AsYa Story: DILWALE (NEW chapters 15b+16 on page 37, Apr 16) - Page 17

Prologue was good
Liked the way she told what she felt was missing. Everyone was giving her full applause. She will go to meeting with him. Waiting for an update soon
Do pm me plz
Thanks

Chapter 11-a

"Which one, Red or Black?"

"Red one is MashAllah, but black one is THE BOMB! Go for the black one, bebs."

"Angie, lipstick kaunse colour ke pehnu?"

"Colours bata."

"Pink, maroon aur purple. Purple try karoon?"

"Oh God! Seriously, Zoe? You wanna look like a vampire? We are talking about International Business Summit, not Halloween party, dear. When are you gonna learn something about basic fashion! You are M-Y friend, kuch toh seekh li hoti."

"Offo Angie. Please aab yeh footage khana bandh kar aur zaldi se bata kausa shade pehnu."

"Go nude."

"Huh!"

"I mean nude lips...just dab some lip-gloss. Try smokey eyes...and nude pumps! Voila."

"Angie, meri jaan."

"Bol Zoya, meri jaan-e-maan."

"What would I do without you?"

"Stop flirting with me and go find a hot businessman."

"Oh please, don't start now. I am already feeling the pressure. My first business tour and you are not here. I am literally in hot soup. That Jilleh Ilahi is looking for an opportunity to fire me. Sometimes I feel he will eat me alive or just glare me to death."

"Toh let him eat you alive na...kharoos is so damn hot after all. If I was in your shoes, I would have done things to him he could only dream of. Yummy!"

"Arghhh, stop it, Angie. You make it sound so..."

"...dirty, I know. What to do, dear? Good girls go to heaven, bad girls go places."

"Okay meri ammi. Now please wish me luck so that I don't end up throwing up on the stage. My palms are sweating so badly."

"Trust me, you are gonna nail it. Just hit it out of the park, you know, like MSD's helicopter shot. Now send me a pic on whasapp. Let me see my hard work paid off."

"Yeah, wait a sec. I am sending a pic now."

"..."

"Angie."

"Yes."

"How do I look?"

"Fo-xy."

"Huh?"

"Completely f**kable and s*xy. Muahhh."

"Language, biatch."

"You are looking like a diva. Now go get em...and remember what I told you about the importance of good underwear. ..and about using protection."

"Allah Miyaan. Go wash your potty-mouth, Janglee billi."

"Okay mom. Please send my llloooveee to Hottie Ahmed Khan."

"Correction. Khadoos Ahmed Khan."

"Haan wohin. Sending 6 kisses for his six-packs...and one kiss for you, BB."

"Angie, ek kaam kar. Tu chullu bhar pani le, aur doob mar Asad Khan ka naam lete lete."

"Oh, someone is so not jealous. Ha ha."

"Jealous hogi meri jooti."

"Yeah yeah, keep pretending like you don't wanna see his **xy abs. I almost fall for your innocence."

"I will kick your @$$ once I am back to Bhopal."

"Love you too, BB"

"..."

"Zoe"

"Yeah"

"Stop crying, if you don't want to scare the sh*t out of people with mascara dripping down your cheeks."

"I mmiss you, Angie."

Zoya had a hard time believing that the girl she was seeing in the mirror was indeed herself. Angela really was a miracle worker'. The nude lips and smokey eyes complemented each other subtly. The black anarkali with silver zardosi work brought a touch of elegance and ethnicity with it, which Zoya liked very much.

She felt tiny bubbles of excitement bouncing in her heart as she approached her colleagues, already waiting for her in the parking lot.

If the stunned reaction from Akram was anything to go by, Zoya could safely say she'd indeed pulled it off.

Asad, on the other hand, glanced at his watch pointedly and went ahead to seat beside the driver, Harmeet jee.

Zoya had no choice but to share space with Akram in the back seat.

"MashAllah, Zoya, you look so different...so beautiful today. I mean, it's amazing!" Zoya didn't mind how Akram was going starry-eyed over her looks.

It felt nice to be complimented once in a while.

"Thanks, Akki. That's so...sweet of you. It really means a lot. Otherwise, most men now-a-days simply do not know how to give a nice compliment to a woman." Zoya gifted him a genuine smile.

"Oh, don't mention it, Zoe. You're just killing it tonight." Akki dismissed her with a wave of his hand.

"If you two haven't run out of nicknames for each other by now, can I remind you to call Mr. Riaz and inform him that we have started and currently heading to Wilson Garden." Asad said tersely.

"Oh, I almost forget." Zoya bit her tongue and fished out her mobile from her plain black leather clutch.

Mr. Riaz picked up the call after three rings.

"Hello, Zoya?"

"Good evening, Mr. Riaz."

"A very good evening to you, Zoya. "

"Actually, I just called to inform that we are on our way to St. Mark's hotel, Wilson Garden. The event is supposed to start at 7."

"That's excellent. Umm...Zoya , I know I should've said it to you before, but better late than never; so let me tell you now - Congratulations for your first summit."

"Thanks a lot, Riaz Sir. You know it wouldn't have been possible without your blessings. You are the best, Sir."

"I know." Riaz sir broke into a full-throated laughter on the other end.

"So how's my boy, Asad doing?"

"Well, he is his usual grumpy self, which means everything is normal, I guess." Zoya lowered her voice, before stealing a quick glance at Asad, who apparently had zero interest for whatsoever activities were going on in the back and kept gazing out of the window.

"Are you two still on no-talking terms?"

"I figured out that's the best way to deal with his shi...I mean his introvert nature." Zoya sighed.

"Don't take it to heart, young lady. You know he doesn't mean half of the things he says."

"Well, the other half is not so appealing either."

"Ha ha. Just try not to drive him mad, okay? I had to make sure that Akram's there with you, in case he tried to kill someone...you know, by accident or something." Mr. Riaz chuckled.

"Don't worry. I am wise enough not to show the red flag to the bull." Zoya's voice was loud enough to reach the front seat, but it couldn't perturb Asad's calm demeanor.

"Ha ha ha, you are never going to change, are you?"

"Zoya, are you nervous?" Akki spoke with a semi-whisper so that Asad couldn't hear him.

"No. I mean, YES! May be. A little." Zoya rubbed her hands and blew softly in them to bring the warmth back to her skin.

"It's like my heart is doing back flips every now and then. I think I am going to be sick on the stage." Akki rolled his eyes.

"Hey, do you know what I use to do when I am scared? I listen to rap songs ...in full volume, with bass and all, and sing along until I start feeling better." Zoya said animatedly.

"Does it work?" Akki looked skeptical.

"Every freaking time." Zoya nodded. "You know, I don't want to sound like I am bragging or something, but I am the only person I know who could sing along EMINEM'S RAP GOD." She exclaimed happily.

"Isn't that song having, like fifty words per second? I heard it once and it gave me the same feeling like being hit with a hammer on my head." Akram frowned.

"Oh come on! It's so much fun. Alright listen to this " Zoya took a deep breath and started--

I'm beginning to feel like a Rap God, Rap God
All my people from the front to the back nod, back nod
Now who thinks their arms are long enough to slap box, slap box?
They said I rap like a robot, so call me rap-bot

Now here's the best part where everything goes super crazy-

Uh, summa lumma dooma lumma you assuming I'm a human / What I gotta do to get it through to you/ I'm superhuman/ Innovative and I'm made of rubber, so that anything you say is Ricochet in off a me and it'll glue to you And I'm devastating more than ever demonstrating How to give audience a feeling like it's levitating Never fading, and I know that haters are forever waiting For the day that they can say I fell off, they'll be celebrating
Cause I know the way to get 'em motivated/ I make...

"MISS FAROOQUI", Asad bellowed.

Akram pinched hard on Zoya's arm. She winced and immediately fell silent.

"Yes, Sir." She replied softly after a few moments of silence.

"If you don't stop doing that, I am going to cancel our trip to summit. No, I mean it." Asad glowered at her.

"But, Sir..."

"You heard me."

The rest of the journey passed in silence. Akram could be seen browsing webpages in his mobile phone, while Zoya sat with a grumpy face.

She only spoke once, requesting Harmeet jee to play some music in the car. Harmeet jee put on some devotional song which incurred no protest from anybody. After some time, Akram dozed off and started snoring in sync with the music.

Zoya kept rapping in her mind just to keep calm. This time she decided to go desi with Yo Yo Honey Singh:

Ghar pe chalna hai yaa pehle jayegi club
Nahi, mera matlab, Ghar ke Club?
Tab lunga left, nahi to right!
Club mein hoga shor, baby ghar pe pillow fight
You decide ki kya karna hai
Tujhko to zara sa bhi dar na hai
Champagne ger di hai tune meri pant pe
Aur kehti hai change karlo hotel leke rent pe

She imagined stabbing Asad to the beat of a Yo Yo song and immediately started feeling better. By the time they hit the busy traffic in Wilson Garden area, she'd killed Asad Ahmed Khan more than twenty times in her head.

To be continued.

Naa shotti. I m in my bed and rofling all curled up into a ball and my sides hurt. Ahahahhaha.

You updated. Really cool they were. Update sooner. xD And, Between 10 and 11, am I missing something? Like there were no interactions between Asad and Zoya rigtht?

Stumbled upon this story now and read it all in one go...Loving it! Please update soon :-) Thank you

Chapter 11b

When the black Audi finally stopped in front of a gigantic skyscraper, the tingling sensation was back in the pit of her stomach.

It' like when the roller coaster reaches the peak, and everything gets quiet for a moment; so quiet that one can hear the faint screeching of the wheels on the rail, and you sense in your heart that that the freefall is coming, yet you could do nothing about it.

*All's well all's well all's well* Zoya kept chanting silently to herself.

To make matters worse, the organizers had even arranged a red-carpet walkway for welcoming the guests. The entire place was buzzing with press and paparazzi. Muscled men in fitted black vests and khaki trousers secured the perimeter.

"Sh*t! The media coverage is going to be insane." The panicky tremble in Akram's voice wasn't helping Zoya either.

"I heard that the Ambanis are coming...and Mr. Ratan Tata, and Aditya Birla with his son. Mr. Narayan Murthy was supposed to be here too, but he's out of station so his son will be coming." Akram sounded like he had memorized the entire guest list by heart.

"Oh yeah...and Bill Gates is coming too...and Mr. President, Barak Obama is the chief guest; and Thalaiva Rajinikant is the inaugurator!" Zoya threw a glare sideways at Akram "Seriously, Akki, give me a break. You're not helping much, you know."

The only person who looked like he really wanted to be here was Asad. His earlier grim expression was replaced with a suave smile. The aura of quiet charm and confidence that usually surrounded him was back. Surprisingly, it had a soothing effect on Zoya's tormented nerves.

"Shall we?" he opened the back door and held out his hand to Zoya, as if nothing had happened on the way down here; as if they were not at each others' throat constantly, or thinking about various colourful ways to kill each other in their spare time.

The moment she stepped outside the car, her vision was blinded by the unrelenting flashing of camera. Zoya ducked involuntarily, hiding her face behind the odhni like she was some convicted prisoner.

To be honest, Zoya was not comfortable being clicked, unless it was a selfie with Angela where all she had to do is to make weird faces , cross-eyed with her tongue sticking out, so that they could look at it later and had a good laugh; but this was an entirely different scene altogether. The madness was for real.

A few steps ahead of Zoya, a lady in a red fishtail gown were seen waving at the media. She was sporting a big red bindi on her forehead and a solid gold necklace with a Balaji' pendant.

The Media seemed to be going into a jiffy after seeing her.

"Hey Ekta mam, is it true that Mihir Virani is going to die in a fire and later reincarnate as Tulsi's grandson?

"Ekta jee, in the coming episodes of Yeh hai Aashiqui , is Raman going to be kidnapped by Aliens?"

"Madam, tell us something about the generation leap of 20 years in Kumkum Soubhagyavati"? Is Abhi going to confess his love for Pragya in his deathbed?"

"Are you planning to cast Scarlet Johansson opposite your brother in Baap of Masti'?"

The lady responded with a broad smile and showed a double thumbs-up to the media.

"Yaar, yeh answer de rahi hai ya thenga dikha rahi hai?" One reporter whispered to another.

At this point, someone from the crowd shouted "Madam, your new show is titled Kutting chai with K-K-K-Karan'. Are you dating Karan Johar in real life?"

"Naughty! We are just good..." her words and her foot, both kept dangling in the air as she abruptly lost her balance and hit the ground, face forward.

The crowd let out a collective gasp. "My gown!!!" the telly queen shrieked, still lying on the red-carpet and trying to recover from the shock.

All the eyes and the cameras followed the train of her gown and found it caught under the heel of a pair of nude pumps. Zoya, who was too busy picking up her handkerchief from the carpet (it was her lucky hanky, presented to her by Angela, with the words A + Z' sewed in pink), apparently failed to notice that she had stepped on someone else's dress.

She was confounded by the sudden media attention, but recovered quickly and started waving to the crowd. She even blew some flying kisses (just like she saw celebs doing on Filmfare award's night) before realizing what'd really happened.

"Allah Miyaan, are you okay? I am sooo sorry!" she kneeled down beside the lady and tried to pull her up; but in her hurried attempt to do so, she managed to tear off the sleeve of the dress.

"My gowwwnnn!" "I AM SO SORRY!" Both of them cried out simultaneously.

Zoya saw a very angry Asad pushing through the crowd to get to her.

*I am so dead!* she dropped the torn part of the sleeve and almost ran inside.

After playing hide-and-seek for about 15 minutes, finally Asad managed to confront Zoya.

"Ms. Farooqui, I need to have a word with you. NOW!" He gave her a hard look that spelt doom.

"Oh my God! Look Mr. Khan, is that Sid Mallya? Excuse me for a sec." Before Asad could stop her, she ran to a tall, muscled guy with spiked hair.

"Hello jee, if I am not wrong, you must be Sid...Mallya?" she couldn't help acting like an energizer bunny around him.

Zoya and Angela had a crush on this guy for a long time; especially Angela, who even had username cutiepiesid4life in twitter.

"You bet I am." The guy grinned broadly.

"Allah Miyaan, I can believe I am really talking to you!" Zoya clapped with joy "My friend, Angie, is your biggest fan. If I don't get to click a selfie with you and she hears about it later, I swear she'd kill me. So, do you mind?"

"Absolutely not." The guy posed happily with her, even making bunny-ears behind her and making her blush and giggle even more.

"Your friend sounds interesting. I am sorry I didn't get you name though." He looked a little amused at her expression.

"That's so silly of me! I am Zoya...Zoya Farooqui."

"Nice to meet you, Miss Zoya. Maybe we could catch up later?" Sid took her hand and shook it lightly.

"Ya sure. I mean, I already follow you in twitter. Just search for dhonikideewani420 . That's me." Zoya realized he was still holding her hand.

"Well, I was hoping for a number, maybe?" he looked into her eyes.

*OMG is he hitting on me? I am so dead! Breath, Zoya, breath.* All of a sudden she was struggling to remember her phone number.

"Miss Farooqui, you have to come with me now." Zoya wanted to kill Akdoo Ahmed Khan for killing her moment with Junior Mallya, but he already had her wrist in his firm grip.

"I hope she didn't bother you much, Siddharth. She has this condition called anxiety attacks, and she didn't take her medication tonight. I am sorry for all this, but you have to come with me, Zoya, you poor baby." Asad tugged at her wrist.

"...but I had to ask something to Sid jee. Angela was dying to know about it. Please tell me Sid jee, are you and Deepika still dating?"

"Ms. Farooqui, I don't know what is wrong with you; and I don't want to know either. But you are going to stay here with Akram until I come back. Don't you move from here unless I say so, is that clear?" Asad pointed to a chair beside Akram and motioned her to take a seat.

"Yes, Sir." Zoya dropped her head.

"Hey, thank God you are here, Zoya. I was getting so bored, sitting here all by myself." Akram tried to stifle an yawn.

"Uff, I was trying to socialize a little, but as usual, Akdoo Ahmed Khan ruined it. God I need a drink!" Zoya sighed.

"I didn't know that you drink?" Akram looked a little startled.

"Oh yeah, I do." Zoya snapped her fingers and called out "Hello waiter jee, bring me an appy fizz, on the rocks!"

"Heh heh, you called that a drink?" Akram was laughing hard "on the rocks, heh heh heh. You're funny."

"Says the guy who couldn't get a single girl talking to him tonight, heh heh heh." Zoya mimicked him. "Look over there. That guy in a blingy cleavage-showing jacket and palazzo pant is surrounded by a bevy of beauties. How on earth do you think he managed that?"

"Ssshhh, Zoya. That's the youngest son of Adi Birla. You and your motor-mouth! Going to land us in trouble some day." Akram whispered.

"He is a little experimental with fashion though." He added after seeing the look on Zoya's face.

"Experimental! You call that experimental'? That guy needs to come out of the closet as soon as possible, if you know what I mean." Zoya winked.

Akram narrowed his eyes. "Are you hinting at his orientation...like he might have a very specific lifestyle choice?"

"That's his choice and none of our business, by the way" Zoya shrugged.

"Zoya, look at that lady over there, in blue gown. She just smiled at me." Akram shifted in his seat.

Zoya craned her neck and tried to see "I didn't see anything!" she frowned.

"I swear she did." Akram stood up and waved at that girl "Hello jee, myself Akram. How ya doing?"

The girl gave him a strange look and whispered something to another girl sitting next to her. Both of them giggled.

"Akki beta, baith ja nahi toh sandal se pitega!" Zoya took a large swig from the bottle of Appy Fizz."Aaah, this drink gives me a sugar high", she exclaimed.

"That's not fair." Akram grudgingly sat down. "I was just trying to act gentleman-ly."

"Is that your idea of behaving like a gentleman?" Zoya sniggered "Why don't you try and say some nice things, like the way you complimented me earlier."

Akram looked at her hopefully "You think that was nice?"

"I do." Zoya nodded.

Akram hesitated for a few moments, then suddenly looked at her "Why don't you be my date for the night then? It sounds like a good idea."

"It sounds like disaster. " Zoya rolled her eyes. "Look, I will be a true jugaadu (match-maker) and try to find you a hot single millionaire businesswoman tonight. But you have to do as I say."

"Zoya, I've an idea! What if I sing for the lady, instead of plain talking? Surely it will be very romantic." Akram suggested enthusiastically.

"Wow, I never knew you could sing?"

"Arre, you don't know me, Zoe. I can sing in Anu jee's voice perfectly. Listen to this -

Ek garam chai ki pyali ho (dhik chik chik/ dhik chik chik )

Jo mujhko peelane wali ho (dhik chik chik/ dhik chik chik)

The way Akram had perfected the dhik chik chik' background score made Zoya roar with laughter.

"Buss kar, buss kar pagle, aab rulayege kya?" Zoya guffawed. "Your voice is so full of surroor , it will make even Himesh cry.

"It's not gonna work then?" Akram looked a little sad.

"It might, if you go for that girl, over there. You see the girl with the glasses, sitting in the third row and reading a book?" Zoya quietly pointed.

"You mean woh chashmish? I don't think she is even aware that I exist. She'd been sitting there with her nose buried in that book for the past half an hour." Akram didn't sound much hopeful.

"Akki, that means she is not an attention seeking beep beep like the rest of them. Besides, it's so much fun dating a nerd actually. They are usually the coolest people around." Zoya encouraged him.

"So, what do I do now? I can put out a matchstick on my tongue; remember Aamir Khan in Aati kya khandala. Woh try karoon kya?"

"Allah Miyaan, you silly! Just go and talk to her normally. You can start with telling her how it happens to be your favourite book too." Zoya suggested.

"By God, I've never even heard about the author. You know how I hate reading, bachpan se." Akram sighed.

"Toh Google mata kab kaam ayegi? Just google Stephen King and dreamcatcher, read the plot summary and memorize it as if your life depends on it...and there you go." Zoya shrugged.

"Hmm, that's not a bad idea. At least ek try toh banta hai!" Akram's mood had improved.

"Thanks yaar. I gotta go." He stood up. "Achcha Zoya, mera ek aur kaam karegi?"

"Mention not, buddy. Bol." Zoya smiled.

"We have to do an official registration for Dilshad Constructions in tonight's award ceremony. Can you please visit the counter and finish the formality?"

"There is an award ceremony tonight? Strange, I didn't know about that." Zoya frowned.

"Yes, madam, in fact the award ceremony is the one of the biggest attraction of the evening . Our company has been nominated in three categories - Global force', Business with ethics' and rising star- young businessman of the year'. Akram explained with great gusto.

"Is that rising star our Akdoo boss?" Zoya gasped. "Isn't it like Salman Khan being nominated for the best debutant award? I thought Mr. Khan's been around for quite some time."

"No yaar, it wasn't always the same with him. A few years back, we hit rock bottom. During that time, boss became an absolute workaholic. I myself saw him working more than 14-15 hours a day. That man put his blood and sweat to rebuild the backbone of the company again. In my opinion, he totally deserves an award." Akram, for once, sounded like he was serious.

"Well, he is still kind of...obsessive about his work. I can see that." Zoya nodded.

"No, yaar, I swear nothing compares to his earlier days. It was pure madness, those days! Many believes that it was by that time insomnia got a hold of him; and he developed an addiction to prescription drugs as well. The stories of his substance abuse started doing the rounds, but he personally never admitted it. Some people even went on to say he had to undergo therapy to come out of it." Akram shook his head sadly.

"Did he ever talk to anyone about his problems?" Zoya asked.

"Nope, not a word. Sometimes the bad press crossed all limits of decency, but he never broke his silence. I admire him for this. Even though people find it hard to believe, he is a good soul; honest and caring. He helped me a lot financially during my sister's marriage, even though I was just a junior employee of DSC back then.

That's why I say; don't believe everything you hear about this man. He is an enigma, truly!" Akram sighed.

Zoya remain quiet, unsure of what to say.

"Anyway, do me a favour, Zoe. Registration procedure finish karle. It will take hardly five minutes, but if we don't do it, our company will not be officially enlisted to compete for the awards. It's just a formality, but it's mandatory.

The winners will get a big opportunity to collaborate with a famous German company, I heard. So please buddy, do it for DSC." Akram started moving towards the bespectacled girl. "Thanks dude." He winked at Zoya.

Amazing update dear