6. Introducing the fake herione

Prepare yourselves for a lot of new characters. Some of them are important and will show up regularly from this point on.

Zakariya Azad is a main character from The Golden Girl. What happens to him in TGG is not relevant here, but just giving you guys some context.

...

Katrina Khan was not having a good day.

First, as soon as she landed in the airport and got into the car sent for her, the chauffer flashed her a grin and asked, "Madam, is your last name Kaif?"

Katrina was not amused.

"No," she deadpanned, the expression on her face dry.

Perhaps it wasn't nice. But then again, after being asked the same question at least seven times a day, being associated to the Bollywood actress all her life by her school friends to colleagues, and sometimes being addressed as other Bollywood actresses whose names weren't remotely similar to hers - Katrina had failed to find the humor in it long ago.

The man raised his eyebrows and drifted his attention back to the road. But when she caught his reflection in the rearview mirror, she saw that he was silently chuckling at his own joke.

Any traces of guilt blooming in her heart, disappeared after that.

Katrina genuinely did not get it. Why would people even think she was named after the actress? Katrina, the Bollywood diva, came into the industry long after Katrina, daughter of Arif Khan, was born. These jokes weren't even historically accurate.

They arrived at the hotel pushing through traffic. After sorting out the formalities and receving the keys for their designated rooms, when Katrina celebrated the idea of finally being able to change and relax, she realized that the clothes staring back to her from the suitcase in front weren't hers.

They couldn't be, since they were clearly men's.

This led her to spend the next thirty minutes at the reception desk with the hotel manager. After a flurry of phone calls and immense apologies, the manager was able to track her luggage and find the room it was sent to.

He insisted on sending a bellboy to collect it for her and send it to her room, but Katrina had about enough and said she'd rather do it herself.

However, the worst part of her day hadn't even arrived. Her luggage wasn't just exchanged with anyone's; it got swapped with Salman Bashir's - the guy she had been intent on avoiding as much as possible.

On top of it all, he failed to recognize her (how was that even possible she didn't know, since they just shared a six hours flight together).

Katrina Khan was drained, out of patience and ready to take a long nap by the time she rolled her suitcase down the hallway and re-entered her room.

She knew her emotional exhaustion had taken a toll her appearance as well when her cousin and colleague, Tamara, suspiciously narrowed her eyes at her sight and asked, "what did you do?"

Katrina shut the door behind her and let out a sigh. "Guess who my luggage got exchanged with?"

Tamara scrambled to the edge of the bed eagerly. "Who?"

"Salman Bashir."

Tamara widened her eyes. "You mean Salman Bashir, the hottie from Sales?"

Katrina winced. "Don't use that word for him."

"Wait." Tamara gasped. "Are you telling me you're late because your suitcase conveniently got lost and sent you down a path that somehow landed you in front of a handsome man?"

Katrina cast her an annoyed look. "That's not what I'm telling you!"

"And not just any handsome." she continued, clicking her tongue. "It's Salman Bashir."

"Who did what with Salman Bashir?" Their colleague Zeenat asked, stepping into the room.

Tamara threw Katrina a pointed look, as she grasped to get a word out. "Guess who was fraternizing with the man down the hall?"

"Katrina!" Zeenat said.

"I didn't do anything!"

"How could you? You're the one who promised a drama-free trip!"

"Oh my God," Katrina cried, finally losing it, gripping her head. "Will you all be quiet for a minute?"

Her friends stopped taking and turned to look at her. Tamara opened her mouth to say something, but Katrina pointed a warning finger at her.

"Don't you dare say his full name again!"

Tamara bit her lip, a teasing smile poking the corner of her lips.

Katrina let out an internal groan. "My luggage got swapped with his," she started before either of her friends could start speaking again. "I opened my suitcase and then found it filled with men's clothes. I went to the reception desk to inform them and then they told me it actually got exchanged with the guy in room 211. So I went to room 211, which is just down the hall." She gestured at the door to make a point, "and realized it's that guy from Sales."

"Oh, you should have just said that in the first place," Zeenat said, attempting to stifle her laughter.

"Maybe she was so busy checking him out she totally lost her senses," Tamara said.

"Goodness, Tamara!"

"At least one of us is getting some action," she quipped, making Zeenat let out an amused chortle.

She shot her friends a disgusted look and kneeled down to open her suitcase. "Don't forget that I'm engaged."

"No, of course not. How could we ever forget your epic love saga?" Tamara jested.

Katrina's face fell flat as she raised her face to look at her cousin once more, but she looked considerably less tensed than before. "Good, then use that as a reminder before you cook up any other absurd allegations."

"Alright, your highness."

"Why do you hate Salman again?" Zeenat piped in, drawing both cousins' attention.

"I don't hate him," Katrina said with a passive face, diverting her eyes back to her clothes. "I just find him highly disrespectful."

Zeenat shot her a look.

"They're not the same thing," Katrina attempted to argue.

"Anyway," Tamara ignored her cousin's futile words. "It began the day after she and Ashiq got engaged," she replied to Zeenat. "Remember everyone in the office insisted they celebrate? So Umar bhaia and Nadia api took us to the Chinese place next block. We were eating, Umar bhaia ordered a cake for the couple, but the waiter mistook Salman for Katrina's fiancé since he was sitting besides her momentarily. As he set down the cake in front of them, he looked at the two of then and said congratulations."

"Oh, yes." Zeenat widened her eyes. "I remember it now. Then Salman grinned, glanced at her and said, honey, you didn't tell me we got engaged."

Zeenat and Tamara burst into laughter. Katrina's face, however, got only darker.

"Ashique was furious!" Tamara chimed in, eyes now filled with tears of mirth. "He tried to warn Salman to maintain his distance - but if anything, it made the guy more amused. Salman quipped, 'your girlfriend didn't seem to mind it.'"

"The guy's a hooligan," Katrina snapped. "I was mortified."

Her friends were in stitches.

"It's not funny," she grumbled.

"It's a little funny."

"It's not! Whatever," she retorted. "Why are we even talking about him?" she let out a sigh.

"You're right," Zeenat said. "No more talking about boys. We'll only focus on enjoying the trip and having fun; and team building, of course - because that's what we're here for."

"Yes!" Tamara spoke up excitedly. "No boys. Only fun, fun, fun..." she chanted pumping her hand in the air.

The other two girls shared a look and then stared back at her.

"You are so lame," Katrina stated.

The three burst into laughter and then retired to unpacking their bags.

Salman almost crashed into someone as he stepped out of his room.

The bespectacled guy held him by the shoulders after the impact, balancing them both.

Salman lifted his head with surprise on his face, and his gaze met the taller boy's, who looked just as astonished.

"Zak!"

Zakariya Azad's lips soon morphed into a smile, letting his arms drop to his side.

He offered Salman a smile, reaching out to shake his hand. "Hey, what's up, man?"

"Good. Alhamdulillah," he showed a cordial smile, clasping the guy's right palm with both of his. "What about you?" he asked.

"I'm doing well too. You must be heading down for the meeting?"

Zakariya was Ibrahim's best friend since high school. Even though the two had only spoken to each other a couple times in all the years, Salman had heard the bespectacled guy worked in the IT department of their company.

Salman nodded in reply and the two headed for the elevator in sync, sharing small talk. As they soon reached the lobby, they found a small gathering already starting to form by the cluster of chairs. They neared the crowd, Zakariya's six foot frame looming over the rest of them. They guys exchanged greetings with familiar faces. Both Umar and Nadia entered the scene. They started with the cordial exchanges, and then soon went over some basic rules.

Their talks were brief and were often addressed to their specific teams. The meeting was wrapped up in a couple of minutes. "So, we're keeping our schedule relaxed for today," Nadia told them. "So feel free to explore the city or catch up on some sleep - because God knows you'll need it in the next few days."

They scattered after that. Salman was about to head for the elevator when Zakariya called out for him again.

"Hey, a couple of us are heading out for dinner, you willing to join?" he asked.

A part of him hesitated, but another part of him let out a sigh of relief. The idea of being left alone with his thoughts were nothing short of a nightmare these days. So Salman happily agreed.

The duo walked out of the hotel as Zakariya told him his friend was waiting at a restaurant nearby. The bespectacled boy led him towards a small, dingy restaurant - the kind that served local food and had sitting area right on the streets.

They weaved their way through the overcrowded pavement and Zakariya led him to a table that was already occupied by a guy, sitting under the open sky.

Seeing him, the guy widened his eyes. "Salman Bashir!" he cried out.

"The one and only," he said with his lopsided grin, pulling a chair to sit on it.

"This is Arafat." Zakariya pointed to the guy who had blurted out his name a couple seconds ago, and was now looking slightly embarrassed.

Salman had never seen the guy before, but he assumed he worked in IT too - he must have, by the looks of it.

Salman sat down, the smell of spiced food wafting around them. "You work with him too?" he asked, beckoning at Zakariya. "In the Land of the nerds?"

There was an immediate change in the atmosphere. Arafat drew in a sharp breath.

"What?" Salman asked, clueless, eyes darting from one mortified face to another.

"We don't like the N-word, man," Zakariya told him solemnly.

"No," Arafat shook his head. "It's not allowed on the seventh floor."

"Or around us, even when we're not on the seventh floor."

Salman raised an brow, his expression turning amused. "You mean... nerd?"

"Dude," Arafat cried.

"You did it again," Zakariya let out a disapproving sigh.

"Why?" he asked with bewilderment.

"It's considered rude," Zakariya told him.

"I know we've long reclaimed the word and people like Mark Zuckerberg even made it... cool. But it was originally used as an insult. Often used by the popular kids to bully, well, the kids like us," Arafat said with a shrug.

"Besides, we don't have success like Zuckerberg, so we have yet to reach his level of coolness to be able to turn insults into compliments. It makes us a little salty," Zakariya said.

Salman slowly nodded as he took in each word. "Noted," he said.

"We prefer to be called smart," Arafat added with a grin.

"Also intelligent," Zakariya said.

"You can call me handsome too if you want."

"Got it, can't use the N-word, but can call you smart, intelligent," Salman repeated. "But I draw the line at handsome. I can try to be nice, but I refuse to be a liar."

At that, Zakariya burst out laughing. Salman's lips morphed into a grin.

Arafat narrowed his eyes. "You're just as cheeky as people at the office claim, aren't you?"

"Is that my reputation?"

"Pretty much." His expression showed amusement the next moment. "But it's okay, beause you're funny."

Their food was served after that, and Salman was called impertinent at least seven different ways.

As the night escaladed, and the stars shone above, Salman was still chuckling as his eyes twinkled with mirth.