I don't like you Neil D'Silva

*16*

NEIL and Farah were at a wood floor shop at Dragon Mart in Warsan. The air between them had shifted to a playful happy side despite the fact that Farah felt guilty. Guilty because even when she was sure she still loved Neil, she had decided to go on another date Alex. Farah realised that her feelings for Neil never really went away. Neil was her first true love, and she knew that no matter what happens she'd never stop loving him. She had just stop realising it instead of letting it consume her and stop her from dating other people. Even after they started hating each other, she just knew that the end of their high school relationship wasn't gonna be the end of them. She knew that one day they'd come back together, and it came true. The only thing she didn't know was whether or not Neil felt the same way.

"do you like this one?" Neil asks and brings her back to reality as she looks at him pointing towards the wood sample, a Coffee Brown Oak Matt. She scrunched up her nose and shook her head, showing him that she in fact did not like it, "too dark," she said,

"how about this?" He points to another one, a lighter brown shade called Oak Majestic. "too light don't you think?" She stands next to him with her hands on her hips. She looks around until her eyes fall on a wood sample stacked up on the cupboard. Her eyes lit up and she pointed towards it, "how about this one? It's beautiful!" She exclaimed as she pointed at the wood sample called Black Oiled Mahogany, a beautiful mix of dark and light brown with a little black. He stood next to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulder, smiling down at her, "that really is beautiful, great job Fay!" Her heart flutter as she looks at him smiling at her. She still felt this way, even after ages. "how much per meter square?" She asks the Indian man sitting behind the desk. "100 dirhams," he replies back and she looks at him with wide eyes,

"Kya?" She says what in Hindi and marches towards him, "100 dirhams per meter square? That's alot, the area we wanna cover is too big, reduce the price," she says, determined to walk out of the shop with a reduced price. Neil walks towards her, and whispers,

"it's alright Fay, 100 is ok," she looks at him crazy,

"what do you mean 100 is ok?" She turns towards the man, "Bhaiya give me the last price,"

"ok 90 for you," he says and she glares at him,

"75 dirhams, that's it," she says sternly,

"what 75 madam? Ok 88 dirhams,"

"70," she says and stood her ground. Neil looks at her with amusement. There she was, he thought, his Farah bargaining. No matter how big of an interior designer she is, she wouldn't go down without a fight when it came to unfair pricing. Who thought here they both would stand, shopping for his restaurant together. He chuckles at her and held her hand, Farah interlacing her fingers with his.

"ok Madam I'll give for 82 dirhams, not less than this please,"

"alright done," she looked pleased, a smile of accomplishment spreading her face. They order the amount they require and gives them the address of the restaurant so they could arrive there and start their work. "You're crazy Fay," Neil says as they walk through the place, crossing many shops on the way.

"I know that love, but you've gotta what you gotta do," Neil heart warmed at the use of his nickname. He'd always loved it when she called him love, and the fact that she hadn't called anyone else this had just made him happier. "alright there's a lighting shop here close by too, we should check that out too. I was thinking we should also put up a neon sign in the restaurant. Customer made of course, the name of the restaurant, what is it by the way?" She asks,

"Ghar ka Khanna," he says, translating 'food from home,' in Hindi. Farah eyebrows furrow and she thinks about, "Don't you think it's too long? Or that maybe people won't be able to pronounce it?" Neil thinks about it for a while before nodding, "that's true, what do you suggest?" He asks,

"hmm how about we think about it back at the restaurant? Right now lets look at some lighting and we'll come back some other time okie? Otherwise I'll be late for my date today," she says before realising what words had come out of her mouth. Her eyes widen and she takes a sharp intake of breath. I'm such a stupid bitch! She thought and looks at a red faced Neil,

"a date? Seriously? Even after yesterday? Are you for real Farah?" He says with a pained expression and right now all she could think about was reaching out to hold him and pull him into a hug and tell him that she still loved him. He had moved two steps back,

"Neil I," she moved closer to move but he moves further back and she felt a stabbing pain in her heart at his distant mood.

"It's nothing serious Neil, it's casual," she tries to explain and moves closer but he increases the distance by moving back. Farah felt tears sting her eyes and she tries her best to not lose any composure right now.

"Farah I thought we," he closes his eyes and takes a deep breath trying to calm the hurt and anger raging in his heart, "did yesterday mean nothing to you?" He asks and looks at her with red eyes. Farah closes her eyes as a tear rolls down her cheek. She wanted to hold him close and kiss him and make him feel alright, but she didn't know how he felt.

"Neil I'm sorry," she says,

"did it mean anything or not?"

She looks at him with teary eyes and as much as she'd love to say the truth, she says, "no..."

*****
Sending love your way
HappyWatermelonKid•~•