Moran - Dare to Love

Part 12

It’s a pleasant meal. Monami and Faizi did most of the talking. Karan will add a sentence or two occasionally, but it’s always in his arrogant and inconsiderate manner. They are used to his style by now, so they just laugh it off.  When Karan leaves the table to take a phone call outside, Faizi says jokingly to Monami: “What’s wrong with us?  Hum inn janab friend kyon hain? Do we like to bring torture upon ourselves?”

- A Friend?! Karan?  Monami thinks to herself.  They are friends now.

*****

Monami noticed that Karan did not touch the fish and lamb casserole.  He didn’t eat any red meat dishes either.

Monami: “kyon..?”

“Kyonki yeh red meat nahi khata hain." Faizi knows what she is about to ask: “He was on a six month cannibal hunt in California a couple of years ago. Uske baad se isne red meat khana chhod diya."

Monami “I’m sorry….”

“Never mind. Usse vegetables khana bhi pasand hain.. dekho.., he finished this whole plate by himself!”  smiled Faizi. “ In his line of work, he comes across a lot of very disturbing sights at the crime scenes, especially uss time period, Me jab isne FBi ko case solve karne me assist kiya tha.. Ab toh isse aadat ho gayi inn sabki.. itne experience k baad. Warna first time jab ye janab crime scene par the.. he threw up.”

——

After lunch, Faizi brings them to a beautiful apartment building on a quiet cul-de-sac.

The three bedroom apartment Faizi found for Karan is on the first floor. It has a very minimalist feel.  A palette of neutral and gray colors makes the place cold and uninviting.  There is a big 2 meters x 2 meters bed in the master bedroom, covered in black bed linen.  Karan took a look around and nodded: “Yes, I like this place.  Thank you.”

“Ab next tumhare apartment ko dekhte hain." says Faizi to Monami.

“Mere?  Same building me hain?”

“Of course, iss bahane tum ek doosre ka dhyan rakh sakte ho." Faizi whispers in her ears: “I think it’s safer for you to have a male friend living close by.”

Karan overhead this statement.  He has a smile on his face.  Monami is not sure what the significance of this smile is.  Proud?  Pride? What is he proud of anyway? That he’s a man, and not a weak and vulnerable woman?  

——-

“This neighborhood is probably outside my budget…”

“Pehle ek baar apartment andar se check karo.. phir decide karna ." Faizi pushed her into a small studio apartment on the second floor.  It’s neatly furnished. A little chandelier hanging from the ceiling adds a nice feminine touch. There’s two small orange sofas in the middle of the room. There’s a Japanese style tatami bed next to the window. On the other side of the room is a clawed foot bathtub, with soft pink drapes around it. Monami can already imagine how relaxing it will be soaking the tiredness away after a hard day’s work. This  place is perfect for her.

“How much is this studio?”  She knows it’s not going to be cheap but it’s worth the extra rent. Faizi told her how much the rent is.  She made a quick calculation in her head. “OK! Toh phir main le rahi hoon."

Karan looked around her apartment. He takes a look at the views outside the window:  “Wow, you’ll never see a sunrise through these windows.”  It looked into the wall of a tall neighboring building.