8. Zor Ka Jhatka

I rap my knuckles on the door of my parents' room on finding it shut. There was no question about Mumma being downstairs with breakfast prep with Sadia which leaves only one person in there.

"Abbu?" I call out when I don't hear any response, turn the knob and push the door open. There he was, sitting on the bed with his back against the headboard and his iPad in his lap.

Upon seeing me there, he greets me with a small smile. "Come in, bacha."

Taking baby steps, I reach the bed and plop down in front of him. "Today is a big day, Abbu." I start.

"I know, shehzadi." Abbu says putting away his things and folding his legs as he inched closer to me. Placing his big palm on my head, he continued. "It's a very big day for you. I hope and pray you are successful and content in everything that you do. Allah mere bache ko humesha khush rakhe, abaad rakhe, har mushkil, har pareshani se milon door rakhe. Aapki kamyaabi, hasi, khushi, ko logon ki nazar se bachaye. Itna bus? Ya aur dua Doon?" He joked in the end.

"Abhi ke liyea kaafi hai. Baaki meri shaadi ke liyea uthake rakhiyea. Kaam aate."

Abbu chuckled and I beam at the man I've considered my hero the second I laid my eyes on him. The man who puts family above all in every situation. The same man who was now bound to his room because of the other man there was in the house now as we speak.

"Chalo, go. You don't wanna get late." He  pats my cheek.

Nodding, I move forward to embrace him and exit the room.

"Hold on," I curse silently, pulling my lower lip between my teeth. "About turn," Abbu instructs and I knew that he knew.

I gulp, staring at the Polo Ralph Lauren shirt I had in fact stolen from his collection. And I had a reasonable sense in doing so.

"Isn't that my shirt?" He cocks a brow.

I let out a nervous laugh. "Aap ich bole the today is a big day for me. I wanted to dress according to the occasion. Good luck aur good looks k liyea aapke best shirts me se ek pehenli...toh...koi badi baat nahi hai. Waise bhi you love me more than these shirts. Lekin agar aapko pasand nahi hai to main change--"

"Shut up, apni drama queen Mumma ki dramatic beti. Shut the door as you go." He said, shaking his head with a smile.

Shutting the door behind me. I yelled a 'Salam' when I reach the bottom of the stairs to whoever was present in the area.

But no one responded because they were too busy feeding that Angrezi.

"Assalamalaikum," He shoots me an innocent smile, clearly the first to notice me although he was surrounded by my family.

"Walaikumsalam." I grumble, plopping on the chair across from him on the table. The crowd was soon to disperse and suddenly Angrez and I were left to ourselves. "Sadia!"

"Coming!" She yelled back while I continued to stare at him gobble a roti with crispy fried ladyfingers. Sadia comes our way with a straight off the tawa roti and dumps it on his plate leaving me horrified so early in the morning.

"Thank you, darling." My brows probably disappeared in my hairline at this flirty tone and the wink he sent in Sadia's direction who was blushing like a mad woman.

"That was mine." I snarl, slamming a fist on the table after she disappeared into the kitchen.

"Mm-hmm." He shakes his head. "I licked it first. So now, its mine."

"When did you--" A strange sound erupts from my throat when he raises the flatbread to his mouth and runs the tip of his tongue along the length of it. I make another sound when he extends his hand still holding the roti towards me.

"If you want you can have it."

I could even see his saliva mixed with the oil on the surface.

"Sadia!" I call weekly, pulling my knees to my chest. wanting someone to rescue me from this half-crazy human.

"Aagayi, aagayi." She emerges from the kitchen and dumps a roti onto my plate.

But I was still in shock, disgusted by this Angrezi. He pops the last piece of his roti into his mouth, his eyes fixed on mine.

"Will you be eating that or. . .?"

"Khalo! Ye bhi khalo tum ich!" I snap, sliding the plate towards him. "Margayi bhook meri."

"Awwleyleyleyleyley." He tuts with a shake of his head but doesn't stop his hand from tearing it into pieces.

Fixing him with a glare that didn't bother him in the least, I stomp my way into the kitchen and make myself a breakfast smoothie instead. Gathering all the bananas, strawberries and dates, I was just a second away from pushing the start button when I heard his voice again.

"What's in the making?" He inquired and was probably leaning over me because I could feel his voice's vibrations. I screw my eyes shut, looking for sanity and attempting to control my anger.

"Zeher hai." I grunt. "Apko try karna hai?"

"I wouldn't mind, really." His breathy chuckle fans the side of my cheek, sending unwarranted goosebumps throughout my body. I huff, now on the verge of losing my shit.

Spinning on my heel, I shoot him with a warning glare. But he only smiled back at me.

Pagal hai kiya ine?

"Listen up, Mr. Angrez," I start. "Today is a special day for me. And I don't--"

"Oh, happy birthday!"

"What?!"

"You said it's your special day."

I blink. "I didn't say it was my birthday."

"When is your birthday?"

"15 Decem-- wait, why do you want to know my birthday?"

"No reason." He shrugs. "Anyway, you were saying. . ."

"What was I saying?" I ask, looking around muddled. Was I even saying something?

Muaaz clears his throat. "Listen up, Mr. Angrez, today is a special day for me and i don't. . ." He prompted with a nod of his head like one does to an L.K.G kid who messed up in the middle of his memorized poem.

I take a second longer to recall what I was saying to him, pressing two fingers in the middle of my eyebrows. And when I do, the frown, anger, and irritation are back.

"C'mon miss, I don't got all day."

"Listen up, Mr. Angrez. Today is a special day. And I don't--"

"For me."

"Now, What?!"

"You missed 'for me'." I frown at him. "Today is a special day for me."

"Whatever!" I exclaim, having had enough of his bakwaas. "Just stay away and don't ruin this day for me. Please!"

"On one condition." He says, folding his arm across his chest.

"Did I miss something again?"

"No, I'm putting forth a condition, if fulfilled I'd stay away from you."

I heave a dramatic sigh. "Farmaiyea,"

"I want the smoothie you're making."

"You're not getting all of it. You've already had those rotis, Allah knows how many, and you still expect me to hand over the smoothie to you as well now?"

"Not all of it." He states, calmly. "I expect at least half of it."

"Sandh." I mutter under my breath, turn my back to him, and stab my finger into the button.

"Ouch,"

Ignoring his comment, I watch the content of the jar turn into a smoothie and pour it into my glass jar and whatever cup he fetches for himself. I steal a glance at my watch and it was about time for Karamat Uncle to be here.

I lean against the counter, sipping from my straw and watch him as he does the same. I was tempted to leave the kitchen but because he was quietly tapping away on his phone, I decided to stay and enjoy my smoothie in silence. A silence that didn't seem awkward. Surprisingly.

My watch pinges, alerting me that my ride was here. I grab another banana, and make my way towards the door.

"Best of luck." Mr. Angrez says with a smile that never seems to leave his face. "For your special day."

"Thanks. And you too, for whatever you're here for."

"Whyyy, thank you." His smile turns into a grin, and I leave the kitchen.

Looping my handbag through my arm, I wrap a hijab around my head and leave, hooking two fingers into my shoes on the way out. "I'm leaving!" I yelled in the house, earning a series of 'Allah Hafiz' from whoever was present.

"Assalamalaikum," I say to the old man and shut the back door behind me.

⚜️

"Toh, how was your weekend?" Dani asks as the elevator's door slides shut. We weren't the only two in the box but nothing stopped girls from chatting.

"Poocho mat." I sigh. "Mr. Angrez is here who has absolutely zero Angrezi things about him. He eats, sleeps, and walks like us. Agar uska accent chud wado kaisa bhi, toh koi nahi bolsakta he was born and brought up in England."

Dani snorts. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"He likes butter chicken, he likes khichdi with kheema, papad, khatta and achar. He even eats roti for breakfast instead of corn flakes or whatever the Brits have in their country. Bande ko jetlag bhi nahi Hua malum. He came home at midnight on Saturday, ate and slept at around 3 maybe. Only to wake up by 10 the next morning. Fresh ek dum. Safar ki thakan nahi, kuch nahi."

"Mashallah," Dani says, pushing the door open of their office of both of them since I was busy in my rant.

"Aur itna irritating hai, poocho mat. Usko dikhta ke I spy on him. And that everybody loves him more than me. I mean like, seriously? Aur malum, main aaj subha roti k liyea wait karlete baithi table pe aur jab Sadia leke aayi meri roti to une leliyea! And you know what he did? He licked it. Aysa karke." I pinch my finger in the air as though holding something and lick the way he had. "Uske baad he offered it to me like he has not just done the most disgusting thing."

Daniya could only scrunch up her nose in response before I started to blabber again. "Bhooke rehna pada meko us wajah se. But because I had time, i decided to make myself some smoothie. Lekin usme bhi Mr. Angrez ko tang adana tha. I had to give him half of my drink so he could leave me alone."

"Did he?"

"What?"

"Leave you alone, I mean."

"He didn't argue after that. And Karamat uncle was home after a bit. Mr. Angrez only wished me luck for today and I left."

"He wished you luck?" Dani asked, a strange expression closing her face. Something between joy and awe.

"Yes, he did. And that was just once. He is stubbornly annoying generally." I say with a dismissive roll of my eyes.

"Aysa?" Dani cocks a brow, leaning forward with her elbows on my desk and chin resting on her entwined hands. We'd known eachother for years and it took a genius to figure out where she was heading with the twinkle in her eyes.

"Ji. If you take off your Rose colored glasses, you'll see that not everything is out of a romance novel. Suspense, thriller, mystery aur sometimes horror bhi hota zingadi me."

"That sounds like the list of genres you prefer in your zindagi. And I'm not interested in knowing how unromantic you are. Main to bus fantasize karri thi, apni bichari single bestfriend ke liyea kuch manifest karri thi. Let's see, dua puri hoti ke nahi."

I stretch my lips at a sarcastic angle. "Sari dunya me khali ek meich single bichari mili tumako?"

"Bohot honge. Lekin apne ko sirf ek se matlab hai. Actually, add one more to it. Waise, you didn't tell me how does your British cousin look? Photo hai uski?"

"Why?"

"Just wanted to look at our prospective jeeju." I roll my eyes in response.

Welcome to la la land, ladies and gentlemen.

Out of nowhere, Afsaar barges into my mini cabin. A frown on his forehead.

"What prep have you done to welcome our partner?" He asks in a gruff voice.

"I asked Kishore to get a bouquet." I replied.

"Was he told for what occasion?"

"Umm..." Did I need to?

"Because he got a big bouquet of red roses."

"Red ... roses." I jam my lips together.

"And you will be handing that thing to Mr. Hussein yourself."

"No problem, sir. And I apologize--"

He marched away right when Kishore peeps in.

"Humko maaf karna, bibi. Ghalat phool le aaye. Aap kahe to abhi badal wadein?"

Poor guy.

"Nahi, Kishore. Gulaab me koi dikkat nahi hai. Dedenge us budhe ko laal gulaab. Wo bhi khush, hum bhi khush."

"Lekin humri wajah se afsaar saab itna kuch suna diyea hai aapko. Hum--"

"Afsaar ki to aadat hai sunana." I muttered.

"Aur humari unki sunna." Dani sighs, taking her place back on the chair as she waves a hand at Kishore who leaves soon after.

I notice a thought strikes her mind and she is smiling again. "Anyway, tell me more about the guest in residence."

"Why are you so interested?" I question.

"Oh ho, possessive!" She smirks. "But don't worry, you know I am committed. Aur ye meri dill-i khwahish hai ke jaate jaate apni bestfriend ka bhi ghar basate chalun. Take mere Australia jaane ke baad tum akele nahi hojana."

"Wow, so thoughtful of you. I am so blessed to have you in my life. Khud doobenge aur meko bhi saath leke doobenge. Mr. Angrez ke ilawa koi aur mila nahi tumako?"

"From whatever I've heard you say about him, I think he'll be a very good man for you." She snickered.

"Mar jao tum."

"Muskaan!" Tamanna barges into my cabin. "You're man is here." She announced, excitement bubbling through her eyes.

"Aapko kaise malum chala Dani is shipping me with him?" I question since my mind was in a completely different universe altogether.

"Dani was shipping you with who?" She cross-questioned.

"Wahi jiski aap baat kar rahe the abhi, mr. Angrez. But how do you know him?"

Beside me, Dania erupts like a volcano, laughing her ass off while our manager and I stare at eachother.

"Ohhhhh!" I slam my forehead, chuckling to myself as realization dawned upon me.

"We're clearly talking about two different men here." Tamanna concludes, shaking her head with a small smile. "I'd like to know more about this other man, but now we need to hurry because that man is here. Afsaar has gone to receive him, we should be ready."

"Be there in 2." I tell her and shoot Dania a glare who was now down to giggling. "Chalo!"

Stealing a glance at my reflection in the monitor, I tug at my shirt, toss the loose end of my hijab over my shoulder, and push to my feet, striding out of my cabin. Kishore hands me the bouquet of roses and together we make our way towards the main entrance of our office.

Sounds of low murmuring buzzed around me as we waited for Mr. Husseiin to make an appearance. Coming to stand beside me, Dani snorts.

"What?"

"The other man wali baat," She spills the reason behind her abrupt crack up, earning an eye roll from me. "Waise, Hussein is also young from what I've heard. You really are getting a buy one get one free offer."

"Thank you, but I don't want any one of them."

"Matlab, you have a third one in mind?"

"Shut up!" I end up cackling at her absurd joke but straighten up when we hear voices coming our way.

"I hope you're settled at your place because we are going to be working all day everyday starting tomorrow--" We heard Afsaar's voice laced with excitement and apprehension that was followed be a laugh. A strangely familiar sound I'd heard somewhere. I frowned at the feeling.

"Here we go," Dani whispered, but what I saw next blew my world up.

He hadn't seen me yet, too caught up in chatting with my boss, but I had. My life was playing a sick joke with me.

Allah minyan, please, don't let this be true! Don't let this be true!

Afsaar smiled, clearly pleased after looking at the crowd that had gathered to welcome the guest just like he had wanted. But I was too stunned to say or do anything other than pray for this to be a nightmare and none of what was happening currently to be true.

"Everybody, welcome Mr. Muaaz Hussein."

Our gazes met as applause erupted from all around us. Both of us were stunned into silence, to smile or utter a basic hello. Obviously no one was bothered with Mr. Angrez.exe who had just stopped responding but someone elbowed me to hand him the bunch of flowers.

Me, giving a bouquet of red Rose's to my official enemy.

I watch as he blinks, slowly reeling back from the shock and clearing his throat. A picture is clicked but we are preoccupied with trauma. Still, on insistence from my boss, I pretended to give him the bouquet and him receiving it as we smiled to the cameras.

Or tired at least.

Instead of following them into Afsaar's cabin, I spin on my heel and maneuver my way towards mine. Pacing up and down in the small space, I loosen my hijab and do a short breathing exercise that failed to wash the shock away.

"What's wrong? Why are you here?" Dani inquired, pushing her way inside.

When I dont respond, continuing to calm myself down, she continues "Muskaan?. . . Now, I know he is handsome, like devilishly handsome with those cheekbones and that dazzling smile but I don't think you should worry about that ruining your project. Just think of your Brit cousin so you don't loose track of yourself."

"Naam mat lo uska," I mumble, fishing out my bottle of water and sipping from it.

"I know meri jaan, but it really can't be that bad."

"It's not just bad, Dania, it's only gotten worse."

"What do you mean?'

"He is Mr. Angrez.' Her brows furrowed like she was about to ask a question but her eyes slowly widened.

"He is your cousin from London?"

I nod.

"Hussein and Muaaz are the same person?"

I nod again, confirming. After this there was no putting an end to her laugh.

🌹💐

Zor ka Jhatka haye zoron se laga!

How was the shock? Tell me in the comments below. And shower your love on these two.

Peace out 🫶🏻