Facebook Frenemies

Forty two

Soha's point of view :

Fifteenth of February came at last. It was ten past eight in the evening. We were at the dining table as usual, having dinner. Everyone was cheerful, sharing how their day went or what they had planned for the next day except me. I kept eating as fast as I could without saying a word. I didn't know what to say other than I was fidgety and nervous all day long.

What if he doesn't like me? What if I get tongue tied and he thinks I'm not as friendly as before?

Silly questions clouded my mind thinking about the time when I was going to pick him up at the airport. Rahat said that he had already booked a hotel online. I asked him the name of the hotel. It was 'The Oriental'.

My father was one of the owners of this hotel. Rahat also informed me that he'd manage his way to the hotel, but I refused. I wanted to be there to welcome him. So, I told him that I'd pick him up.

When I walked into my closet, I freaked out because I couldn't decide what to wear in the evening. I asked Mahi to come over in the afternoon. She came over in half an hour, and scolded me.

"Don't over think and just be yourself."

I excused myself from the dining table, and went to the nearest washroom to wash my hands. Being a bengali family, we used our hands to eat rice and curry. Spoons and forks were used only in front of guests.

I came back to the dining hall, and found my family still conversing amicably.

"I'm going out. And I might be late." I said to no one particular. Four pairs of eyes stared at me.

"I'm going to the airport." I delivered the information specifically for grandma. Because abbu and khala didn't react when I said I was going out. But her eyes narrowed on me.

"Are you going out of city?" Khala seemed surprised.

"I'm not going anywhere. Just gonna pick one of my friends up from the airport."

"Rahat's coming to Bangladesh." Mihad replied before I could open my mouth. I told him about it yesterday. Now he decided to open his big mouth and make it harder for me.

"Who's Rahat?" Grandma asked.

"Soha's friend." This time khala took the turn to reply for me. I groaned and glared at both of them.

After asking a ton of stuff like his age, job and all that grandma didn't seem satisfied but kept silent. As I took this as a sign and turned to go upstairs, dadima said- "Asif, it's not safe for her to go out at this hour of night. Tell your bodyguards to go with her." Abbu nodded while khala seemed very pleased with the decision.

My mouth hung open in shock. "I'm not a child anymore. I can take care of myself."

With that said, I climbed up the stairs and came into my room. I changed into a gray zipper up hooded collar long sleeved coat, a random black T shirt underneath, with ripped skinny jeans, and sneakers. The temperature came down to fifteen degrees at some night. So I thought I should wear something warm.

I took the keys and headed to the garage.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Twenty minutes later, I parked the car in front of Mahi's house. Picking up the cellphone, I called  and asked her to come out but she refused.

"I can't. I'm watching Ji Chang Wook's drama. It's called 'Healer'."

"You can watch it later. Come outside." I insisted.

"I don't want to."

"You'll be in need of a healer, if you don't come outside right now!"

"Okay okay. Coming."