Hello all! Hope you guys saw my note, and I'm really sorry for the delay! Okay no more bak bak, here's the next part.
Something Anything: Part 4 "Zoya!" Asad yelled, when he spotted her walking in the crowd heading towards an exit. She turned around and saw him, but turned back just as quickly and hastened her pace. Asad grit his teeth and jogged towards that exit, just to be stopped by an officer.
"Sorry sir, this exit leads to the shuttle service for international transfers only. May I have your passport and ticket? If not, the exit to the city is that way," the officer offered, and Asad nodded in acknowledgement. He looked up at the signs and made his way to the taxi stand. This was not over yet.
"To the airport please, I mean the international one," Asad told the amused taxi driver as soon as he got in. The driver nodded and began driving, despite the fact that the international airport was really close by. It seemed like the guy was in a serious rush... and he could probably tell why.
Before he could even settle down properly, his phone rang shrilly into the enclosed area of the taxi. Zoya must've realized that her iPad was missing! Quickly flipping the screen to face him, he was about to hit the receive button when he realized it was Tanveer's number. His nose crinkled a little as he thought about it, and then hit the disconnect button. He wasn't really in the right frame of mind to talk to Tanveer at the moment. Switching to silent mode, he stuffed his phone in his pocket and picked up the iPad instead.
Asad stared at the iPad in his hands, and quickly swiped it to unlock it. A strange screen with a blue parrot appeared, and he groaned inwardly. He looked up cautiously at the driver, who seemed sufficiently occupied with driving, so he took in a deep breath and started.
"La, la, lalalalala," Asad began doing the stupid jiggle that Zoya had kept as the password of her iPad. The driver scoffed, and Asad cringed, but he was grateful that the driver didn't ask anything. Asad scrolled through her iPad aimlessly, looking through her camera roll. He smiled, looking at all the photos she had taken with his mother and sister, grinning away. And that's when he noticed that there were hardly any photos of him, just a few she had taken while he was unaware. That made him smile even more. So she was sneakily taking photos of him, huh?
Asad was about to snoop around the rest of her iPad when his phone vibrated in his pocket again. Putting the iPad down next to him, he slipped the phone out of his pocket and stared at the screen. It was his home number this time.
A frown grew on Asad's face, as he contemplated picking up. He'd already informed Dilshaad that he was going to Delhi, and that he'd be back in the evening. She agreed easily too, unable to hide her amusement. So why was she calling again? Shrugging, he decided to hit receive.
"Jammy, where are you? Mera phone bhi nahi uthaaya... are you okay?" Tanveer's voice screeched through the phone in panic, and Asad cringed as he pulled the phone away from his ear quickly, to save his eardrums.
"Delhi mein hoon, Ammi ko inform kar diya hai. Kuch kaam hai kya?" Asad asked impatiently, glancing out of the window to see if the airport was even in sight. He heard a strange strangulated sound through the phone, and turned back, concentrating on the phone call.
"Delhi mein?! Maine taxi ko isliye call kiya tha taake tumhe airport bhi jaana na pade, par tum toh Delhi hi chale gaye," Tanveer blurted out, her rage clouding her sensibilities. Within seconds, she found herself squeezing her eyes shut, realizing her mistake.
"Kya?! You were the one who called for the cab to pick Zoya up from the house?" Asad demanded to know, his voice heavy with disbelief. Snatches of his conversation with Zoya about who called the cab earlier began to sketch out in his brain.
"Nahi toh! Why would I? I said ZOYA ne taxi ko call kiya tha, so that you don't need to go to the airport..." Tanveer tried to explain herself, putting on as much fake concern as she could, as she bit her lower lip in worry.
Zoya called the cab? But she seemed confused about the cab herself. Besides, even if Zoya did call the cab, why did Tanveer know all about it? It made no sense for Zoya to inform Tanveer about calling a cab; it was a rather trivial matter to discuss. Asad was about to verbalize all his thoughts, when the can came to a sudden halt.
"Yeh lo, aiport aagaya sahib. Jisko bhi lene aaye ho, khuda kare woh maanjaye," the driver wished Asad, and Asad found it hard not to laugh. It was that obvious. He paid the driver the fare and thanked him, just to see the shuttle bus turning into the airport behind him. Looks like the cab managed to zip through the roads quicker.
"Tanu, main tumse baad mein baat karta hoon,"Asad cut off Tanveer as she tried to explain herself again. He didn't have time for this. He'd just have to deal with the confusion later. Asad quickly exited the cab and jogged over to the bus stand, where the passengers were due to get down from the bus, before looking down at his phone again, dialling up someone in haste.
"Mr Khan, I told you not to follow me anymore. Simple si baat aapko samajh mein nahi aata kya," Zoya grumbled half-heartedly, as she stepped off the bus just to find Asad standing there, thanking someone on the phone as he disconnected the call. He shrugged nonchalantly at her, taking in the lighting up of her eyes despite the voicing of her fake unhappiness. She huffed exaggeratedly and began walking off towards the entrance of the airport, ignoring him completely.
"Don't get all worked up Miss Farooqui. Mujhe bhi koi shauk nahi hai aapke peeche peeche aana. You left your iPad in the plane, that's why I came here," Asad explained, waving around the iPad that Zoya had obviously failed to notice. She turned around and caught sight of the gleaming object as the sunlight hit it, suddenly at a loss for words.
"Phone bhi kar sakte the alright. Aise peeche aane ki zaroorat nahi thi," Zoya argued stubbornly, as she crossed her arms across her chest and glared at him. He made no attempt to pass her the iPad, choosing instead to hug it to his chest instead.
"Yes you're right, I should've called you. Because after informing you on the phone, your iPad would've magically zipped through the phone line and come back to you anyway," Asad commented sarcastically, batting his eyelashes.
"Don't be a smart mouth Mr Khan. I meant at the domestic airport just now. Then I wouldn't have avoided you and rushed onto the bus," Zoya defended herself vehemently, as she took a step forward and reached for the iPad. Asad just ignored her advances completely, making no attempt to loosen his grip on the iPad.
"So not only do you admit to seeing me running behind you at the airport, you also admit to blatantly ignoring me despite my calling out your name. And you still think you would've picked up your phone if I had called you," Asad scoffed, unable to keep the patronizing tone out of his statement. Zoya rolled her eyes, clicking her tongue in irritation.
"Whatever. This is a pointless argument. If you still have anything substantial to say, then say it. If not, just give me back my iPad and let me go," Zoya finally admitted defeat, her voice sounding pained towards the end. Asad steeled himself against her reaction, holding her iPad up above his head just as she launched forward to take it.
"Not so fast Miss Farooqui. Woh kya hai na... while I was travelling here... I uh, woh actually, I happened to browse through your iPad. And um, saw all your photos, with Ammi and Najma..." Asad took a shot in the dark, and he noticed Zoya raise her eyebrow in amusement.
"Happened to...? Uh Mr Khan, mere password itna elaborate hai ke happened to ka sawaal hi nahi uttha. Khair, what's your point?" Zoya pointed out casually, biting the inside of her cheek to suppress her giggle as she watched Asad's face turn red in embarrassment.
"Uh, mera bhi photos hai ismein..." Asad continued, unsure about where the conversation was headed to either. But a small sense of victory began to arise when he noticed Zoya's face pale at his statement. Oh yes, he was well-aware that she was taking photos of him without asking.
"Yes, woh main camera test kar rahi thi bas. If it bothers you so much, I'll delete them," Zoya clarified, as she tried to reach for the iPad again. Asad continued holding it out of her reach, shaking his head slowly.
"Nahi woh... aapne mere... mere, uh, mere saath photo kyun nahi liya?" Asad finally managed to formulate a proper sentence, despite it being one of the stupidest things he'd come up with on the spot. He looked away immediately after taking in the wide-eyed reaction that Zoya gave him. Damn, that was a ridiculous way of avoiding the obvious. And not to mention, not smooth at all!
XXX
Okay this part was supposed to be longer, but I promised to put something up ASAP so this is all I've got for now haha.
Anyway,
give me 143 likes and 103 pages of comments, and I'll start writing the rest of it (:
For now, I gotta sleep!! Goodnight (:
