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"Love flowers best in openness and freedom." Edward Abbey, Desert Solitaire
"Sign here, please." A senior lawyer pushed some cryptic looking legal documents and pointed where the man sitting on the opposite of the table needed to sign. He also offered his fountain pen. The man before him didn't seem to notice. He had taken out his own pen from his shirt pocket. Anusha winked at Zoya as the lawyer took his pen back. On any other day, they both would have exchanged silent jokes but today Zoya couldn't pay attention on her doings. Other man's hand hovered just a moment over his name in the document - Asad Ahmed Khan -and then in one fluid movement he had signed it and handed over it back to the lawyer. The lawyer had a satisfied smile of a deal well done. It wasn't a huge deal and yet it had taken longer than usual because of the man before him. He was glad that finally it was over.
"Good luck, Mr Khan. We wish you all the best for future." The lawyer shook hands with the man. To surprise of other three persons in the room, the man actually smiled. All three of them were used to dealing with people in his position and those people often got misty eyed, some even bawled. They had pegged him to be the one who would be sullen and instead he had smiled; a small, fleeting smile, but a smile nonetheless. He had curtly nodded at two ladies in the room and then turned around with the envelope that the lawyer had handed over to him.
"Anusha, send these document to registrar's office before 5. Also make sure that...," the senior lawyer started giving instructions to the junior lawyer of the firm. As Anusha listened to him, Zoya got time to look back at the man who was leaving. A peon in his hurry to enter the office slightly bumped into him and started apologizing profusely. He just raised his hand as if to say never mind' and left the office. The peon started arranging files on the lawyer's table. Zoya glanced back at her colleagues. "I will be back in a minute." She mumbled and left before anyone could stop her. She could see him from the first floor foyer. He was near the ground floor exit. He held open a door for a lady and left after she entered. He paused to shield his eyes from harsh sunlight and then started walking with purposeful steps and was out of sight the next moment.
"Hey, you. Where did you disappear? Rawat wants to see you. He wants to get started with Kochar trust documents." Anusha was at the door of the break room on the first floor.
"Yh...thanks...I will go now...," Zoya made a move to leave.
"Relax...when I was leaving, he got a call from head office. He will be busy for next 15 minutes at least. Let's have coffee." Anusha turned around and entered the break room. Zoya followed her and filled herself a coffee mug. Anusha started chitchatting about this and that. She wanted to go out to celebrate the success of completion of their assignment. Zoya really wasn't listening to her. She had turned towards a window and looking out at nothing in particular. Her fingers were curled around her coffee mug and then she saw him. His purposeful steps had lost all purpose it seems. He was trying to make his way on the mall road crowds. It was unusual to find such a bright day in August. It had rained for past month and a half, so locals were taking advantage of the sunshine. There weren't many tourists in this season. Tourists would come in hoards as soon as the rains stopped. Tourist season or not, Shimla's mall road was always a bustling place.
"What are you looking at? Har roz ek hi view hota hain. Hey, it's Khan."
"He looks like a lost child."
"Well, he just lost his livelihood. Hota hain. Mujhe to laga hain ki Rawat ke office main kuchh tod-phod karke jaayega, per banda to smile deke gaya. Pretend kar raha hoga. All brave and strong and silent."
"He doesn't come across as a pretender."
"Zoya baby, you are still new. Spend few more years in this profession and you will know about people's capacity to lie and pretend." Anusha sat down on a table. Zoya gave her a look.
"Chal theek hain. Ye banda aisa nahi lagta hain." Both of them sipped their coffee in quiet for few moments. Zoya's eyes followed him till she could but she lost him soon. She turned away from the window and sat next to Anusha on the table.
"He was a dish. Too bad...the deal is done. We won't be able to see him anymore." Anusha said with a naughty smile. She was soon called in by a senior and she left reminding Zoya to get to Rawat's office. Zoya also finished her coffee and left for the senior lawyer's office. As she poured over the trust papers of an affluent family on the town, it started raining. The sunshine was momentary. She wondered if he had reached his home. He was not carrying an umbrella.
In the evening, a peon was arranging files in a cabinet. He placed a file that read "Khan's - the Bookstore" between files of Khanna Constructions and Kufri Hill Resort.
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Alright, guys! A New story. A Prologue! As usual the current story is in last phase, so it is time to get started with a new one. The inspiration for this one came from a scene in the movie 'You've got mail' - one of my favorite movies. The scene is that after Kathleen loses her bookstore, next day she is at home in comfy clothes. She prepares soup and sits down on the floor looking not so lost and yet lost because she has accepted that her store is gone, has accepted for a while now, but she has no idea what she would do now. Not sure if those who have watched this move remember the scene. It is one of my favorite scenes in the movie.
Now, coming to Zoya - I have always found difficult to write her, sometimes very difficult. But 'Zoya Proposes, Asad Disposes' allowed me to understand Zoya's character and now I am somewhat more confident of writing her and ready to explore her character. Her character in this story takes shades of Anna Kendrik's character Natalie in the movie 'Up in the air' (pretty good one. Watch it if you haven't) - just some broad strokes.
But yh...this story is not based/inspired on any of these movies.
Few weeks back, many of you got my PM talking about a Fall themed OS contest. Due to time constraints, I could not take part in the contest, but now my idea is to incorporate the theme of autumn in this story. As this story is set in India - this time we are in Shimla, not in Bhopal - there won't be any fall colours, but I will try to capture the spirit of autumn, my interpretation. Let's see how I do it! I myself am not very sure.
This one will start as the current story ends.
I haven't decided on title yet.
p.s. Zoya is a lawyer here. Doctors ke baare main to phir bhi kafi pata tha. Lawyers ke baare main to I know next to nothing and still I make her a lawyer . Remember the usual note about creative liberty.
p.p.s I tried to write 'lawyer' and somehow kept typing 'laughter'. My Word knows Zoya better than me! đ
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