INFATUATED

Chapter-37 : Thunderbolt

Zawad's P.O.V.

I took up my wedding cards and handed them one after another to my colleagues as I smilingly invited all of them to come and bless us at our marriage. Just one week to go.

"So you are marrying the girl Shayba?" one of our professors asked.
"Yes, Sir."
"Good! Since when are you two having this affair?" he asked making me utterly embarrassed and instantly everyone around me burst into laughter.
"It's completely arranged by our family, Sir. We have never been going out together."
"Really?! That's weird." he rolled his eyes and I'm pretty sure he didn't believe what I said. He is also aware of the fact that we went to Paris together. So I stopped trying to make him believe in me.

These days seem to be the longest ones in my life as I can't wait anymore to make this girl mine. I unlocked my phone and opened one of our pictures from the engagement. Her skin looked pink like her attire, so cute that I wished to squeeze her face. We both were sitting together with a huge gap between us after the engagement. She was looking at the camera, barely able to smile where I was grinning like an idiot.

A smile crept up to my face seeing her. My eyes trailed over to every corner of her face when I zoomed in. Her big black eyes, her cheeks, her nose, her lips. I felt a sudden deep desire to touch her face, to take her smell, to taste her lips. But a conscious thought occurred to me that what I was thinking was completely wrong. I know I should avert my gaze, but I couldn't help it, it's just a picture, right? I am not directly looking at her figure.

Suddenly her photo vanished and the face of Yogesh came into view when I got a call from him. Argh what now??

"Hello, Sir. You there?"
"Yes?"
"Sir, I think you should have a look at the recent activities of our bookkeeping."
"Anything wrong?"I scrunched my eyebrows.
"Sir, there's a..." he stuttered a bit, "It does not match, sir."
"What doesn't match?"
"Sir, there's a serious contradiction, sir. The expenses in our warehouse have never been so high. Even after the salary given to the employees, still the profit was never so low. What I'm trying to say is the calculations are totally logical, but it wasn't supposed to be. There is a problem. A huge amount of money must have been moved, sir."
"Moved? What do you mean moved?"
He stammered, "I... I don't know sir. The calculations are totally logical. But it was supposed to be a lot more than that. Both the expenses and the profits are shown less than they were supposed to be shown. I have emailed you all the accounts and estimations, sir. Please have a look at that."
"Okay, let me see." I squeezed my eyebrows.
"I'm really sorry for ruining your mood, sir. I didn't want to disturb you at your wedding preparations."
"No, it's fine. Keep me updated about everything."
"Sure, sir. I will call you again when I find something. Have a good day." he sounded too anxious before he hung up. I think I definitely should be worried, but how is that even possible? It is never possible to move the money out of our bank account and even if someone stole the money, it is impossible to change the bank balance according to it to show that the estimations totally match with the current balance. Something is definitely wrong here.

But as soon as I became engaged with the wedding invitations and classes, I forgot about everything in Chittagong, and my thoughts focused on Shayba instead. But there is a confusion in my chest that I can't get rid of. She didn't seem happy during our shopping at all. She was always pestered and a bit rough. Something is bothering her for sure.

The wedding day gradually appeared. So the night before our wedding, I texted her, "Can we talk?" She must be busy with all the rituals though, she may not see my message. But she almost immediately replied, "Yes?" Woah! Was she waiting for me? No Abir, don't get your hopes high. Sigh!

"I'm calling you. Is that little devil anywhere nearby?" The only thing I learnt from this marriage till now is that little siblings are absolute devils.
She saw my message and without replying, disappeared. Wait. Is she angry for calling her sister devil? But she IS a devil!
Shayba replied almost 5 long minutes later, "Yes, now you can talk."
I called her immediately. "Assalamu Alaikum?" that soft voice picked up, giving chills to my ear.
"Hi." I grinned though she couldn't see it. "You know it's me calling. Then why do you give salam and every time act like it's an unknown number?"
"When are you going to learn a proper reply to salam?"
"Probably never. Why should I give you salam every time? I always want peace to be upon you, anyway."I grinned again.
"Why have you called?"she cut it short without replying to my flirting.
"I have a serious question."
"Spill it."
"A very serious one."
"What is it?"
"Shayba."
"What?" she seemed a bit worried now.
"Give me an honest reply."
"You are scaring me, Abir." fear was clear in her tone.
"Oh my goodness! Did you just call me Abir?!" I exclaimed.
"Argh! I didn't mean to. What is it?"
Okay, I became serious too."Shayba."
"Hmm?"
"Are you really doing this willingly?"
"Doing what?"
"This whole marriage thing. Are you doing it for your mom's sake? Just because she didn't let you say no, or you are totally in it by yourself?" I finally spilled out my confusion I had all this time. She definitely didn't seem very happy all this time. She was quiet. She didn't reply for some time.
"I really got scared for a moment, Abir."
"Huh? Answer my question, woman." I absolutely love it when she calls me by my nickname.
"Yes, I am doing this willingly. It's totally my choice, though my mom put a great impact I won't deny that. But yes, it was my own opinion to agree to your proposal."
"Sure?"
"Yes."
"You sure, it's either me or no one?" I chuckled hearing her agitation.
"Yes, I'm pretty sure about that. Thanks for asking. Are you convinced of my reply yet? I have to go."
"Yeah ok, you can go. But hey, listen!"
"What?"
"It feels REALLY good when you call me Abir."
"Nice to know, I'm hanging up."
"Wait!" I screamed almost.
"What now?!"
"I love you." I sincerely said.
She didn't reply. She couldn't actually, I bet she must have turned into a tomato by now. I grinned imagining her face.
"You are unbelievable." saying this, she hung up.