I MET HIM IN TEXAS

*ENDED BEFORE IT BEGAN*

The phone rang at 12 and I wasn’t surprised. Duh, it was Mom and Dad. I had calls from few of my school friends and many other college mates. My friends got me a surprise cake, which said ‘Happy B’day Ms. ChairWOMAN’, and I started laughing. The girls then applied cream all over my face, and it was fun. Around 1 am, everybody got back to their places, and I had to clean up myself. When I was about to hit my bed, Shreya handed me an envelope. I was confused at first. There was not even any address over it. One thing Shreya asked me to do was, to open the envelope carefully. I sat on my bed, tearing one end of the envelope, and I could see a sheet folded neatly. I pulled it out and unfolded it. It was a print out of a flight ticket, not for one, but two. “Damn!”, I sighed. “I have nothing to do with it. He just asked to give it to you”, Shreya shrugged, and went to sleep. I was pissed off now. I didn’t bother to read anymore texts. I had mixed emotions. I was excited, scared, tensed and sleepless. Somehow, I managed to hit the bed at three in the morning.

Woah! I have never woken up this excited on any day of my life, before. I came to know from Imran that Azlan’s favourite combo was blue and black. I wore a white shirt, and a black overcoat, with a blue skirt and a cream hijab. My b’day outfit was based on his favourites. I had friends visiting my room in the morning. They all had brought gifts, and I was very much surprised. It was almost 10 before I could leave the room. The results for the “THINK BIG” challenge would have been announced. I was more tensed now. I ran to the office block where the results were announced. I couldn’t even walk properly. The girl who was never scared of crowds and heights, was scared to meet the one she had feelings for.
I hit the elevator button to fourth floor and stayed patient. I made up my mind, and put the cool face. I got out on the fourth floor and walked to the seminar hall. As I turned the last room, I saw them. He was turning the other side. “Azlan!”, I called, excited, and he turned to me. I was shocked. He was serious, and his eyes were filled with tears. I turned to look at the others. They all were serious, too. I looked again at his face. He raised his hands and gave one tight slap on my face. Imran rushed to pull him back, and so did the others. Tears ran down my eyes, and I was still, holding my cheeks in my hand. My breathing got faster, and I coughed. The guys tried to control Azlan, who was hyper angry. He didn’t talk a word, but threw few papers down on the floor, and walked passed me. The rest of the guys left the place, one by one. Imran was the last to leave. “You have to answer for this, Zoya”, the tears rolled down, once again, and there he left. I stood there, all alone in the long corridor. I bent down to take the papers that he threw. Tears rolled down my eyes. The papers were blueprints, the blueprints sketched by the Oliver’s guys for the park model. Somebody had taken a picture of them. I had no idea. I ran down to meet Shreya, and I found her in the canteen, all alone. She was sitting down in one of those tables, with her head facing on top. She was staring at the ceiling, and tears filler her eyes. I ran to her and shook her up. She hugged me, and began crying hard. “What is it?”, I shook her up, once again. “I am ditched! We are ditched”, she cried, looking down. “Be clear, Shreya!”, I asked, confused. “Zoya, I am sorry that I hid this...”, and she told me what happened.
    Shejoy came to know I was close with the Oliver’s guys, and they were in bad terms. In the selection for the top 4, it was the Oliver’s Vs Delhi University. Shejoy knew he wouldn’t be able to get any information from me. He decided to get all details through Shreya. He proposed Shreya, and asked her to not to tell about their relationship to anyone. The other day, when I had left Shreya to take care of the Oliver’s model, in the room allotted, Shejoy had come to meet her. Somehow, while she had been talking, someone else had taken the pictures.  The model made by Delhi University were an advanced model of Oliver’s Acdemy, and they were selected for the top 4. Shejoy’s friend, Amrutha, who felt guilty, revealed it to Shreya. Only when Shreya asked Shejoy, he told that he was faking the relationship. On the other side, Azlan thought it was me.
*************END OF FLASHBACK**********

Zayaan’s eyes were filled with tears. He put his head down. “It’s fine, Zayaan. Time changed it all. It took a long time for me to forget him. Infact, I couldn’t forget him completely, but I never expected this to come”. Zayaan wiped his tears. “Two things tell me clearly that you both have never moved on. You don’t celebrate your b’day without him, and his beard says the rest”, he pulled his lower lip inward. I couldn’t control my tears. I looked away. “Tell me one thing Zoya, and be truthful. You still love him, or you just hate him?”, he bent a bit low, so that he could see my face. I breathed in, deep. “I hate the part that I still love him!”, I looked outside the glass door, biting my lower lip. “Allah has a better plan, Zoya!”, he smiled. I then told him what happened in the last two days, and he was surprised. He asked me to talk to Azlan, but I didn’t want to. “Only if he had loved me, he would have known it wasn’t me. Promise me Zayaan, nothing about this to him?”. He nodded. Finally, I had someone who I could talk about him. A friend in need…

HEY GUYS!
HOPE YOU ALL LIKED THE CHAPTER. SO THAT’S THE END OF FLASHBACK. CONTINUE READING TO KNOW WHAT TEXAS HAS FOR THESE TWO?

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-ALLY :)