“Let's pretend that it never happened.”
●○●
"Is she alright?"
Once the doctor was done checking Azeen up, Fawad asked. After they got out of the lift, Azeen fainted so without wasting any time Fawad took her to hospital.
"Relax, Mr. Ahmed. Your wife is completely alright. Once she regains her consciousness you can take her home."
The doctor informed with a slight smile seeing Fawad getting worried over such trivial matter.
"Thank you, doctor."
Once the doctor left, Fawad sat beside Azeen's bed and continued to look at her.
A few minutes later Azeen woke up to the pungent smell of hospital disinfect. She glanced around and took in the deserted, blue and white color schemed hospital bedroom.
'How did I get here?'
Azeen asked herself. The last thing she remembers is getting out of the lift. Later everything was blurry.
"How are you feeling now?"
Hearing his voice, she looked at the side to see him sitting on the nearby chair looking at her with a worried expression.
"Better."
Slowly sitting up, she replied.
"The doctor said we can leave once you regain your consciousness. Do you want to leave now? If you are feeling weak then we can stay-"
"I'm fine. Just want to go home."
Cutting him off, Azeen said.
"Ok."
Nodding Fawad helped her to get down from the bed then together they left the hospital.
●○●
"Everything is my fault. I shouldn't have sent you there in the first place."
Shaina Begum said sitting beside Azeen, who was forced to lay down on the bed as soon as she reached home by none other than her mother-in-law.
"Mumma, don't blame yourself. It's not your nor anyone's fault."
Azeen said.
"See. I'm fine now. I can even jump. Let me show-"
Azeen was about to get up but then seeing Mrs. Ahmed glaring at her, she quickly stopped.
"I mean- I'm fine."
Saying she nervously chuckled, Mrs. Ahmed shook her head.
"You will rest the whole day. I better not see you roaming around the house."
Mrs. Ahmed threatened then affectionately said,
"I'll go and prepare soup for you. And you-"
Looking at Fawad, she continued,
"Stay with her. Make sure she rests the whole day."
Fawad nodded whereas Mrs. Ahmed went into the kitchen to prepare the soup.
"What do you think you are doing? Didn't you hear what Mumma told you?"
As soon as Mrs. Ahmed went away, Azeen got up to get down from the bed.
"You will have to rest. Why are you getting up? Should I call Mumma?"
Fawad scolded lightly.
"I'm thirsty."
Azeen said with a pout.
"Here. Tell me if you need anything. No need to get down from the bed."
Passing her the glass from the side table, Fawad said.
"But I'm fine now."
Azeen almost whined.
"No matter what you say, you'll have to rest."
Fawad said strictly. He was about to move away when Azeen held his hand making him look at her.
"I'm sorry."
She said, making him confused.
"For yesterday. I'm sorry. I'm sorry for retrieving your awful memories. I didn't know that you had to go through all this-"
"It was nothing."
Cutting her off, he said.
"Whatever I said in the elevator… they were nothing. I just… said it like that. I had to divert your mind so I just said whatever came on my mind. Those things didn't matter."
She knew he was lying. Whatever he said in the elevator, each and every word was true. She can read it in his eyes.
"Still. I'm sorry. Although unintentionally still I always end up hurting you. I'm sorry. For all the trouble I caused till now."
Looking at him, she sincerely apologized.
"Yesterday … you were right. I was wrong. I acted like a spoiled brat. I'm sorry. I'm sorry that it took me a while to understand."
She completed saying.
Fawad kept quiet not knowing what to say.
"You know I'm glad that we got stuck in the elevator. It made me realize that you do care about me. It felt good to see you worrying over me. Thank you."
Looking down she further said softly then looked up only to see him already looking at her with an unreadable expression.
They kept on looking at each other until Fawad looked away.
"I need to freshen up."
He said avoiding looking at her.
"Okay."
She said, still looking at him.
"My hand."
"Huh?"
"Leave my hand."
Azeen looked down to see she was still holding his hand.
"Oh-oh. S-sorry."
She stammered before leaving his hand.
'Why does she always embarrass herself in front of him?'
Azeen thought while looking away with a flushed face.
●○●
The Next Morning
Getting ready, Fawad went downstairs to wear shoes to leave for the office when Azeen ran towards him with two boxes.
"Azeen! Stop running around! You are not fully healed."
Fawad scolded while tying his shoelace.
"You are gonna meet Imraan today, right?"
Ignoring his words, she asked.
Hearing Imraan's name Fawad made a face before asking,
"Yeah. Why?"
"Good. Here."
She forwarded the boxes.
"I packed some sweets. Give it to him."
"Why will I?"
Narrowing his eyes, he further said.
"And how ungrateful you are! Yesterday I took care of you and instead of packing that for me you are giving it to him?!"
At his words, Azeen rolled her eyes.
"That's why I packed two boxes. This one for you and this one for him."
"Why is my bo-"
Before Fawad could complete his question, Azeen replied.
"I didn't pack much for you because you don't like sweets."
Holding his hand, Azeen put both the boxes in his hand.
"Now take them."
Saying Azeen kept on standing as if to make sure he'll take them with him.
Fawad was about to go out when he turned back and looked at her.
"What happened?"
"Oh ho! I think I left my phone in the room. Can you bring it?"
"Okay."
As soon as Azeen went upstairs, Fawad swiftly kept the box which was for Imraan on the table. With a smirk, he took his one and left.
●○●
The whole day went to the construction site. To Fawad's surprise, Imraan was absolutely professional about work.
'Maybe that's why he was a successful businessman at such a young age.'
Fawad thought while looking at Imraan was instructing the workers.
Once Imraan was done speaking with the leader of the workers, he looked at Fawad, who instantly looked away.
Jogging towards him, Imraan said,
"Why are you looking at me like a creep?"
"I wasn't."
Fawad said flusteredly at getting caught.
"I was just looking ahead and you happened to be there."
He lied.
"As you say. Anyways, they are done for today."
Indicating the workers, Imraan said.
"If you want to instruct something then do it now cause they'll leave."
"I am done talking with them."
Looking at his watch, Fawad said,
"It's almost 7. Won't you leave? It'll start raining soon."
"My car isn't here yet. Anyways you go. I'll also leave once my car-"
Before Imraan could complete his phone rang. Excusing himself, he picked up the call only to curse out loud.
"What happened?"
As soon as he hung up the call, Fawad asked, seeing Imraan's worried face.
"My secretary called saying the main road is blocked. And the highway is jammed. I don't think he'll be able to come anytime soon."
"Erm… I can give you a lift."
Fawad offered.
"Will you?"
Imraan asked doubtfully. Fawad nodded.
"That'll be really great. Thank you so much."
"It's ok. Let's go."
They quickly jogged towards the car as it started to pour lightly.
Once they settled inside the car, Fawad started the car but instead of roaring the engine, they heard a loud sound. Fawad got out of the car only to realize the tire was punctured.
"Why do you always get unwell when I need you the most?!"
Fawad asked annoyedly to the car as if it was a human.
Just then the rain started pouring hard.
'Great!'
Before he could get wet, Fawad sat in the car.
"What happened?"
Imraan asked once Fawad sat on the driving seat.
"Tyre puncture."
"Shit! There's no mechanic here. What will we do now?"
Imraan asked worriedly as the rain kept on pouring heavily.
●○●
2 hours later
For the past 2 hours, Fawad and Imraan were sitting in the car with a thin blanket which was somehow thankfully in the car truck. Neither they could go out because of the rain nor call anyone because there was no signal.
In short, they were stuck.
'Damn it! I should have had something for lunch.'
Imraan thought. He was absolutely famished that he could eat anything. His thoughts were broken by Fawad's voice.
"It's all your fault."
Fawad spoke, breaking the silence.
"Excuse me?"
"Yeah. All this is your fault. Of all the places, why did you have to choose this… deserted place? There's not even a single person here let alone a vehicle. I can't believe I'll have to stay the entire night here in the car!"
Fawad blamed Imraan.
"Don't put the entire blame on me! I admit that this place is a bit deserted but it's not like it's my fault. I didn't know that we were going to be stuck here. If I knew beforehand then I would not have bought this plot."
Narrowing his eyes, Imraan continued,
"And why are you putting the whole blame on me? You are at fault too."
"Me?"
"Yes. How come you didn't realize earlier that your tire got punctured? Moreover, I never asked you to stay with me so don't blame me. I'm already dying of hunger. Don't have any energy to argue with you."
Imraan said before closing his eyes.
'Why did he have to skip the damn lunch?'
Fawad looked away. Whatever Imraan said was right. 'How can he be so careless? He should have checked the tires earlier.'
Fawad thought before sighing heavily.
"Here."
A few seconds later, feeling a nudge on his arm,imraan opened his eyes to see Fawad extending a box towards him.
"What's this?"
"Food."
"That I can see too."
Imraan said, rolling his eyes.
"But what I'm asking is why are you giving it to me?"
"Because you seem like you'll faint any time of hunger."
Before Imraan could say anything, Fawad continued,
"Moreover, I'm not giving this fully, I'm just sharing a bit with you."
"Thank you, man. You are a lifesaver."
Imraan immediately dug in whereas Fawad annoyedly looked away.
'If only he bought the other box then he wouldn't have to share his meal with him.'
Fawad thought while internally cursing himself.
●○●
Once they were done eating, having nothing to do, Fawad suggested turning on the radio which Imraan readily approved. Listening to something instead of awkwardly sitting is better.
Unfortunately, none of the radio connections was available except a particular one which was a ghost FM. A woman was talking about her paranormal encounter.
'My nickname was the person with no fear. During a school trip the second-best student who had never defeated the top students of the school-'
"Um… if you are uncomfortable then I can turn off the radio."
Fawad said meekly.
"No. It's… it's ok. I mean I don't have any problem. But if you want you can turn it off."
Imraan said while shifting on his seat.
It was heavily pouring outside. The sound of heavy and distinct drops was heard from outside. The whole atmosphere was giving a horror vibe. Them being away from the city wasn't even helping.
"No. I'm fine too. Moreover, this program is silly. I mean ghosts don't exist."
Fawad said while chuckling nervously.
'-pushed the top student who was taking a selfie off a cliff without anyone knowing. After that whenever there was any self-study session, the top student would visit.'
The woman on the radio continued.
The boys pulled the blanket towards their side. After a few minutes of mini fighting over the blanket both turned their back towards each other tightly shutting their eyes to avoid listening to the radio but it was of no use.
'Then one day the second-place student fell asleep during the self-study session. When he woke up he was all alone. Then he heard a strange noise.'
'Tick tock tick tock!'
'Tick tock tick tock!'
'He was so scared and hid in the bathroom. The sound was getting closer to him. It was definitely the topper's voice.'
'Tick tock tick tock!'
Both the men slowly started coming closer to one another while gulping inaudibly.
'Tick tock tick tock!'
'The sound died down in front of the stall where he was hiding and the curious second best student crouched slowly to look through the bottom gap of the stall door where he saw the dead student standing upside down who said,
HE'S HERE!!'
Both the men flinched hearing the lady and started reciting the duas silently.
'He'd gone to look for the second-best student in the posture he was in when he fell off the cliff.'
The woman complete the story and then said,
'Be careful when you look outside. There might be-'
Just then, a sound was heard from outside.
'-a ghost standing there.'
As soon as the women completed, Fawad and Imraan looked at each other and screamed at the top of their lungs.
"MUMMAAA!"
"ALLAHHH!"
Fawad and Imraan screamed simultaneously while hugging each other.
As the sound kept on increasing aggressively the men tightly hugged each other in fear.
"W-What is i-it?"
Fawad asked with closed eyes.
"I-I don't k-know. Y-you l-look."
Imraan said. His eyes were also tightly shut.
"I'm-I'm not looking. Y-you look."
"I c-can't."
"Fine. Le-let's look to-together, okay?"
Fawad suggested still with closed eyes, making Imraan nod.
"On the count to 3. 1, 2, 3!"
Both slowly opened their eyes and looked ahead only to see a dog. Seems like it was unable to scratch itself so with the help of the car's bonnet it was scratching its head.
"Haha, just a normal street dog!"
Fawad said while both the men chuckled nervously and then looked at each other only to realize they were still hugging.
Immediately leaving each other both looked away embarrassedly.
"Let's not…"
Clearing his throat, Imraan spoke slowly trying to act as if it was nothing whereas internally he was cursing himself.
"… tell anyone about this incident."
'Gosh! It was so embarrassing!'
"Y-Yeah!"
Fawad stammered as his ears turned red in embarrassment.
"Let's pretend that it never happened."
"Let's just sleep."
Imraan mumbled before turning his back and then hid inside the blanket. Fawad also laid down trying to sleep. But sleep was far away from their eyes.
Unable to sleep, Imraan turned around only to see Fawad turning towards him. Both the guys looked at each other.
"I can't sleep."
Both said at the same time and then cleared their throat and sat up.
"Wanna play truth and dare?"
Getting up, Fawad suggested.
"Truth and dare?! That's so childish. I won't play."
Imraan said blatantly, making Fawad grunt his teeth.
"Rock, paper and scissors."
A few seconds later, Imraan said.
"What?"
"Let's play rock paper scissors."
"What are you? Five? It's even more childish."
Fawad said in disbelief.
"Fine. Then I'm sleeping."
Just when he was about to lie down Fawad called him, making him smirk.
"Ok fine! Rock paper scissors it is."
Playing anything was better than nothing.
Instantly Imraan sat up and excitedly said,
"And I'll add a rule."
"What rule?"
"After each game, the winner gets to fickle the loser's forehead. What do you say?"
"Okay. Cool. I'm in."
Fawad agreed.
And the rest of the night went by playing and flicking each other.
●○●
In the morning
"Oh my! Sir, are you alright? What happened to your…"
Noticing the similar situation with Fawad, the secretary rephrased his sentence,
"… to both of your foreheads?"
Fawad and Imraan looked at each other before looking away. Last night they fickle each other's forehead as a way to vent out all the frustrations. It looked like someone banged their forehead with a hammer.
"Nothing."
Clearing his throat, Imraan ordered,
"Call a mechanic. His cars tire is punctured."
"It's ok I can-"
Fawad was cut off by none other than Imraan.
"Don't worry about your car. It'll be safely delivered to your house. For now, come with me to Quraish Villa. Zee is there. My secretary will drop both of you home."
Imraan said and then got inside the car.
"Why's she there? And how do you even know about it?"
Frowning, Fawad asked.
"She had something to talk about with uncle."
Imraan curtly replied.
"Come on. Hop in."
'Why didn't she say it to me?'
Fawad thought. Just then his phone rang with a notification.
It was from Azeen.
I'm going to Quraish Villa. If possible then pick me up on the way back home.
Typing, 'Ok.' Fawad got inside the car with Imraan.
●○●
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