Part 4 - "Twin Torment" - Part 1
It had been more than a week since that Saturday night, when Aahil had gone to S2 for dinner with Nida. Aahil had not seen Sanam for almost 10 days and it was starting to tell on him. He had been out of town for a week. On Monday, he had had a call from one of their contacts in Punjab who said that he needed to move quickly if they wanted to acquire some land they had spent months trying to close a deal on. Finally things were all aligned and if he didn't act now, one of their competitors was waiting in the wings to pounce. So he had left for Punjab midday Monday and he'd been stuck there until the end of the week. He had not seen his brother in 2 weeks, because he left for Punjab the same day before Rehan arrived back from Mumbai. He only managed to talk to him once while he was away, coz the land deal had been particularly involved and he had to meet with so many people to make it happen. He'd mostly been on the phone to their lawyers throughout the week and had barely had time for anything else. There was no chance to have a decent conversation with Rehan.
He had to tell Rehan about Sanam. Maybe convince him to have dinner at "S2" with him this week? Maybe tonight,if he could get a reservation? While in Punjab, he had found himself unable to shake the thoughts of the feisty Ms Khan from his mind. She had definitely made an impression on him. He had always been a "Out of sight, out of mind" sort of guy. But this time the opposite was true. It seemed even the universe was conspiring to keep him from pushing thoughts of Sanam out of his mind. For example FM radio he had been forced to listen to on his drive back. Going into Punjab, he had been on the phone pretty much the whole way through with different people, so no time for music. But all the way back from Punjab to Bhopal, he had been forced to listen to radio. Because this trip was so 11th hour, he had to drive another car to Punjab, not his usual one. His car was out being serviced. This car didn't have a phone docking station to play music the way he wanted to. This experience of listening to FM had been his undoing. He had never realised how many damned songs had the word "Sanam" in it?
"Hum tumhare hain, tumhare Sanam..." Said one song.
"Churaliya hain tumne joh dil ko, nazar nahin churana Sanam" said another.
"Hum dil de chuke Sanam, tere hogaye hain hum, teri kasam" yet another song played.
How was he to ever forget her name? He remembered changing the radio station a few times in frustration.
"Sanam tum humpe marathain ho, mohobaat tum bhi karatain ho", had been the last one he heard before he had switched off the radio completely.
But at least the last song had lyrics with sentiments that were palatable to him. However, the idea of Ms Khan "dying" over him just made him laugh out loud. He remembered the way her eyes had flashed fire at him, after she had thanked him reluctantly for his compliment on her menu that night. How would those eyes look if they were looking at him with passion and desire? "Too many love songs Aahil. You need to listen to some Rap" he told himself as he quickly found an Eminem song saved on his phone playlist and started to play it. Yes the sound was not as good as if he connected it to the speakers, but anything will do right now. He needed to break this funk.
It was late Sunday afternoon when Aahil finally arrived back in Bhopal. He was tired after his long drive from Punjab. He arrived home to an empty house. Ammi had gone to some event organised by a charity that she was involved in, and Rehan had also gone out. The only person home was Latiff and after greeting him, Aahil had gone to his room and tried to have a nap, but he felt restless, so decided to have a swim. After his swim, and having a shower, he called Rehan, but he didn't pick up. Aahil thought he should go out, but the idea of driving into town after spending most of the day driving just made him feel tired. He could have got a driver to take him, but the idea of being driven around, just did not appeal. He hated being driven anywhere and he always drove himself unless he absolutely could not help it. So he decided to settle down to play a game on his phone, and settled on his couch, when suddenly he heard a sound near his door.
"Hey Bhai. Aap kab aye? said Rehan coming into his room.
"About an hour ago" said Aahil, putting his phone down on the coffee table.
Rehan dropped down on the chair in front of Aahil's coffee table.
"You're elusive these days little bro. I called you? Kaha te tum?" said Aahil raising his eyebrows.
"Sorry I didn't pick up your call Bhai. I was driving. Remember my collage friend Rahul? He was in town for a few days. He left this afternoon, and went back to Delhi. I went to drop him to the airport".
"You dressed up that much to drop your old buddy to the airport?" said Aahil giving Rehan a sideways glance, as he took in Rehan's black jeans, white sweater style long sleeved t-shirt, and tanned leather jacket.
"Umm... I sort of caught up with someone for coffee afterwards" he said with a coy little smile.
"So who is this mystery lady? She hot?" asked Aahil smirking.
"Super Hot. In fact, I am happy I saw her first, coz if YOU saw her, you may have beaten me to it"?
"Like THAT is it? She must be hot then", said Aahil smiling.
"Having said that bhai, I am not entirely sure she's your type? I mean, she's not just beautiful, she's smart too".
"What are you implying Rehan? That I'm not into smart women"?
"Come on bhai...your track record is not exactly excellent! I mean just take that Simran? Yeah she was kinda hot, but..., she was a bit...how do I say this? Dizzy?" laughed Rehan.
"That's a bit harsh Rehan, but I do admit, Simran was not the sharpest tool in the shed" agreed Aahil.
"Sharpest tool? Come on Bhai, she had the personality of a paper towel?"
"You really have got more cheeky you little B****d!" said Aahil laughing. "I admit my track record is not the best...But I think I may have broken the trend"?
"Broken the trend? What do you mean? You met someone?"
"Yeah, sort of" murmured Aahil, and he had a faraway look in his eyes. Rehan gave Aahil a speculative look.
"Bhai?"
"Ha"? said Aahil distracted by his thoughts.
"There is something about you? I can't put my finger on it, but you seem...different?" said Rehan.
"Maybe...because this time...it IS different Rehan", Aahil said with a sigh.
"Bhai...? This is sounding intense? What exactly ha..." Rehan's words were cut short by the sound of his phone. He looked at it, and said "Sorry Bhai, I have to take this".
"Mystery lady?"
"No. It's Ganesh. You know our after-hours I.T guy? I think something must be going down? Probably an issue with a server? I should take this...sorry bhai!"
"Yeah Ganesh..." Said Rehan as he took the call. He was talking to him for a few minutes. "Ok I'll come now" said Rehan, cutting the call.
"What's up"?
"Just as I thought something wrong with the server. Ganesh wants me to come over and help him troubleshoot. I think he tried on his own, and got stuck. If this dosent get fixed tonight, and the systems are down, then things will really go haywire tomorrow".
"Yeah, I have a meeting early morning tomorrow, and I need things up and running for my presentation. Having an I.T outage will hardly be a good look for us". Agreed Aahil.
"Tell me about it? Gotta go bhai. But we will continue this conversation when I get back"?
"Sure" said Aahil with a smile as Rehan took off.
However, he didn't see Rehan for the rest of the evening. The issue at work had taken a lot longer to resolve, and he sent Aahil a text to say he may just grab something at work for dinner, and be back later.
The next day, which was Monday morning Aahil left for work early. He had an early meeting with some important clients lined up. Rehan had come back late, and had barely had a break most the evening, as he and Ganesh had worked on fixing their I.T issues. So he had told Aahil that he will come in to work a bit later that day. It was mid-morning, and Aahil decided that he wanted a coffee, not ANY coffee, but a good coffee. After a particularly mind numbing meeting, he needed some decent coffee to wake up. The coffee shop that sold the coffee he liked was not that far from his office, and it was even closer to a certain restaurant. Not that SHE would be there at this time? It was too early. It was only 10.30. Aahil decided he would walk to the coffee shop; coz the walk would clear his head.
As he arrived at the block the coffee shop was in, he was on the other side of the road. He came close to the crossing that would take him to the side of the road that the shop was in. He looked up and saw the door of the coffee shop open and someone step out. It was HER. Sanam had just come out of the coffee shop. She was wearing a black short sleeved shift dress and black pumps, and had a yellow tote bag on her shoulder. She looked different? Her hair seemed shorter. "Had she had it cut?" He thought to himself? Well he had not seen her in nearly 10 days, so that was possible. He just stared unblinking for a minute. "This is ridiculous. I really should go over and speak to her" he thought. "It's not like she doesn't know who I am?" He was about to cross the street when what he saw stopped him in his tracks.
Someone else stepped out of the coffee shop behind Sanam. Aahil did a double take as he realised who it was. It was Rehan. "Did Rehan know Sanam? Or was he just leaving the coffee shop at the same time as her"? What he saw next ended the speculation. Sanam turned around and smiled at Rehan who was stepping out of the coffee shop holding a cardboard cup holder with two coffee's in it. He handed one to Sanam and she smiled at him again, taking it off him. He also smiled. They then stood there for a few minutes talking to each other. Rehan bent his head towards Sanam as she said something and then they both laughed. They seemed quite comfortable in each other's presence. Then suddenly Sanam stepped forward and placed her free hand on Rehan's chest and stood on tip toe and gave him a quick peck on his cheek. Rehan smiled and Sanam too smiled stepping away from him. They looked at each other for a moment, and the expression on Rehan's face could only be described as "smitten". They seemed to be saying their goodbye's, and then Sanam turned around and walked the other way towards "S2", and Rehan walked in the opposite direction. Aahil who had so far been rooted to the spot that he was in, was galvanised into action by their movement. He quickly turned around and walked back towards the road leading to his office.
Suddenly Aahil's need for coffee had totally disappeared. He felt very much in need of something much stronger. He felt totally dazed. He didn't know how he was walking, because he felt like he was having an out of body experience. "THIS was the girl Rehan had been talking about? The hot girl that was not just beautiful but smart too? The girl that Rehan had ironically said he was glad HE had seen first?" At the time he had speculated that maybe she was not Aahil's type? Little did Rehan know that he had been hung up on this girl for the past 2 weeks, and had barely stopped thinking about her? That was longer than the time he dated some women.
HOW had Rehan met her? Was it during the week that he had been out of town? It HAD to be, coz the previous week, Rehan himself had been away? He didn't realise his little brother was such a fast worker? The way they were smiling at each other and how Sanam pecked him on the cheek, indicated that they appeared to be quite taken with each other? "So Sanam liked cute and chilled out guys like Rehan? Not intense and brooding guys like him"? Thought Aahil. Somehow he had always pictured the feisty Sanam as the type who would go for someone who would give her a good fight? But looks like he was wrong. How serious was Rehan about her?
He remembered how uplifted his mood had been minutes earlier, when he had seen Sanam coming out of that coffee shop? He himself had not realised how much his eyes had been craving for the sight of her? Then to see his own brother walk out after her and obviously on a sort of "date" with her, had been totally gutting. He had NEVER expected that he and Rehan would be in competition over a girl. He had never imagined in his wildest dreams, that he and Rehan would be love rivals. That had never even occurred to him? It indeed was ironic that he had met someone that he felt something other than attraction for, for the first time in his life, and his BROTHER had to be dating her? This was just not fair. But maybe this was his punishment for the shallow way he had conducted his relationships with the opposite sex to date? Yes he had always been upfront about where he stood, but he had deliberately chosen the type of girl who either would not want commitment, or the type that didn't inspire the need to make a commitment from his side. Rehan had been right. His "track record" to date had not been the best. Would a girl like Sanam have been interested in him to start with? She may have heard stories of him being a player? So even if he had asked her out would she have said yes? What was it that Nida had said? "You really DO have a thing for her. Poor you. She wont be easy to sway. I can tell".
Nida would be laughing right now if she found out that the "Talented Ms Khan" as she had called Sanam was actually dating HIS brother. Yes, Nida had been right, ironically, Sanam wont be easy to sway, not just because she may think him not her type, but because her type was clearly his brother. He remembered the way Sanam had smiled at Rehan. The feelings were definitely mutual there. His brother had not been the only smitten one. She liked him too. That was clear. WHAT was he going to do? He knew Rehan had never really been serious about a girl before. He had gone out on dates with some girls through collage, and had a girlfriend for a short time in collage too, but it had not been an intense sort of relationship. She had been part of his group of friends and it had sort of progressed from there. Things had died a natural death when they had left the States and moved back to India. The last year or two, Rehan had been concentrating hard on work, and though he occasionally went on dates, he had not shown any partiality to anyone. His brother was not a player. This was the first time he had even mentioned a girl in a long time. What if he was serious about Sanam and wanted to marry her? "Hold on Aahil. From what you know, they've only been dating for like a week, so how serious can it be"? But sometimes, didn't they say, only one look is enough, and you just KNOW! Like the way he had felt some sort of untold pull towards Sanam from the moment he saw her? Was it like that for Rehan too? The only difference is that Rehan had beat him to it, and asked her out, and she had clearly agreed. He had not wasted any time. The age old saying "You snooze you lose" came to mind. While he had been trying to figure out what he was feeling for Sanam, Rehan had already gone one step further and staked a claim on her. ALL this happened because of that stupid Punjab land deal. If not for that, he probably would have gone back to "S2" with Rehan and if he had known he liked Sanam, no matter how attractive he thought she was, Rehan would never have stepped on his territory. Now it seemed HE was the one stepping on Rehan's territory? But Aahil was sure, HE would have met her first? How had Rehan even met her? Maybe he had gone to "S2" as well? Either ways, this was just too depressing.
For the rest of the day, Aahil had avoided Rehan as much as possible, and fortunately for him, it had not been too difficult, coz Rehan had been busy interviewing a few candidates for one of their I.T help desk jobs. So it had been easy to avoid him. When Rehan was ready to leave for the day, he had come into Aahil's cabin in search of him. Aahil had made an excuse that he had work to catch up, pending from his week away, and told Rehan he would come home later. He had stayed at work well past 9, and ordered in food as well. He had gone home late and gone straight to his room, and locked the door. He had a shower and poured himself a scotch, and before he knew it he had drunk 4 drinks and was feeling pretty worse for wear. He had fallen into a fitful sleep, and woke up the next day feeling pretty groggy.
Rehan had come looking for him in the morning before going to work, and Aahil had still been asleep. He saw the glass of scotch on his coffee table and looked at Aahil who looked pretty worse for wear, still in bed.
"Bhai? What happened? You got drunk last night?"
"Not drunk Rehan. I just had a hell of a day, and needed to take the edge off. I feel like hell now though. Ahhh...my head".
"Come on bhai...getting pissed on a Monday night? What's going on?"
"Nothing Rehan. Just had a week from hell, and I just needed a drink OK? Stop the lecture!" snapped Aahil.
"Ok, don't bite my head off. Shall I tell Ruhi to cancel your appointments for the rest of the day"? (Ruhi was Aahil's assistant).
"Yeah do that. Thanks. I think I might take a sick day. I just don't feel up to work today".
"Sure bhai. Take care" said Rehan leaving the room.
"What was wrong with bhai?" Rehan could not help speculating. The other day he had been about to tell him about some girl, and they had been interrupted. Did this drunken stupor have something to do with that? Or more specifically HER? Had he had a fight with this girl? Rehan realised that he had NO clue about what was going on with his brother and this mystery woman? But something WAS wrong, no matter how much Aahil denied it to him. Rehan was sure of that. Aahil liked his drinks, but he was not into getting drunk on weeknights. To be honest, he had not seen him drunk for ages. So something definitely had triggered this? He should talk to him tonight? But then suddenly he remembered that he had a date tonight? He had planned to leave right from work, coz it was going to be an early dinner, and the restaurant was close to his work. "S2". He suddenly smiled. He was excited to see her. Yes he had only known her for short time, but she was something special, he was sure of it. Maybe he will get a chance to talk to Bhai later that night? Maybe after a whole day of rest he will feel better? He HAD been out of town for a whole week in Punjab and from what he understood that land deal had been a bit of a drama in itself. Maybe he was reading too much into it? "Maybe bhai was just tired"?
Aahil had slept half the day that day. Latiff had fussed over him and brought him hangover cures. He had told Latiff not to tell his Mother that he was hung over. Only that he had a headache and was asleep and didn't want to be disturbed. However, his Mother had found Latiff making him a hangover cure, so she had found out he had had too much to drink the night before.
"Hung over on a Tuesday? Yeh sab kya hain Aahil"? his mother had questioned him disapprovingly when he had come down for dinner that night, having had lunch in his room. She had wisely not come to his room to question him. After all, he was an adult.
"Sorry Ammi. I just had a terrible week, what with all that land drama in Punjab and all the meetings I had yesterday..." He trailed off, making his excuses.
"Yes I understand Aahil, but getting drunk is not going to make it better? Look how much worse you feel today? I don't want you to act the way your Father did Beta".
"Ammi... you KNOW I am nothing like him? How could you even say that"? said Aahil angrily.
"Aahil...please... I was NOT saying you're like him. But he was also too fond of his scotch, and I don't want you to go down that path. That is all".
"I won't".
"OK", she said, ending the loaded conversation. "I understand the land deal in Punjab went well?"
"Yes it all worked out in the end. How was your event on Sunday Ammi"?
"Very good. You should come to the next event with me. Both you and Rehan".
"Where is Rehan"?
"He's out. I think he had a dinner with a friend? He said he will go straight from work? The restaurant is close to work he said"?
"Three guesses as to which restaurant that would be, and who the 'friend' is?" muttered Aahil under his breath.
"Tumne kuch kaha beta"? said his Mum.
"Nothing Ammi", said Aahil, getting up from his seat. "Excuse me".
"You have barely eaten Aahil?" said his mother frowning.
"Not much appetite Ammi. I'll have an early night". With that Aahil left the table before his Mother could question him further. He was almost certain that the dinner Rehan had was at "S2" and it would be with non-other than Sanam. Suddenly Aahil realised how tough this situation was going to be. Rehan had been his closest confidant all these years. Now he had to avoid HIM of all people. Aahil went to his room and stripped out of his clothes and into his swimming shorts, and went and jumped straight into his pool. He had to do something to exhaust himself. After doing laps for nearly an hour, he went to his room and took two sleeping pills he had had prescribed to him a long time ago when he'd had trouble sleeping. He still sometimes had nightmares about the time when his Father used to belt him. But now those nightmares seemed like nothing in comparison to the burning sensation in his chest that he just could NOT get rid of. The thought of Rehan with Sanam was just too much for him to bear. This was much worse than he thought. Aahil fell into an uncomfortable sleep after taking his sleeping pills.
The next morning Aahil was still feeling a bit worse for wear, but he had to go to work. So he got up and after a shower and getting dressed he made his way for breakfast. He was hoping that Rehan had already left, but he was at the breakfast table.
"Hey bhai? You feeling better today?" said Rehan sounding very peppy.
"I'm Ok" said Aahil non-committedly.
"Are you bhai? You look tired?"
"I'm fine Rehan" Aahil snapped. "How come your not tired? Didn't you have a late night? Dinner with a 'friend' is what Ammi said"? Aahil could not help making the dig.
"Well, it was actually kind of a date, but I came home before 12. School night and all" smiled Rehan.
"So is it serious"? Aahil could not resist asking.
"I think it is getting there for me Bhai. I like her a lot".
"Does she feel the same"? "WHY am I doing this to myself? Aahil asked himself. But he could not help asking the question.
"I think she does. I sure hope so" said Rehan with a sigh. "But Bhai...you were telling me the other day about a girl? What happened with that...is it?..."
"It didn't work out" Aahil cut Rehan off.
"What? Just like that? Bhai...I felt like you really liked this girl. You said it was 'different' this time? You're just going to give up that easily?"
"It's not that simple Rehan!"
"Yeah Bhai. It IS that simple. If you had a fight with her, just patch up!"
"It was not a fight!"
"Then what's the issue bhai?"
"She's seeing someone else Rehan. THAT is the issue"! Snapped Aahil.
"Oh" said Rehan, who was thrown for a moment. "Is that all"?
"What do you mean? Is that all?" said Aahil looking at Rehan in surprise.
"I mean.. come on Bhai...you ARE 'Aahil Raza Ibrahim'? the 'Nawab of Bhopal'? Tell her to dump him?" said Rehan smirking.
"What"? said Aahil, who was thrown by Rehan's response. "Yehi toh main nahin kar saktha hu". He muttered.
"Kya"?
"Kuch Nahin Rehan. I DON'T want to talk about this anymore" said Aahil in a tone that said "End of discussion". A tone Rehan recognised.
"Fine" said Rehan holding his hands up. "Just trying to help".
"If only you knew" thought Aahil. The irony? Rehan was asking him to ask Sanam to dump HIM? This would actually be funny if it was not happening to him.
"Bhai, I think you need cheering up. Why don't you go out to dinner with me tonight?"
"No Rehan...I don't think...", Aahil started to say, when Rehan cut him off.
"Hear me out before you say No. It's this really great new place. Opened up a little over a month ago. It's close to work too, so we can go there straight after work. That's where I had dinner last night. 'S2'. The food is amazing bhai, you really should try it. I think we should take our out of town clients there next time, when we want to entertain them".
"S2"? Said Aahil in horror.
"Yes. I'm sure I can set up a deal with them for our company. I AM dating the co-owner after all"! Said Rehan with a self-satisfied smile.
"She co-owns S2'?" "She probably co-owns it with Sean" thought Aahil. Hence 'S2'. Sanam and Sean.
"Yeah. I told you she is not just beautiful. Brains too. The restaurant is really picking up. You really should try the food, it's...".
"Great. I know. I've been there", said Aahil. There was no point hiding the fact that he had visited the restaurant from Rehan.
"You've been there? When"?
"When you were in Mumbai".
"Well then you know how great the food is. We'll go there tonight. I am sure I can get a reservation".
"Sorry Rehan. I have plans tonight"?
"Plans? With...?"
"Nida. I'm seeing Nida" said Aahil quickly. "You know she's in town at the moment".
"Ok. Another night then"?
"Yeah. I better go Rehan" said Aahil, getting up.
"Wait up bhai, I'll come with you".
"No can do. I have a site visit. Gotta go" said Aahil, almost bolting out of there. He could not risk riding the same car with Rehan. He didn't want to get into a discussion with Rehan about Sanam again. He didn't know how long he could keep up his cool facade. This was proving harder than he thought? Rehan said he really liked her, and the feeling is mutual. He should call Nida. Maybe he can see her tonight? Anything to avoid Rehan.
Aahil walked towards his car. Finally, he had got his car back. The only real good thing that had happened to him the whole week. As he got in, and turned the key in the ignition, the radio turned on.
"Tune dil mera thoda...kahin ka na choda...Sanam bewafa...Sanam bewafa" said the song.
"You have got to be F***ing kidding me?" Aahil said out loud as he turned the radio off. One of the mechanics at the shop must have tuned the car to this station. He took his phone out and put it on the docking station. He went into his playlist and found his 'go to' Rap music. Soon his car was filled with the sounds of 'Snoop Dog'. "That's more like it" Aahil told himself as he drove out of the gates of Ibrahim Mansion, towards the city.
To Be Continued...
Ok so that was Part 4. I am working on Part 5 and will try and have it up in a few days. This is when things will really get interesting! :)
Cheers
Mandy
Previous part - Part 3 - "The Talented Ms Khan" Next Part - Part 5 - "Twin Torment" - Part 2
Edited by MrDarcyfan - 10 years ago
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