Drabble/OS Prompts - #22 up FEB 26 (Index for all prompts on page 1) - Page 51

A/N: Hi guys!

This was a very hard request. Please read the A/N at the end :)

Request by treasure11

Prompt: "Asad and Zoya somehow meet at hotel Taj for the first time (may be due to an arranged meeting by parents or a blind date or any business meeting) and they don't like each other at first they argue a little like our Asad and Zoya but a sudden attack by terrorists changes everything...and may be they get together in the end or you can give a sad ending also according to your wish..."

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Asad checked the time again and sighed. He knew that rationally, it was only three minutes past the time she was supposed to be there, yet he could not sit still. Waiting had never been a strong suit of him. He looked around himself in the dining area of The Taj and wondered how did he end up here?

His mother had been relentless and had not budged until he finally said "yes" to meeting the girls she had her eyes set on for his marriage. Just as he was about to check the time again, he saw a young girl running inside. She was obviously frazzled. Her hair was windblown and she was out of breath. The dupatta of her Indian attire was askew as it lay on her shoulder and her big brown eyes were wandering from here to there, as if searching for someone.

Asad realized that he had been staring at the girl all this while. Well she is very beautiful, his inner voice chirped at him. Asad blushed at his own thoughts but had to agree that the girl looked very nice - delicate and serene.

...and he thought that only a few seconds too early. The girl, tired of looked and searching decided to put her fingers in her mouth and whistle.

"I am sorry about that!" she smiled sheepishly, "But I am looking for Mr. Asad Ahmed Khan. Are you here, Mr. Khan?"

Ya Allah! She was his Ammi's choice? Asad reluctantly stood up and gestured to the girl. She looked at him, gave him a smile and skipped her way over to where he was sitting.

"Hi, Mr. Khan? I am Zoya Farooqui. Nice to meet you." She extended her hand for him to shake.

He held her soft hand in his and politely shook it and waved her to have a seat. She nodded at him and seated herself.

"So, Mr. Khan! Tell me about yourself!" she asked him as soon as she was sitting comfortably. Too comfortably, Asad thought.

Asad cleared his throat and replied to her, "Well. I am an architect and I own a construction company in Bhopal."

"Oh right!" she drawled, "You live in Bhopal! You were here for some meetings, right? How did they go? Good, I think! You look like a very confident man! I like your suit by the way! Very charming! You look like some hot shot professional. I like professionally dressed men! So hot! And you look very dapper as well! Ooh! I love it here as well! I have lived in New York all my life. It is very different here but I like it anyway. When my Aapi told me about a marriage proposal, I was very skeptical. But as I have seen it around here for some time now, I think I will like living here! Should we order something to eat? I love pizza! Do you think serve pizza at this time? Thank God it's not too stuffy in here. I get so uncomfortable in Indian clothes!" She chirped at him.

Asad gaped at her as she continued to yap and talk about everything and anything. There was no rhyme or reason to her chatter. Such a blabbermouth! She has no sense of social etiquettes! Asad thought to himself.

"Ms. Farooqui. Do you stop to breathe?" he managed to get a word between her rants.

Zoya stopped her constant stream of words to scowl at him, "Allah Miyan, what's wrong with you? We just met and you are teasing me like that?"

"Well, it doesn't matter to you that we just met, with the way you have been talking. Then why should I care?" he retorted. "And please, sit nicely. It doesn't look nice the way you are jumping in your seat."

"I will sit the way I want to! Are you honestly judging me by my sitting ways?" she asked him incredulously.

"And by your apparent lack of boundaries to be maintained for a first meeting," Asad simply added to her insinuation.

"Allah Miyan! And Aapi expects me to like you enough to get married to you? Ugh!" shuddered.

"Please believe me, so far, I am thinking along the same lines." Asad crossed his arms across his chest.

The two of them continued to bicker as they sat there, the surroundings and everything forgotten. As they ordered their food, the bickering over right choices of food according to the time of the day began.

"Asad, we don't share the same ideals about most of the things, I don't think I can stand your judgmental ways for my entire life!" Zoya exclaimed.

"Trust me; I will not get any pleasure out of spending my life with a messy person like you either." Asad retorted.

Zoya snorted at him, "I am sure you will get some pleasure out of it." and made Asad splutter his drink.

Adding shameless to the list of "No way!" reasons. Asad thought.

They were in a heated debate about the lack of emergency contact services in the country when a loud bang was heard and the walls of the restaurant shook and then there were two more such debilitating sounds. Before anyone could even acknowledge what was happening, loud cries and screams of people from the lobby could be heard and the sounds of feet running.

Asad and Zoya looked at each other with horror and dread filling their eyes. Without thinking about anything, Asad grabbed her hand and ran out of the restaurant and sounds of crashing windows and falling glasses filled their ears as they made a mad dash. And they had only escaped not too early and they could hear similar bang from the direction of the restaurant. Asad held her hand tighter and ran to find an exit. He could feel trepidation settle in his body and all he wanted was to get out of the place.

As they neared the way that led to doors leading outside, Asad saw masked people armed with ammunition. Asad whirled around and hid both of them in the nearest hidden dark corner he could find. Zoya's heart beat faster than a freight train as she stood pressed against a wall. Her eyes widened and a scream logged in her throat as her gaze fell on a mangled body on the floor near them. She started breathing heavily and her body started to shake.

Asad noticed her falling apart and followed her gaze to see what caused her angst. He closed his eyes as he took in the gore around them. He turned back to Zoya and held her face in his palms.

"Zoya! Zoya!" he whispered at her, "Look at me! Shhh! Look at me, Zoya. You are fine. I will get you out of here. Zoya! You need to be strong, okay? We don't know what is going on, but we have to stay calm to get out of here!" Asad whispered into her ears and held her shaking body close to him.

Zoya looked into his eyes and tried to find the courage to listen to what he was saying. The constant firing sounds tired to invade her sanity. They stood there, hidden for an immeasurable amount of time. It could have been minutes, or hours or days - their bodies were wrung tight with trepidation. Every movement around them had them on alert. A very potent smell of smoke and burning made its way toward them. Zoya's eyes widened in fear and panic. Fire.

"I am s-scared of f-fire. Please." She was shaking and her mouth opened in silent screams. Asad crushed her trembling body to his and felt a primal need to protect her. He will get her out of there, even if it was the last thing he did. Their legs were cramping by standing in the confined space for a long time. Asad was contemplating if it was safe to move out of their hiding. Sounds of firing from the inside were still strong but now, so were the sounds of sirens of help that was outside.

Egged by hope, Asad tugged her hand and pulled them out of their hiding place. Soon, they found themselves between hoards of people who were trying to get out of the palace.

Asad tightened his hold on her hand and feared losing her in the frantic crowd. The crowd pushed and pulled and yells of terror permeated all around them. They were almost near the back door where he could see the sirens of police and other protective forces.

"ASAD!" Zoya cried as she felt a rather strong push and she fell on the shards of broken glass chandelier and other unrecognizable pieces of sharp objects.

People trampled over her fallen frame. Asad rushed against amass of oncoming people, and found Zoya sobbing and panting on the floor.

"Zoya! Are you fine! Oh God!" he kneeled before her and tenderly touched her leg to gauge her injury. Zoya whimpered as soon as his hand made contact with her skin. Cursing under his breath, he scooped her up in his arms and led her out of the premise.

The moment they stepped outside, and were in the view of the armed officers, they were surrounded by paramedics. Zoya and everyone else who was injured were taken over by the paramedics.

Zoya sobbed into Asad chest as her leg was put in a temporary cast and helped by the medics. Asad laid his head on top of hers as she grasped a tight hold on his shirt.

"Miss? You need to be transferred to a hospital."

Zoya looked around her and her hold on Asad tightened, "D-don't leave me, Asad. I-I c-can't! Don't leave me a-alon-ne!" she cried harder.

Asad hugged her to his chest, "Shh! I am not going anywhere, Zoya."

They looked at the burning part of The Taj Mahal Palace as they were wheeled into a van taking people to the hospital, and prayed. Zoya's body was about to arrest into a panic attack as she saw the building on fire, but as soon as Asad's arms wrapped around her, the panic ebbed.

They would be fine.

-end-

A/N: Hi all!

I do not do too well with trauma. It was a very hard request to write. I researched a lot on the attacks and read some of the stories of the survivors. It was a really difficult thing to do, so I hope I did some justice to the request. I feel that the trauma part of the OS is short, but I am a rather happy writing person. Also, considering they just met in the story, I felt that it suited them fine.

Being a Psych major that I am, I realize how much such an ordeal affects the mind and relations but that comes later. For this story, I think a hanging-onto-hope ending suffices it well!

I would love to read some responses to this story!

Cheers,

Simi