𝟏𝟑. 𝐇𝐚𝐰𝐚 𝐊𝐞 𝐒𝐚𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐒𝐚𝐚𝐭𝐡

Sitting on the chair, with a plate full of steaming upma in front of me, I drizzle a generous amount of Maskhati ghee and watch with fascination at the speed with which it melts and disappears. I gently mix the delicious breakfast and raise a spoonful to my mouth. It was only a second away from hitting my tongue when I saw Mr. Angrez speed walking in my direction in all his sky blue linen shirt and Jeetendra's white pant glory causing me to frown.

What got him dressing like that? He was fine in his collection of Oxford shirts until yesterday.

What's with all the old-money vibes?

"Assalamalaikum." Even his salam sounded cheery than usual.

"Walaikumsalam," I mumble, noticing the way his eyes zero in on the upma-filled spoon I had raised in the air still on its way to my mouth. The glint in his eye sparks and the second he moves his arm, reaching for the spoon, I shove it in my mouth so hard that my wisdom tooth is triggered, sending shocks of pain through my body. But, I don't say anything, watching him snicker at me evilly.

What is going on with him today?

Placing his phone on the table, he strolls into the kitchen and it takes every amount of energy in me not to follow him. Because something is not right. I felt in my bloated belly.

Why is he so cheerful?

Even the glint in his eyes has returned.

The glint on which I'd worked so hard for it to disappear. And I was successful in my mission to an extent. My mission is to waste as much time as I can and bore the living architect out of him. And he was tired and fed up with every boring museum I'd taken him to. Heck, even I was, but that is beside the point.

What happened overnight for him to be rebooted like that? He cannot be happy when I have taken the oath to turn his life into hell.

Ok, ok, not hell, hell. But I didn't want him to be happy, happy either.

My ears perk up at the sound of booming laughter coming from inside the kitchen. of course, he must be flirting with Sadia, the mother of 2 school-going kids.

The sound of Machi approaching from the left makes me sigh and pull out the spoon from my mouth. Another fan of Mr. Angrez in the house is here.

Not wanting anything to spoil my upma, I tune out their sounds and focus on eating and only eating. I still see the man exit the kitchen with a big grin on his face that only increases (if that's even possible) on seeing Machi. He sets his plate of upma down and crosses the distance between them to greet her.

"Walaikumsalam, mera bacha." She embraces him. And I have to look away when he extracts a kiss on the forehead from her. Mumma too joins Mr. Angrez fan club, bounding down the stairs and standing where him and Machi were. They carry on with their chit-chat, with invisible me sitting on by the dining table all by myself.

I school myself to not be bothered by the amount of love and attention he is receiving from my family and console myself that this is only temporary. But my mind decided to prod on why he is such a female magnet.

Aysa kiya hai usme jo humare ghar ke ladies dekh te, but I can't? There has to be something, no? Jisse main immune hoon aur doosron ko abhi vacine lena hai Mr. Angrez ke 'uss' trait ki.

I recall our mini visit to the office the other day, and the image of him surrounded by the girls in my office flashed through my mind. Even guys couldn't help but join the circle he had established in no time, while I sulked in my cabin. Alone.

Kiya hora logon ko? Why are they so attracted to him?

Is he Dajjal?

Is that why people can't resist him? But he has 2 eyes. And he is not Kafir!

"Assalamalaikum, meri jaan." Mumma's voice and her hand ruffling my lose hair and breaks my chain of thoughts for a moment before sending me to a state of shock.

She didn't even kiss me good morning on my forehead like she always does.

My eyes are now fixed on Machi, as she is just ending the never seem to ending conversation with Mr. Angrez, I don't even know what they talk about for such long hours. She makes her way towards my side of the table, puts her hand on my cheek and caresses it before sitting on her chair and diving into her breakfast.

No good morning kisses today? I wordlessly ask, pulling a long face that no one seems to notice.

Just then, I feel something warm and spiky on the crown of my head and turn to see Chachu smiling down at me.

"How is my princess?" He asks, and I've never felt grateful and in love with him ever before, so much, I could cry.

"I'm better now," I say honestly, earning a chuckle from him.

I turn on my thinking and pondering mode throughout breakfast, keeping to myself, my upma and my thoughts, going back to why 'Mr. Angrez is such a female magnet?'. I've ruled out men because Chachu is somewhat immune, 50% per se, and didn't forget me, which scored him some massive brownie points on my friends and family chart.

I go about doing my mourning routine in a haze, making a smoothie, getting dressed for yet another museum trip. It's going to be an art gallery this time because I've ran out of places where I can delay the actual site inspection as much as I can. As for our ongoing biryani streak, it's Peshawar's day today, the only thing I'm looking forward to on my agenda.

I bid farewell to everyone, put my sliders on and head out the front door of Barkat Villa to see Karamat uncle, already parked his vehicle, and my official nemesis chatting.

Can't he not shut his mouth for one second? Why does he have to talk to everybody with the stupid, stupid grin on his face?

Taking strong, determined steps in their direction, I greet uncle and slide into the back seat without sparing Muaz a second's glance. They end their converstaion and join me in the car while I settle in, and scroll through my phone.

"So," Muaz says the second he sits beside me and shuts the car door. "Excited?"

I shoot him a bland look, and cock a brow. "Shouldn't I be the one asking you that question?"

"In case you decide to, then yes, I am excited." He says, and I couldn't comprehend why.

"Good." I mutter, turning my attention to the middle-aged back in the driver's seat. "Uncle, aaj apan--"

"Meko malum aaj kahan jana hai aap ko leke."

"Acha," I blink at him, confused. Must've told him yesterday about today's plan.

I blow a breath, and lean back in my seat. Muaz had thankfully left me alone for the rest of the ride, doing whatever he was doing on his phone. I rest my head against the cool pane of the window and see the city I call home zoom past me.

All was good until it wasn't anymore. It was only until we reached old city did I realize this area of Hyderabad was not on my agenda today. I frown, looking at my surroundings and got a second late to recognize the road we were currently on. When the vehicle stopped at the gates, I internally cry out because this was not the place I wanted to go to. Yet.

But Mr. Angrez has left the car and unlce also had his eyes on me, waiting for me to leave the car and follow his lead.

But why are we here? I wanted to ask the old man. The door on my side is opened and Muaz's face in too close to mine.

"You've arrived on your destination." He says in a robotic voice.

"What are you doing?" I ask, as he grabs my bag and also reaches for my hand.

"Pulling you out so you don't hold up the traffic." I snatch my hand away roughly, and take my tote out of his grip before getting out on my own.

"You've done this." I snarl.

"What?" He asks, innocently.

"You've asked uncle to bring us here when you knew this was not on--"

"--your agenda?" He snorts. "Of course, I have. How long do you think you'd have played your stupid game?"

"What game?"

"Taking me to all those museums when they had nothing to do with our work."

I was ready to counter attack but what was i supposed to say in my defense? Congratulations Mr. Angrez, you are a bloody genius.

I pull a face instead and look away.

"What?" He asks. "Nothing to say, huh?"

"I'm only keeping quiet because I don't want to argue with you."

"And also because I've won, and you have lost in whatever mission you were onto."

"Setbacks don't mean failures. The sun will rise again and I will shine again." I affirm, looking him dead in the eye before moving my gaze to look at Chowmohalla palace on my left.

Here comes a dose of classic Mr. Angrez my way. "And, I'll be right by your side to see you shine."

Finally!

Freaking finally I've managed to break free from the cycle that was driving me mad for the past week. It certainly did take time to understanding what Ms. Tigress was trying to do but I was an evil genius she had yet to discover.

Glancing at her sulking form over my shoulder, I tip my head and urged her to walk with me into the palace, which she did with a stomp. I smile to myself, already proud of the day I'd planned ahead.

I go full architect mode, giving this place 2 full hours to absorb the craft, while allowing my tourist side to surface every couple of minutes.

We made a stop at a restaurant eating not her mutton biryani but chicken shawarma from a very famous place in a funny name area I wasn't even trying to pronounce. Although it wasn't time for lunch yet but I couldn't let the opportunity go to waste where I get to rile my dear colleague up, who had decided to not say a word since we left home early today.

"Beautiful, innit?" I say, looking at the on of the 7 tombs.

Silence.

"How long has this been here for?" I try again.

Mm-mmm no response.

"You know, I read somewherethat the domes were originally laid in blue and green tiles. Is that true?"

I keep my gaze on her but she refused to look at me. She knew I was watching her, I could make out from the way she looked around at anywhere but me.

"Ms. Noor?"

"Kiya hai?!"

"What's wrong?"

"You, me, this project, everything! Everything happening at the moment is wrong. You coming to live in our house, my parents barely speaking to eachother, the growing tension between once happy and loving power couple, everything."

"But where's my fault in all of this?" I ask in a calm voice after listening to her patiently. "What have I done?"

"I don't know what you or your family has done." She argued. "But whatever it is, my parents are unhappy because of that. I barely see Abbu these days. Barkat hasn't seen a meal with all family in weeks. My family is divided because of something I can't fix."

"And you think I can?"

She huffs, burrying her face in her palms. But doesn't respond.

"Ms. Noor, do you think I can help fix whatever is broken?" I press.

"I don't know!" She exclaims, exasperated then shakes her head. "I-- Maybe."

A beat of silence passes over.

"Alright." I nod. "If you think I am the problem, let's put your theory to test, yeah?" The way her brows furrowed I knew I had her attention.

"Let's make a deal. I won't come home tonight. If you see the tension disappear, or the overall mood of the house light up, I'll move out. But if, your father, questions about my whereabouts, or shows an ounce of concern for me then you know I'm not the problem." I pitch.

"Kiya behudi baat hai ye?" She snaps. "Insaan fikarmand nahi hona ab?"

"Why would you be worried if you consider something a problem and it goes away? A normal person would be relieved."

"Are you implying Abbu is not normal?" She frowns.

"Don't you put words in my mouth now. Focus on the deal, yeah? Are you willing to risk it? And before you say anything, do you promise to be honest with yourself?"

"I am honest."

"When it comes to matters related to me, I don't know really."

She takes a moment.

"C'mon Ms. Noor, I've got one last stop before i let you loose. Chop, chop."

"Fine." She uttered.

"Fine, what?" I stress.

"I'll make the deal."

"But do you agree to the condition?"

She exhales, crossing her arms over her chest. "I do. I promise to be honest with myself."

I step backwards with a curt nod, sliding my hands in the pocket of my trousers. "I give you 48 hours, starting now, to carryout your research and test your hypothesis."

"You didn't say that!"

"I'm saying it now. Deal?" I offer her my right elbow which she stares at for a good 30 second before tapping it with hers.

"Deal." She muttered.

"Ok, super. Now we can go to our last destination for today."

"Which is?"

"Take a guess." I smirk, pulling out my phone and navigating my way to YouTube.

"I don't know, Falaknuma, maybe."

I hit play, turning her the screen in her direction. She squints at first before her eyes go wide in realization at the scene from the movie 'wanted' where a very important fight segment was filmed with Salman and Ayesha and a bunch of goons,that proved to be the plot twist in the movie.

Pocketing my phone, I steal a look at the sky and briefly close my eyes.

I wondered, and secretly hoped, that a plot twist be written after our visit to the fort in our story as well.

A twist that shall end her hatred toward me, and that she accepts me as a part of the family, regardless of the result of the experiment.

Ameen!

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That's all for now, folks!

Hit that star with love 🫰🏻