Ankie wanted me to write something mangalpuri but I'm currently facing a writer's block as far as Mangalpur is concerned. She texted me a number of plots but other writers in the forum have written hundreds of fictions on those plots so I thought of writing about Mangalpur itself, reliving the best part of QH! Reliving Zoya's burial, Asad's first Zoya dahad and lag jaa gale. I decided to write it because when Mangalpur was aired many writers had written stories on it but that time I was just a silent reader and I didn't have courage to post my thoughts. It is going to be Mangalpur with some of my imagination in it, if you are not interested then simply ignore the thread! So here it is, lets all relive the good ol' days :')
Reliving Mangalpur
"Ms Farooqui why do you always fall in trouble? See what has happened to us because of your stupid mistake." Asad was giving yet another lecture to Zoya while pacing around the small hotel room. If only they could call this inn, a hotel. Asad cringed at the sight of the room and the cobwebs on the wall. Zoya was being pulled by Asad as he walked around the room.
"Mr Khan please stop moving, don't forget even I am tied to you. And please I never asked you to rescue me okay." Zoya huffed and sat down on the bed, pulling Asad along with her, however Asad was caught off guard when she pulled him with a force he didn't know a petit woman like her possessed and he fell down on the bed, right on top of Zoya. Zoya closed her eyes in reflex and her left hand which was not tied to him made its way on his chest. Asad's hand was around her waist, holding her down, his face was very close to hers. Zoya opened her eyes slowly when she felt hot breaths fanning her face. No sooner did she open her eyes she felt herself drown in the intense brown eyes of his. His thumb started making small circles on her waist as if it had a mind of it's own. Asad pushed her hair behind her ears, his fingers lingering on her face longer than necessary. Unknowingly Zoya leaned into his touch which made Asad smile. Taking advantage of the situation and the fact that Zoya had zoned out, he leaned forward and whispered throatily in her ears,
"If you didn't want me to rescue you then why did you call me right before the nikaah?" Zoya gasped as she felt his lips on her ears. She could feel his smile and she closed her eyes again, losing herself in the sensation.
"M-M-Mr Kh-khan." She stammered and tried to form a coherent sentence. Asad smirked at getting the usual feisty Zoya, tongue-tied and got up, pulling Zoya along with him. They were still sitting on the bed, Asad's legs on either side of Zoya while she supported herself with her left hand on the bed. Asad again leaned to whisper something but just then Aarti and Yash barged inside the room, but when they saw them in a compromising position they turned their backs and said apologetically,
"Sorry, we didn't see anything, we swear we didn't." Aarti giggled.
That was enough to snap Asad and Zoya out of their dreamland and they looked anywhere but at each other, Zoya turned seven shades of red and she could definitely give Najma a run for her money, or her blush. Asad clenched his teeth at having lost control of the situation he was supposed to be batshit mad at Zoya for endangering them, for getting them in this situation in the first place. Yes, everything was her mistake. He didn't know what overtook her to get in Mariam's place. He didn't even know where Mariam was. He only prayed she was safe and sound, he wished those hounds were not after her because unlike Zoya, Mariam had no one to protect her. How could Zoya be so foolish but this was not the right time to shout at her, especially in front of Aarti and Yash. That would be extremely embarrassing for Zoya to be yelled at in front of strangers. Asad got off of Zoya and straightened himself.
"Did you want to talk about something?" he asked Yash.
Yash with his back still turned, answered, "Yes, we just wanted to say that those goons are nowhere to be seen, let's all have lunch I'm sure you both must be hungry after running so much, right Zoya?"
Zoya was about to say yes but Asad shook his head, which made Zoya pout. Now Mr Akdu Ahmed Khan wasn't even going to let her eat, that was her punishment? To stay hungry?
"No we are fine." Asad answered on behalf of Zoya. Zoya mouthed an "I'm hungry" to him, to which he only glared.
Yash understood Asad's hesitation in accepting the offer of lunch from strangers and from what he had gathered, he knew Asad was a man of principles and strict rules.
"We don't bite, you know?" Aarti joked.
"No it's not that! It's just, I think we should stay inside the room just in case they return searching for us. I don't think it's safe to go outside." He made up an excuse, when the actual reason was that they were handcuffed, he didn't want people to see it and label them as criminals thus sending them off to that police station. Zoya nudged his shoulder and whispered,
"I'm hungry Mr Khan. You can't expect me to run more with an empty stomach." She tried reasoning with him. "You didn't even let me have the breakfast." She blamed him, Asad sighed and said, "Fine!"
"Um, why are you still not facing us?" Asad asked Yash and Aarti who turned back and asked them to come out. Once they were out Asad turned to Zoya to give her a peace of his mind but before he could say anything Zoya pulled him towards the door.
"Mr Khan baatein baad main, let's go I'm hungry." Asad massaged his temples and walked out. Once out they saw Yash and Aarti waiting for them with food laid out in front of them. They went and sat opposite to them quietly. Yash and Aarti tried to make small talk but received response only from Zoya and they didn't miss the way Asad would glare at her whenever she tried to speak something. Asad noticed that Zoya couldn't eat with her left hand, he sighed heavily and took the piece of roti towards her, Zoya hesitated and looked at Asad with a questioning gaze. Asad nodded and brought his hand closer to her mouth. Zoya leaned in and opened her mouth. Her lips brushed against his fingers and he gasped, ever so lightly, only audible for his ears. He mentally smacked himself for feeling this way, he was supposed to be angry at Zoya for her foolishness but here he was feeding her and feeling these odd sensations course through his body every time her hand brushed against his, these feelings were so alien to him yet he liked them.
Zoya was grateful for Asad to feed her, she was touched by this sweet gesture but she dared not say it, she didn't even say a thanks, didn't want to feed his already big ego. And even if she did say thanks he would have huffed and puffed and returned back to his grumpy self, not that he wasn't being grumpy and irritating now, but she didn't miss seeing his eyes soften when he fed her. Once they were done with their lunch, there was a comfortable silence between them all. Her mind wandered back to Mariam and hoped she was safe and in Bhopal probably with her bhaijaan. Now that she had time to think she realized she had acted foolishly and impulsively, her impulsive action may have saved a poor innocent's life from being destroyed but she in turn got not only herself but also Mr Khan in trouble and she has to admit it, if it wasn't for him then she would've been dead long back, she couldn't have escaped them. The only problem was whenever she tried to show her gratitude towards him, his frowny look just irked her more. If he had so problem with her then he didn't need to get into this. She was a strong girl, she could take care of herself and if not then she'd be glad she was able to save someone's life. The feminist inside her wouldn't have let her live properly if she had just left Mariam to her own devices, the guilt of not being able to save someone from a kind of life she wouldn't even wish for her mortal enemy would weigh down on her so much so that she couldn't even see her face in the mirror, she couldn't have faced her jiju who had always taught her to help those in trouble, to not be too selfish in life.
She turned her head to look at Aarti and Yash's three beautiful kids play in the mud. A small smile crept on her face at the adorable sight.
"You've got really cute kids." She said to Aarti who mumbled a 'thanks' and blushed. Yash tried to tease Asad by asking him when they were planning to have kids of their own. Asad was embarrassed and tried to change the topic. Zoya probably for the first time saw him blush, although she couldn't blame him. The question directed at them was awkward and she really didn't get why people mistook them for a couple. They didn't have a neon sign flashing over their head screaming "Just Married", did they? She turned to see Asad and saw that he was probably still angry. she leaned closer to him and said in a very hushed voice,
"Mr Khan are you still mad at me?" but Asad ignored her.
"Mr Khan you don't even know why I did what I did. I am not mad ok, if I did something that big then surely there was a reason and very solid reason for that. I don't get a kick in breaking marriages, be it mine or anybody else's for that matter." She continued but got nothing in response. She sighed and moved away. There was just no reasoning with a man like him. After a few minutes Asad whispered back,
"Look Ms Farooqui I don't know why you made Mariam run away but I do know that there must be a reason for that, what I don't get is why you think you can go around saving the world like a superhero. I'm not interested in listening to your silly reasons for ruining Mariam's wedding, I just want to get out of this mess that you created and forget it all happened. Earlier I used to think trouble if it was at a mile's radius to you will follow you but I know it is you who get a sort of adrenaline rush at getting yourself and everyone around you in trouble. If Mariam had any problem then she is big girl she can sort it out on her own, she has her parents she doesn't need you to protect her, you of all people. So now after this, if we get out of this alive just don't bother trying to 'help' anybody and do not drag me into this-" he stopped his rant when he saw her eyes moisten up. He closed his eyes in frustration. Yes he was angry at her but he didn't mean to make her cry, a crying woman was the last thing he wanted at the moment. This was the reason why he was quiet all the while, he knew he would just blast up at the person and like always Zoya had to bear the brunt of his anger and aggression. The woman just infuriated him like no one else. He knew he had to apologize for being rude but his ego would never let him and he would never allow Zoya to gloat about it in the future so he did what he always did looked away and remained silent.
XXX
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