at Arnav... Arnav balled his fist and clenched his teeth, but then he saw Zarina's face and calmed down.
Arnav walked out of the building and waited for the other girl to come out...
"Saab, Zarina has asked you to meet her in her room at the first floor at 12:30 am midnight"
"Ok, I'll be there...which way is her room and what is your name?"
"Right adjacent to that balcony there..." she pointed upwards "and I am Faruqui"
"Ok...tell Zarina, I'll be there for her..."
The girl nodded in agreement
"Thank you, Faruqui..."
"Thank You Saab, for doing this for Zarina" she smiled and went in...
Arnav Singh Raizada, a young man in his mid twenties walked to his car, parked at a distance.
He entered the car, "what the hell was wrong with me? It is just the second time I am meeting her, why cannot I just get over her. And today..."
He closed his eyes and remembered the day he had first seen her in the movie hall. He could see her side face, lit by the fluctuating light of the movie... Her sharp features, her constant smile and her sweet voice commenting on anything and everything. He had smiled at her first theory when her friends had laughed at the psycho killer, who had placed a knife on the eunuch's neck and had proposed his love... Zarina had shushed her friends and stated, "Every person has different styles of proposing their love..."
Arnav had gone into his past where he had booked a whole garden, decorated it with red flowers, red light, and everything, and had proposed his ex-wife Lavanya. They had been divorced for about a year now...
He smiled as he thought of Zarina, commenting on how love is blind and does not see whom they love, "love just happens...," she had said... Arnav thought... "Maybe that's what has happened to me..."
He had never felt anything like this about Lavanya... He sighed as he covered his face in his palm. He went back to the day when Arnav's father declared that Arnav was to get married, to his business partner, Malhotra's daughter, Lavanya. According to their family, they were perfect for each other; nobody cared what they thought about each other, or how they felt.
He looked at his watch, 10 more minutes to go. He had never felt such excited before. Lavanya and Arnav did have a physical relationship but again it was because their family wanted a baby. Everything that Arnav did with or for Lavanya was because his family wanted him to do so. Even after that, he had loved her, but she never loved him back and eventually his love faded away.
He sighed again, he was getting restless, and he could not wait to meet Zarina... He remembered the look on her face when she had seen her favourite ice cream stall in the mall. "I want choc chip ice cream" she had jumped.
"I so want to fall in love..." Zarina had told her friend, he remembered, as they were walking out the hall... "I want to be with someone who would make me feel special and accept me the way I am..."
That time, he had no idea, what Zarina had to go through each day of her life, but now, he knew and even after that, it did not matter to him...
He smiled to himself and looked at his watch again... It was time... He came out of his car, "I am in love with her... I love her... Love happened to me..." he muttered to himself and started walking towards Zarina's balcony side when someone called out...
"Saab"
Arnav turned to see Faruqui calling him
Faruqui ran up to him held his hand and took him to another side of the building
"I had left this door open for you to enter Saab...go up the stairs and take the first left turn...the 2nd room to your right is Zarina's"
Arnav smiled and entered the door. He went the way as Faruqui had directed him.
He knocked on the second door to his right
"Faruqui?" came from inside
Arnav kept quiet, Faruqui had asked him to keep quiet.
"Faruqui are you done with Saab? Then come in..."
Arnav had the answer; he turned the knob on the door and entered the room.
"Close the door Saab..." Arnav closed the door.
"You wanted to meet me?"
"Didn't you?" smiled Zarina...
"Indeed I did...,"said Arnav looking at the floor...
"So, I cost 20,000 bucks to you...that's my price Saab?" smiled Zarina
Arnav looked up to her with guilt in his eyes...
"That is all I had...you cost everything to me I guess..."
"So did your wife right?" she gestured him to sit down on the sofa
"How do you know about my wife?" he sat down while she kept standing...
"I also know that you loved her..."
"And how do you know that? I mean if a married guy comes here, it's because he doesn't love his wife, right?"
"Yeah but among them there are a very few...very few indeed, who respect us, I mean give us respect, like you did...Mr. Married Man" she sat down on the sofa next to him and smiled...
"She left me..."
"Why? You seem to be a nice person..."
"She found a nicer person in my best friend..."
"I am sorry..."
"No, don't be..."
"So, is that why you are here?"
"Well, not really..."
"Then...?"
"I wanted to meet you..."
"Huh?"
"Remember that day in the movie theatre..."
"That was you?"
"Yeah..."
"But I thought you were irritated because I kept establishing my own theories of love..."
"Well I liked your theories more than I liked the movie..."
"How did you find me?"
"I take this road every night to home...that day after the movie, I tried to look for you, found you at the ice cream stall, but then you vanished. Then, later one night, I saw you enter this building while going home. Today my work got over at 8:30, so I thought I would meet you again and so here I was...but when I came in..."
"You got the shock of your life!" said Zarina laughing..."
Arnav had a smile on his face.
"You look good, when you smile...it's not that you look bad when you are grumpy and all, but...you know" smiled Zarina.
"Thank you" smiled back Arnav.
"So, you chose that movie to get over your wife?"
"I didn't know the love story of a psycho killer and an eunuch would be lovelier than my love story of two normal people who couldn't manage to stay together, where as they lived happily ever after" said Arnav
Zarina started laughing...
"You know Miss. Not Zarina, your genuine laughter is much better than your fake smiles..."smiled Arnav
"My...my name is Zarina..." she stammered, half in shock and half in amusement.
"No, it is not...you are someone else, who just like me, is not meant to be here..."
"Fine, Khushi Gupta and yeah I am NOT meant to be here..."
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Srijanee
Cricket
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